Embossing - Sweet Stampin'

Hi all,

Yep, time for another challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. And this week's theme is Embossing.

I decided to go with heat embossing as opposed to dry, and made a birthday card for hubby using a fab Visible Image stamp I had purchased with him in mind.

It's pretty CAS again, which seems to be my go-to for male cards right now. The sentiment is also heat-embossed, and was from a set of Kanban stamps. It's especially apt, as my husband plays in a band and when he goes to practice he says he's off to "make some noise".

Well, that's it from me today. Work again this morning *sigh*.

Hope you all have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Mixed media altered coaster

Hi all,

So I was browsing Blogger the other day (when I should really have been doing other things) and came across the reminder for the challenge at Unstampabelles. I used to be rather scared of playing along there, but since I've gotten into mixed media and altered art more, not using stamps has become a little easier. So I figured I'd take a break from all the "must do"s and sit down to do a "want to" instead.

The theme is "creative upcycling", so I decided I'd do another altered coaster for my little book. If you missed them, the other ones I made for this month's Rhedd's Creative Spirit challenge are here.

The twist for this month's Unstampabelles challenge was to use something I've had in my craft room for a year or more. in this case that would be the photobooth picture, the papers, the Hessian and the button! And I guess the staples too! (and the texture paste, and the Gesso, and... lol!)

But I did use some newer items too! Like the Distress Crayons I used for the colour, and the collage medium I used to give it all a uniform look (I am very much in love with both of these products!)

In other news, the appointment for the pain in my hands that they cancelled last month has been rescheduled for tomorrow (only been waiting since October!), so hopefully that will shed some light on things.

Hope you all have a most fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Troublesome teens - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

I've come to tell you about the latest challenge at Sweet Stampin'. Yes, I know it's not my week, but it just so happened to be my son's best friend's birthday recently, and of course he needed a card. Which brings me to the theme...

Troublesome teens

Because let's face it... They really are! And if making a card for a 13 year old boy wasn't challenging enough, the teen in question also happens to be colour blind, so I wanted to make a card that he'd actually be able to see properly, so to speak.

For those who don't know how it works, and would maybe like some info for future crafting reference, read on. Otherwise, please scroll on for the card.

There are, to simplify rather a bit - forgive me, three main types of colour blindness. The full colour blindness, which means all colours are difficult, is thankfully very rare. If you're making a card for someone so afflicted, you're pretty much scuppered, lol.

The next one is blue/yellow colour blindness, which means people who suffer from it struggle with those colours. Reds and pinks are a good option for them. This is more common, but still relatively rare.

The most common type of colour blindness is red/green. These colours tend to look grey or brownish and will often get mixed up by someone with this type. Purples and oranges can also be tricky, so the best colours are blues and yellows.

There are other variations, and there's a LOT better info out there (including fancy Latin names and all that), but this will hopefully give you a rough idea. As an added bit of info: It's far more common in men than in women.

If you made it through all that, well done! On to the card. I hope that if you read the above, you'll be able to figure out what type of colour blindness the recipient has.

Forgiveness for the photo quality... we were having a particularly dreary few days around then!

I'm happy to report that the recipient loved his card, which sports a very useful Kenny K image I'll no doubt be using again

That's it from me today (it's enough, I'd say!). I hope you all have a most awesomesauce weekend!

Sammy-x

Thank you - Sweet Stampin'

Morning ladies and germs!

This week's challenge over at Sweet Stampin' is Thank you. So why not use the opportunity to show your appreciation for someone and then come along and play with us?

I went for a cute LOTV stamp for this one.

Your turn, and don't forget to go see what my fellow Sweeties have been up to!

Have a great weekend!

Sammy-x

Robot card - Crafters' Palette

Morning all!

Oops! I completely missed this one getting posted over on the Crafters' Palette blog!

I made a card with the fab Roger Robot stamp from Woodware.

More info on the blog!

Hope you're all well.

Have a fantastic day,

Sammy-x

May challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Aaaand hello again!

Back with May challenge #2 and this time I have a pair of altered coasters to share that I made for Rhedd's Creative Spirit.  Those of you that live in the UK may or may not have received a pair or free snowman coasters from the Red Cross some point before Christmas. I did too, and they'd been sitting in my craft cupboard, waiting for me to turn them into these mixed media creations...

I used Distress Crayons on these (I may be a little in love!) and some TH paper and Photobooth photos. The butterfly is the unused piece of corrugated card from my March Tim tag!

I plan to make a little booklet out of these. A friend has found another set and has very kindly offered them to me, so I'll be able to play with a couple more. I'll be sure to post the rest too when I make them!

That's it from me, but my fellow teamies have some treats just waiting for you to come take a peek at.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Sammy-x

May challenge - Altered Eclectics

Good morning bloggaroos!

May. At least I think it is. Easy to get confused with all the snow outside! lol.

The may challenge is now happening over at Altered Eclectics, and I decided to alter a burlap panel for the occasion.

I love these panels, because they have a wooden frame, including a piece behind the main burlap front, so it's really sturdy and has a lot less give than a canvas.

I played with lots of dies and metal embellishments, and even a carousel charm I rescued from a broken necklace that appeared at work.

I do love these butterflies... They came in a pack of six, and I'm down to my last one now!
The bottle of vie (that's life for those who are French-challenged) is all purtyfied (that's not French, I just made that up) with crackle accents and a cork stopper!

I can't get the pictures to show the angel wings properly... In person they look quite different, and shimmer beautifully. I have this hanging on the wall above my desk now, next to the previous panel I made.

That's my make for Altered Eclectics. Hope you'll swing by and check out the other inspiration lined up for you, and I'll be back in a minute with another post!

Sammy-x