Looking forward to the weekend ......

Happy Friday .......

I hope you've had a great week.
The sun is shining, we have the weekend to look forward to, and Easter is just around the corner.  And .......... the countdown is on, for the premier of the final season of Game of Thrones!!!!!
Not a fan? ...... I know there are a few out there that have never watched a single episode (why!!!)  We, on the other hand have watched it many times and cannot wait for the final series.  We've spent the last few evenings watching the last series (again!)   The whole family are GoT fans here.
The Sky box is set to record ..... twice! ..... and series linked.  That's  2am on the Sunday night/Monday morning when it actually premiers in the US, and then again at 9pm on Monday evening, just in case anything goes wrong with the first one!  In fact, the kids are thinking of staying up to watch it as it airs ....... hmmm, can I stay awake I wonder. We'll see.

Today though, I have a little reminder for this month's Craft Stamper Blog Challenge.
As always the theme is Anything Goes, just remember to include some actual rubber stamping on your project.
You can find all the challenge details on the Craft Stamper Blog along with some great inspiration from the rest of the Design Team, and the guidelines you need to follow, to be in with a chance of winning either of the monthly prizes.

How about a nice, easy, fun CAS card .......

I love this image from Stamping Bella ...... and I do enjoy a nice glass of wine!

She's been coloured using ZIG markers and a water brush, and I added a few ink splatteres onto the background

This fab sentiment is from My Favourite Things ......

The only trouble with our wines is they're never in the wine rack long enough to be classed as old!!!

You have until midnight on April 24th to get your entries in so come on .... get those stamps out!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day and have a great weekend.
I'm off to finish prepping a workshop for tomorrow.  It's the first one this year ...... I've missed our little get togethers.
Inspired by the fabulous Eileen Godwin, we're going to be starting on calendars for next year.
Here's sneaky peeks at some of the pages .......

It's going to be a work in progress ........ using inks and blending techniques which can all be used on cards too, along with some rubber stamping and stenciling.  It should be fun.
Time for a quick coffee first though!

Cheerio until next time .....

Products used:
Stamps: uptown girl Wilma Loves Wine (Stamping Bella); Uncorked (MFT)
Ink: Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Others: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Waterbrush; Clear Stardust Gel Pen

Good Friends are like Stars ......

Happy Thursday ......

It is Thursday isn't it?
Hubby had the day off on Monday, then he worked from home on Tuesday, and now I've no idea what day of the week it is!!!

We had a fabulous weekend though.  We had some friends over for a few days and even though we hadn't seen each other for about seven years, we immediately picked up just where we left off.

The weather was glorious so we spent four days out and about.  We went from North to South with everything in between.  Lots of good food and nice wine, barbeques with the family ...... and the hot tub got used for the first time this year ......

Just look at that sky .....

We even saw seals in the south of the island .......

enjoying the sun down on the rocks at the Sound.

It all went by so quickly ....... hopefully we won't leave it as long next time!!

As you can imagine there wasn't a lot of time spent in the craft room over the weekend.  Luckily most of the 'To Do' list for last week had already been done.

Here's a few more of my Sweet Poppy Stencil makes that will be on their way to Lucy very soon.
It's all about Elephants today ....... using one of the fabulous Sweet Poppy Stencil designs
You do get two elephants on the stencil, a large one and a really cute small one.
For this design I've used the large one and turned the stencil over to get the elephant facing the opposite way.

I stenciled the elephants onto a piece of white cardstock using Distress Oxide inks .....

I then stamped the sentiment underneath and fussy cut around the top edges of the elephants

I found a piece of card in my stash that reminded me of a galaxy sky.  I think it's been done using the Distress Oxide Sprays onto black card ....... not sure what mix of colours exactly though.  Probably pink, blue, a touch of purple and some splatters of white ink in there too

It made the perfect backdrop for my elephant friends ...... especially with that sentiment.

Here's the cute little one, stenciled across a piece of white cardstock to make a baby card .....

Distress Oxide ink again ......

And a simple sentiment stamped and heat embossed underneath .....

