Go on ..... Smile .... it's Friday!

Happy Friday to you .......

The weekend is nearly here ...... and the sun is shining (for now!) but I think all that's about to change, just in time for the weekend.
We've got a lazy couple of days coming up (yeah!!), nothing to do, nothing planned, so we're just going to play it by ear and see what happens.

First though I've got a little reminder for this month's Craft Stamper Challenge .......

As always the theme is Anything Goes ........ as long as there's some actually rubber stamping on there.
You can enter up to three different projects, but they must each have their own blog post ...... and don't forget to link to the Craft Stamper Challenge in your post.
Full challenge details, rules, sponsors and prize details can be found on the Craft Stamper Blog. Along with some fabulous inspiration from the DT ...... grab a cuppa, and when you're finished here pop over and take a look.

Here's my inspiration piece for you today ...... hopefully it'll make you smile!

I just had to have this cute little Ostrich stamp from Katzelkraft ..... he definitely made me smile.  I'm saying 'he' but it could be a she too!

I stamped him in black versafine ink and then added a touch of colour using ZIG Real Brush Markers.
Just look at that face ........ how can you resist!

The 'smile' is from a set of Visible Image stamps called Capture the Moment ....... stamped in versamark and heat embossed in gold.

I finished off  with a few splatters of ink onto the background

Are you smiling?

Our challenge sponsor this month is  ...... Uniko

and there's a fab prize for the challenge winner ..... 3 gorgeous stamp sets (see below)

Go on ..... why not join in the fun!

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

I'm having a day off from the craft room today ..... I've earned it!!
I'm off out for coffee, a look around the shops and a spot of lunch somewhere ..... we're off up to Ramsey today.

Cheerio until next time ......

Time for a tag I think .......

Happy Wednesday folks ......

How are you? ...... Fancy another Blog Challenge?
Well ...... it just so happens that September's Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media Challenge gets underway today, and the theme is ......... Collage

I thought it was time for a tag ..... haven't made one in a while.

Collage can be a piece of art created by using lots of different bits and bobs to make up the finished piece ...... papers, fabrics, ribbons.  Newsprint, paints, texture paste ..... you name it, you can use it.

I've gone for the look of collage and layers using my stamps and stencils.

I started out by colouring a manila tag with some Distress Oxide inks ...... smooshing the colours (Worn Lipstick and Fossilised Amber) onto the tag and then letting them dry

I stamped the beautiful Jane from IndigoBlu, onto the tag using black Versafine ink and also created a mask to cover the image

With mask in place I added some fine script to the background to create the look of another layer

The mask was removed and a layer of texture paste was then added over the top of the stamping using one of the pretty floral stencils from Tim Holtz

I then stamped the sentiment cut each word individually and arranged them onto my tag

To finish off I used the same Distress Oxide inks to colour a piece of white seam binding .....

Simply swipe the inks onto a craft sheet, spritz with water and then drag the ribbon through the ink to pick up the colour.
No more searching through your stash for that piece of ribbon that's just the right colour ...... create your own perfect match!

The challenge is sponsored by Happy Little Stampers .......

and the winner will receive a $20 Gift Certificate to spend in the store.  Happy stamping!

I've had a lovely day in my craft room, busy with DT stuff.  I'll give you a sneaky peek when everything's finished ..... lots of glitter again so you can guess what the theme is, and not much went into the rubbish bin which was a bonus!!
It was a little quiet though ....... no little man today.  It was his first day back at school after the summer break ...... he's in Year 2 this year .... bless him.
No doubt I'll hear all about it tomorrow.  He keeps reminding us that it's his birthday this month ... 2 weeks tomorrow in fact!!  Better start thinking about making a card!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm going to put my feet up and catch up on some TV tonight ..... we've got our Sky TV back - yeah!! The engineer came today ...... new dish, new boxes, and we've now got SkyQ.  Apparently we can record up to 6 different channels at once, and still watch another one!  And ..... one of the remote controls is soooo cool ..... you just tell it what you want to watch and it finds it for you. Doesn't take much to impress me does it!!!
I think a re-run of the last two episodes of Game of Thrones Season 7 is on the cards .... seeing as we had to watch them on hubby's PC .... not quite the same as seeing it on the BIG screen.  And then its the brand new series of Doctor Foster for me ...... not forgetting that Strictly starts at the weekend too ..... Christmas must be coming!!

