Good news ......

Happy Thursday ......

It certainly is a happy day ..... Lauren has just been granted her DO's licence ..... whoo hoo!!!

She's now a Designated Official for the brewery which means she can run her own place.  That's both of the kids official licencees ....... Chris has The Prospect in Douglas, and Lauren now has Artisan. Well done you!!!

We're off out for lunch to celebrate (more eating and drinking) and then it's Thursday of course, so it's Saddleoke tonight ......... this could get messy!!!!

Before all that though, I'm still busy with Christmas cards .... I was hoping to have all mine written and in the post by the end of this week but that doesn't seem to be happening!!!
Never mind it does mean that I get the chance to join in with the 12 Days of Christmas Cards Challenge hosted by the lovely Kylie from Happy Little Stampers

Each day, for 12 days, Kylie and her friends are showcasing Christmas Cards and you can join in the fun too.  There's a linky on the challenge for you to add your designs and ..... there's prizes up for grabs .... why not play along.

Here's one of my designs from the last Sweet Poppy Stencil TV show using the gorgeous Change in the Seasons stencil

Really simple to do ..... white ink and white embossing paste with a sprinkling of glitter ..... very wintry (brrrrr!).

I simply used the stencil with the white paste onto a piece of Kraft card, and sprinkled the glitter over the top whilst the paste was still wet ..... love the detail on this stencil

Once this was dry I brushed white ink onto the background using a paper mask to create the hills

I added a sentiment and the little bunnies using my MISTI so that I could repeat the stamping until I got a good depth of colour on the images

A few dots of white gel pen here and there, to give the look of falling snow, finish of the card nicely

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.  I must dash as we're meeting Lauren for lunch in half an hour and I'm nowhere near ready.

Cheerio until next time .......

12 Tags of Christmas with Loll and Friends .....

Happy Tuesday ......

Brrrrrr .... it's cold out there today, and I've got to dash into town later.  Would you believe I'm starting my Christmas shopping .... whoo hoo!!

To get me in the mood I'm playing along with the 12 Tags of Christmas with Loll and Friends.
Yes it's that time of year again when this fabulous Tag event gets underway, and you know me ...... I do like a good blog event, and I lovvvvve making tags, so this is just perfect.

For 12 days Loll will be sharing gorgeous, festive tags with you, along with a whole bunch of Guest Designers ...... it's going to be fun!

Here's my tag for Day 1 .....

Kraft card again ...... along with my white ink.  I'm loving this look at the moment!

This is really easy to do ..... and so effective.
Using a sheet of cheap copier paper, cut yourself a mask to create your winter scene.  I always cut the shape for my hills by hand, across the middle of the paper, but you could tear the paper instead for a more uneven edge.
I use the top half of the mask to create the snowy banks, and the bottom half of the mask when I'm stamping the trees ...... does that make sense?!

With my mask in place I stamped the trees with a brown ink, across the tag, overlapping the edge of the paper mask.

Using the white ink I added in a moon, lightly brushed around the edges of the tag and finished off with a few dots of falling snow done with a white gel pen

Next I added in the snowy hills ...... simply sponge the white ink along the edge of the mask, building up the depth of colour gradually.  I tend to start with the highest one first and move down my tag, changing the position of the mask as I go along.  You can always go back in and add more ink if necessary ..... just replace your mask and sponge along the edge.
When I got to the bottom I added in my sentiment.  Quick tip ...... if you have a MISTI it's the perfect tool for stamping onto white ink.  More often than not you need to stamp more than once as the white ink seems to bleach out the coloured ink a little.
It actually took me 4 times before I was happy with the depth of colour of the words ...... but hey!  no problem if you're using a MISTI ..... it stamps in the perfect place every time

The cute little snowman is a brand new Penny Black die called snowman joy,  and I love him!!!

He's been cut 3 times from white cardstock and then layered for a bit of dimension.
A touch of colour was added to his arms and nose, a bit of glitter for added sparkle and some drops of black enamel accents for his buttons ..... so cute!

Why not join in the fun .... create your own Christmas tag and link it up to the event.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
Time for me to wrap up warm and head into town ........ I hope it's not too busy down there.

