Boys and their toys - Sweet Stampin' DT

Good morning Bloggers!

Are you ready for a new challenge? How about a masculine one? (I can hear some of you groan from over here!) But if you're anything like me, the Boys and their Toys theme at Sweet Stampin' is a welcome one.
I love making cards for boys, but don't seem to do many of them these days!

The image I used on this card is of course LOTV, and the paper is from Docrafts from the Wellington bear pack from three years ago. Wellington was who got me crafting in the first place, so I very much enjoyed digging the papers out from the back of the box! :-)

I hope you'll all find the time to play along!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Christmas in July - Sweet Stampin' DT

Morning all,

Well, I've been for my endoscopy, and have a stonking hiatus hernia getting in the way. So far medications aren't helping, and even plain water sets off the heartburn, so will have to see what the doctor suggests next. *le sigh*

In other news (whether it's better or not depends on whether you're ready to hear the dreaded "C" word yet!), there's a new challenge today over at Sweet Stampin'. The theme is Christmas in July, which may be a word non grata for some at the moment, but very welcome for me, as at least I've now made a start! So much for making Christmas cards all year round, like I promised myself...

But there was a very easy way to make this fun for myself, as I just so happened to have a voucher to spend on Amazon, which in turn translated into some shiny new Tim Holtz blueprint goodies.

I teamed the tree one up with last year's favourite Christmas paper, and this is what I came up with:

(apologies. I'm having some lighting issues at the moment...)

Now the eagle-eyed TH aficionados amongst you may spot the the sentiment doesn't belong with the set. It is in fact part of the snowman one, but I thought this one was more appropriate, as around here no-one I know uses "happy holidays". (I know my youngest's school tried making people use it one year, "so as not to alienate non-Christians", but no-one - including said non-Christians - took the blindest bit of notice, lol)

So there it is, my first Christmas card of the year. Fingers crossed I manage to get another couple done before December!

Your turn. You know you really should get started. And you'll get to play along with the cool kids to boot (that's us, in case you were wondering!).

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

July challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit DT

Morning all!

And here we are at the first of the month again! Time is just flying past. Of course it means that there's a new Anything altered art goes challenge starting over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit, and this month I have a set of drawers to show you.

I used some DCWV paper for this, which I just love...  The unit itself was painted with Frayed Burlap Distress paint before papering.

One side, with some Tattered Floral die-cut flowers and metal leaves.

The top. Another tattered floral flower and tattered leaves too.

The polaroid picture was part of the paper pad, and I embellished it with some goodies, including a filigree shape I cut in half.

The front has more filigree and some buttons pretending to be knobs :-)

I also used some alcohol ink on the sides of the drawers, which adds that little something when they are opened, I think...

I did have a "before" picture, which I took to show how drastic the transformation was. This came into the charity shop one day whilst I was working, and it was looking rather bedraggled and faded from being left out in strong sunlight. If I hadn't been there to intercept it, it would doubtless have ended up in the bin, so I'm glad I managed to grab it and give it a new lease of life.
But silly me, I can't find the before picture anywhere! I do have one taken after I'd gessoed the base unit, which was the most bedraggled of all, so it doesn't show the full effect...

Anyways, it's your turn. Come see what my fellow DT have made this month, and then why not play along?

Have a fantastic day!

Sammy-x

Red hot summer - Sweet stampin' DT

Hi all,

First of all, sorry I've not been to visit this past week. I've had to work extra and really haven't been feeling so well, so mostly I've been curled up getting acquainted with the TV show Outlander. Almost finished season one, and loving it! Fantastic acting for the most part, and the eye-candy's rather good too! (both in terms of scenery and the rather scrummy Sam Heughan, lol).

But that's not why I'm here. I am here to share my DT make for the latest challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. The theme this week is Red hot summer, which would be rather lovely, but I'm not sure such a thing exists in my neck of the woods. (we had snow here on the summer solstice. Only lasted about 30 seconds, but that doesn't make it any less ridiculous!)

I decided to go with a LOTV stamp I picked up last year and haven't used since last summer. It was one of my favourites of the fairy release, and it does rather say summer to me, what with her sunbathing on a lilly pad with a drink in her hand.

And obviously it's a British summer, as she's wearing a jumper! lol.

Over to you guys.

Oh and watch this space, as I'll be posting up a long overdue candy some time in the next couple of days.

Have an excellent weekend!

Sammy-x

Black and white - The Crafting Cafe DT

Good morning ladies and gentlepeoples!

The challenge over at The Crafting Cafe this month is Black and white and we're being sponsored by Inky Impressions.

I decided to use the fab sentiment they supplied us with, and made this card:

Considering how difficult I find black and white, I'm actually rather pleased with this one!

There's still a week to come and play along, so I hope we'll see your entries over on the challenge blog!

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Black and white with a splash of one colour - Sweet Stampin' DT

Gooooood morning peoples!

New challenge time over at Sweet Stampin'. The theme this week is Black and white with a splash of one other colour.

Well, I made quite a big splash, but at least I managed to have a play with a colour I usually really struggle with.

I'd recently managed to acquire this lovely Crafty Individuals stamp, and thought it was perfect to use for this theme. I layered it on some black and yellow card, and some paper from a pad from The Works. Some yellow ribbon and gems and a touch of yellow for the flowers, and there it is.

I hope you'll all come and play. I'm looking forward to seeing what colours folk will pick.

Have a great weekend!

Sammy-x

Sunflower

Hi all,

I thought I'd pop in with a make I just finished (and I mean just... The glue isn't dry yet!), which was inspired by the current challenge over at As You Like It.
The theme is "Your favourite flower", and as soon as I saw Sarah's gorgeous card (because I am totally with her on the sunflowers), I knew I wanted to squeeze in a little time to play along.

I also happened to have a piece of card on my desk, which I had used to swipe up some leftover Distress paints from my craft sheet a little while ago, which I figured would make a lovely background for something. As the colours were yellow, green and purple, I figured this was it!

So I got to work, and mounted everything on a piece of thin wood that will be the front of a mini album one day. This is what I ended up with:

I really had some fun with my distress inks, stains and paints. I did originally have different, more realistic, leaves on there, but I decided that I didn't like them, so changed them for some of the tattered leaves I cut with the Sizzix dies instead.

It's quite funny how sunflowers have come to be my favourites, because before I started crafting, I hated them! I think the G45 French Country papers are to blame. That pad was so gorgeous I just fell in love with them. Now I just love to have sunflowers around me whenever possible. They bring a touch of warmth to the day, and frankly... Here in Leeds we need all the warmth we can get!

Anyways, that be my contribution to the challenge. I just love that even when Mr Mojo is doing his best to hide, AYLI can usually kickstart the creativity. Nothing like being encouraged to play around with your favourite things, I guess.

Right, I must be getting ready to go to choir practice, but I shall do some visiting tomorrow.

Have a fantabulous one!

Sammy-x