Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge ......

Happy Thursday ......

What a busy week it's been ..... and it's not over yet!
I've got another Blog Challenge for you this evening.  Fancy a little bit of Mixed Media .... well you're in luck because it's time for the July Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge

This month it's all about Texture.
I love adding texture to my projects ..... using pastes and gels through stencils or by adding metal embellishments or chipboard, even beads and painting over them.
But it doesn't always have to be so touchy feely ..... you can create the look of texture simply by using your inks and different methods of applying them, or by building up layers using stencils or stamps

For my inspiration piece I started out by adding some simple die cut flowers onto a piece of cardstock ..... this is one of my all time favourite dies from Penny Black, I love it and it's an easy way of adding texture to your cards.

I then used a piece of acetate to apply Distress Oxide inks onto the background ..... I swiped the ink onto a craft mat, spritzed with a little water and then picked up the ink using the acetate.  I then pounced the acetate over the cardstock to give this mottled effect to the background.

I repeated this for each of the different colours, drying with a heat tool in between so as not to mix the colours together

I used the same technique to colour the die cuts ..... I love how it's left a sort of halo around the flowers,  I think it really makes them pop!

Once this was all dry, I took the same colours of Distress Oxides and used the Tim Holtz Mosaic stencil to add another layer to the card and give the look of more texture
I think this is going to become a new favourite stencil of mine .... what a fab design!

I added in a sentiment ..... from the HLS Doodled Flowers and finished off with a few dots of glitter glue .... more texture

Hope you like it.

As with all the HLS challenges there's a $20 Gift Certificate for the winner, to spend in the store  so get creating and I'll see you in the gallery.

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

Guess what! ..... the BBQ is up and running .... whoo hoo!!
It took us most of yesterday afternoon to get it sorted, but it looks .... and cooks fab!!  Even the weather was good.
Hubby's pleased with his new toy ........ and so he should be!

It's a little on the large side but .... what cooks a lot will cook a little!
As you can see it all lights up ..... once it's on all the control knobs turn red so you know which burners are on ...... ooooh!!  It's got a back burner for a rotisserie ...... ..yum!   and enough grill space to feed a small army  ...... (it all cleans really easily too!)

There's an ice bucket built in on one side to keep your beers chilled, and on the other there's this super hot grill plate which you can use to sear steaks in seconds or you can change the height of the grill and use it with a wok or grill pan to cook vegetables, or stir fry prawns etc  .... whatever you like really.

I promise I won't go on about the BBQ anymore ...... all I will say is, it was a bit of an impulse buy but it was worth every penny ..... bring on the summer!

Cheerio until next time .....