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Saturday 18 August 2018

Sports - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

It's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin', and the timing for this week's theme - sports - couldn't have been better, as it was my rugby playing brother's birthday this week.

I searched for a suitable stamp, and in doing so came across Splash Crafts, who do some really fab digis, including the great rugby themed one I used below.


The papers are Docrafts Wellington papers (my first ever paper pad!). I may have taken a liberty or two when colouring the rugby ball, as it is a 6-nations ball and should therefore be coloured in several colours. But I figured my brother would appreciate it more if I used the only colour that matters...  ;)

There are some amusing memories attached to my brother's rugby escapades. Such as the black eye he managed to acquire just in time for my wedding. You can imagine what my wedding pictures look like...

Over to you now. Why not make a card for that sporty person in your life? Black eyes totally optional. and if you're stuck for ideas, my fellow Sweeties have come up with some great ideas, and beautiful cards, so please go check them out.

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Tuesday 14 August 2018

Twofer geometric fun

Hello all,

Playing along again with the Twofer challenge today. I love the theme this month - Geometric shapes - and I immediately had so many ideas.

For my cards I made a Hallowe'en card and an anniversary card for my husband.



I remembered a had a packet of Joanna Sheen signature dies, which were all geometric shapes, so I chose the hexagon die, and immediately began cutting Tim Holtz Hallowe'en paper hexagons. 36 of them!!! It was a little slow going, with only the one die, but as I wanted to make a patchwork background with them, I set to. Then after cutting, I did some faux stitching around the edges of each hexagon (why no, I really didn't have anything better to do, honest!). Finally I assembled them into a background, trimmed it, and mounted on a black card blank.
I picked a Tim Holtz ephemera card for my image, but I thought it was too stark white in comparison with the papers, so I covered it in a layer of vintage collage medium, which aged it just perfectly. A couple of Halloween sentiments and a button with golden thread finished it off.


I am very pleased with the result (I'd better be, after all that effort!). It's not often I make Hallowe'en cards, as sending them isn't a thing here in the UK, but I have a neighbour a few doors down who is completely nuts about Hallowe'en, so I thought she might like it.

My next card uses the same hexagon die, which I used to cut hexagons from black card. I also have a Tim Holz die that cuts smaller hexagons, so used that to add bookprint hexagons to the center of each of the black ones, before mounting them onto a bookprint background with foam tape, and adding an appropriate sentiment for our upcoming anniversary.


I went with the bookprint theme, mainly because our mutual love of books is how we first connected twenty years ago. The book used is one of Clive Cussler's, an author we both love. Don't worry, it won't stop us from being able to read it again, as this was a second copy that I rescued from being thrown away at work. They seem to think that yellowed pages are a bad thing! *sigh*

So, that's my Twofer this month. If you want to go play too, just click the link below.

Twofer card challenge



That's it from me for today.

Have a fantabulous day everyone!

Sammy-x

Saturday 4 August 2018

Travel - Sweet Stampin'

Good morning all!

As this goes live, I'll be busy getting ready for our charity craft fair today, so wish us luck!

In the meantime, there's a new challenge starting over at Sweet Stampin', and the theme this week is travel. Another of my favourites, and trust me when I say there's some brilliant inspiration waiting on the challenge blog!

I myself went with a New York theme, using the Statue of Liberty, and made a Tim Holtz-inspired tag.


Yes, I even looked up which "route" goes to New York (the shadow fell strangely, but it's a 7, honest!), so I didn't add a random number and got one of my american friends pipe up "nice try, but that one runs through Arkansas", lol.

Now I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, but I must admit it took some doing!

Problem was the stamp. it was, in a word, awful! I'd bought it not long ago from a small independent online craft shop in the UK. I like supporting such shops, as even though they can't often beat the "big guys" on price, the service tends to be great and you know you're helping out someone who can use the help, rather than someone who already has a high-paying job working for a big firm.

However... In this case, when the stamp set arrived, it turned out to be cheap, super soft silicone from China. (the sleeve had a sticker on it in Chinese). Trust me when I say it wasn't even close to reasonable value for money. It took about half a dozen attempts to stamp something I could work with, and even then I needed to touch it up with a pen in many places.
I had no idea this was what I was going to get, and there was no hint of it on the website, but needless to say I will be avoiding that shop from now on!
I know there have been quite a lot of heated discussions about this kind of thing recently, but until now I had never come into direct contact with any of these products. I have no idea if it is a stolen design or not, as I'd never seen it before, but on quality alone it's an epic fail. It made even magazine freebie stamps look good! lol.

Anyways, enough ranting from me! Time for you all to go check on my fellow Sweeties, and then please come and play along with us.

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x


Wednesday 1 August 2018

August challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Hello again,

Back with post number 2, to tell you about the new challenge over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit. As always, anything altered art goes, and the team have put together some fantastic projects for your inspiration.

For my project, I played with a couple of Tim Holtz Burlap panels. I couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted to do a seaside or vintage themed one, so I did both!




The sea themed panel was achieved with crackle paste, distress paints and a lighthouse napkin, and embellished with various suitable bits and pieces. I have to admit I'm hopelessly in love with the Tim Holtz Typography letters, and will probably have to stock up on them before I run out and find they've stopped selling them! lol.


Some Glossy Accents make the water look rather inviting...


I love how well the crackle paste and the paint come through the napkin, without hindering the actual image.


The vintage panel also uses crackle paste and Distress paints, as well as a Stamperia rice paper clock and a handful of suitable embellishments.

I really enjoyed making these!

I suggest you go check out what my fellow teamies have made, and I hope you'll come and play with us this month!

Have an awesomesauce day!

Sammy-x

August challenge - Altered Eclectics

Morning all,

It's August and the sun is shining (which makes a nice change from the past few - very soggy - days!) and there's a new challenge starting at Altered Eclectics.

This month I decided to play on a small-ish canvas, and have fun with some mixed media supplies.

And a teaspoon...


My apologies for the lighting on this picture. I have a new all-bells-and-whistles camera, and I haven't quite cracked it yet. The dismal weather this past week hasn't helped either, and the result is rather grey, instead of white!

I highlighted the letters, heart and tops of the pebbles with Finnabair's silver metallique wax. Not only do these waxes look amazing, but they smell absolutely gorgeous too. Seiously, I can't stop sniffing this canvas!

In other news, I was a bit of a silly goose the other day and decided to have a dizzy spell just as I was cutting some card. I don't have any kind of paper trimmer, I still cut everything with a knife and ruler, and long story short; a hospital trip to patch my finger up was required.
It should all heal nicely, but in the meantime I have this huge bandage on my finger, and it definitely gets in the way when trying to craft. I'm also not allowed to get it wet, which creates all kinds of other problems.
Oh well, when we have our charity craft fair on Saturday, I can charge them extra, as blood, sweat and tears literally went into making the stuff, lol.

Anyways, enough waffle. Go take a peek at what my fellow teamies have been up to, and come play with us!

brb,

Sammy-x