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

Happy Thursday ......

How's your week been so far?
Well, Autumn has officially arrived ....... summer seems so long ago.   The leaves are starting to fall already and we've even put heating on!!!  We were hoping to get into October before we flipped the switch but ..... we almost made it I suppose.

I'm just popping in this morning to say you can find me over on the Uniko Blog today with my DT Inspiration post.
I've got a great little technique for you which is a take on something that I saw Jennifer McGuire  do a while ago ..... where does she get all her fab ideas from?  Keep them coming I say!!

Here's a little sneaky peek .....

It's a fab idea for creating 4 designs, out of one stamped piece of card.  It's a great technique for using those larger, floral bouquet style stamps but, as you'll see,  you can also use smaller images to get similar results.
Check out the Uniko Blog today for a closer look.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off out for a spot of lunch later, and a good old catch up with a friend.  Who knows, there may even be a spot of retail therapy thrown in there too.

Cheerio until next time .....

CAS Christmas Card Challenge ......

Happy weekend ......

I hope you're all doing something nice this weekend. 
It's lovely here on the island today ..... we've got autumn sunshine.  It's a but chilly though, so my cosy, warm layers are starting to come out of the wardrobe.

As I mentioned yesterday, there's only 13 more weekends before Christmas ....... eeeek! I'd better get those lists started!  I must confess I did actually look a some Christmas cards in town yesterday.  Well, I was in the card shop with Lauren, waiting for balloons for Alex's birthday party today, and as I don't venture in to card shops much these days I thought I'd have a look round.  Don't worry, I didn't buy any, well not yet anyway.  The way things are going though I might just have to at some point!!!

I do have one more for the festive box ...... I'm playing along with this month's CAS Christmas Card Challenge.   As you can see, the theme this month is .... Wreath

I do like a nice Christmas wreath, you'll always find one on our front door. And here's my entry for the challenge ......

This cute little wreath is from the Stampin Up! set called Feeling of Christmas.  I think it was last year but don't hold me to that!
I simply stamped and heat embossed in gold, and then coloured using ZIG Markers.

For the berries I used white Enamel Accents, and I added a touch of sparkle to the cute little baubles using a Wink of Stella pen then put a layer of Glossy Accents over the top .....

The sentiment is from a Penny Black clear stamp set, stamped in gold metallic ink

and I added a few splatters of the same ink onto the background.

The design follows through on the inside .......

Same colours, same splatters ......

I might just make some more of these.

Speaking of Christmas a very large box arrived yesterday full of goodies for the festive workshop.  Looks like I'll be getting into the Christmas spirit, and full of glitter next week ..... can't wait!
Ho! Ho! Ho!

We had a great evening out with the birthday boy last night.  Alex chose the restaurant ..... Alessandro's in town, and we had a lovely meal. 
He discovered that he likes a medium rare, fillet steak, after eating most of Grandad's, saving his pepperoni pizza to take home!  He also had queenies with pancetta cooked in garlic and white wine, but he's not too keen on Beef Carpaccio.  He's developing great taste for an eight year old!!!
There had to be cake too of course .....

thanks to Robbie for the photo

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your weekend.
I'm looking forward to a nice cosy evening in front of the TV.  There's a beef casserole that's been cooking slowly all day ..... it smells delicious,  with a bottle of our favourite red to go with it ....... perfect!

Cheerio until next time .....

Uniko Challenge #49 ........ Wonderful World

Happy Friday .......

This week has flown by ..... again!! Only 13 more Fridays to go ....... before Christmas!!!!

Nothing festive today though. It's getting very Autumnal here ..... my favourite season.  The leaves are beginning to fall, with a little help from the storms.  The temperatures are dropping, and the days are getting shorter. 

It's also time for the latest Uniko Challenge to get underway.   It's Challenge #49 and we have the perfect inspiration photo for you ........ just look at the colours in this .......

I've gone with the optional twist ..... and created a pretty Thank You card using lots of Autumn shades

I've used one my favourite Uniko stencils ..... Nature's Treasures II, along with Distress Inks to create my leaves .......

I simply placed the stencil onto a background made using PaperArtsy Infusions ....... if you read yesterdays post you'll know I have a few of these already prepared!

Infusions work a little like Brushos  ..... great for creating backgrounds.

I inked through the stencil using various shades of Distress Ink ....... Dried Marigold, Fossilised Amber, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge and just a touch of Aged Mahogany ....... building up the colour slowly.  I then splattered a little water over the top and mopped up the excess removing some of the ink with it.

