Another late one...

Hi all,

Yep, another late - after my bedtime - post from me.

I decided that I'd like to play along with Darnell's NBUS challenge again, so grabbed a couple of unused Inkylicious stamps to play with. One of them I picked up at a craft fair a couple of weeks ago, but the tiny fairy stamp I've had for about 2 years, and it had been completely un-inked until now!

If the design looks familiar, that's because I based this one off the August Tim tag again. I really, really love the hexagon design, so fancied another go with it. The colours are a bit funkier than my last, more vintage grungy one. I went with vibrant greens and purples to match the thistle silhouette stamp, which is of course the national flower of Scotland. I thought the stamp would be a good purchase for making things for my mum to sell in her B&B with!

Anyways, that's my tag, off to go enter!

Have a great night,

Sammy-x

Shabby birthday

Hi all,

I'm becoming quite the late night blogger at the moment!

I had a little time to craft this evening, and I decided I fancied making something shabby chic. My first stop for inspiration was the Live & Love Crafts blog, and I was not disappointed.

Their theme for august is birthday/anniversary, and I figured you can never have too many birthday cards in your stash, right?

So I printed off an All Dressed Up image, and made this:

Her wings are coated with mica, which isn't showing in the picture, but she is soooo sparkly!
I also had to add another of my beloved shabby bark hearts. I've been through rather a lot of them already, and ended up buying 5 packets last time, so they'd last a little longer, lol.

Right, it's looooooong past my bedtime, so I'll swing by tomorrow.

Sweet dreams!

Sammy-x

12 tags of 2016 - August

Hi all,

Just dashing in with my August tag, before it's no longer August!

Short and sweet, as I've a lot to get done. will visit soon!

Have a great day,

Sammy-x

NBUS #7!

Hi all,

I was so happy to see that the fabulous Darnell is hosting her 7th NBUS challenge!
For the un-initiated, NBUS stands for never-before-used-schuff. The reason I love this challenge so much, is that it makes me look at my stash, and all those items I simply had to have, then put away in my cupboard to be completely forgotten about.
Admit it, you have plenty of those too! ;-)

So, I decided to play along using a gorgeous Craftwork cards paper pad with beautiful nautical papers, which have been languishing at the back of y 8x8 box, unused, for more than a year! I teamed it with an Inkylicious twinchie stamp I've used once before (OBUS?) to make a useful card to replenish my dwindling "for the gents" stock!

Factoid for the day for the nautically challenged: The reason a ship's speed is measured in "knots", is because back in the 15th century they measured the speed using a knotted rope tied to a piece of wood, which would be thrown in the water. They would count the amount of knots that passed through their hands as the rope played out during a set amount of time, and that's how they figured out how fast they were going.
Thus the addition of my knotted piece of rope, even if my knots aren't quite the required 14.4 meters apart!

Anyways, enough waffle. I'm off to play over at Darnell's Playhouse I know she'd love to have you come play too!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Back to school - Sweet Stampin'

Good morning ladies and germs!

The holidays here are almost over (or already over in Scotland), and it's time for the youngsters to head back to school. It's a biggie this year for my daughter, as she's leaving school and starting college to do her A-Levels. It will mean a whole new level of independence for her, having to get herself out of bed in the mornings, and travel there and back on public transport (her high school was less than 5 minutes walk from our house!). she seems pretty excited, but I think there's a fair amount of worry too, as she still has to nail down the subjects she wants to do (which she has to tell them this Thursday...)

So, all of this ties in nicely with the theme at this week's Sweet Stampin' challenge, which is back to school.

Great minds definitely think alike, because there were FOUR of us on the DT that chose a LOTV stamp from our stash for this theme.
This is my offering:

I used some Grace Taylor papers, and fussy cut a few pencils from one of the sheets to use as embellishments. I added a LOTV sentiment, and there you have it.

i hope you'll go have a looksee at this fella's brothers and sister, as well as the other gorgeous examples waiting for you over on the Sweet Stampin' blog, and why not come and play along?

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Sunflowers

Hi all,

I do love it when I am inspired, and just so happen to have what I need sitting on my desk!

The inspiration came in the form of the current As you like it challenge, which is to use your favourite flower. It just so happens that I picked up a set of absolutely gorgeous Inkylicious sunflower stamps at the craft fair I was at on Saturday.
As soon as I saw them, they dropped straight into the basket. Sunflowers are my favourite, because they just make me so happy to look at. I love the warm colours, and this trio was such a joy to colour. Sooooo relaxing!

