And so the countdown begins .......

Happy Monday ......

I hope you all had a good weekend.  Ours was fab ..... lots of family time.
Did you see the royal wedding?  Wasn't it beautiful ..... very emotional.
Then the football went in our favour too ..... my boys in blue lifted the FA Cup. Well done lads!! All in all ..... a great weekend.

We're looking forward to the next couple of weeks too.
It's that time of year again when our little island in the Irish Sea is preparing for 'the world's ultimate road race'.  Yes, this coming weekend sees the start of the 2018 IOM TT fortnight.  Fingers crossed this great weather holds ....... if it does it'll be an amazing two weeks!!  Hopefully we'll get to see some of the racing, and of course spend some time down at the Grandstand.

But, before all that gets underway there's something else to look forward to.
It's the countdown to the next Sweet Poppy Stencil TV shows ...... whoo hoo!
Yes, the lovely Lucy is back on our screens this week, with more gorgeous new stencil designs.

When? .........  Friday May 25th 

What time? .......  10am and 3pm (book your place on the sofa now!) 

Where? ...... HOCHANDA of course ..... Sky channel 673/Freeview 85/Freesat 817.

As always there'll be new stencil designs, the brand new Sweet Poppy Dies, all the stencil mediums along with the pretty shimmer paints.  There'll also be great demos from Lucy too .... showing you how to get the best results from you Sweet Poppy stash.

I've been playing with the stencils, here's a quick look at some of the samples I give to Lucy at the Happy Stampers show the other weekend ...... something for everyone. 

Dare I say it .... there's even a bit of the 'C' word in there too! 

One of my favourite designs from this show is the stunning Flamingo ..... I just love her, or it could be a him I suppose!

What a great size stencil it is ..... here she is on an A5 card.

I coloured a piece of watercolour card using Distress Oxide inks ........ smooshed directly from the ink pad onto the card and then blended with a damp baby wipe where the colours joined together

I then stenciled the bird onto the card using the Glossy Black stencil paste, and sprinkled Black Glitter over the top whilst the paste was wet ...... love the swirly detail!

When this was dry I used another Sweet Poppy stencil .... the pretty Cherry Blossom to add a little more detail

Glossy White stencil paste this time and crystal glitter ..... so sparkly.
I like how the paste has picked up a little of the Distress Ink colour too .....

To finish off ..... a simple sentiment stamped and heat embossed in gold

Same stencil, same technique for the background, different colours of glitter .....

Black paste again  ....... and I think it was a peach glitter I used on top, with a little bit of gold on the beak

Different foliage on the bottom too ....... the pretty Dancing Bells and before you all shout yes I know it's upside down but doesn't it work!!

I stenciled it first using a green Distress Oxide ink, and then used the Glossy Black stencil paste over the top to give it depth .......

Last one of my flamingos ........ I did say it was my favourite!

I love how this turned out.  It's a large 8 inch x 8 inch card (I don't do that many large cards these days!) and it could be an engagement card, a wedding card, a baby card for twins maybe!!

I simply stenciled the flamingo one way, turned the stencil over and did the same again .... easy!

I used the pretty Peach Pearl stencil paste and sprinkled with pink and glitter on one of them

Then for the other one I used the Pale Blue Pearl paste and crystal glitter for the top part of the flamingo  ....

And the peach paste for his legs!

The background was simply various inks splattered onto the card using an old paint brush.

A cute little heart stamped between them, and a simple sentiment heat embossed in gold ....

This is actually from one of the new Sweet Poppy Stamp sets. You'll be seeing a few more of these popping up here and there.
Oh Yes,  there's some fab new sentiment sets to go with all your Sweet Poppy stencil designs.  A really good collection of words for all occasions, along with some verses and sayings.  I'm not sure whether they will be on the TV show but they are available now on the Sweet Poppy website 

Just a couple more designs before I head off back to the craft room .......  so CAS, using the Dancing Bells again

I know, I know ....... it's upside down ....... I like it this way!

Stunning detail as always from Sweet Poppy.
And here's another one of those brand new Sweet Poppy stamps .....

And another one ...... I love this one

Really simple, using Distress Inks this time through the Cherry Blossom stencil ........

a few dots of White Enamel Accents to the centers .......

and finished off with the sentiment, a little ink brushed around the edges and a few splatters here and there.

So, don't forget ...... Lucy's back on HOCHANDA!  Friday May 25th ...... 10am and 3pm.  See you there!

Thanks for popping by  ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'll be back later in the week with a few more of my show samples.

Cheerio until next time ......