Seas the Day ........

Happy Saturday ........

It's been another lovely day here.  I even ventured into town this morning, for the first time in ages. Hubby was off to the physio so I tagged along and did a little shopping whilst he was in there.

I've got a little reminder for you about this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge .......

It's a Watercolour challenge this month, hosted by Loll,  and the theme is all about the Beach.
What does that make you think of ...... soft sandy beaches, cool deep blue sea, amazing sunsets maybe or, has it got you dreaming of tropical holidays and delicious cocktails (not having any of those this year ...... the holidays not the cocktails!!)

I found this little beach scene in my stamp stash .....  oh! to be sat there now, dipping my toes in the water.

I stamped the image using a grey ink and then heat embossed with a clear powder. 

I then used Distress Inks and a lot of water to add the colour to the image and the background

I finished with a sentiment on the bottom

and added just a touch of shimmer to the water

There's still plenty of time to play along with this months challenge, and if you need some more inspiration then check out what the rest of the Design Team have come up with on the CAS Mix Up Blog

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

We're staying at home this weekend, catching up on stuff.  And hubby's playing with his latest new toy ....... he's bought himself a drone. 
He's spent all afternoon charging batteries and watching YouTube videos ........ it kept the little man occupied too.  Alex is quite excited about it ..... maybe we'll buy him a smaller one for his birthday next month.

 
Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:
Stamps: Deck Chairs (Inkylicious); Mermaid's Tail (Ellen Hutson - for the sentiment)
Inks: Ranger Dye Ink - Cool Graphite; Distress inks - Salty Ocean, Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw, Carved Pumpkin, Antique Linen, Tea Dye; Delicata Ink - Silvery Shimmer
Others: Clear embossing powder (WOW!); Clear Wink of Stella pen

Where did the last week go?

Happy weekend folks .....

What happened to the last 7 days!!?!! It doesn't seem five minutes since we were having Sunday lunch with Chris and Sam, relaxing in the sunshine.
Since then it's all been going on!  We've had sunshine, strong winds and LOTS of rain  ........ a nearby road was closed because part of it had washed away! Thank goodness the rain didn't last long, and the roads been repaired.
We had a lovely big cruise ship in the bay ...... luckily not on the day it rained.  One of the IOM ferries is out of action (again!)  The Manannan hit the quay side whilst docking so that's in for repair. Just in time for the start of the Manx Grand Prix (MGP) ..... practice week gets underway this evening (oh joy!) And ...... LLB (Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen) has been on the island!!!  Apparently he's filming for a new TV series and has been out and about on the Isle of Man.  He was at a store just around the corner from me earlier in the week, and then yesterday he visited my friend Claire down at Grenaby Studios ..... he even bought some of gorgeous her jewellry (exciting or what!) He'd better not have bought my ring that she's making for me!!

Most of my week has been spent in the old craft room.  It's been like a little holiday for me, Lauren, Robbie and the little man are in Spain, so I've not been on Grandma duty this week. It's been very quiet around here .... too quiet in fact.  I've missed them!
It has been busy though ...... I had a lovely day with my craft buddy.  I actually made a card, Lilian on the other hand spent the afternoon on the internet ....... craft shopping!!
I've also been catching up with all my crafty commitments ...... DT stuff is up to date, and this year's Christmas workshop project is almost finished...... the craft room floor looks like backstage at Strictly Come Dancing!  I think there's more glitter on the floor, my table and me than is left in the pot.
Note to self ..... add glitter to the shopping list!

I've also had time to play along with a couple of Blog Challenges ....... this month's CAS Watercolour Challenge, and if I can get a move on ...... I'll also be linking up to the current  Snippets Playground. This does close in less than and hour though so I'm going to have to be quick!

This month's CAS Watercolour challenge is  ...... use Salt

This is something I haven't done before ..... surprisingly! so I thought I would give it a go .... what do you think? I quite like the results

I just used rock salt from the kitchen cupboard .... sprinkled onto a smooshed Distress Ink background whilst the ink was still wet.  I did use watercolour card with quite a bit of water, and I left the crystals to dry overnight.  I love the result ......

I thought it had a frosty look to it so I went with snowflakes over the top.
I die cut a little piece of the card and heat embossed the snowflakes ..... don't they look pretty

A simple die cut frame and a stamped sentiment and we're done

I had to add some sparkle on there so I finished off with a few dots of sparkly glitter glue

I'll definitely be playing around with this technique again.

As I only used a piece of my inked cardstock I'm playing along at the Snippets Playground again .... hopefully I'm in time .....

It was my first time playing along with this challenge a couple of weeks ago and I got a lovely welcome from Di ...... thanks for the mention hun. I'm going to try and play along more often.

Thanks for popping by .... have a lovely weekend.
I'm off out today ..... one of my crafty friends is hosting a Stampin Up party (craft shopping ... always fun!) and as it's also her birthday there's a little celebration going on ..... that means cake!!

