HLS Stencil June

And now it's time for the fourth Happy Little Stampers challenge for June - Stencils. As I'm sure you will have realised by now this is my last DT card for the challenge. It is as ever Anything Goes.

 

I used a Clarity stencil which is definitely one of my many NBUS items. I sponged over it with Distress Inks. I added two bees from a freebie set of stamps. 

The sentiment is stamped on a strip of inked card that was trimmed off the stencilled piece. Lots of inspiration on the challenge blog so do head over there and have a look.

HLS Christmas June

Welcome to the Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge. As I said in my previous post this will be my last  DT card for the challenge.

 

Normally I would have gone with the  optional twist but I couldn't find anything in my stash with tinsel. So instead I used a new Simon Says stamp and die set and a new Paper Rose die for the sentiment.

The sentiment and red layer are red glitter paper, and red stickles were added to the baubles.

There's a whole heap of lovely inspiration on the challenge blog.I’m also sharing at NBUS challenge.

HLS Watercolour June

It's the first of the month (well it is in Australia!) so it's time for the first of the monthly challenges at Happy Little Stampers. Sadly this will be my last DT make as I made the decision to step down when I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia in March. I need to keep the stress levels down. But I'm hoping to join ib from time to time.

  As always it is Anything Goes but must include watercolouring.

 

 I used a Penny Black stamp which I love and did some no line watercoloring. I used White Knights watercolours.

Do pop over to the challenge blog where you will find lots of inspiration from the rest of the DT and I hope to see you joining in.

HLS Stencil May

It's time now for the HLS stencil challenge for May. 

 

 

 As always it is Anything Goes which gives you plenty of scope. I  have to say I always find ATG hard as I have to think up a theme for myself. This time I drew inspiration from a small canvas hich I made a number of years ago and is on my craft room wall. So I dug out the Clarity stencil I had used and a Lavinia Stamps one for the background.

 

 

I brushed the background with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink then used gold embossing paste through the Clarity Stencil. It had to be gold as my others had dried up through old age! No sentiment until I know what I'm going to use it for.

Do check out the rest of the DT makes and hope to see you in the gallery.

HLS Christmas May

Welcome to the third HLS challenge for May and this time it's Christmas. It's the perfect opportunity to get ahead with those Christmas cards and avoid the rush later in the year.

 

 I have gone with the optional theme as I usually do - Mistletoe. The stamp is a magazine freebie from last Christmas which was still in it's packaging.

I stamped and heat embossed in gold three times on black cardstock. The leaves and berries are painted with my neglected H2Os. The sentiment in gold card was cut with a Paper Rose die - another NBUS item. Then I liberally added some gold splatters and mounted it onto a green card base.

I do hope you'll join in with us, but if you need more inspiration, check out the challenge blog. I’m also sharing this with Cas Christmas Card Challenge.

HLS Watercolour May

It's the start of May in Australia, although not quite here yet! So that means it's time for the new HLS Wateercolour Challenge.

As always it is Anything Goes. I decided to use a Simon Says Stamp image that I hadn't used before, and chose a pastel colour palette. I smooshed the background with Speckled Egg and Scattered Straw Distress Ink.,then fussy cut the image.

I added it to a card blank with an aperture to frame it nicely.

Do check out the rest of the DT makes and I hope to see you joining in.

HLS Christmas in April

Welcome back to the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge. As always it is Anything Goes but the optional twist this month is Under the Tree.

I'm not sure whether this fits the theme or is just a tree! I found this tiny stamp in my box of Christmas NBUS. Please remind me that I do NOT need to buy any more Christmas stamps!) I think it was a fairly old magazine freebie.

It started out as a very CAS card, but I had to add the bling as the black stars did nothing for me.

Somehow I doubt that I'll ever use it again!

There's a whole heap of inspiration on the challenge blog from my fellow teamies. Why don' you join in and get a head start on those Christmas cards - you know it makes sense!

HLS Stencil Challenge

Welcome back to another HLS Stencil Challenge.

 

 

As always it is anything goes. I have used a stencil from Uniko that has been sitting in my stash foor sometime.

 

I used various distresss oxides to ink through the stencil. The sentiment is from a large slimline set from Simon Says Stamp. Another fairly simple and quick card. Do try to join us and check out the rest of the makes on the challenge blog as well

HLS Watercolour Hare

It's time for the March challenge at Happy Little Stampers. There are no optional twists this year and I'm finding it really hard to think of what to do.

 This is my second attempt. The first went in the bin! I started by making a Brusho background in blues and yellow. When it was dry I stamped the Pink Ink Hare in Versafine Clair Nocturne and added some extra colour to his ears. I still wasn't happy with it so used some of the smaller stamps from the set to fill in the background.