The background was one I already had on my desk too... I was playing about with the distress stain marbling effect a few weeks ago, but this one didn't come out the way I wanted for what I was working on at the time. I did like the background though, so kept it aside, and it just worked perfectly with my sunflowers!

Also, one of these days I'll learn how to put sentiments on straight! lol.

I'm still debating whether to make this a gift tag, or to mount it on a card. I have the feeling it would look pretty cool on a black card base...

ETA:
I went ahead and added it to a black base. I'm rather pleased with it! I think the contrast really makes it pop.

That's it from me for now, running off to join in with As you like it! :-)

Don't forget to enter my candy! And have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

A couple more mixed media projects

Evening all,

Well, as you can tell, the mad rush is over. Creative Chemistry 103 was SO MUCH FUN! Here's hoping there will be a 104 some time in the future. I've learned so much doing this class (and the previous two).

But I do have another tag to share. This one features a triple embossed butterfly. If you'd like to know more, you can find out here on the Crafters' palette blog.

These are colours I don't often work with, but I have to admit I love how it came out!

And I have another project to share. This one was a birthday card I made for the most fantabulous Darnell, who I was lucky enough to meet on her recent tour of the UK.

That's it from me for this evening, but I hope to have some more to share soon. In the meantime, don't forget to enter my candy!

Have an awesomesauce day!

