Happy New Year!!! .........

Happy New Year's Day! ......

Well here we are again, the start of another brand new year ...... it's 2022!!!  

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and that you enjoyed some New Year celebrations. It was pretty quiet here ....... good food, nice wine and a bottle, or two, of bubbly to see out the old and ring in the new.

So, it's the first of January ......... and after our festive break, the CAS Mix Up Challenge is back ...... whoo hoo!!

We're starting this year off with a Watercolour Challenge, hosted by Jenny.

The theme is ......... Loose Watercolouring

Now, if you're like me, you might be thinking ........ what is loose watercolouring?  Well, if you are,  check out the CAS Mix Up Blog where you can find an introduction to this technique from Jenny, lots of ideas and inspiration from the Design Team and, links to some great videos showing different ways of using this fun technique.

It's all about making watercolouring easy ......... here's my take on the challenge

I used a pretty new stamp set which arrived in my craft room just before Christmas ...... Blooming Branch from Pinkfresh Studio.  It's such a pretty stamp, and there's some nice words in the set too. I can see me using this one a lot.

I stamped the image onto a piece of white cardstock, using a black Versafine Clair ink pad.  You can see in the picture above, I also stamped part of the image on the inside of my card (something I'm trying to do with all of my cards this year ...... complete the insides too!!)

For the watercolouring I used a mix of ZIG Clean Colour Brush Markers (leaves and centres of the flowers) and a Picked Raspberry Distress re-inker (for the flowers) 

To create the loose, sort of sketchy look to the colouring I painted the images with clean water first, one flower/leaf at a time.  I then put a drop of re-inker, and scribbled a little ink from the pens onto a craft sheet and then used a waterbrush to pick up the ink and drop it onto the wet petals and leaves, allowing the colour to move with the water.  To create the shading, I let the first layer of ink dry then repeated the technique again ....... easy!

I love the imperfect, sort of arty look ...... it also means that you don't have to be that careful, it doens't matter if the colour comes out of the lines!

I stamped my sentiments in gold, and then a few ink splatters onto the background using the same colours I did for the main image

I'm so looking forward to seeing the gallery for this challenge.

We have a fabulous Guest Designer this month too ....... Karen (Ransdom Reflections) is joining in the fun, so be sure to pop by and say hello!

Thanks for stopping by ......... enjoy the rest of your New Year's Day, and here's to a fun filled, crafty 2022!

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

Supplies:

Stamps: Blooming Branch (Pinkfresh Studio)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Picked Raspberry Distress Ink Re-inker; Delicata - Golden Glitz

Other: ZIG Clean Colour Brush Markers; Waterbrush; Ink-Me cardstock (Hunkydory)

Autumn colours for CAS Mix Up .......

Happy Wednesday .......

Welcome to September!

  

We're back on the island, home from our UK trip ...... and we had a great time.  

It was our first off island adventure in the motorhome, and we had a ball!  We stayed on a large campsite, a pub stop-over, and a cute little what they call a 'certified location' ...... a small campsite for just a handful of vans, and the good thing is, hubby and I are still speaking ........ which is a bonus!

Anyhow ...... more about all that some other time.

Autumn is definitely on it's way.  The temperature is starting to drop, there's a chill in the air in the evenings and the leaves on the trees are all starting to change and fall.  I must admit it is my favourite time of the year.

 

This month's challenge for CAS Mix Up has the perfect theme.  

Leslie is our Host for September and it's a Watercolour challenge this month, with the theme ...... Autumn Colours  

I do love the Autumnal shades ........ perfect for watercolouring

I stamped the pretty floral spray across a piece of white cardstock, and heat then embossed in gold ..... this looks so pretty when the light catches it

Next, I blended Autumn shades of Distress Inks across the top half of my base card, and then splattered the inks with water,  to lift some of the colour and add a bit more interest to the background ...... a really simple technique with different results everytime

I used Altenew Watercolour Paints to colour in the floral spray, using similar shades to the Distress inks I used for the background.

I then fussy cut around the top edge of the flowers, leaving a tiny white border so that they would stand out against the inky background.

A simple sentiment was all it needed to finish along with a few sparkly gems

I can't wait to see all the gorgeous Autumn shades in the gallery this month ..... it's going to look amazing!

Check out the CAS Mix Up Blog for some beautiful Autumn Colour designs from the rest of the DT and, pop and say Hello to our lovely Guest Designer too.   Ros (Mikey's Mom) is joining us for the Autumn Colour challenge.

