What a busy World Cardmaking Day ........

Happy Saturday ........

Welcome to the weekend.  This time last week I was getting ready to spend the day in my craft room celebrating World Cardmaking Day, did you join in with any of the celebrations?

I spent the day with Facebook .......... yes I know, some of you may think a whole day on Facebook, what a waste! ....... not this one!  I had so much fun, it was the longest I'd spent in the craft room actually making something, for a long time!  And the good thing is, I have a whole pile of cards and lots of ideas, again something that's been missing for a while.  

It was a fabulous day, organised and put together by Sharon Everett from The Forget Me Not Kraft Kabin.  

The whole day was full of demonstrations and inspiration from lots of familiar names and faces in the craft world.  There were FB Lives which you could craft along with, recorded sessions again which you could follow along with.  All the supplies used had been listed during the week leading up to it so I was all ready to go.  

The FB group is still there, with all the videos available to watch, however it's now been made a Private Group so I think you have to ask to join or be invitied ...... check it out if you haven't already, here's the link ......... World Cardmaking Day

  

The lovely Jo Firth-Young got things underway.  I followed the techniques, I didn't have the stamp she used so I improvised .......

I also used something that's been in my stash for a while, hardly ever used but, I love the effect from PaperArtsy's Pearl Glaze ....... will definitely be using that again! 

Just a touch here and there, but how pretty does it look when the light catches it!   And get this ..... I even did the inside of the card.  Not a bad start to the day.

 

Next up was Martine Smith doing amazing things with flower dies and embossing folders.   

Making flowers is not really my thing, I don't have the patience but, I did have the embossing folder so I went with that

One of Martine's tips was to ink your embossing folders before putting them through your machine.

How pretty does this look with just a hint of colour .......

along with some added sparkle of course 

One of the pre-recorded videos was from Marion Emberson using WOW! Embossing Powders

I love this simple design, and it was so easy to do using double-sided tape with the embossing powders. and a die cut sentiment.

There's so many fabulous WOW! Embossing Powders to choose from with so many different looks.  Just remember if you're using double-sided tape under your powders, make sure it can stand the heat!

That's just some of my cards from last weekend ....... as you can see it was a busy, but fun day.

I'll share the rest with you some other time.

I've got another crafty day today. I'm off up to the North to meet up with the girls ...... it's been a while! 

Not sure I'll be as productive as last weekend but, you never know.

Thanks for popping by, have a lovely weekend.

Cheerio until next time ......

 

Products used:

Card #1  inspired by JOFY 

Stamps: JOFY 106 (PaperArtsy); the small sentiments are from my stash

Inks: Jet Black Archival ink; Versamark

Paints: Cerulean, Ice Blue, Snowflake (PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paint)

Other: White Gel Pen, Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); Pearl Glaze (PaperArtsy); Chunky Whit Embossing Powder (Stampendous)

Card #2  inspired by Martine

Stamps: Chritmas sentiments from my stash

Inks: Distress Inks - Spun Sugar, Speckled Egg; Delicata - Golden Glitz; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Embossing Folder: 3D Poinsettia embossing folder (Lisa Horton Crafts)

Other: Silver thread; Tim Holtz Merry Christmas dies; Fine crystal glitter

Card #3  inspired by Marion 

Stamps: Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers - no longer available)

Inks: Distress Ink - Salvaged Patina; Versamark (used on the die cut word)

Embossing Powders: WOW! Embossing Powder - Glacier, Bluetiful; Bahama, Halo on the

Others: Double-sided tape; self-adhesive gems 

CAS Christmas Challenge ........

Happy Saturday .......

Thank goodness it's the weekend.

I'm going a little festive again today with another card for this month's  CAS Christmas Challenge ...... 

This little guy has been sat patiently all week waiting to be blogged.

I love this JOFY snowman ........ he's simply stamped and heat embossed in white, onto a piece of Kraft cardstock (I do like white on Kraft!)

I used Prismacolor pencils to colour him in, with a few touches of ZIG marker here and there (his carrot nose, arms, the band on his hat, and the tiny holly leaves)

I added a touch of sparkle to the baubles with a sprinkling of fine crystal glitter ...... everyone needs sparkly baubles at Christmas!

The sentiment sits nicely underneath .......

And to finish, I added a few dots of falling snow using a white gel pen, and I also doodled a stitched border around the edge 

 

I must admit I'm not really thinking about Christmas at the moment, not with the week I'm having!  

