CAS Watercolour challenge .....

Happy Thursday ......

It's been a busy week so far in the craft room ..... I've had birthday cards to make, presents to wrap along with all the regular stuff! It's been fun.

I'm playing along with this month's CAS Watercolour Challenge today.  The prompt for September is ...... Tree

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

I found this piece of watercolour card in my bits box and I thought it would make a nice watercolour background for my tree ....... I think the colours are perfect for this time of year

It's been coloured using PaperArtsy Infusions ....... the Sunset Beach colour.  If you're not familiar with Infusions they're a little bit like Brushos in that they're pigment powders that you can sprinkle onto cardstock, spritz with water and just let them do their thing. But ..... they also have Walnut Stain crystals in them, which take a little longer to dissolve in the water, so you can get this lovely vintage look to the colour

I stamped the tree (SU Hopeful Thoughts) and heat embossed with my current favourite Rose Gold embossing powder from WOW!

And added the sentiment alongside ......

You can see how some of the walnut stain crystals haven't dissolved fully, giving this speckled look to the background ..... I love it!
In fact, I loved it so much I made some more ......

You might just see a few more designs shortly using these.

I mentioned I'd had birthday cards to make .... well, it's that time of year again when this little man gets a another year older .....

He's eight tomorrow ....... can you believe it!  We're all off out to his favourite Italian restaurant to celebrate tomorrow, then he's having a LaserBlast party with his pals at the weekend.
He's all excited today though because he's getting a new bedroom.  He stayed over with us last night because I was there yesterday helping to clear out his old bed,  clean the carpets, move the furniture round, put new curtains up.  His new bed is being delivered as we speak, so all his other presents are stuff for his new room ...... it's going to look so cool.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day. 
Me ..... I'm cleaning the hot tub (yeah!)  The wind blew the top open while I was out yesterday and now it's full of leaves (oops!)  Thank goodness it wasn't full of water ..... luckily, we had emptied it the day before ready for the big clean, so it's not that bad.
Time for a coffee first though. 

Cheerio until next time ......

More Sweet Poppy designs

Happy Wednesday .....

Middle of the week already ..... and it's raining here.  I hope it's nicer where you are.

I'm back today with a few more of my DT samples for the Sweet Poppy Stencil show on HOCHANDA later this week.
The lovely Lucy is back on our screens on Friday, for her first shows since the move over to HOCHANDA ..... no pressure!!!  She'll be great as always, showing you lots of ways to use your stencils and giving great tips and techniques on how to get the best from the Sweet Poppy range.

Today I've got the Tree of Seasons for you ...... how pretty is this

Two different looks using the same stencil ...... first up a pretty, feminine, spring look

PaperArtsy Infusions for the background ...... not sure of the exact colours I used, this came from my background stash box!  It was a pink shade and a yellow, sprinkled onto a piece of white cardstock and then spritzed with water and left to dry.  I love how the walnut stain in these pigments doesn't completely dissolve and gives this lovely speckled look

I used the Gold paste through the stencil and then randomly sprinkled over various colours of the Sweet Poppy Super Fine Glitters ..........

These glitters are incredibly fine, super sparkly and come in a stunning range of colours.

Because they're so fine you can use them on the most intricate of designs and you won't lose any of the detail
Sprinkle them over wet texture paste, leave to dry and then brush off any excess .....
You can see I didn't cover the tree completely I wanted to leave some of the gold paste showing through to add texture and interest to the design

A simple sentiment finishes off the front ......

And of course there's a little something on the inside ....

Distress inks this time, in shades of green and brown, brushed through the stencil ......

A cute little tag shaped card next, with a more autumnal feel to it maybe.  That's the beauty of this stencil .... change the colours and you can change the season

I found the tag in my stash box .... previously coloured using the faux mother of pearl technique

Apply white pearlescent paint to cardstock ...... use a piece of scrunched up cellophane to get that random look.  Leave this to dry.
Apply Distress Inks over the top blending colours as you go.  The pearlescent paint acts as a resist and gives this gorgeous shimmery MOP look .... so pretty.

