I'm on the Uniko Blog today .......

Happy Friday folks ........

The weekend is here again .... yeah! 
It's been a busy few days here.  We've had Lauren and the little man staying with us.  I'm on Grandma
duty most days ..... six weeks of school holidays! At least the weather's been good ....... and the hot tub's been getting used quite a bit.  We've had some amazing sunsets too ....... this was Wednesday night, down on the prom in Douglas.  Just look at that sky ....... 

We were at a leaving party for someone from hubby's work place, which actually turned out to be a 'not leaving yet' party but, we had a nice time.
And no, it's not my motor parked in the photo (I wish!) ...... it just happened to be parked there. Nice though.
This was about 8.30pm(ish) ..... the sky was just beautiful, shades of pinks, blues and lilac and the sea was so calm. 
And then when we came out of the restaurant we had this ...... a stunning moon just shining on the water ..... so pretty, and so romantic!

What! ...... Romantic! ..... Me!  Well it is our wedding anniversary on Monday.  30 years this year ..... it still feels like yesterday!

Anyway ..... the real reason for today's post is just to say I'm over on the Uniko Blog today.  I've got a really simple way of adding a touch of pretty mixed media to your cards.

Why not grab a cuppa and pop over and take a look.

Thanks for stopping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend. 

Cheerio until next time .....

CAS Christmas cards ......

Happy weekend .....

I hope you're having a good one.  So far we've done nothing ....... it's been wonderful!
No early morning starts ...... no dashing off into town with a list as long as my arm, and no plans made at all ..... makes a nice change.

I'm playing along with the current CAS Christmas Card Challenge today ...... I think there's still a couple of days left before the deadline.

It's all about Poinsettias this month ....... my favourite festive bloom.
I buy one every year and try my best to keep it alive for as long as I can.  You see, I'm not very good with plants ....... so, it's lucky if it makes it to New Year's Eve!  (I also have a fake one as a back up!!)
Anyway, enough about my not so green fingers ..... here's my card .....

Very CAS ....... lots of white space ...... minimal layers/embellishment ...... OK maybe not so minimal on the layers but, I wanted to really frame the pretty poinsettia.

I stamped the image (Perfect Poinsettia from Honey Doo Crafts) and heat embossed in gold and then coloured it using ZIG markers, blending the shades with a little water

I then die cut part of the image using a stitched square die and added a couple of layers of pain white cardstock to frame the image and make it 'pop' before mounting it in the centre of a square card.

A simple sentiment stamped and embossed underneath was all it needed

I did add a few dots of glitter glue to the centre of the flower, just for a touch of sparkle ...... well,  we all like a bit of sparkle at Christmas don't we!

That's another one for the festive box.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your weekend.
I've been having a bit of a tidy up in the old craft room ...... so far I've done all my stencils, my embossing powders and glitters (how did I get so many!!)  My MDF stash is looking so neat and tidy along with the basket that holds all my mixed media gels and mediums (it's quite a large basket!) 
My Distress inks are all sorted ..... making room for the new set of oxides which are on their way (excited or what!!)  And I even made a start on my dies ....... all the big ones are done anyway.
Next on the list are all the thin metal dies, and the stamp sets that have matching dies .... that's going to be fun!  It should keep me busy next week.

Time for another coffee I think.

Cheerio until next time ......

Uniko Blog Challenge ......

Happy Friday folks .....

Looking forward to the weekend? ...... I'm hoping for a quiet one.  We've nothing planned, no one to see, nowhere to go, so we're going to take it as it comes I think.

Let's get into that Friday feeling though with a blog challenge shall we ....... it's time to launch the new Uniko Blog Challenge

It's Challenge #48 ...... and what a cute inspiration photo we've got.
Will you use the colours maybe, or the little ladybirds.  You could go with two of something, like it says in the words, or maybe use the optional twist.  The choice is yours.  Full challenge details and all the rules can be found on the Uniko Blog

Fancy some inspiration to get you started ....... oh, go on then

I've gone for the colour combination, there's two of something on there, oh ..... and I've picked up on the word 'friend' too

I started by using the Uniko stencil Nature's Treasures II with some Peeled Paint Distress Oxide ink to stencil some leaves directly onto my card blank

and added a few splatters of red ink over the top for a little more interest

I stamped the pretty bloom from the Uniko Pure Florals - Gerbera stamp set onto a piece of white card.  I used the solid image and inked it up with Distress Oxide ink.  I also used my MISTI to do the stamping so that I could repeat stamp it until I got the ink coverage that I wanted.  Although can I just say, I did only have to stamp it twice, the Oxide inks do give a really nice coverage, and they blend beautifully

Once the red shades were dry, I over stamped the centre of the flower using Wild Honey DOX ink and finished off by stamping the line version of the bloom over the top, in a Sepia ink so that it wasn't too obvious. I then fussy cut the flower and attached it using foam pads in the centre of my stenciled leaves

The sentiment is from Uniko Organic Additions ...... stamped over the leaves using my new favourite black ink ..... Versafine Clair Nocturne ...... I love it!!!

To keep with the inspiration photo just a little bit more I added two bees onto the bloom (Uniko Bee Happy) ..... stamped and fussy cut, and coloured with ZIG markers

I can't wait to see your take on this months photo. 
Check out more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team over on the Uniko Blog

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.

It's the last day of school today ...... our little man has gone in loaded up with cards and presents for his teachers.  We've now got 6 weeks of fun to look forward to!

