More quick and easy Christmas cards .........

Happy Tuesday .........

I'm on a mission this week, to get all my Christmas cards finished, written, and posted, and then fingers crossed they get to where they're going before Christmas!  The postal strikes in the UK are not making things easy this festive season but, I suppose that is their intention!!!

Anyway ...... another quick and easy idea for you today, using a large sentiment stamp as my main focal point ....... I do love a large sentiment!

I'm also using up some of that gorgeous deep purple cardstock too!

I simply stamped my sentiment in the centre of my card and heat embossed in gold ..... this one is from the Savvy Sentiments - Merry Everything stamp set by Colorado Craft Company.  (there's four large sentiment to choose from and I love the font!)

I then had some fun splattering gold, silver and white inks around the sentiment and cvered the background ..... easy!

I added a few tiny gemstones here and there to finish off and give a little extra Christmas sparkle.

That's another batch done!

How are your festive preparations going?

It's all about the food and drink here this week.  

Shopping lists have been made, the oven is getting cleaned on Friday, and the Christmas cook book is out and ready ...... time to get the gravy started!

We've just had the Christmas wine delivered too so that's all sorted ......... cheers!  Just need to put it away somewhere then we don't drink it before the big day!!!

Hubby and I also took some time out yesterday, did a spot of Christmas shopping and went for a lovely festive lunch. Well, he's had a dentist appointment today, and I think the next few days are not going to be pleasant.  I won't go into all the gorey details ........ I'll just say rather him than me!!  

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

Cheerio until next time .......

CAS Mix Up Reminder ........

Hello again .......

I hope you're enjoying your Wednesday.

We're in the middle of September already, can you believe it, and it's time to remind you about this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge

Leslie is our host this month, and the challenge is all about Autumn Colours, and watercolouring.  

Autumn is definitely on it's way here, the leaves are changing colour and beginning to fall, and it's getting a little chilly in the evenings.  I do love this time of year though.

How about using pretty Autumn shades for simple backgrounds, and add in a touch of shimmer and shine with some metallic heat embossing ....... gold, copper and bronze tones are the perfect partners for all those gorgeous rich Autumn colours

This was so quick and easy to do.  I used a background stamp from Penny Black called enlightened.

Inked it up using various shades of Distress Inks, spritzed with a fine mist of water to help move the ink around a little and then stamped the image onto a piece of white cardstock

The spritzing helps to blend the colours together,  and give a pretty watercoloured look to the image.

Once it was dry, I stamped over the top using a large sentiment from a Stampin Up! set called Lovely Friends.

I used my MISTI to do the stamping and Versamark ink.  

I stamped the sentiment over the top of my background design, inking up and stamping a few times to make sure I had a good amount of ink on there before adding my embossing powder.

I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture but, I used a copper embossing powder first but I didn't like the result ..... the words didn't stand out enough from the background.   So, I put the card back in my MISTI, moving it ever so slightly from where it had been positioned before, inked up the sentiment again using the Versamark ink and stamped over the top.

This time I used gold embossing powder, and I love the results .......

There's a sort of shadow effect from the two colours of embossing powder, and when the light hits it's such a pretty effect.

We have a fabulous Guest Designer this month ...... Ros (Mikey's Mom) is joinging us for September's challenge so be sure to pop over and say Hello.  And also check out the gorgeous Autumnal inspiration from the rest of the CAS Mix Up Design Team.

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Stamps: enlightened (Penny Black); Lovely Friedns (Stampin Up!)

Inks: Distress Inks - Fossilised Amber, Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint; Versamark ink

Other: WOW Embossing Powder - Copper, Gold

CAS Christmas Card challenge .......

Happy Wednesday ......

I hope you're having a good week.  It seems ages since I was here, there's been quite a bit going on what with family get togethers, and a couple of nights out.  A crafty meet up with the girls which was fun, a trip to the dentist (oh joy!) and of course the schools on the island have all gone back today ..... yeah!!! so we won't be seeing as much of the little man. 
We've also booked a family Staycation seeing as we haven't had our usual family holiday this year.  We're leaving the motorhome at home and we're spending a week with everyone, in a cottage overlooking the sea, somewhere near Kirk Michael ..... I think.  Fingers crossed the weather is kind ..... it's lovely today but, we don't go for 10 days so anything can happen before then!

I've been spending my week in the craft room, busy working with some new stencils, which can only mean one thing ....... yes, Lucy is back on the TV next week with some brand new Sweet Poppy Stencil designs.  I'll fill you in with all the details and show times later in the week. 
For those of you that can't wait though, check out the New Products section on the Sweet Poppy website for a sneak peek at the new designs.

I've been trying to get into the festive mood recently ...... it had to happen at some point ..... so I thought I would play along with this month's CAS Christmas Card Challenge where they want us to use a Christmas Tree ........ I do like a nice tree!

I also like large sentiment stamps so this one is perfect!

Heat embossed in gold on a piece of green cardstock ......

I then inked around the edges using shades of green Distress Inks  ........ such a simple thing to do but I love the effect you get, it sort of gives the tree a glow

I added a few splatters of gold ink to the background, and made a tub for the tree to sit in from a piece of kraft cardstock coloured with Distress Inks

A few red gems here and there add a touch of sparkle to finish off

I think it's something like 107 days until Christmas ....... eeeek!  It won't be that long before I'm decorating our actual Christmas tree ..... Ho! Ho! Ho!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
We're off out this evening, it's the first of the new Wine Down Wednesday Wine Tastings ..... try saying that at the end of the evening!!
It's all about Bordeaux this month ...... one of our favourite regions, so we're looking forward to it.  We've also got a table booked for dinner afterwards so it could be a late one!

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:
Stamps: We Wish You a Merry Christmas (My Favourite Things)
Inks: Versamark ink; Distress Inks - Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso (for the tub), Delicata Golden Glitz (for the ink splatters)
Others: Gold Detail Embossing Powder (WOW!); Red Self Adhesive Gems from my stash

Hugs and Kisses .......

Happy Friday evening  .......

It's the weekend!!
Let's get February's blog challenges underway shall we, with the Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge. 

This month the theme is Hearts ..... well Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

My hearts have been used as accents to the fabulous large sentiment that is the focal point of my card ..... very Clean and Simple

I stamped the sentiment using VersaMagic chalk ink.  These have been in my stash for ever, hardly used but ..... they're fab!!!  Lots of gorgeous colours and great coverage.  think i'll be adding more of these to my collection.

I used the MISTI to stamp the sentiment in a pretty shade of pink ....... what did we ever do without a MISTI!?   Then I added the hearts in red .....

To finish off I outlined the little hearts using a Stardust Gel pen to add a touch of sparkle.

As with all the HLS challenges there's a $20 Gift Certificate for the winner ..... and, if they've used HLS stamps on their project then the prize will be doubled.
Check out the HLS Blog for full details ..... you'll also find some amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team on there too.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a fabulous weekend.
We're off out for dinner this evening .... I think we've earned a treat this week, and we've got a busy weekend coming up.

Cheerio until next time .....

What happened to the last seven days!!!!

Happy weekend ......

I hope you're having a good one.
I've just realised that I haven't shared last weekend's workshop with you ..... what have I been doing??!!
It's been a whole seven days since our little group got together for another fun day playing with simple backgrounds and large sentiment/phrase stamps.

Here's a quick look at a couple of the things we got up to.
Seeing as it was the first get together of the year I thought a nice simple calendar would be fun. 
Nothing complicated, a standard 7x5 cardblank glued together .... easy.

 
I love the Typografia range of stamps from STAMPlorations ...... and this is one of my favourites

No need to do a lot with it .... simply stamped and embossed in silver, then I stamped the camper again in turquoise and fussy cut it before attaching it with foam pads.
A bit of co-ordinating twine to hang it with and you're done

We used Distress inks to create a Bokeh effect background ......

along with another fabulous sentiment stamp.

Backgrounds don't have to difficult to create ..... try just splattering various colours of ink, or paint onto a piece of white cardstock ......

I used my trusted Distress Inks here and added in a bit of gold and silver ....... do as much or as little as you like ... there are no rules

Add a large sentiment to the centre .....

And I finished off with some pretty colourful balloons ...... and the odd sparkly sequin here and there

I do like these larger words and sentiments at the moment, I think they make it so easy to create beautiful cards .......

February's workshop has been put on hold as we're moving that week so the next one will be in March.
Speaking of the move, it's all go this weekend ..... the boxes are really piling up now.  I'm actually emptying cupboards and drawers in the kitchen and my craft room is beginning to look a little bare.  I've still not finished all my DT stuff yet but a lot of my craft stash has been boxed.

We've also been out today and had a bit of a spend ...... we've ordered two new sofas! 
It's taken about three weeks to make our minds up ..... we've been back twice, sat on it a few times, checked out the internet etc., etc., until we finally took the plunge today.  Well .... the sale was on and we got a good deal so it would have been rude not too.  It's beautiful Italian leather ...... in stock,  and will be ready for delivery when we move into the new place ....... oh and no one is allowed to sit on it!!! 

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your weekend.
It's Sunday lunch at ours this week ..... the last one at this house (sigh!), I just hope I've left enough plates in the cupboard

Cheerio until next time ......