Sammy-x

Creative Chemistry 103 - Day 5 and 6

~~~Dont't forget to enter my CANDY!~~~

Hi all, I'm back with more Creative Chemistry 103 tags, and all caught up with class now. I've had such a lot of fun, and will keep playing and experimenting with some of these new techniques over the next week or so, so watch this space!

My Yupo was very kindly delivered by Mr. Amazon while I was at work this morning, so I sat down with my alcohol inks today and get caught up with yesterday's homework.

Technique 1 - Alcohol ink stamped resist on Yupo

This one didn't go quite according to plan... The idea was to wipe away the ink to have a white-ish ghost image left behind, but try as I might, I could only get it to partially work. I strongly suspect that the problem was with the stamp. I used one of the LOTV background stamps, and though they are gorgeous, the stamps themselves are very sticky. So most of the ink stayed on the stamp, and the little left on the background dried before I could put my cloth to it.

I think this is one I will try again this next week or so, using a different stamp to see what difference it would make.

Technique 4 - Alcohol ink texture resist on Yupo

This was fun, though in retrospect I'd have used a different embossing folder. The reason I picked this was because it was the only one I have that isn't just a repetitive pattern! lol.

Technique 3 - Alcohol ink faded layers on Yupo

Quite a lot of fun once I finally got a background I was happy with. I think I used up half a bottle of each colour, and got rather lightheaded because of the fumes! lol.

Technique 4 - Alcohol ink painting on Yupo

After a couple of goes with this, and some truly disastrous results, I admit I gave up. I'm not exactly brilliant at water-colouring yet, and this is a few huge leaps ahead of that! One day I may revisit, but in the meantime, this one's not for me.

Technique 5 - Alcohol ink liquid landscapes on Yupo

Creating a landscape was loads of fun, even if I'm not so good at this freehand stuff, lol. The sun was easy, just a single drop onto my sky, and the mountains weren't bad either. I attempted a lake and river, which is where it went somewhat south. But still, loads of fun.

Technique 6 - Alcohol ink splattered floral

This was kinda fun too. made three of them, but the first was the best, I think. Also, the only Yupo Mr. Amazon was able to provide on such short notice was the translucent one, which means my double-sided tape is showing through on the very lightly coloured bits. Bears remembering for the future!

And that was day 5. I must admit, probably my least favourite. I don't think alcohol inks are "my medium", so to speak, I just like to use them to colour things. But that's ok... I have so many others to choose from!

And speaking of favourites. The day 6 homework was to create something using our favourite technique on something other than cardstock.

Naturally I immediately went running back to collage and Distress Crayons, and used a hard canvas board as my base. I love using canvas, as it adds an immediate texture to a project...

And this is what I made:

I may just have to find somewhere to hang this... :-)

That's it from me, now I must go help my daughter pack for her NCS trip!

Have a fantastical weekend everyone!

Sammy-x

Black, white and one other - Sweet Stampin'

Morning ladies and gents,

There's a new challenge today at Sweet Stampin', and the theme is Black, white and one other colour.

I decided to go with purple for my colour this time, and made this

The image is a stamp from Inkylicious, and one of my current favourites. The sentiment is a Unity stamp, and I thought it worked well with the image. I also suspect I'll be using it in my art journal one of these days...

I have also recently re-discovered my love for Washi tape, and figured I should probably start using it more, as the lid won't close on the box I keep them in any more, lol.

That's it from me this morning, short and sweet. I'll hopefully be back this evening with more tags. But first I need to go do the work thing!

Have a great day everyone!

Sammy-x

Creative chemistry 103 - Day 4

Evening ladies and gents,

Running a little later with my CC103 offerings today, as I was at work all day and had a late start. Still, I managed all SIX of today's tags. The fact that this was the one I'd been waiting for definitely helped. anyone who has been around my blog since about March probably knows how much I love the new Distress Crayons, and I've been waiting impatiently for more tricks to using them!

I can tell you though, this keeping up with class every day is quite the marathon!


Technique 1 - Distress Crayon smudge

You know how sometimes you're making something and halfway through you think of something that would be so much cooler? That happened today with the first tag. After waiting an absolute age for my texture paste to dry, adding my medium and waiting again, I suddenly thought that a sunburst would be pretty awesome, so went back to square one and waited alllll over again. The end result was so worth all the waiting though!


Technique 2 - Gesso fresco

Yes, I've used this technique before, but it's so much fun, I didn't mind playing along again. I used pretty similar colours as the first tag, with an added hint of purple. Love how it came out.


Technique 3 - Textured resist

And back to grungy for this one! I'm especially happy with the water droplet effect this time.


Technique 4 - Watercolour resist

This was probably the most frustrating one of the day (I'm still pretty rubbish at water colouring), and I really didn't like how it looked until right at the end when it all just came together. I chose lots of coloured splotches because they made me think of sprinkles! (does anywhere outside of the UK do sprinkles on ice cream?)


Technique 5 - Blended background

Super quick and easy to do, but oh so much fun, and such a great result! Can see me using this a LOT for "need a card in a hurry" situations...


Technique 6 - Layered colouring

This was one that I thought right from the get-go was going to be a complete disaster... And you know what? I'm actually a little in awe of how brilliantly it turned out! It's a shame you can't see the crazing effect, because it really adds to the overall look, but either way, I'm very pleased. Not in the least because I managed to blend myself a halfway realistic looking skin colour!

And that's it. Phew! Working again tomorrow, so could be another late-ish one, but so far I'm pleased I've been able to keep up.

And now, to bedfordshire!

See you later folks, have a great one!

Sammy-x

Creative chemistry 103 - day 3

Hi all,

I'm three for three so far, but back to work tomorrow, so things may go a little south by then, lol.
Only three tags from me today, as I don't have any grit paste, and even though I have 7 different texture pastes, transparent isn't one of them!
there's not really any new techniques here today, but it was still so much fun playing along.