Cheerio until next time ......

Something new from Happy Little Stampers ........ 'Spotlight on .......... '

Happy Thursday ......

It's almost the weekend .... not sure where the rest of the week went though!!  It's been a bit of a busy one but, I don't seem to have got very far.  At least the sun is still shining though .... for now.

There's something new going on over on the Happy Little Stampers Blog.  Each month, starting with July,  Kylie is going to be putting the Spotlight on one of the fabulous HLS stamp sets, and if any of the DT have got that particular set in their collection then we can join in with the showcase.

To start things off this month's Spotlight is on ....... the super cute Whimsical Friends

I love the little birds in this set, they're so much fun ......

Perfect for fun, CAS designs, suitable for many different occasions, and they're even great for those men in our lives

They can be any colour you like ....... I've used ZIG markers to colour these little guys in .....

With a touch of shimmer on their tails from a Stardust Gel Pen ....

One of the sentiments from the same stamp set ..... with a few added words from my stamp stash

And plenty of ink splatters to finish off .....

Use them on your die cuts too ...... they're a great size

Now this isn't a challenge post but, if you do have this stamp set and fancy giving it an outing you can always link up to the NEVER ENDING Challenge using HLS stamps, or .... if you fancy getting hold of this fun set then just click HERE and pop over to the Happy Little Stampers store.

Happy Stamping!

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

Cheerio until next time .....

Time for a tipple anyone ......

Happy Wednesday .......

Only joking ...... it's a little bit early for me.  Although as the saying goes ....... it's 5 o'clock somewhere!

I am however playing along with this month's Twofer Card Challenge  hosted by the lovely Darnell.  As you can see the theme for July is ....... Beverage

The idea is to create TWO cards, for TWO different occasions using the same stamp and/or die ...... a Twofer!

I've gone with the same stamp.  I've used the Stampin Up! set called Half Full,  and I've created a birthday card, and a Christmas card.  Both designs would be great for guys too ...... which is always good!

Both are very CAS designs, in fact the birthday one would be one layer, except for the added die cut ......

I simply stamped the wine glasses in the centre of my card and coloured using ZIG markers and a waterbrush .... easy!

The sentiment (from the same SU set) was stamped directly underneath, and I also added a nice shiny die cut ..... layered to raise it up a little

The glasses were given a coat of Glossy Accents and I added a few tiny dots of glitter glue above one of the glasses to give the look of bubbles

I put the birthday bit on the inside ......

Card number two ...... same stamp, but now a little bit festive ......

I love this Christmas saying ...... perfect for all those wine loving friends

Again I stamped the glasses and coloured with ZIGs, and added a coat of Glossy Accents

The little holly leaves come in the same stamp set ..... and I used a foam pad to attach them to add a bit of dimension

I finished off the front with a sprinkling of Chunky White Embossing Powder ........

And put the red wine on the inside ......

And that's my Twofer ....... what's your favourite beverage?

We've got fresh salmon on the menu tonight ...yum! So it's probably going to be a nice glass of white with dinner this evening .... Cheers!

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

Cheerio until next time .....

CAS Mix Up ........

Happy Thursday .......

Or if you're an England football fan ...... a not so happy Thursday.  Argghhhhhhh!!! ....... the result unfortunately didn't go our way last night (sigh!) 
The lads have done us proud though ..... they all played their socks off.   We will be back, and who knows, next time things may end differently.

It's been a funny old week ......  hubby was away for three days with work, on his birthday too! Don't worry we'll celebrate it at the weekend. 
Lauren and the little man have been staying for a few days, although I've hardly seen them. 
And we've had this strange wet stuff falling from the sky ....... the hot sunny weather had to break at some point I suppose. Although saying that, the sun is back this evening.

As I've got a little time on my hands ....... well supposedly that is ....... I'm having a tidy up in the craft room.  You know the sort of thing I mean ......... actually putting stuff away, cleaning stamps (I know!!) sorting through all my dies and stencils.  I've also had a look through the ever growing pile of new stash, and found things I'd totally forgotten about!

I've even found time to play along with one of my favourite Blog challenges ...... CAS Mix Up

I've had a few cards to make recently and this one fits the challenge theme perfectly .... I think!

Coloured Die cuts ..... got that
Stamping ..... got that
and something of my choice, got that too I think ........ ink splattering.

I die cut the word happy from a piece of white cardstock, cut to fit the front of my finished card and again from a couple of snippets. I inlaid one of the die cuts back into the white card,  and layered another white one on the top.  The last one I coloured using Distress Oxide inks, swiped across the die cut directly from the ink pad.  I used Salty Ocean across the top and Twisted Citron on the bottom .....

and used a wet wipe to blend the two colours together across the middle.
I attached this onto the top of the other two and finished it off with a layer of Glossy Accents .... love the shine

I stamped the cute little chick over the top of the die cut and coloured him using ZIG Markers (this was one of the stamp sets I'd forgotten about ...... I can see these getting used a lot!)

I splattered a little of the Distress Oxide colours onto the card .... and finished off with a bit of rubber stamping to complete the greeting

Oh look ...... there's another little chick on the inside ..... along with a birthday sentiment, just for hubby

His birthday celebrations have started I think ...... with a quick meal at our favourite Indian restaurant.  Well, we were passing and they had a table so it would have been a shame not to call in. Only one beer though ..... he was driving!

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

Cheerio until next time ......