Let it snow - Sweet Stampin' DT - Also, my first venture into art abandonment!

Good morning everyone,

Well, yesterday was a new experience for me... I participated in "Flood the Streets with Art" - a global art abandonment event. It was my first time abandoning anything, and I opted to drop 3 tags at different locations around Leeds.
I got the sweetest email from a lady that had found one a few hours later, which was awesome, and I'm so happy it made her smile!
It was a really rewarding experience, and I'll probably end up abandoning art more frequently now I've worked up the courage to do it once! lol.

Anyways, on to today's DT project, and I'm back on my regular Sweet Stampin' week now, as team Fi have prepared lots of pretties for you with the theme Let it snow.

This is what I made for you all:

The stamp, papers and sentiment are all LOTV. I LOVE those papers (from the Snow Princess pad), and the colours make me happy!
I hope you'll all come and play along. Think of it as an opportunity to get some Christmas crafting done. (especially useful for those of you who, like me, are woefully behind!)

And before I go, a quick snap of my tags all packaged up before I let them loose on the world...

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Sammy-x

Bits and bobs

Hi all,

I thought I'd do another round-up of stuff I've been up to recently but haven't had a chance to blog about...

First of all, there's a couple of Christmas decorations I made for the charity shop I volunteer in:

A close-up to try and show more of the texture...

And one of the Christmas cards I made for the recent order of 12... I managed to get them all done, and the lady who ordered them was most pleased.
This one was different from the rest (which were mostly traditional in reds and greens), but I really love how it came out! The Visible Image stamp looks just as I'd imagined it, crossing in front of the moon!

And I don't think I blogged these ATCs yet either... :-)

Yes, I made a series of 12!! The theme was "seasons", and I was so inspired, I didn't want to stop, lol. I only sent 4 off for the swap though.


Now, if any of you happen to be looking to top up your supplies, may I suggest taking a peek over at Buckwell craft supplies? There's a sale on right now, with 10% off all stamps and flowers!

Now, I should probably get a wiggle on and make some Christmas cards of my own, as I am woefully behind!

Have a fantabulous day everyone!

Sammy-x

Not a Card - Crafting Cafe DT

Good morning all,

Me again, this time stopping by to share my project for this month's challenge inspiration at The Crafting Cafe. The theme is Not a Card, which I'm sure you'll all know by now is one that I love!

As St Andrew's day is just around the corner, that gave me an idea of what theme I wanted to play with, and I chose a lovely Celtic frame design from our sponsor Delicious Doodles to work with.

I started off with a set of 4 mini canvases (7cm each), painted two and papered the other two with tartan paper.
I printed off the frames and stamped a thistle into one of them (a gorgeous wooden stamp from Hobbycraft that my mum got me last year) and the sentiment "Alba an Aigh" into the other, which is Gaelic for "Scotland the Brave".

Some flowers and satin ribbon make lovely decorations, and of course plenty of pearls, all in shades of green and purple. Finally I mounted them all onto a plank of wood I'd also painted purple and added some natural twine as final accents and also secured to the back so it will hang.

And there it is, very purple (my favourite colour) and ready to be sent to my mum :-)

I hope you'll all come and play along... There's still a week to go.

Have a fab day!

Sammy-x

Happy birthday to Sweet Stampin'!

Good morning folks,

Yes, I know I'm butting in when it's not my week again, but Sweet Stampin' is celebrating it's 5th birthday, and I naturally had to come and celebrate too! The theme is, understandably, birthdays.

It just so happens that yesterday was my baby bear's birthday. (Baby bear being our nick-name for our son, who has been completely obsessed with bears since he was 4 years old...)
I'd had an idea for his birthday card since before his last birthday, but as I didn't have a colour printer at the time, I couldn't carry it out. I could now however!

I started with stamping a Kanban bear and colouring him, then adding a "birthday hugs" sentiment. My son is very fond of hugs, to my ever lasting joy!

The paper is Grace Taylor.
When that was done, I printed out photographs of 8 of his favourite teddies (ok, so one is a snowman, but snowman has been his best friend since he was 1 year old!). I made up a little booklet with the pictures, and each one has a different word to spell out a birthday greeting.
I also added some bunting die-cuts here and there.

It can display nicely too, though taking pictures is pretty awkward, lol.

I'm pleased to say he was over the moon with his card, and the look of joy on his face as he flicked through the pages was the best thing in the world to see!

