November's CAS Mix Up Challenge ........

Happy Tuesday .......

And ......... Welcome to November!  

A new month means a brand new CAS Mix Up Challenge, and our Host for November is the lovely Jenny

This month it's a Stencil Challenge, and the added Prompt/Technique is ....... 

Stenciling with Powdered Inks

Hmmm ..... not always the easiest thing to use, for me anyway.  They do seem to have a mind of their own!  

They are fun to use though, in a messy sort of way.  Using them with your stencils kind of gives you a little control I suppose.

I used Brushos for my cards.  Little pots of pigment powders that are water-soluble, and full of intense colour.  And, a little goes a lonnnng way!

It took me a while to find the right stencils to use, and get the right amount of Brusho and water.

Let's just say, I have a pile of results that didn't quite go according to plan!!  Oh well, it's only card, and I'm sure they'll come in for somthing eventually.

This one I am happy with though ........  how cute are these little guys!?

I used one of the stencils from the Concord & 9th Tweet Life Stencil Pack (5 stencils that work along side the Tweet Life Stamp Set)

I placed the stencil onto a piece of white cardstock, carefully sprinkled the Brusho powder over the design (remembering to use sparingly!), and then spritzed with a little water to activate the colour

I did use a fine paintbrush to move some of the colour around and make sure that I'd covered all the area inside the stencil.  

I then carefully lifted off the stencil.  If you look closely, the edges on the birds are not perfect, (too much water I think) but I quite like the uneven look.

I used another stencil from the set to add the wings on the birds, using Distress Oxide Inks, and I used the matching stamp set to add all the little extra details.

 

Now, remember I said that I wasn't happy with a lot of my results from playing with this technique, well, if you're feeling the same there is another way you can use this technique with your stencils.

I tried, and tried, using one of the Tim Holtz floral stencils.  I placed it onto white cardstock, sprinkled Brushos over the design and spritzed with water.  Could I get a clean finish to it ..... not a chance!!!  The inks bled under the stencil, you couldn't see the design well at all.  Maybe I was using too much water.

There was still plenty of ink on the actual top of the stencil though so, I grabbed another piece of white card and laid the stencil, ink side down, onto the card.  

I then used a paper towel over the top to mop up any excess ink, and voila! ....... I ended up with this.

Yes it's not perfect but, I like it ......  at least you can see the floral design.

I stamped a nice large(ish) sentiment over the top and added a die cut underneath to finish it off. 

Check out the CAS Mix Up Blog for more great ideas from the rest of the Design Team on Stenciling with Powdered Inks.  You'll also find links on there to some great videos showing you tips for using this fun technique.  

We also have a fabulous Guest Designer this month, Bonnie (Stamping with Klass) is joining in the fun so be sure to pop over there and say hello. 

The challenge is open until November 30th so there's lots of time to play along.  

Go on ...... why not give it a go!

Thanks for popping by, enjoy the rest of your day.

I'm currently resisting the urge to put up the Christmas Tree!

While we were away on our trip I might have bought a few new baubles ........ just a few!  And now they're just sitting there, waiting to be hung on the tree.  Not sure how much longer I can wait!  Now that Halloween is out of the way, the big countdown begins! 

Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:

Card 1

Stencils ........  Tweet Life Stencil Pack - Concord & 9th

Stamps ......  Tweet Life Stamp Set - Concord & 9th

Inks .......  Brushos Powdered Inks - Sunburst Lemon, Alizarin Crimson, Sea Green; Distress Oxide Inks - Spiced Marmalade,Seedless Preserve, Peacock Feathers; Versafine Claire - Nocturne

Other ...... Black Fine Liner (to ground the birds); Glossy Dots 

Card 2

Inks ......  Brushos Powdered Inks - Sunburst Lemon, Alizarin Crimson; Versafine Clair - Glamorous, Nocturne

Stencils ...... Tim Holtz Floral Layering Ste

Stamps ....... Opposites Attract Sentiment Stamps - The Greetery

Other .......  Opposites Attract Script Dies - The Greetery

CAS Christmas Card Challenge ........

Happy Friday .........

I hope you've had a good week. 

We're back on the island, and it is nice to be home!  Even if it is blowing a hoolie and it's very wet!!

