Spring is in the air ......

Happy Tuesday,

I'm afraid my blog posts are going to be a bit short and sweet this week ..... only 2 more sleeps to go then I'm off on my travels with the first trip of the year across to the UK ...... I can't wait.  Lot's to do before I go though. 

I've been running around all over the place for the last few days ...... in between trying to get all the jobs done in the old craft room, I was trying to get the household stuff in order too.  And on top of all that ..... anything that could go wrong ....... did go wrong.

First off Saturday morning I flooded the utility room floor ...... opened the washing machine door to load it up and what came out .... you guessed it ....... COLD WATER!!!!!  Not a great start ..... now I have a washing machine that refills itself once the cycle has finished ..... and I'm waiting for the plumber to get back to me to let me know when he can fix it!!  

Then ...... my printer ran out of ink ..... well one colour of ink or so it said!!  Of course, I hadn't got a replacement cartridge .... that would have been too easy.   Off we go to get a new one ..... OMG!!! The price of printer cartridges is EXTORTIONATE!  I needed a small mortage.  So ..... hubby being the careful one with the pennies (???!??) said  'just get the one you need, and we'll look on the internet ..... we'll find them cheaper elsewhere'  Good idea I thought ..... so off we went.
Got home, loaded the new cartridge, switched the printer on ..... two more cartridges were LOW but ok for now (so the printer told me).  Went to print off my stuff ........ arrrgggghhhh!!!  wouldn't let me print as it was out of Magneta ink.  I wish it would make it's mind up.  Well, you can imagine my reaction ..... I almost needed a new printer.
Hubby got straight on the internet, ordered me a full set of new cartridges ...... way cheaper than PC World I might add and they should be here tomorrow ..... fingers crossed.  I need to print some photos to take with me.

Anyway ..... enough of all that.  I did manage to get my Less Is More card done over the weekend - eventually!
It only took me 4 attempts ........ why, I hear you ask, there's nothing to it ......

It's One Layer Week ..... that's why ..... always fun!  And this week the subject is

SPRING FLOWERS

I went for Tulips in the end ...... from the Penny Black 'T' for Transparent set  'enjoy' (30-024)

I love this little set of stamps, the flowers are so pretty and you also get a delicate butterfly on there and birds too.

I just inked up my tulips using Memento Dew Drop ink pads - Rose Bud and New Sprout, and the words are stamped in GreyArchival ..... not as harsh as black

I still felt as though it was missing something, so I took the complimenting Rose Bud Fireworks Spray ink, and added a few drips around the words ...... all done!

Thanks for popping by today.  I've got the house to myself this morning .... peace and quiet!  No time for relaxing though .... there's DT stuff to do, blog posts to write, ironing waiting to be done and then there's the packing.  That's Tuesday sorted.

Cheerio until next time ......

Linda

xx

Country charm .... ???

Happy Saturday evening,

It's time to get all festive again with my Merry Monday make for the latest challenge. 

The theme for this week is ......

This was a tough one for me ..... I don't do country charm I'm afraid, Kraft card is about as rustic as I get ..... and the sewing machine well, that hasn't seen the light of day for a while!!! (hubby will tell you ...... it's in the cupboard, along with the ice cream maker, bought on a whim and never used ...... well actually the ice cream maker did get used on occasion ..... it just took up too much space in the freezer!!!  And the sewing machine will get used - eventually!! ..... but I digress)

Anyhow......  this is the best I could come up with for this week

I've got the button part of the challenge on there ...... a  pretty little wooden snowflake tied with white thread

  
(I have this thing about 'naked' buttons ..... I have to tie thread or ribbon through the holes)

The stitching part was done by hand .... with a white gel pen!

The pretty snowflake flourish was one of the first rubber stamps I bought many moons ago, and is from Inkadinkadoo I think, the sentiment is by Butterfly Kisses.  Both have been stamped onto Kraft cardstock using Versamark ink then embossed using a white embossing powder.
I also added a few more snowflakes to the design, just with the Versamark ink this time.

A touch of Fran-tage Chunky White Embossing Powder sprinkled around the card (I'd addicted to this stuff at the moment!), and some tiny red gems finish it all off

As always ..... I've done the inside to match .......