Now, you know me, I don't mind change ....... but really! ........ this week (sigh!) ........ it's been doing my head in!!!

  

Monday ....... I was getting in the holiday mood,  making plans for our first big adventure in the van. 

 

Tuesday (morning) ......... I get an email from our landlord to say he's putting the house on the market!  Funnily enough we've been looking at property recently and thinking about moving (again!) ..... itchy feet and all that but, suddenly it's become more of a reality. 

 OK, that's not a problem, we've done it before .... time for another clear out!

Tuesday (pm) ........ we had seen a house that we quite liked the look of, so hubby rang and made arrangements to view.

In the meantime I'm making many lists, and starting to prep the van.

Wednesday ....... government press conference is tomorrow with regards to border changes etc.  

The plan was our borders were hopefully being opened fully on June 28th, for both residents and non-residents, with all restrictions being lifted.  

However, because of the new Delta variant being in the UK, and infection numbers on the rise again, we knew that there was a good chance that this would not be happening.  

It was announced that government were proposing that our borders would remain as they are at the moment except that people who had had both of their vaccinations (both IOM residents and non- residents) would be allowed to travel freely to and from the island, assuming they had had their vaccines at least two weeks before arriving here ...... they're calling it the 2+2 stage!

OK that's fine ..... hubby and I are having our second vaccine on Monday next week,  only a week before we are due to travel I know,  but we checked and that's fine, it just means that we would still have to isolate when we came back, and get a test on day 2.  Not a problem. we could do that.

So at this point we're still going on our trip (yeah!), viewing a possible new house and, something else we've been looking forward to ......... we had a table booked in the evening at the new Japanese restaurant in Castletown

I say new, it's been open a while now you just can't get a table is so busy!  And after eating there I can understand why ....... the food is amazing!

We had a lovely meal ........ the little man tried everything ....... even the sashimi!

He was braver than me ...... I like my food cooked!  Sushi I can eat, but not sashimi.  I did try the eel though ....... still deciding about that one

We will definitely be back ..... when we can get a table!

So, we get to Thursday and we go to view this property we've found ........... it's perfect! 

Now the current property market on the island is moving very quickly so we decided to put the wheels in motion with a view to moving sooner rather that later.  But hey!  aren't we're going off island for two weeks soon?  When would I pack up the current house!!!!???  And then, there's the possibility of having to isolate when we come back, I could pack up everything then I suppose.  But of course there's a worse case scenario ....... what if we test positive!!!!  OMG!!! More isolation.  

Now we have many decisions to make .......... I don't know if I'm coming or going. 

Friday was just a blur ..... I can't think straight anymore! 

I do think the sensible thing to do is put off the van trip, and concentrate on the move, assuming everything goes according to plan of course!

There's going to be a few of these over this weekend ...... well it is Fathers' Day on Sunday

Thanks for popping by ..... sorry about the long post!  Enjoy your weekend

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:

Stamps: JOFY 58 (PaperArtsy)

Inks: Versamark ink; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: White fine detail Embossing Powder (WOW!); Prismacolor pencils; ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Fine Crystal Glitter; Quickie Glue Pen; White Gel Pen 

We're half way through this month's CAS Mix Up challenge ......

Happy weekend ......

We've reached the halfway point in this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge ..... May is flying by!

Susan is our host for this challenge, and she would like us to use Rainbow Ink Blending or Colours ...... a perfect technique as it's also a stencil month!

We have an amazing Guest Designer too ....... Michelle (I Card Everyone) is joining in the CAS Mix Up fun this month, so please pop by and say Hello!

Don't you just love rainbow colours ....... and they do look great as backgrounds.   

Add a simple sentiment, a stamped image, or a die cut and your card is done!  Or, you could go for all three like I've done here ..... the choice is yours!

The stencil I've used is from Lavinia stamps, and the inks are a rainbow of Distress colours ......

I applied the inks through the stencil, and then with the stencil still in place, I splattered water over the top, letting it sit for a few seconds before mopping up the excess ..... love, love, love this effect! 

I added a simple die cut to make up part of my sentiment, layered a couple of times to add a bit of dimension, and then I stamped the rest underneath ........

To finish off, and add a bit more detail, I added a pretty stamped flower that just so happened to be on my desk ...... I decided to keep it black and white so that it stood out against the pretty background colours.

There's still plenty of time to play along with this month's challenge if you'd like to join in the fun.  It would be lovely to see you in the gallery.

