The final Simply Sweet Poppy Facebook Challenge ..........

Happy Thursday ..........

I hope you're all well. It's very wet and blowing a hoolie here, not the weather we wanted for the Christmas Lights switch on in Douglas this evening.  Think we'll give it a miss if it stays like this, and I might just switch on my own Christmas lights and decorate another tree ....... a bit early I know but there's already one up in the hall!! 

If you're a fan of the Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Challenge then time is running out to get your entry in for this, the final challenge .......... The Magic of Christmas!.  

As always, there's a £40 voucher for the winner to spend on the Sweet Poppy website.  Just follow the simple rules .........  use only Sweet Poppy stencils, keep any stamping to a minimum, and stick to the challenge theme ...... easy!

So, what makes Christmas magic for you?  

It's got to be family and friends for me, and I love all the trees and decorations .........

For this card, I used the Sweet Poppy Snowflake Tree (at least I think that's what its called ...... I can't find it on the website so unfortunately I think it may have been retired, which is a shame as it's a lovely tree.  There are other gorgeous designs on there that you could use instead)

I used Pearlescent White Stencil Medium onto black cardstock, sitting the stencil off the edge of my card

Once the paste was dry, I used a blue Stardust gel pen to add colour to the ribbon.

I also used a glue pen to add glitter to the snowflakes ...... looks so pretty and sparkly in real life.

I finished off with white paint splatters on the background and a simple heat embossed sentiment

Next up, baubles!  You can never have enough baubles on your tree!

I'm so sorry but, I think this stencil is also retired, or it may just be out of stock, because I couldn't see this on the website either ........ maybe I should check the website first, before I make my cards!!!!!

Anyway ...... I used the paste again, this time when it was dry I added some rainbow coloured foil over the stenciled design, and then ran it through my laminator

I added some crytal glitter to give sparkly highlights (and also disguise where the foil hadn't quite covered completely!) 

And I finished off with some white paint spatters and a festive sentiment 

The challenge is open until the 29th of the month so there's only a few days left to get those entries in.

Happy stenciling!

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

We might have another tree up this evening, we'll see how things go today.

I've got my crafty bunch coming at the weekend and the deal was, I had to have a tree up as it's probably our last crafty get together before Christmas.

Well ....... I did it.  There is a tree up, only took me five and a half hours!    

It still needs a few more baubles on it though.  I'm sure it grows every year!!!  I'll have to see what I can do before weekend!

Cheerio until next time .......

Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Challenge ......

Happy Wednesday .......

He we are, in the middle of another week ..... and its wet and windy here again.  Winter is coming!

Hubby has been in the office for the past couple of days this week ..... it's weird not having him at home.  The house is very quiet when there's only me here!  I do get stuff done though when I'm on my own.

There's just a little over a week left of this month's Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Challenge if you fancy playing along. 

There's a fabulous £40 voucher to spend on the Sweet Poppy Stencils website up for grabs.   Just follow the simple rules which you can find below,  and you never know, you could be our next winner.

The theme for October is ........ Fantastic Foliage, and Sweet Poppy have some gorgeous stencils perfect for this challenge.  Think trees, or leaves, grasses and greenery, and of course all those wreath designs ..... how about some quick and easy Christmas cards!

I used the Holly Wreath Stencil for this card, and a Brilliance Pearlescent ink (Thyme)  

Nice and simple, and perfect for sending through the post .......... I've mat and layered this a little bit but, you could leave it as a one layer design. 

I stamped the pretty ribbon first, from the Sweet Poppy stamp set Victorian Bauble ...... black ink and then coloured it using a red Distress Ink Re-inker (Barn Door) and a fine paintbrush

I then sponged the pearlescent ink through the stencil, building up the depth of colour gradually.  Less is definitley more when stenciling with inks, especially juicy inks ...... too much ink on your sponge could cause the ink to bleed under your stencil whuich means you won't get a crisp finish to your stenciled image.  Taking a bit of time to build up the colour is well worth the effort.

Once the ink was dry I then used a red glitter glue to add some berries and a quickie glue pen and fine crystal glitter on the rest of the dots.

A festive sentiment stamped in the middle finishes it off nicely

I did look on the Sweet Poppy website for the link to this Holly Wreath stencil but I couldn't find it.  I'm not sure if that means it's been discontinued, or it's just out of stock.

One design that is on the website though is this pretty Holly Wreath ........

A simple, elegant design which, for these two cards I've used the stencil twice, slightly offsetting the second layer, to give the wreath a fuller look.

I've taken the design off the edge of my card and used gold and silver metallic inks

Adding a touch of glitter to some white enamel dots, for a little more interest.

Or, do you prefer more traditional Christmas colours .......

The first layer of the wreath was done using a green ink.  Then I offset the stencil slightly over the top and this time I used white stencil paste through the design, and sprinkled with green glitter whilst the paste was still wet.