I then stamped and heat embossed the large 'Thanks' from the Uniko All Occasion Sentiments #6 , and coloured it using the same Distress inks .......

Doesn't it look great embossed in the Rose Gold.
I cut the card to fit across the middle of the leaves and attached it using foam pads.
By the way, if you like a bargain ....... this stamp set is currently in the sale.

I finished off by adding a few coloured sequins here and there, before matting and layering using black and Kraft card to keep with the Autumn feel

I'm looking forward to seeing your take on this month's challenge.

Check out the Uniko Blog for all the challenge details, prizes and more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

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

It's this little man's birthday today ..... he's 8.  Happy Birthday Alex!!!
Here he is, leaving Grandma and Grandad's last night, with just a little something to start off the celebrations ......

We're off out this evening to his favourite Italian restaurant ........ Alessandro's.  His choice for his birthday tea ....... the big party is tomorrow.

Have a great weekend ..... I expect ours is going to be a busy one

Cheerio until next time .....

CAS Watercolour challenge .....

Happy Thursday ......

It's been a busy week so far in the craft room ..... I've had birthday cards to make, presents to wrap along with all the regular stuff! It's been fun.

I'm playing along with this month's CAS Watercolour Challenge today.  The prompt for September is ...... Tree

Here's what I came up with ......

I found this piece of watercolour card in my bits box and I thought it would make a nice watercolour background for my tree ....... I think the colours are perfect for this time of year

It's been coloured using PaperArtsy Infusions ....... the Sunset Beach colour.  If you're not familiar with Infusions they're a little bit like Brushos in that they're pigment powders that you can sprinkle onto cardstock, spritz with water and just let them do their thing. But ..... they also have Walnut Stain crystals in them, which take a little longer to dissolve in the water, so you can get this lovely vintage look to the colour

I stamped the tree (SU Hopeful Thoughts) and heat embossed with my current favourite Rose Gold embossing powder from WOW!

And added the sentiment alongside ......

You can see how some of the walnut stain crystals haven't dissolved fully, giving this speckled look to the background ..... I love it!
In fact, I loved it so much I made some more ......

You might just see a few more designs shortly using these.

I mentioned I'd had birthday cards to make .... well, it's that time of year again when this little man gets a another year older .....

He's eight tomorrow ....... can you believe it!  We're all off out to his favourite Italian restaurant to celebrate tomorrow, then he's having a LaserBlast party with his pals at the weekend.
He's all excited today though because he's getting a new bedroom.  He stayed over with us last night because I was there yesterday helping to clear out his old bed,  clean the carpets, move the furniture round, put new curtains up.  His new bed is being delivered as we speak, so all his other presents are stuff for his new room ...... it's going to look so cool.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day. 
Me ..... I'm cleaning the hot tub (yeah!)  The wind blew the top open while I was out yesterday and now it's full of leaves (oops!)  Thank goodness it wasn't full of water ..... luckily, we had emptied it the day before ready for the big clean, so it's not that bad.
Time for a coffee first though. 

Cheerio until next time ......

Uniko Design Team Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!

Happy Saturday folks .......

Welcome to the weekend!!!   I hope you've had a good week.
Let's get things started with a fun Blog Hop shall we.  The Uniko Design Team are getting together today to showcase some favourite, previously released stamps and stencils and, hopefully give you some inspiration along the way.
There's a Giveaway too ...... a £20 eGift Certificate for the winner, to spend in the Uniko store.  All you have to do is leave a comment on the blogs as you hop along ..... easy!
The winner will be randomly chosen, and you have until midnight (BST) on Saturday 22nd September to leave your comments.

I've got a couple of ideas for you using the Scattered Polka Dots Stencil along with both sets of the Simply Said Blocks stamps ..... I love these little sentiment stamps.

First up, I've got a twofer. Two really quick cards from one piece of leftover cardstock.

I've used the stencil to add the design to a piece of coloured card from my bits box, giving me a fun background for my simple shaker card

Using a sponge, I applied Versamark Ink through the stencil, sprinkled with white embossing powder  and then heat embossed.  Don't you just love polka dots! It doesn't matter what colours you use they always look fab.
This piece of card was coloured using Salty Ocean (I think) Distress Oxide Ink applied direct from the ink pad and then a damp baby wipe to blend the colour over the card

I then die cut my parcel from the centre and layered a piece of acetate behind to create the front of my shaker card.

