Surprise Party Guest at the Seize the Birthday ........

Happy Thursday! .......

It's challenge time again!

I was so pleased when I recently had my card chosen as Challenge Winner over at Seize The Birthday, and now I'm absolutely thrilled to be a Surprise Party Guest for their latest challenge.

As always the theme is Anything Goes - Birthday and for Challenge #272 the optional 'topping' is ......

Add a Sky

The brand new Tweet Life stamp and stencil sets from Concord & 9th just happened to arrive in the craft room this week ..... great timing or what!

I just had to give these little guys a try ..... how cute are they!?

I used Distress Inks and one of the stencils to create the bodies of the birds ....... Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade and Twisted Citron

and then a second stencil and Distress Oxide Inks this time, to add the wings ....... Evergreen Bough, Crackling Campfire and Cracked Pistachio

All the finishing details came from the co-ordinating stamp set ........ simply stamped onto the birds with a black Versafine Clair ink ........ how easy is that! The stamps line up perfectly with the stencils.

It's a fabulous little collection, 5 stencils to create 11 different bird shapes, nine small ones like those above, and two larger birds, and the matching stamps include all the little details to bring your birds to life, along with a whole host of sentiments.

To add the sky I used a cloud stencil from MFT and Salty Ocean Distress ink onto a separate piece of white card

I stamped a simple sentiment underneath the birds,  fussy cut around the top edge of them,  and used foam pads to attach them over the top of the sky.

To finish off  I added some enamel dots here and there in matching colours.

Thank you again to Seize the Birthday for inviting me to be a Surprise Guest, it's been an absolute pleasure!

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

As its the first time I've used these fun stamps and stencils, I'm linking my card up to the NBUS Challenge #55

This may be the first time I've used them but, I can guarantee it won't be the last ...... I love them!!

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

Hot Pink and Lime for Seize the Birthday ........

Yeah! it's the weekend. Happy Saturday .......

I hope you've had a good week.  Only nine more to go until Christmas ...... just saying!

We've actually started thinking about the festive season a little more this week.  

On Wednesday, the local garden centre launched their Christmas displays.  Well you know me, I love looking at Christmas decorations so, I had to pop in and check out the pretty colours for this year, and see what was new.  After all, there's always room for one more bauble on the tree! Or nine as it turned out!  You see I very, very rarely buy just one, it has to be at least three matching ones.  Then I have to finish with an uneven number in my basket so, nine it was! Like I said, you can never have too many baubles!

Then, on Thursday we went to the Christmas Wine Tasting event at our favourite little place in Douglas.

We had a lovely evening (I think!).  Many, many nice wines and bubbly were tasted, so that's one thing off the list ......... the drinks for Christmas dinner are sorted! 

Anyhow, enough of all that.  You'll be pleased to know that I have also spent time in the craft room again this week.  I'm enjoying getting back into the swing of things, albeit slowly!

I'm playing along with some Blog Challenges again.  First up is Seize the Birthday  

I got a lovely surprise when my card was chosen as the Winner in the last challenge  (I was so pleased that there just may have been a little happy dance in the craft room!)

It's their usual 'Anything Goes' Birthday challenge, and this time the Toppings option is a Colour Challenge.  Hot Pink and Lime ........ nice!

My first thought was flowers.  So, I did a quick rummage through my die cuts and this is what I came up with ......

Tim Holtz Wildflower Stems #1 Thinlits dies, cut from white cardstock, which I coloured using inks directly from the ink pad onto the die cut.  Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide for the flower head

and Twisted Citron oxide for one of the leaf stems and Verdant Versafine Clair for the rest ..... love the combination!

I added some detail onto the background using a stencil and the pink and green Oxide inks again, applied very lightly with a stencil brush this time, to give just a touch of colour.

I then attached the flower and stems over the top and finished off with a stamped sentiment, a few hot pink and lime enamel dots here and there, and a cute little twine bow

I'm always a bit of a pink girl, so I loved how it turned out

The challenge is open until Tues 24th Oct so there's still time if you fancy playing along.

Thanks for popping by ..... have a lovely weekend.

We've got nothing planned this weekend so, I think it's just going to be a quiet one at home.

Cheerio until next time ......

Seize the Birthday Challenge .......

Happy Tuesday .......

I hope you're well.

I can't believe that we're at double figures in October already, and the scary thing is, I don't seem to have done much!

I must confess though,  I have started my Christmas shopping today, a little bit early for me but hey! the sooner I start, the sooner it'll all get done. Wait a minute, who am I kidding, I'll still be at it on Christmas Eve.  It's not much really, just a couple of baubles for the tree (the grandkids get a new one each year) and a couple of stocking fillers, it's a start though!

Speaking of making a start, I thought it was time I started playing along with a few more Blog challenges again ..... I do love a good challenge!

I thought it was a great way of getting back into the swing of things in the craft room, break things in gently.  Set themes, lots of inspiration to get my mojo going again,  plus, it's a great way to fill up my card stash boxes.

I'd better get a move on for this one though, talk about being on the last minute (some things never change!!)

Seize the Birthday is a fun bi-monthly challenge focused on ....... Birthday cards!

The usual theme is 'Anything Goes' but each challenge has a 'toppings' option.  A little extra that you can choose to add or not. 

The toppings for Challenge #270 is ....... Repetitive Die Cuts

We all like a bit of die cutting don't we, and I had a few die cut words already done so ......

I layered up the happys, coloured them using Distress Oxide inks ........ I just love the depth of colour you get from these inks 

and then attached them to the front of a piece of white card, splattered with a little bit of gold ink

A few matching gemstones here and there, and a stamped sentiment to finish

Very quick and easy to do, but a very happy and colourful birthday card.

As I said, I'm on the last minute for this challenge, the deadline is only hours away, so I'd better get going and link it up.

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

We've got the family round for dinner this evening so I'd better get some tidying up done!

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