Welcome to July! ........

Happy Friday ......

I hope you've had a lovely week.  We're sadly coming to the end of our Scottish motorhome adventure.  Just one more night, then it's time to catch the ferry back to the Isle of Man, and start planning for the next trip ...... six and a bit weeks and counting!

Can you believe we're in July already ........ half way through 2022!!!!  My goodness ...... it'll be Christmas before we know it ....... just saying!

A new month means a new CAS Mix Up Challenge.  

I'm hosting this month, and it's the turn of the Watercolour Challenge, with an added little twist ......

 I would like you to use 'Things with Wings' on your cards, as well as using the watercolour element of the challenge 

Things with Wings could be anything from birds, butterflies, bees, to fairies or even aeroplanes. As long as it's got wings you'll be fine.  Keep your cards CAS (Clean and Simple) and remember to use watercolouring on there too.

Here's a couple of ideas for you, both using very easy watercolouring techniques .......

Choose your image and stamp using a water reactive coloured ink.  Distress Oxides for example, are perfect for this, they stamp beautifully and react so well with water.  

Use a wet paintbrush to gently pull some of the colour out from the outline, trying to keeping as much of the stamped detail as possible.

I used Distess Oxides for my card, stamped onto watercolour card ........ Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry and Dried Marigold  

I then used a wet paintbrush to gently move the ink ...... I found the more water on your brush the more the colour seemed to move, so don't have the brush too wet.

  

If you would rather add more colour over the top of your stamped image instead of taking colour from the outline, let your stamping dry,  smoosh the inkpad onto a craft mat, spritz with water and then use a paintbrush to watercolour your stamped image ..... hope that makes sense!

Some of the original stamped detail will disappear a little, but this gives more of a watercoloured effect I think

I stamped a sentiment underneath my butterflies, and finished off with a few ink splatters from the same colours of Oxides, over the butterflies

This next technique is really quick and easy to do .......

I stamped the butterflies all over a piece of white watercolour cardstock using Versamark Ink, and then sprinkled them with white embossing powder and heat set.

Once the embossing powder had cooled I then spritzed the cardstock with water and used Altenew Watercolour Paints to add the colour.

I spritzed the paints with water before I started, to get them into a liquid, and then used a paintbrush to pick up the colour and drop it onto the wet watercolour cardstock.  The water on the card helps to move the colour around but I did sprtiz again to make sure the colours blended together nicely

Repeat the process until you're happy with the depth of colour.   Use a paper towel to mop up any excess ink and water, this will also clean off your heat embossing, letting your stamped images show through.  

I prefer to leave this to air dry but you could use a heat tool, just be careful not to over heat the embossing.

The sentiment was added in two parts ...... one stamped and die cut (I do love the font on this stamp set from The Greetery!) and the second part simply stamped on a snippet of card and attached underneath

Check out the CAS Mix Up Blog for more inspiration for this months challenge from the rest of the Design Team.  There's also links to some videos using watercolour techniques.

Happy stamping!

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

We've started our journey back to the Isle of Man today .... sigh!  

We had three lovely nights on Bunree Campsite. although the weather wasn't great.  I will share some pictures with you later.  

We really liked the site though, in fact we've already booked for next April.  I'm always ready for a trip to Scotland!

Tonight we're on a campsite called King Robert the Bruce's Cave Campsite in Kirkpatrick Flemming, not far from Lockerbie. Just the one night, then tomorrow we finish our drive to Heysham to catch the afternoon ferry back to the island.  Time to go home!

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

Card 1

Supplies

Stamps: Watercolor stamp set CMS 217 (Tim Holtz); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamps) for the sentiment 

Inks: Distress Oxides -  Scattered Straw, Picked Raspberry, Dried Marigold; Versafine Clair - Nocturne (for the sentiment)

Other: Watercolour cardstock

Card 2

Supplies

Stamps: Antique Engravings (Hero Arts): Opposites Attract Sentiments (The Greetery)

Inks/Paints: Versamark ink; Versafine Clair - Nocturne for the sentiment

Other: White Embossing Powder (WOW!); Opposites Atttract Matching Sentiment Dies (The Greetery)

Our adventure continues .........

Happy Wednesday ........

I hope you're enjoying your week.

We're in the middle of week 2 of our Scottish motorhome adventure.  After three nights staying by Loch Ness we drove down yesterday to a lovely little campsite in Bunree (how cute does that sound!) 

Loch Ness was as beautiful as ever.  We stayed on a really nice campsite called Loch Ness Shores ...... a great location, really nice facilities, and the weather wasn't too bad either.  We had a pitch on the upper level, overlooking the Loch, with only a 2 minute (if that) walk down to the shore

We did a bit of exploring up to the Falls of Foyers 

We started at the bottom by the river ......... just by the campsite

And we made our way up to the top through the forest ....... and the red squirrel trail (didn't see any red squirrels though!)

There wasn't much water in the falls which was a shame ......

But the views from the top were worth seeing .......

We loved Loch Ness ..... didn't see Nessie though but, you never know,  maybe next time, as we will definitely be going back.

We're lochside again at Bunree ......

As you can see it was grey and wet when we arrived yesterday but, we have stunning lochside views 

and even a bench to sit and have my morning coffee ..... perfect!

I think we're going to enjoy our stay here at Bunree!

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

Cheerio until next time ......

Happy Birthday Loll .......

Happy Monday .......

I hope you've all had a nice weekend.

It's a special day today for a very special lady in the world of blogging.  

I think we all know the lovely Loll (Stamping with Loll), the brains behind the CAS Mix Up and CAS Christmas challenges ........  well, it's her birthday today.

Happy Birthday Loll ..... I hope you have a fabulous day.  

Lots of love and best wishes coming your way from the banks of Loch Ness in Scotland

  (yes we're still in the van!)

Just in case your card hasn't made it all the way across to you in time for your birthday (thanks for the nudge Nancy!) ..... here it is

The floral stamps, matching dies and stencils are all by Pink Fresh Studio.

The stamps are so pretty, I used them with gold ink to add detail to the background ......

The matching layering stencils make colouring the flowers and leaves so quick and easy ......

And then to be able to die cut the pretty floral sprays allows you to add depth to your floral designs ..... love it!!

A pretty stamped and die cut sentiment finishes of the outside ......

And I added more of the design on the inside ......

A special card for a very special lady ...... hope you like it Loll!

Thanks for popping by ....... enjoy the rest of your day, and have a lovely Birthday Loll!

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

Supplies:

Stamps: Blooming Branch stamps - Pink Fresh Studio; Opposites Attract Sentimnent stamps - The Greetery

Inks: Distress Inks - shades of pink and green to colour flowers; Delicata - Golden Glitz; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: Blooming Branch co-ordinating dies and stencils - Pink Fresh Studio; Opposites Attract co-ordinating dies 

It's a Heilen Coooo .......

Happy Friday ........

I hope you're well, and looking forward to the weekend. Have you got anything nice planned?

We're still enjoying our Scottish motorhome adventure.   

After three lovely nights on the banks of Loch Lomond we left on Wednesday morning and drove to Oban over on the west coast of Scotland.   We then took a ferry across to the Isle of Mull ...... it was a bit breezy, but luckily the waters were very calm.   

We've been staying on a lovely campsite about halfway up the north coast of Mull at a place called Salen Bay.  It's beautiful ...... we're pitched right on the edge overlooking the Sound of Mull.  I'll share some pictures with you later.

There's still time to play along with this month's Sweet Poppy Challenge over on the Simply Sweet Poppy Stencils Facebook Page

There's a whopping £40 voucher for the challenge winner to spend on Sweet Poppy goodies.  And guess what ....... the brand new Christmas release is available from today on pre-order, so it would definitely come in handy for that.

The theme is ......... Just for Him.  We want to see cards perfect for those fabulous men in our lives!

As we're in Scotland, I couldn't resist using this fun Sweet Poppy Stencil ...... Isla - the Highland Cow, or Heilen Coo as they're known around here.

I do love this stencil, and it's perfect for masculine cards.

I used various colours of Distress Oxide ink through the stencil onto a piece of Kraft card. Oxides work so well on coloured cardstock, you just need to build up the depth of colour slowly.

I added a few black ink splatters onto the background, and blended a little ink around the edges of the card

before adding the sentiment on the bottom ........

The challenge is open until the 29th of the month so get those stencils out!  Remember they do have to be Sweet Poppy stencils though.

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

For those of you following our Scottish adventure here's a few pictures from the last couple of days.

We're on Salen Bay Campsite ...... todays view from the front of the van

A little breezy, but the sun is shining!

Yesterday we hopped on a local bus and took a trip up to Tobermory ...... the weather was a bit cloudy and grey but it was lovely and warm.

We had a nice walk around the town, did a bit of shopping, and found a lovely restaurant for lunch ....... 

One of my favourites ....... a delicious seafood pie (yum!)

Then we finished the afternoon off with a trip to the local whisky distillery for a tasting ....... or two

The perfect end to the day was to watch the sunset over the Sound of Mull, with a wee dram .......

Cheers!

We're on the move again tomorrow.  We're on the early morning ferry back to Oban then we're driving up to Loch Ness ...... maybe I'll see Nessie!

Cheerio until next time .....

Supplies

Stencil: Isla - the Highland Cow (Sweet Poppy Stencils)

Stamps: One for the Boys stamp set (Woodware)

Ink: Distress Oxide Inks - Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso, Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Crackling Campfire; Distress Ink - Black Soot 

Other: Black Fine liner pen for the eyes