There's three pieces to the die ..... the full parcel with the bow, the frame with the bow, and finally just the bow.
So ..... I cut the full parcel from the dotty card (this comes in handy for the next one), the frame with the bow from plain white card, and inlaid this in place onto the acetate, and finally just the bow from sparkly silver glitter card, and attached this over the top.

I then created a frame around the square on the inside using foam tape, placed a few sequins inside and then attached a piece of plain white cardstock to the back trapping the sequins in place and creating a shaker card.

A simple sentiment stamped on a scrap of the blue card and fussy cut finishes it all off.

Here's the full parcel that I die cut .........

This couldn't be simpler  ...... the full die cut parcel, left over from the previous card, a sparkly bow on the top ........ voila!

Again one of those fab sentiments stamped below ....... job done!

I do love to inlay my die cuts ....... CAS again, and so quick and easy .....

Same stencil only gold dots this time .......

Minimal embellishment ........ but it gets the message across perfectly

For my final card I've used the Scattered Polka Hexagons stencil .......

Similar all over design but, you don't have to always use the whole thing.  I simply masked off sections and just inked through some of the design ...... moving the stencil to where I actually wanted the hexagons

A few dots of crystal drops and a touch of gold gel pen to highlight here and there ......

and I used those Simply Said sentiments again to add the greeting .....

Well that's it from me.  You'll find a full list of the Hop over on the Uniko Blog so you can check out what the rest of the Design Team have been up to.  Don't forget to comment!

Happy hopping!

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy your weekend.

We're off to the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival today ....... I'm just hoping the weather stays fine as it's being held in the Villa Marina Gardens.  If it rains though we can shelter in the Festival Bar.

Cheerio until next time ......

CAS Mix Up Challenge ........

Happy Friday .......

Yes it's the end of the week again ...... not quite sure where it went but, I'm looking forward to the weekend.

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

Clean And Simple (CAS) ..... one of my favourite styles, and Mixed Media .... what's not to like!

Each month there are 3 components in the Mix Up.  This month it's ....... Inking Stamps using Markers, I chose to go with my ZIG Clean Colour Brush Pens.  Stamping ....... I used the gorgeous Glorious Bouquet from Tim Holtz.   This stamp is so pretty, and it's BIG too.  Plus, you get to choose the third one which can be a product or a technique ..... I went with Heat Embossing but, I suppose it could have been using sequins.

I inked up the Glorious Bouquet using various shades in autumnal colours of my ZIG Markers ...... it's getting that time of year I think

This stamp does come with it's own special acrylic block (I did say it was large!) but, I used the MISTI to stamp this. 
Using the MISTI, or any other stamping platform, makes this technique of inking and stamping really easy. You can build up your coloured image slowly using just one marker at a time ...... ie do all the leaves first, then stamp again using one colour for the flowers, then again with another one, you get the idea, or, you can do like I did and colour the whole of the stamp with different markers and stamp the image in one. You need to be quick doing it this way, don't let the ink dry.  If you're not sure you can always spritz lightly with water before stamping to reactivate the ink.

I added my sentiment ..... part stamped directly onto the card, and heat embossed with my new favourite Rose Gold Embossing powder .......

and part stamped and embossed onto a strip of black cardstock, and attached above.

I finished it all off by adding a few co-ordinating sequins.

Once I'd stamped the image for the front of my card it looked as though there was still colour left on the stamp so, I spritzed with a little water and tried stamping it again .......

Not quite as clear an image as the first stamping but, it makes a nice piece for the inside

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

We've got a quiet night in tonight.  Well we were out last night, wine-ing and dining with some of hubby's work clients.  And it's the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival this weekend ....... whoo hoo!  I'm so excited. 
I look forward to this event every year, and this year it's going to be bigger and better I think ..... it's their 10th Anniversary

We'll be there tomorrow, to taste and buy some of the delicious produce this little island has to offer ...... more good food and wine!  And ...... our favourite Gin makers are there too.
Yes the Fynoderee Distillery are taking over the Festival bar for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon.  I'll definitely be popping in for a quick Fyn and Tonic!  They're doing an exclusive launch of their brand new seasonal edition of Manx Dry Gin ..... Autumn

Manx Apple, Crab Apple, Rowanberry, Rosehip and Wild Plum ...... doesn't it sound deeee-licious!  Can't wait to try it ...... I'm sure there will be at least one bottle coming home with us!

Enjoy your weekend whatever you're up to.

Cheerio until next time .....