Where's my Christmas spirit .......

Happy Sunday folks,

How's your weekend going?
Just a quick post this morning ..... the clock is counting down on the latest Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge and I don't want to miss it.

This time the challenge is to use Light Green, Dark Green and Red!

Hmmmm ...... nice festive colours, very traditional.  Could I come up with anything ....... NO!!!  My Christmas spirit is no-where to be seen I'm afraid ...... Bah humbug!!
This is as good as it gets this time .........

VERY CAS ...... but I have used all the colours.
The light, and the dark green for my holly leaves ......

I used a punch to cut the leaves from a piece of white cardstock then added coloured card to the backs. A touch of red glitter glue for the berries and a nice festive sentiment stamped with red ink

I did similar on the inside of the card ......

Again, using the punch for my holly leaf ......

Backed with green card and a touch of red sparkle.  Ho! Ho! Ho!

Well ....... we've had a lovely weekend so far ..... doing absolutely nothing!!! And today is going to be more of the same I think. There's no rush to go here there and everywhere in two days because ..... it's the Bank Holiday weekend (whoo hoo!) and ..... hubby's taking all next week off work ..... yeah! No early starts.  You never know ...... I might just get breakfast in bed one morning .... for a change (hint hint).
We're hoping the weather stays nice so we can have a few days out ..... explore a little more of the island maybe ..... see some of the racing in the Manx Grand Prix and just generally recharge our batteries.
We started our little break on Friday evening ....... with good food, nice wine and great company. We went to the french restaurant in Douglas ..... L'Experience and had a beautiful meal. I finally tried escargot for the first time (hubby had ordered them)  I won't be trying them again any time soon I can tell you ....... I've decided ..... I don't like snails!!!!
Hopefully dinner tonight will be nice ..... yes we're off out again.  Tonight we're going to my favourite Italian on the island .... La Mona Lisa up in Laxey.  They've been advertising on Facebook that my favourite dish is back on the menu this weekend ..... Lobster Linguine ..... yummee!!!

Hope they've got some left!!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend.

Oooh .... before I go .... don't forget the lovely Barbara Gray is back on our TV screens with Clarity stamps .... whoo hoo!!  In case you haven't heard ...... Sky channel 663, Freeview 39 and Freesat 822 is the home of the brand new craft channel ....... HOCHANDA (Home of Crafts Hobbies and Arts)
Barbara had a great show yesterday and she's back at 10am this morning (Sunday).  Tune in if you can .... it'll be fun!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

It's Sketch week at Less is More

Happy Wednesday to you!

Another week is speeding by ...... this one's a little on the quieter side thank goodness!  Although saying, that we do have a Poker Stars gathering here this evening. One of their interns is leaving so they've decided that ours would be a good place for the farewell party ....... Thanks guys!!
So .... a little after 6 this evening, the whole of B.I. (well .... most of them) will be coming through the door planning on eating, drinking, and playing cards no doubt!  There will be music involved at some point ..... always is when hubby's had a few, and lets face it ..... we haven't had a good old Walmsley Wednesday for a while.

Before all that though, here's my entry for this week's Less is More Challenge.
It's a Sketch week ......

and I've kept pretty much to the design

Classic black and white with a hint of colour.

I used the Clarity Bouquets for my image ...... you get 2 stamps in the set, the outline and the silhouette version.  I used both!
I inked up the silhouette stamp using my Distress Markers, spritzed with a little water and then stamped the image onto a piece of white card
I then followed over the top using the outline stamp

This is where my version of the Sketch comes in ....... I cut across the white card to follow the sketch, trimming around the bottom part of the bouquet.  I then layered this over a piece of black cardstock which had had my sentiment embossed on the bottom.

I added a cute little twine bow to the bouquet and finished off the flowers with a little dot of white enamel accent to the centres

You can also see I added a few ink spots here and there, and of course there's a little something on the inside too

Job done!

