Use a Stencil ...... HLS Mixed Media Challenge

Hello challenge fans,

It's time to get this year's HLS Mixed Media Challenges underway, and for the first one of 2016 the theme is to use ........

A Stencil

There's lots of ways to use stencils ..... use them with inks or paint, or texture paste,  Use them on a Gelli Plate to create fab backgrounds, or run them through an embossing machine and use them like an embossing folder.  Check out the HLS Blog, there you'll find links to some really great tutorials on how to get the most from your stencils.... have fun!!

One of my favourite stencil designs is the brick wall ...... here I've used it with some texture paste to create my background, add a touch of dimension to my card ......

Using Distress Inks I added a touch of colour to a piece of white card ..... Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.  I then spritzed with some water to remove some of the ink and randomly stamped on top using the text from the HLS Thinking of You set

I then took my Brick Wall Stencil placed it over the card and applied Texture Paste through it .... notice I didn't cover the whole of the card, I steered clear of where I'd stamped the text.

Once the paste was dry I went back in with my Distress Inks to add some colour to the brick wall .... same colours as before, and spritzed with water again

I stamped one of the butterflies from the HLS Butterfly Birthday set onto a leftover piece of card from my 'bit box', I thought the colours looked quite nice against the background.  

I wrapped some gold thread around the bottom of the card and attached the butterfly over the top.

Using my fingers,  I applied just a touch of glue randomly over the brick wall and around the edge of the card and then covered it with some gilding flake ..... see how it catches the light and adds a little bit more interest

To finish off I added a sentiment from the Thinking of You set ..... love this font!

Now it's over to you ..... why not give our Mixed Media Challenge a go.  It's basically Anything Goes as long as you've used a stencil.

The challenge as always is sponsored by the Happy Little Stampers Store

and the lucky winner will receive one Happy Little Stampers stamp set.

What are you waiting for ...... start creating!!

Before I go ...... I want to mention some changes that are happening to Blogger! 

Thanks my lovely friend Loll for the heads up about this ...... and the link to all the details.

As of January 11th  2016 only Google account holders will be able to follow blogs with Blogger. Also, Blogger will remove any followers, without a Google account, from the blogs they are following!  If you would liked to read the announcement in full you can find it here.

So ...... if you DON'T have a Google account and you are one of my lovely Followers now, and you would  like to continue to follow my blog (I do hope this is the case) then you have a couple of choices ......

You can create a Google Account.  If you choose this option you will have to become a Follower again.   All previous Followers who didn't have an account will be permanently removed from my Followers List by Google (sigh!)

If you don't want to open a Google account then you can still follow my blog via email (there's a sign-up button on the left hand side), or you can follow me on Bloglovin'.  Hope this makes sense.  

Thanks to the lovely Loll for the heads up about these changes

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

Cheerio until next time

The Christmas break is definitely over .......

Happy Monday!

It's been back to normal today ..... early start getting hubby off to work and the little man off to school.  All the Christmas decorations and the tree are down and packed away again.  And it's been busy in the old craft room.

I must say the week didn't get off to a brilliant start though .... the car wouldn't start (again!!).  Not surprising really as we've hardly been anywhere in it this last couple of weeks.  It did mean though that the trip to the dentist had to be cancelled .... yeah!!! ooops .... I mean that's a shame!  All been rescheduled though so I don't get out of it that easily .... it's only a check up!!!

Have you been watching Barb on the telly?  We've had two days with the lovely lady, showcasing lots of brand new Clarity goodies to get your 2016 craft stash off to a great start.

There's been a couple of new Super Stencils ..... great for those larger projects.

A fab collection of Clarity masks  ..... great for creating lovely landscapes.  But why not use them for other designs as well ......

A CAS birthday card using the outer part of the bunting mask
Simply add colour through the mask with various inks ..... I used Distress Inks

I then drew round the edges using a black fine liner pen to add more definition and also added a few dots of white paint to some of the bunting flags for a bit more interest.

Add a suitable sentiment  to finish it all off ...... this is actually a mix of one of the Clarity word chains and one of the sentiments from the Best Wishes set.

Why not use the moon masks to create circle designs on your projects .......

The large circle to create the centrepiece  for a Wee Folk Scene

Then again, using the outer part of the masks to ink through I added more circles around the scene

I then covered up the scene using the large moon mask, and spritzed water over the outer circles to remove some of the ink and give this cool speckled look

Another of the word chains is the perfect way to finish

The moon masks are also great for the Bokeh technique ......

And what about those new Wee Shops and Houses stamps .... how cute are they?!  And ....  they come with that fabulous storage binder to keep all your Clarity stamps nice and safe ..... I need to get myself some of those and get organised I think!

