Published in the new Craft Stamper magazine .......

Happy Wednesday .......

Just a quick post today to remind you that the new issue of the Craft Stamper magazine hits the newsagents shelves on Friday ...... whoo hoo!

What a fabulous issue it is too ..... lots of stunning projects from the Design Team, and guess what .....
I'm in there too!!

Here's a little sneaky peak from the magazine ...... really had fun with this one

And ..... if you've been waiting to get your hands on that fabulous Grunge Star stamp designed by Kim Dellow well you'll be happy bunnies ..... it's finally here!!

Yes .... I had a play with that too!

If, like me, you're a subscriber then you've probably already got your copy ..... if not it's out on Friday. Grab a copy!

The sun is shining again here, thankfully and TT Practice week finally got underway yesterday evening after being rained off twice.
Ian Hutchinson was the fastest last night in the Superbikes and the Supersport ....... a lap in just under 18 mins .... that's fast!

picture from BBC Sport

The practice sessions continue this evening so hubby and I are off to the The Cregg Ny Baa with a whole bunch from Poker Stars to catch some of the racing and I've been volunteered to make a picnic tea for everyone.
Speaking of which I think it's time I was making sandwiches and salads, chopping fruit and chilling the drinks!

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

Cheerio until next time

A Sweet Poppy tease .......

Happy Bank Holiday Monday (what's left of it!) .......

I hope you've had a good one. The long weekend has flown by here ....... and the week ahead isn't going to slow down any!

I've got a little sneaky peek of a few samples that are on their way to the lovely Lucy at Sweet Poppy Stencils ......

Make a note in your diary ...... because Lucy is back on the telly!
When? .......Thursday 1st June
Where? ....... HOCHANDA (Sky 663/Freeview 85/Freesat 817)
What time? ......... 7am (an early start!) and again at 11am

As always there'll be new designs, some back in stocks and lots of fabulous tips and techniques from the lady herself.

Beautiful classic designs ......

Pretty, detailed stencils for all year round ......

And stunning images for any occasion .......

Set your reminders (and maybe the alarm clock!!), or record the shows, you won't want to miss them!

It's going to be a busy week ..... beginning of a new month coming up, all those monthly challenges to get underway, and there's a new one launching too ... watch this space!

Other news ...... the 2017 Isle of Man TT is underway ..... and typically the weather has taken a turn for the worse.  Not that it will damped the TT spirit I'm sure but, it has put a stop to the practice/qualifying races ....... again ....... that were planned for this evening.

Rain or not, our little rock in the middle of the Irish Sea is filling up nicely with motorbikes and riders and fans of this 37 mile plus, gruelling Mountain course. There's a definite buzz in the air .... we love it!
We've already been sampling the atmosphere, the food, the entertainment ...... and the beer tent! down at the Grandstand.  Well ..... seeing as that's where Chris is going to be spending most of his time for the next two weeks because he's running the place, we thought we should show our support.  At least the sun shone on the opening day (Sunday) ..... it was glorious.

Well that's it from me today ...... thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your day and have a great week.

Cheerio until next time

Monday again! .......

Happy Monday folks ........

Welcome to the beginning of a new week.

We had a lovely weekend ...... a great barbeque yesterday, the first one at the new house so it was kind of a house warming I suppose.  Good food, great wine in the company of family and friends .... the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  Even better when it's the other half that was doing the cooking!
And we rounded off the day with a friendly poker game .... always fun but it didn't end well for me this time .... enough said!

Saturday was workshop day ...... another fun session with my lovely crafty buddies.
This week we played around with Spotlight Stamping and a little bit of Split Colouring ..... another clever technique I came across on Jennifer McGuire's Blog.

This is a great way to get 2 for 1 cards, and I think works so well with pretty floral designs.

See what I mean ..... 2 for 1!
Simply stamp the image onto white card and colour it in completely.  Stamp the same image again onto a piece of coloured cardstock and emboss with clear powder.
The MISTI is fab for doing this as your image needs to be in the same place on both pieces of card.

I used my current favourite stamp  ....... again! ..... Hello Lovely from Concord and 9th, and coloured it with ZIG Clean Colour Brush Markers.

You then cut both pieces, in the same place and then mix and match the two halves to create 2 lovely cards .... both the same, but different

Add a simple message strip using some of the coloured card, or go bold and use black

If you don't like using coloured card then how about keeping things just on the white ....

