Deck the Halls ........

Hello again ......

The weekend is almost here ... yeah!!  Or has yours already started!

We're still in the festive spirit I'm afraid ........ for this month's Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge

This month's theme is ....... Crackle and I've used it here to paint an MDF Christmas bauble

I love the crackle effect and it's so simple to do.
I gave the bauble a quick coat of gesso followed by a coat of acrylic paint.  You need to put a colour down first so that it shows through once the crackle has done its magic ..... I chose a bluey grey shade here

There's quite a few Crackle paints or glazes on the market ..... I used the 2 step Cracking Paint from Sweet Poppy Stencils, it works really well and dries reasonably quickly.  Another one of my favourites is the PaperArtsy Crackle Glaze.

OK ...... so I've gessoed and painted my bauble.  Next comes Step 1 of the Cracking Paint ....... the Primer.  Simply painted over the bauble and left to dry ...... it dries clear.  Then comes the magic ..... Step 2 painted over the top and left to dry.  I like to leave it to dry naturally but, you can heat it to speed up the process.  As it dries, the cracks appear.

I then used a stencil and texture paste to add my design followed by a covering of fine glitters to add the colour ..... very sparkly!

I stamped the words and heat embossed with gold powder, both on the front of the bauble and the back ....... adding more of the stencil design too

To finish off  I added a festive bow along with some seasonal foliage

What will you design?

As with all the HLS challenges there's a prize up for grabs ..... a $20 gift certificate to spend in the HLS Store.
You can check out all the challenge details HERE and why not pop by and see what the rest of the Design Team have been up to ...... Happy Stamping!

Well that's me done for this week ..... it's time I had some of that Christmas spirit.  I think there's a glass of something chilled waiting with my name all over it ..... Ho! Ho! Ho!

Thanks for popping by ........ have a great weekend.

Cheerio until next time .....

Happy it's the weekend ........

Good morning ........

Have you got that Friday feeling? ..... I know I have.  It's been a busy old week and I'm so looking forward to the weekend.

Did you catch Lucy on the TV yesterday?  I still have the afternoon show to watch.
What do you think of the Christmas designs? And what gorgeous samples from the rest of the DT ..... each one so different.
I think my favourite stencil was the wreath ....... or was it the tree .... or wait, there was that gorgeous, large holly background.  Decisions, decisions .... I just love them all!

Here's a closer look at some of my samples you may have spotted on the shows ...... you might want to grab a cuppa this could be a lengthy post!
Let's start with that pretty Christmas Tree Swirl ......

Black cardstock, spritzed with Perfect Pearls and left to dry naturally .....

The tree was then stenciled over the top using the Glossy White paste and sprinkled with the Crystalina glitter

I added tiny dots of coloured glitter glue to give the look of lights or baubles, and created a snowy landscape to ground the tree by simply sponging white ink along the edge of a piece of copier paper.

A simple stamped sentiment attached with some silver twine is all it needed as a finishing touch.

Here's the same stencil, done in the same way but on a different background ...... I love the icy look to this and only the one colour too

The background was simply a piece of white cardstock painted with the Sweet Poppy Persian Blue Lustre paint ..... how pretty is that

Just by adding a little more water in places to the paint  I got this pretty two tone effect.

As Leonie said on yesterday's show .... don't think you always have to use the whole stencil.  You've probably guessed I like to this with the stencils .... and with my stamps ..... it just gives a different look

And to finish off this one .... a simple stamped and embossed greeting along with a few white enamel dots  .......

Again ... same stencil .... completely different look .....

See how I've used part of the stencil to create a bit more interest in the background .....

Next up .... the Christmas Wreath .....

Done with the paste and glitter again ...... and then fussy cut before attaching onto an embossed background

A pretty ribbon bow and a few dots of glitter glue on the berries and you're done!

CAS and off the edge again ..... I love how this turned out

Love the detail ....... these stencils are top quality!

Don't just use them for card designs ...... here's a large MDF tag for those BIG boxes under the tree

This was so much fun to do ..... the Crackle Paint onto the background .....

A little touch of Distress ink around the edges and the stencil over the top .....

A festive die cut sentiment across the middle .... with a touch of Glossy Accents

Some festive foliage and  more of the pretty Crystalina glitter to add a frosty look

And last but not least ..... hope you're still with me .... that gorgeous, large Holly Back Plate
This is a lovely BIG stencil but don't let that put you off ... it's so useful.  Makes great backgrounds obviously, as Lucy demonstrated so well on air (looked fab with the Translucent paste).  But why not use that large design to make lots of different cards ......... you've already seen this one, think how many die cut baubles you could get out of one piece of stenciled cardstock

Or how many fussy cut pieces of holly ..... might take some time to do but,  great little embellishment for your festive designs.

Cut the design into smaller pieces if you like to send smaller cards ......

A little bit of Distress Ink around the edges and a simple strip stamped with the sentiment ....

Or use a large part of the design to make your 8x8 cards and you'll still have some left over to die cut
I made this look like a parcel ......

Festive ribbon and a cute little tag for the greeting ......

This stencil works great with inks too ......

Mask off a panel on the front of your card and use Distress Inks ......

You can still add your glitter glues or liquid pearls to the berries ......