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

Time for me to start unpacking the van I think.  I need to get it ready for our next adventure!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:

Stamps: Floral Happiness (Julie Hickey Designs)

Inks: Versamark ink; Distress Inks - Fossilised Amber, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany; Versafine Clair - Nocturne (for the sentiment)

Other: Gold Detail Embossing Powder (WOW!); Altenew Watercolour Paints; Self adhesive gem stones

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

A rainbow of colour ........

Happy Wednesday .........

How are you? 

It's all good here at the moment ........ fingers crossed!

Our latest lockdown restrictions were all lifted on Monday (yeah!)  A new exit plan for opening our borders was published yesterday (whoo hoo!!) ....... roll on the end of June!  We've booked a family holiday Staycation, and a long weekend away in the van.  And ..... we're off out this evening for the first time in what feels like FOREVER!!  It's nice to be getting back to normality!  

I say fingers crossed because, I've just heard on the local news that there are new unexplained cases of the virus on the island that have been detected overnight ........ lets hope that further investigation doesn't bring bad news!! 

Anyway, the reason I'm here is  .......... I'm playing along with the CAS Christmas Challenge again ....... sneaking in another festive card before the deadline.

The theme is ...... Rainbow.  Not something I would normally think of for festive designs but ..... it works

Who doesn't love pretty fairy lights, and these would brighten up any Christmas tree!

I stamped and heat embossed the fairy lights onto a piece of white cardstock, and then coloured them using ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers and a waterbrush

I added a touch of fine crystal glitter to each of the bulbs for a little added sparkle,

 and used a silver gel pen and my waterbrush to colour the tops

I used a fancy stitched edge die to add extra detail to the bottom, and trimmed my stamped image to match 

A simple sentiment, stamped underneath and heat embossed, adds the finishing touch.

I've enjoyed creating the rainbow designs for this challenge but, I think I'm still more of a traditional girl when it comes to my festive cards!

Speaking of rainbows, here's a colourful idea for this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge .......

It's not the usual form of paper piecing but I think it would pass.  

I haven't actually stamped an image and paper pieced it, instead I've cut the petals from an old book page and then pieced them together to make my flower ...... could be a daisy, or a sunflower maybe.

I took an old book page and coloured it using various colours of acrylic paints.  

I used my finger to smoosh small patches of colour but you could use a brush ........ I've done a few too many workshops with the lovely Tracy Scott I think, she loves to finger paint!  It's such an easy way of applying colour, and you don't have to be too careful either for this technique. 

I stamped on top of the painted page using a few background stamps to add some more detail and interest ...... another technique picked up from Tracy

I then cut myself a template for the petal shape ...... you could cut your petals freehand if you prefer. 

I concertina folded my painted book page to fit my petal template, drew around it across the width of the paper and then cut out the petals. 

I arranged the petal shapes to form the flower on the edge of a piece of black cardstock.  Once I was happy I glued each one into place, trimming off any excess.

For the centre of the flower I cut a circle from another book page and glued it over the top. 

I added some white gel pen around the edges of the petals to make them stand out,  and finished with a few splatters of white paint

A simple heat embossed sentiment was all it needed on the bottom 

Both challenges close on April 24th so there's still a little time left if you fancy playing along.

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

Cheerio until next time .......
 

Products used:

CAS Christmas card

Stamps: Outline Christmas Bulbs (Simon Says Stamps); Sentiment was a freebie I think

Inks: Versamark ink;

Other: Metallic Platinum Embossing Powder (WOW!); ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Quickie Glue Pen; Fine Crystal Glitter, Silver Sparkle Gel Pen; Fancy Stitched Edge die (not sure of the make)

CAS Mix Up card

Stamps: Various background stamps from my stash; Sweet Daisy stamp set (Julie Hickey Designs) - for the sentiment

Inks: Versamark ink;

Other: Old book pages; PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints - various colours; White embossing powder (WOW!); White gel pen

Happy Birthday CAS Mix Up! ........

Happy Monday ........

February didn't last long did it ........ welcome to March!

I do like March ......... spring officially starts, the days get longer and the weather gets nicer. It's been lovely here for the last few days, we were even sat out in the garden yesterday!

Mothers Day is in March too, well here in the IOM/UK it is, and .......... it's my birthday this month (yeah!!!)  Not sure I'll be shouting about it next year when it's a really BIG one!!!