I used a manila tag, white pearlescent paint and then I think it was Bundled Sage and Victorian Velvet Distress inks ..... how pretty is that pearlescent shine

I stenciled the tree over the top, slightly off the edge of the tag, using the Glossy Black paste and then sprinkled the beautiful black super fine glitter over the top.  Not only does this give a nice sparkle, it gives texture too .....

 A sentiment on the front ......

 a pretty ribbon bow on the top ......

And the tree stenciled on the inside using the same colours of Distress that were used on the tag

Lucy will be on our screens on Friday April 21st at 1pm and 6pm ...... and you're in for a treat!  Tune in to HOCHANDA ...... Sky 663/Freeview 85/Freesat 817.  I'll be watching!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I've got the little man again today ..... school's not back until next Monday!!  So there won't be much going on in the old craft room today.

Cheerio until next time .....

Have you entered the challenge yet? .....

Happy Friday .......

Time for a quick reminder of this month's Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge ..... before I head off out for the day.
This year's TT is nearly over ...... it's Senior Race day, a Bank Holiday here in the Isle of Man so we're off to catch the last of the racing ..... weather permitting that is.  I must admit the forecast is not great for today but we can't really complain the last two weeks have been absolutely glorious!

Before I go here's another idea for this months challenge ...... Let's Get Inky!
We'd like you to use more than one type of ink on your projects ..... ink pads, ink sprays, acrylic inks, alcohol inks etc., OR use more than one colour of ink.  Don#t forget to include some stamping on there too!

I've used the PaperArtsy Infusions to create my background ..... which just so happen to be the prize for this month's challenge winner.

I sprinkled a tiny bit of the pigment powders onto the bottom corner of a piece of white card (you don't need much at all to get great results) ....... I used  Are You Cerice and Lemoncello, love these two shades together!
I then used a wet paintbrush to spread the colour over the card.  I love how I've got this sort of woodgrain effect from the walnut stain part of the Infusions ...... cool isn't it!

I kept the colours in stripes across the card, and brushed the colour in one direction until I'd covered the whole piece

The more water you add, the paler the colour you will end up with.

Once this was dry I stamped the gorgeous Daliha from Stampin Up! off the edge of the card using Versamark ink, then embossed with a fine detail white embossing powder.

I added a few splatters of Perfect Pearls to the background to add a bit more interest ......

and then finished off with a sentiment banner at the top

As always, I had to add a little something on the inside ....

Have you got your entry in yet? Pop over to the Craft Stamper Blog and see more fabulous inspiration pieces from the rest of the Design Team, along with all the challenge details.

As I mentioned earlier, our sponsor this month is PaperArtsy

and the winner will receive 5 bottles of the brand new Infusions, in the colours below .....

Happy stamping!

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

It feels like it's been weekend all week for me ...... the TT has a lot to answer for!!  We've been to the fun fair .... twice!! We've been down to the Grandstand  .... just look at that sky!!!

We've had picnics, and drinks on the terrace, the Red Arrows were over on Tuesday evening ......

photo from 3FM Isle of Man

and then I somehow found myself in the middle of Saddle-oke!  A special TT Karaoke night in the Saddle (Chris's place).

It's only a small place but boy can it hold a lot of people ....... warm doesn't begin to describe the temperature in there ....... it was positively tropical!!! And before you ask .... no I didn't do any singing ..... well, not with the microphone anyway :)
Then last night we had the Poker Stars TT/Summer Party .... all I'm saying is I'm glad it's a Bank Holiday today  I might have had just a few glasses of the bubbly stuff ... well it would have been rude not to.
But ... it's all coming to an end (sigh!) ..... until next year.
I'm off now to stake out a spot to watch this years Senior Race ........ can Hutchy make it four in a row?

Cheerio until next time .......

Let's Get Inky for the Craft Stamper Blog challenge .....

Happy Friday folks .....

