It's a special day today ......

Happy Tuesday ......

Can you believe we're half way through the year already!!
July's not a bad month though.  It's hubby's birthday coming up, our wedding anniversary at the end of the month and ..... we're off on holiday on Friday ....... whoo hoo!!  Lets hope the sun keeps shining.

But, enough about all that ..... today's a special day for a very special lady in Blogland.  The lovely Darnell (djkardkreations.com) is celebrating her birthday ........

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday Darnell

Happy Birthday to YOU!!

The ladies over on the CAS Watercolour Challenge are marking the occasion with a special surprise event on the launch of this month's challenge. 

As you can see, the theme is ...... Bouquet of Flowers.  
Now come on ladies ......  we all love to receive a beautiful bouquet on our birthday ..... or any day for that matter!   So ...... I'm joining in the fun and wishing Darnell a very, very Happy Birthday, with a bouquet of pretty pink roses

These have all been stamped and heat embossed in gold, and then watercoloured using my ZIG Markers

I then fussy cut them all, and arranged them on the front of my cardbank.  The leaves have been glued directly onto the card, and the roses attached with foam pads, to add a little dimension.

I added the sentiments across the centre .....

And finished with a few splatters of ink and some dots of glitter glue ...... gotta have some sparkle for a birthday

I hope you have a fabulous day Darnell ........ sending lots of Birthday hugs  xx

Hubby and I thought we would also celebrate Darnell's birthday, so we off out this evening. 
Also the fact that there's nothing in the fridge that I fancy cooking means that we're going Thai tonight ..... yum!
Well, there's no point in me doing a load of shopping is there, we're going away on holiday on Friday morning!

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Stamps: Pure Florals - Rose (Uniko stamps); Simple Strips (Taylored Expressions)
Inks: Versamark; Delicata Golden Glitz;
Others: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers, Glitter Drops (Nuvo)

Welcome to July!!

We're going on a wallaby hunt .......

Happy Friday .......

Well that's another week that's whooshed by. 
It's not been a bad one though ...... the sun has been shining for most of it.  Yes, summer is fnally here, and this time next week we'll be off on our annual family holiday .... yipeee!!!

There's still another week to go though, with lots to do.  There's loads going on in the craft room too, some of which needs to be finished before I go away!  Next week is going to be fun!

I've been catching up with the everyday stuff this week.  There's been doctor's appointments (just routine stuff), the car needed a service (nothing too major there).  The hot tub needed emptying (that's a job and a half!)  At least it was nice and warm this time ..... the last time I did it was back in  March and it was freezing!!!
I also had a lovely crafty get together with a friend which is always fun.  I don't usually get much done, it's Carol that does all the work.  I was showing her the mica technique using the stencil pastes and Sweet Poppy Stencils, then heating it up to create texture ..... we had a great time.  I will get around to making something with the results ...... eventually!
 
I'm looking forward to the weekend .... we're out tomorrow for a Summer Wine Tasting (cheers!) and then a late lunch at our favourite little place, and who knows, if the weather stays nice we might just have a drive out somewhere on Sunday, and do a spot of wallaby hunting.

Wallabies?? ..... on the Isle of Man? 
Oh yes...... we may not have foxes, badgers or squirrels on the island, but we do have wallabies.  And not just in the wildlife park! 
Rumour has it that years ago some escaped from the park, and we now have wild wallabies living in the north of the island.  Apparently the Isle of Man has the largest wallaby population in the northern hemisphere.  I haven't actually seen one in the wild yet ....... hopefully one day.

The wallabies that I'll be looking for are a little more easy to find than the wild ones, and a lot more colourful ........... just look at these, aren't they amazing!

It's called Wallabies Gone Wild ....... it's a huge art event that's going on all over the island in support of Hospice Isle of Man, celebrating their 35th anniversary and organised in partnership with the community art organisation Wild in Art.  It's been running since the end of May and will go right through until the 1st of September.

There are 26 large wallabies and 38 small ones dotted all over the island.
The large ones, which are all over seven feet tall, and have been hand painted and decoratd by local artists, have been placed in various well known outdoor spots ....... remember, I spotted Joey at the TT Grandstand

The smaller ones, painted by some of the islands schools and youth groups have been placed inside buildings and Hospice shops.