I edged my design with a strip of double sided tape and then used gilding flakes over the top ...... and a simple stamped and embossed sentiment ..... another pretty CAS design using only part of the stencil

Why not mask around one or two of the bunches of  holly and use on the inside of your cards to decorate your sentiment ..... the uses for this design are endless.

Phew!  I think that's the lot.  Well done if you're still with me. I hope I've given you plenty of festive inspiration.

I'll be in the craft room most of today ........ it's a workshop weekend tomorrow and I've still got prep to do!!!
We're going to be playing with black cardstock ..... by request from one of the ladies.
Here's a little sneaky peek at one of the designs ........ pearlescent paints .... they work great on black (just wish I could photograph it better!)

Do you remember back in February(ish) I mentioned we had decided to order a new dining table. Well ...... the wait is finally over!!!!  We've had a couple of problems along the way but, Charlotte at the furniture store has been wonderful and our new table is now here.  It's BIG!!!  It's not actually the one we ordered originally ....... it's bigger.  It's solid too .... a beautiful piece of oak

It's a whopping 3.5m long when fully extended and 1.2m wide ..... perfect for Christmas dinner and family Sunday lunches.  And loads of space for my crafty ladies ...... after its been well covered of course! (Luckily we have plenty of chairs!)

Not only is it a workshop weekend ...... but ..... one of my favourite events is happening over the next two days ..... the IOM Food and Drink Festival!

I'll be popping off down there first thing tomorrow to get some shopping done ..... must get this year's Christmas pud, amongst other things ..... yum!!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a fabulous weekend!

Cheerio until next time ......

Sweet little jam jars ......

Good morning ........ Happy Friday!

I hope you've had a good week .... looking forward to the weekend are we? I know I am.

For those of you who visit here regularly ..... sorry I've been AWOL (again!)  It's been a funny old week!  Busy ...... but weird!
Hubby's been away on business so I've had the whole house to myself .... boy has it been quiet!!  I've spent nearly the whole week in my craft room ...... it's been bliss, well most of the time!  Got loads done which was good.  The little man wanted to know if I was lonely without Grandad .... bless him! I wasn't the only one who missed him!

Back to business today though ...... time to remind you about this month's Craft Stamper Blog Challenge.
It's Take a Theme for October and it's all about creating Autumn projects (or Fall).  Use Autumnal images, trees, leaves maybe, nice cups of steaming hot drinks.  Or, go for the Autumn colours ..... rich reds, oranges, greens and earth tones.  Whatever you decide, remember you must include some stamping on your project somewhere.

As always we have a challenge sponsor ...... this month it's the fabulous That's Crafty

And what a prize there is for the winner ..... 8 brand new stamp sets ...... yes I did say 8!!
Take a look at these .....

If you fancy getting your hands on this little lot then you'd better enter the challenge .... that's if you haven't already done so.  Although you can enter up to 3 times you know.

I've done a little bit of re-cycling for you today ....... these started out as two little jam jars .....

and now they're pretty autumnal lights ...... with the help of a couple of sets of those really useful battery operated fairy lights .... how cute do these look!

I fell in love with the shape of these little jars, and didn't want to just throw them away so ...... a coating of alcohol ink on the inside to give them some colour .... a mixture of Honeycomb and Sunshine Yellow in one ......

and the new Valencia (orange) in the other ......

I simply squirted some alcohol ink into the jar along with a little Blending Solution and then swished it around the jar until the glass was covered.  I did this a couple of times until I was happy with the colour.

I then tried out a technique I came across some time ago, by the fabulous Tammy Tutterow, on the Tim Holtz Blog, using Glossy Accents and Distress Crackle Paint in the Clear Rock Candy.

Once the jars were dry .... which didn't take long, I gave the outside of each one a coat of Glossy Accents and then left it to dry.
Next came a coat of the Rock Candy Crackle Paint ....... and a sprinkling of the Clear Rock Candy Distress Dry Glitter over the top whilst the paint was still wet ......

I love how the fine cracks appeared, and how the glitter gives this nice frosty look ....

I wrapped some natural twine around the tops of the jars and added some seasonal foliage ......

A few die cut leaves that have been over stamped to add some more detail, a few berries and twigs and a couple of small pine cones .......

I finished them off with a tag cut from a piece of left over card from last weeks Craft Stamper project and some beautiful words that sum up Autumn perfectly .....

You can see the lights fit nicely inside ....... no plug required, just a couple of small batteries in the battery pack which you can hide round the back of the jars

Switch them on and see the pretty Autumnal glow ......

I love how these turned out ..... just need to eat more jam now then I can make some more!!

Don't forget to check out the Craft Stamper Blog today for more Autumnal inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day, and have a great weekend.

It's a busy one here .... it's workshop weekend for me tomorrow and I've got a FULL class!!  But before that I've got some of the ladies coming round later .... we're having a bit of play day.  One of us is doing a canvas, someone said they were making a start on their Christmas cards, one wants to play with the MISTI and me .... well who knows what I'll be doing.  A bit of everything ..... or a lot of nothing more than likely.   I should be making a start on some things I have on order but ...... the ideas are not flowing yet! Maybe a coffee and some cake will help!

Cheerio until next time