Right .... I'd better be off.  Time to scurryfunge before the crowd get's here!
And, the kitchen looks like a Chinese laundry, there's a mountain of clothes that I don't know whether to iron it or climb it! Maybe I could just hide it until tomorrow .... hmmm ..... sounds like a plan!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.  Hope the sun is shining where you are .... it's summer again here.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Congratulations!!

Happy Friday folks,

Well ..... where do I start!
The BIG news this morning was that Clarity are on the move.  Yes, in case you haven't already heard Barbara will no longer be appearing on Create and Craft (oh no!!)  Don't panic though .... she will be back on our TV screens again ....very soon (whoo hoo!!) 
Make a date in your diaries ..... Thursday 27th August at 12 noon is the launch of a brand new craft channel ....... and Barbara is going to be there!!

It's called HOCHANDA
(Home of Crafts Hobbies and Arts) 

You can find the channel on SKY 663 Freeview 39 and Freesat 822
Barbara will be back in the classroom again with a regular monthly show, as well as a new Groovi slot too ...... so, lots of exciting stuff coming up!

With all that going on this morning I thought it would be a great time to enter this weeks challenge over art Less is More ......
It's a Theme week ...... and the theme is ......

CONGRATULATIONS!

Here's my entry ......

Wonderfully CAS ....... and relatively quick and easy.  

This cute little guy is from Penny Black ....... simply stamped in black Versafine and coloured using my Distress Inks mixed with a little water.

I added a delicate wash of blue to the background just to ground my leaping frog, and finished off with a Tim Holtz sentiment

There's a little something on the inside too .....

Not a Clarity stamp I know, but ...... Congratulations to Barbara and the team .....here's to the start of the next exciting chapter!

I think that's it from me today .... another busy weekend approaching.  It's the little man's last day at nursery today, he's going to be home soon telling me all about it, and then he's got his graduation party tomorrow.  Two more weeks and he starts 'Big' school!

We've got the Manx Grand Prix starting this weekend ....... just like the TT but not as busy! Practice week gets underway tomorrow ......... weather permitting that is! 

The Continental Food Market is still on the prom ..... which, by the way I haven't found time to get down to yet this week!  And on top of all that, there's the IOM Grand Beer Festival this weekend ...... all within staggering walking distance of us!!  Food ..... drink .... and motorbikes .....should be a good weekend!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and I hope you have a great weekend too!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Remember that sneaky peek I gave you .......

Hello there ...... happy Tuesday!

How are you?
I'm trying to get back on track after a lovely weekend.  Saturday was spent with a group of friends crafting ..... in the sunshine!  Yes we all sat in the garden with the most beautiful view of the sea and we actually got stuff done .... surprisingly!

Sunday was the Poker Stars Treasure Hunt ....... not an outstanding performance from our team I'm afraid .... only managed to finish joint 5th!!! (sigh!)  We did get a nice tour of the island, parts we hadn't been to before, which was nice, but we just ran out of time towards the end.
Everyone found their way to the finishing line, eventually (one team even took a wrong turning and still managed to answer the remaining questions! - wasn't us I hasten to add!)  This year we ended up at a place called The Forge ...... fabulous restaurant and they make the best BBQ sauce EVER!!!
Couldn't resist popping in to stock up on some goodies .....

Ooops! how did that box of chocolates get in there ..... yum!!

Cast your minds back all the way to July ...... when I gave you a little sneaky peek of a project I'd been asked to do by my brother ....... he wanted something special for his son's wedding.  Well, the wedding was last week so I can share with you what I created for him.
If you remember, it went from this .......

to this .....

A beautiful Memory Box.

A plain MDF box, covered with tissue paper, gesso, paint, texture paste, lots of embellishments, treasure gold, mica sprays ..... you name it it's probably on there.  I did enjoy making this.

Lots of embellishments attached ..... paper flowers, metal flowers, cotton lace, chipboard shapes, glass beads

There's even some rubber stamping on there.

Once everything was on there, I painted over the whole lot using white gesso, then a layer of pearlescent paint.  I also spritzed with Perfect Pearls to add the tiniest hint of colour here and there (it has a very very pale hint of peachy pink in there which I don't think comes across well in the pictures)

Once all the paint and mica was dry I then rubbed over parts using White Fire Treasure Gold (love this stuff!)