Really simple ... just stamp with black ink, colour half the image or thereabouts, then split into two with a sentiment strip.

I do think this would also work with background stamps, stamped onto white and coloured card and then pieced together as above ..... think I'll give that a try!
And of course this would work with almost any stamped image that needs colouring in.  Check through your stash and see which ones you could use.

Onto the Spotlighting ..... love doing this technique.  Some of the ladies had already tried this out but it was new to some.

Sorry .... same stamp again.  You'll be thinking I haven't got any more stamps soon.  Don't worry I'm sure another favourite will be along shortly!

This time we stamped the image twice onto white card ..... then cut out sections from one of them that we wanted to highlight, added some colour and then attached over the top of the other one.

I used dies to cut circles but punches work just as well and it doesn't have to be circles .... try cutting squares, or ovals

A simple sentiment .....

and a few sparkly sequins finish off the front of the card, and part of the image stamped off the edge gives the finishing touch to the inside

We stamped the images twice but a quicker way of doing this technique is to stamp the image onto your piece of card, die cut (or punch) the bit you want in the spotlight, colour it in and then put the piece back in place ....... or use foam pads if you want to give it a bit of dimension.
Why not give it go!

I've got a busy week coming up .... lots still to do in the old craft room, and coffee and cake out with the ladies one day .... yum!

The countdown is on too  ..... only 5 days to go before this year's TT gets underway.  It also means that our holiday isn't that far away ....... Ahoy there matey!  Once the TT's over we're off on our annual family getaway ....... not Bourton this year ..... the Norfolk Broads here we come

Can't wait!

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

Cheerio until next time

A little inspiration for the STAMPlorations CAS challenge .......

Hello again .......

It's time for a little reminder for this month's STAMPlorations CAS Card Challenge.

May is all about Feminine Colours .......

That could mean anything these days though ..... we girls like all colours!
We also like flowers too ...... BIG hint to my other half if you're reading this!

I've used the pretty Large Helenium stamp for today's card .... stamped and masked to create a floral bouquet across the base of the card

I then coloured the flowers using ZIG Clean Colour Brush pens along with a water brush ...... these pens are so easy to use and blend beautifully

A simple sentiment die cut from co-ordinating pink cardstock was then inlaid above the flowers (CUTplorations  Thanks thin metal word die)

And a few pretty sequins here and there added the finishing touch with a little sparkle ..... something else that girls like!

A single flower decorates the inside ......

There's still time to play along with the challenge ..... all the details can be found over on the STAMPlorations Blog along with more fabulous inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

Don't forget ....... if you're shopping for STAMPlorations goodies use the code below to get a whopping 20% off your order ......

 use code ..... STAMPGIRLLINDA

It's been a busy old week ..... I did take the day off yesterday though.  A little retail therapy and lunch out with Lauren.   Yes they're back off their holidays,  and it's like they've never been away!  We heard all about it .... the sun, the water parks, the sea .... oh! and the Grand Prix!

Looks, and sounds like someone had fun .......

Nice to have them home.

Well it's Friday tomorrow, and a busy weekend coming up .... the last one before our own little annual racing event gets underway.  Yes ...... the 2017 IOM TT is only 8 days away!! Fingers crossed this weather holds.

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

It's back to the craft room for me ...... I've a workshop to get ready for!

Cheerio until next time .....

A little bit of everything ......

Happy Thursday .....

And thank you to whoever it was for returning the big yellow thing to the sky ..... yes the sun is shining again!

Just a quick post this morning with ..... guess what ........ wait for it ....... it's been a while ......
JOURNAL PAGES!!
Sorry,  I didn't mean to shout but I'm quite excited that I've actually finished two more pages ...... whoo hoo!  Not exactly Journaling 365 ..... at this rate I'll be lucky to finish 65!
Oh well ...... here's pages 25 & 26 ..... they've taken a few days to complete, and there's a little bit of everything been thrown at these .... literally!

I must say the words are not entirely true ........ tidy is one thing that I think I am.  A place for everything, and everything in it's place sort of thing.  And my wardrobe well ..... shoes are kept in boxes, sleeves go from long to short to sleevless, scarves are hung according to colour .... you get where I'm coming from.  Oh! and hangers have to hang the same way ...... fussy ...... who me!!?
I'm not on my own .... I was having this conversation yesterday with the sales assistant in Next but that's another story!!
My craft room however ....... at the moment, is anything but tidy!  Which brings me to the stencil used above .... I couldn't resist that one! (Imagination Crafts I think!)