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Stamps: JOFY 101 (PaperArsty); birthday sentiment stamp from my stash

Stencils: Flora stencil (Lavinia)

Inks: Distress Inks - Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry,  Salty Ocean, Twisted Citron; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: Happy die (Winnie & Walter)

Paper piecing for CAS Mix Up .......

Happy Thursday ........

We've reached the middle of April already ....... time to give you a little reminder about this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge.

I'm hosting this month, and the theme I've chosen is ..... Paper Piecing 

We've had some fabulous entries into the gallery already but there's still plenty of time left if you'd like to play along.

Paper Piecing is a really fun way of adding colour to your stamped images.  Quick to do, and it's a great way of using up all those off cuts of patterned papers that we all have in our stash.

I've been playing with some JOFY stamps recently ...... nice large images, perfect for paper piecing.

I love this pretty floral design, I think there's so many ways you could use this stamp.

Using a black ink, I stamped the image first onto my card blank, again onto a scrap of patterned paper, and also onto an old book page.

I then chose parts of the image to paper piece ........ the large flower from the patterned paper

I used the book page pieces to add some extra detail here and there, and then coloured in the rest of the image using coloured pencils 

Flowers will always work well with the paper piecing technique but, you can paper piece any stamped image.  How cute does this look ......

This set is from the JOFY new release ....... I love her!!

I stamped the background, watercoloured with ZIG markers and then added a few pink and gold splatters.

I stamped the little geisha girl onto a separate piece of white card and fussy cut around her.  

I coloured her hair and face using pencils and paper pieced her little kimono, adding in some detail with coloured gel pens

I even paper pieced her little top knot to match

She was attached with foam pads for dimension, and I finished with one of the sentiments from the stamp set

Just think, this little one could have a whole wardrobe of pretty kimonos ....... it's like playing with paper dolls all over again!

Don't forget to check out the CAS Mix Up Blog for more inspiration ideas from the Design Team, they've all been having fun with this challenge.

Thank you for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:

Card 1

Stamps: JOFY 96

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress Oxide Ink - Seedless preserve (for the sentiment)

Other: Faber Castel Polychromos Pencils; Patterned paper and book pages from my stash; Gem stones

Card 2

Stamps: JOFY 100

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata - Golden Glitz(for the splatter)

Other: Patterned paper from my stash; Faber Castel Polychromos Pencils; IG Clean Color Brush Markers, Coloured Gel Pens

There's no place like home ......

Good morning ..... Happy Good Friday!

I hope everyone is staying safe and well, and enjoying the Easter weekend at home.

If you fancy spending some time in your crafty space, then why not play along with this month's Craft Stamper Challenge.  There's still plenty of time to get your entries in.

As always, the theme is Anything Goes, you just have to remember to include some actual rubber stamping on your project, and then you're good to go.

I've been searching for my mojo recently, and I thought maybe some time spent playing in one of my journals would help.
So ....... inspired by a prompt from an online journal course here's what I came up with .......

You've probably guessed the prompt was ....... Home

I used acrylic paints, Distress Oxide Inks, stencils, and a few JOFY stamps ...... and I must say I did enjoy the process.  It's good to get inky fingers occasionally!

I lightly sketched the hills across the bottom half of the journal pages and then used a brush to roughly apply the acrylic paints

I wasn't too fussy about applying the paints, I just wanted to get some colour on there and also a bit of texture.  And I quite like the fact you can see the brushstrokes in places ..... adds a bit of interest.

I did the same with the sky ...... and used a piece of sponge to add in the white clouds.

I did leave a space without any paint so that I could add in the sun  ......

For this I used a stencil and a thin layer of yellow acrylic paint, and then extended the rays a little using a yellow watercolour crayon over the top, and blending them together with a little water

I added a little extra detail using a flower stencil and white paint, and also defined the hills a little using a black pencil.

I stamped the trees onto white cardstock, and then used Distress Oxide Inks to add the colour before fussy cutting around them

The house was stamped onto a piece of cardstock from my bits box, coloured using PaperArtsy's Infusions I think.

Everything was then glued down over the background in my journal, and I finished off by stamping the various sentiments all around the edge, added a touch of doodling here and there using black and white fine liner pens, and of course added in the words ........

With what we're all having to go through at the moment, there really is no place like home!

