Happy Birthday Sweet Stampin'!!

Good morning all,

It's Saturday, and a very special one at that, because Sweet Stampin' is officially 7 years old!
Now it may not be team Susan's week, but I for one wanted to join in with team Abi anyway to mark the occasion. Unsurprisingly, the theme is birthdays, which means it's a super easy one and you have no excuse not to come celebrate with us!

I was asked to make a 80th birthday card, which was perfect timing for this week's theme.

There were some pretty specific requests for this card, but I managed to get just about all of it in there (except for something to do with "cruises. That part had me stumped, lol). both the lady that commissioned it and the recipient were very pleased, which is always a huge relief!

Well, that's it from me. Please do go see what my fellow Sweeties have been up to. There's some fantastic inspiration waiting for you!

Have an awesomesauce day, and spare a thought for poor little old me, who will likely be slogging through the snow to work as you read this. Is it nearly summer yet? ;-)

Sammy-x

Photo inspiration - Sweet Stampin'

Good evening everyone,

Oops!!! This post was supposed to go live this morning, but I had told it to "save" instead of "schedule", so it was sitting in my drafts! apologies!

Today is Saturday once again, and a new challenge of course is up on the Sweet Stampin' blog.
this week we have a photo inspiration challenge for you, and this is the fab picture we used:

Of course the photo is meant for inspiration, so you can take away from it whatever inspires you. I personally liked the idea of the rain, and grabbed a fab Inkylicious stamp and some Distress inks and made this:

I love the simplicity of the design, and makes for a handy birthday card to have in the stash. its colour scheme means it's suitable for menfolk too, which is always a bonus!

Over to you! hope you'll come see what my fellow Sweeties have been up to, and then come play with us!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Sammy-x

November Challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

And hello again, back with my second post this morning.

Another *shudder* November challenge has just gone live. This one over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit. As always, it's Anything altered art or mixed media goes. Just remember, no cards or 100% digital items for this one please!

I did a bit of mixed media altering for this one, as a small photo frame had just passed through at work that screamed out to me to be altered.

This is how it started life:

I took a lovely MDF key from Fernli designs, and painted it silver and weathered it. I thought it would make a great focal point against my chosen colours of blue, green and greys.

I chose white for embellishments and accents, as it provided a stark contrast, and gave a nice balance of clean white against the grungy colours I'd used. As you can probably tell, I re-coloured the yellow parts of the flowers with stormy sky distress paint to tie in with the background.

The frame has a lot of texture, both inside and out, for which I used texture and crackle pastes, as well as some joint tape (drywall tape in the states, I believe?) my husband was kind enough to pick up on a DIY shopping trip for me. He brought back two rolls, which is probably enough to keep me going for years and years, lol.

My finished frame, which I must admit I am rather pleased with, is going to get abandoned as part of the Flood the streets with art event on Black Friday (25th of November). It's a really great event where people from all over the world commit a random act of kindness and abandon a piece of art for an unsuspecting stranger to find. Last year over 6000 of us took part, and I'm really excited to be doing it again this year!

So, if you fancy making a piece of art of your own, come and play along with us at Rhedd's (whether or not you choose to abandon it after!), and if you'd like some inspiration, do pop over to the blog to look at the gorgeous pieces my fellow teamies have made.

Have a most fantabulous day everyone!

Sammy-x

November Challenge - Altered Eclectics

Good morning folks,

I literally shuddered when I realised it was time for the November challenge over at Altered Eclectics already. November!! Where did the rest of the year go?
I guess I'd better step up the Christmas cards and presents if I want to have any chance of getting ready in time (especially considering I have both kids' birthdays still before then too!).

Speaking of presents, my daughter told me she was in need of a moneybox recently. Luckily I had visited the MDF man this summer, so had some blanks to play with. I grabbed one, and set to work with a beautiful napkin I picked up at Live & love crafts, and decoupaged it (after giving it a coat of tattered Rose paint, of course. It had to be pink!)

She really loved the cluster of flowers and other goodies I added on top. I also included my favourite bark hearts - when I heard L&LC was closing down, I immediately rushed off to buy half a dozen packs of them, as I tend to use them a lot and couldn't bear to run out! - I also had to add a little cherub charm to go with the cherubs on the napkin.
When my daughter was little, I always called her "angel", rather than calling her by her name. Apparently a lot of people thought it was her name for a while, lol.

And that's my daughter's brand new moneybox. Do pop over to the altered eclectics blog, and come and play with us this month!

I'll be back in a moment with another post!

Sammy-x