The pages were coloured using Gelatos, after watching Kay from IndigoBlu on the telly the other weekend. I haven't really played with these before but, after watching Kay I was inspired to give them a go.

I simply applied some texture paste through a stencil, onto blank (gesso-ed) journal pages. Once it was dry I scribbled with the Gelatos directly onto the pages, and over the top of the texture paste.
I then spritzed with some water and used my fingers to blend and move the colour around a little .....

I then tipped the journal and let the water drip the colour down the pages ......

I left this overnight to dry then when I came back to it I added some glitter onto some of the bubbles.

Next came the stenciling ....... just Archival ink through one of the new Tim Holtz stencils ..... think it's called Stone

I said there's a bit of everything on these pages .... basically it was whatever I came across on my desk.
Next up it was some of those pretty metallic paints from the Finnabair range ...... I was prepping a future workshop project and I didn't want to waste any so ...... I dry brushed some of the colours onto the pages ..... love how shimmery these paints are and the coverage you get is fab!!

The final thing was the stamping ....... using one of my favourite stamps (well it was on my desk!) and the splatters of course

Stamped and clear embossed the flowers then used Distress Stains to 'splat' the colour.  I did heat this a little to start the drying process as I wasn't sure it would dry on top of the Gelatos, then I left it overnight again, to fully dry on it's own.
However when I came back to it the next day it still wasn't completely dry so, I just mopped up the excess that was still lying on top of the Gelatos with a paper towel and you can see most of the colour was still there.
Not the most tidy pages but, I like how they've turned out.  Think I need to play with the Gelatos  a little bit more.

Thanks for popping by ..... I'll be back later with a little bit of Blog Challenge inspiration, but first it's time to tidy that craft room!  See you later.

Cheerio until next time

A bit of a catch up ........ a little bit of news ..... and a blog challenge. What a busy post! Oh and I'd just like to say .....We did it!!!

Happy Tuesday to you ......

Sorry about the title ..... I've a lot to get in!

OK, before we start ... own up ..... who's got the big yellow thing?  It's been missing since Friday evening here and I personally would like it back ..... please!
I must admit it's absence didn't dull our festivities though ....... what a fab weekend!  And it all started on Friday night ......
Yes ..... my boys in blue wrapped up this season's Championship with a win at West Brom .... whoo hoo!! Congratulations Chelsea FC ..... Champions again!

(picture courtesy of the Chelsea FB page)

Of course the night didn't end there .... we had to celebrate, so off to the Bath & Bottle it was for a little cocktail ...... or two, or three I lost count!

Add caption

Let's just say Saturday started a little late!
Good job it wasn't this weekend .... I have a workshop!!!

Back to business though ....... it's a busy week in the old craft room.
I have the workshop coming up at the weekend (should be a fun one), lots of  DT projects to do (Lucy from Sweet Poppy is back on the TV again soon) and I'm trying to get ahead with all my projects for the blog challenges coming next month.  Speaking of which ...... if any of you like making ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) then watch this space.
There's a great new challenge starting in June over on the Happy Little Stampers Blog.  It's launching on the 11th ..... which will actually be the 10th here on my blog ....... time difference and all that! and I'm on the DT ... whoo hoo!

It's exclusively for ATC's ...... these little works of art are very popular and there's not that many Challenge Blogs out there for them so Kylie, who's always ready for a new challenge has created one.
Like the other HLS challenges it will run monthly, and there will be a theme each month to get you started.
If you love making ATC's, or if you've never made one before why not join us next month and play along ..... I can't wait!

Speaking of Blog Challenges I'm playing along with this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge (it's been a while)

I love splattering inks and paint, as you probably guessed, so I couldn't resist this one.  For the 'Your Choice' part,  I've gone for Inlaid Die Cutting .... another current favourite of mine.

I stamped the flowers onto a piece of white card using black Versafine ink and then used various colours of  Distress Stains to add the splats

The harder you splat ...... the more widespread the stain will be ...... I love it! (Don't do this whilst wearing you best white t-shirt though ..... that stain can get everywhere!)

I then die cut the word happy from the stamped and coloured card, cut it again from a piece of plain white and inlaid this into the space along with the stamped one on the top giving it a little bit of dimension.

I had to splat the inside too .....

Well that's my lunch break over ...... it's been nice catching up.
Thanks for popping by ... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time .....