Hang on to those mop up paper towels ........

Happy Wednesday .......

How's your week going? ........ flying by just about describes mine!

I've got a fun day today ...... the ladies are coming round shortly for a midweek workshop.  We're going to be working on the calendars again, well we need to get them finished soon.
It's going to be easy watercolouring today, and also creating simple inky backgrounds for all those large sentiment stamps.

Before I dash off to finish getting everything ready, I want to play along with this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge. 

Interesting theme this month ...... Paper Towel??!? 

It's all about recycling those inky paper towels ..... you know, the ones we get when mopping up our craft mats, well ...... don;t throw them away!! 
Loll (Stamping with Loll) is hosting this month's challenge and she's used this technique in the past with amazing results. 
Now you know me ........ I don't like wasting inks or paints, and I do mop up, but it's usually with pieces of card first.  My paper towels don't look that pretty by the time I've finished!  However I did manage to find one that didn't look too bad so, here we go .....

I created the background by spritzing a piece of white card with a little water, I laid my mop up paper towel over the top and then sprizted again with water.  I placed another piece of card over the top, just to avoid getting more ink on my fingers, and then applied a little pressure to help transfer the ink onto the white card.

I did this a couple of times, using different parts of the paper towel and I love the results.  The texture from the paper towel has also come through and looks fab,  and I love the layers.
It's a bit of a surprise what you're going to get using this technique, and no two backgrounds will ever be the same.  What a fun way of using up left over inks!

I stamped over the top using one of the new stamp sets that arrived in the craft room last week ......

and heat embossed the image in gold.

The stamps are from a lovely set called Bloom, by a lady called Tracey Hey.   This is a new range to me.  I've seen the name around Blogland and in magazines so I popped onto the website for a little look.  Oh my! ....... what gorgeous designs, and so cute.  I had to shop, so you will be seeing a few more of Tracey's designs on here.

I added my sentiment, which is from the same stamp set ....... I love the mix of fonts

and I finished off with a few splatters of white paint.

That's ...... Paper Towel (check!)
                  Stamping (check!)
                  My choice ...... heat embossing, or it could be ink splatters (check!)

I'll be looking at my mop up towels a little differently now.

Thanks for popping by ..... have a lovely day.
It's time I checked the work table, they'll be here soon ....... here's a sneak peek at what we'll be doing

Cheerio until next time .........

Products used:
Stamps: Bloom (Tracey Hey)
Inks: Distress Oxides - Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, Mowed Lawn; Versamark,
Other: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!), White Acrylic Paint .... and of course a mop up paper towel!

More festive fun with Sweet Poppy Stencils .....

Happy Tuesday ........

I hope your week has got off to a good start.

Did you see Lucy on the TV last week with some of the new Christmas designs from Sweet Poppy Stencils?  I know it's a little early for some of you to be thinking about the festive season but, things sold fast so some of you are getting into the Christmas spirit!

You saw some of my show samples on here last week, now here's the rest of them .......

I love the new Post Box stencil .......  great to use with inks.  Goes so well with the Holly Back Plate design too, for a really festive look.

Add a little sparkly glitter and a sprinkling of Chunky White Embossing Powder for a real snowy feel

I finished off with my card with one of the sentiments from the new stamp set .....

 The Post Box is such a great sized stencil, you don't really need anything else on your cards ......

Glossy White Paste and the gorgeous Sweet Poppy glitters .....

I added just a little bit of ink in the background, and sprinkled the Chunky White Embossing Powder again

And a festive sentiment to finish off  and you're done!
Those cute little holly leaves come in the sentiment stamp set ....... how useful are they going to be!!

Speaking of the sentiments, the circle ones in the set fit perfectly in any of the Sweet Poppy wreath stencils that you may have in your collection .......

And finally we have the Christmas Pudding ....... 

Again, a great size and such a fun design.  Perfect for using with the glitters and the gorgeous glass micro beads for added texture

I love Christmas pud don't you ..... although ours never gets eaten on Chrismtas Day!!!

