Back with a little sparkle for the Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Challenge ........

Hello again ...... I'm back!

Happy Sunday!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Well, it's been a while ....... can you believe it's almost 6 weeks since I blogged!  And almost as long since I've been in my craft room.  

I don't think I've ever taken a break for so long before.  It's actually been really nice ......  no pressure, and no deadlines to work to.  I didn't even pick up a craft magazine.  I did take a small craft bag with me in the motorhome but, I can't say I did much with that either.  

But, I need to get back in the craft room at some point so, this weekend I've had a good old sort out and a tidy up, re-arranged my desks and now I'm raring to go ..... ish!

I've lots of new goodies to play with, DT work to be getting on with, and of course there's all those festive makes to get started on ........ only 13 weeks until Christmas,  oh my! the tree will be going up next!

Anyhow ........ the end of September is approaching fast, so that means there's only a few days left to play along with this month's Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Challenge.

The theme this month is ........ Sparkle is My Favourite Colour

Who doesn't love a touch of sparkle, and the good thing is, it really can be any colour you like! Christmas cards just wouldn't be the same without some sparkle and shine now would they.

Not sure the sparkle comes across in this picture ...... glitter is a real nightmare to photograph!

I inked through the gorgeous Sweet Poppy Snowflake Bauble Trio stencil using Distress Inks ....... Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord

Then I used a Quickie Glue Pen over the top of each snowflake, and sprinkled with fine crystal glitter.

Like I said, hard to photograph but so pretty when the light catches in real life. 

Using the clear crystal glitter allows the colour of the inks underneath to show through but, you could use coloured glitters on top if you wanted too for a more intense colour.

I added a few ink splatters on to the background using the same colours of Distress, and then heat embossed my sentiment on the bottom.  

Another quick and easy design, this time using the pretty Snowflake Aperture Circle stencil, again with Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Chipped Sapphire) 

The aperture stencils are so useful, perfect for creating detailed frames on your cards 

(sshh ..... don't tell anyone ..... have you spotted the sneaky peek of a brand new design coming soon? You are going to love this new stencil!)

I inked the snowflake circle with my Distress inks then, cut a simple mask from a piece of copier paper to create the hillside for my winter scene in the centre.  

With the mask still in place I used the gorgeous, brand new Fir Tree stencil  to create the forest in the background, and then I used Versamark ink through the design and heat embossed the centre tree over the top

To finish off I used fine crystal glitter to hightlight the snowflakes in the circle and added a little touch to the tree

Sparkle isn't just for Christmas cards though, a touch of glitter makes any card extra special ......

I used Distress Ink Reinkers to colour the background, applied with a paintbrush and lots of water onto watercolour card  (Forest Moss, Carved Pumkin, Spiced Marmalade & Scattered Straw)

Once it was all dry I used the Blissful stencil over the top with Black ink (Versafine Clair - Nocturne)

and then used a fine tip glue pen and glitter to highlight along the tree branches

A few spatters of gold ink onto the background and a simple sentiment on the bottom ...... job done!

I think I'm ready for Autumn now ...... the sumer has been amazing but, it's time for cosy nights in, hot chocolate and snuggly woolies!

The challenge is open until the 29th of the month so you need to be quick if you want to be in with a chance of winning this months prize.

Check out the rules below and ........ Happy stenciling!

The last few weeks have flown by ........ We had our longest trip in the motorhome including a music festival (more about all that later).  There's been the usual family gatherings, with a few birthday celebrations along the way, including Arthur, who was one ...... now that year's gone fast!  And, as I'm writing this blog post I've heard that he's taken his first proper steps this morning ....... yeah!!!  

It was also Alex's birthday, he was 12.  He's also started secondary school which is scary ...... doesn't seem five minutes since he was taking his first steps!!

We've also had Arthur's baptism,  and I've had Covid ..... again!!

Let's hope October is a little quieter!

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

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