Sweet little jam jars ......

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

I hope you've had a good week .... looking forward to the weekend are we? I know I am.

For those of you who visit here regularly ..... sorry I've been AWOL (again!)  It's been a funny old week!  Busy ...... but weird!
Hubby's been away on business so I've had the whole house to myself .... boy has it been quiet!!  I've spent nearly the whole week in my craft room ...... it's been bliss, well most of the time!  Got loads done which was good.  The little man wanted to know if I was lonely without Grandad .... bless him! I wasn't the only one who missed him!

Back to business today though ...... time to remind you about this month's Craft Stamper Blog Challenge.
It's Take a Theme for October and it's all about creating Autumn projects (or Fall).  Use Autumnal images, trees, leaves maybe, nice cups of steaming hot drinks.  Or, go for the Autumn colours ..... rich reds, oranges, greens and earth tones.  Whatever you decide, remember you must include some stamping on your project somewhere.

As always we have a challenge sponsor ...... this month it's the fabulous That's Crafty

And what a prize there is for the winner ..... 8 brand new stamp sets ...... yes I did say 8!!
Take a look at these .....

If you fancy getting your hands on this little lot then you'd better enter the challenge .... that's if you haven't already done so.  Although you can enter up to 3 times you know.

I've done a little bit of re-cycling for you today ....... these started out as two little jam jars .....

and now they're pretty autumnal lights ...... with the help of a couple of sets of those really useful battery operated fairy lights .... how cute do these look!

I fell in love with the shape of these little jars, and didn't want to just throw them away so ...... a coating of alcohol ink on the inside to give them some colour .... a mixture of Honeycomb and Sunshine Yellow in one ......

and the new Valencia (orange) in the other ......

I simply squirted some alcohol ink into the jar along with a little Blending Solution and then swished it around the jar until the glass was covered.  I did this a couple of times until I was happy with the colour.

I then tried out a technique I came across some time ago, by the fabulous Tammy Tutterow, on the Tim Holtz Blog, using Glossy Accents and Distress Crackle Paint in the Clear Rock Candy.

Once the jars were dry .... which didn't take long, I gave the outside of each one a coat of Glossy Accents and then left it to dry.
Next came a coat of the Rock Candy Crackle Paint ....... and a sprinkling of the Clear Rock Candy Distress Dry Glitter over the top whilst the paint was still wet ......

I love how the fine cracks appeared, and how the glitter gives this nice frosty look ....

I wrapped some natural twine around the tops of the jars and added some seasonal foliage ......

A few die cut leaves that have been over stamped to add some more detail, a few berries and twigs and a couple of small pine cones .......

I finished them off with a tag cut from a piece of left over card from last weeks Craft Stamper project and some beautiful words that sum up Autumn perfectly .....

You can see the lights fit nicely inside ....... no plug required, just a couple of small batteries in the battery pack which you can hide round the back of the jars

Switch them on and see the pretty Autumnal glow ......

I love how these turned out ..... just need to eat more jam now then I can make some more!!

Don't forget to check out the Craft Stamper Blog today for more Autumnal inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day, and have a great weekend.

It's a busy one here .... it's workshop weekend for me tomorrow and I've got a FULL class!!  But before that I've got some of the ladies coming round later .... we're having a bit of play day.  One of us is doing a canvas, someone said they were making a start on their Christmas cards, one wants to play with the MISTI and me .... well who knows what I'll be doing.  A bit of everything ..... or a lot of nothing more than likely.   I should be making a start on some things I have on order but ...... the ideas are not flowing yet! Maybe a coffee and some cake will help!

Cheerio until next time