Speaking of food, I had a lovely day out yesterday with Lauren and Alex.  We went up to the North of the island ..... all the way to Ramsey! and had afternoon tea at Milntown (very posh!)
It was one of my birthday gifts that I'd been saving ..... thanks Carol ...... it was deee-licious!!

On the way up there we came across some more Wallabies Gone Wild ....... yes, I'm still keeping my eyes open for these.  I think there's only a few weeks left to see them all now.

We  drove up over the mountain and stopped off at the Bungalow (top left). 
On into Ramsey town centre for a spot of retail therapy (top right) ..... well it would have been rude not to pop in to my favourite shops up there, and I did need to look for a special birthday gift. Maybe I didn't really need the new dress but ....... it was my size!!!
We did a quick stop off at Mooragh Park (bottom left), and also called at the Wildlife Park (bottom right) before heading home. 

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day
Hubby and I are off out this evening.  It's twelve months since our favourite little restaurant opened it's doors, and they're celebrating their first birthday with a special menu.

Roy ..... the chef behind the delicious food, and Anne who certainly knows her fine wines, have done an amazing job, making it one of the most popular places to be. I'm looking forward to a lovely evening.

Happy 1st Birthday Wine Down!  

 
Cheerio until next time ....... 

Products used:
Stencils: Post Box, Holly Back Plate, Holly Wreath, Christmas Pudding stencils (Sweet Poppy)
Stamps: Christmas Blessings (Sweet Poppy)
Inks: Distress Oxides - Festive Berries, Black Soot, Gathered Twigs, Stormy Sky, Peeled Paint: Delicata Golden Glitz; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Other: Nesting Tag Dies (Sweet Poppy); Glossy White stencil paste; Green and Red Glitters, Crystalina Glitter, Black Glitter, Brown Ultra Fine Glass Micro Beads (Sweet Poppy); Red Glitter Glue

August's CAS Stencil challenge ..........

Happy Sunday ......

I hope you're having a lovely weekend.
It's been a quiet one around here, which has been nice.  I've even managed to spend some time in my craft room!

It's time to get this month's CAS Stencil challenge underway.
Robyn is our host for August, and it's another fun theme for you ....... Sprays

There's loads of sprays out there ..... Distress Sprays, Distress Oxides, Perfect Pearls, Dylusions you name it!  But don't worry, if you don't have any of those in your stash you can still join in the fun by making your own.  Just put a little drop of your liquid inks (re-inkers etc.), or pigment powders like Brushos or Color Bursts, or even acrylic paints, into a spray bottle, add water, give them a good old shake to mix, and then spray!

I've used Distress Oxide Sprays with my pretty daisy stencil ......

I simply placed the stencil over a piece of watercolour card ..... spritzed with the lightest shade all over, and then used a darker shade just in the centre of the flower.

Depending on how much you spray, you may get a little of the ink bleeding underneath your stencil in places ....... I quite like the little imperfections though. 
If you like a more crisp finish, spray the underside of your stencil with a little repositionable adhesive to hold it in place on your cardstock.

I mounted the card onto a slightly larger piece leaving room to add a sentiment at the bottom ......

And finished off with a few dots of Crystal Drops

We have two lovely Guest Designers joining us this month ...... Hilary (from fiddling about) and Amy (from Miss_Lomax_Art).  Pop by the CAS Stencil Challenge Blog to see what they've created for this month's challenge theme.  You'll also find some fab inspiration from the rest of the DT on there too.

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

Cheerio until next time .....

Products used:
Stamps: Sunshine Wishes (Inkylicious)
Inks: Distress Oxide Ink - Fossilised Amber; Distress Oxide Sprays -  Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilised Amber
Stencils: Daisy Stencil (Inkylicious)
Other: Crystal Drops (Nuvo)

The Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge ......

Hello again .......

How was your day?
I've got another blog challenge for you this evening.  It's Happy Little Stampers this time and  their CAS Challenge 

One of my favourite styles.  Clean ...... I do like a lot of white space, and Simple because, sometimes less is definitely more.
As you can see the theme this month is ....... Only One Third.  A nice and easy layout for CAS designs because it means two thirds of the card should be clean.

