It's One Layer Week ..... yeah!!!

Happy Tuesday evening,

Just a quickie .......... The washing's done (why someone else can't switch on the washing machine when I'm not here is beyond me!)  The mountain of ironing had been started (no chance of anyone taking on that task I'm afraid! ...... that might be a good thing though) ...... and dinner is over and done with .... it's time for the chief cook and bottle washer to relax!

It's also time for a challenge too, I think ...... a blog challenge that is!

It's One Layer Week over at Less is More ....... my favourite! (hmmm) and the focus this week is on .....

WATER

What do you think of these little guys ....... they spend time in water

I don't know if I've mentioned it before but, frogs are NOT my favourite things ..... in fact I'm terrified of them! I once ended up stood on the kitchen table ........ which hubby thought was highly amusing.  A friend came round one evening, and as I opened the front door to let him in, a HUGE toad invited himself in and hopped down the hallway.  I just screamed, turned, and ran for high ground!!!  No harm was done and no one got injured ........ including the toad!

Anyway .... I digress.  

These two little guys, I can cope with ...... in fact I have a whole collection of frog stamps!  These are from the Penny Black Transparent set ..... Toadily Happy and have been stamped using Black Versafine ink and coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils ......

The sentiment is from a set of stamps that came free on a magazine ..... I think they're from Acid Drops and What Nots 

And to finish off I added  the 'water' using Distress Ink  (mermaid lagoon) applied with a wet paint brush around the edge of the lily pad.

One Layer done again!  I'll be back tomorrow with this weeks piece of festive fun.  

It's time for that cuppa I think ...... and maybe a cheeky piece of vanilla cheesecake with some fresh fruit to go with it ...... yum!

Thanks for popping by .......

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Is it really Monday already!

Happy Monday!

It's been a bit of a slow start to the week .... I'm still getting over the weekend I think!
We had a long, but very enjoyable day on Saturday (the ferry crossing was fab .... both ways.  Not too bumpy at all!!) Then on Sunday, it was lunch for ten round at ours, cooked by yours truly!!!  Another fab day spent with family and friends ..... good food, nice wine and great company.  Oh and the football result wasn't bad either ....... Chelsea 1 Liverpool 1

I've done nothing today though ........ except a spot of tidying up and I've finally got around to unpacking my bags from the trip to Port Sunlight ...... ooops! how did this little lot find it's way home with me ....

Told you we'd had a good day!!  It was so nice to catch up with everyone ...... we never stopped talking all day.
Hopefully I'll get some time to play with this little lot!

I'm starting off this week with another Blog Challenge ...... Happy Little Stampers Sketch Challenge

Here's May sketch ......

and here's my take on it .....

I stamped the little fishy first (from IndigoBlu's Under the Sea stamp set) and embossed him using a clear powder.  I then made a mask for him, covered him up, masked off the bottom of the card and used a bubble stencil over the top along with Distress Inks to add the colour

Once the ink was dry, and with the masks still in place, I replaced the stencil and this time I used a clear texture paste through it to give the bubbles a little shine.

Once all that was dry, I added some colour to the fish using IndigoBlu's Metallic paints ...... the shine you get with these is gorgeous.  I've mixed the blue and the green colours with a little bit of the Snow White to tone them down a little, and then added a touch of water to them before painting onto the image.

I added my sentiment to the bottom and finished off with a little something on the inside

Well that's it for Monday ....... I hope I'm a bit more awake tomorrow!  Early night I think ..... no wait, that's not going to happen ....... it's Game of Thrones tonight! (sigh)  Time for another cup of coffee I think.

Thanks for popping by .... have a great week.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Port Sunny here I come .......

Morning!  Happy Weekend!

A bit of an early start for me .... no lie in this weekend!!! I've been up since stupid o'clock but I don't mind though because right about now I should be sat with a coffee (depending on the state of the sea!) on the ferry, with friends (hoping that we're all still awake!) crossing over to Liverpool, on my way to the Happy Stampers Festival at Port Sunlight .... whoo hoo!! (Let's hope we have a good crossing!)

It's been quite a busy week what with one thing and another but, I've made time to play along with some of my favourite challenges.
Today it's the turn of  ........ the Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge  (no relation to the craft show) ....... where we have to use Die Cuts or Punches

I chose Die Cuts for my entry and used one of my favourite dies from Penny Black ......

Nice and simple ...... I stamped the words (one of my favourite Tim stamps) in the centre (ish) of a piece of white cardstock .....

I then cut the die from coloured card ..... twice in green, one pink and one white.

I attached the stems onto the card along side my words, then layered the flower heads over the top.
You can see I've added a touch of shading to the white one using a little Distress ink around the edges.
A touch of glitter to the centers  finishes them off nicely.

I also added a few ink spats to the background for a bit more interest.