I added a blue mat and called it finished.  Do pop over to the challenge blog and see what my fellow team mates have come up with.

HLS Stencil Challenge

I am delighted to now be part of the Happy Little Stampers Stencil team. This is my first card for the challenge which is Anything Goes.

 

I pulled out a Clarity Stamp stencil which I think I've only ever used once before. I sponged in Speckled Egg and Tattered Rose distress inks. Then I wished I'd used something a bit brighter! But after a rummage through my Clarity stamps I found these two, both unused!

After a bit of trial and error on some scrap paper I finally settled on using Versafine Clair Purple Delight for stamping. I added a mat of matching purple metallic card and some rhinestones to finish it off.Once finished it looked better than I thought it was going to, but I still wish I'd used brighter colours for the stencilling.

I hope you'll join in the fun this month and check out all the inspiration from my fellow team mates.

HLS Christmas Berries

Hello and welcome to the February Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

 As usual if there is an optional twist I have gone with it I must apologise though for the rubbish photo, dull grey weather and my choice of colours hasn't helped.

I stamped and embossed a holly wreath in gold and some Always Artichoke card. I then coloured the leaves with a dark green promarker and added red stickles on the berries. There's a heap of fabulous cards on the challenge blog and hopefully their photography skills are better than mine.

HLS Watercolour Blue Daisies

Hi and welcome to the Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge for February. This year there is no optional twist, so Anything Goes!

 

 I thought I'd make something floral. To start with I stmped and embossed the flowers in white then I painted water generously onto the card and then dropped in some blue, yellow and a tiny drop of red which I let spread across the paper.

I painted the petals with a stronger mix of the blue and added some orange to the centres. I added a few orange splatters to tie them in but the picture looks as though they are just mistakes! The sentiment was stamped in Versafine Clair Twilight.

Do check out the wonderful inspiration on the challenge blog from my fellow team members and hopefully you will join in.

HLS Christmas January

Welcome back to the HLS Christmas challenge .I hope you'll join in with us this year. It's always good to get a headstart on those Christmas cards, even if you are just getting over the " festivities "!

As usual the challenge is Anything Goes with an optional twist if you want to use it. This month it is Stockings.

I used an old but unused embossing folder (Sheena Douglas I think) which I sponged over with Peeled Paint distress ink. The stockings are from a SU bundle of stamps and matching dies from a couple of years ago, and the tag is from my stash.

Do head over to the challenge blog to see what my fellow DT members have made this month.

Wattle I Do

Happy New Year to you all! Let's hope that this one will be better than last year.m

 

Welcome back to the Happy Little Stampers Watercolour Challenge after our six month break.  The theme is Anything Goes. No optional twist this time.

I have used a new stamp set from Paper Rose called Wattle I Do. I stamped it with Ink on 3 and watercolored the image, Once dry I added coloured pencil to add detail. It looked a bit bare so I sponged Antique Linen Distress ink lightly through a stencil. I've no idea what make it is as I've had it for ages.

It still looked unfinished when I put it on a white card blank so added a mat in Sahara Sand. I'll add a sentiment when it gets used. 

There's lots of lovely inspiration on the challenge blog and new design team members too who would love to have a visit from you.

HLS Xmas

Welcome to the June Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge. The optional twist is Deck the Halls so I used Boughs of Holly.

I used Copics to colour the holly and added a red diecut sentiment on top. The weather here is not very Christmassy though, we have had weeks of beautiful weather which has certainly been a help during lockdown.

Waratah

 The first challenge of the month at Happy Little Stampers if the watercolour challenge which starts today( tomorrow if you're in the UK!) I was originally going to do some layered watercolouring but it turned out a horrible mess. I also thought about doing a card with chickens on but decided against it! I went down a more traditional route of card layers.

 

As it is an Aussie challenge I thought it would be nice to use this lovely Aussie flowerr stamp from Paper Rose. I think it's called a Waratah, we certainly saw a lot of them when we were there. Watercoloured with SU markers and a few matching splots on the background using the air spray thingy that the pen goes into.Please do check out all the other fabulous makes on the challenge blog , and hope to see you joining in.

Folksy Ornament

It's time for the May Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  Hopefully we'll all be out of lockdown by then, and it will be a distant memory. Meanwhile keep safe and keep crafting.

 

I have chosen to use the optional twist and also a NBUS stamp that was a magazine freebie a long time ago! 

Using the Misti I coloured the different parts of the stamp with markers, stamping each colour separately. Once I'd got the image inked enough I cut it out with a Penny Black frame, then mounted it on card matching the markers. Do visit the challenge blog and see what the rest of the team have made.

Edited: Thank you Darnell for your suggestion, I’m going to add it to the NBUS gallery.