Flowers, flowers and more flowers ...........

Happy Bank Holiday weekend .......

And what a lovely weekend we're having, the weather is glorious!  Just in time for the start of this years IOM TT Races.  

Yes, it's that time of year when the island welcomes visitors from all over the world, and the roar of motorbikes can be heard everywhere ...... we've even got the funfair coming back this year!  It's going to be a busy couple of weeks.

Did you get to see Lucy on Wednesday?  

She was back on TV with the gorgeous new range of Sweet Poppy stamps ..... Beautiful Botanicals.  Everyone loves flowers, and I've been sharing a few of my favourites over the last couple of posts.

So far I've used each of the stamps on their own for easy Clean and Simple (CAS) cards through to pretty all over designs.  But what if, you can't choose a favourite, you just want them all.  

Then, you can't make up your mind which one to use first so ......... why not use more than one on your cards, they all look so pretty together

This is a 7x7 inch finished card, and I stamped a whole bunch of the flowers to cover the front

 

and coloured them using Brush Markers

I added a simple foiled, die cut sentiment to finish off.

Colouring not your thing, then don't .......

Simply colour a background and then stamp the images using black ink

Coloured panels painted freehand, using Distress Oxide inks mixed with water, onto watercolour cardstock.

I then used a little bit of masking tape around the edge of each panel before stamping the flowers 

To finish, I added a few splatters of gold ink 

and a sentiment on the bottom

If you love these new stamps, this is just the first release.  There will be more coming over the next few months ...... watch this space!

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

I'm off to enjoy the sunshine, and get the BBQ ready for later.   

Cheerio until next time .......

Sweet Poppy Stencils are back on the TV ..........

Happy Tuesday ........

Well, our trip is over and we're back on the island ....... it is nice to be home!

It's going to be a busy few weeks though, we're off on our travels again on the 16th June.  

The van desperately needs cleaning, inside and out (Remi is covered in Scottish midges!!),  and I've a mountain of stuff to do at home. We've got this years TT starting at the weekend, looking forward to that.  The weather's not looking too bad either, at the moment, so fingers crossed we have a good one.

And, I have some DT stuff to squeeze in before we go away again so, the craft room is going to get some use.

Speaking of DT stuff, all you Sweet Poppy fans might like to know that Lucy is back on our TV screens tomorrow, 24th May at 12 noon on the usual channels ..... Sky 673, Virgin 748, Freesat 813 and Freeview 85.

She'll be showcasing gorgeous stencils and, those amazing new stamps from the Beautiful Botanicals range.  What a nice way to spend your lunch break.

It's so hard to choose a favourite from this latest stamp release, they're all so pretty.

I've already shared the Tulip with you, the Daffodil and the beautiful Sweet Pea so, how about ...... Foxgloves

I used black Versafine Clair ink,and the Sweet Poppy Postcard stencil to create the frame around the edge.

I then used low tack tape around the edge and added a touch of colour to the inside of the frame using Distress Ink

With the masking tape still in place, I stamped the Foxglove image three times onto the postcard and used the little bee that comes in the set as the stamp

I coloured the flowers using Brush Markers and added some ink splatters onto the background, finishing off with a few dots of glitter glue here and there and a simple sentiment

If you don't like colouring in your stamped images, these stamps can work just as well simply stamped onto a coloured background

For this card, I handpainted the background using Distress Inks and Oxides onto watercolour card ...... a technique I saw the lovely Julie Hickey do on Facebook

Once the ink was dry, I then stamped the Foxglove a couple of times and also added the little bee.

I added some gold splatters to the background and coloured the bee using a gold sparkle pen

To add a bit more interest to my card I took another piece of white card, larger than my piece of watercolour card, and stamped the Foxglove across the bottom edge using a black Versafine Clair ink

I then mounted the water-coloured panel over the top and added a simple sentiment. 

Another version of one of my favourite colour combinations ....... black and white, with a pop of colour!

Don't forget ...... tune in at12 noon tomorrow (24th May) and see more ways to use these gorgeous new Sweet Poppy stamps from the new Beautiful Botanicals Range

Thank you for popping by ....... enjoy the rest of your day.

I'm off to climb, sorry, I mean make a start on the mountain of laundry that we've brought home with us!

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

Our Highland round up .........

Happy Wednesday ........

I hope you're having a good week.  I've finally got decent Wi-Fi, and a chance to sit down and blog.

WARNING!  -  photo heavy (you might want to grab a cuppa)

  

It's been a busy few days.  We are still away in the van, although our latest Scottish adventure is over (sigh!) until next year.

After our stay at Bunree, we actually parked up the motorhome and spent a week in The Shell at Ardtur, an absolutely beautiful cottage, again on the banks of Loch Linnhe (it's a big loch!), near to a place called Port Appin.  

What a lovely spot ........ stunning views of the Loch, and the historic Castle Stalker,  

 

and what a lovely welcome when we arrived ..... fresh flowers everywhere

and a wee dram to enjoy by the fire in the evenings ........ perfect!

 

Lauren and Alex came up for the week, and we had a friend join us for a couple of days too which was nice.