It's been a bit of a busy week here.  The van has been emptied and cleaned, the mountain of laundry has been conquered, and the kitchen cupboards have been restocked.  

I even found time to spend in my craft room.  

There's still about a week left in this month's CAS Christmas Card Challenge and, as the theme for October is Poinsettia, I didn't want to miss it ........ I do love a nice poinsettia!  

I think it's possibly on the edge of being CAS but, I didn't want to cut the pretty poinsettia down too much! 

I love how this has turned out, and it was really easy to do.  I really like the pink too, different from the tradional red.  In fact, the design is so pretty that I think you could use any colour with it.

I used the Poinsettia Embossing Folder from Lisa Horton Crafts ..... not sure if it's still available as I've had it a while now.

I swiped Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide Ink, direct from the ink pad, onto one side of the embossing folder.  I then added my piece of white cardstock and ran it through the Big Shot.

Just look at that detail ..........  love it!!

As it's a 3D folder, the ink is picked up in various places to highlight the pretty Poinsettia design.  

I simply added a touch of sparkle to the flower using a glue pen and fine crystal glitter, and a touch of gold in the centre

I wrapped some gold thread around the bottom and mat and layered before adding to to the front of my card.  A simple sentiment stamped underneath finishes it all off.  

Well, that's another Christmas card done!

Thanks for popping by ....... have a lovely weekend.

The weather forecast here is not great so I think we'll be staying put this weekend.

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Embossing Folder ........  Poinsettia - Lisa Horton Crafts

Stamps ...... Sparkling Season (for the sentiment) - Gina K Designs for Simon Says Stamp

Inks .......  Distress Oxide Ink - Worn Lipstick; Delicata Metallic Ink - Golden Glitz

Other ...... Quickie Glue Pen; Fine Crystal Glitter; Distress Glitter - Garland; Gold Thread

CAS Mix Up October reminder .......

Happy weekend .......

I hope you've had a lovely week.  

What's the weather like where you are?  We've definitely seen a change whilst we've been on our travels.  The temepratures have dropped and we've actually had some rain!

Autumn has arrived, which to be honest, I don't mind at all. 

 

We're currently back in the beautiful Lake District, for the last leg of our trip ...... only 2 more days left.

We're in Bowness on Windermere, and it's been lovely.  

a pretty October sunset

We've had a good wander around the town, been up to Windermere too, and had a couple of days catching up with family and friends which is always nice.  Too much good food and wine probably, but hey! ...... we are on holiday!!!  

Anyway, enough of what we've been up to.  The reason for the post is, a quick reminder of this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge ...... have you entered yet?

It's a Mixed Media Challenge using the Blackout Embossing technique ....... if you haven't tried this you need to give it a go.  It's super easy, and so much fun.  It's a different way of using your embossing folders too, which is always good.

I've gone a little festive for this card, well it is only about 70 days before the big day (I'm sure that's what is said on the blackboard in the Christmas Shop earlier! ........ yes, I have been in a few Christmas shops on our recent travels.  I can't resist looking for new baubles!)

For this card I used the Simon Says Stamp Embossing Folder ...... Holiday Greenery, which is a lovely all over winter foliage design.

On the debossed side of the cardstock,  I used blending brushes and various shades of green and red Distress Oxide inks to colour the design.  Remember, you don't have to get this perfect as you'll be covering over any colour on the top part with your black (or any other dark colour) ink

I then applied Black Soot Distress Oxide, direct from the ink pad, over the top.

I love the mat finish to the DOX inks, and the Black Soot gave great coverage.

I added a few dots of Glitter Glue to some of the berries, and finished off with white paint splatters

I cut the embossed piece down using a fancy stitched edge die, cut a piece of red cardstock using the same die, and then layered them together leaving a festive red border.

I then attached this to a white cardbase and stamped my sentinment underneath.

Another idea for using your Blackout Embossed panels, is to turn them into tags, either to use as they are or, add them to the front of a card.

This pretty embossed design is another Simon Says Stamp folder called Darcy Bouquet.

I used it on a previously coloured piece of card, which I found in my stash, and I think it was done with Distress Oxide inks,  swiped directly from the ink pad across a piece of white card .... so easy to do.