Better dash and make those challenge deadlines .........
Cheerio until next time ....

Ahhh ..... tissue!

Happy Sunday evening folks ......

Our weekend is almost over ....... I hope you've had a good one.
It's been lovely and relaxing here .... for a change!

It's time to get another challenge underway, with the Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge

The theme for August is all about Tissue Paper.  It's not something I use regularly but, when I do play around with it it's always fun!
There's lots of ways to use tissue ...... stamp onto it and then apply it to MDF, wood, canvas or your cards and journals. This gives a really nice delicate effect.
Use Bleeding Art tissue to apply colour to your projects .... this works great on canvas or watercolour card, makes fab background pieces.
Or ...... watercolour just plain white tissue paper, like I've done for my inspiration piece here ......

 
This fun technique is a favourite of one of my Blog buddies .... the lovely Loll Thompson. She's been using tissue a lot recently .... check out her YouTube video for some great ideas.

Inspired by Loll's techniques I used Distress Inks to watercolour my tissue paper ..... smooshed the ink directly onto my craft sheet, spritzed with water and then laid the piece of white tissue paper on the top to soak up the colour

Once it was dry ..... it doesn't take long ...... I scrunched up the tissue, opened it out again and then stuck it down onto a piece of white cardstock, using IndigoBlu's Slap It On as my adhesive ..... this makes it easier to work with.

You can see I left all the creases in the tissue and even added a few more as I glued it down ...  this gives a great texture.

Whilst this was drying I die cut my birds (CUTplorations For the Birds dies) once from plain white cardstock and once from black.  I then layered the two together off set ever so slightly to give a shadow effect ......

I also die cut a stitched frame and cut the tissue down to size so that it would fit behind the frame with the die cut birds on the top.

I added a stamped sentiment underneath ......

And a little stamped banner to the top ...... just look at all that lovely texture from the tissue paper

I had a piece of the coloured tissue left over so .... for the inside of the card I stamped part of my greeting .......

and used the tissue to die cut the rest ......... I don't like to waste anything as you know!

Don't forget as with all the HLS Challenges, there's a prize for the challenge winner ...... a $20 Gift Certificate to spend in the HLS Store .... so get creating!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy what's left of your weekend.

It's been very quiet here today ..... no family Sunday lunch.  I think both of the kids have been making the most of their time at home.  Lauren has had her first full day off in two weeks so she spent the day with the little man and Robbie, and Chris well .... he's had a tough week, bless him!  He's been watching the builders tear his pub apart ...... eeeek!

   

The Prospect closed it's doors last Saturday night and is undergoing a huge re-furb.  Floors have been taken out, the pool table's gone, all the decor and the TV.......... and the walls are currently a nice shade of bright green apparently! Thankfully it's only the undercoat! 

It's all supposed to be finished by the end of the month ..... re-opening night is scheduled for Thursday 31st August ........ we're looking forward to that.

Have a great week.

Cheerio until next time .......

Water, water ..... part 2

Hello again!

Well .... that was a busy morning!  Dropped the little one off at nursery and picked him up again at lunchtime.  Got all the jobs done in town ..... including sorting out the Dollars for next week (it's not a bad exchange rate at the moment!).   And I managed to get my holiday shopping done too ...... not a bad mornings work!   No bargains though .... why is it I never find anything on the sale rail ..... (sigh!)

As promised ..... here's a look at my first attempt at the WATERCOLOUR challenge over at Less is More

The picture's not brilliant ...... and I'm still not sure about the card.  Anyway .... see what you think

I started by embossing the lines onto the front of my cardblank ...... and stamped the words using a grey  Archival ink (that bit I quite like!)

I then cut a piece of watercolour card, to fit in between the embossed lines.
I took a couple of blue shades of Distress inks - Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky, swiped the ink onto my craft sheet and spritzed with plenty of water.
Using a paint brush, I put a wash of colour all over the piece of watercolour card, blending both shades of ink together

I then stamped the birds using grey Archival ink, and then grounded them a little by adding in some green Distress.  I didn't get the colours quite right and i think that's why I'm not 100% happy with it.  I did try it a few times .... this is the best of the bunch!!

Anyway, to finish off I stamped the birds on the inside too, and added a touch more watercolour around them.  Definitely one for the boys!

Well .... after that busy morning I think it's time to put my feet up for an hour in front of the TV .... maybe I can catch up with some of the tennis.   It's either that or start the ironing!   Hmmm decisions, decisions ..... feet up with a cuppa I think!

Thanks for popping by.  I'll be back tomorrow with my festive make for this week (and last weeks!)
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Water water everywhere .....

Morning ....... Happy Friday!