Welcome to the weekend.
The sun is still shining over here.   We've had a great practice week of this year's Isle of Man TT .... the weather has been glorious! Sorry to keep going on about it ..... it's just been so nice!! Hubby's taking next week off work so hopefully we should get out and about and see some of the races up close and soak up the atmosphere (as well as the sunshine!)
The fun fair has arrived (oh joy!) ..... Douglas promenade is now full of fairground rides, side shows and loud music!  Bushey's beer tent at the end of the prom, is well and truly open ....... full to the brim everyday and beer served in plastic cups!
We've got the Red Arrows flying in with a display next week, and we also have the Poker Stars Summer bash next Thursday evening to look forward to .... always a fun night! And then we finish the week with a Bank Holiday ....... it's Senior Race Day.  Let's hope the sun is still shining for that one.
And then when all the TT fun is over, it's just 6 days before we go on our little family get together to Bourton-on-the-Water in the the beautiful Cotswolds .... can't wait!

Anyway enough about all that ..... onto the more important stuff.
It's the first Friday of the month and that means a brand new Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge on the Craft Stamper Blog.
This month it's the turn of Take a Technique and boy have we got a fun one for you this month .......

Let's Get Inky!!!

Use more than one type of ink on your projects (ink pads, ink sprays, stains, acrylic inks etc.,) OR use more than one colour of ink.  Don't forget to include some stamping on there too!!

The fabulous PaperArtsy are our challenge sponsors this month .....

And the prize for the challenge winner is 5 BOTTLES of the brand new PaperArtsy INFUSIONS!!!

Infusions are little bottles of magic ....... water soluble particles made up of 2 components ...... dye colour pigment suitable for paper/card etc.,  and fabric, mixed with Walnut Stain.  The colour pigment powder reacts with water faster than the Walnut Stain, so you can control the colour-to-brown stain ratio ..... clever eh!
There's a whole bunch of fabulous colours ..... 12 in all, and the winner will receive the 5 bottles in the picture below (Lemoncello/Blackcurrant/A Bit Jaded/Are You Cerice and Emerald Isle)

OK ..... I've used Distress Inks (my favourites!) in 3 different colours, Versamark ink for the embossing and I've used one of the Infusions to colour the flowers.  Oooh .... and there's also Versafine ink for all the rubber stamping.

I started by inking the background using my favourite technique at the moment ..... smooshing with acetate.  Applying the ink to a piece of acetate, spritzing with water and then using the acetate to place the ink onto my cardstock ...... I love it!!
I started with a couple of pale colours ..... Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean.  The more water you add, the paler the ink will be.  If it's too pale you can always add more ink.

I repeated the process using Mowed Lawn Distress over the green areas, to add a bit of shading here and there

Once the ink was dry I added a bit more interest to the background by randomly stamping and embossing some text, using a white embossing powder.

I stamped the pretty bunch of flowers (from Stampendous) onto my card and then again onto a piece of card that I'd coloured using one of the PaperArtsy Infusions ........ Are You Cerice, and embossed them with a clear powder.

With the Infusions I simply spritz a piece of white card with some clean water, sprinkled on a little of the Infusions powder and let it do it's thing.  To get it to spread a little more I spritzed again with the water and watched the colours change as the Walnut stain started to dissolve .... magic!

The flowers were then fussy cut, attached over the top of the image on the card and finished with a dot of White Enamel Accents in the centers.

I stamped a couple of the Inkylicious butterflies, embossed them with the clear powder again and coloured them using the same Distress colours I used for the background.

Again they've been fussy cut and attached onto the card front.

I finished off with a sentiment ..... from Penny Black's T for Transparent set Heartfelt

As always, there's a little something on the inside too ......

more smooshing and more of those pretty flowers

Now it's your turn ..... go and get inky and have fun.  Can't wait to see what you all come up with.
Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off out today .... we're having a little crafty get together. No doubt there'll be cake involved, lots of chatting putting the world to rights .... and more sitting in the sunshine.  It's a hard life .... but someone's gotta do it!!!
Have a great weekend ...... I hope the sun shines for you too!

Cheerio until next time