I cut the panel into a tag shape and added a knot of white ribbon to the top.  I then attached a die cut sentiment onto the actual tag, and finished with a few white paint splatters here and there .......

Luckily, I remembered that you must include some stamping for the CAS Mix Up Challenge, so I added that underneath (phew!).

I do think that maybe this card is pushing the CAS rules just a little bit but, I didn't want to loose any of the pretty embossed design so I didn't cut it down any.  Maybe next time.

The challenge is open until the 31st October so there's still plenty of time to join in.  

Go on ..... give Blackout Embossing a try!  

By the way, you don't have to use black ink to do this technique.  Check out the cards from the rest of the DT, some of them have used different colours to do the 'Blackout' part, and they look fab!!

Thanks for popping by ......... enjoy your weekend.

We start our journey home tomorrow, so we're having a nice lazy day today.  

We're on the Sunday afternoon boat so we should be back on the island early evening ...... I'm ready for getting home now!

Cheerio until next time .........

Products used:

Card 1

Embossing Folder ........  Holiday Greenery - Simon Says Stamp

Inks .......  Distress Oxide Inks - Rustic Wilderness, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint, Festive Berries,

Black Soot:  Versafine Claire - Nocturne (to stamp the sentiment)

Other ...... Crystal Stickles Glitter Glue; Fresco Finish Chalk Paint - Snowflake (PaperArtsy)

Card 2

Embossing Folder .......  Darcy Bouquet - Simon Says Stamp

Inks ...... I think they were Distress Oxides in various shades of purple and blue; Versafine Claire - Nocture for the stamped sentiment.

Stamps ....... Julie Hickey Designs - Sweet Daisy

Other ....... Be Bold Alphabet Dies Upper & Lower Case - Spellbinders; Sentiment Starter dies - The Greetery;  Silver Chrome Pen;  Fresco Finish Chalk Paint - Snowflake (PaperArtsy); White ribbon

I love Pinterest!!!

Happy Monday .......

I hope you had a lovely weekend ...... did you do anything nice?

We're on our last week of our latest motorhome adventure.  Heading for home on Sunday, so we need to make the most of this week.

Whilst we've been away I've spent a little bit of time with one of my journals.  I brought a small amount of stash with me in the hope that I could catch up with trying out some ideas and techniques from Pinterest.  So far, I've managed to do one!

This was something I saw on Pinterest, and I knew I just had to give it a go.   It looked like they'd used actual pressed flowers on their journal page, and it was so pretty.  

Unfortunately there was no name on the picture so I can't give credit, but whoever it was, thank you for sharing.  

I'd stamped the flowers onto the journal page before we left on our trip, using a mix of Julie Hickey Desgins floral stamps, and I also drew a few stems and leaves by hand

I then used scraps of various designer papers and book pages to create the 'vases'.  You know me, I don't like to waste anything so I have a box full of bits like this.

I coloured the flowers using watercolour pencils and then added some doodling around each of the paper strips to emphasise each vase.

I love how this has turned out.  So simple, and a great way of using up all those paper strips.  

Pinterest is full of fab ideas for using up scraps, I think I'll be trying out a few more!

Since my last blog post we spent a lovely few days in the city of York.

I love this place.  It's so nice to just wander around the streets, sit and have a coffee, do a spot of shopping maybe.  There's so much to see.  

The Ghosts in the Gardens are back for 2026.  70 wire mesh figures placed all around the town and gardens.  We came across this guy on our visit to the York Musuem ......

We did the whole trail last year and it was fantastic, well worth seeing.

The food is amazing in York, so many places to eat and so many different styles.  We found a smashing Spanish Tapas place ...... Tabanco by Ambiente.  The paella was amazing!!!  We were so full when we left there.

We also found a nice French bistro/wine bar ..... Rustique

Again, the food was delicious!!  Great service too.

And of course there's the magnificent York Minster ..... always amazing to see.

We'll be back again soon no doubt.

We're in Barnard Castle at the moment.  A pretty market town on the banks of the River Tees in County Durham

It's our first time here but it won't be our last.  It's a lovely place.

Great walk from the campsite we're on into the town ....

down by the river, and the castle ruins

and the town itself was lovely.  It was quite late in the afternnon when we arrived so it was nice and quiet.

