It's almost the weekend ......

Happy Friday folks .......

It is Friday isn't it?  We had a bank holiday here on the island yesterday and I kept thinking it was Saturday ........ now I've no idea what day of the week it is!

Let's go with Friday shall we ....... it's the first one of the month so that means the latest issue of the Craft Stamper magazine hits the shelves today.  It also means that there's a brand new Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge too.

As always the theme is Anything Goes ...... as long as there's actual rubber stamping on your projects somewhere.

It can be a card, an ATC or a journal page.  A canvas, or piece of jewellery even.  Or maybe something 3D, or a bit of home decor ..... the choice is all yours.
Just remember to follow the challenge guidelines, which you can find HERE on the Craft Stamper Blog ....... we don't want an amazing project to be excluded from the chance of winning one of the prizes.

Speaking of prizes ........ we have two on offer as always. 
The Design Winner chosen by the DT.  They will get their project featured in the Craft Stamper magazine, along with a winner's profile and also a Guest Designer spot on the CS Blog. 
And then there's a Challenge Winner, randomly chosen from all the eligible entries and they will win the prize on offer this month which is .......

Stephanie Ackerman's Faith Journaling Book ...... plus 2 sets of Documented Faith Stickers

OK ...... now for some inspiration
If you read my blog regularly then you'll know I recently discovered rice papers.  I know .... I'm a little late to the party with these but, I'm now hooked!
They are so easy to use ..... that's if you can bring yourself to tear into the gorgeous designs.   They can transform the plainest of items into something beautiful in no time ......

I've covered a simple MDF heart here, using the whole of the main part of the design.

To start I gave the heart a quick coat of white gesso, let it dry then added a coat of Mod Podge before laying the rice paper over the top.

Isn't she beautiful! The colours in this particular paper are just gorgeous, and the detail is amazing ....

I applied another thin coat of Mod Podge over the top, to seal the rice paper making sure I went right to the edges.
Once this was dry I used a sanding block to take off the excess rice paper around the edge ...... keeping all the pieces of course to use on other projects.
I dry brushed some white paint around the edge to soften it a little ........

and then used my favourite IndigoBlu Vintage Flourish stamp to add some more detail and texture ....
along with a sentiment, both of which were stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed in gold

A pretty metal embellishment and some paper flowers, highlighted with a little White Fire Treasure Gold wax, add the finishing touch

The reverse of the heart has been painted ........ 

decorated with a few of the left over pieces of rice paper

and stamped and embossed with the vintage flourish ...... love it!!

Now it's your turn ....... see you in the gallery!
Check out the Craft Stamper blog for lots more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.
Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.
The weather forecast is looking good ...... sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine.
And lets hope we get the right result tomorrow in the football ...... I think we're off out to watch the match.  Don't think my nerves can stand a repeat of Tuesday night though .......... come on England!!!

Cheerio until next time .....

First post of the day .......

Happy Friday .......

I may be away from my craft room but ......... it's still a busy day on the Blog!

First up today is a little reminder about the Craft Stamper Blog challenge. We've already had lots of fabulous entries but there's still loads of time left to play along.

The theme is Anything Goes .... as long as there's stamping on there somewhere.
Check out the Craft Stamper Blog for full challenge details and all the rules.  When I say 'all' there's not many!

On to some inspiration for you now ...... fancy a Christmas card?

I must confess I did look at Christmas cards in the shops this week ..... didn't buy any though, well not yet anyway!

This design was quite simple to do .... a mix of snowflakes, and a couple of different ink pads and you're away.

I stamped the snowflakes randomly onto a piece of white card using a silver and a gold metallic ink

Once these were dry, I stamped the large snowflake with Versamark ink and heat embossed with gold
You can see that my snowflakes do overlap in places, this creates the look of depth and layers

I splattered some gold and silver ink onto the background

And finished off with a festive sentiment

and a sprinkling of chunky white embossing powder

Don't forget we have a challenge sponsor ..... the fabulous  RubberDance stamps

And the challenge winner (randomly chosen) will receive a stamp set of their choice .... nice!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a fab weekend.
I'm off on my craft retreat later today so mine's going to be a good one!
First though ....... it's a spot of Christmas shopping and lunch out with hubby .... Ho! Ho! Ho!

Cheerio until next time

Make a wish ......

Happy Friday .....

And welcome to September.  Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

I hope you've had a good week. Today see's the end of this years MGP (Manx Grand Prix) .... another event over. We haven't seen any of the racing .... I've heard it though!!! And we've had to put up with the road closures but, on the whole it's not been too bad. Maybe the weather could have been a bit better.
My favourite event is coming up in September ..... the IOM Food and Drink Festival.  A whole weekend of celebrating the delicious food that this island produces.  As usual I'll be purchasing this year's Christmas pudding .... yum! along with lots of other goodies no doubt!  Only two weeks to wait!

Before all that though, there's lots of fun blog challenges to play along with ..... let's get them started with this month's Craft Stamper challenge .....

As always the theme is Anything Goes ...... but don't forget to include some rubber stamping on your project.

This month our sponsor is the fabulous stamp company ....... Uniko

And the prize up for grabs is THREE of their amazing stamps sets .....

What are you waiting for ...... get stamping!

Remember you can enter up to THREE different projects for the challenge, each with their own blog post ...... if you enter any more than that, unfortunately they won't be considered for the prizes. Check out the Craft Stamper Blog for all the challenge details,  and you'll also find lots of fabulous inspiration from the Design Team on there too.

