One Layer ..... with a flourish

Happy Wednesday,

Can't believe it's the middle of the week already!  I hope your week's going better than mine ....... I've done nothing!!  Well ..... apart from sort out birthday cards (we have a few in January!) ....... I've booked this year's Bourton trip (yes we're off to that gorgeous part of the UK again ..... middle of June, after the TT ..... same cottage as last year!)

Oooh .... and I've booked my first trip to the UK for this year ...... 15 weeks tomorrow (that sounds ages away!) and what a busy trip it's going to be.  A craft retreat, Port Sunlight Happy Stampers Craft show and a workshop with the lovely Maria Simms ...... with loads off fun stuff in between.  Better get saving my pennies now!!

Speaking of saving pennies ...... I saw something on Facebook over Christmas about a Penny Challenge ...... save a penny for each day of the year and by the end of it you'll have just short of £668 ..... well actually this year it'll be just over £670 because it's a leap year!
That's just by saving 1 penny on day one,  2 on day two, 3 on day three ....... and so on.
I thought ......  that sounds like a plan ...... so ...... I'm giving it a go.

By the end of January there'll be £4.96 in my jar ...... whoo hoo!!  Then on February 1st it's 32 pennies, 33 on the 2nd , 34 on the 3rd ..... you get my drift. The rest of the family think I'm mad .... hubby says why not just put £50 in there at the end of each month but where's the fun in that!?
So .... every morning when I change the date on the calendar ....... I put my pennies in the jar.  It's easy at the moment, only small numbers .... wait until we get to day 100!!!

Anyway ..... enough of all that.  It's time for a Blog Challenge!

It's One Layer Week over at Less is More .... yeah!!!  And it's time for a ......

FLOURISH

Mention a flourish and there can only be one stamp for me .... the gorgeous Vintage Flourish from IndigoBlu.

So simple ....... masked off a panel on the front of my card using low tack masking tape.  Added a touch of colour with some pink Distress inks.  Then removed the masking tape and stamped the flourish using a Black Versafine ink

I love this flourish ..... I haven't used it in a while, forgotten how pretty it is!

I added a touch across the opposite side of the card to balance things out and added my words using Flitter Glu and Gilding Flakes

I also stamped the flourish off the edge on the inside. 

I've made the card for a birthday, but I think it could be for any occasion ....... change the colour and it could even be suitable for a guy .... what do you think? 

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

I'm off to spend some time in the old craft room .... still got more birthday cards to make!

Cheerio until next time .....

Linda

xx

Jingle Bells ....... Jingle Bells .....

Happy Weekend folks!

How's your's going?  I was supposed to be having a crafty day with the girls today but we decided to cancel, or re-arrange ........ one of us wasn't well!
Before you say anything  ..... no it wasn't me!  I was out on Friday evening, and we did have a little bit of the old vino but I was fine ....... it was poor Maggie who wasn't very well.  I hope that neck feels better soon hun!

Anyhow ..... it gave me the chance to spend the day in the old craft room and catch up with a few things .... one of them being a blog challenge piece that I'd forgotten all about ..... not good when I'm one of the DT ........ ooops!!!!!
I kindly offered to step into the lovely Loll's shoes when she stepped down from the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge at the end of last year.  All this was done back at the beginning of November ...... I've slept since then (not much!!!) and I didn't make a note of this on my new calendar so ..... you guessed it ..... it went straight out of my head!  It was only when January's challenge went live, and there I am on the DT photo gallery ....... ???????  A little nudge from the lovely boss lady (sorry Kylie!!) .... and a reminder of our chat last year brought it all back.

So .... better late than never .... here's a little inspiration piece for the Happy Little Stampers January Christmas Challenge

Yes .... we'd like you to get your Jingle on ....... now that could be a jingle bell image, or a sentiment or even an embellishment.

The challenge, as always is sponsored by the Happy Little Stampers Store

And the winner will receive one of the HLS stamp sets.

So ..... I've gone for the sentiment option ....... my first Christmas card of 2016 ..... (you can even see last years poinsettias in the background!)

