A bit more Red, White and Blue and Cake!

 The challenge at Less is More this week is to use Red White and Blue, so I got my thinking cap on and tried several one layer cards that failed miserably! Instead I got my dusters and distress inks (Chipped Sapphire and Fired Brick) out again and made a background. I stamped over this with the friends text stamp from Penny Black with stormy sky DI. Once this was dry I used the indigo Blue grasses with versamark and Fine detail white embossing powder. The sentiment (Waltzing Mouse) was stamped in Majestic Blue versafine. I mounted this on a strip of iridescent red paper and placed it across one of my failed single layer attempts!
I am also entering this into the June Challenge at Samuel Taylors where the theme is also red, white and blue. The prize this month includes:
* A metre of each of the ribbons: red/white and blue satin, distressed union jack and "Best of British"
* A Portello Road Tri-Boss Union Jack embossing folder
* Craft for Occasions - Red. white, blue wire flowers
   and some white Card Candi.
 Sounds fabulous!
Before I go I thought I would share a couple of pictures of my jubilee banana cupcakes. They are in Red white and blue cases, but I don't think they would pass for clean and simple - sticky and multi-layered is more accurate! A perfect way to use up over ripe bananas, though.

Here is one on it's own, just for you in the garden sunshine!

That is toffee sauce dribbling down the cream cheese frosting - enjoy!
Thanks for looking!

Half term - Yipee!

Hi there!
First of all can I say a big thank you to all the peeps who have visited me recently and left lovely comments. Much appreciated. I am not at work for a week now, so I will hopefully find a bit more time to play and visit blog land. I'd also like to say welcome to my latest followers.
Top of my wish list this half term was to find time to have a play with my flitter glu that I won from Samuel Taylor's in their April challenge. I also won some lovely Yorkshire Dales mega flakes, which are glorious shades of green with hints of gold and bronze. After a longer than usual Karate Class (2 full hours - Sensai lost track of time!)  I came home, had my tea and began to play, and this is the result.

 I used a mixture of distress inks - bundled sage, Victorian velvet, tea dye and wild honey (I was inspired by the fabulous birthday card I received from Lisa - thanks my friend!). The stamps were from Inkylicious and were stamped in the same distress inks and versafine onyx black. I sprayed with a little glimmer mist too. The Hero Arts butterflies (Been using this a lot recently!) were my mega flake experiment.
The flitter glu is incredibly sticky stuff and dries tacky, so concentrate on getting it off your stamps ASAP, I managed to do this by having a little pot of warm water there to drop my clear stamp into as soon as I had used it. If you don't manage this you will definitely need the glue remover. This sounds a bit scary, but don't be put off as the results are stunning!

As usual the photo isn't as good as in real life, but you can just see a hint of the colours. The little sponge buffer that came with it really brings out the shine too.
Here is my other butterfly.

Over the years I have bought several products for use with gilding flakes, and never had a great deal of success, but I do rather like this stuff! It stamps well, showing lots of detail and is easy to use, not requiring a heat gun. I would recommend the Indigo blu easy peasy stamp cleaner for getting sticky off, and not just on your stamps too. I managed to get some on my fleece which didn't come off in the washer, but did come off with the solution.
This thank you card is heading off to Samuel Taylor's store, and I will be back after some more experimenting and playing. Thanks for looking!