There's still time to play along with this month's CAS Challenges .......

Happy middle of the week ......

We've had another lovely sunny day here, and I've done absolutely nothing!!
I did go into the craft room this morning, put a few things away, moved stuff around a little bit on my desk, and then walked straight back out again ....... it was too nice to be in there.  Instead I grabbed my laptop and Kindle, a bottle of sun cream and headed outside.  It's been lovely catching up on emails, watching some FaceBook Live craft videos, and just enjoying this nice weather.  Might even go in the hot tub later!

First, I have got a quick reminder for you, about a couple of this month's CAS Challenges.
We like to give you a few more ideas mid way through the challenges just incase you need a little bit of inspiration.

First up ..... the CAS Mix Up Challenge, where the theme this month is Bleaching

Don't forget to check out the links on the CAS Mix Up blog to some useful videos on using this fun technique.

You might think using bleach on your cards is not for you.  I know I'm not that keen on the smell, and even though you can get odourless ones these days there are other ways of achieving the same look.
I like to use plain old water, and Distress Inks, it works a treat. 

I stamped the flowers across the centre of a piece of white cardstock, heat embossed the image in gold, and then blended Distress Ink over the top.

Using a paintbrush and some clean water, I 'bleached' out the colour from the leaves.
I simply painted the water onto the leaves and then mopped it away with a piece of paper towel removing the Distress Ink too.  The more water you apply, the more colour you will remove

Once it was dry I fussy cut around the bottom edge and then attached it to the top the front of a card blank, leaving white space at the bottom to show off the fussy cut edge

I stamped a sentiment on there and finished off with a few sparkly gems

Next up .... the CAS Stencil Challenge
This month the theme is Gilding Flakes. Not a product known for using with stencils but, they work.

I've gone for a 'less is more' approach on this design with just a touch of gilding flakes on the stenciled detail in the background.

I smooshed a little Distress Ink onto the centre of a white cardblank using a piece of acetate, and then stenciled over the top with some texture paste.

Once this was dry I placed the stencil back over the paste and used my finger to apply a little bit of glue to the surface ...... not too much, and I wasn't that careful about applying it as I wanted a sort of grungy look, I didn't want to completely cover the texture paste.

I removed the stencil and then applied the Gilding Flakes.  A gentle rub over to make sure they had covered all the glue, then I took a sponge and rubbed away any excess

I stamped the butterfly onto a piece of mop up card and added a touch more colour to it using some coloured pencils before fussy cutting around the edge

He was attached onto the card, and I finished with a sentiment

 I think we could all do with some happy thoughts right now!

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for all the CAS Challenges, and if you need more inspiration then check out what the rest of the Design Teams have been up to.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to create something in the kitchen now, not quite sure what yet.  I'm thinking a chilli maybe with a nice bottle of Malbec.  Well it is World Malbec Day on Friday this week ..... we've already booked our special menu for Friday night, freshly prepared and delivered from our little place in town ...... looking forward to that.

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

Products used:

CAS Mix Up
Stamps: Precious Peony (Altenew); Special Sentiments (Penny Black) 
Inks: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry; Versamark Ink; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Other: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); Clear Glitter Gems

CAS Stencil
Stamps: Flutters 2 (Inkylicious); Happy Thoughts (Penny Black sentiment)
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry
Other: Tim Holtz Stencil - Stripes; Texture Paste (Ranger); Flitter Glu, Gilding Flakes (IndigoBlu) 

Follow your Dreams for the Craft Stamper Challenge .....

Whoo Hoo!!!  it's Friday ......

I hope you've had a good week.
I had all sorts planned for this week but, has anything got done ...... no!!!  I've been enjoying what's left of the summer.  It's not quite as warm as it has been but hey! the sun's still shining.

As it's the first Friday in September that means there's a new Craft Stamper Challenge.
It's the usual Anything Goes theme ....... but remember, you MUST include some actual rubber stamping on your projects .... no digi images please.

The project is up to you ..... cards, tags, journal pages.  Canvases, home decor or even an ATC maybe.  The choice is all yours.

I've got a tag for you this month, using a recent Stampin Up! purchase ....... Follow Your Dreams, with the coordinating set of dies

I coloured a piece of white cardstock using Fresco Finish Acrylic Paints, and a damp baby wipe to spread the colours (Sky, Candy Floss and Smurf)
I then cut it down to size to create my tag.

Using the pretty dream catcher from the stamp set I added a touch of detail here and there onto the background, before following with a stencil and some crackle texture paste

 and then splatters of black and white paint ........

I stamped the dream catcher again onto a piece of card coloured using the Candy Floss paint, heat embossed with the WOW Rose Gold embossing powder ...... this is such a nice colour .... and then used the matching die to cut it out

Some of the feathers have been stamped and die cut, and some (the smaller ones) are actually cut from one of the dies from the set

I added my sentiment across the bottom ..... heat embossed again with the rose gold.  I think this is my new favourite embossing powder .... for now anyway!