We explored the area a little, and found a lovely restaurant nearby, the sea food was amazing!!!

We had a trip into Oban where we did a Whisky Distillery Tour,

 

and found more nice places to eat

We had a day at Loch Ness, starting at Fort Augustus  

We went up to Foyers to see the waterfall and then stopped off to see the Nessie Hunter.  There was a film crew just finishing when we got there, looks like he's going to be on TV again

I do love this part of the loch, the view is spectacular

We then drove down the other side of Loch Ness, doing a quick stop at the Clansman Hotel,

The last time hubby and I were here was on our honeymoon ........ almost 35 years ago!!  It's changed a bit since then.

We also went to see the great Glenfinnan Viaduct, used in the Harry Potter films for the Hogwarts train.

We timed it just right so that we got to see the train going across.

When our week in the cottage was done, we were off in the van again.  This time, it was down to Luss, on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond, where Lauren and Alex joined us in the van for the first time.

As you can see the weather was gorgeous, it was warm too.  Just as well, as Lauren and Alex went kayaking on the Loch

And even hubby decided to get his feet wet!

Me, on the other hand, stayed well and truly on dry land!

We had a lovely couple of days in Luss before setting off on our journey South

Lauren and Alex's last night with us in the van was at a campsite called Robert The Bruce's Cave.  we've stayed here before, it's a great little stopover for us, it breaks up the journey home nicely.

It was Lauren and Alex's first time in Scotland and I think they've fallen in love with the place just like we did.  They'll definitely be back!

They're back home on the island now, but our journey continues, for a few more days anyway.

We're in Newark-on-Trent ........ Remi is having his service done.  It's a little overdue but, they managed to squeeze him in.  Fingers crossed he's OK.

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

Sorry there's no crafty content in this post ..... I think I've gone on long enough! 

Just one more thing before I go.  Scotland is known for it's weather (and the midges!).  

We haven't done too bad whilst we've been up there.   Yes, it's rained a little bit but, we managed to dodge the odd shower, and we've had some lovely warm sunny days.

I did spot this though, when we stopped off in Glencoe ......

Just about sums it up! ......... made me smile anyway 😊

Cheerio until next time,

More Beautiful Botanicals from Sweet Poppy ..........

Happy Friday! .......

I hope you've had a lovely week.  And we've got another fabulous long weekend to look forward which is nice.

  

We've spent the last few days parked up on the banks of Loch Linnhe, on the Bunree Campsite.  It's been so peaceful and relaxing here ........ nowhere to be, no one to see ......... it's been great!!  We are on the move again tomorrow though, the trip isn't over just yet!

It looks like everyone is loving the new Beautiful Botanicals stamp release from Sweet Poppy, our Facebook pages are full of gorgeous floral creations.  Not surprisng really though as the stamps are so pretty.

One of my favourites from the new collection is the Tulip ........

So pretty used on it's own to create CAS cards.

I stamped the image in the centre of my card, and used watercolour markers to colour the stem.  I then added a few inks splatters onto the background around the stamped image, just to add a bit more interest ........

To colour the actual flower I decided to paper piece it using a snippet of card I found in my bits box (I never throw anything away!)

 

So quick and easy to do, and just think of all the different colours you could use!

Something that took a little more time was this all over design ......

I do love tulips so I couldn't resist using a whole bunch of them.

Stamped and heat embossed in gold ....... and then coloured with watercolour pens

A few gold ink splatters, and a two-part die cut sentiment to finish ..... love it!

Another pretty Spring flower is the Daffodil ...... 

Perfect again for creating CAS cards.

As with the tulip above, I simply stamped this int he centre of my card, used watercolour markers to colour the stem and then paper-pieced the actual flower heads .......

I added a little tag with my sentiment on, using foam pads to give the card a little bit of dimension

and I finished off with some dots of Nuvo's Crystal Glaze and a little bit of doodling around the edges

What will your favourite flower be?

As I said, we're on the banks of Loch Linnhe, enjoying our latest trip in the van.

The weather hasn't been too bad, no rain to speak of, the sun has shown it's face at some point everyday but, it has been a little on the breezy side the last couple of days ...... so no crossing of the Loch on this visit (shame, as there is a rather nice little pub on the other side, with a really good whisky collection!) 

The regular Corran ferry is out of action at the moment so there's a replacement doing the crossings for foot passengers only.  Apparently, it's not a very big boat, and it doesn't go if the weather's bad.  You know me and water, my sea legs are not the best so, we've stayed on this side so far.

We have been out walking nearly everyday though, sampling the local watering holes and restaurants, it would have been rude not too.  We also walked up to Inchree Falls, which was nearby.

A lovely forest walk up the side of the falls .......

There's spectacular views of Loch Linnhe and the hills around Ardgour from the top ......

and we came back down through the forests 

We're heading off again tomorrow, to a place called Ardtur near Port Appin ...... never been there before.

We've rented a beautiful cottage there for the week, and Lauren and Alex are meeting us there which will be nice.

Thanks for popping by ........ have a lovely Coronation Bank Holiday weekend.  We'll be watching it all on catch up!

Cheerio until next time .......