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Happy Sunday evening ....... Phew!  What a busy week it's been.  Time to chill out a little now as we start the countdown to our little family break in the Cotswolds at the end of this week ...... only 5 sleeps to go! Now that's something to smile about ..... which brings me nicely in to this month's Happy Little Stampers ATC Challenge ....... As you can see, our theme for June is ........ SMILE!  Go on ..... you can do it! Maybe these will help ....... A fun set of ATC's simply covered in smiles. I added colour to a piece of white cardstock by splattering different Distress Oxide inks using a paint brush ........ smoosh the ink onto a craft sheet, spritz with water, and then pick up the ink with a paintbrush and simply splatter it randomly over the card ..... easy.  Leave to dry for a few seconds in between colours so that the inks don't run into each other, and go all muddy. I then cut three pieces to form the base of my ATCs. The first one was simply a smiley fa...

Happy Thursday evening .... It's time for the last of this months challenges from Happy Little Stampers.  It's the turn of the ATC challenge  this evening. What are ATC's, or Artist Trading Cards? Well, they're miniature pieces of art work, that measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches.  They can be swapped or traded ...... hence the name Artist Trading Cards ..... but never sold. And they must also have the artists details on the back, and be dated when they were created. Each month, HLS hosts an ATC challenge, with a different monthly theme to follow. For May that theme is ...... GOLD I immediately thought of Gold Embossing ...... I came across a piece of black cardstock in my stash, that had been smooshed with metallic inks and I thought it would make a fabulous base for my set of ATC's I cut it down to size and then using silver and gold metallic inks I stamped one of the the pretty images from the  HLS Dandelion Wishes  ..... heat embossing the gold ones I love how these...

Happy Tuesday evening ...... Only 2 more sleeps to go then we're off on our trip to Italy ..... non vedo l'ora! Before I get started on the packing though, it's time to get the final challenge for April underway over on the Happy Little Stampers Blog . It's already been a busy month over there ...... as it is every month.   There's a challenge for everyone whether you like to Watercolour ,  or is  CAS  your thing?  A little bit of  Christmas maybe,  or  Mixed Media .  And if dies are your thing, then there's also a challenge for you with  Anything Goes with Dies  ...... and last, but not least this month it's the ATC challenge It's a great theme this month ...... we all have butterfly stamps in our stash. I've kept things fairly simple ..... watercolour card inked with Distress Inks and spritzed with water and then cut into ATC sized pieces (2.5 x 3.5 inches/64 x 89mm) A little bit of random stamping on the background with a w...

Happy weekend ...... It's been a busy day today ..... I've been having fun with a workshop.  Eight lovely ladies playing with stencils, inks and rubber stamps ........ it's always fun when we get together.   There was also tea and cakes involved too .... yum!   More about all that some other time though. It's time to launch the latest Happy Little Stampers ATC Challenge ..... and as you can see this month it's all about Sparkle.   There's nothing that sparkles quite like a diamond ...... so that's my take on this month's theme (one this size would be nice!) I started out by splattering a piece of white cardstock with gold and silver metallic inks ..... I used the Delicata re-inkers for this.  I poured a tiny bit of the ink onto my craft sheet, and spritzed it with water.  I then picked up the ink with an old paint brush and splattered over the card .... great fun! Once it was dry, I cut the card into three pieces, slightly smaller than ATC si...

Happy Sunday ...... I know ..... late again! Sorry ....... this moving house lark is playing with my blogging clock! Normal service will resume shortly ..... I'm going to make a start on my craft room today!! It's time for this month's  Happy Little Stampers ATC Challenge  and the theme for February is ..... Hearts I've got some actual Artist Trading Cards for you today ..... not the wooden block kind like in my last two posts ...... ATC's .... in case you're not familiar with them, are little pieces of artwork, size 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches .... and they are so much fun to make. This little set started out from a piece of previously coloured cardstock from my stash, coloured with Distress Inks and the smooshing technique ..... I think! And I've used stamps, and die cuts along with a little heat embossing to decorate the ATC's  This heart is from Visible Image ...... stamped directly on the ATC in black and heat embossed with clear powder.  I then stampe...

Happy Wednesday ..... Stop the week ...... I want to get off!! Talk about busy ....... I'm taking multi-tasking to another level ....... and I haven't even started packing anything up for the move yet!!  We've just had the 6th February confirmed as the big day so there's plenty of time ..... eeek!!!!! We'll get there though, we always do! Anyhow ..... one of the jobs on the To Do List today is the Happy Little Stampers ATC challenge So .... what is an ATC?  Well ...... if you don't already know, an Artist Trading Card (ATC) is  a little piece of artwork that measure's 2.5 x 3.5 inches (approx 64 x 89mm)   they can be traded for other ATC's,  but not sold  be flat enough to fit into a plastic trading card sleeve  and they must have the artists details on the back and be signed and dated They're fun to make too! January's theme is all about ..... Trees Here's what I came up with ........ PaperArtsy stamps ....... EKD01 and  EKD02 (love these li...