Not only is it my birthday this month, we're also celebrating at CAS Mix Up ....... our little Blog Challenge is 5 years old this month ..... whoo hoo!!!

Of course we're celebrating with this month's Blog Challenge.  

Our host for birthday month is Bonnie and she's got a fabulous technique for us.  

This month it's the turn of the Watercolour challenge so, the main element on your design must be some form of water colouring, and you must follow the theme which is  ............ Print Making with Die Cuts

Now this is something I haven't really done before.   If I have ever printed with die cuts, it's probably by accident!!!

What a fun technique to try though ........ the big decision was, which die cut to go for!  In the end I went for an old favourite from Penny Black (I do love this flower)

Because I knew I would be adding a lot of water onto the die cut, I cut three of the flowers from white cardstock and layered them together to give it a bit more strength.  

I then used my ZIG markers to add the colour, spritzed it with water and used the die cut to print a background onto a piece of watercolour cardstock, which I'd also spritzed with a little water. 

I love the effect.  

Because my watercolour card was damp,  I managed to get two or three prints from one colouring of the die cut ..... a bit like second and third generation stamping ...... giving a pretty softness to the background.

Once the background was done, I added a touch more colour to the die cut, spritzed with water again and left it to dry.

For the sentiment I layered together two of the die cut 'happy' just for dimension.  I added a touch of Distress Ink to the bottom edge, and then spritzed with water and let the ink move over the die cut

Once everything was dry I attached the flower onto the printed card, and added the die cut part of my sentiment over the top and stamped the rest underneath.

  

I then inked around the edge of the card with Distress Ink, and finished off by adding a few splatters onto the background ........  I do love a good splatter!

Happy Birthday CAS Mix Up!

Why not come join the party and help us celebrate!  

The challenge is open until March 24th, and if you need a little more inspiration then check out the CAS Mix Up Blog, the Design Team have been busy creating and we also have a lovely Guest Designer this month ...... Ros (Mikey's Mom) is joining in the fun so please stop by and say Hello.

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

I've got a busy week coming up and it's my birthday on Friday ...... fingers crossed we're not in lockdown by then!  I say fingers crossed because it's back ...... Covid that is!  

We've got cases where they can't trace where it's come from so, we were told to stay at home on Saturday, no mixed gatherings, travel only when necessary  ..... here we go again!  Good thing we didn't go out in the van!

Anyway, yesterday we were told carry on as normal (whatever that is!) but be vigilant!  We're not in lockdown yet and there's no restrictions but, that could all change at anytime depending on what happens this week.  At least the sun is shining!

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

Products used:

Dies: Bashful (Flower die - Penny Black); Happy Die (Winnie & Walter)

Stamps: Fun Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers)

Inks: Distress Ink - Kitsch Flamingo (I love this new colour!!!); Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers

February's CAS Christmas Card Challenge ........

Happy Thursday ......

I hope you're enjoying your week.  Is it really seven days since I blogged ...... must do better!

  

I'm not quite sure where the last week went, I haven't really done that much, and I still haven't ventured out of the house, well, apart from a trip to see Chris.  He moved house last week and the new place is lovely.

I have spent quite a bit of time in my craft room, taking part in more online workshops.  I'm really enjoying doing stuff just for me!  No deadlines, no pressure, and if you watch them on replay, you can pause the video while you catch up ........ I'm learning loads too, which is fun!

I also made time to play along with February's CAS Christmas Card Challenge ......  yes, that's right more Christmas cards.  Well we did have a flurry of snow this week ..... nothing like what's been falling across the whole of the UK though ..... unfortunately!  Snow always puts me in the festive mood!

Anyway, here it is ....... 

You guessed it, the theme this month is ....... Dogs and/or Cats

I used an old wooden Penny Black stamp, and stamped the kitty directly onto my card base (one layer .... always good for posting!)

I coloured him using ZIG markers, and added a touch of sparkle with some fine crystal glitter onto his rather large Santa hat .......

And then finished off with a simple sentiment underneath .......

Very festive!

Well that's another one for the Christmas box ....... Ho! Ho! Ho!

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

I'd better get started on the evening meal ...... someone's saying he's hungry!

Cheerio until next time ....... 

Products used:

Stamps: Jolly Xmas Kitty (Penny Black)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne;

Others: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Quickie Glue Pen; Fine crystal glitter