Busy in quarantine .......... again!

Happy Thursday .......

How is everyone?  Safe and well I hope.

Sorry I haven't been around much these last few weeks ......  things just got a little on top of me I think, and blogging was the last thing on my list!!

There's been a lot going on, including a trip across to the UK which wasn't the best! 
June wasn't a good month.  My father-in-law sadly lost his battle with cancer, and we made the trip across to attend the funeral and spend some time with Stephen's mum.
It was lovely, in the circumstances, very personal with only 15 people allowed to attend ....... but I think Les would have approved.
Because our borders here in the Isle of Man are still closed, before we left the island we had to get permission from the government so that we could actually come back.  And, once we arrived home we were checked in by the border police and have had to quarantine ourselves for 14 days. 
So even though our little island is all back to normal, we're back to video calling the kids and the furthest we can go is into the garden.  And we can't actually do much of that because the weather is rubbish!! 
We're currently on Day 9, and counting.  It's not too bad ..... hubby is working from home, I'm baking or trying too,  the jigsaws are out again, and I have ventured back into the craft room. 
We have a table booked at our favourite restaurant for the day we're out of quarantine (can't wait!) ....... we had to cancel the one we had booked for hubby's birthday this Friday! 
And once the quarantine is done we're off out in the van again.  We've booked a campsite for the weekend after next ....... don't care what the weather's like!!

So, what's everyone else up to?  Fancy a bit of Sweet Poppy Stencils? 
Lucy is back on Hochanda tomorrow (Friday) ...... two shows, 10am and again at 2pm.  New stencil designs, some festive favourites and ....... remember that gorgeous new snowflake that sold out really quickly from the last shows ........

well ....... it's back, with a brand new matching die!!!  So many more possibilities.

Here's a couple of ideas using the stencil and the die together ........

Very clean and simple ..... great for batch making.

I used the stencil first, with my new favourite Distress colour (love the Speckled Egg!) onto a piece of white card.

I then used the matching die to cut out my snowflake ..... just love the detail, and the die cuts beautifully.  I did pass it through my machine two or three times, just to make sure all the detail cut properly

I also cut two more snowflakes just from plain white card and layered them all together to give it a bit of dimension

A few ink splatters on the background, and a sentiment ......

and of course a little sparkle to finish off ......

The die on it's own makes a beautiful snowflake ......

I simply used the die to cut three snowflakes from plain white card, layered then together and added a touch of glitter to the top ......

To do the background I took a piece of white cardstock (6x6 inches) and scored it at 3/4 inch intervals.  Using a damp baby wipe I then applied Distress Ink (Speckled Egg) to the debossed side of the card, swiping in the direction of the embossed lines ...... top to bottom. This gives a sort of weathered wood look to the card .......

I used the snowflake stencil to add more detail to the background using the same colour of Distress Ink ...... I do like tone on tone!

I added some white paint splatters, a sprinkling of Chunky White embossing powder, and of course a sentiment ......

The pretty snowflake was then attached over the top using foam pads and a sparkly gem to finish

So .... use the stencil on it's own, or just the die, but they do work great together.
Tune in tomorrow to see more fabulous ideas from Lucy and the Design Team.  Mine won't be on the TV this time ....... unfortunately due to being in quarantine I couldn't get to the post office!!  I still had fun with the new stencils though.  Check out later for a couple of ideas using two of the brand new designs.

Thanks for popping by .......

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:
Stencils: Snowflake stencil (Sweep Poppy)
Stamps: Noel stamp set (Sweet Poppy)
Inks: Distress Ink - Speckled Egg; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata Metallic Ink - Silvery Shimmer
Others: Snowflake Die (Sweet Poppy); Crystalina Fine Glitter (Sweet Poppy); Chunky White Embossing Powder; White Acrylic Paint (splatters)