Happy Halloween .......... mwahhahahaha!!

Happy weekend to you ......

We're at the end of October and it looks like its going out with a bang, here on the island anyway.  

We've got weather warnings in place for strong winds and heavy rains.  The boat's been cancelled, again, and it's not looking too good for the Halloween, or should I say Hop Tu Naa celebrations that may or may not be going on this evening.  

It's been a busy old week in the craft room, getting ready for the blog challenges at the start of November, working on ideas for samples for the next Sweet Poppy TV show, and of course Christmas cards! ...... not that I got very far with those. 

The cards I am sharing with you today are from a Facebook Live Workshop with the fabulous Eileen Godwin ..... I call her the Queen of Colour   If you don't know Eileen then please look her up, she's amazing! 

These are my finished cards from the workshop.  Eileen did them as one layer cards, straight onto card blanks.  I wasn't that brave, so I did them on pieces of cardstock and them made them up after the workshop had finished. 

I crafted along with Eileen, adding my own little touches here and there ........ a little bit of sparkle to the antlers on the deer using a glue pen and fine crystal glitter .......

I used a Stardust Gel Pen to draw around the stenciled dragonfly for an added highlight and touch of shimmer ........

I gave the butterfly a little more colour using coloured pencils ......

And completely changed the size of card for this one, and used the stencil twice to fill the space.

I think there's more workshops in the pipeline from Eileen ....... I hope so anyway.  It's a great way to spend a morning or afternoon.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy your weekend.

I've decided to leave the broomstick in the garage this evening it's a little bit windy out there!! 

Instead hubby and I are having a cosy curry night in front of the TV ...... much better option!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Stencils: Geometric Stag, Dragonfly Duo, Thistle (Funky Fossil); Plaid Back Plate (Sweet Poppy); Floating Leaves (Simon Says Stamp); Bubble stencil from my stash

Stamps: Tim Holtz Perspective stamps set (butterfly); Various sentiment stamps from my stash

Inks: Distress inks - various colours; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata - Golden Glitz

Other: Quickie Glue Pen, Fine Crystal Glitter, Ranger White Enamel Accents,  Chunky White Embossing Enamel

A Happy Hello and Birthday Balloons .......

Happy Friday .......

The weekend is here again!  Although I thought it was Friday yesterday, and then today has felt like Saturday so, my weekend is almost over!
  
It's time to give you a little reminder about this month's CAS challenges.
First up ....... the CAS Mix Up Challenge.

I'm Hosting this month and the theme is Gesso Resist

This is just another fun way using gesso.

If you're still not sure about the technique, check out the CAS Mix Up Blog for links to some really useful videos.

Gesso is great for stamping with, especially when doing the resist technique.  You just have to remember to clean your stamps straight after use .... don't let the gesso dry on there.

I've used an old Penny Black, wooden stamp here. 

I simply put the gesso onto a craft mat, brushed it out to a thin layer and then used it like I would an ink pad to ink up the stamp. 
I then stamped the image randomly over a piece of watercolour cardstock ......

Once the gesso was dry, I spritzed over the top with Distress Ink sprays and let the colours sit for a while.  I then mopped up the excess and the stamped images started to show through.
I repeated the sprays until I got the depth of colour I wanted.

Once that was dry, I used a circle die to make my topper.  I stamped a sentiment, added a touch of pen work using a white gel pen and a few sparkly gems

To add a bit more interest to the card, I used the same floral stamp to add the design to the actual card.

CAS Stencil challenge next ......

This month is all about Layering your stencils ........

Again, if you need to know more, check out the CAS Stencil Blog for links to some great videos

I've gone for a really quick and easy design here, using just one stencil but, layering the balloons over the top of each other .......

I used various colours of Distress Inks, applied through the stencil with blending brushes, across the bottom of my cardblank

I added a simple sentiment above ......

And finished off with a few ink splatters

The CAS Challenges are open until the 24th of the month so there's still lots of time to join in the fun.

Just to let you know that from next month (June) there's going to be a few changes to the CAS Challenges. 
Three of the challenges are coming together to make up a new CAS Mix Up Challenge which will include Mixed Media, Stenciling and Watercolour.  More details will be in June's CAS Mix Up post.

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
CAS Mix Up
Stamps: clique (Penny Black); Happy Mail (Gina K)
Inks: Distress Ink Sprays - Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Catherine Pooler inks - Party Dress, Tiara, Tiki Torch
Others: White Gel Pen; Nesting Circle Die; Clear Gemstones

CAS Stencil
Stencil: Balloon stencil (Uniko)
Stamps: Tiny Words - Birthday (Mama Elephant)
Inks: Distress Inks - various colours: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Gold and Silver Delicata inks for the splatters
Others: Black gel pen