So here goes, Creative Chemistry day 3.

Technique one - Distress layered collage

Ok, so I've never made a secret of my love for collage, and I've also been quite vocal around the interwebs about how much I love the new collage mediums (especially the vintage!). So this tag was especially fun.


Technique two - Texture paste colouring

This was a lot of fun too. I went with browns and pinks for my colour palette, for a nice vintage look.


Technique three - Texture paste embossing

Why shabby blue Frantage? It was on my desk. And seeing as how my embossing box is in the back of my craft cupboard, I thought I'd be lazy and use what I had to hand.
I used browns, green and greys. Just a shame the pretty blue sparkle of the Frantage doesn't show in the photo.


Hope you're all having a Tiggeriffic day!

Sammy-x

Creative Chemistry 103 - Day 2

Hi all,

Back again with today's Creative Chemistry offerings.

I had so much fun with the techniques today, though the paint lift one frustrated me no end until I started using a damp cloth instead of a baby wipe. But that's what it's all about, no? Figuring out what does and doesn't work with the supplies that you have to hand.

I didn't turn them into finished tags today, but just kept them as backgrounds, as I had a super busy day and am out of time... I'll get 'round to playing with them when the week is over, I'm sure. One of them may even get re-incarnated as a birthday card for my little brother.

Technique one - Distress paint resist

This one is probably my favourite so far... The colours are a little more vibrant (and purple) in person, but I just can't seem to get a bright enough light to photograph by.


Technique 2 - Distress paint lifting

This one drove me up the wall, across the ceiling and back down the other side again. I tried many times, but it kept turning into a bubbly, sloppy mess. Turns out my baby wipes were far too wet, and once I decided to try a damp cloth, it worked so much better!


Technique three - Distress stain rub resist

Remnant rubs are soooo much fun! And after this technique, I feel a lot more confident in using them. This makes for a rather vibrant and striking tag, and I love it.


Technique four - Distress luminous mica

I used greys, blues, greens and browns here (I'm thinking of making a start on Christmas stuff,  so this seemed a good colour scheme!), and misted with brushed pewter mica spray, which of course does not show in the photo. Love the mottled texture though!

Technique five - Distress marker spritzed watercolour

Ok, this is just far too much fun to do! Unfortunately I only have 7 markers so far (and that includes black and white and two browns!), so I was a little limited as to the colour schemes I could choose, but I think it turned out rather lovely!


And that's day two. I'm doing well so far!

Hope you're all having a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Creative Chemistry 103 - Day 1

Hi all,

Back again? Don't I have anything better to do? well yes, as a matter of fact, I do. But seeing as how Creative Chemistry 103 just went live, those other things will simply have to wait. Good thing I cleaned the bathroom this morning, because nothing else is going to get done this week! lol.

So, day one.

I tried four of the five techniques. I skipped the first one, as I don't have any re-inkers, so can't play with my DIY pad yet...

It's been a fun evening with plenty of enjoyable techniques, and miserable failures, but that's how you learn, no?


Technique one - Distress Highlight stamping:

I LOVE this technique! The image looks raised and puffy, even though it's completely flat, and the colour integrity is amazing!


Technique two - Distress Off-set stamping:

I really enjoyed this one too. If you glance at it quickly though, it feels like your eyes are going funny, lol.


 Technique three - Distress washed watercolour

Time to play with a little more colour. This one is loads of fun, but would probably have worked better on a larger surface, so there could have been more colour along the sides.


Technique four - Distress micro glaze resist

This one went rather terribly wrong. I think it was probably a combination of picking the wrong colours and using Dylusions rather that Distress sprays (don't have any of those yet...), but I wasn't at all happy how it came out. Oh well, hopefully it'll turn out better next time :-)

Well, that was day 1. If all goes according to plan, I'll be back every day this week as I play along.

Must go collapse now,

Have an awesomesauce evening,

Sammy-x

August Challenge - Altered Eclectics

Hello ladies and gents,

Back again this morning with another August challenge. This time for Altered Eclectics.

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at my desk thinking about all of the things I still need to do, and all of the places I still need to visit. Trust me, it's one heck of a long list!
So to help me keep track of all of this, I thought I would start a Bucket List Notebook, with different sections for each type of "to do".
Naturally, if it's going to be a book of things I'd love to experience, it needs to be something I want to look at all the time, so out came my Tim Holtz supplies.

The notebook itself is a Kraft notebook from Hobbycraft. I love altering these, as the Kraft covers are already perfect as a background. the fact that it's ring bound, also makes it a little more forgiving of bulky pages, in case I want to stick things in and embellish.
I decorated with a variety of papers, ephemera, tissue tape and embellishments, as well as a Found Relatives card, and covered everything with Vintage collage medium (I really, really love that stuff), before adding some fitting sentiments.

I definitely succeeded in making something I love to look at, but I'm not so sure I can bring myself to start writing yet. I always have this problem with notebooks that are too pretty... I'm terrified of spoiling them!

So I'm currently researching bullet journalling, and seeing how I can adapt it for my Bucket List. I have loads of ideas already, and I'll be sure to come and share once I have it all set up. Watch this space!

In the meantime, please do come and play with us over at Altered Eclectics.

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

August challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Morning all,

August already. Before we know it, it'll be December, and I still haven't dug out my box of Christmas supplies yet!

But for now, the August challenge at Rhedd's Creative Spirit is live, where Anything altered art goes.

I had a go at my first ATB.

I used an ATB from Fernli Designs, and decorated with G45 paper and elements, and a selection of Tim Holtz Idea-ology embellishments.

I really enjoyed this, and have sooooo many ideas for ATBs now (only not really anywhere to put them. Oh well, I'll make room!).

Hope you'll go take a peek at what my fellow teamies have been up to, and do come play along!

Back in a minute!

Sammy-x