('Christmas Greetings' is by Clarity Stamps)

I've a busy week coming up next week.  Early Thursday morning I'm flying across to the UK on the first trip of the year - yeah!!  Only 5 more sleeps then it's off down to Nottingham, for the IndigoBlu Retreat.  Three days of getting inky and messy with my craft buddies and the lovely, very talented Kay Halliwell-Sutton .... I cannot wait!!  Don't worry I'll tell you all about it when I get back.

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

Cheerio until next time .....

Linda

xx

Messy monoprinting ...... Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge

Happy Friday everyone,

What a fabulous week it's been ..... busy, but hey! that's how I like 'em.

I'm absolutely thrilled to be posting my first project as part of the new Design Team for the Craft Stamper Take it Make it Blog Challenge

The challenge is now running monthly and each one will be based around one of the techniques featured in the latest edition of the magazine.
For this month's challenge you'll find the chosen technqiue on page 6 of the brand new ..... on sale today .......  April issue.

It's all about creating backgrounds with acrylic paints and monoprinting, using an Acrylic Block. So for those of you that don't have gelli plates, the lovely Trish Latimer shows how to get the same effect using something that we all have in our craft stash.

Here's what I've come up with for you ....

I had fun playing with the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics and the JOFY stamps.

I used Trish's step by steps, which are really easy to follow, and  applied the paints directly onto the acrylic block ..... the colours are Sky, Pansy and a touch of the Snowflake white.

I used a brayer to spread out and blend my paints and cover the acrylic block, then I took a piece of bubble wrap and dabbed it over the paint  before taking my first print, this gave the look of some texture to the background ......

After taking the first print there was still a little bit of paint left on the block, so .... not wanting to waste anything I took some cling film, scrunched it into a ball  and then dabbed it over the paint.  I took another print giving me a completely different look, which I used to make some accent pieces for my project.

The background card for my sentiment (JOFY14), and also to stamp the cute scalloped border (JOFY13) .....

Once all the paint was dry, I started on the rubber stamping.  Everything on the background card was done using Onyx Black Versafine ink

The stamp I used around the edge is from the JOFY12 set, along with the spikey flowers.  And I added in the daisies from JOFY 13
I then stamped the flower heads again and the leaves, onto white cardstock, using Black Memento ink and added a touch of colour with Copic Markers ......

These were then cut out and overlayed onto the stamped background.

I added the words and the scalloped border, then to finish off I dotted some PaperArtsy Orchid Acrylic paint onto the background and highlighted the spikey flowers using a white gel pen.
A bit of matting and layering using co-ordinating cardstock and then the whole thing was attached to the front of a large square cardblank.

I always like to finish the insides of my cards by taking elements of whats on the front ......

As you can see, I've used more of the stamps from JOFY13, coloured with the same markers, and added another of the scalloped borders.
I've dotted the pink paint too, just to tie it all in with the design on the front.

Hope you like it, and that I've inspired you to give this month's challenge a go.  Go on, get out your acrylic blocks and get messy with your paints ..... it's fun! The winner of this months challenge will be announced on Friday March 28th ..... Good luck everyone!

Don't forget to check out what the rest of the Design Team have been up to you'll find links to all their blogs on the Challenge post.

Thanks for looking ..... enjoy the weekend
Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

What a busy day ......

Happy Thursday evening,

No I haven't been suffering with a hangover all day after celebrating with too much of the bubbly stuff last night - although it was Walmsley Wednesday ..... and my birthday so I'll forgive you if you thought that was the case. 

Thank you all for your birthday wishes yesterday ...... I had a lovely day ..... got thoroughly spoiled rotten.  There were cards and presents .... even hubby remembered this year!!!  Although I can't have my main present from him until later in the month ....... they're hanging in a gallery until after the 20th .....

I saw these a few weeks ago and fell in love with them. They're by an artist called Remi Labarre

and they're currently hanging in the Genesis Gallery in town.  Can't wait to collect them.

I was however, treated to coffee and cakes out and then spent the afternoon with a great bunch of ladies on a craft workshop with the lovely Jill Poole again. 

