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

Christmas tag

Hi all,

There's a Christmas tag swap going on in a group I'm in on Facebook, and I decided to get mine done while taking a break from Dt work...

The other day, I got pointed in the direction of Loll (thanks Darnell!) who is hosting a Christmas tag challenge on her blog this month. These's been gorgeous inspiration to be found there every day for a week, and more still to come, so I suggest you go check it out!

Anyways, on to my tag...

I'm very much in love with the emboss resist technique at the moment, so it features on my tag, using a LOTV background stamp.

After embossing, I inked the background with distress inks in lovely shades of green and red (with a hint of pumice stone too, and some scattered straw for warmth...).

The Santa is a QKR digi, which I coloured with Promarkers, and the tree border is from Crafts Too. I'd inked a piece of cardstock with two shades of green before cutting, and inked the edges with vintage photo after, then added a snowy look with a light dusting of Snowtex.

I added some Hessian ribbon, a little handmade parcel and some holly - with glossy accents on the berries - and finished off with a couple of jingle bells tied up with string and a little piece of tartan ribbon.
Oh, and a Tim Holtz Chitchat sticker in the bottom corner!

So there it is. my first Christmas tag this year, but probably not my last!

Hope you've all had a great weekend. I'll be back to doing the rounds again tomorrow morning!

Sammy-x

Use a hand coloured image - MilkCoffee DT

Hi all,

First of all, Just thought I'd let you all know I've set up a FB page... It's still under construction, but I figured it was about time, as it's a lot easier to send people there than here if they're trying to commission something.
If anyone fancies stopping by, I'll be very happy to see you :-)

It's time for another challenge at MilkCoffee, and it's one that people either love or hate... We're simply asking you to use a hand coloured image on your project. So no pre-made toppers or pre-coloured digis please!

I decided to use another Tiffany image for mine. This time, she is dressed up as Alice, and judging by the fact that she has hold of the watch, I'd say she's already gone down the rabbit hole!

Apologies for the terrible lighting in the photo. It's been so dull and miserable here that try as I might, I couldn't get a decent colour to anything (even trying to fix it with software after... believe me when I say this is sooo much better than what it started off as, lol).

I figured that with the watch in her hand, this would be the perfect image for a belated birthday card, so I created the sentiment on my computer and printed it out. The papers are LOTV.
Believe it or not, but that gem in the bottom corner is supposed to be the same blue as the others!

Now it's your turn.  We'd love to see your colouring skills!

Have a fantastic day!

Sammy-x

Altered canvas

Hi all,

I'm having sooooo much fun with the whole mixed media thing at the moment, and when I saw yesterday that the new challenge over at Visible Image was to use your favourite VI stamp, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

Now, to be completely fair, I can't say I have a real favourite yet, as it's not been long since I discovered them, so my collection is still somewhat meagre, but my most-used is easily the Grunge Harlequin stamp. It's just so perfect for mixed media and distressy kind of projects and though I only bought it this summer, it has already become my most used stamp of all that I own!
But VI have so many gorgeous stamps, and the order I'd placed arrived yesterday too, which meant I also got to use the gorgeous Butterfly INKognito on my canvas.

Speaking of which, I guess I'd better stop waffling and show it to you? lol.

I had a lot of fun making this, though I can definitely tell you that more colours of archival ink are now somewhere at the top of my "must have" list, as try as I might, I couldn't get any other type of ink to cooperate, so both the butterfly and the harlequin elements ended up being stamped in black (the only one I have at the moment!)
Still, I'm so pleased with the finished piece! it's only A6 size, so I may be attaching it to the front of my Visible Image stamps mini ring binder...

The metal sentiment strip is from Making Memories, and has been sitting in my stash for nearly two years! I was always reluctant to use it and wanted to save it for a special project. And this is it!

Unfortunately the fact that I sprayed the entire thing with my glimmer mist refuses to show up in the pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it that it shimmers beautifully in person, lol.

I'd also love to enter the following challenges:

Altered Eclectics - November challenge
Polkadoodles - Recycle it (the corrugated card was from a cardboard box)
All craft challenge - October/November

Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend. I know I am.

Sammy-x

November Challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

And here we are again!

If you're looking for my Buckwell's Crafty Challenge or Sweet Stampin' DT posts, please scroll down.

Another month, another challenge over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit. You all know the drill by now... It's Anything Goes, as long as it's Altered Art.

This month, I decided to have a go at altering a canvas (a first for me). I am quite pleased with how it turned out... I'd been meaning to give it a go for so long, ever since I saw a gorgeous canvas over on Elaine's (Ellapu) blog. She was kind enough to email me some tips to get started, which definitely helped me on my way!

I used loads of embellishments, flowers and blooms, mostly in colours I didn't like much... Great way to use them up! And the sentiment stamp is one of the lovely LOTV ones.

I spent an absolute age mixing metallic purple paint with white until I had a colour I was happy with... I then coloured all my embellishments (and the canvas), barring the Melissa Frances corner, the heart stickpin and the lace, which I left white. The cheesecloth is part white, part purple. :-)
I added the sentiment panel, and dotted liquid pearls, in an almost identical shade to the paint, all around.

It's something new and different for me (and I just love trying something new), and I found it to be so much fun!

Now, if you go take a peek at what my fellow teamies have been up to, you'll not be disappointed! And if you want to play along, there's this gorgeous prize up for grabs from Fernli designs:

Yummy, isn't it?

And that is finally it from me for today. Phew!

Hope you all have a spectacular weekend.

Sammy-x

Use Ribbon - Buckwell's Crafty Challenge DT

Hello again!

This is my second post this morning. If you're looking for my Sweet Stampin' DT post, please scroll down...

Well, the first month over at Buckwell's Crafty Challenge went really well, and I can't believe the month is already over and we're onto the second challenge! And the theme this month is simply Use Ribbon. Easy peasy, no?

I decided to use some of the gorgeous 25 mm coral silk ribbon and an image from our sponsor A Lil Digi Heaven's Joy.

I used Some First Edition papers too, and of course some liquid pearls, gems and a flower brad.
As you can see by today's posts, I still love this hair colour at the moment!

And on top of the challenge, there's some really good deals going on at Buckwell's right now! And there's more ribbon up for grabs for a lucky winner too!

Also at  Buckwell Craft Supplies there has been a price drop on all Cutting Dies plus an extra 10% Off all the Cutting Dies in stock from the 1st to the 8th November.

So, a great challenge and lots of great deals... We certainly hope to see you there!

Back in an hour, hope you're all having a fab day so far!

Sammy-x

Shaped cards - Sweet Stampin' DT

Good morning all!

It's another busy morning for me today, with three posts scheduled, so bear with me if I appear on your blog feed rather more than usual!

First of all, it being Saturday, there's a new challenge starting over at Sweet Stampin'. And this week we're looking for shaped cards. So, let's leave those boring squares and rectangles behind, and play with something different.

I certainly went different with mine... For starters I used a pre-made card blank, whereas normally I make my own. And while usually my every instinct tells me to add fluffy type trims to the bottom of a card, this time I added it to the top (mostly because that's where the straight edge was, lol.).

Anyways, here it is:

The stamp is of course a Saturated Canary one, and the papers are the new Santoro ones. They are so incredibly gorgeous, but I've really struggled for the most part to use them...
I inked the edges of the paper, and some lace, gems and a bow finish it off.

Now we'd love it if you go take a peek at what my fellow Sweeties have been up to, and then come and play along!

That's it for this post, back in a minute with the next one!

Sammy-x