Hello, Hello, Hello .....

Happy weekend to you .....

I hope you've had a good week and that you're all enjoying the weekend.
I've been hosting a Stampin Up! party this afternoon so my weekend has got off to a great start.  Tea, cake and lots of laughs with my crafty ladies, and lots of new SU goodies too.  It's always a fun afternoon when Lyn, my SU demonstrator comes round ..... expensive but fun!
Thanks ladies for a great afternoon.

I'm playing along with this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge today ........

I've been having fun this week trying out Loll's Tissue Paper Watercolouring Techniques ..... you've got to give these a go they are so much fun and really easy to get brilliant results. Check out the link to Loll's YouTube video.

CAS Mix Up ....... what's all that about then?  It's right up my street ...... CAS design, lots of white space, Mixed Up with rubber stamping and different techniques using mixed media products. You can find all the details on the CAS Mix Up Blog

This month it's all about using Tissue Paper, along with rubber stamping and my choice of technique/product is inlaid die cutting.  Here's the result ........

A really simple design, lots of white space, using the Say Hello  die set from Concord & 9th.  This is a fab die set .... 2 pieces one of which cuts the word as above, including the outline and the other part cuts the word much finer (you'll see what I mean later on)

I followed Loll's instruction and coloured my tissue paper using Distress Inks ...... smooshed onto a craft sheet, spritzed and then laid the tissue over the top to soak up the colour.
Once it was dry I adhered it to a piece of white card stock using IndigoBlu Slap It On as my adhesive and left it to dry.
This was then die cut using the large hello die ......

I love the texture that you get from the tissue paper ......

I used the same die and cut the word from black card and also from a white piece that had been cut to fit the front of my finished card.

I then inlaid the tissue paper hello along with a black border into the white panel ...... love the effect!

A simple stamped greeting and a few dots of glitter glue add the finish touch

Here's a couple more versions using up the die cut pieces ....... the first one is using the panel of die cut coloured tissue

Inlaid with the black hello and this time I added in the white border.......

I also used the second part of the die .... the fine cut word.  see how I've layered it on the top to add more detail ......

I also adding in a touch of gold embossing powder too.  Simply wiped gently over the top of the raised areas with Versamark ink ..... I used my finger but you could use the ink pad itself.
Sprinkled on the gold embossing powder and heat set ...... love this effect.

I stamped some words to finish the greeting, and a little bit of gold thread for added interest

A few pretty sequins add a touch of sparkle.

Finally the white version ........

Using the black left over card I inlaid the white hello and the tissue paper border .....

A little bit of stamping to add detail to the bottom ....... I used Distress Oxides for the flowers, they're great on dark cardstock, and a bit of white heat embossing for the word friend 

And again I finished off with a few dots of glitter glue here and there

I think I can say that's good use of all that die cutting .... well you know I don't like to waste anything!

Time to put my feet up now I think and catch up on some TV. 

We've got the little man staying with us tonight, so it might have to be Pokemon or Power Rangers for now until he goes to bed.  Then it's time for a cheeky G&T ....  and the last episode of The Night Manager. 

I've finally managed to get my hands on a new Aromatic Tonic from Fever Tree so it would be rude not to try it ..... the decision I have to make is which gin do I put it with!  Cheers folks! 

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

It's supposed to be nice weather here tomorrow ..... so it's looking like BBQ for Sunday lunch!

Cheerio until next time ....

CAS Watercolour ......

Happy Wednesday folks ......

It's a little bit wet over here this afternoon ..... not quite as bad as in parts of the UK though. I believe some of you had some pretty bad storms last night.  Hope everyone is OK and that things have calmed down a little now.  It's perfect weather for staying in the craft room though ..... every cloud has a silver lining .... so they say!

I've had a busy few days .... playing with some new Sweet Poppy Stencil designs (that's  for another day though). I've been planning a magazine project (again that's for later) and I've also made a start on next month's DT work ..... talk about organised!!

I've even found time to play along with this month's CAS Watercolour challenge .....

