A little reminder for the CAS Stencil Challenge ........

Happy Monday .......

I do hope your week has got off to a great start.
I seem to have had one of those days ...... I've been busy, but haven't achieved much!

I've just popped by to remind you about this month's CAS Stencil Challenge ......

Our host this month is Julia and the theme is ....... Ghosting
There's some fabulous entries in the gallery so far, but don't worry, if you want to play along there's still time to get your entries in.

If you're not familiar with the Ghosting technique then there's links on the CAS Stencil Blog to some really easy to follow video tutorials ..... go on, give it a go!  Just remember to keep your cards in the Clean and Simple (CAS) style

I've gone for a bit of a masculine look today ..... well with the colours at least!

I blended Distress Oxides onto a piece of smooth watercolour card, then placed my stencil over the top.

Using a damp baby wipe I gently rubbed over the stencil design, removing some of the ink from the design

The stenciled panel was then attached to the bottom of a 7x5 inch cardblank.

I cut a piece of white card slightly smaller than the length of the card blank and then die cut a fancy edge along the bottom

I added my sentiment and then attached this to the front of my card blank, overlapping the stenciled panel.

To finish off I added a few drops of Nuvo Jewel Drops around the sentiment.

We've also got a lovely Guest Designer this month ...... Ishani is joining us, so please pop by and say Hello.

Happy stenciling!

I'm also linking this card up to this month's Country View Crafts Challenge where the theme is Letters and/or Numbers

Thanks for stopping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day, and have a lovely week.
We haven't much in the diary this week, it's a bit of a quiet one for a change.  Lots to do in the craft room though.

Cheerio until next time .....

Products used:
Stamps: Birthday Love (T for Transparent set by Penny Black)
Inks: Distress Oxides - Faded Jeans, Gathered Twigs; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Other: Numeric Layering Stencil (Tim Holtz); Stitched Fancy Edge cutting die; Nuvo Jewel Drops - Sea Breeze

Let it Snow Artist Trading Coins .........

Happy Wednesday .......

A very wet, and very windy Wednesday here in the Isle of Man .... or as we say over here 'it's blowing a hoolie!!'  I have to go out in it later too, not looking forward to that!

Let's quickly talk Artist Trading Coins again shall we ......... circular pieces of artwork, measuring two and a half inches in diameter, and like ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) they are made to swap.
If you haven't made any yet, trust me when you do you'll be hooked!

Here's set number three ....... Let it Snow! made for a Christmas Swap that's currently going on on Facebook ...... 

They're made from little MDF circles, painted with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints, and then I've stamped and heat embossed the snowflakes (from Tim Holtz Swirly Snowflakes) using a sparkly white embossing powder ......

The words (from the Happy Little Stampers Let it Snow stamp set) have been stamped using Black Versafine ink and heat embossed in clear, so that the ink is set and won't smudge

And I've finished off by adding a few dots of White Enamel Accents onto the backgrounds

Why not check out the Facebook group and join in the Christmas swap.

I'm also sneaking in before the deadline for November's Country View Crafts Challenge which is all about Artist Trading Coins.

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day. 
I'm off into town shortly ...... I won't be staying long!  Well, I have a date with Mr Buble and this to decorate when I get back ...

It's been up since Monday so I think it's time it was filled with pretty baubles don't you!

Cheerio until next time ......

Where did that week go ..... ???!

Hi everyone,

Well it's Friday again, where has that week gone?  I had such good intentions at the beginning of the week, I was going to get so much done.  Everything was all laid out in the old craft room ready to go and where is it all now ......... still laid out in the old craft room!  Well, actually it's all piled up at the side of my desk.  Didn't manage to make a start on half of the stuff, no blog challenges done, no ATC's made for the monthly swap .... I'm rubbish!!!

I haven't spent all week doing nothing though, I have been working on some magazine stuff, I'll share that with you some other time, and of course I've been doing my DT projects.
Check out Baby Aloysius over on the new IndigoBlu DT Blog

And of course today is Friday, so that means it's my day over on the Creative Studios DT Blog.  I've gone all Halloween for this weeks project ........ Pop over to the blog and see this in more detail

I must say, I love Halloween (mwahhaha ........!!)  I've already got my pumpkin, I haven't carved it yet though.  I just need to get the sweet treats sorted for all the Trick or Treaters.  Can't do that too early though, my lot would eat them!