Cheerio until next time .......

Time to sparkle ........

Happy Monday .......

I hope your week is off to a good start.  It's a busy one in the old craft room ..... blog challenges, DT stuff, and a workshop to prepare for.

I've got another blog challenge for you this evening and it's time to get a little festive.  It's the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge .... Ho! Ho! Ho!

As you can see the theme is Anything Goes, with this month's optional twist ...... SPARKLE
We all like a touch of sparkle now and then ........ and especially on those Christmas projects!

I've gone for lots of sparkle on this CAS design ...... although it's not easy to photograph!!

I've used a Sweet Poppy stencil for the wreath, with white paste stencil paste through it.  Whilst the paste was still wet I sprinkled over the top with fine crystal glitter in a beautiful festive green shade

Just look at the detail.
I then added some dots of white enamel accents over the top of the berries, and then sprinkled these with fine crystal glitter

A simple festive greeting on the bottom ..... from HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments ...... heat embossed in gold is the perfect finishing touch

I've shaped the stamp so that it follows the curve of the wreath ...... something which is so easy to do with clear stamps.

As with all the HLS challenges there's a $20 Gift Certificate for the winner, to spend in the HLS store

I look forward to seeing your designs in the challenge gallery ..... Happy Stamping!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a great week.
I'll be spending most of mine in the craft room ....... projects to finish, deadlines to meet.  And, there's less than 3 weeks now before we go away on holiday so I'm trying to get everything done for the start of next month too!

Cheerio until next time ......

CAS Silhouettes ........

Happy Saturday evening .......

I hope you're enjoying the weekend.  It's been a lovely day here, and we've enjoyed a real lazy day .......  re-charging after a busy week.

There's still Blog Challenge to get underway though.  Today sees the start of September's Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge .....

So .... what's CAS then?  Well here's the HLS definition ......

This month's theme is a nice easy one ..... Silhouettes
Use your stamps and black ink on your designs or, if you don't have any silhouette stamps create your own silhouettes using pretty dies and plain black cardstock.

That's what I've done here .....

One of my favourite Penny Black dies, cut twice from a snippet of plain black cardstock and layered to add a touch of dimension ........   I love this die (as any of my regular followers will have guessed!!) and I love the stamp too .... both sizes!!!!

Anyway ...... I stamped the background onto a piece of Kraft card (love Kraft and black) using a burlap design stamp along with a Vintage Sepia Versafine ink.

I then stamped the 'Happy' off to one side using Versamark ink and then heat embossed in Gold, adding the word birthday underneath in black.

The die cut silhouette was then attached at the side ......

And I finished off by adding a few Nuvo Jewel Drops here and there for a touch of sparkle .....

and some of the design elements on the inside too ....

A simple die cut silhouette and a snippet of stamped Kraft card.

Why not play along .... as always there's a $20 Gift Certificate for the challenge winner, to spend in the Happy Little Stampers store.

Happy stamping!

EDITED .......
Oooh .... nearly forgot! I think this qualifies for me to play along with the Snippets Playground challenge ..... a snippet of black card for the die cuts, and the bit inside. I missed out on the last challenge, haven't been playing here long and I forgot the deadline (sigh!) but I think I'm OK to join in the fun with the new one just started .... hope so!

