Make a wish ......

Happy Friday .....

And welcome to September.  Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

I hope you've had a good week. Today see's the end of this years MGP (Manx Grand Prix) .... another event over. We haven't seen any of the racing .... I've heard it though!!! And we've had to put up with the road closures but, on the whole it's not been too bad. Maybe the weather could have been a bit better.
My favourite event is coming up in September ..... the IOM Food and Drink Festival.  A whole weekend of celebrating the delicious food that this island produces.  As usual I'll be purchasing this year's Christmas pudding .... yum! along with lots of other goodies no doubt!  Only two weeks to wait!

Before all that though, there's lots of fun blog challenges to play along with ..... let's get them started with this month's Craft Stamper challenge .....

As always the theme is Anything Goes ...... but don't forget to include some rubber stamping on your project.

This month our sponsor is the fabulous stamp company ....... Uniko

And the prize up for grabs is THREE of their amazing stamps sets .....

What are you waiting for ...... get stamping!

Remember you can enter up to THREE different projects for the challenge, each with their own blog post ...... if you enter any more than that, unfortunately they won't be considered for the prizes. Check out the Craft Stamper Blog for all the challenge details,  and you'll also find lots of fabulous inspiration from the Design Team on there too.

Here's a little something from me to get you started ......

Stamping onto watercoloured tissue paper.
This was one of the designs from a recent workshop.  We had fun using Distress Inks to colour plain, everyday white tissue paper.
Simply swipe your ink pads onto a craft sheet, spritz with water and then lay the tissue on the top to pick up the colour.  Carefully lift the tissue and set aside to dry ..... this doesn't take long

Once dry I attached the tissue to a piece of white card using IndigoBlu Slap It On ..... this gives the tissue a bit more substance and makes it easier to work with.  Again let the adhesive dry.  You can use a heat tool to speed up the drying process ..... just remember it is tissue paper which is quite thin and delicate so it's easy to overheat it. Use your heat tool from a distance, and preferably not too hot!

I stamped the Penny Black flower onto the tissue using Onyx Black Versafine ink and then heat embossed with a clear powder

I added some crystal glitter to the flower and a few Nuvo Jewel Drops here and there to add a bit more interest.

A simple sentiment, stamped and heat embossed in gold finishes everything off nicely

The tissue gives a lovely softness to the background I think.

Now it's your turn .... what will you create?

First Friday of the month means that the new Craft Stamper Magazine is on the shelves today. Another fabulous issue packed with great projects, tips and techniques and loads of ideas on how to spend your crafty time .....

And guess what ...... I'm in there again this month!

If you find it hard to pick up a copy of the magazine then why not pop over to  www.craftstamper.com to buy subscriptions, www.mags-uk.com for single print copies,  and you can get digital copies from www.pocketmags.co.uk

Overseas subscriptions are available too!

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

As usual our weekend started early.  It was the grand re-opening of Chris's pub yesterday.  The new look Prospect has opened it's doors for business again and it looks great!

All the hard work from the last few weeks has definitely paid off .. it looks fab!
Lovely new bar ...... well old bar lovingly restored.  And there's 12 new gins to choose from so that's me sorted!

And with these two running the place ..... it's bound to be a success!

Great opening night!

I'm off out later with a couple of the crafty girls ...... it could prove an expensive trip because we're off to see Claire and Element.isle jewellery down at Grenaby Studios.
must not buy anything ..... must not buy anything ..... must not buy ........ I think the only way that's going to happen is if I leave my bank cards at home!!!

Cheerio until next time .....

What a nice weekend ........

Happy Bank Holiday Monday .........

I hope you're enjoying the long weekend.  It's been lovely here.

We ventured up to the Grandstand yesterday ..... there was no Grand Prix racing but it was nice up there, not busy at all.   A nice cold beer and one of the best pizzas on the island hit the spot perfectly! We caught up with Chris as well which was nice ..... we only get to see him lately when he's working ..... he's a busy man!

Speaking of busy, my crafty ladies gathered on Saturday and we had a lovely, fun afternoon playing with inks and tissue paper.
They loved it.  Just plain old white tissue paper, nothing fancy, and a whole load of  Distress inks .... great fun!

Inspired by Loll Thompson (www.stampingwithloll.com), we added colour to the tissue paper using Distress Inks.  Check out Loll's YouTube video to see what I mean.
It's such an easy way to get beautiful coloured pieces of paper with a gorgeous watercoloured look. You can then use these to create beautiful backgrounds for your projects or use them with your dies and punches ........ here's what I mean ....

Pretty textured backgrounds  ........ once it's dry glue the coloured tissue to a piece of white card to make it easier to work with, and it also makes the colours a little more intense .....

Adding more creases and texture whilst gluing it down gives a little more interest.

Die cut it ..... these pretty little dragonflies have been cut from a leftover piece (me and my scrapbox ..... they all come in handy!!)
Add a nice die cut sentiment coloured to co-ordinate ...... and you're done!

Here's another version ....... this time we added in a little touch of embossing powder to highlight the texture ......

Just a piece of the coloured tissue, again on white card, then I've gently rubbed over the top with a Versamark ink pad so that it's just the raised areas that picks up the ink. If not not confident using the whole pad, just dab your finger into the ink and lightly rub over where you want the embossing powder.  Sprinkled over the embossing powder and heat set. If you end up with too much embossing powder, or powder where you don't want it, just take a soft paint brush and brush it away before you heat it.

I love how it highlights the creases and texture .......

A bit of inlaid die cutting (saving the coloured die cut for another project!) and some rubber stamping completes the sentiment ......

You've seen the next few cards on the blog before ...... but these were popular designs on Saturday.  I think they liked how you could get so many different looks from using the same die.
Die cut the hello from a piece of black card .......

Cut one from a piece of your coloured tissue ......

And also a white version .....

Because the die cuts the word and the outline ..... you can mix and match each one.
It was nice and quiet when they were doing this ....... putting all those little inlaid pieces in took some concentration!

We did do a little bit of rubber stamping onto the tissue too ...... but sorry, you'll have to wait to see the finished result of that one ...... it's for a September Blog challenge!!  Check back here on Friday.

Thanks for popping by ..... have a great week and enjoy the Bank Holiday if you have one.
We're off for a sneaky look at Chris's new look pub this afternoon.
Yes, it's almost finished.  We drove past it last night and all the scaffolding from outside has gone. The outside looks really nice ..... I'll try and get some pictures to share but I might have to wait until it officially opens on Thursday.

Cheerio until next time .....