Added a couple more feathers and a little matching thread .....

and a few coordinating ribbons to finish it off

As always there's prizes up for grabs ......

This month the Challenge Winner, randomly chosen from all the eligible entries, will win this fabulous set of 10 Ecoline Brush Pens ...... just look at those colours!!

And our Design Winner, chosen by the DT, will get their winning project published in the Craft Stamper magazine along with a Winner's profile, and a Guest Designer Spot on the blog .... how cool is that!

Speaking of the magazine, the latest edition hits the shelves today ........ have you got yours?
Check out the Craft Stamper website for all the details on how to get your hands on a copy

This month, as always, it's crammed with amazing art work, brilliant techniques and lots of fabulous ideas.  I'm in there this month too ..... as part of the Uniko Design Team.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a fabulous weekend.
Hubby's got the day off today so we may just pop out somewhere nice for lunch.

Cheerio until next time ......

It's Friday ..... it's a Bank Holiday (on the Isle of Man) ..... and another TT is nearly over .....

Happy Friday ......

And a Happy Senior Race Day to all you TT fans.
It's a Bank Holiday here in the Isle of Man, and the weather is perfect for the final day of this years Isle of Man TT ....... I can't believe it's nearly over, I haven't seen any actual racing yet! We're going to fix that today hopefully, we're off up to the Grandstand soon.

Before I dash off though, it's time for a quick reminder about this month's Craft Stamper Blog Challenge.

As always the theme is Anything Goes ...... it could be a card or a journal page. Create an ATC or a 3D project, even a piece of jewellery or home decor, the choice is yours.  Just remember, there needs to be some actual rubber stamping on your project somewhere.

There's two prizes up for grabs.  We have the Design Winner ........ chosen by the DT.  They will have their winning project published in the Craft Stamper magazine along with a profile, and also a Guest Designer slot on the Craft Stamper Blog.
The second winner will receive the fabulous prize from our challenge sponsor.  This is randomly chosen from all the eligible entries in the challenge. Full details, and challenge rules can be found on the Craft Stamper Blog 

Our sponsor this month is  .......... the amazing Uniko Stamps

and the prize is three gorgeous clear stamp sets, and a great stencil

As I'm part of the Uniko Stencil Design Team I thought I'd use some of their fab products on my inspiration piece .........

All the Uniko stamps and the stencil designs work so beautifully together, making it easy to create fabulous projects for all sorts of occasions, whatever your style.

I've gone for a CAS look here ....... I masked off the edges of a piece of white cardstock with low tack stencil tape, and stamped the beautiful French Script (from the latest Uniko release) across the space in the centre using a grey ink

Still with the masking tape in place, I added some colour using Distress Ink and then splashed water on the top, left it for a few seconds then mopped up the excess with a paper towel, leaving this splattered look ..... I never get tired of this technique

I removed the masking tape and used the pretty Natures Treasures II stencil (also from the latest release) with white texture paste to add the leaves.

This is now one of my favourite stencils ..... I love it! You get the pretty leaves in two sizes on the stencil and, you also get the masks in the two sizes ..... great value!

Whilst the texture paste was still wet I sprinkled over some fine glitter to add a bit of sparkle .......

A few splatters of grey ink here and there, and a simple sentiment (Uniko's Simply Said Blocks) again stamped in the grey ink, to finish off ....

Oooh .... and a little something on the inside

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a great weekend.
We're off to see some motorbikes now, grab some lunch up there, and enjoy Senior Race Day. 
Good luck to all the riders ...... stay safe!

Cheerio until next time ......

A little bit of re-cycling for the HLS Mixed Media Challenge ......

Happy middle of the week ......

I've had a lovely day today crafting with a friend,  We were actually putting the last minute touches to this weekend's workshop .... looking forward to this one.  We're going to be doing a little mixed media using rice papers, which by the way are quite addictive once you start using them!!!

Speaking of Mixed Media ..... it's time for this month's Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge.  We've got a fun theme for you this month ...... LAYERS

For me, that could be layers of inks and/or paints, layers of papers, stamps and texture pastes with stencils, adding embellishments, ink sprays, ......... the list goes on.

For my inspiration piece I've re-cycled an old plaque and used most of the above!! 

I came across this in a box when we moved house.  I'd obviously made a start on re-cycling it at some point and then just put it away.  It's been sat on my desk since it was unpacked, waiting to have a make-over, so here it is ...... there's lots of layers here!

The flowers and the brick wall texture were on the original design ...... done back in 2015!

I just took off the sentiment panel, and gave the whole thing a coat of black gesso to give me a nice matte finish to the base.

