Saturday 30 March 2019

Thank goodness it's the weekend .......

Happy weekend ......

I know ..... I've been missing for a week ....sorry!  Everything's OK, it's just been one of those weeks when life gets in the way. 
We've been having the drive and patio cleaned which is turning into a bigger job than we thought!  We've got some friends coming over next weekend so I've sort of been getting ready for that.  We've had a couple of evenings out, one of which was a Masterclass in Greek Wine would you believe. That was fun ...... we're really looking forward to our holiday in Santorini now!!
It was also Lauren's last shift as manager of The Railway on Tuesday ..... yes she's leaving the brewery and moving on to pastures new.  She's staying in hospitality but, it's bar and restaurant this time, down in the south of the island ......... Port Erin.   She's taken an Assistant Manager post at a relatively new place called The Little Fish at the Bay ........  I'll let you know what it's like!  It sounds lovely, lots of seafood, and the guy that owns it also has a couple of our favourite places in Douglas so it should be nice.
We've had a nice week because she's had a few days off, so we've had some mum/daughter time.  Lunches out ..... nails done ..... a bit of shopping.  It's cost me a fortune!!!

Anyway enough about all that.  I did manage to spend some time in the craft room.
I've been busy with my Sweet Poppy Stencils.  As the lovely Lucy is back on the TV again in April (I think it's the 19th ...... but I will confirm that), the DT have been busy creating some new samples using some old favourite stencil designs along with a couple of brand new stamp sets.

The beautiful Magnolia is having another outing ...... I love this design


It's so pretty on it's own, with just a simple sentiment ......


I've used it here with the Pearlescent White Paste, and then sprinkled some of the gorgeous brand new Ultra Fine Glass Micro Beads over the top


These beads are so tiny but they give great texture, and thery're available in a range of gorgeous colours ......


A few sparkly gems and a simple sentiment .....


It's so pretty when used with coloured inks too ......


These are Distress Oxides simply applied using a stencil brush .......


A few splatters of gold ink and a fw dot s of glitter glue .......


With a pretty heat embossed sentiment to finish ......


Same stencil just different colours of ink .....


and this time I've used the stencil around the edges of my piece of card, to frame this fab sentiment


Even though it's quite a large flower you can still use it to create smaller projects such as matching gift tags .....


This is just one of the designs that will be on the show, I'll be back next week with a little look at a few more.

Thanks for popping by ....... have a great weekend.
And if you're in the UK, and you're a Mum, have a lovely Mother's Day tomorrow.  We're off out for a nice family lunch so no cooking for me! 

Ooh ..... and don't forget, the clocks go forward tonight.  Summer is on its way!

Cheerio until next time ......




Products used:
Stamps: Life is a Journey stamp set (Sweet Poppy)
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress Oxides - Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Bundled Sage, Gathered Twigs; Picked Raspberry
Others: Magnolia stencil (Sweet Poppy); Pearlescent White stencil paste (Sweet Poppy); Micro Beads - Pale Pink, Green, Brown; Clear gems; Versamark ink, Gold Embossing Powder

Saturday 23 March 2019

Letters or Numbers ........ or it could be both!

Hello there, it's me again .........

I'm doing a little happy dance around the craft room today.
No, I haven't been on the bubbly celebrating my birthday again ....... I'm one of the Guest Designers  on this month's Country View Crafts Challenge Blog.
Thanks for having me guys!




The theme for March is .......  Letters and/or Numbers
A fun one right.  If you think about it, nearly everything we create has either letters or numbers on there somewhere, sometimes there's even both.
Take cards for instance ....... all those sentiments, they're letters.
Personalising something ..... you use letters then, or numbers maybe to mark a special birthday.
Do you use script stamps or alphabet stencils to create backgrounds ...... there you go!  The list is endless.

I decided to use some die cut Letters on my project, to create some cute little painted wooden blocks to use as a home decor piece ......


These are just off cuts of wood, roughly about the size of an ATC (2.5 by 3.5 inches and about an inch deep)

I gave them all a quick coat of white gesso and then painted them using some blue acrylic paint.


A little dry brushing with a touch of Snowflake Fresco Finish paint around the edges gives them a little shabby look.

I decided to add some detail here and there, using texture paste and a brickwall stencil, which I then painted over using the same blue paint, and highlighted with some Treasure Gold gilding wax once it was dry


The letters were die cut three times from plain white cardstock, layered together to make them more dimensional and then painted with the blue paint, before attaching them to the fronts of my blocks.


To make them stand out a little more I rubbed each one with a little of the gilding wax.
And to finish off I added a cute painted wooden heart


I also decorated the backs of the blocks just in case they end up on a window ledge and can be seen from the outside!


I used JOFY's pretty flower stamp (JOFY Mini 59).  I stamped it randomly across the backs of the blocks and heat embossed with a clear powder


I then used the Fresco Finish paints and a waterbrush to colour the blooms, and added a few drops of crystal lacquer to the centres


I did stamp the side too ......


And a few splatters of black and white paint finishes off the blocks


Now I just have to find somewhere to put them!


Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
Dont forget to check out the Country View Crafts Challenge Blog for more fabulous inspiration using Letters and/or Numbers.
The challenge is open until the end of March so there's still time to play along.

Cheerio until next time .....

Playing along with the Twofer Challenge .....

Happy weekend ......

Have you got anything exciting planned? 
I think we're off upto the north of the island later.  A little bit of shopping, and then maybe find somewhere nice for lunch.

First though, I'm playing along with this month's Twofer Card Challenge ..... there's only a couple of days left before the linky closes.


I've used the same stamp ..... for two different occasions (birthday and new baby)  ..... I'm just hoping that the designs are different enough.

The theme for March's challenge is ....... Balloons




First up .... the birthday card


This little guy is from the House Mouse range, and he's been in the craft room for ever!! 
It's also something I don't use very often these days .......  a wood mounted stamp.  Oh no!  That means no MISTI ...... eeek!  Stamping without a safety net, scary stuff or what!!


He was (very carefully) stamped in a grey ink, and coloured using Distress Inks and a water brush.  Same for the balloons ......


They've also had a coat of Crystal Glaze and just a tiny sprinkling of fine crystal glitter.

I added in some fluffy clouds using a simple mask, cut from a piece of copier paper and blue Distress Ink brushed along the edge


Another year ...... is from a set of stamps that came free with a magazine, not sure which one and I've no idea when, so I can't be more specific on that one ..... sorry!  The Happy Birthday underneath is from a HLS set and has been heat embossed in Platinum.

The baby card is a little more CAS  ......


Same as before for the stamping and colouring .....


And the balloons have been glazed and given a touch of sparkle again .....


A few splatters of ink in the background, and a simple sentiment to finish, stamped in pink ink and heat embossed with a sparkly embossing powder


Again, the sentiment was from a freebie set.

There's a little something on the inside of this one too .....


Thanks for popping by ....... have a lovely weekend.
We've got beautiful blue skies and sunshine this morning, so I hope it's nice where you are.

Cheerio unti next time ....



Products used:

Birthday Card
Stamps: Balloon Journey (House Mouse stamps), Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers), Freebie sentiment stamp; 
Inks: Distress Inks - Salty Ocean, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord, Squeezed Lemonade, Spun Sugar, Hickory Smoke; Ranger Dye Ink Pad - Cool Graphite; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Versamark
Other: Platinum Embossing Powder (WOW!); Unicorn Dust Fine Glitter (Simon Says Stamp) 

Baby Card
Stamps:  Balloon Journey (House Mouse stamps), Freebie sentiment stamps; Baby sentiment inside (Penny Black)
Inks: Distress Inks - Spun Sugar, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo; Ranger Dye Ink Pad - Cool Graphite
Other: Nuvo Clear Crystal Glaze; Unicorn Dust Fine Crystal Glitter (Simon Says Stamp); Rose Mist Embossing Powder (WOW!)  

Wednesday 20 March 2019

It's the first day of Spring .........

Happy Wednesday .......


Winter is officially over, it's the first day of Spring ...... and it's raining!!  Oh well ..... it can only get better!

I'm just popping by to say you can find me over on the Uniko Blog today with a little Spring inspired project. 


Grab a cuppa and I'll see you over there.

Have a great day.

Tuesday 19 March 2019

Happy Birthday CAS Christmas Card Challenge ......

Happy Tuesday ......

I'm squeezing in another Blog Challenge today ....... and we're getting a little bit festive.  I would normally say that it's a little bit early to be thinking about the 'C' word but ....... have to start on the Christmas cards at some point!  And seeing as the CAS Christmas Card Challenge is celebrating their 1st Birthday I thought it's as good a time as any to add to the festive box.

Happy 1st Birthday CAS Christmas!!!


The theme for the challenge this month is  ..... Deer



You don't get much more CAS than this ..... lots of white space, simple stamping and minimum embellishment.


I did use some of my festive favourites ...... Chunky White Embossing Powder and a few dots of glitter glue for the snow .......


A touch of sparkly glitter on the reindeer's antlers .......


And speaking of the reindeer, I just love these stamps from Unity ....... the reindeer look so elegant


Using my MISTI, I simply inked up the stamp with one shade of brown Distress Oxide ink, and stamped the image. Then using a darker shade of ink I inked up the stamp again only this time not all over, and stamped again. You can see how the two shades blend and the darker colour gives some  shading to the reindeer


I also like the texture that's on there too ....... that was purely by accident! I didn't do anything fancy it's just how the Oxides have dried.
The white dots were added with a gel pen once the ink was dry.

Then sentiment is from the same stamp set ......


And of course he had to have a little red nose .....


Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
It's time for a coffee break I think.

Cheerio until next time ......





Products used:
Stamps: Cheerful Prancing (Unity)
Inks: Distress Oxides - Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso 
Others: Chunky White Embossing Enamel (Stampendous); Stickles Crystal Glitter Glue; Nuvo Crystal Drops - Autumn Red; Distress Glitter Dust - Vintage Platinum; White Gel pen