I thought I would enter this into October's challenge over at Country View Crafts (my favourite online craft store)  The theme is ....

Something Spooky

I think this qualifies, don't you.

One of the reasons things are running slow in the old craft room at the moment is this little guy .......

Here he is, having fun at the Wildlife Park at the weekend

And here he is on Monday evening, after his first 'big boy' haircut ......

Where have all those curls gone?!  But how grown up does he look?  I don't think he was too sure about it though.  He wasn't too keen on the idea of his hair being in the vacuum cleaner, he wanted it back on his head ....... bless him!

Oh well, I suppose coffee breaks over.  No rest for the wicked eh!

Thanks for popping by today.  Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you again soon.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

Back again! This is really last minute .......

Hello again,

I'm certainly seeing April out with a bang.  I've been busy in the old craft room this afternoon, supposedly tidying the place, but I got a little bit distracted shall we say.

All month I've been meaning to do a little something to enter into the Country View Crafts Blog Challenge, and somehow I've never got around to it.
Since moving to the Isle of Man, Country View Crafts has become my favourite online place to shop for all my craft supplies. 

It's a fabulous online store.  Great products.  Best prices.  Really quick delivery, even across to the island, and it's free p&p too!
It's only their second challenge this month, (I was so disappointed not to enter the first one) and the theme is ..........

BUTTERFLIES

There's some stunning inspiration pieces from the Design Team on the blog, and loads of fab entries too.  The challenge closes tonight - in less than 5 hours actually.  So I'd better get a move on.  See, I said it was last minute.

Here's my entry .........

It's a hinged tag, made using the Indigo Blu Wild Meadow stamp set.

I cut my tag from a piece of white cardstock - approx. 3 1/2 inches by 7, and used Distress Stains - Broken China, Salty Ocean and Picket Fence to colour it.  I put the stains directly onto my craft sheet, spritzed with a little water and then dragged my tag through the stains.  I repeated this a couple of times to make sure the whole of the tag was covered, then dried it off with a heat tool.

Next, I used the stains to make 'splats' to add a bit more interest to the background .......

This is great fun but the ink can go everywhere, so make sure your craft desk is protected - no part-finished pieces of work lying around, or nice new paper pads (why am I telling you this? .......... been there, done that, wearing the splattered t-shirt!).

I stamped the grass silhouette across the bottom of the tag using Onyx Black Versafine, and the dandelion off the edge slightly.  

To make the hinged part I cut off the bottom 1 3/4 inches and made 3 small holes across both edges where I made the cut

The butterflies were stamped onto some cardstock  from my bit box, which had been coloured using blue shades of Distress, spritzed with Perfect Pearls, and then cling film put over the top and left to dry (one of my favourite techniques, I do use it quite a bit, so I've always got scraps of card left over).
The large butterfly is from Wild Meadow, the medium one came free with an issue of Craft Stamper, and the tiny one is a Hero Arts stamp.
The sentiment is from a Dylusions stamp set, stamped onto cardstock and then cut into sections.

I mat the two tag pieces onto some black cardstock, used a fancy border punch for the bottom edge, then joined the two pieces together with some large jump-rings.   I added the sentiment, and butterflies, just attaching the butterflies by the bodies so that the wings could be raised and add a bit of dimension.  I also stamped the large butterfly again onto acetate, and layered it over the top of the cardstock just to make him flutter that bit more.
I added a fancy metal corner and some co-ordinating seam-binding to finish off.  Challenge entry done - yeah!!

I'm also entering this into Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers - get me!!  2 challenges from 1 make.  Anyone would think I'd thought about this one (ha ha!)  This week's theme is  ............BLUE  I think it qualifies don't you.

Well, that's it for me today.  Hubby's just got in from work and he's brought me a little treat ........

Fish supper from the best fish and chip shop ever!  It's been a while so I'm going to enjoy these Nom! Nom!

Thanks for popping by (again).

See you all soon

Linda

xx