As you can see the theme is Butterfly ........

I coloured the background panel with Distress Oxide Inks, using the smooshing technique ..... hope this can be classed as watercolouring!
I swiped the ink pads directly onto my craft sheet, spritzed with water and then smooshed the cardstock into the ink.  I dried off the first layer and then went back to the craft sheet picking up any leftover colour.  I love how this adds depth to the background and if you remember to dry in between each layer the colours won't mix together and you get this lovely splattered, watercolour look

Once it was completely dry I stamped the small butterfly from the Penny Black Butterfly Trio .... love this stamp set! and embossed them in white .....

I stamped top and bottom of the piece of card, leaving the centre free so that I could stamp the large butterfly from the set ............

I used my MISTI to stamp the big one because I wanted it to sit across two pieces of card ..... the coloured topper and a piece of white behind .......

I placed both pieces of card into the MISTI making sure the coloured piece was exactly where I wanted it.  I then stamped the butterfly and embossed with Ranger's Liquid Platinum EP
I then removed the coloured piece and stamped and embossed the butterfly again, this time onto the white card and then layered the coloured piece over the top, matching up the two images .....

Don't worry I didn't waste any embossing powder, I only sprinkled it on the ends of the wings where they would be seen!

A simple greeting added to the bottom and we're done!

I love CAS cards, and even though they are clean and simple you can still use all your favourite techniques with inks, and embossing powders and glitters etc. You can still watercolour, smoosh, and splatter .... just leave some white space!

Oh well .... time to go.  The little man has arrived and he's hungry!  School finishes on Friday for the summer break, so I'll be seeing a little bit more of him over the next few weeks ..... another reason for getting organised!

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

Cheerio until next time

The Art Project 2017

Happy weekend folks .....

I've got special little project for you today ........ can't believe I haven't blogged this before, it's such a long time ago!
Last year ..... yes that's right .... last year, I was told about The Art Project that was taking place to raise money for the Manx Cancer Help charity.

The event was island wide and open to anyone.  Over 500 small canvases were distributed to all those who expressed an interest, and the idea was that you decorated it, however you liked.  It could be any design, using any techniques ..... your own personal style.
They would then be showcased and sold to the highest bidders to raise money for the charity.

Now you know me, I'm not normally one for pushing myself forward for anything but I decided to give it a go.
It was way before last Christmas when I first heard about it and to be honest I'd forgotten until the guy got in touch with me to say that he had the canvases and was I still interested, as he would drop one off for me.  Of course I jumped at the chance and here's what I created .......

I couldn't resist using one of my favourite, Finnabair inspired techniques to create this little piece of artwork ..... it's very Me!
It's a cute 5x5 inches in size and I named it Love Life. 

It's full of all my favourite bits and pieces ..... lots of metal embellishments, pretty flowers, gorgeous butterflies ........

Stencils and pastes, shimmery mica sprays, rich metallic waxes .......

 and of course lots of texture, texture, texture!

These canvases are now being showcased at the Hodgson Loom Gallery at Laxey Woollen Mills and I believe it's the last day of the exhibition today.  I might just have to pop up there and take a look.

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

Cheerio until next time ......

Bee yourself .......

Happy Friday ........

The weekend starts here! Although I think it's already started for some!

I've got a little reminder for you this morning about the latest Craft Stamper challenge .......

It's been up and running since last Friday and there's already some fabulous entries in the gallery.

It's the usual Anything Goes theme ..... as long as there's actual rubber stamping somewhere on your project, and our sponsor this month is the wonderful STAMPlorations .......

A fabulous online craft store, stocking hundreds of their own brand of clear stamps, stencils and masks ..... and metal cutting dies.  The designs cover a whole range of tastes ..... there really is something for everyone.

The prize on offer for this month's challenge winner (randomly chosen) is this set of three (3) amazing stamp plates ...... cool or what!

And ........ Shery has very kindly offered a little something extra for everyone.  For the whole of July, when readers/followers of the Craft Stamper Blog place an online order of at least $15 they can get 20% off by using the code CRAFTSTAMPER at the checkout.

