How does your garden grow ......

Happy weekend .......

Well .... that's the first week of 2018 over .... it wasn't so bad.
Back to normal now though .... the tree and all the decorations are down and put away for another year, and the house is nearly tidy but hey! ..... I'm not too bothered about all that, seeing as we're moving again at the beginning of February! I'll be starting to pack boxes again soon ...... whoopee!!
There's never a dull moment at the Walmsley's ....... life is always an adventure.

I've got another Blog challenge for you this evening .... it's the turn of the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media challenge

As you can see, the theme is ...... GARDEN
Now I'm not much of a gardener myself ...... I can't even keep a cactus alive!  But .....I do love a nice garden, that's why I usually pay someone else to look after it.
For the last three years we haven't actually had a garden as such because we've been in the centre of Douglas .... we have had the rather large square outside though which has been lovely .... all the benefits, none of the work.
When we move though, that will change.  There's a huge garden at the new place, with a patio area to put garden furniture, and I think it gets the sun all afternoon.  Better start looking for that gardener!

Anyway ..... back to the challenge.  One of the lovely things from a garden are the beautiful blooms that grow ......

I used the large bloom from the HLS Especially for You set, stamped it a few times onto white cardstock and then fussy cut the flowers, before colouring each one using ZIG Markers

The background is the faux wood grain technique.  There's a great step by step tutorial over on the Snippets Blog by Karen Dunbrook.  Check it out and give this a go ..... it's so much fun.

It's a really easy technique to do and depending on what colour of Distress Ink you use, you will get a different looks ..... I've used Weather Wood on mine.

Simply apply PVA glue onto a piece of white cardstock.  Don't cover the card completely, and apply the glue in lines, down the card.  This gives the best wood effect when the ink is applied.
When the glue is dry, turn the card over and score down the card at quarter or half inch intervals, depending on the size of your finished card (I think mine are quarter inch)

Turn back to the glue side of the card and apply Distress Ink ...... rub the ink directly from the pad down the cardstock.  You will begin to see where the glue was ...... continue applying the ink until you get the finish you are looking for.  I used just the one colour here, but you can use as many as you like .... depends on the look you want.

I attached the flowers over the top .... some flat and some with foam pads for dimension ....

A simple stamped sentiment ......

and a few dots of glossy accents finish everything off.

I also added a couple of the flowers to the inside of the card ......

How will you interpret the challenge theme? I can't wait to see.

There's a prize for the challenge winner ..... a $20 Gift Certificate to spend in the HLS store and .... if the winner (randomly chosen) has used HLS stamps on their winning project then the prize will be doubled!!
You might want to check out the HLS store ...... Kylie has been busy designing and there's some fabulous new stamp sets available for pre-order.  There's an amazing offer on them too .... if you order all six sets then there's 20% off the price! 

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your weekend.
I'm off to grab a take away, put my feet up, and catch up on some TV.  No G&T tonight though, not even a small glass of wine ..... I've decided I'm having a dry January.
So far it's been sparkling water with my lunch out yesterday, and then just a Fever Tree Aromatic tonic with ice and pink grapefruit when we popped into the Prospect.
Hubby is trying too ..... although he's going for more of a damp January rather than dry ..... no will power!!

Cheerio until next time ......