I love the flowers so I left those as they were, just added new colour over them.
They're simply paper flowers, layered onto the base using a good strong glue. I added in a few die cut leaves here and there too.
I use Prima 3D Matte Gel from Finnabair's Art Basics range as the glue, it sticks everything, and holds its shape brilliantly so you can get great dimension. It dries clear too.

This is also a good way of using up all those paper flowers that you're not too keen on the colour of, you know the one's I mean .... we all have a box full of them.  It doesn't matter what colour they are, especially if you're using black gesso as your base.

I then started adding various colours of metallic paints and sprays ..... shades of turquoise, and greens a little bit of purple, and believe it or not, there's even a touch of pink in there too .....

 
I kept spritzing the paints with a little water, just to blend the colours ........ especially around the flowers.

For the brick wall I kept mainly to the blues and greens, with just a touch of deep purple to add shading here and there

Once all the paint was dry I went in with some metallic waxes to add even more colour, and highlight the textures ......

If you've never used coloured metallic waxes give them a go ....... there's a few different brands to choose from, my favourites are Prima's Finnabair Art Alchemy waxes, they have some fab colours (some of the ones I've used here are from this range), and then there's Treasure Gold, these are gorgeous.  Again great colours, and so easy to use.

I applied most of mine using my fingers but you could use a sponge or a brush, to get in all the detailed areas .

I added some pretty layered, die cut butterflies ..... cut from scraps of card from my bit box .... and highlighted using the metallic paints and the waxes

And finished off with a sentiment .... stamped and then fussy cut, and layered onto the bottom ....

As always, there's a $20 Gift Certificate for the challenge winner, which will be DOUBLED if they've used HLS stamps on their project.

Have fun!

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

Mixed emotions again for me today,  as this is my last DT post for the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge ....... (sad face)
I've had nearly 3 years of Mixed Media fun as part of this fabulous team but, it's time to give someone else the chance to be part of this amazing family!  Thanks again Kylie for having me on the team, it's been a fabulous Mixed Media journey ......  mwah!!

Cheerio until next time .....

Time to Travel for the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media challenge ....

Happy Friday evening .....

Yeah! ..... the weekend is here!
Should have kept my mouth shut yesterday about the sunshine.  No blue skies today I'm afraid ..... and it's cold!!!  It was a little fresh on the prom this morning .... glad I wasn't on the boat! 
Never mind ....... this time next week I shall be in Italy, on the beautiful Amalfi coast.  Sunshine (hopefully!), delicious food (no doubt!), nice wine (of course!) and seven relaxing days .... I can't wait!

Lot's to do before then though!  Including getting this month's Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media challenge started.

This month's theme is Travel ...... hmmm. Had to think about that one, even though I am getting in the holiday mood. 
In the end I came up with a pretty tag (could be classed as a luggage label I suppose) and, as I couldn't find any stamps relating to Italy in my stash (must do something about that!) I chose another of my favourite places to visit ...... PARIS  (something else to go on the To Do list .... haven't been there in a while)

I started out with a plain manila tag and simply added some colour using Distress Oxides directly from the ink pad onto the tag (I think it was Worn Lipstick and Twisted Citron)  I then used a wet wipe to blend the inks and cover the tag.

I used a couple of stencils to add more detail to the background ..... a heart stencil and the Worn Lipstick ink, and a leaf stencil which I used a wet wipe with to take away some of the ink and give a ghosting effect.

I stamped the beautiful Eiffel Tower onto the tag using my MISTI, just to make sure I got a clean image. I then added a touch more colour to the flowers, using the Distress Oxides again

And you can see I added a little bit of white gel pen to the centres and also to  highlight the main word.

I added a final layer to the tag by using the leafy stencil again, this time with texture paste .....

and a sprinkling of fine crystal glitter

As always there's a $20 Gift Certificate for the challenge winner ...... and don't forget if there's HLS stamps on the winning project, then the prize is doubled!!
You have to be in it to win it though ..... happy stamping!!

It's been a busy few days challenge wise, the beginning of the month always is.  Thank goodness I was prepared and had everything ready to go. 

What I wasn't ready for though was my workshop, which should have been this weekend ..... sorry ladies!
I'd moved it forward a week because of the holiday coming up,  then I went and put my back out didn't I.  I haven't been able to sit in the craft room and prep everything so unfortunately, I've had to cancel ....... sigh!  I really look forward to our monthly meetings ...... never mind, the May one is a week earlier than it should be too.  I'll be all prepared for that one ..... hopefully!

Thanks for popping by ....... have a lovely weekend, whatever you have planned.
Finger's crossed the weather gets a bit better. We're off out tomorrow evening, it's Chris's girlfriends birthday so we're going out for dinner ...... and maybe a cheeky cocktail or two!!

Cheerio until next time ......