Cheerio until next time

What a fabulous weekend ..... we should do it more often!

Happy Monday ......

What a great weekend we've just had .... hope yours was a good one too!

After a lovely crafty day last Friday, I was told that hubby and I HAD to be in The Saddle (Chris's place) that evening .... no matter what!
Hmmm ....... now I don't usually like surprises but ..... this one was a good one!
My brother and his wife had come across for the weekend ..... it was so nice to see them.  Chris was the only one that knew anything about it (and Sam his girlfriend), apparently they'd been organised it for weeks!!  Thanks love ....... what a fabulous surprise for your old mum!!

We all had a lovely night out ...... called in to Artisan see Lauren as she was working, she was as surprised as I was .... lots of squealing and hugging going on!!  It was also Chris's one year anniversary of having his name above the door at The Saddle ..... hasn't that 12 months gone quickly!!! ........ so as you can imagine, there might just have been a little bit of celebrating going on!!
We did it all again on Saturday too!! Oh yes .... you've guessed it ..... Sunday was a bit of a lazy day!

Not only was I out partying all weekend ....... it was workshop weekend too!!  There wasn't too much of a headache on Saturday morning ..... just as well really as we had the usual crew around the table, plus a few extras for this one.  The place was full .... and we had a great day.

Four cards, with matching tags, all done using Kraft Card.  
It's one of those things I think, you either love it (which I do)  or .... you're never quite sure what to do with it!  Well I gave them all a few ideas ...... starting with simply stamping onto it using a black ink and adding a some black and white cardstock ...... very elegant.

I gave them a choice too .... either everyday using the gorgeous Penny Black Poppies ......

or a Christmas version with the jolly Inkadinkadoo Snowman ......

Next we did some white embossing ..... which always looks stunning on Kraft card .....

I love my large Clarity Christmas Tree, especially with a touch of sparkle and some added falling snow .....

And why not add a bit of festive red into the mix ......

 Snowflakes white embossed again, but also stamped in Crimson Red Versafine .....

But, it doesn't have to be just Christmas cards ...... this colour combo works just as well for everyday designs

Tags to match too .....

Then it was on to some simple colouring on Kraft card ....... stamping with a brown ink and using water colour pencils ......

How cute is this little guy .....

Add some Picket Fence Distress ink around the image and a little falling snow and you're done.  A nice quick and easy, one layer card with matching tag ..... great for posting!

And of course .... there was an everyday option .....

This time stamped in Black and coloured using Prismacolor pencils ..... with a tag to match

And finally ...... we finished the afternoon with what was my favourite, and everyone else's I think ..... white ink on Kraft card.

Inspired by the ladies from Inkylicious ..... and using their beautiful stamps, two wintry snow scenes.

First option ...... using a stencil and white ColorBox ink to create the circle, then stamping the Inkylicious Winter Lodge over the top ......

This is where the MISTI is such a useful tool.  To get all the detail of the stamp clear, over the white ink I stamped the image about 3 or 4 times using a brown ink pad.  Then I added in some extra white detail, the snow on the roof and the trees, and around the bottom of the lodge, and then ..... I stamped the lodge again over the top.  Because I used the MISTI each stamping was perfect!

The other option was made using the same white ColorBox ink and a piece of copier paper to create the snowy hills ......

I used stamps from the new IndigoBlu Winterland Wood and the Inkylicious small Winter Cabin

With my copier paper masks in place I stamped the images first, using the brown ink again (Ranger's Java Bean Dye Ink)

Then I added in the snow ......

The ColorBox white ink works really well on Kraft Card .... I will say though they are quite a wet ink pad so less is definitely more.  I always like to use a brush to apply my inks and I start with very little on the brush and gradually build up the depth of colour.

Love how these two designs turned out.

I said it was a busy workshop ..... I think everyone enjoyed it though.  They've booked on the next one anyway!

Well .... that's Monday nearly over with.  It's going to be a bit of a whirlwind week I think ..... I've only 4 days .... 3 now ..... to get everything done, then I'm off on a little trip across to the UK next weekend ...... I'm so excited!!!!  More about that later.

Right now it's time I got on with the dinner .... tummy's rumbling!!

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

Cheerio until next time .....