And I added two scalloped borders top and bottom,, cut from white cardstock and coloured with the same Distress Oxide ink

Finally the large elephant again ...... I found a piece of cardstock in my stash, perfect colour for what I wanted but unfortunately not quite big enough to fit the whole of the elephant on.

Not a problem ..... you know how I like to sometimes use only part of a design.
I stenciled the elephant onto the bottom using Black ink

 and then added some foliage to the top using one of my favourite Sweet Poppy Designs ......

I stenciled some leaves in black ink and then used the Pearlescent Paste for the last one, and added some Ultra-fine Glass Micro Beads over the top ....... these add great texture.

I also used the same stencil to add some extra detail down the side .....

And finished with a sentiment .......

Lucy will be on our screens on April 19th ........ watch this space for details of times.

EDITED ....... thanks to the tip off from the lovely Darnell (Thanks hun .... mwah!)
I'm entering the first card and the last card into the latest Twofer Challenge

As you can see the theme is Zoo Animals ..... so I guess these fit the bill

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.
It's the craft room for me today ...... I've a workshop to prep.

Cheerio until next time .....

Products used:
Stamps: Life is a Journey clear stamp set; Cheers clear stamp set (both by Sweet Poppy)
Inks: Distress Oxide Inks - Picked Raspberry, Twisted Citron, Salty Ocean; Versafine Clair - Nocture
Others: Elephant Stencil, Leafy Flowers stencil (SweetPoppy); Pearlescent White Stencil paste, Ultra-Fine Glass Micro Beads (SweetPoppy); Background cards from my stash, Versamark ink; Silver Embossing Powder (WOW!)

More Sweet Poppy samples ......

Happy Friday folks ......

The weekend is here at last!
It's been a busy old week .... we had a fab night out last night though. We were fed and watered in style with delicious food ...... Roy (the chef) is an absolute genius.  This was the menu .....

I won't bore you with photos of all the courses ..... everything was deeee-licious! The crayfish and ravioli was amazing

And the lamb ..... well

All of this was paired with the finest of wines introduced by Fleur, the owner of the Little Beauty Vineyard.

What a fabulous evening.
But, enough about that ... it's making me hungry!

I mentioned last weekend that Lucy and Sweet Poppy Stencils are back on our TV screens this month. Save the date ..... Friday 19th April. I'm not sure of the times yet so I will have to confirm those later.

Lucy will have lots of fabulous stencil designs on the show, along with the pastes, the gorgeous new Ultra-fine Glass Micro Beads and some brand new clear stamp sets.

Here's a quick look at a couple of designs using one of the stencils from the show.

The pretty Hummingbird Duo ..... a large and a small bird on the same stencil.  I've actually masked off each of the birds and used them seperately.

The small one to create an all over design using various colours of Distress Oxide inks

I simply turned the stencil over to get the bird facing the opposite way ....

A touch of glitter to the wings to add a bit of sparkle, and a few dots of glitter glue here and there.

And I finished off with a sentiment from one of the new stamp sets

I've used the larger of the beautiful birds with the Translucent paste this time and sprinkled the Glass Micro-Beads over the top

I had a piece of 'mop up' card lying on my desk ...... I think it might be Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink.
I stenciled the bird over the top, using the paste, then sprinkled a few different colours of the beads

The glass beads are so tiny, you don't loose any of the detail from the stencil ..... it's amazing

They give great texture too.

I added some detail down the edge using part of the Magnolia stencil and Distress Oxides inks ..... masking off the bits I didn't need again

And finished with a sentiment (from Penny Black) over the top.

I'll check the times for the shows and get back to you on that.

It's a busy day today, we have to be at the airport just after lunch. We've got some friends coming over from the UK who we haven't seen in ages ........ I think it's about seven years or so.  It's going to be great catching up with them ....... more good food and nice wine over the weekend!

