We're having a weekend away ....... social distancing of course

Happy Friday .......

How are you? ..... Are you doing OK?
It's a Bank Holiday weekend again here ...... and guess what ..... we've booked the weekend away, in the van!!!!  More about that later.

Did you get to see the lovely Lucy from Sweet Poppy Stencils this morning?  She was back on Hochanda with some fab stencil designs.  Don't worry if you missed the show, she's back again at 1pm so set a reminder.

One of the stencils on the show, and one of the latest designs, is a beautiful Dahlia ......... if you love your florals then this will be perfect for you.
Lots of ways to use it too ........

Use the design in full ........

For an easy rainbow look, cut strips of coloured cardstock (also a great way to use up scraps of card) and attach them onto a piece of white card ...

I then used the Dahlia stencil over the top with black archival ink.  Once the ink was dry I drew around the edges with a white gel pen to make the design stand out more ......

A simple sentiment was all it needed.

Another way of using the full design ....... this time I went across my card

I masked off a strip across my card (Sweet Poppy Stencil tape was the perfect width for this) giving me a space to add a sentiment .....

I then placed the stencil along the top edge, overlapping the tape slightly, and inked the design using Distress Oxide Inks.  I did the same along the bottom edge ........

and finished with a sentiment.

As I always say with stencils, you don't have to use the whole design.  Change things up a little and  just use part of the design ........

I found this pretty mop up piece of card in my stash ...... I do love pink and green together

I used the dahlia stencil, with black ink, randomly over the top, and off the edges leaving a space in the centre for some words

I love the look of black ink through stencils. Just remember that less is more ..... build up the depth of colour gradually.  You can always add more ink ..... you can't take it away! 
Plus, if you only use small amounts of ink, and build up the layers by pouncing the ink through the stencil you will get a much cleaner finish to the design ........ more ink means more chance of it seeping underneath the stencil.

I heat embossed my sentiment across the centre using gold embossing powder .....

and added a few Nuvo Crystal Drops to finish.

There's still a couple more ideas to show you but I'll leave those for another day.

Grab a cuppa, or even an early lunch, and watch Lucy at 1pm for more fabulous ideas for using your Sweet Poppy Stencils.

Hochanda ...... Sky channel 673  Freeview 85  Freesat 817

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

We're finally getting out in the motorhome ..... whoo hoo!!
Campsites on the island have been allowed to open so we've booked a couple of nights up in the north of the island.  We're off to Ballamoar Campsite in Ballaugh. 
The weather forecast isn't great but hey! we're just happy to be able to take the motorhome out finally ......... sticking to social distancing of course.

Cheerio until next time .........