We're only here for a few days, we're making our way back to the Lake District before we finally head home at the weekend.  I'm looking forward to being back on the island.

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time.

October's CAS Mix Up Challenge ......

Happy weekend to you,

Happy World Card Making Day too!  It's the perfect day to launch this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge

It's my turn to host, and the challenge for October is a Mixed Media one, with the prompt .....

Blackout Embossing 

Time to get out all your favourite embossing folders and have some fun!

This is a new to me technique.  I've seen it used a lot online, and it always looks stunning, but I haven't really done much of it myself. 

The first time I tried it, I didn't actually use any colour, I just simply used a black ink over the debossed side of an embossing folder design, so I'm not even sure if that can be classed as the 'Blackout Embossing technique'.  (I'll show you what I mean at the end of this post!)

Anyway, on with this month's challenge.  

I've got two cards to share with you, the first is using a pretty embossing folder from Simon Says Stamp called Blossom Field.  It's a pretty floral design, with lots of little details.

I simply ran the EF through the Big Shot with some plain white cardstock.

I then coloured the flowers, on the de-bossed side, using Distress Oxide Inks, in shades of pink and yellow.  I found the easiest way, for me, was to use small blending brushes to get the colour into the debossed detail of the card.

This is quite a thick EF so the detail is quite deep in the cardstock which is what you need for this technique, so that when you rub over with the black ink you don't get too much on the coloured bits.  Does that make sense?

I used Black Soot Distress Oxide on this card, but Nocturne Versafine Clair or any black ink would work just as well.  Try whatever you have to hand.

I gently rubbed the ink pad over the surface of the card, to bring out the coloured, debossed design ........ this was so much fun to do!  Try not to add too much black ink at once, I think less is definitely more with this technique.  Build up the depth of colour gradually .... remember it's always easier to add more than it is to take it away!

A simple stamped sentiment and a few highlights with a gold gel pen finishes off the card

This technique also works well with cardstock that has already got colour on it .......

I found this small piece of card in my bits box.  It's a leftover from a previous project I think, possibly a mop up piece by the look of it.   

The embossing folder is Piped Floral Lace from Altenew (I think this is my favourite EF at the moment ...... I love it!!!)  Again this is a deep, 3D, folder, giving lots of detail. 

Just remember, if you use already coloured cardstock, make sure you put it in the EF folder the right way up ..... you need the coloured side to be debossed.

For a bit of extra interest, but still keeping things CAS, I added my blackout piece to a white, die cut postage stamp frame and added the same in black, underneath.

If you need more inspiration for October's challenge, then check out the latest post on the CAS Mix Up Blog.  There you'll find more fabulous ideas from our Design Team and, there's also links to some useful videos showcasing this fun technique.

We also have a fabulous Guest Designer this month. Darnell from djkardkreations is joining in the fun so be sure to pop over there and say Hello!

Remember to follow the Challenge Guidelines ......  and keep your cards CAS.

Before I go, here's a picture of what I mentioned earlier ..... something I played around with whilst taking part in the #100 Day Challenge earlier in the year.  

It's the Blackout technique (sort of!) without any colour ....... I love this look, but then again I'm a big fan of black and white with just a hint of colour!

I'm really looking forward to seeing your take on the Blackout Embossing challenge.  I can't wait to see your entires in the gallery.  Have fun!

Thanks for popping by ....... enjoy your weekend.

We've spent the last few days in the lovely town of Knaresborough.  An historic market town in North Yorkshire. 

Nice walks, great places to eat, and the weather's not been too bad either.

We walked through Nid Gorge, quite a long walk but nice ....... I need the excercise!!

The next stop on our travels is one of our favourite places .......... we're off to the city of York!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Card 1

Embossing Folder ...... Blossom Field - Simon Says Stamp

Inks ........  Distress Oxide Inks - Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry, Black Soot; Versafine Clair - Nocturne (for the sentiment)

Stamps ....... Happy Birthday sentiment from my stash
Other ......  Gold Metallic Gel Pen

Card 2

Embossing Folder ...... 3D Piped Floral Lace - Altenew

Inks ........  Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Wild Honey; Versafine Clair - Nocturne 

Stamps ....... Happy birthday Sentiment from my stash
Other ...... Postage Stamp dies; Small crystal gemstones, black cardstock