So, do you fancy making a birthday card (don't forget to use a rubber or digi stamp!) and helping us celebrate? But first, go see what my fellow Sweeties have been up to, and bid welcome to our fabulous new Sweeties too!

Have a fab weekend everyone!

Sammy-x

Lots of embellishments - MilkCoffee DT

Morning all!

So sorry I've not really been around this past week... I volunteered for a couple of extra shifts at the charity shop, and have had errands to run, orders to fill and my son's birthday to prepare for! Not used to being quite so busy, lol.

Anyways, it's new challenge time at MilkCoffee, and the theme this fortnight is to use Lots of Embellishments. easy peasy for those of us that love to keep adding bits, but possibly quite a challenge for you CAS creators!

I decided to use Luna for this theme, as her 18th century get-up seemed perfect for a shabby kind of creation with lots of flowers and pretties.
Like so:

I couldn't resist adding one of the shabby bark hearts from Live & Love Crafts. I LOVE them so much and am on my third lot of them already, lol.
Again the papers are from the Docrafts Wild Rose capsule collection pack... I'm nearly out now, lol.
Flowers are WOC, the bling heart I believe from The Ribbon Girl (?) and I haven't the faintest idea where I got the ribbon bows, lol. Lace, pearls and a Frantaged corner die-cut finish off the embellishments.

I hope you'll all come and play along!

Have a brilliant day!

Sammy-x

To die for - Sweet Stampin' DT

Good morning boys and girls and assorted others...

There's a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin' today, and the theme is To die for. Yup, simply use one or more dies on your card to qualify for entry. Simples!

I used two different types of dies on my card. Stars and Snowflakes. I just got an order in for a dozen Christmas cards, so I'm multi-tasking! lol.

Of course, with the weather as dismal as it is here (midday looks no different from midnight it seems...), photography is tricky, but the stars are die cut from silver mirri card, and the snowflakes from white glitter card. The stars on the image were coloured with shiny silver pen, and there's stickles on their wings and headbands... All in all, a lot of sparkle and shine! The snow is done with snowtex.
The image, paper and sentiment are all LOTV.

Now I'm hoping you'll come and play along, and take a peek at what my fellow Sweeties have created for you.
And speaking of fellow Sweeties... Keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of weeks as our fabulous new teamies will be joining us. I suspect there will be some lovely treats in store from them!

Have an excellent weekend everyone!

Sammy-x

Anything goes with option of goodbye - Crafting with Dragonflies DT

Hi all,

A bitter sweet post today...

A little over a year ago, still fresh to blogland and with only a month or so of stamping under my belt, I thought I'd take a chance and apply for a position on a design team. This was a first for me, and I was a little nervous to say the least, and if I'm honest didn't really believe I would be accepted.
So imagine my surprise when a little while later I received a lovely email from Hilde at Crafting with Dragonflies, inviting me to the team!
I was so excited, and in those first couple of weeks I learned so very much! Being on a team brings a whole new side to crafting, and it's one that can be very rewarding, in many ways. In those early days it really helped me become more confident, which led to a few more applications and fabulous DTs to play along with.

So, why the reminiscing? Well, unfortunately, life has a way of upsetting things, and Hilde has made the difficult decision to close Crafting with Dragonflies. The new challenge that starts today will be our last. :-(

The theme is Anything Goes, but there's an option to make a Goodbye/farewell card if you like.

I Went from "goodbye" to "travel" and eventually ended up at "journey" (which can be interpreted both literally or as a more spiritual concept, if you will), which was the main thought behind the card and matching tag I made (both again using the emboss resist technique).

The butterfly on the card is a digi from our sponsor Pickled Potpourri, and the embossed background stamp is from LOTV. When I'd finished it, I sprayed the entire thing with glimmer mist, which you can sort-of make out of the close-up below.

And the matching tag: Another embossed LOTV background stamp, and this time the focal stamp is part of a Papermania urban stamp.

And there they are. My last creations for Crafting with Dragonflies.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Hilde for taking a chance on a newbie and inviting me to such a lovely crafty group. My thoughts will be with you Hilde! x
And to all my fellow Dragonflies, past and present, you girls rock! Don't be strangers.

And to everyone else I say, what are you waiting for? Go give this challenge the fabulous send-off it deserves and play along this fortnight. We're all there waiting for you!

Health and happiness to you all.

Sammy-x