Who doesn't love a bargain ........

Happy Wednesday .......

And it's a day late but ......... welcome to March!  

I know February is a short month but really ....... is it over with already!!!?!

The first day of the month was beautiful here.  We had lovely blue skies and it really felt like Spring was on it's way.  Today however is a very different story .......  we're back to cold, wet and windy again!  

Oh well, the sun was nice while it lasted ........ I won't pack the winter woolies away just yet!

A new month means a new Star Buy for all you Sweet Poppy fans out there.  

For one week, at the start of each month, Sweet Poppy have one of their amazing stencils at a special Star Buy Price.  

This month it's the gorgeous Single Rose design

It's such a pretty stencil, and like all the Sweet Poppy designs, there's so many ways to use it.

Simply as is with your favourite inks, paints, stencil mediums, whatever takes your fancy.  

Here it is with Distress Oxide Inks ........ a sinlge red rose, sent with love

 Or why not try black ink onto Kraft card ...... I love this look

I used the stencil twice with Versafine Clair ink (Nocturne), buildoing up the depth of colour gradually, applying the ink with a sponge

A few black ink splatters and a touch of gold embossing gives a nice, classic look

Or, go the other way, and use a whole mix of colours to create a pretty all over design .......

By simply masking off the stem and the leaves, I used just the head of the rose from the stencil along with different colours of Distress Inks to cover a piece of white cardstock

I added in some leaves here and there, to fill in any gaps and a few splatters of gold ink over the top for added interest.

A simple sentiment and some gold thread add the finishing touches

I had to cut the piece of card down a little to fit on the front of my cardblank but, you know me. I don't like to waste anything so, I made a matching gift tag!

I also used the same stencil to create a frame .......

Same as before, I used just the head of the rose, and stenciled around the egde of a piece of cardstock.  Added in a few leaves here and there, and then fussy cut out the centre

I attached this over an inked background using foam pads to raise it up a little, and stamped my sentiment in the centre.  You could, if you wanted to, make this into a shaker card ..... how cool would that be!

If you would like to get your hands on this stencil for that amazing Star Buy price, you need to be quick, the offer is only available until the 8th March!  

Happy stenciling!

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day.

March is going to be a busy month here I think. 

We've got our first trip of the year in the motorhome coming up next week ...... looking forward to that, although the van's not quite ready yet!  Let's hope the weather's kind to us.

We've got Mother's Day towards the end of the the month ....... the first one for Chris's partner Myra (Arthur's mum) so that should be a nice day.

And ........ it's my birthday soon! 

You may have noticed that I'm not counting down to this one ......... it's a BIG one ......... a REALLY BIG one!!!!  and I'm not ready for it!  

But, it'll be here on Saturday (the 5th) and there's nothing I can do about it!  ........ so bring it on!  

Apparently the celebrations are starting tomorrow.  Lauren has the day all planned ...... she's working on Saturday so we're starting early with a girlie day, just the two of us.  I have no idea what she has planned except that lunch is at 12.30.  Oh, and hubby needs to collect Alex from school!!  

I just hope that it's stopped raining!

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