CAS Mix Up .......

Happy Friday evening folks ......

Whoo hoo!! .... it's the weekend (happy dance time).  

It's one of my favourite weekends on the island too.   Oh yes ........ the Isle of Man Food and Drink Festival takes place this weekend in the Villa Marina Gardens (just round the corner from us!)
The festival showcases all the fabulous local food and produce ...... and when I say local I mean it's grown, reared, caught, cooked, baked or processed on the island, or it's surrounding waters ..... yum! yum!  As you've probably guessed by now, we love our food so yes ..... we'll be there.  Well I need to get this years Christmas pudding!!

Before all that though it's time to play along with September's CAS Mix Up challenge.

This month as you can see, we have to include ..... Stamping - check! Marbling - check! Plus an element of your won choice .... I went for die cuts, oh and acetate smooshing

So .... marbling ..... hmmmm,  there's a few fun ways of doing this, alcohol inks on water,  the shaving foam technique .... always fun!   If you pop over to the CAS Mix Up Blog you'll find some really useful links on there to some great tutorials. If you've never tried this technique why not give it a go.

I used a Marbling with Distress Paints technique from Tim Holtz, which is basically, applying Picket Fence Distress Paint to a craft sheet, plus 2 or 3 other colours of Distress Paint around it, and then swiping a piece of card through the paints to pick up the colours.  Do this until the card is covered, dry the paint off a little ... not too much though ... and then spritz with water to blend, or marble the colours together ...... and either dry with a heat tool, or I left mine overnight which seemed to work too.

I used a couple of different paint combinations and made a few marbled piece of cardstcok and then used my dies and stamps to put my card together.

I die cut the Birthday from one colour, and again from black card, and then layered the two together, slightly off setting them to give the look of a shadow.  I love the font on this die .... it's one of the new CUTplorations range of thin metal dies from STAMPlorations.

I stamped my little Crazy Bird and his birthday balloons onto pieces of the marbled card and then fussy cut around them ........  love how all the colours blend

I then stamped the bird directly onto my card and paper pieced over the top of him ...... oooh!  I suppose Paper Piecing could be an additional element too!

 

I took a piece of acetate and smooshed the same colours in Distress Ink as I'd used in paint for the marbling, onto the background,  and then stamped and embossed the Happy part of my greeting ....

I then put the die cut Birthday and the balloons in place, and finished off by applying a thin coat of Glossy Accents to highlight and bring out the colours a little more .....

Look he's sneaked onto the inside too .....

Now he's in the mood ... he's got his party hat on ....

Well that's it from me .... I've just noticed the time.  Ooops! ....... it's getting a little late and it's suddenly gone dark.  Have I been in the old craft room that long!!!  OK I confess ..... I got distracted by the man himself ... yes Mr Tim Holtz has been on Facebook Live again with the release of this year's Christmas Idea-ology. I missed the live showing but the video popped up on my Facebook news feed and it would have been rude not to watch now wouldn't it.   All I'm saying is .... OMG!!! Talk about a wish list!!

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

Cheerio until next time

PS .... almost forgot ..... I'm also linking this up to the STAMPlorations CUTplorations Blog Hop and Linky Party that's going on at the moment

They're celebrating the release of their brand new Christmas themed stamps and dies ..... be warned you're going to want them all!!

On the 8th day of December ......

'tis the season to be jolly ..... falalalalalalalala!

Happy Tuesday,

A little late I know, but as they say .... better late than never!!

How's your week going ..... deep in the preparations for Christmas?
We're not doing too badly here, we got most of the Christmas present shopping done over the weekend .... despite the weather! Cards are nearly all done and written, I've just one more lot that needs posting (thank goodness! ..... I tell you, it's one layer all the way next year! Either that or everyone gets a facebook message!!)
The tree is getting there .....  I still say it needs more baubles on .....  hopefully that will be sorted sometime this week ...... oh, and the Christmas menu has been finalised!!
Hubby took a couple of days off work so we had a nice long weekend ...... lazy starts, lunches out and a leisurely stroll around the shops.  I even managed to find a dress for the Poker Stars Christmas do ..... finally!!! Just as well .... the party's on Saturday!

Anyhow, enough of all that ....... I'm playing along with the Merry Monday Christmas Card challenge again this week.
The theme is ......

Candy Canes

And it just so happens that I made a card over the weekend that fits in quite nicely ......

It's that Crazy Bird again ...... and look what he's holding .... a candy cane!  Perfect!

Those favourite Clarity trees of mine are back out on my workdesk .... simply stamped along the edge of a paper mask to give that nice snowy landscape

Distress inks to colour the sky ...... spritzed with a little water then snowflakes added over the top

A touch of fine glitter here and there ...... and of course a festive sentiment

And a little something on the inside too ....

Well that's it from me today ....... I'm off to tidy the old craft room.  There's a small group of ladies coming round tomorrow and I need to get things ready.  Last minute Christmas cards and tags ..... CAS design with a bit of basic masking ... should be fun.

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer ..... or not!!!