Me being not one to waste anything .... I used the leftover waste from my die cut flower as a stencil to decorate the inside of my card .....

A little co-ordinating Distress ink brushed through and you've got a matching flower .....

So simple to do but very effective ..... and it's another way to use all of those dies.

Well hopefully we'll be nearly there now ..... raring to go, looking forward to catching up with friends, and ready to shop!!
If anyone's going along to the show today have a great time, spend loads and if you see me .... say hello!

As this is a scheduled post my link up to the challenge won't actually happen until I get home later tonight .... don't worry I've left myself a note so I won't forget!!!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the weekend.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Home is where the Heart is .......

Good morning .... Happy Friday!

The end of another busy week ....... and it's going to be a busy weekend too! I'm off on a day out (again!) tomorrow.   Me and my crafty buddies are off to Port Sunlight over on the Wirral, for the Happy Stampers Festival.  If you've never been to this fabulous craft show you should definitely put it on your list of ones to visit.
The weather forecast isn't too bad so hopefully the ferry crossing will be fine ..... hmmm maybe I shouldn't have said that.  Time will tell!!

Today though I want to remind you all that the latest Craft Stamper challenge is up and running. Have you entered yet?

This month it's the turn of Take a Stamp ...... and that means anything goes really.  It can be a card, a scrapbook or a journal page, altered art or even a piece of home decor.

Please take time to read the challenge guidelines before submitting your entry.  Unfortunately some of the entries last month didn't follow the guidelines so couldn't be considered for the prizes (sigh!) Remember ....... original artwork only.  You can enter up to three times but each entry must have it's own blog post, and don't forget to include some rubber stamping, somewhere on your project!
You can find all the guidelines here over on the Craft Stamper Blog.

Need some inspiration?  .... what about a cute piece of home decor.

We've recently moved house and this is now hanging by my front door.

It's an old photo frame that my daughter gave me a while ago.  The picture in it was beginning to look a little faded so I decided to give it a new look.

I painted the wooden heart using IndigoBlu's English Cottage Acrylic Paint in Frosty Sky .... giving it two coats for a nice smooth finish

Once the paint was dry, I stenciled on the brickwork design randomly over the heart using Grunge Paste.

Next came the fun part ...... the stamping!  I've used a couple of the JOFY Mini stamps  .... the flowers (JOFY 34)  Stamped in black Archival ink and embossed with a clear powder, then I've used some of the PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Acrylic paints to add the colour

The words inside the frame are JOFY 42, stamped onto white card and embossed as before, and coloured with the paints again.

I cut the card down to size, to fit in the aperture, then stamped around the edge using the flower stamp again, this time with Versamark ink and embossed with a white powder.
I then added colour around the edge with some Distress inks, spritzed with a little water to remove some of the ink and then polished over the top with a piece of kitchen roll to really bring out the flowers.

Now it's your turn .... what are you going to create?  Need some more ideas maybe ..... then pop over to the Craft Stamper Blog and see what the rest of the Design Team have been up to.

The prizes this month are .......
for the randomly chosen winner ......

a fabulous set of embossing powders .....

and this gorgeous lace design rubber stamp

both from the challenge sponsor .... the fabulous WOW! Embossing Powders

And of course, for the Design Winner .... chosen by the DT, they will have their winning project published in the Craft Stamper magazine, a Guest Designer spot on a future challenge AND they'll have their very own Winner's Profile published on the Craft Stamper Blog!!  So come on .... get those stamps out and get your entry in.  Good luck!!

Thanks for popping by ...... have a lovely day.
Have a great weekend ..... and if any of you are off to Port Sunlight .... I'll see you there!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx 

Embossing for Merry Monday

Happy Thursday to you,

I've been playing along with some blog challenges again today .... well trying to that is!

It's been one of those days.  All I'm going to say is ....  I should tidy up my desk and put finished cards SOMEWHERE SAFE ..... before starting to play with paint!!!!!!  It was only a little bit on my craft sheet .... but it doesn't half spread when you don't want it too!!!

Anyway ....... second time of trying (again!!) with a few choice words muttered here and there ...... I finally got something finished.

It's time to go all festive again ..... just for today anyway.
Merry Monday's challenge this week is all about ......

Embossing

I've gone for a simple, but elegant, white on white, with just a hint of red ....... (you can imagine a splodge of blue paint across the bottom was not the look I was after  ....... not even I could cover that up!!!) Anyway ... second time around ..... minus the paint ...... ta dahhhh!! ........

Very CAS, using a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder for my design, with a touch of added sparkle .....

And a little something on the inside of course .....

Well that's another one done for the festive box.  Now I just need to re-stock everything else.  I hadn't realised just how few cards I had in my stash!

It's cards of a different kind at Walmsley Towers this evening.  Yes ... there's a friendly poker game going on. 

Maybe I should stick to what I know best .... I need my cash for the craft show at the weekend!!!

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

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx