Did somebody say cake? ........

Happy Wednesday ......

I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend ....... for once I didn't eat my body weight in chocolate eggs!! Too busy in the craft room trying to find my mojo instead.

I'm playing along with the AAA Cards Clean and Simple Challenge again.  It's game #187 and the challenge is ........ to use Two Quarters of your card. 

I hope this fits the bill .......

I've used the top two quarters and stamped the cute little monster in each one ....... don't think it quite meets with the optional twist though

I've stamped them both off the edge, one each side keeping plenty of white space in the middle, and I used Distress Inks and ZIG markers to add the colour

I added a strip of washi tape across the bottom, and a touch of shading with Distress ink to sort of ground the little guys,  and finished off my card with a fun sentiment.

We've had snow here on the island the last couple of days.  In fact, over the Easter weekend we've had weather for all four season's of the year!!  The Isle of Man weather is changeable if nothing else! 

The end of last week we thought Spring had definitely arrived.  The sun was here, and it was warming up nicely.  We took full advantage and mowed the lawns, pressure washed the patio and got the garden furniture out. We cleaned the barbeque, and even filled the hot tub! 

Saturday/Sunday we thought summer had arrived.  Glorious sunshine and it was warm.   We had a lovely, socially distanced of course, get together with the rest of the family, now that we're allowed gatherings of up to 10 people outside, and we enjoyed our first barbeque of the year.

Glad we made the most of it when we did ..... what a difference on Monday.  It was sooo cold, it felt like winter again.  The wind was howling, and the snow came on Tuesday.  Thankfully it didn't stick around.  We had some today but again it disappeared as fast as it came.  We just need the temperature to go back up now.  Don't think we'll be using the hot tub again just yet ....... brrrrrrr!!

Another bit of excitement over the weekend was ....... the world's largest sailing yacht has been sat in Douglas Bay ........

                                       (photo taken from Facebook ....... Isle of Man by Drone)

Apparently it's owned by a Russian billionaire, cost an absolute fortune, and it is HUGE!!!  I think it's been sheltering from the weather but, who knows!  The can't come onto the island as our borders are still closed!

                                       (photo taken from Facebook ....... Isle of Man by Drone)

                                        (photo take from Facebook ....... Isle of Man by Drone)

Just to get a sense of scale of the yacht ...... look at the guy checking the mast!!!!!  This thing is huge!!!

Thanks to Isle of Man by Drone for the photos ...... hope they don't mind me taking them from Facebook!

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

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:

Stamps: Monster Love (Concord & 9th); Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant)

Inks: Versafine /Clair - Nocturne; Distress Inks - Salty Ocean, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed

Other: ZIG clean Color Brush Markers; Washi tape from my stash

Welcome to 2019! .......

Happy New Year everyone .......
Let's hope it's a good one!!

Now that all the festivities and New Year celebrations are over ...... (and the headache's gone ...... just!) it's back to business as usual.

The craft room door is open again ...... yeah! You should see the state of the place though ...... it took me a while to find my desk!!  Now everything's on the floor but, at least I have work space ..... which is good, as I have lots to do!
 
Let's get 2019 underway, with my first Blog Challenge of the year ....... it's the Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge.  We've got a real fun theme/prompt for you for January ..... Washi Tape

We all have it ...... rolls of it probably, but do we ever use it?  The answer to that for me is ..... NO!  Not very often.
Don't get me wrong, I love it ....... there's some really pretty designs out there, it's just I never really know what to do with it.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with.  I hoping for some tips!

My inspiration piece for you is really simple but ........ maybe not as 'clean' as it should be.

Looking at the photo, you might be thinking  "she's lost the plot here ..... where exactly IS the washi tape?" 
Well ...... the whole panel is washi tape ..... I said it was simple!   
I've used this gorgeous design from Altenew ...... it's called Painted Fantasy and the roll is mahoosive!!!  It measures almost four and a half inches across ..... and the floral design is so pretty.  You can either use it as I have here, the full width of the tape or, you could fussy cut each of the floral sprays and really make it go a long way (I might try that actually)

I simply cut a piece of white card to size, and completely covered it with the tape .....

I added a few splatters of gold ink over the top .......

and a thin strip of black card along the bottom ......

I stamped and heat embossed my sentiment in gold onto a snippet of black card, and then attached it to the front using foam pads ........ easy, and I love the result.

I also added a little off cut strip of Washi Tape to the inside ...... don't want to waste any of it.

Another quick and easy design is to use the Washi Tape with your cutting dies ......

Same idea of covering a piece of card with the Washi Tape, then I used a fancy edge die to cut the card in two.  This is a great little trick to do if you need to make your topper a little bigger ..... stretch it kind of, to fit your card front

I stamped my sentiment in the gap, bending the clear stamp to follow the curve of the card.

To finish off I stamped and heat embossed the Thanks, and used the co-ordinating die to cut it out

And just because I can't throw anything away .... I used a little left over piece to make a little matching gift tag

I think I shall be using my Washi Tape a little more often now!

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

It's going to be a busy few days in the craft room.  It takes a while to get back into the swing of things, and there's some exciting stuff coming up too.  I'd better clear my desk again!

Cheerio until next time .....