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used :
Stamps: Life is a Journey clear stamp set (Sweet Poppy);  Happy Thoughts clear stamp set (Penny Black)
Inks: Distress Oxide Inks - various colours:  Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Other: Humming Bird Duo stencil, Magnolia Stencil, Translucent Stencil paste, Ultra-fine Glass Micro beads (Sweet Poppy); Quickie Glue Pen, Fine Crystal Glitter

CAS Stencil Challenge ......

Happy Thursday to you .......

I hope you've had a good day.  It's time to get April's CAS Stencil challenge underway.
This month our host is the lovely Barb,  and there's another fun theme for you.  It's one of my favourite things to use with stencils .......... Embossing Pastes/Gels

These are a great way to add texture and dimension to your stencil designs.  Use the coloured pastes for quick and easy designs.  Use the clear or translucent pastes over the top of colour to add dimension, or simply colour your own by adding paints, inks or mica powders to white pastes.  They're so much fun.  If you've never used this technique before, you can find links to some fabulous, easy to follow video tutorials on the CAS Stencil Blog.

OK .... now for some inspiration

I've used inks first with my stencil.  Black for the leaves and branch, and grey for the actual flower heads

When I'm using inks with stencils it's definitely less is more!  I like to use a stencil brush or a sponge and I pounce the ink through the design, building the colour up gradually.  This cuts the risk of the ink pooling underneath the stencil, and means that you get a nice crisp image.

I masked off the leaves and branch and then applied a translucent paste over the top of the magnolia flowers to add some dimension.  Whilst the paste was still wet I sprinkled some Ultra-fine Glass Micro Beads over the top, to add some more texture.

Please note ..... not all texture/embossing pastes have an adhesive in them so beads or glitter might not stick once they are dry.  I tend to use the Sweet Poppy stencil pastes and these are fine.

A few splatters of gold ink here and there ....

And a simple sentiment to finish off, heat embossed in gold .....

The challenge is open until April 24th so you've lots of time to play along.
Don't forget to check out what the rest of the Design Team have been up to.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
We're off out this evening to a special dinner at our favourite little restaurant/wine bar.
The founder of the Little Beauty Winery from Marlborough in New Zealand is paying a visit and the menu has been designed around their amazing wines.  A seven course tasting menu with wines that match each delicious dish perfectly ..... it's going to be a great night!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Stamps: Life is a Journey clear stamp set (Sweet Poppy)
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne, Distress Oxide - Hickory Smoke; Delicata Pigment Ink - Golden Glitz; Versamark
Others: Magnolia stencil (Sweet Poppy); Translucent Stencil Paste (Sweet Poppy); Ultrafine Glass Micro Beads - Silver (Sweet Poppy); Gold embossing powder (WOW!)

Just the one layer ....... for the Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge

Happy Tuesday evening .......

I hope your week has got off to a good start.  It's a bit of a busy one here ..... Lauren's new job, hubby has a few things going on with work, school finishes on Friday for the Easter holidays, we're out Thursday evening,  and we have some friends coming over on Friday, so it's going to be a nice long weekend.  Welcome to April by the way!

New month ...... new Blog Challenges.  First up for me this month is the Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge

As you can see, the theme for April is ....... One Layer Cards ..... yeah!
You either love them, or you avoid them like the plague.  Clean and Simple is one thing, but doing it all in just one layer can prove to be a little tricky at times!  One layer ..... not very forgiving.  There's no room for error.  You can't stick that butterfly over the top of the smudge, or re-stamp the sentiment because you didn't get it straight the first time!

Come on now ..... take a deep breath and go for it!
I must confess I love one layer cards ..... the secret is, use a MISTI (or other well known stamping platforms)

This is a Penny Black image, stamped in black Versafine Clair ink and coloured using ZIG markers and a water brush.

I added a little touch of shimmer with a Clear Stardust Gel pen .......

and stamped the sentiment that also comes in the set directly underneath.

How true!  Size does matter where coffee is concerned

The challenge is open until the end of the month so you have lots of time to play along.
Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm just about to settle down and catch up on some TV.  It's been a busy day.

Cheerio until next time .....

Products used:
Stamps: Cup of Java (Penny Black)
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne, 
Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers, Waterbrush, Clear Stardust Gep Pen