The back of the box was kept plain .... when I say 'plain' it still has all the background texture from the tissue paper .....

but minimal embellishments

Same goes for the inside ..... simply painted with just a little something in there (wouldn't be me if there wasn't something on the inside now would it!)

I even made a card to match .....

A little lighter on the embellies but, still using the same techniques

Oh well ....... I'd love to stay and chat but I've got to dash.  I'm off to spend the afternoon with the ladies in Ballaugh.  It's their monthly workshop today so someone else has done all the hard work, I'm just going to enjoy myself ..... and do as I'm told (there's always a first time!)

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

There's still time to enter the latest Craft Stamper Challenge .......

Good morning ........ Happy Friday!

It's nearly the weekend again and I'm ready for it!
I've got a nice crafty afternoon tomorrow, then we're out on Sunday, it's the Queenie Festival down at Port St Mary this weekend, and I believe that the Continental Food Market is coming back to Douglas ..... yum!!! It's starting today and running through until the 23rd of the month, along the prom.   Choices, choices .... you know what foodies we are here!!

Anyway, back to today ...... it's time for a quick reminder about the current Craft Stamper Blog Challenge.  It's a Take a Technique month and it's all about using .....

Pens and Pencils

As always there's fab prizes up for grabs ....... the Design Winner, chosen by the DT who gets their project published in the Craft Stamper magazine, a Guest spot on a future challenge and a Winners Profile published on the Blog (oooh!)

And of course ..... there's our Sponsor prize .... randomly chosen.  This month our sponsor is the fabulous Chocolate Baroque .......

and the prize is this wonderful set of stamps ....... Artistic Affirmations

Ok .... need a little inspiration on what to do with those pens and pencils?   What about this .....

It's all been done using Distress Markers (apart from the sentiment which was stamped in Black Archival!)

To create the background I 'inked up' an acrylic block by scribbling directly onto the block with various colours of Distress Markers (mustard seed/spiced marmalade/abandoned coral and picked raspberry).  I then gave it a little spritz with water and stamped it onto a piece of white card.  I love how the colours blend into each other, and ...... you'll never get two backgrounds exactly the same.

Once the background was dry I used one of my favourite stamps ...... Penny Black's blush ......  and inked it up using the Distress Markers again ....... abandoned coral for the flower head and mowed lawn for the leaves.  Just wipe over the stamp with the marker, taking care not to mix the colours too much. Don't worry, if you take your time and you feel that the ink is drying, once the whole image is covered just 'huff' over the top before stamping and you should be fine!

The white dots are Enamel Accents, I thought they would add a bit of texture.

The words are from one of the latest releases from JOFY (JOFY38) I've stamped the sentiment then cut each word individually before adding it to the card

I also edged each of the words using the abandoned coral marker to make them stand out a little from the background

To finish off I stamped the flower on the inside, added a greeting and then splattered some ink across the card ..... again from the markers ...... scribbled onto a craft sheet, spritzed with water, and then picked up and flicked using a paint brush ..... you can't go wrong!

Now it's your turn .... what'll it be .... pens, or pencils?  Whatever you choose have fun ..... ooh and don't forget to include some actual stamping on your project ... it is Craft STAMPER after all!  Good luck!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a fab weekend!  

I'm off to tidy the old craft room, pack my craft bag for tomorrow and then finish off some DT stuff. I may even wander down to that Continental food market ........ might find something nice for lunch!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Time for a little sparkle ...... HLS Christmas challenge

Happy Thursday folks!

And we have another new follower ..... whoo hoo!!!   Hello and Welcome to Linda  (what a great name!) ..... thank you for your lovely comments.  I'm so pleased you enjoyed your visit here.  It's nice to have you with us .... please visit again soon.