Here's a little something from me to get you started ......

Stamping onto watercoloured tissue paper.
This was one of the designs from a recent workshop.  We had fun using Distress Inks to colour plain, everyday white tissue paper.
Simply swipe your ink pads onto a craft sheet, spritz with water and then lay the tissue on the top to pick up the colour.  Carefully lift the tissue and set aside to dry ..... this doesn't take long

Once dry I attached the tissue to a piece of white card using IndigoBlu Slap It On ..... this gives the tissue a bit more substance and makes it easier to work with.  Again let the adhesive dry.  You can use a heat tool to speed up the drying process ..... just remember it is tissue paper which is quite thin and delicate so it's easy to overheat it. Use your heat tool from a distance, and preferably not too hot!

I stamped the Penny Black flower onto the tissue using Onyx Black Versafine ink and then heat embossed with a clear powder

I added some crystal glitter to the flower and a few Nuvo Jewel Drops here and there to add a bit more interest.

A simple sentiment, stamped and heat embossed in gold finishes everything off nicely

The tissue gives a lovely softness to the background I think.

Now it's your turn .... what will you create?

First Friday of the month means that the new Craft Stamper Magazine is on the shelves today. Another fabulous issue packed with great projects, tips and techniques and loads of ideas on how to spend your crafty time .....

And guess what ...... I'm in there again this month!

If you find it hard to pick up a copy of the magazine then why not pop over to  www.craftstamper.com to buy subscriptions, www.mags-uk.com for single print copies,  and you can get digital copies from www.pocketmags.co.uk

Overseas subscriptions are available too!

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

As usual our weekend started early.  It was the grand re-opening of Chris's pub yesterday.  The new look Prospect has opened it's doors for business again and it looks great!

All the hard work from the last few weeks has definitely paid off .. it looks fab!
Lovely new bar ...... well old bar lovingly restored.  And there's 12 new gins to choose from so that's me sorted!

And with these two running the place ..... it's bound to be a success!

Great opening night!

I'm off out later with a couple of the crafty girls ...... it could prove an expensive trip because we're off to see Claire and Element.isle jewellery down at Grenaby Studios.
must not buy anything ..... must not buy anything ..... must not buy ........ I think the only way that's going to happen is if I leave my bank cards at home!!!

Cheerio until next time .....

Bring on the weekend ........

Happy Friday folks .......

How's your week been? Has June got off to a good start for you?

Things are getting really busy here on the island with this year's TT fortnight. Lots more fans, visitors and bikes arrive everyday ..... and the promenade's been transformed into a fun fair! Stalls and rides all along the sea front ..... the little man is so excited!
Practice week however hasn't been one of the best.  The weather's not been kind at all.  We've had a little sunshine, but it was rain at the beginning of the week,  mist in the middle and then rain again last night that have caused the problems.
Race Week should get underway tomorrow but ..... it's had to be put back until Sunday to allow more practice/qualifying sessions to run ....... weather permitting of course!!!

Before all that though there's some challenges to get underway.  First up today is the Craft Stamper TIMI challenge.

For my DT piece, I was inspired by a technique I came across from Jennifer McGuire, sometimes called Split Colouring.
You take a stamp, stamp it twice once on white card and colour in the image, and once on coloured card this time clear embossing.  Cut both images in half, and then mix and match the pieces. I did a workshop a couple of weekends ago and the ladies loved it. It's great because you get 2 cards for the one lot of stamping!
I wondered if the same technique could be used with all those lovely large background stamps ...... well ....... yes it can.

I used the beautiful Roses All Over from My Favourite Things.  This is a fab stamp .... the image is just over five and a half inches square (approx 14.5 cm) so it fills a card front perfectly.
Also, it's a good idea to use a MISTI, or similar stamping tool.  With it being such a large stamp you do need to apply even pressure all over to get that perfect image .... using the MISTI means that if you do miss an area, it's easy to ink up the stamp again and repeat until you're happy with the results.

I stamped the roses onto a piece of white card with Black Versafine ink .......

and then again onto smooth watercolour card using Versamark ink this time, and then embossed it with a white fine detail embossing powder.
The watercolour card was then sprinkled with Brusho powders (Rose Red and Yellow), and spritzed with water to spread and blend the colours

Once it was dry, I cut both squares of card in the same place and mixed and matched the pieces .....
large coloured piece on the top, smaller black and white piece on the bottom ......

 Coloured on the bottom and black and white on the top .....

A simple strip of card with a stamped sentiment, to hide the join, finishes it off perfectly

You end up with two cards that are exactly the same design ..... but look totally different.  I love it!!

The challenge theme is easy ...... it's Anything Goes, you just have to remember to include some rubber stamping on your project somewhere.

As always we have a challenge sponsor, and this month it's our very own  Just Jolande

And the prize for the challenge winner is this fabulous stamp set plus a great stencil ......
 

A new CS challenge means the latest magazine is on the shelves too ...... and what an issue it is this month.

I'm getting all excited because some of the projects in it are mine .......... whoop! whoop!  I'm absolutely thrilled to be alongside the very talented regular Design Team.  Here's a sneaky peek of a couple of my things from the mag ......

A fun 3D project ......

And .... if you've been waiting to get your hands on that fab Grunge Star cover stamp by Kim Dellow, well wait no longer .......

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a great weekend.
The weather's not too bad at the moment ..... finger's crossed it stay like this!

Cheerio until next time ......