A few festive red berries here and there, and a stamped sentiment in the middle ....... same stencil, different look!

The challenge is open until the 29th of October and here's the simple rules you need to follow .....

Happy stenciling!

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Back with a little sparkle for the Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Challenge ........

Hello again ...... I'm back!

Happy Sunday!  I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Well, it's been a while ....... can you believe it's almost 6 weeks since I blogged!  And almost as long since I've been in my craft room.  

I don't think I've ever taken a break for so long before.  It's actually been really nice ......  no pressure, and no deadlines to work to.  I didn't even pick up a craft magazine.  I did take a small craft bag with me in the motorhome but, I can't say I did much with that either.  

But, I need to get back in the craft room at some point so, this weekend I've had a good old sort out and a tidy up, re-arranged my desks and now I'm raring to go ..... ish!

I've lots of new goodies to play with, DT work to be getting on with, and of course there's all those festive makes to get started on ........ only 13 weeks until Christmas,  oh my! the tree will be going up next!

Anyhow ........ the end of September is approaching fast, so that means there's only a few days left to play along with this month's Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Challenge.

The theme this month is ........ Sparkle is My Favourite Colour

Who doesn't love a touch of sparkle, and the good thing is, it really can be any colour you like! Christmas cards just wouldn't be the same without some sparkle and shine now would they.

Not sure the sparkle comes across in this picture ...... glitter is a real nightmare to photograph!

I inked through the gorgeous Sweet Poppy Snowflake Bauble Trio stencil using Distress Inks ....... Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord

Then I used a Quickie Glue Pen over the top of each snowflake, and sprinkled with fine crystal glitter.

Like I said, hard to photograph but so pretty when the light catches in real life. 

Using the clear crystal glitter allows the colour of the inks underneath to show through but, you could use coloured glitters on top if you wanted too for a more intense colour.

I added a few ink splatters on to the background using the same colours of Distress, and then heat embossed my sentiment on the bottom.  

Another quick and easy design, this time using the pretty Snowflake Aperture Circle stencil, again with Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Chipped Sapphire) 

The aperture stencils are so useful, perfect for creating detailed frames on your cards 

(sshh ..... don't tell anyone ..... have you spotted the sneaky peek of a brand new design coming soon? You are going to love this new stencil!)

I inked the snowflake circle with my Distress inks then, cut a simple mask from a piece of copier paper to create the hillside for my winter scene in the centre.  

With the mask still in place I used the gorgeous, brand new Fir Tree stencil  to create the forest in the background, and then I used Versamark ink through the design and heat embossed the centre tree over the top

To finish off I used fine crystal glitter to hightlight the snowflakes in the circle and added a little touch to the tree

Sparkle isn't just for Christmas cards though, a touch of glitter makes any card extra special ......

I used Distress Ink Reinkers to colour the background, applied with a paintbrush and lots of water onto watercolour card  (Forest Moss, Carved Pumkin, Spiced Marmalade & Scattered Straw)

Once it was all dry I used the Blissful stencil over the top with Black ink (Versafine Clair - Nocturne)

and then used a fine tip glue pen and glitter to highlight along the tree branches

A few spatters of gold ink onto the background and a simple sentiment on the bottom ...... job done!

I think I'm ready for Autumn now ...... the sumer has been amazing but, it's time for cosy nights in, hot chocolate and snuggly woolies!

The challenge is open until the 29th of the month so you need to be quick if you want to be in with a chance of winning this months prize.

Check out the rules below and ........ Happy stenciling!

The last few weeks have flown by ........ We had our longest trip in the motorhome including a music festival (more about all that later).  There's been the usual family gatherings, with a few birthday celebrations along the way, including Arthur, who was one ...... now that year's gone fast!  And, as I'm writing this blog post I've heard that he's taken his first proper steps this morning ....... yeah!!!  

It was also Alex's birthday, he was 12.  He's also started secondary school which is scary ...... doesn't seem five minutes since he was taking his first steps!!

We've also had Arthur's baptism,  and I've had Covid ..... again!!

Let's hope October is a little quieter!

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

Cheerio until next time ........  

Bright and beautiful ..........

Happy Wednesday .........

Boy has it been hot!!!!!  What an absolutely glorious few days we've been having.   I love the sunshine but, thank goodness there's a breeze this morning and it's a little bit cooler (for now that is) ......... I'm melting!!    

Anyhow, enough about the weather.  Have you played along with this month's Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Challenge yet?  There's still time to join in, the challenge is open until the 29th of July.

Just follow the simple rules (you'll find them at the end of this post) and you never know, you could be the next winner of the fabulous £40 voucher to spend on the Sweet Poppy website.

July's theme is ...... Bright & Beautiful.  

Now that can be anything you like, as long as the main focus of your card is a Sweet Poppy stencil.  If you use stamps, and they are other brands then remember to keep them small, just a single word or a simple sentiment is allowed.

