Hello ......

Happy Tuesday evening  ......

Sorry I'm late .......

Well that's another birthday over.
I had a lovely day yesterday. Thank you to everyone for their best wishes, cards and gifts.  As always I've been well and truly spoiled ...... with flowers, chocolates, jewellry amongst other things, and a meal out last night which we hadn't planned which was nice .

Anyhow .... birthday's over now (although the celebrations will probably go on for a few more days!)
It is however time for another challenge ..... a little bit of Mixed Media this time for Happy Little Stampers

I'm really in my CAS phase ..... what that really means is I'm still getting used to the new craft room. In other words, I can't find a flippin thing!!  And when I do  .... it's not exactly what I was looking for.  Oh well, I will get sorted .... eventually!

My take on this months challenge is not about lots of layers .... or getting messy with inks or paint.  There's not even an embellishment on there .... CAS like I said

I've used watercolour card, ZIG markers, rubber stamping and as you can see .... die cutting.

I sprayed the card with a little water before applying the colours using my ZIG markers.  I simply scribbled a little colour onto the wet card and then used a brush to spread it around and give this pretty watercolour effect

Because the cardstock was already wet the colours moved around very easily and blended so well.
I did add one colour at a time and allowed each one to dry a little before adding the next, so as not to mix the colours together but to blend them gradually

Once it was dry I die cut the word Hello from the coloured card and again from plain white, layering the letters together before inlaying the word back into the cardstock

A little stamped sentiment finishes off the front .....

and I used the same colouring technique on the inside .....

There's another $20 Gift Certificate for the challenge winner, and don't forget if the winner uses HLS stamps in their project ...... then the prize goes to $40!!

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ... enjoy the rest of your day.
 
It's another busy week here, what with challenges, DT commitments, preparing for something special happening next week (oooh .....wonder what that can be ........ are there some new stamps being released perhaps .... hint! hint!) and ....... I've got a workshop at the weekend. 
And it is my birthday week ......  there's not enough days to fit everything in!

Plus another birthday present turned up today .... and I'm dying to have a play.  Nothing for the craft room but it's going to be fun ...... I hope.
Did I mention I'd asked hubby for a new food mixer for my birthday ....... well look what's found its way into my kitchen ......

 I'm going to have to treat myself to some new bakeware now I think .....

and find time to use it.  It's a while since I've done any baking!

Cheerio until next time ....

Time for a twofer ........

Happy Tuesday .......

Well .... the To Do list is done! The craft related one is anyway ..... the one for the house move well, that's just getting longer everyday.  Like the shopping list for all the new craft releases .... but that's another story!

At least now that all my craft projects are done for next month I can concentrate on packing all my craft stash away (eeeek!!).  I even managed a little play time yesterday ..... and, made a birthday card for Chris.  He's 28 tomorrow!!

I've been wanting to play along with Darnell's brand new Blog Challenge .... the Twofer Card Challenge

You have to make two different cards, for two different occasions using the same stamps and/or dies, and follow the challenge theme.   Sounds easy enough .... who am I kidding!!  Sometimes I have trouble making the one card, never mind two!!
Anyhow .... here they are

Using the Clarity feather stamp ...... one for a birthday or a 'just because' card

and one sympathy card ....... not something I always have in my stash and unfortunately I needed one yesterday

Very clean and simple .... the feather was stamped onto black card using Versamark ink, and then I brushed over the top with Perfect Pearl Mica Powder. 

A simple sentiment stamped onto a piece of white card across the bottom ......

and the feather stamped on the inside for the finishing touch

My twofer sees the same feather stamp used to create the background ..... stamped in different colours of ink

I added my sentiment on a strip of white card across the centre

A few splatters of gold and silver ink .....

and the little JOFY birdie to finish off .....

He's been stamped, coloured with ZIG markers and fussy cut, and then attached onto the front with a little piece of folded acetate.  This acts like a spring and the bird actually moves about .... he's so cute!

Again I stamped the feather on the inside ....

The challenge has been running for two weeks and closes tomorrow so I'm a little bit on the last minute .... will try and do better for the next one!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
A quick trip to the post office with a box of DT samples to send on their way then it's full steam ahead with some packing.  Only 3 more sleeps until we get the keys ..... not sure if I'm looking forard to it or not!

Cheerio until next time .....

Autumn challenge at Less is More

Happy Thursday to you .....

Thanks for stopping by. What a beautiful day we've got here ..... clear blue skies, the sun is shining, but boy is it chilly!! I think we're going to have to give in and put the heating on tonight.  Can't really complain though .... it is the middle of October after all!

There's an Autumn theme over at Less is More this week .... and it's One Layer Week, always a favourite.

I do love one layer cards .... not always the easiest to make I must say but, once you get the hang of them they can become addictive!

CAS as always for this challenge ...... I started out by inking the circle using various shades of Distress Inks through a mask ...... Wild Honey, Festive Berries and Forest Moss with just a touch of Aged Mahogany, splattered it with water (as I love to do with distress ink) and mopped up the excess leaving that lovely speckled background

I removed the mask and stamped the sentiment next (from Inkylicious) using Vintage Sepia Versafine ink ...... love these words

Using the same Distress colours as before I then stamped my beautiful autumn leaves ...... see how the Distress ink has pooled on the stamp (clear polymer stamp) giving this speckled look to the leaves ..... now I could have taken a paint brush and water and smoothed the ink out a little but I really like the sort of skeleton leaf effect .... what do you think?