I've gone for the bottom third on my card ..........

A bit of simple masking, and some acetate smooshing with Distress Inks to create the inky strip across the bottom .......

I stamped the cute little gnome from Stamping Bella, onto a seperate piece of white card and die cut him using the co-ordinating die

I coloured him using ZIG Markers and then attached him onto the bottom of my card

The sentiment comes in the set, and has been stamped in Versafine Clair ink, and I added a few drops of glitter glue to finish off.

There's loads of time if you fancy playing along, the challenge doens't close until midnight (AEST) on 31st August.  And if you need some more inspiration then check out what the rest of the DT have been up to on the HLS Blog.

Happy stamping!

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

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Stamps: Flowery Gnome stamp and matching die (Stamping Bella);
Inks: Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Others: ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers; Clear Crystal Glitter Glue

I guess it had to happen at some point ........... only 145 days to go!!

Happy Friday folks! ......

Welcome to August!

As always, the beginning of a new month means new blog challenges.  And, as it's the first Friday of the month, that means it's the new Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge.

The theme is Anything Goes ...... as long as there's actual rubber stamping on there somewhere. 
(NO Digi images please!)

I've got a little festive idea for you today.  Oh yes it's started ........ the Christmas countdown.
It had to start sometime, and seeing as I've been full of the Christmas spirit all week creating samples for the Sweet Poppy Stencil shows on Hochanda today, I thought I'd share one of them with you.

Very CAS ..... using stamps, dies and stencils.

I used one of the large Back Plate stencils along with the Glossy White stencil paste onto a piece of white cardstock.  I sprinkled the Crystalina Glitter over the top whilst the paste was still wet.

Once the paste was dry I used the Sweet Poppy Nesting Bauble Dies to cut the two smallest sizes of bauble, inking around the edges lightly with some Distress Inks

I created another bauble using one of the stamps from the new Sweet Poppy Christmas Blessings set

Stamped and heat embossed on plain white cardstock, once in gold and once in silver.  I then used punches to cut around the different circles ...... the outer one from the gold version and the centre from the silver one. I used a foam pad to layer them together, to add a bit of dimension.

I used a piece of acetate to smoosh some Stormy Sky Distress Ink onto a piece of white card, cut to fit the front of my cardblank (finished size is 7x5 inches)  I added some gold and silver ink splatters, and then I attached the baubles over the top.

I used a Stardust Gel Pen to add the hanging chain detail, and then finished off with a die cut holly leaf.
You can see this, and more on the Sweet Poppy Stencil shows on Hochanda today at 10am and 3pm.

As with all the Craft Stamper challenges there'll be two winners.
The Design Winner ....... chosen by the DT.
They get their winning project published in the Craft Stamper magazine, a winner's profile and an invitation to be a Guest Designer on a future challenge.

We'll also have a Challenge Winner ..... randomly chosen, and this month their prize is ....... FOUR mini stamps, designed by Seth Apter for PaperArtsy (ooooh!!)

You can enter the challenge up to THREE times.  Each entry must have it's own blog post that includes a link to the Craft Stamper challenge.
Entries/blog posts must include ONE PROJECT ONLY!   A set of cards, or a set of ATC's etc., counts as more than one project, and won't be eligible to win the prizes.

Happy Stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your, and have a great weekend.
I'll be back later with another blog challenge for you but for now, I'm off to grab a coffee and get ready to watch Lucy and Sweet Poppy Stencils on the TV.  The first show is at 10am this morning with another one at 3pm.

Cheerio for now ......

Products used:
Stamps: Christmas Blessings Clear stamp set (Sweet Poppy)
Inks: Distress Inks - Stromy Sky, Festive Berries, Peeled Paint; Versamark,
Stencils: Knit & Stitch Back Plate Stencil (Sweet Poppy)
Other: Glossy White Stencil Paste; Crystalina Glitter, Nesting Bauble Dies & Holly Trio Dies (Sweet Poppy); Gold and Silver embossing powders (WOW!); circle punches; Stardust Gel Pen