As with all the Craft Stamper challenges, there's prizes up for grabs.
This month's randomly chosen, Challenge Winner will receive this amazing Woodware bundle .......

And, we'll also have a Design Winner.  They will receive a Winner's Profile post on the Craft Stamper Blog, they will be invited to be a Guest Designer on the Blog Challenge and, they will also have their winning project published in a future issue of the Craft Stamper magazine.
Check out the Craft Stamper Blog for more details.

I'm hoping to spend some more time with my journal this weekend ..... lets hope I've kicked started the mojo!

Speaking of the weekend, I think we're going camping!  Don't worry it's only going to be in the garden, well on the drive actually. 

We're spending some time with Remi ......

Have you seen anything on Facebook about the Great British Campout for NHS Staff? 
A guy called Ian had this idea of having a 'camp out' to raise some money to support the NHS staff and volunteers, for all their amazing work during the Covid-19 pandemic. 
So, last Saturday night anyone that had a camper or motorhome on their drive, or a tent in their garden could donate £2 each (or more) to the wonderful NHS staff, and then spend the night camping out.
The reaction he got was unbelievable!!  Even people without vans or tents were camping out in garden sheds, or making tents in their lounges ...... it was incredible. 
I think he said he was looking to raise a couple of hundred pounds .......... he did in fact raise over £100,000!!!! And that amount is still rising ....... amazing or what!

So ..... they're doing it all again for the Easter weekend, and hubby and I thought we would join in. 
We had planned to spend this weekend on one of the campsites on the island with Lauren, Robbie and Alex.  They would have been in George (the VW), and us in Remi ..... so, if we can't go to the campsite, we'll bring the campsite to us.  Let's hope the weather stays nice.

Thanks for popping by ....... enjoy your Easter weekend.
Stay safe ....... stay well ....... stay at home!

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:
Stamps: JOFY 29, JOFY 9, 11, 12, 49 (for the words), JOFY Mini JM42 
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress Oxides - Gathered Twigs, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn
Paints: PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints - Granny Smmith, Magic Moss, Blue Oyster, Snowflake, Cheesecake
Other: Jane Davenport AquaPastels (Yellow); Sunrays stencil (Visible Image); PaperArtsy Stencil - PS107 (flowers), White Gel Pen, Black Fine Liner

Letters or Numbers ........ or it could be both!

Hello there, it's me again .........

I'm doing a little happy dance around the craft room today.
No, I haven't been on the bubbly celebrating my birthday again ....... I'm one of the Guest Designers  on this month's Country View Crafts Challenge Blog.
Thanks for having me guys!

The theme for March is .......  Letters and/or Numbers
A fun one right.  If you think about it, nearly everything we create has either letters or numbers on there somewhere, sometimes there's even both.
Take cards for instance ....... all those sentiments, they're letters.
Personalising something ..... you use letters then, or numbers maybe to mark a special birthday.
Do you use script stamps or alphabet stencils to create backgrounds ...... there you go!  The list is endless.

I decided to use some die cut Letters on my project, to create some cute little painted wooden blocks to use as a home decor piece ......

These are just off cuts of wood, roughly about the size of an ATC (2.5 by 3.5 inches and about an inch deep)

I gave them all a quick coat of white gesso and then painted them using some blue acrylic paint.

A little dry brushing with a touch of Snowflake Fresco Finish paint around the edges gives them a little shabby look.

I decided to add some detail here and there, using texture paste and a brickwall stencil, which I then painted over using the same blue paint, and highlighted with some Treasure Gold gilding wax once it was dry

The letters were die cut three times from plain white cardstock, layered together to make them more dimensional and then painted with the blue paint, before attaching them to the fronts of my blocks.

To make them stand out a little more I rubbed each one with a little of the gilding wax.
And to finish off I added a cute painted wooden heart

I also decorated the backs of the blocks just in case they end up on a window ledge and can be seen from the outside!

I used JOFY's pretty flower stamp (JOFY Mini 59).  I stamped it randomly across the backs of the blocks and heat embossed with a clear powder

I then used the Fresco Finish paints and a waterbrush to colour the blooms, and added a few drops of crystal lacquer to the centres

I did stamp the side too ......

And a few splatters of black and white paint finishes off the blocks

Now I just have to find somewhere to put them!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
Dont forget to check out the Country View Crafts Challenge Blog for more fabulous inspiration using Letters and/or Numbers.
The challenge is open until the end of March so there's still time to play along.

Cheerio until next time .....