One sausage ...... two sausage ........

Happy Friday ........

The weekend is here ..... have you got anything nice planned?

We're off on our adventure tomorrow ..... everything's ready, well almost.  Just a few more bits to throw in the van.  It's so much easier than packing suitcases!

Before we go though, I wanted to play along with this month's Twofer Card Challenge.  

It's challenge #41 and it's the last one, so I didn't want to miss it.

That's two cards, for two different occasions, made using the same stamp, die, or stencil and of course following this month's theme ........

 

I do love having a tidy up and a good old sort out in the craft room.  

As I was packing up ready for the move I came across quite a few stamps that I'd forgotten about, or that had been sat in the NBUS box for a while.  This set was one of them ........ Happy Birthday Sausage from the For the Love of Stamps range by Hunkydory

First up, a birthday card.  How cute is this little puppy?!

Stamped directly onto the card base ....... and water-coloured using ZIG markers

His little jacket is an extra, stamped onto a snippet of coloured card from the bits box, fussy cut and attached over the top.  I added the spots with a white gel pen for a bit more detail.

I stamped the sentiment underneath (from the same stamp set) ......

and finished off with some gold ink splatters.

My Twofer is an anniversary card ....... or, it could be for an engagement or even a wedding card if you changed the colours.

I stamped the happy couple, and coloured them using the markers again.

Gave each of them a different coloured jacket ...... again using snippets from the bits box

And finished off with the sentiment and a pretty heart balloon (all stamps are from the same stamp set)

As these stamps are having their first outing I'm also linking up to this months NBUS Challenge (Never Before Used Schtuff)

Thank you Darnell for the last four years of the Twofer Challenge, it's been fun!

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

I'm off now to finish packing the van.  

As I said, we're off on our travels tomorrow, on the morning boat.  Fingers crossed the weather's good, I haven't checked the forecast yet.  We have booked a cabin though, so if it's bumpy I can sleep through it!

See you on the other side!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Stamps: Happy Birthday Sausage (Hunkydory)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata - Golden Glitz (for the splatters)

Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Water-brush; Snippets of coloured card

Twofer Card Challenge ........

Happy Tuesday .......

How is everyone?  Safe and well I hope.

It's done nothing but rain here for the last few days, not that that makes any difference.   We still can't go anywhere because of lockdown, although we do seem to be getting things under control again here on the island.  There's been no new cases today, and the ones we have had for the past few days have all been people already self-isolating so no community spread, which is great news.

In between all Lauren's birthday celebrations, I did manage to spend a little time in the craft room over the weekend.  I'm trying to play along with a few more blog challenges this year, one to kick start my mojo, two to replenish my card supplies, and hopefully get ahead with the ...... dare I say it ......... Christmas cards!  Let's see how it goes shall we!

It's the Twofer Card Challenge today ....... Darnell put out a little reminder over the weekend to say there's just a week left to play along.

As you can see, it's challenge #34 and the theme is ........ Flowers (a nice easy one)

So ....... that's two different card designs, for two different occasions, made using the same floral stamp, stencil and/or dies.

Here goes .......... the hardest part was choosing the stamp!!

So ..... a fun birthday card, and a simple, elegant sympathy card.

The stamps I've used are from Penny Black.

For the birthday card I stamped the pretty floral spray all over a piece of white cardstock, cut to fit the front of a 7x5 inch card base.

I used ZIG markers and a paintbrush to watercolour all the images. 

I then stamped my sentiment, repeating it across a strip of card, and attached it using foam pads

To finish off I added a few random dots of Nuvo Jewel Drops here and there.

For the Sympathy card I kept things very CAS .......

Used the same stamp, this time simply stamped with gold ink, no colour added.

The sentiment I stamped in black, and a few drops of crystal glaze to finish. 

Well that's two for the stock box.  

 

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

It's my turn to cook this evening ..... we're having chicken madras I think.

It should be salad after last weekends food and wine ....... Saturday we had take away from Wine Down (our favourite) ...... soufflé followed by fillet steaks, and the little man had lobster!!  

And then we had Sushi Sunday ....... and ate the lot!!

Diet ...... during lockdown ..... no way!

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

Products used:

Stamps: Flower Medley, Heartfelt (Penny Black - T for Transparent stamp sets); Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata Pigment Ink - Golden Glitz

Others: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Nuvo Crystal Glaze - Clear, Nuvo Jewel Drops - Limoncello (Tonic)

Butterflies for the Twofer Challenge .........

Happy Wednesday .......

How are you? ........ I hope you're having a good week.
It's a little bit more relaxed here this week ..... thank goodness. 
I think we went a bit crazy after completing our quarantine last week.  It was so nice to be able to finally get out and about again, get back to normal ...... and the weather wasn't too bad either!

