Anything shiny ......

Happy weekend .......

I hope you're having a good one.  We've been out and about today ..... the sun was shining so we made the most of it.
We drove down to Castletown and I collected my latest Stampin Up! order .... more craft goodies have arrived in the old craft room!
Then we drove over to the lovely Grenaby Studios where I called in to see a friend who has a fabulous jewellery workshop there ...... ELEMENTIsle.   Claire makes and sells the most incredible pieces of silver and gemstone jewellery ........ it's hard not to want it all.  Did I add to my collection whilst I was there .....what do you think!  Well .... a girl can never have too many earrings!
We finished off our little trip with a late lunch back in Douglas ...... down on the quay for the delicious Fish Pot from The Bridge ..... nom nom!!

Speaking of jewellery and precious metals ....... it's time to launch the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge for the month of August. And this month the theme just so happens to be ......

METAL

I must confess I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to anything shiny ....... and I love adding a touch of metal to mixed media projects.  It can be charms or metal embellishments ...... or creating a simple metal surface using foil.  Even by just adding embossing powders here and there can give the look of nice shiny metal.

This project was really simple to do using the Metal Foil Tape Sheets from Ranger, Alcohol Inks and a pretty embossing folder

Not sure the shine comes across well in this picture .... but bear with me .... we'll get there!

I cut a piece of white cardstock down to size and then covered it with a piece of the foil tape ..... this is so easy to do as the foil is self adhesive .... great for using with all of your dies!

I then added some colour to the foil using various colours of alcohol inks ........ just smoosh the colours over the foil using one of the applicator tools and a piece of felt, and then use a little touch of Blending Solution to mix the colours and get a nice blend

Now you can see the shine ....... and the pretty sort of marble effect from using the Blending Solution.

Once it was all dry ..... and it didn't take long at all ..... I used the beautiful Butterfly Embossing Folder from Stampin Up! and ran it through the Big Shot to give this gorgeous raised design

My sentiment was stamped onto vellum (well half of it was) and embossed in the white (one of my current favourite techniques)   
I then wrapped the strip around the 'metal' panel securing it on the back so you don't see the adhesive through the vellum

The second part of the sentiment was stamped directly onto my card once the matting and layering had been done.  I used a combination of the Happy Little Stampers Bold Birthday Sentiments (the Happy bit) and Everyday Sentiments (for the Birthday) I love how all the stamp sets mix and match.

As always the challenge is sponsored by the Happy Little Stampers store .....

and the winner will receive a $15 discount voucher to use in the shop.  

Happy stamping .... and don't forget the metalwork!

If you need more inspiration then pop over to the HLS Blog, the Design Team have been busy and you'll also find some links on there to some fab metal themed tutorials.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day, and what's left of the weekend.

We're off out for Sunday lunch tomorrow ....... no cooking again for me ...... yeah!!!  No glass of wine either ... sigh!  Alcohol-Free August is still on track .... for me anyway.  Hubby has revised it a little ... he's now saying no drinking except on Fridays .... and maybe Saturdays.  He's just no will power.

I must confess I did had a small G&T on Friday night ... well there was one waiting for me when I arrived at the The Queens, and it would have been rude not to drink it now .....wouldn't it.  I only had the one though then it was soft drinks for me ...... hubby not so much!  Well it was Friday!

Cheerio util next time .....