Great for CAS designs ..... I love black and white with a hint of colour (especially red).
Stamp the house in a line across your card. Choose one of them to stamp again and layer over the top using foam pads to add dimension

Add a touch of colour ...... 

And again finish with one of the Word Chains

I added in a few ink splats around my word.

Why not try stamping them onto Kraft card .....

This time I did a little bit of masking to off set the houses and I embossed them using a white detail powder

Add a touch of colour .... I used Distress inks again, mixed with a little water and applied with a brush.

To finish off I used some texture paste and a brick wall stencil

Once the paste was dry I brushed colour over the top .... Distress inks again, and also added a touch of shading around the edges.

Guess what ..... those word chains came in handy again!

Well thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.  It's time to go and tidy the disaster zone that's otherwise know as the old craft room ...... wish me luck!!

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

Time to 'smoosh' for Happy Little Stampers

Hello there,

Happy New Year!!!
With all the celebrations over .... hope you had a fabulous evening seeing in the start of 2016 ....... now it's time to get back to business.  Yes it's the first HLS CAS Challenge of 2016 ....... and we're starting the year with a real fun technique for you to use .....

'SMOOSHING'

What's 'smooshing' I hear you say?  Well ...... it's one of those really technical terms in the crafting world.  A really cool technique for colouring cardstock, to create fabulous backgrounds etc.  It basically involves applying ink or paint directly to a craft mat, spritz with some water then 'smoosh' your card through the ink to pick up the colour ..... simple!
You can use most types of ink ..... Distress Inks, Re-inkers, Alcohol ink, water-based markers, Inka Gold, Acrylic paints ..... and try it on different types of cardstock  too, to see what results you can get ...... just have a play.

If you're still not sure check out the HLS Blog ...... on there you'll find links to some fab videos and great tutorials.

For my challenge inspiration piece, I've used a 'smooshed' background, made using Distress Inks, applied directly from the ink pad onto a craft mat .......  I've also added in a little Inka Gold paint to add a touch of shimmer

This is a great way to colour pieces of card ..... a few whole sheets at a time to cut up and use on future projects or, I like to use up all the smaller pieces, left over bits ........ to use with die cuts or punches.

I used Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron inks along with the Inka Gold, spritzed them with water then placed a piece of regular white card on the top, pressed it down a little, gave it a twist, then smooshed it through the colour and then left it to dry.

See how the mica in the Inka Gold gives that lovely shimmer .... so pretty

The daisies have been die cut from the same piece of cardstock ...... from the edges where there wasn't much colour ......

but this still gives a nice effect

I added my sentiment along the bottom ...... HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments

and carried on the greeting inside ........

You can see I've also added a little extra detail to the inside by using strips of my smooshed card along the bottom.

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

and the winner will receive one of the fabulous HLS stamp sets.

Go on ..... why not give smooshing a go .... it's fun!

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

Cheerio until next time

XX

Barb's back on the telly!!

Happy weekend!

Well the celebrations are over ....... the old craft room door is open again ...... and it's time to get back to normal, whatever that is!!

Did you all have a good New Year's?  Ours was nice and quiet(ish!) spent with friends.  A meal out, a bit of a sing song at what's known as Saddleoke ..... we only popped in to wish Chris a Happy New Year and somehow hubby and friend ended up giving everyone a song!!!! You know what he's like when's he's had a few ..... thank goodness we were only staying for the one!!!  Then it was back to ours for champagne and Big Ben at midnight to welcome in 2016 ...... lets hope it's a good one!

I'm starting the year with a little bit of Clarity ..... sneak peeks anyway.
Barbara is back on the telly this weekend ........

Tomorrow, Sunday January 3rd for her regular 2 hour show at 2-4pm. 

Then she's back again in the evening, launching a one day special at 8pm, which also means she's back on Monday with 4 more live shows ..... busy lady!!  All you Clarity fans are in for a real treat!

Here's a few snippets of some of the samples I've done ...... there's Wee Folk and Word Chains 

Some of the fabulous Clarity masks .......

And of course there's some new stuff too ......

New Year ........ New Stash!!  Tune in on Sunday and spend the afternoon with Barbara.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.  I'll be back later with my first Blog Challenge of the year, but first I'm going to make a start on taking all the Christmas decorations down I think. As much as I love my tree and all the festive garlands etc., I've had enough now, I just want it all down and put away ..... not a task I enjoy but ...... no-one else will do it!  

Cheerio until next time

Linda

xx

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Let's hope it's a good one!!

Linda

xx