Hubby's still working from home, no change there, and I've been spending some time in the craft room.  Not doing anything in particular, catching up mainly and tidying up the place.  As hubby says ..... I've got some stuff!!

I've just got time to play along with one of my favourite challenges before the deadline closes ...... it's been a while!

Darnell's Twofer Card Challenge ..... always fun, and a great way to re-stock those card supplies.

Here's mine ....... A belated birthday card (ooops! I occasionally need those), and a Thinking of You card (for one of those just because occasions)

I love butterfly stamps, the big decision this time was which one to use.
I decided on a Penny Black favourite and used the emboss resist technique to create my birthday card

I stamped the large butterfly randomly all over a piece of white cardstock, and heat embossed in white. 
I then blended my Distress Inks over the top ........ I never get tired of this technique.  The more ink you apply and the darker the colour, the more your embossing will stand out.  The heat embossing acts as a resist to the DI's ...... once you've applied the ink just buff off any excess with a soft cloth  and the embossing shows through perfectly.

I also did a little splattering with some water just to add more interest to the background

I stamped my sentiments and added them as banners off to the side, and finished with a few crystal drops

I went sort of CAS for my Twofer ......

Same butterfly stamp, only this time I used coloured inks to stamp the image

I added my sentiment over the top, and I made a mask to cover the butterfly before using the same colours of ink to add some splatters onto the background

Two cards, for two different occasions using the same stamp!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
No sunshine here today ..... it's been raining for most of the day.  Let's hope it's a bit better for the weekend, although we've nothing planned as yet!
Last weekend we took the van across the island on a little trip to Peel.

Peel's really nice, Sunset City as it's sometimes know as.  Lovely beaches, there's a great walk around the castle, especially when the sun's going down, and there's a couple of really nice restaurants there that we don't visit very often.  However, thanks to Remi (the van) that's about to change.

We had a lovely weekend.  We stayed on Peel campsite which was fab.  Large site, not very busy, with great facilities and, about a 15 min walk into town ..... perfect!
We had dinner at Filbey's on Friday which was delicious.
 

The kids joined us on Saturday, the first time we'd seen them since the end of June,  and we went to The Boatyard for a lovely family dinner.

We're off out again tomorrow .... our regular table at Wine Down.  I suppose you could say we're making up for lost time ....... I'm just enjoying not having to cook every night!

I'm cooking this evening though ....... nothing fancy, we're having a curry night. 
We've also got the little man staying overnight so it could be movie night too ...... another Star Wars film maybe!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Belated Birthday card .....
Stamps: Butterfly Trio (Penny Black); Banner Bits (Avery Elle); Tiny Words Birthday (Mama Elephant)
Inks: Versamark ink; Distress Inks - Mustard Seed, Dried Marigold, Carved Pumpkin, Abandoned Coral; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Others: Nuvo Crystal Drops

Thinking of You .....
Stamps: Butterfly Trio (Penny Black);
Inks: Catherine Pooler Mini Inks - Aquatini, Fiesta Blue, Something Borrowed; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Others: Crystal gems from my stash

A festive Twofer for their last challenge of the year ........

Happy Tuesday evening ........

I hope you're having a good week.
Six weeks today and it'll be Christmas Eve ...... just saying!
Only 42 days to go ...... and I still haven't decided on a design for this year's 'family' Christmas card ........ now I'm beginning to panic!

The festive spirit seems to be a little late arriving this year, although I have started gift shopping, I've bought a few new baubles for the tree, and Michael Buble is at the ready! 
I've also got the Christmas workshop coming up this weekend so hopefully it'll be all Ho! Ho! Ho! by then ........ mince pies all round!

I'm also taking advantage of the the twist in this month's Twofer Card Challenge .....

The prompt this month is Holiday Greenery ...... perfect, that's one Christmas card.  But wait ..... The twist is ...... BOTH cards this month can be for the same occasion ..... whoo hoo!!!  that's two  Christmas cards.  They just have to made using the same stamp, die or stencil and they have to be different.

I hope these are different enough ........

A new size of card for me ....... five and a half, by four and a quarter inches (I've been watching too much Jennifer McGuire!).  I've got to say,  I do quite like it ...... it makes a change from my usual seven by fives.

I used a Penny Black stamp for both of the cards, one that's been in my NBUS box for a while.
First off I simply stamped the image using a green DOX ink and then watercoloured the open leaves with a green Distress Ink .......

A pale wash of colour to the background using the acetate smooshing technique ......

A few splatters of gold ink, a sprinkling of Chunky White Embossing Powder, and red glitter glue on the berries

And a simple festive greeting to finish .....