Have you all had a good week ..... most of mine has been spent in the old craft room, and there's nothing wrong with that!  Except I've been missing out on all the sunshine ....... apart from yesterday that is.  The  weather's changed over here ..... the wet stuff's back!!  Just in time for the Isle of Man Queenie Festival at the weekend.

Speaking of water ....... it's a 'Theme' week over at Less is More and the challenge is we have to use ....

WATERCOLOUR

Now I'm no artist ..... I never was any good at painting, or drawing, and I must admit I wasn't happy with my first attempt at the challenge ..... the second ones not much better but hey! time's running out!  See what you think.

There's loads of watercolour stamps around at the moment, where you add the colour directly onto the stamp, rather than stamping the outline and then colouring in the image ..... the easy way to do it I call it!

You can colour in stamped outline images using watercolour pencils, and then blend with a wet paintbrush.  Or use your ink pads ...... the Distress Inks are fab for this, they work so well with water.  That's what I've used here ......

Even though we're watercolouring we still have to keep things CLEAN & SIMPLE, not forgetting to leave lots of WHITE SPACE ..... I think I've managed it!

This is my second attempt (I might come back with the first one later .... it's growing on me the more I look at it!)

The pretty bloom in the centre is my 'watercolouring' ...... I think it's an old Inkadinkadoo stamp but I'm not sure

I've stamped it using Watering Can Archival ink then added the colour using a paintbrush, building up the depth with each layer.
I applied Picked Raspberry Distress ink directly onto my craft sheet, spritzed with water then used the ink like a paint.  A touch of Mustard Seed and Wild honey for the centre....... and jobs done.


The words are from a set called The Big, the bold and the Happy, by winnie & walter.  A fab little stamp set full of really useful words to make your own sayings .......

I stamped them using the Archival ink again, then using my paintbrush I picked up some of the Distress ink from my craft sheet and flicked it over the words.

I followed the design on the inside of the card too .....

Same flower, and more ink splats!

A bit of a girly card using watercolour.  My first attempt was a little more masculine ..... if I get a minute later I'll show you.

Thanks for popping by ........ I'm off into town this morning, boring stuff like the bank and the supermarket (oh joy!) .... but I'm meeting hubby at lunchtime to do a little last minute holiday shopping ..... who knows I may just grab a bargain (or not!!)

Enjoy the rest of your day and have a great weekend.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

The Queen of Hearts

Whoo hoo!!! Done it, finally!

Tim's 12 Tags of 2013

Hi everyone,

Yes, my Tim tag is done - phew!!  Really didn't think I was going to make this month.  February has flown by so quickly.  I haven't done everything on the list, but, tomorrow is the start a new month, so there'll be a new list.  It's going to be a busy month I can tell.  First off it's my birthday - yeah! (21 again).   I have a few days away on the Indigo Blu Craft Retreat - can't wait!  It's the GNPE in Harrogate (lots of crafty stash to buy), and Lauren and Alex are back over again.

Anyway, on to my February Tag .........

Not quite the same as Tim's, but then again, it never is! 
As usual, I had a few bits missing from the supplies list.  The stamp being the main thing. However I did have a set of playing card stamps from Woodware that had the Queen of Hearts in it, so panic over.
I did think about using an actual playing card instead.  Seeing as how the other half used to play Poker for a living, there's no shortage of playing cards in our house.  Then I thought that was cheating a little - no watercolouring to do, so I decided against it.

I followed the master's instructions and stamped the Queen twice, onto watercolour card and used my Distress markers to colour her in.  The markers work beautifully on the watercolour card, they blend so easily with a touch of water. 
The tag itself was coloured using Distress stains, layering the colours, drying in between, and spritzing with water.

I stamped the image onto the tag, using Black Archival ink, made a mask to cover it, and stamped the image again either side. Then added my coloured Queen over the top of the centre image  I used a small heart from the same stamp set, to add a bit more interest to the top of the tag

I didn't have any of the seasonal embossed Kraft core cardstock, so a quick rummage through my embossing folders, and a search through my bit box for a piece of black Kraftcore, and this is how it turned out .....

Not bad ....... still the heart/valentine theme. 
I finished it off with some bakers twine, made the Cash Key using a bit of inked watercolour card and some Chit Chat stickers.  My pointing finger stamp is from a PaperArtsy set.

It was a bit of a rush job, but at least I made it - with a few hours to spare!   I wasn't going to miss doing my Tag now was I?! 

I'm hoping to join in with Tim's latest Tattered Florals challenge (it's one of my favourite dies). Check out his blog, there's some fabulous inspiration on there from people who have already given it a go.
Mine's going to have to wait until next week though.  The old craft room door will be closing for a couple of days this weekend, I have a friend arriving tomorrow morning, and staying for the weekend.   We've loads of catching up to do.  I will be posting on the Creative Studios DT Blog first though- if I get my project finished that is.

And on that note, I'd better be off.

Thanks for popping by today.  Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you all again soon.

Cheerio for now

Linda

x