It's the end of the week already ........

Good morning! ......

Happy Friday to you.  I'm up nice and early this morning, we've got the little man coming today. 
It's his last day at home before all the children are back in school on Monday ...... not sure if he's happy about that or not.  I know his Mum's looking forward to it!

Just a quick reminder that Sweet Poppy Stencils are back on Hochanda today ..... 10am this morning (better get a move on for that show!), and then again at 2pm this afternoon.
Lucy will be showing lots of tips and techniques on using the whole of the Sweet Poppy range.  There's back in stock items, some favourite stencils and, there's a couple of new designs ........ it's time to get a little festive!

If you read yesterday's Blog post you'll have seen the pretty new Snowflake design ....... you can never have too many snowflakes! 

Today, it's all about the new Lamp Post ...... how pretty is this!

I simply stenciled the lamp post onto my card using a black ink, and then created the winter scene behind.

A touch of Distress Ink blending around the edges on the top part of the card and a few splatters of water to create the snowy sky ......

A simple piece of copier paper cut to create a mask for the hillside,  and a few festive trees stamped along the edge

A little more Distress Ink to add the glow from the lamp ......

And a little touch of glitter here and there to add some sparkle .....

I finished off with a sentiment and a sprinkling of Chunky White Embossing Powder

Whenever I add this chunky EP I always just sprinkle it on the top of my designs and then gently heat it from UNDERNEATH.  This way the powder doesn't blow all over the place, and once I see it start to melt I take the heat away so that it doesn't melt completely flat.

If you don't fancy making a whole winter scene, the lamp post looks great on it's own, for really quick and easy cards .......

Stenciled with black ink and just a touch of colour ........

Add a festive sentiment and some of that chunky white embossing power .....

Even add a bit of dimension by layering up the pretty bow

How about more than one lamp post ........ I think this is my favourite

You don't always have to use all of the stencil design ....... and I like to take the stencil off the edge of my cards

As before, stenciled in black, a touch of colour for the glow and a bit of festive sparkle

All finished off with a sentiment.

There'll be lots more ideas and inspiration on the shows from Lucy and the rest of the Design Team ..... we've all been very busy!
Enjoy!

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.
I'm off to make a quick coffee and then I'll have to do a deal with the little man for the TV remote!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Stencils: Lamp Post (Sweet Poppy);
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Shades of Blue Distress Inks; Delicata Metallic ink - Golden Glitz
Stamps: Christmas Trees (Clarity Stamps); Sentiments are from Christmas Blessings and Joy & Peace stamp sets (Sweet Poppy)
Others: Fine crystal glitters (Sweet Poppy); Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); Chunky white Embossing Powder (Stampendous)