Now the Twofer ..... same stamp, different design

This time I used my MISTI to stamp the wreath using gold ink, and coloured the open leaves with my green Distress again

I stamp the wreath over opposite corners, top and bottom of my card and added my greeting across the centre

A little bit more acetate smooshing on the background, some splattering with the gold ink, and more of that chunky white embossing powder.  The berries this time I made white, using Enamel Accents sprinkled with some fine glitter.

Well that's two more done, maybe I'll make some more of these.
First though I'd better get the dinner on, I hadn't realised the time.  We're having venison and mushroom stroganoff tonight courtesy of Mr Jamie Oliver. 
The recipe said I needed a mix of exciting and robust mushrooms ..... all I could find in the supermarket were wild and chestnut mushrooms along with some porcini, so they'll have to do!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy your evening.

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

Products used:
Stamps: Tweet Wreath (Penny Black Cling); Poinsettia Wreath (The Ton) for the sentiment; Merry Christmas is an old Penny Black wooden stamp 
Inks: Distress Oxide Ink - Forest Moss; Antique Linen (Backgrounds) Distress Ink - Peeled Paint; Deliata Golden Glitz; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Others: Chunky White Embossing Powder (Stampendous); Red Glitter Glue; White Enamel Accents; Fine Crystal Glitter

Time for a Twofer .... which turned into a Four-fer!!!

Happy Wednesday ........

This week is flying by ....... I've been busy in the craft room though.  It's almost time for our annual family holiday so I'm trying to get organised!!
Two weeks on Friday you'll find me on a boat on the Norfolk Broads.  Well actually two weeks on Saturday ..... two weeks on Friday we'll be on a slightly bigger boat, sailing across to the UK, but more about all that some other time.

Last week was workshop weekend.   We took a break from the calendars and had a great time creating cards with Jennifer McQuire's Floating Die Cut Frames technique.
I must say I am hooked on this at the moment, and I think a few more ladies are after last Saturday.

It was a busy day, with lots of stamping, a whole load of colouring and plenty die cutting of course.
We did find time for cake though .....

I used Altenew stamp sets that had matching dies, and ZIG markers for my all of my colouring

I even did a little bit of heat embossing

Stamped sentiments to finish off ......

And a few little gold ink splatters here and there.

I love how you get a twofer everytime .......

Change things up and use different shapes to create the apertures ...... this was my favourite pair from the day

I love this stamp set ...... it's Ruffled Flowers from Altenew,  and of course the matching dies make it so easy to cut them all out

I added a die cut sentiment on this one ......

And of course, another pretty little twofer

In fact ....... from this set of die cuts I actually made FOUR cards, that's 2 sets of twofers!!
These were made from all the cut off pieces from around the edge of the original panel ...... they  just too pretty to throw away

I added the little bees so that I can link these two cards up to this month's Twofer Card Challenge ......

First up ..... a little Thank You card

Smaller than I usually make ..... this is 6x4 inches, but I was using up leftovers.

I arranged the left over die cuts over a panel of white card cut to the size of my card front.  I then covered them with some Glad Press & Seal ...... if you're not familiar with this it's a bit like cling film, but sticky. and then
I ran this through my Big Shot to die cut the centre panel.  The Press & Seal holds everything in place ....... it's fab!  Check out Jennifer McGuire's video it explains everything.

Once you've die cut the centre out, remove the white card from the back, turn over the remaining piece of Press & Seal and put foam pads on the back of all the die cut pieces making up the frame. This then goes onto the front of your card ..... the Press & Seal holds everything in the right place .... clever eh!

Once the die cuts are stuck down, carefully peel off the Press & Seal, and your die cuts will look as if they are floating ...... I love it!!!
The little bees are from a Stampin Up! set called Dragonfly Dreams ..... I'm not sure if it's still a current set.

And here's the twofer ......  a Birthday card made using that die cut centre panel

A simple frame around the edge, and a sentiment banner to finish off

You have to give this technique a go ..... it's so much fun!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
It's lovely here today, the sun is shining and it's warming up nicely.  It's about time though, it is June afterall!
No sitting in the sun just yet though, it's back to the craft room for me and I'm about to go all festive!
Don't worry, its for a magazine later in the year so I'm not going all Ho! Ho! Ho! just yet!!!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Stamps: Ruffled Flowers, Leaf Canopy (both with matching dies ) Altenew; Dragonfly Dreams (SU) Penny Black sentiment stamps; Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocture; Versamark; Delicata Golden Glitz;
Others: Hello Die (Altenew); Nestabilities die - circles, rectangles, ovals: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Pearl Drops (Nuvo); Small crystal gemstones