Thanks Shery!  

Surprise!  I've got a couple of journal pages for you today.

Yes I'm still playing along with the Creative Journaling 365 group on Facebook.  Well, when I say playing along what I mean is I follow what everyone else is doing and feel guilty I haven't been keeping up!  There's no way I'll get to 365 finished pages by the end of the year but if I can keep doing something every now and again I'll be happy!

I've been playing with my Distress Oxides again ....... I love them!

I can't wait until the new colours arrive ....... talk about stalking the postman!

Anyway ..... I started the pages by applying the colours to the background.  I used another favourite of mine .... the acetate smooshing technique, or it was more of an acetate pouncing really. 

I smooshed the DO's onto my craft sheet, spritzed with water and them picked up the colour using a piece of acetate.  I then pounced the acetate over the journal page to build up the colour .... I love how you get this mottled look, and you can see I did leave a little bit of white space here and there.

I then added some foliage to the top of the pages using yet another favourite .... stamps from the JOFY range (JOFY 49 for the leaves) 

I love how you can stamp with the oxides and get clean, crisp images ..... and then use the same inks along with a little bit of water, to colour them in

I stamped a few grasses across the bottom of the pages, again in a green Distress Oxide and then stamped the large flower (JOFY 26) over the top using black Versafine ink and heat embossed them with a clear powder

 If you use more ink and less water you get this really cool, almost opaque finish .....

I added in a few little bees here and there, and finished off with the words ...... the new 'T' for Transparent set from Penny Black called be .....

Stamped and heat embossed in white, and I couldn't resist adding the extra letter ........ it just had to bee done (oooh .... sorry!)

Something else that had to go on there was the ladybug ...... stamped, coloured and fussy cut, and finished off with some glossy accents.
And finally I splattered some white paint over the pages and a few dots of gold .... just because I could!

Well that's 2 more pages done ..... and I love how they turned out.  I just wish I had more time to play.

Thanks for popping by ....... enjoy the rest of your day and have a great weekend.
I'm off into the craft room again.  I had a lovely day up there yesterday, very productive too.  And no interruptions.  Hubby's on the work's 2 day 'off site'........ you know one of those team building/bonding sessions where they supposedly get lots done.  Yeah! Yeah! .... it's just an excuse for a couple of days away from the office having a jolly!!
Yesterday was spent at the museum ....... apparently, it was all meetings and presentations along with a quiz that hubby had prepared.   He said it went down really well with everyone, but things got quite competitive ..... no surprises there!   Then they had a meal out in the evening and a late night doing goodness knows what ...... there was probably karaoke at some point.  I'll bet there's a few sore heads this morning though, which is not good as they're all off kayaking and coasteering this morning ........ let's hope they all make it back in one piece!

Cheerio until next time ......

One card ..... two challenges

Happy Wednesday ......

Middle of the week already.
Just a quick post today as I'm off out later ..... the sun is shining and I'm meeting up with the girls in Ramsey for lunch.

Before I go, I want to play along with the latest Less is More Challenge

It's One Layer Week .... whoo hoo!! and the challenge is to use a coloured card base.  Not something I do very often but I think this fits the bill perfectly ......

Definitely not white .... and only one layer.  It was hubby's birthday card.

The wine bottle image was stamped using Crimson Red versafine ink .... I think the stamp is an old Inkadinkadoo one 

And then the sentiment (from Penny Black's T for Transparent set ..... Birthday Love) stamped over the the top in black

I added the Happy Birthday to the bottom .... stamping in the red ink first, then in black over the top but slightly offset to give a shadow look

It's a bit different over at LIM this week with the challenge running for 2 weeks ..... so no excuse not to enter.   AND ...... they're also joining forces for this challenge with the AAA CAS Card Challenge .... so I'll be playing along there too!

I must dash, I'm still in my PJ's ..... can't go out for lunch like that now can I!

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

Cheerio until next time .....