It's been a lovely day again here ....... the sun has been shining ....... and I've been locked in the old craft room trying to track down Mr Mojo!  I think he's done a runner ..... gone AWOL .... can't say as I blame him ..... the weather's been gorgeous!  Looks like it's all about to change though .... the clouds have gathered and it's going very grey.  If he doesn't come back soon he's going to get wet!!!

Time for my last challenge entry of the week.  This time I'm linking up to the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge ...... where the word for this month is ...... Sparkle!

I can do sparkle ...... especially on Christmas cards ..... what do you think?

I said the sun had disappeared ..... can't get a decent photo ...... oops!

I've used the Penny Black star dance wreath ..... simply stamped it in black Versafine and then added a touch of fine crystal glitter around the wreath, and festive red to that gorgeous bow

Ah .... that's better, you can see some of the sparkle now.  I added a few tiny gemstones scattered around the wreath, and finished off with one of the brand new Mixed Christmas Sentiments from HLS .... perfect!

Have you seen any of the sneak peeks from Penny Black of their new Especially for You range that's coming out soon ....... well, if you love the wreath stamp that I've used here, you might be pleased to know that they're bringing out a die of the same design. (oooh!)  
Check out the Penny Black blog for more on the new release .....  but get ready for your wish list to start growing ..... don't say I didn't warn you!

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

I'll be back tomorrow with a reminder about the latest Craft Stamper Challenge.

Cheerio until then .....

Linda

xx

The eyes have it ......

Hi there .... it's me again!

I've just got time for another quick post before I have to get the dinner on.  It's chilli tonight .... one of hubby's favourites ..... and after the day I've had I think a nice bottle of red will go down just fine with it!!

It's my favourite One Layer Week over at Less is More ..... and there's a title to this weeks challenge

The Eyes Have It!

I'm sorry .... but there was only one set of stamps I could go for ...... plus they were already out on my desk (actually they've never been put away since they arrived in the old craft room!) .......

I think you either love them or you hate them ....... me I can't get enough of these little guys (and gals!) Can't wait until I get my Crazy Things stamp set to go with them .... I believe it's on it's way!! 

I stamped the Crazy Bird with black Archival ink and then coloured him using my Distress Markers and a touch of water.  His eyes have had the Glossy Accents treatment although you can't really tell from the photo (hope that still counts as one layer ...... oops!!)

And to finish off ..... a suitable sentiment and a few tiny ink splashes

One Layer Card ..... done!  and on the first attempt too ........ surprisingly!!

Oh well .... must dash, otherwise the dinner will never be ready.  Once all that's on I can sit and enjoy the sunshine!  But before I go .... I'd like to say Hello and Welcome to our latest follower  ....... I've spotted you up there Denise! Thank you for spending time here ..... it's nice to have you along.

Thanks for popping by (again!) ...... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time

Linda 

xx

HLS Sketch Challenge ......

Happy Wednesday!

Just a quick post this morning with an entry for the current Happy Little Stampers Sketch Challenge.

It's all going on at the moment at HLS ...... have you heard? ...... they've released their own range of stamps ....... congratulations Kylie!
There's 4 basic sets .... when I say basic they're really useful sets to have in your stamp collection ..... fun Birthday sentiments in a fab font ..... a great Christmas collection too.  Big bold numbers and some gorgeous butterflies.  Check them out on the shop website.

Back to the challenge ....... this is August's Sketch .......

And here's my version ......

I remembered I had a perfect stamp for this challenge ..... the pretty little Magnolia bunting.
Simply stamped across my card, following the sketch design, a tiny bit of masking needed here and there ..... just where the bunting overlaps.  I then coloured it with Distress Inks ........  swiped onto my craft sheet, spritzed with a little water and applied with a brush .... simple!

The words are actually from one of the new HLS stamp sets ...... Bold Birthday Sentiments ..... told you they're really useful sets to have .....  this is such a lovely font!

And in true LindyLou fashion ..... the inside has been decorated too .....

I love how this has turned out ...... I don't do DL sized cards that often .... maybe I should!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.  I'm hoping to be back later with another challenge entry ..... told you I had a busy week!

Cheerio until next time ....

Linda

xx