There's an app that you get for your phone which gives you a map to follow.  Each of the wallabies has a number that you key in and it keeps a record of the ones you've found.  So far I've only got 14 out of the 64 ...... so there's quite a few more out there yet.

One of my favourites so far ........ Shoal found in Port St Mary

Archie Knots on the quay in Douglas

And Teeval, Princess of the Sea from Port Erin ....

 I wonder who we'll find at the weekend.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.
Stay cool and safe in the sunshine ....... and enjoy it!

Cheerio until next time .......

More Perfect Pearls .......

Good morning! Happy Thursday .......

Just to let you know that I'm on the Uniko Blog today, with a little DT Inspiration using one of the Uniko stencils.
Clean and Simple ...... could be great for a guy ...... and it's using those Perfect Pearls again so, I thought I would link it up to this months CAS Stencil challenge

If you fancy a closer look you can find all the details on the Uniko Blog.

Have a great day.

Cheerio until next time ......

Time for a Twofer .... which turned into a Four-fer!!!

Happy Wednesday ........

This week is flying by ....... I've been busy in the craft room though.  It's almost time for our annual family holiday so I'm trying to get organised!!
Two weeks on Friday you'll find me on a boat on the Norfolk Broads.  Well actually two weeks on Saturday ..... two weeks on Friday we'll be on a slightly bigger boat, sailing across to the UK, but more about all that some other time.

Last week was workshop weekend.   We took a break from the calendars and had a great time creating cards with Jennifer McQuire's Floating Die Cut Frames technique.
I must say I am hooked on this at the moment, and I think a few more ladies are after last Saturday.

It was a busy day, with lots of stamping, a whole load of colouring and plenty die cutting of course.
We did find time for cake though .....

I used Altenew stamp sets that had matching dies, and ZIG markers for my all of my colouring

I even did a little bit of heat embossing

Stamped sentiments to finish off ......

And a few little gold ink splatters here and there.

I love how you get a twofer everytime .......

Change things up and use different shapes to create the apertures ...... this was my favourite pair from the day

I love this stamp set ...... it's Ruffled Flowers from Altenew,  and of course the matching dies make it so easy to cut them all out

I added a die cut sentiment on this one ......

And of course, another pretty little twofer

In fact ....... from this set of die cuts I actually made FOUR cards, that's 2 sets of twofers!!
These were made from all the cut off pieces from around the edge of the original panel ...... they  just too pretty to throw away

I added the little bees so that I can link these two cards up to this month's Twofer Card Challenge ......

First up ..... a little Thank You card

Smaller than I usually make ..... this is 6x4 inches, but I was using up leftovers.

I arranged the left over die cuts over a panel of white card cut to the size of my card front.  I then covered them with some Glad Press & Seal ...... if you're not familiar with this it's a bit like cling film, but sticky. and then
I ran this through my Big Shot to die cut the centre panel.  The Press & Seal holds everything in place ....... it's fab!  Check out Jennifer McGuire's video it explains everything.

Once you've die cut the centre out, remove the white card from the back, turn over the remaining piece of Press & Seal and put foam pads on the back of all the die cut pieces making up the frame. This then goes onto the front of your card ..... the Press & Seal holds everything in the right place .... clever eh!

Once the die cuts are stuck down, carefully peel off the Press & Seal, and your die cuts will look as if they are floating ...... I love it!!!
The little bees are from a Stampin Up! set called Dragonfly Dreams ..... I'm not sure if it's still a current set.

And here's the twofer ......  a Birthday card made using that die cut centre panel

A simple frame around the edge, and a sentiment banner to finish off

You have to give this technique a go ..... it's so much fun!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
It's lovely here today, the sun is shining and it's warming up nicely.  It's about time though, it is June afterall!
No sitting in the sun just yet though, it's back to the craft room for me and I'm about to go all festive!
Don't worry, its for a magazine later in the year so I'm not going all Ho! Ho! Ho! just yet!!!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Stamps: Ruffled Flowers, Leaf Canopy (both with matching dies ) Altenew; Dragonfly Dreams (SU) Penny Black sentiment stamps; Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocture; Versamark; Delicata Golden Glitz;
Others: Hello Die (Altenew); Nestabilities die - circles, rectangles, ovals: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Pearl Drops (Nuvo); Small crystal gemstones