I finished off with a few ink splats here and there (can't resist!) using the Aged Mahogany Distress 

And added a little something to the inside too .....

Well that's lunchtime over for me ..... time to get in the old craft room I think.   My postie's been so it's busy, busy, busy for me this afternoon.

Enjoy the rest of your day and cheerio until next time.

Linda

xx

PS  I couldn't have put this better myself ........

   

Cheers!

Life's a beach ......

Happy Sunday to you,

I hope you're enjoying the weekend ...... the sun is shining and we've had a nice quiet one just for a change!

In between getting my stuff ready for tomorrow ...... cleaning the old craft room ..... and of course getting the rest of the house tidy (always a fun job!!) I have manage to play along with this weeks Less is More challenge.  What's going on ..... a challenge entry done on the day after it was launched ..... almost unheard of in the old craft room.  I didn't want to miss out though and seeing as I'm off the island as of tomorrow morning this was my only chance!

It's a Theme week ...... to hopefully inspire us with thoughts of long, hot summer days (we've had a few of those recently!) and holiday fun (already had some of that too!)

The theme is  ........

Life's a Beach!

After searching through my stash, yet again, for a suitable stamp to use here's my contribution to this week's challenge .......

It appears that I don't have many 'beach' related stamps in my collection ...... what with no penguins either (previous post) ..... what do I have in my stamp stash!!??  I did come across this one though ......

another freebie from a while ago, from my favourite craft magazine ..... Craft Stamper.

It's been stamped onto a piece of card from my scrap box that has been coloured using the faux Mother of Pearl technique ......... apply white pearlescent paint randomly onto a piece of white card using a scrunched up piece of cling film, leaving some card without paint.  Once dry, apply colour over the top .... I used Spun Sugar and Stormy Sky Distress inks on this piece.  Polish off any ink that's on the paint leaving a gorgeous shimmery effect ..... faux MOP!

Not sure if I've captured the shimmer on camera but trust me it is there.

I then masked off a section on another piece of white card, added colour using the Distress inks again, and them stamped some pretty seashells across the border in Black Versafine ink.  Once they were dry I spritzed the border using Perfect Pearls to keep with the shimmery effect.

Foam pads give the topper some dimension ........ and a suitable sentiment finish off the front of the card

And ....... the inside has a little decoration too!

Well that's it from me ...... speaking of beaches though, here's the view from the beach at Glen Maye this afternoon.

A certain little man was having fun chasing waves and throwing stones into the sea .....

Oh well .....just a few bits to throw in my suitcase and then I'm done!!  I've checked the weather for the UK next week and it doesn't look bad at all ..... might just need the sun cream after all!

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

It's One Layer Week ...... for the boys

Hello there!

Me again ...... just a quick post, I hadn't realised the time!

It's One Layer Week over at Less is More ..... and you all know how much I love those!!  And .... as if that wasn't tricky enough, the theme this week is .......

Masculine

That's right ..... it's got to be ONE LAYER, CAS ...... and designed with those fabulous MEN in mind!

OK ..... I'm always up for a challenge ..... what do you think?

Definitely only one layer ...... and I know a few guys I could send this too!

I've used this months cool, freebie stamp from the Craft stamper magazine ..... coloured using a set of the new Prima watercolour pencils ......

I made myself a mask for the camper van, put it in place and then used the zig zag stamp from the Stampin Up! set ..... Work of Art, to add a little more interest to the background.
I finished off with a few co-ordinating ink splats here and there using Distress inks mixed with water, and added the perfect sentiment ...... job done!

The inspiration for this came from a cute little VW camper van, owned by my daughter's boyfriend .... meet 'George'

Here he is parked down by the beach yesterday.
Quite the little home from home .....

Even the little man thinks he's cool .....

Perfect for making the most of those sunny days!

Thanks for popping by (again!) ..... enjoy the rest of your evening. I'll be back tomorrow with the last of this week's Blog challenge entries.

Cheerio until next time.

Linda

xx

Bring on the HAPPY .......

Happy Wednesday!

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!  Can't believe it's July already (eek!) ..... only 176 days until Christmas!! (sorry) 
Let's not think about that yet though ..... the skies are blue, the sun is shining and it's getting HOT! HOT! HOT! Summer is here .... at last  (yeah!!!).  

It's looking like it's going to be a busy month too ...... hubby has a BIG birthday next week, it's our wedding anniversary at the end of the month,  I'm across in the UK again on a fabulous craft retreat, and there's a new DT for me!  Better get working on that To Do list I think!!

One of the jobs on there is this weeks Less is More Challenge.
We've got a Sketch for inspiration this week ......

Here's my take on it ........

The pretty Ranunculus Field stamp from Stampendous (love this image ..... and I'd forgotten I had it until I was packing up my craft room to move!)  Simply stamped onto white card using Black Versafine ink, and then coloured using Distress Markers and a touch of water ......

Matting and layering kept to a minimum, and a pretty sentiment to finish off ....

As always .... there's a little something on the inside too

Ah well ..... can't sit here chatting, unfortunately.  I'm off out again today .... it's the first Wednesday in the month so I'm off over to my crafty buddy's for a workshop this afternoon.  Lil and I are setting off early though and having a picnic lunch by the sea ..... just making the most of this gorgeous weather, you never know how long it's going to last!!!

Yesterday I was over in Peel and I found this .......

I'm giving it my best shot ...... there's always something going on over here!!

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx