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

A rainbow of colours .......

Happy weekend to you,

It's a little late in the day I know but ...... Happy World Cardmaking Day!  Have you been spending time creating ..... made anything nice?

I've been playing around with DT stuff all day .... and getting nowhere fast!!! Started lots of projects but nothing's finished.  The good thing is, nothing has ended up in the bin ....yet!!

I have managed to play along with the  Merry Monday Christmas Card challenge this week .......

Hmmm ...... use a rainbow of colours ...... on a Christmas card!  Not my usual style but here goes ....

This is about as rainbow coloured as it gets for me.
I've used an old Hero Arts (I think!) clear stamp. stamped in Black Versafine, and then coloured the fairy lights using Copic Markers

A touch of Stardust Gel Pen here and there, and a sprinkling of Chunky White Embossing Enamel to give the snowy look .... .well it is a Christmas card!

I finished off with a festive greeting from the HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments stamp set .....

and added a few more of those rainbow coloured fairy lights to the inside .....

Rainbow coloured enough do you think?  I hope so!

Well that's it from me today ......... and I've timed it perfectly.  I can hear the over beeping so that means dinner is just about ready ....... yum!!

Thanks for popping by ..... have a lovely evening and enjoy the rest of World Cardmaking Day

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

It's all about the words .......

Happy Thursday folks,

Yes I'm back from my travels ..... my last trip away this year (sigh!) ...... or is it!!?!  Maybe I can squeeze in just one more trip across .... or maybe two ..... I'm already checking on flights!

It's been nearly a week since I last blogged and what a week it's been!
I've been craft shopping, clothes shopping, bought a few bits and bobs for the home. In fact .... I got back home on Monday ,,,,, my shopping is arriving here, on the boat ..... on ......  Friday! (ooops!)
Now. before you start thinking 'what on earth did she buy' ...... I knew my in-laws were coming over at the weekend and they kindly offered to bring my goodies over for me.  Well .... I only had hand luggage ..... 10kg doesn't go very far when you're buying cardstock and paint etc!!!  

It wasn't all shopping though ...... I've done craft workshops, had lunch and dinner out .... more than once! And ....... of course, one of the main reasons for the trip ....... went to the fabulous Claritystamp Open Day over in Yorkshire.
We all had a lovely day meeting up with friends ..... old and new.  I met some of my fellow Clarity Design teamies for the first time too ...... which was great.  And .... we also got a little time in the classroom with Barbara herself ...... doing a Groovi make and take.  I would show you the results but it's still across in the UK!!!
All in all it was a fantastic few days (not long enough as usual!!) ....... lots of fun, loads of laughs, too much good food ....... and the best company ever!!!  Can't wait to do it all again!

But .... it's back to normal now.  The old craft room door is open again and it's busy, busy, busy!  The old mojo is protesting a little but, let's just say we're getting there!!!

First up this week is something on the festive side ........ well it is only 14 weeks tomorrow (Friday) off the big day!!
 
Merry Monday have gone back to the regular weekly challenge so time is running out for me to play along.
This week the challenge is to put the sentiment in the spotlight ...... make the words the focal point

What do you think? ......

I've used the fabulous Happy Little Stampers ...... Mixed Christmas Sentiments

I've stamped each one using Memento inks, alternating festive red and green to create the shape of a Christmas Tree .... nice and simple

I added a star to the top ....... from the Bold Birthday Sentiments set (again from HLS) and gave it a little Wink of Stella sparkle

And to finish off I used a small piece of white cardstock, cut it into the shape of a plant pot, and coloured it using Spectrum Noir pencils. I gave it a little shape and dimension and attached it using a foam pad ..... job done!

Have you started your Christmas cards yet?  Why not join in the fun at Merry Monday

and get into the festive spirit early.

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

I'm off to start on the mountain of ironing that's building up daily!  

How is it that when I'm at home the washing machine is always on ..... somebody want's this to go out in ...... and .... can you wash this for me mum I've nothing else to wear!!! When I'm not here .... the machine never gets switched on and everyone wears their entire wardrobe!!!!  It's like a flippin' laundry in my kitchen ..... again!!! 

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Time is running out ....... so it's 3 for 1 today!

Happy Thursday!

And ........ breathe ........... !!

Time for a cuppa I think ..... while I catch my breath and join in the fun with all my favourite blog challenges.

It's been one of those days today ..... busy from the start.
Got hubby off to work ...... did all the usual boring stuff around the house ..... stocked up the fridge for the weekend because I'm not here!  Put the last few bits in my bag for tomorrow ..... everything's in there with a little bit of room to spare ...... result!!!  Some new craft stash may just find it's way in there before the trip home!!  And ...... on top of all that ...... I dropped the little man off at school.
It was his first day yesterday ....... bless him!  Here he is all smart and grown up, in his new uniform ......

Anyway .... after my busy morning I did get treated to a lovely lunch out ........ Hubby took a long lunch break and we went down by the quay and had a delicious meal, and a cheeky glass of bubbly .... just the one mind!  Then it was a quick trip into town to pick up a special birthday present for a certain little someone who is five next weekend (Hmmm .....I wonder who that can be!) Now I've just got to hide the rather large box that it comes in ...... I don't remember Tracy Island being THAT big!!! 

OK .... on to the crafty stuff!  Get this ...... one card ..... entering into not one .... not two ..... but .... THREE challenges!!!  Now that doesn't happen very often ...... not in my craft room anyway!

I haven't had a lot of time to play this week and I don't like to miss out on a challenge so I've combined them ..... luckily two had the same theme anyway so it wasn't that difficult .....

First up it's Merry Monday .....  and their theme is .....  to use HOLLY 
(love the inspiration picture!)

Here's my card .....

The holly is cut from glitter card using a punch and then the leaves have been coloured using a Copic Marker (I didn't have green glitter card!) 

The sentiment is made up from two of the HLS stamp sets ....... the HAPPY is from Bold Birthday Sentiments and the CHRISTMAS is from Mixed Christmas Sentiments.  I love how you can mix and match these ..... great sets of stamps to have in your stash!

I've heat embossed the HAPPY with Gold embossing powder

and then just stamped the Christmas underneath using a green Memento ink

I added a few gold gemstones for the berries and framed the whole thing using a Gold Leafing Pen around the edges ....

There's a little something on the inside too ....

The latest Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge is all about HOLLY too .... so I'm joining in the fun over there ..... that's challenge number 2!

And ......last but not least, challenge number 3 is over at Less is More.

It's a Colour challenge this week .... hence the Green and Gold and the CAS design.

Three for one eh! .... not bad!

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

A moment of Clarity ..... for Merry Monday

Happy Tuesday folks!

How's your week going? I can't believe we're into double figures already ...... August is flying by!!
We've got another nice day too, here on the Isle of Man ...... it's a shame to be in the old craft room when the sun is shining but ...... with a 'To Do' list that's getting longer by the day, needs must and all that.  Let's hope the nice weather lasts until the weekend ..... there's a lot going on.  We've got the IOM Queenie Festival ..... always a fun day out especially if you love seafood!!  Poker Stars have got their Treasure Hunt on Sunday .... again, always a fun, very competitive, day out.  And I've got a crafty get together too ......  a busy weekend!

Before all that though .......... there's lots to get through this week.  I think we'll start by going a little bit festive ...... I know ...... it's hard thinking of Christmas designs when the sun is shining, but .... it will soon be here at this rate ...... only 5 more paydays until the BIG day (eeek!!)

Merry Monday is still running two-weekly challenges which is good for me ..... I stand a chance of making time to enter.
The latest challenge is all about using Pastel shades ....... very different to the traditional colours, so pretty!

Here's what I came up with ......

Out came some of my favourite Clarity Christmas stamps ...... from the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas range.
I love these .... use them individually, all together ...... there's 10 in the collection,  or just two or three like I've done here.

I've stamped each one in grey Archival ink (Watering Can), and then used Spectrum Noir pencils to add the colour ..... keeping to just the pastel shades.

I shaded around the edges of each one using a co-ordinating Distress ink ....... Spun Sugar around the pink, Tumbled Glass the blue and Milled Lavender for the lilac.

I then took a large piece of white cardstock (to fit an 8x8 square card), again shaded around the edges with one of the Distress colours (I chose Spun Sugar) and then stamped my favourite, well used, much loved, Clarity Christmas Trees across the bottom edge .....

I added in a sprinkling of Fran-tage Chunky White Embossing Powder to give the look of falling snow, and of course a touch of glitter in there too .....

A bit of matting and layering to frame each of the stamped images, and then they were mounted onto my card using foam pads for a touch of dimension ......

I added a festive greeting on the inside and more of those gorgeous trees ......

All of the stamps I've used can be found on the Clarity website ..... under the Christmas section and .... not only that .... those fab trees are on special offer this month.  Go on ..... why not treet yourself!  Sorry!!!

Oh well .... as much as I would love to stay and chat, the old craft room is calling!
Before I dash off though  ..... I mentioned we were off to the Manx Royal Agricultural Show last week ......

We had a lovely day and ...... I did get to see the Barclays Premiership Trophy.  There it was, sat in the Barclays tent ..... all shiny and BIG!!

Pity it didn't have the Chelsea ribbons on ...... it is still ours after all.  Whether that will still be the case at the end of the season ...... after last weekends performance who knows.  Not the best start was it!!!

And on that note I'll say .....

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Ending the week with a festive feel .......

Happy Friday!

The weekend starts here (yeah!) ...... Hopefully this one will be a little quieter than last week. Although saying that, we are supposed to be off out this evening! There's another BIG birthday apparently ...... one of hubby's work pals is celebrating today .... although not quite as BIG as last weeks!

Before all that though it's time to get festive again.  I know, I know .... it's only July! ...... but if you start your Christmas cards now you'll have the whole of December to relax!! Well maybe not, but at least it'll be one thing less to worry about!

I'm actually joining in the fun over at Merry Monday this week ...yeah!!!  During July and August the challenges are running over two weeks instead of one, which is great .... more time to join in the fun!

The current challenge (which does finish this weekend) is all about ....... Penguins

Penguins ..... hmmmm ....... not something that there's a lot of in the old craft room.
After searching for a while, I did eventually come across this little guy ..... right at the bottom of my Christmas stash .......

How cute is he ..... and he's having 'snow much fun' by the looks of things (sorry .... couldn't resist that!)
He's actually from an old Inkadinkadoo clear set of stamps called ..... Cute Holiday Favourites  (he's definitely that!)     
I've stamped him about half way down on a piece of white cardstock and coloured him using Spectrum Noir pencils

I then fussy cut around the top half of him and cut away the top section of the white card, leaving space at the bottom to stamp my greeting.  You can see I've also added a few drops of white enamel accents, here and there and coated them with glitter for added sparkle!

On a separate piece of white card I inked about the top two thirds using Distress ink (Stormy Sky with a touch of Chipped Sapphire around the edges)
To get the effect of falling snow I used white texture paste through a stencil, and while the paste was still wet I added fine crystal glitter

Once everything was dry I used foam pads to add a bit of dimension, and attached my little penguin to the snowy backdrop.

Inside has been kept very CAS ...... just a dusting of ink and a little touch of the texture paste and glitter again

All done!

Thanks for popping by ..... this is my 600th post ......  all that rambling on, what do I find to talk about!!  Thanks to you for reading them and for all your comments ...... I do appreciate them.  They let me know that I'm not talking to myself all of the time!!!

Enjoy the rest of your day, and have a fabulous weekend! The sun is shining at the moment ..... how long it will last who knows, so lets enjoy it while we can.

Cheerio until next time

Linda 

xx

Believe ......

Happy Sunday!

It's a bit wet and wild again over here this morning ..... I hope it's not like this next weekend, me and the girls on the ferry (hopefully) !!!!

I was on Grandma duties last night .... we had the little man overnight ...... so I've been up since the crack of dawn this morning.   Alex still hasn't discovered the beauty of a lie-in on a Sunday morning .... unfortunately!  Never mind .... at least it gave me the chance to finish this week's festive make for the latest Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge ...... yes I was actually in the old craft room before 8am ....... it wasn't even daylight!!!!

This week it's all about using Greens, Pine Cones and the word 'Believe'

I love the inspiration photo ..... what a beautiful, festive decoration ...... but I must admit this was a tough one for me.   Mr Mojo is on his way back ...... albeit kicking and screaming!!!  In the end, this is what I came up with ......