It had to be florals for me .......... beautiful, bright coloured blooms! 

Sweet Poppy have lots of  gorgeous flower stencils, it was difficult to know which ones to use.   

In the end I kept things nice and simple, letting the stencil do all the hard work,  and of course the gorgeous bright colours of Distress Inks were perfect for the job

This is the Black Orchid stencil ....... I love this design.

I masked off the leaves using stencil tape, and then blended Picked Raspberry and Abandoned Coral Distress Inks over those gorgeous flower heads

When I was happy with the colour, I then masked off the flowers and used Twisted Citron to colour the leaves ..... so pretty!   As you can see, I wasn't too precise with the masking, there's a little bit of overlap with the colours but that's fine, I quite like the shading

The sentiment was simply stamped over the top using a black Versafine Clair ink.

For my second card, I used one of my all time Sweet Poppy favourites ...... Wild Flowers

I kept to bright, summery colours ....... Distress Inks again in Picked Raspberry, Carved Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade and Twisted Citron again ..... so pretty all together.

The stencil has two different sized flowers on it, but for this card, I only used the large one of the two, varying the placement of the stencil to give different heights to each bloom

A simpe sentiment strip attached with foam pads across the bottom .......

and a couple of gems here and there to add a sparkly finishing touch.  

I love these summery colours ...... they're definitely bright and beautiful!

Here are the challenge rules ...... nothing complicated so go on, give it a go.  You have to be in it to win it!

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

It's back into the craft room for me,  it's not quite as hot in there today.   And guess what ...... it's time to get a little festive I think (oh joy!) ....... Christmas cards it is then!  Ho Ho! Ho!

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

Supplies:

Card 1

Stencils: Black Orchid (Sweet Poppy Stencils)

Stamps: All Occasion Sentiments #6 (Uniko)

Inks: Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Twisted Citron; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Card 2

Stencils: Wild Flowers (Sweet Poppy Stencils)

Stamps: Positive Vibes #10 (The Artistic Stamper)

Inks: Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Carved Pumpkin; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: Small coloured gemstones from my stash

It's a Heilen Coooo .......

Happy Friday ........

I hope you're well, and looking forward to the weekend. Have you got anything nice planned?

We're still enjoying our Scottish motorhome adventure.   

After three lovely nights on the banks of Loch Lomond we left on Wednesday morning and drove to Oban over on the west coast of Scotland.   We then took a ferry across to the Isle of Mull ...... it was a bit breezy, but luckily the waters were very calm.   

We've been staying on a lovely campsite about halfway up the north coast of Mull at a place called Salen Bay.  It's beautiful ...... we're pitched right on the edge overlooking the Sound of Mull.  I'll share some pictures with you later.

There's still time to play along with this month's Sweet Poppy Challenge over on the Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Page

There's a whopping £40 voucher for the challenge winner to spend on Sweet Poppy goodies.  And guess what ....... the brand new Christmas release is available from today on pre-order, so it would definitely come in handy for that.

The theme is ......... Just for Him.  We want to see cards perfect for those fabulous men in our lives!

As we're in Scotland, I couldn't resist using this fun Sweet Poppy Stencil ...... Isla - the Highland Cow, or Heilen Coo as they're known around here.

I do love this stencil, and it's perfect for masculine cards.

I used various colours of Distress Oxide ink through the stencil onto a piece of Kraft card. Oxides work so well on coloured cardstock, you just need to build up the depth of colour slowly.

I added a few black ink splatters onto the background, and blended a little ink around the edges of the card

before adding the sentiment on the bottom ........

The challenge is open until the 29th of the month so get those stencils out!  Remember they do have to be Sweet Poppy stencils though.

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

For those of you following our Scottish adventure here's a few pictures from the last couple of days.

We're on Salen Bay Campsite ...... todays view from the front of the van

A little breezy, but the sun is shining!

Yesterday we hopped on a local bus and took a trip up to Tobermory ...... the weather was a bit cloudy and grey but it was lovely and warm.

We had a nice walk around the town, did a bit of shopping, and found a lovely restaurant for lunch ....... 

One of my favourites ....... a delicious seafood pie (yum!)

Then we finished the afternoon off with a trip to the local whisky distillery for a tasting ....... or two

The perfect end to the day was to watch the sunset over the Sound of Mull, with a wee dram .......

Cheers!

We're on the move again tomorrow.  We're on the early morning ferry back to Oban then we're driving up to Loch Ness ...... maybe I'll see Nessie!

Cheerio until next time .....

Supplies

Stencil: Isla - the Highland Cow (Sweet Poppy Stencils)

Stamps: One for the Boys stamp set (Woodware)

Ink: Distress Oxide Inks - Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso, Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Crackling Campfire; Distress Ink - Black Soot 

Other: Black Fine liner pen for the eyes