Classic black and white ...... always a winner!

The sleigh is from the Tim Holtz Deco Christmas stamp set ..... simply stamped using black Versafine ink

Those favourite Clarity tress of mine in the background ..... stamped along the edge of a torn piece of copier paper to get that nice tree line .....

A touch of fine glitter here and there to add a bit of sparkle ...... and of course the words along the bottom ...... from the HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments

To finish off  ..... a sprinkling of Chunky White Embossing Powder to give some texture, and the look of falling snow

There's a little something on the inside too ......

More of those trees, and the words, again, are from the Mixed Christmas Sentiments

Very CAS ..... lots of white space ..... but a nice classic look I think.
Why not enter the challenge and make a start on your 2016 Christmas cards ......

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

Cheerio until next time

It's time to Take a Stamp .......

Happy Friday!

One week into the New Year already ...... I hope 2016 has got off to a good start for you.

It's time to get this year's Craft Stamper challenges underway.  We're starting the year off with a Take a Stamp challenge and the theme is Anything Goes ...... as long as there some rubber stamping on there somewhere.

This month our sponsor is ..... Dali Art

and our Challenge winner will receive this little lot of goodies .....

There's assorted Indian ribbon, self-adhesive Bindi embellishments, self-adhesive gems in 5 colours and 2 different sizes (as in the picture) and a beautiful Indian butterfly stamp.

Don't forget there's also the Design Winner chosen by the DT ...... that's 2 chances to win great prizes. What are you waiting for!

Is your mojo still on Christmas break?  Do you need a little inspiration to get you going? ...... well what about making something for your home.  Now that all those Christmas decorations have gone away again, you may just have that little space somewhere in the house that needs a new look. Or if you're anything like me ..... January is a busy month for birthdays and I never know what to give people so soon after Christmas.

Maybe give an old photo frame a simple make-over .......  a couple of coats of black paint over the top of a tired old gold frame and it looks as good as new.  I actually used a black Gesso on mine because I wanted a matt finish

This was totally inspired by an article in a Craft Stamper magazine, by Lydia Brooke Evans, all the way back in the May 2015 issue.  It was all about using Distress Markers to create watercolour effects ..... so simple to do, but really effective.

I simply used one of the outline stamps from the Painted Flowers set by Altenew, stamped it randomly using a black Archival ink onto a piece of white card.
I then used the Distress Markers to add a touch of colour ....... Worn Lipstick to the centre of the flowers and Mowed Lawn to the the leaves.

Then using a water spray I spritzed each of the flowers and left the card to dry.  You can see how the ink spreads to give that watercolour effect ...... so delicate in places.

I added my sentiment ...... I'm not sure but I think it's from Inkylicious ......

and then mounted the piece of card onto some black card leaving a small border all the way round.

I had to cut a small piece off my card to get it to fit in the frame ....... now you know I don't like to waste anything, so ........ voila! .... a cute little matching tag.  Perfect if you're giving it as a gift!

OK .... now it's your turn.  I can't wait to see what you all come up with.  Take those stamps and get creating!
Remember .... it's Anything Goes but there must be some stamping on there somewhere.
You can enter the challenge up to 3 times ...... ONLY one project per post though, and don't forget when you add your link it must be to your actual blog post and not just your blog!  You can find a full list of the Challenge Guidelines on the Craft Stamper Blog ........ Have fun!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a fab weekend.
I've got a really exciting day ahead of me ..... catching up with all the household chores .... oh joy!!
It's not all bad though .... if I get everything done today then I won't feel guilty when I'm out on a crafty get together with the girls tomorrow!!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx 

New Year ..... New Design Team

Happy Thursday,

And welcome to my first  DT post for the brand new STAMPlorations CAS Blog Challenge ..... whoo hoo!!
I'm so looking forward to this ........ another chapter on my crafty journey.

Challenge #1 is ........... Anything CAS Goes with an optional colour twist ...... SILVER

I'm a big fan of CAS as you probably know ...... sometimes 'less is more' just says it all.  And, if you need a card in a hurry then it's definitely the way to go.

My inspiration piece for you today is really quick and easy, and suitable for so many occasions ...... just change the colour!

Reach for the Stars ..... and why not!!!

The sentiment comes from the STAMPlorations Noteworthy clear stamp set .... love this, a really nice font and a great collection of words .....

I simply stamped the saying in black then washed over the top with a very pale blue ink .... not sure this comes across well in the pictures but trust me .... it's there!

The stars have then been die cut from left over pieces of card, using the Sizzix Bigz die Crescent Moon & Stars from Tim Holtz.

You can see I've added in the optional twist of a touch of silver by using a piece of glitter card for one of the stars.  I used a foam pad to attach this to the card to add a little bit of dimension.

OK now for the challenge details ........

• You can enter up to 3 cards ..... they must be CAS
• Your entries can be with or without the colour twist
• You don't have to use STAMPlorations products .... but it would be great if you did! 
• The winner (randomly drawn) will receive a Gift Certificate to use in the STAMPlorations store ($15 if you've used STAMPlorations products on your entry, $10 if not)
• Also .... the DT will vote on a winner and top picks with the winner being invited to be a Guest Designer on a future challenge.

So ..... nothing too complicated ..... why not give it a go.  Have fun ..... and good luck!

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Use a Stencil ...... HLS Mixed Media Challenge

Hello challenge fans,

It's time to get this year's HLS Mixed Media Challenges underway, and for the first one of 2016 the theme is to use ........

A Stencil

There's lots of ways to use stencils ..... use them with inks or paint, or texture paste,  Use them on a Gelli Plate to create fab backgrounds, or run them through an embossing machine and use them like an embossing folder.  Check out the HLS Blog, there you'll find links to some really great tutorials on how to get the most from your stencils.... have fun!!

One of my favourite stencil designs is the brick wall ...... here I've used it with some texture paste to create my background, add a touch of dimension to my card ......

Using Distress Inks I added a touch of colour to a piece of white card ..... Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.  I then spritzed with some water to remove some of the ink and randomly stamped on top using the text from the HLS Thinking of You set

I then took my Brick Wall Stencil placed it over the card and applied Texture Paste through it .... notice I didn't cover the whole of the card, I steered clear of where I'd stamped the text.

Once the paste was dry I went back in with my Distress Inks to add some colour to the brick wall .... same colours as before, and spritzed with water again

I stamped one of the butterflies from the HLS Butterfly Birthday set onto a leftover piece of card from my 'bit box', I thought the colours looked quite nice against the background.  

I wrapped some gold thread around the bottom of the card and attached the butterfly over the top.

Using my fingers,  I applied just a touch of glue randomly over the brick wall and around the edge of the card and then covered it with some gilding flake ..... see how it catches the light and adds a little bit more interest

To finish off I added a sentiment from the Thinking of You set ..... love this font!

Now it's over to you ..... why not give our Mixed Media Challenge a go.  It's basically Anything Goes as long as you've used a stencil.

The challenge as always is sponsored by the Happy Little Stampers Store

and the lucky winner will receive one Happy Little Stampers stamp set.

What are you waiting for ...... start creating!!

Before I go ...... I want to mention some changes that are happening to Blogger! 

Thanks my lovely friend Loll for the heads up about this ...... and the link to all the details.

As of January 11th  2016 only Google account holders will be able to follow blogs with Blogger. Also, Blogger will remove any followers, without a Google account, from the blogs they are following!  If you would liked to read the announcement in full you can find it here.

So ...... if you DON'T have a Google account and you are one of my lovely Followers now, and you would  like to continue to follow my blog (I do hope this is the case) then you have a couple of choices ......

You can create a Google Account.  If you choose this option you will have to become a Follower again.   All previous Followers who didn't have an account will be permanently removed from my Followers List by Google (sigh!)

If you don't want to open a Google account then you can still follow my blog via email (there's a sign-up button on the left hand side), or you can follow me on Bloglovin'.  Hope this makes sense.  

Thanks to the lovely Loll for the heads up about these changes

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

Cheerio until next time