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

OK ..... I have a confession to make.  I have no willpower.  I'm like a magpie when it comes to anything shiny.  And ....... I didn't leave my bank cards at home when I went out yesterday with a friend.  I'm blaming Carol (sorry hun!!) I only went to show her the way to Claire's workshop and somehow these found their way home with me ..... ooops!  But aren't they pretty!!!

The sweet peas just peeping in there are pretty too ... they were from Carol's garden!
We had a lovely day ...... with lunch out too.  We should do that more often.

Cheerio until next time .....

Make a wish ......

Happy Friday .....

And welcome to September.  Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!

I hope you've had a good week. Today see's the end of this years MGP (Manx Grand Prix) .... another event over. We haven't seen any of the racing .... I've heard it though!!! And we've had to put up with the road closures but, on the whole it's not been too bad. Maybe the weather could have been a bit better.
My favourite event is coming up in September ..... the IOM Food and Drink Festival.  A whole weekend of celebrating the delicious food that this island produces.  As usual I'll be purchasing this year's Christmas pudding .... yum! along with lots of other goodies no doubt!  Only two weeks to wait!

Before all that though, there's lots of fun blog challenges to play along with ..... let's get them started with this month's Craft Stamper challenge .....

As always the theme is Anything Goes ...... but don't forget to include some rubber stamping on your project.

This month our sponsor is the fabulous stamp company ....... Uniko

And the prize up for grabs is THREE of their amazing stamps sets .....

What are you waiting for ...... get stamping!

Remember you can enter up to THREE different projects for the challenge, each with their own blog post ...... if you enter any more than that, unfortunately they won't be considered for the prizes. Check out the Craft Stamper Blog for all the challenge details,  and you'll also find lots of fabulous inspiration from the Design Team on there too.

Here's a little something from me to get you started ......

Stamping onto watercoloured tissue paper.
This was one of the designs from a recent workshop.  We had fun using Distress Inks to colour plain, everyday white tissue paper.
Simply swipe your ink pads onto a craft sheet, spritz with water and then lay the tissue on the top to pick up the colour.  Carefully lift the tissue and set aside to dry ..... this doesn't take long

Once dry I attached the tissue to a piece of white card using IndigoBlu Slap It On ..... this gives the tissue a bit more substance and makes it easier to work with.  Again let the adhesive dry.  You can use a heat tool to speed up the drying process ..... just remember it is tissue paper which is quite thin and delicate so it's easy to overheat it. Use your heat tool from a distance, and preferably not too hot!

I stamped the Penny Black flower onto the tissue using Onyx Black Versafine ink and then heat embossed with a clear powder

I added some crystal glitter to the flower and a few Nuvo Jewel Drops here and there to add a bit more interest.

A simple sentiment, stamped and heat embossed in gold finishes everything off nicely

The tissue gives a lovely softness to the background I think.

Now it's your turn .... what will you create?

First Friday of the month means that the new Craft Stamper Magazine is on the shelves today. Another fabulous issue packed with great projects, tips and techniques and loads of ideas on how to spend your crafty time .....

And guess what ...... I'm in there again this month!

If you find it hard to pick up a copy of the magazine then why not pop over to  www.craftstamper.com to buy subscriptions, www.mags-uk.com for single print copies,  and you can get digital copies from www.pocketmags.co.uk

Overseas subscriptions are available too!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.

As usual our weekend started early.  It was the grand re-opening of Chris's pub yesterday.  The new look Prospect has opened it's doors for business again and it looks great!

All the hard work from the last few weeks has definitely paid off .. it looks fab!
Lovely new bar ...... well old bar lovingly restored.  And there's 12 new gins to choose from so that's me sorted!

And with these two running the place ..... it's bound to be a success!

Great opening night!

I'm off out later with a couple of the crafty girls ...... it could prove an expensive trip because we're off to see Claire and Element.isle jewellery down at Grenaby Studios.
must not buy anything ..... must not buy anything ..... must not buy ........ I think the only way that's going to happen is if I leave my bank cards at home!!!

Cheerio until next time .....