Autumn Florals for the Sweet Poppy Stencil challenge .......

Happy Monday .......

I hope you've had a lovely weekend ..... did you remember to put your clocks back?

We're racing towards the end of October, and the deadline for this month's Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Flowers and Blooms Challenge.  

I've dug deep into my Sweet Poppy collection and found this pretty little stencil ....... Floral Love Birds 

I've gone for an Autumnal look, using shades of orange, yellow and red Distress Inks, applied through the stencil with a sponge, building up the colours gradually.

When I'm using a sponge with Sweet Poppy stencils I tend to gently pounce the ink through the stencil. 

I try to avoid using a circular motion, the stencils are metal and the edges can be sharp, so they can damage a sponge if you're a little heavy handed, just be gentle with them (take care cleaning them too especially the very detailed stencils, they can cut fingers ...... trust me I know!!)

Once I was happy with the colour I used a black fine liner pen and drew around the edges of the design.  I did it free hand but you could just as easily do this with the stencil still in place.

I added a few highlights to the flowers using a white gel pen, and gently inked around the edges of the card with Distress ink

The challenge closes on Thursday the 29th and this months winner will be announced on Friday 30th.

There's a £40 voucher for the winner, to spend on the Sweet Poppy website.  To be in with a chance of winning please, please, please follow the rules ......

We've had quite a few entries this month that sadly we have had to disqualify.  The theme is Flowers and Blooms, not trees or leaves, holly or pine sprigs.

You MUST use Sweet Poppy stencils ONLY (it is a Sweet Poppy challenge after all), and the stencil MUST be the focal point on your design.

If you use stamps they can be any brand but, please keep them small, accents only.

It's not fun having to tell someone that their beautiful design, that they have spent precious time creating, unfortunately can't be entered into the challenge because ......... they haven't followed the rules! 😢

Thanks for popping by ..... have a lovely day.

It's half term here, so a busy week for me.  

The little man will be around at some point,  we've got a pumpkin to carve for weekend.  And I've got a crafty get together tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to ....... haven't seen the girls for ages!!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Stencils: Floral Love Birds (Sweet Poppy)

Inks: Distress Inks - Wild Honey, Scattered Straw, Carved Pumpkin, Crackling Campfire, Aged Mahogany

Stamps: Cheers A6 stamp set (Sweet Poppy)

Others: Black Fine Liner, White Gel Pen