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

12 tags of 2015 - June

Hi all,

I LOVED this month's Tim tag. Seriously loved. But when I sat down to make my own, I knew exactly how I was going to make it my own. Easy peasy... It had to be tea!
Most people who know me know I'm somewhat of a tea-a-holic. Can't get enough of it. I'm also somewhat of a snob about it, lol. No supermarket vileness for me, thankyouverymuch. I get my tea from specialist tea shops, and almost always loose leaf. And don't even think about going near my cup with milk and sugar! ;-)

So, I settled on a colour - pinks this time, to match what I hoped would turn out to be a pretty teacup - and loosely followed the techniques Tim used for his tag.

This is how it turned out:

As you can see, I changed a few things, besides the obvious. I didn't have the stripy stencil, so went with a burlap-type texture, and the colours I used were Worn Lipstick, Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar (with some Gathered Twigs around the edges). I punched and layered some flowers in those same colours to decorate my cup, which I hand-cut, and the "tea tag" is also Worn Lipstick.
I was stumped for a little while as to what sentiment to use, as my stash is rather lacking sentiment stamps and dies, but in the end stumbled across the rather perfect "simple pleasures". And look! Fishtail! You all remember how much I love those, right?

I had So. Much. Fun. with this one.

Anyways, off to bed I go. I'll come a-visiting in the morning!

Have a great day!

Sammy-x

June Challenge

Back again!

As always on the 1st of the month, I'm here with my DT piece for Rhedd's Creative Spirit, where anything altered art goes.

As most of you will know by now, I volunteer at a charity shop (where I spend a small fortune bringing home stuff I want to alter one day, lol), and of course, it being a charity, donations are always encouraged!
We had a silver piggybank on the counter until recently, but someone bought it (after we emptied the donations out of it!), so we needed a new moneybox for donations.

So I made this:

The papers are from LOTV. I used them to decorate a small chest of drawers before, and decided I liked the look so much, I'd decorate this in a similar style.

And for anyone who's interested, this link takes you to the charity's website (which is somewhat out of date, but will give you an idea of what we do, lol). It's such a fantastic cause, and I feel privileged to be a part of helping these kids.

So, now you've seen mine, I strongly suggest you go take a peek at the rest of the teamies' work over on the blog, I promise it will be worth your while!

Now, I must be off (as I'm due in the shop!), but I will be catching up with you all soon.

Have a fantastic day!

Sammy-x

Things with wings - Buckwells Crafty Challenge DT

Hi all,

Well, we had a lovely time at the seaside this holiday, though I think next time we're going to want a quieter spot! Didn't get a wink of sleep with noisy drunk people walking past just outside my window all night.
Apart from that it was a really fab holiday though, and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely.

However, there's some sad news today, and that is that this month's challenge will be Buckwells Crafty Challenge's last. So I hope you'll all come and join in and see it off in style. The theme is Things with Wings and we're being sponsored by Sweet Pea Stamps.
The image I chose to play with is the gorgeous Butterfly Blue by Ching Chou Kuik. Isn't she lovely?

I went with a pastel blue/pink/yellow colour scheme, and decided on the shabby chic route with lots of distressing, flowers and lace. I also added some sparkle with my sakura pen, which shows up a teensy bit better on the angled shot blow.

Now I hope you'll join me in wishing the challenge and my lovely teamies a fond goodbye, and of course do come and play along with us!

I'll be back in a bit with my next DT post!

See you soon,

Sammy-x