I know ...... not very traditional.  My greens are white, and the colour isn't even the traditional Christmas 'green' .... but it is green!

I used Cracked Pistachio Distress Spray for the background, along with Dylusions White Linen and a hint of Perfect Pearls in there to give the shimmer.

I masked of the bottom of a piece of white cardstock, and then spritzed each of the inks .... the green, the white and finally the Perfect Pearls.  I then covered the card with a piece of cling film, scrunching it in places, and left it to dry.
Once the ink was dry I removed the cling film leaving this gorgeous, shimmery background.

The mica from the Perfect Pearls settles in the creases of the cling film and dries giving that frosty looking effect .... cool eh!!
(Sorry for the picture quality ..... I still haven't found a good place to take my photos, plus the lighting this morning is dreadful ..... I will get there, just bear with me!!)

I stamped the pine branch from the Stampin Up set Ornamental Pine ...... using Versamark ink and embossed with a white powder.

Using the pine cone from the same set, I stamped it a couple of times, in different shades of Brown Archival ink, onto the coloured background.  I then stamped and fussy cut another pine cone from plain white card stock and attached it onto my card using foam pads to add a little dimension

To finish off, I stamped the required word across the bottom (also from Stampin Up!) ...... (this is what I need to do this afternoon!)

and I added a little decoration to the inside

Well ...... that's my 'To Do' list done for today.
There's a major football match going on at lunchtime which I shall be watching ....... my Chelsea boys are taking on Crystal Palace .... at home .... and if we win .... the title is ours!!!!!  If that's the case ...... you can guarantee there will be much merriment going on .....with just the odd glass of something bubbly!  Come on Chelsea!!

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

I've a busy week coming up ...... out tomorrow, coffee on Tuesday, a crafty session on Friday and then a day out next Saturday ..... it's Port Sunlight .... whoo hoo!!!!  Fingers crossed the weather gets a little nicer ..... I don't like the sea when it's bumpy!!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Pretty little bows ....

Happy weekend folks!

And what a lovely weekend it is too ..... we've got blue skies and sunshine again.  It's still a bit chilly though!

We've had a lazy start today, I haven't done a thing!!! ...... nothing to do with the fact that it was late when we got in last night, and maybe we'd had just a little too much to drink ..........  OK, OK, who am I trying to kid ...... it has everything to do with that!  
I think it's safe to say Rich and Laura's beautiful new home was well and truly warmed!!

Anyway on to the subject of today's post ....... my entry into this week's Merry Monday Christmas card challenge.
This week the challenge was to use Bows ...... create a Christmas card with a bow on it

I think I've managed that ......

The idea for this was taken from a design I did whilst I was on the Craftwork Cards Design Team.
They're a fab company, producing gorgeous, top quality paper products one of which is their Paper Bows ......... die cut pads full of cute little bows ..... different designs to co-ordinate with all their latest paper ranges and different sizes too ..... so cute, and so easy to put together.  If you want to see my original design you can find it here on the Craftwork Cards Blog.

For this Merry Monday card I actually cut my bows using one of my favourite dies from Die-namics called Beautiful Bows.  You get the two sizes in the set, and they're so quick and easy to put together.

I cut two of each size from some Stampin Up Christmas papers and made up each bow.  You can see I've made the tails slightly shorter on one of each of the different sizes, to form the tree shape

I added a couple of circles, cut from co-ordinating glitter card, to the top .....

 a tub for my tree to sit in at the bottom ......

and some festive words to finish it all off ....... well, that's another Christmas done!

So, what are you all up to this weekend .... anything nice? I believe there's a Craft Show on in Manchester, over at Event City ..... if any of you are off to that, have a great time .... spend loads and get lots of new stash!!! I wish I was going (sigh!)
Me ....... I was hoping to spend some time in the old craft room playing with my new Brushos perhaps, or doing another of my journal pages maybe, or even making a Valentine's card seeing as that's only just around the corner ..... decisions, decisions!
First though it's time to go and collect the car ....... no way were we driving home last night!!!  Then I think we may just take a stroll down the prom ..... it's a shame to waste this nice weather.

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda 

xx