We got messy with paints and created beautiful stamped pearlescent toppers ......

A great technique,  really fun to do and no two will ever turn out the same.
We stamped onto acetate, turned it over and mixed pearlesent acrylic paints on the back.  Added a piece of white cardstock over the top, and then die cut it to get these beautiful little toppers .....

Just look at the sheen ..... so pretty and so easy to do.  Thanks Jill, will definitely being doing this again.

We also had time to squeeze in a couple of cards too ... one of which was this little Windmill shaped card  from Cardmaking Paradise

How cute is this!!!
Jill had used the template to cut all the pieces and then we coloured them and put them all together.  A certain little man was very pleased with this when I got home!

Hubby also treated me to dinner out last night ... told you I'd been spoiled!  We had a lovely meal at a place called Macfarlane's in Douglas ...... crab cakes, follwed by the best fillet steak I've had in a while, followed by creme brulee - nom! nom!  And to finish off the evening it was cocktails down at the Bath and Bottle - Cheers!!

Ok ...... I'll admit I was a little on the delicate side this morning but I've been in the craft room all day -  busy!
I had to get all my IndigoBlu samples finished and in the post before 5 this afternoon.  Kay's back on Create & Craft on Sunday ...... 9am and 3pm.  They're all done and should be in the hands of the Royal Mail now - phew!!
Tune in on Sunday to see the brand new designs, you won't be disappointed!

Ooops .... sorry, am I teasing .....

Oh, there goes another one ..... I'm going to be in trouble!!!

No more now ..... you've seen enough. Tempted yet!!!  Well .... if you can't wait until Sunday check out the IndigoBlu website ...... you'll find all the new stamp designs on there.

Thanks for popping by, it's always nice to see you.  Time to put my feet up and catch up on some TV I think. 

I'll be back tomorrow though with my first DT post for the Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge - whoo hoo!!!

I'm so excited ... can you tell.  Please take a look, and let me know what you think.

Enjoy your evening.

Cheerio for now ......

Linda

xx

Less is More ..... on a Tuesday!!!!

Morning everyone,

A bit of as flying visit today I'm afraid.  I'm doing 10 jobs at once ....... going at 100mph but hey! things are getting done - yeah!! (Thank goodness)

The dancing has stopped and it's back to work.  Thank you all, by the way, for your comments and congratulations on yesterday's news.  I've actually sent off my first DT project for the Craft Stamper Take It Make It (TIMI) Challenge (whoo hoo!).  No sneaky peeks I'm afraid ...... you'll have to wait for that one.

In amongst the chaos that is currently going on in the old craft room, I did make time yesterday to enter this weeks Less is More challenge ........ a bit early in the week for me I know, but I'm trying to get organised!!

It's Colour week and the ladies have challenged us with a taste of spring ......we have to use

Yellow and Green

Hmmmm ..... not the first colours I go for but, I gave it a go .......

What do you think?  You can just about see in the background, the sun is shining again this morning.  It's a bit on the chilly side, but spring is definitely in the air.

The pretty daisies are from a Stampendous Perfectly Clear set (Daisy Stem Trio) and they saw their first ink pad when I made this card .... goodness knows how long they've been in the old stash.  

They've been stamped using Memento ink and then coloured with Copic Markers.  I added just a touch of fine crystal glitter to the centres, for a bit of sparkle.

The dotty ribbon was from my bit box (love the colour) and I added a cute yellow button to finish off.

The 'hello' sentiment was from the same stamp set

Of course I've stamped the design on the inside too........ a nice finishing touch I think

I'm beginning to like yellow and green .... looks clean and fresh.  Maybe I'll start using it more often.

Oh well, back to the craft room it is.  It's more IndigoBlu samples today ....... new stamps (hehe!) Kay's back on our screens at the weekend ...... Sunday 9th March, I think it's 9am and 3pm (I'll confirm this later in the week though).  I'm going all out today to try and get them finished ..... well it's my birthday tomorrow (oops! another hint there!) and I don't really want to spend the whole day in my craft room ......

Thanks for popping by today .... enjoy your Tuesday.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx