Happy Weekend! .....

Happy weekend .....

I hope you're having a good one.
I've been a bit quiet on here the last few days ...... I've been getting my breath back after all the fun of the Uniko Birthday celebrations.  Everything is good though ..... busy, busy, busy as usual. 
I got a sudden urge to Spring clean everything at the beginning of the week (what's that all about!!)
The house is absolutely sparkling!  Windows done, floors done, woodwork polished.  A lovely new bed in the spare room ready for our visitors in April,  and the hot tub is all dusted off and ready to be refilled!  Even the craft room is tidy!!
I also bought myself a new breadmaker, just a small one.  The kitchen has been filled with the smell of freshly baked bread nearly every day, which is lovely ....... the results aren't bad either!

I have been in the craft room too this week ....... doing a little bit of this and that. 
I'm going to start my workshops again I think.  Thanks to the lovely Eileen Godwin I'm feeling all inspired.  She did a fab Facebook video, decorating a calendar page and I so want to do one of my own. 
So, I ran it by my crafty ladies, and Eileen of course, and they all want to create their own calendars so a workshop it is ...... watch this space!

I was also busy with some Sweet Poppy Stencil stuff.  Lucy asked me to re-create one of my previous samples for her .......

Slightly different from the original one, but still pretty.
It's the Change in the Season's stencil on Kraft card, lots of white ink and a touch of sparkle.

Whilst I was waiting for the stencil paste to dry on this one,  I also had a little play with some of the new designs that were still out on my desk.  These will be on Hochanda at the beginning of March.

The Steam Train ...... great for masculinen designs

This is a fab stencil .... a nice large design but, you don't always have to make big cards with the larger stencils.  If you're happier creating something smaller, just use part of the design .....

This is actually the result of a 'happy accident' ...... I never throw anything away if I can help it.
I'd used the stencil previously with the black paste and black glitter on the top, on a piece of cardstock coloured with Brushos but ...... I didn't let the paste dry properly!
As you can imagine the smudge wasn't easy to hide (ooops!) ....... so I just cut it off!

There was still enough of that fab train left though, to die cut using one of my circle dies

You can see there's a couple of bits that overlap the actual circle ......

To do this I first placed the die where I wanted it to be and drew a fine line along the edges of the metal die, either side of the bit that was going to overlap. 
I then fussy cut around the sections of the train on the outside of the lines.  I put the cutting die back in place with the fussy cut sections on the top, and then ran the die through the Big Shot as usual.  The result was a die cut circle with the overlapping bits still attached ..... hope that makes sense!!

A simple sentiment and a co-ordinating frame .......

And a few splatters of matching ink to finish off

The card above is my 'go to' card size, which is 7x5 inches. 
Here's the same stencil, in full this time, on a large square card

Black paste again, this time with sections highlighted using a Liquid Chrome marker

Has this been fussy cut ...... no.  It's a sneaky peek at a matching die that will be available for the Steam Train stencil .... how cool is that!
It doesn't cut the steam cloud ...... so I've used my sentiment in it's place.

Another of the new designs is the pretty Floral Mandala ....

Used here with Distress Oxide inks .....

a little touch of Stardust Gel Pen to add a bit of shimmer around the edge

And then a hidden sentiment in the middle, die cut using one of the new Sweet Poppy word dies that are coming soon

It also looks great when used with the stencil pastes too .....

I think the date for the Sweet Poppy shows on HOCHANDA is March 6th (the day after my birthday!) at 12pm and 4pm.
New products as well as some favourites, and lots of tips and techniques from the lovely Lucy.

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

Cheerio until next time .....