Happy weekend to you,

I do hope you have a nice one planned.   A quick post from me before I dash out, to share my entry for this week's Merry Monday Challenge ..... it's been a while!!

The theme this week is ...... to use a reindeer

OK .... maybe I'm pushing it just a little bit .....

One Crazy Bird who thinks he's a reindeer .... and doesn't he look so cute!!!

CAS design ..... stamped and coloured using Distress Inks, then his antlers (from the Wonderland stamp set from SU) have been stamped, fussy cut and coated in glitter .......

How festive does he look!!!

A sprinkling of Chunky White embossing powder adds the finishing touch

That's it for now .... we're off down to Castletown, to the butcher's ...... time to stock up the freezer.
We had our first dusting of snow last night, up on the mountains. The sun is shining now though, but it's freezing cold! Winter is coming!!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the weekend.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Do you Believe? ........

Happy Sunday,

Just a quick post today with my Tag #10 for Loll's 12 Tags of Christmas Event   It's been so much fun playing along with this event ..... the twelve days are up today but .... the link up stays open until the 22nd so there's still time to join in

One of my Crazy Birds had to make an appearance at some point ..... so here he is

I inked the background with Distress Ink, and created a little woodland backdrop using a torn bit of copier paper as a mask to create the hills

I added Santa and his reindeer flying across the night sky (Ho! Ho! Ho!)  

and sprinkled just a touch of Chunky White Embossing Enamel to give the look of falling snow

The bird was stamped directly onto the tag, and then again, twice onto a piece of white card.  He was then coloured, cut out and attached onto the tag (saves cutting out those thin little legs)

His eyes and beak have been layered over the top, and his little Santa hat (doesn't he look festive!), and the gift are both from the Crazy Things set of stamps ..... love these little accessories, there's something for every occasion.

The words were then stamped and embossed onto a piece of vellum, which I then tore around the edges and attached onto the tag

A touch of glitter and a festive red ribbon finish it all off nicely.

Well that's 10 down .... 2 more to go.  Then I just need to buy my Christmas presents for them all to go on!

I'm also linking up to the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge which is all about Tags

and their Mixed Media challenge which is also Tag themed

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

The eyes have it ......

Hi there .... it's me again!

I've just got time for another quick post before I have to get the dinner on.  It's chilli tonight .... one of hubby's favourites ..... and after the day I've had I think a nice bottle of red will go down just fine with it!!

It's my favourite One Layer Week over at Less is More ..... and there's a title to this weeks challenge

The Eyes Have It!

I'm sorry .... but there was only one set of stamps I could go for ...... plus they were already out on my desk (actually they've never been put away since they arrived in the old craft room!) .......

I think you either love them or you hate them ....... me I can't get enough of these little guys (and gals!) Can't wait until I get my Crazy Things stamp set to go with them .... I believe it's on it's way!! 

I stamped the Crazy Bird with black Archival ink and then coloured him using my Distress Markers and a touch of water.  His eyes have had the Glossy Accents treatment although you can't really tell from the photo (hope that still counts as one layer ...... oops!!)

And to finish off ..... a suitable sentiment and a few tiny ink splashes

One Layer Card ..... done!  and on the first attempt too ........ surprisingly!!

Oh well .... must dash, otherwise the dinner will never be ready.  Once all that's on I can sit and enjoy the sunshine!  But before I go .... I'd like to say Hello and Welcome to our latest follower  ....... I've spotted you up there Denise! Thank you for spending time here ..... it's nice to have you along.

Thanks for popping by (again!) ...... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time

Linda 

xx

Tag time!!!!

Happy Friday evening folks!

How's your week been? I'm looking forward to the weekend I can tell you.  Let's hope it's a quiet one!

I had a nice lazy start this morning ...... no early alarm going off.   Hubby was on a late start (along with the rest of the office!) after yesterday's 'off site' day ....... told you he'd be late home and yes .... he'd had just a little bit to drink!!!

Anyway ...... today I've finally managed to make time to join in with Tim's 12 Tags again.  I can't believe I've missed the last two!!!!

Wasn't sure how I was going to do this one ...... haven't got the stamps, or the papers.  Couldn't even decide on a theme for it .... and with July being almost over I didn't want to copy the whole 4th July thing.
So ....... what was out on my desk ......... only these little guys ......

I've still followed all the techniques ....... used the watercolour paper to stamp on and then coloured the images using Distress Markers and a waterbrush .....

Applied the brand new Distress Micro-Glaze over the birds and polished away the excess .....

Then added a wash of colour to the background ...... the glaze acts as a resist to the ink so any excess on the birds can just be wiped away with a piece of kitchen towel .... clever or what!

I love how it's created a sort of halo effect around the birds too, and the texture in the watercolour card really shows through ..... love it!!

I added some large Chit Chat stickers to make up the sentiment .....

and a few Black Soot ink splats here and there......

And to finish, I used my Distress Markers to colour a piece of the crinkle ribbon to match ......

All done ..... with a few hours to spare!

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx