Halloween - Sweet Stampin'

 Good morning all,

It's that time of year again, and time for the Hallowe'en challenge over at Sweet Stampin'.

For my card, I had a lot of fun playing with last year's Tim Holtz supplies...

The text stamps were perfect for adding a little interest to the background, and I just love, love, love that skull! (In fact, I've just now had an idea for a Marvel-related card... Must dig out my red Promarkers! ;) )

Now it's your turn. Come share your spooky (or spooky-cute) makes with us over at Sweet Stampin', we'd love to see them!

Have a fantabulous day,

Sammy-x

Create your own background - Sweet Stampin'

 Morning all,

Time for a new challenge over at  Sweet Stampin', and this time the theme is make your own background. 

Good news for those of us that like to get inky, because it's a perfect excuse to break them out and get messy! I made some bookmarks (when I say some, I mean I made around 50!!!), which I leave a few at a time in our local Little Free Library.

I have to admit, the pandemic has really upped my reading considerably. I usually read around 80-100 books a year, but since the start of 2020 I've taken to audio books in a big way as reading print is more-or-less out of the question when you get NO time to yourself ever (at least for me it is, lol). And my total for 2020 was 304 books! 2021 so far looks to probably surpass that!

And I know that I still won't be able to read all the books I want to even if I live to be 200, lol.

Anyway, enough waffle. time for you guys to come share your pretty backgrounds with us!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Sammy-x

Tags - Sweet Stampin'

 Good morning folks!

Our theme over at Sweet Stampin' this challenge is tags! So, you can make a tag, or add a tag to your card, or find some other creative way to incorporate them.

For me it was a great excuse to break out the Tim Holtz supplies and have some fun. So much fun in fact, that I ended up with two!

Both tags started with a base made with distress sprays (which were the birthday present I had informed hubby he was getting me, lol), then I decorated one with some paper dolls (tinted with Distress markers) and a fab snarky sentiment, and the second with a large sentiment (from Inkylicious) and one of my much hoarded rusty stars.

Now it's over to you guys. we look forward to seeing what you come up with!

Have a fantabulous weekend! 

Sammy-x

No squares - Sweet Stampin'

 Morning all,

Time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin', and this time we're asking you to step away from your go-to squares and rectangles, and make something in a different shape.

I decided that my birthday calendar - which I'd made when I first started crafting back in 2012! - really needed updating, making a little bigger, and decorating in something that's a little more my style, so I grabbed some dies and my favourite Tim Holtz papers I'd been hoarding for just such an occasion and set to...

And of course I had to include a few pictures of some individual pages...

This now has pride of place on my desk, and with luck I'll now never forget another birthday again! (wish me luck with that, lol)

Time for you guys to come wow us with your makes over at Sweet Stampin'!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Valentine's/love

 Good morning everyone!

Time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin', and our theme this fortnight is Valentine's/love.

I made a gift tag this week, having some fun with my distress inks, stencils and a gorgeous heart stamp.

For colour-scheme, I decided to veer off slightly from the usual red/pinks, and used orangey-browns instead.

Over to you guys! Come share your makes for the one you love with us this fortnight. we're looking forward to seeing them!

Have a great weekend!

Sammy-x

Make your own background - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all!

The theme for this week's challenge over at Sweet Stampin' is make your own background, which of course is perfect for those of us who love our Distress inks! I happened to need a new bookmark, and had just received the most perfect stamp for my birthday, so my DT inspiration pretty much made itself this week.

As it was going to be for me to use myself, I opted for a vintage, grungy colour scheme. I also stamped the image in Ground Espresso archival ink, rather than black, for a warmer, more vintage feel, and used a strip of dark brown card as a mat. A Kaiserkraft script stamp provided the perfect little background detail.

Now it's over to you guys! Please do come and play with us this week!

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Autumn Colours - Sweet Stampin'

Good morning all!

Time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin', and this week we're going with the ever fun colours of autumn theme!

I think I already mentioned this recently, but I just love playing with autumn colours, so for my card I broke out the Distress inks and a lovely stamp from Art by Marlene and made a card with lovely autumnal colours.

I'm not usually a big fan of colouring animals, but this fox was really fun to work with!

Now it's over to you guys. we hope you'll come play with us!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Embossing - The Paper Shelter

Good morning all,

It's time for a new challenge over at The Paper Shelter, and this week's theme is Embossing of any kind, so whether you like to use embossing folders, or prefer heat embossing (or maybe you are a clever clogs with an embossing stylus!), we'd love for you to come and join us.

I normally prefer heat embossing, but ever since I discovered the new(ish) Tim Holz 3D Texture Fades, I've been a little addicted to them. My favourite is the foundry one, as it is perfect for industrial/steampunk type effects, but the lumber folder is rapidly catching up...

So, I used the lumber folder for my card today, and teamed it up with the adorable Forest Princess from The Paper Shelter. I chose her because she reminds me of my daughter (again! It's becoming a theme, lol), and decided I may as well get her birthday card out of the way (even though I'm a teensy bit early...)

You may need to click on the image to see the embossing properly as the card I used is very dark. It adds such a lovely bit of texture to it in person though, I was tempted to try and figure out how to emboss enough to use for wallpaper in my bedroom, lol!

So now it's your turn! Come and play with us over at The Paper Shelter, and you could win an amazing $30 gift voucher if you use an image from The Paper Shelter. And if you enter with a different brand image, you can still win three TPS digis of your choice (which you can then use to enter the next challenge, and so be eligible for the $30 voucher!).

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

May challenge - Altered Eclectics

Morning all,

Time for our May challenge over at Altered Eclectics!

I decided to have a play with a wooden box my mum gave me, which once had some kind of cheese inside. I may not be much of a fan of cheese, but I really like these boxes!

I used some of my favourites here - crackle paste, Hessian and my TH Tattered Florals die. The leaves were originally white, but after some judicious application of Spray Oxides, they were soon a better colour to work with.

The flower in the middle is a Prima one which I won in a tombola in the LotV shop quite a few years ago now. A TH sentiment, Hessian ribbon and some trim to finish it off, and there you have it; one keepsake box, ready to be filled with treasures.

We hope you'll come and take a peek at what the team have prepared for you, and then do come and play along with us this month!

In the meantime, have an awesomesauce day!

Sammy-x

March challenge - Altered Eclectics

Hello again,

Altered project #2 for today, is my piece for our March challenge over at Altered Eclectics.

Just like my other project, this one really didn't go to plan. I was going to do a set of individual writing-themed Mdf ATCs to go with the box I made. Several frustrated days and many aborted attempts later, I instead ended up with this:

The ATCs are there, but both the theme and the colourscheme have radically changed, and I ended up attaching them all to each other to make a wall decoration instead. And you know what? I kinda love it!
The MDF ATCs are from Fernli Designs, and I had loads of fun with some stencils and my gorgeous new Distress oxide spray inks (which I may or may not have insisted hubby get me for my birthday...). I did the backgrounds with the sprays, then used regular Black Soot and Brushed Corduroy distress inks with the stencils.

Of course this colour scheme doesn't fit with a single room in my house, but I'm determined to make it fit, lol.

Enough waffle from me, it's over to you. Come share your projects with us over at Altered Eclectics, and don't forget to see what my fellow teamies have been up to if you'd like some more inspiration.

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

March challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Hello all,

You ever have one of those months where you seem to be suffering from the reverse Midas touch, and everything you do turns out the opposite of what you wanted?
Well, that was me this month, which didn't bode well for my March challenge project for Rhedd's Creative spirit!

Well, this MDF ATC box almost went completely wrong, after some paint that said it was white (in big, unmistakable letters, no less), turn out to be a rather unattractive shade of grey once it dried.
To cover up, I decided to go with a pale yellow hued paint instead, as trying to make it pristine white would have taken too many coats and I'd have lost all the detail. I then added some more colourful touches with pigment powders, and a generous helping of Finnabair's metallique wax.

So not the pale, delicate, barely-there colourscheme I was hoping for originally, but I think it works!

I also adore the wings, which are from a pack of Tim Holtz ideology wings I picked up recently, and the stripy stencil I used is my current favourite, from AALL & Create.

And now it's over to you. Check out the gorgeous projects over at the blog which my fellow teamies have prepared, and then why not come and play with us?

Be right back with project #2 for today,

Sammy-x

spots and dots - Sweet Stampin'

Hello everyone, and a happy new year!

Apologies for the late post this morning. For some reason I had it in my head that today was Monday. go figure!

Anyways, it's the first challenge of the year for team Susan over at Sweet Stampin', and we're looking to see some spots and dots!

I used the opportunity to have a play with a new stamp set I found under the tree (huge surprise, I tells ya. I honestly didn't buy it myself or anything.... ahem...). It may or may not be a Tim Holtz set I've had my eye on for ages.

I watercoloured the image. Yep, me. watercolours. Wonders never cease... And then I added it to a card with some torn papers, and finished it off with one of Sir Tim's fantastic Snarky Sentiments.

Over to you. come and play along with us, and show us your spots! Hehe... (addition of snark is optional)

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Halloween - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all!

Time for another challenge at Sweet Stampin', and this week we're looking for your Halloween creations.

I went for something a little different this time, and made a set of Artist Trading Coins.

I used Distress inks, Oxide inks and Tim Holtz stamps and chit chat stickers for these. A couple of little touches with a red gel pen (check out the bat's eyes!) finished them off.

Now it's your turn! Have a play with your spookiest stamps, and come join us over at Sweet Stampin' this week.

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Balloons or bunting - Sweet Stampin'

Morning everyone,

Hopefully blogger will play nice and actually post my scheduled post this time, as at the time this is supposed to go live, we will be busy playing Tetris with our car to fit our daughter's stuff in as we pack her off to uni! It's gonna be so quiet around here! But we will miss her loads.

It's new challenge time at Sweet Stampin', and it's a fun one this week! We're looking for creations featuring Balloons or Bunting. (and stamping too, naturally!)


I had some trouble choosing, so I went with one of each!

I went for two completely different styles. My balloon card is a messy, inky, grungy fun card, and the bunting one - as you can see - lacy and girly and pretty pastel colours.

Loving the Polkadoodles stamp I used on the second card. I have a weakness for tea-themed stuff (and, of course, tea, lol), so this one was was absolutely coming home with me!

That's it from me, but my fellow Sweeties have some more lovely things waiting for you over on the blog.
Hope you'll come and play with us this week!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

Twofer geometric fun

Hello all,

Playing along again with the Twofer challenge today. I love the theme this month - Geometric shapes - and I immediately had so many ideas.

For my cards I made a Hallowe'en card and an anniversary card for my husband.

I remembered a had a packet of Joanna Sheen signature dies, which were all geometric shapes, so I chose the hexagon die, and immediately began cutting Tim Holtz Hallowe'en paper hexagons. 36 of them!!! It was a little slow going, with only the one die, but as I wanted to make a patchwork background with them, I set to. Then after cutting, I did some faux stitching around the edges of each hexagon (why no, I really didn't have anything better to do, honest!). Finally I assembled them into a background, trimmed it, and mounted on a black card blank.
I picked a Tim Holtz ephemera card for my image, but I thought it was too stark white in comparison with the papers, so I covered it in a layer of vintage collage medium, which aged it just perfectly. A couple of Halloween sentiments and a button with golden thread finished it off.

I am very pleased with the result (I'd better be, after all that effort!). It's not often I make Hallowe'en cards, as sending them isn't a thing here in the UK, but I have a neighbour a few doors down who is completely nuts about Hallowe'en, so I thought she might like it.

My next card uses the same hexagon die, which I used to cut hexagons from black card. I also have a Tim Holz die that cuts smaller hexagons, so used that to add bookprint hexagons to the center of each of the black ones, before mounting them onto a bookprint background with foam tape, and adding an appropriate sentiment for our upcoming anniversary.

I went with the bookprint theme, mainly because our mutual love of books is how we first connected twenty years ago. The book used is one of Clive Cussler's, an author we both love. Don't worry, it won't stop us from being able to read it again, as this was a second copy that I rescued from being thrown away at work. They seem to think that yellowed pages are a bad thing! *sigh*

So, that's my Twofer this month. If you want to go play too, just click the link below.

Twofer card challenge

That's it from me for today.

Have a fantabulous day everyone!

Sammy-x

Travel - Sweet Stampin'

Good morning all!

As this goes live, I'll be busy getting ready for our charity craft fair today, so wish us luck!

In the meantime, there's a new challenge starting over at Sweet Stampin', and the theme this week is travel. Another of my favourites, and trust me when I say there's some brilliant inspiration waiting on the challenge blog!

I myself went with a New York theme, using the Statue of Liberty, and made a Tim Holtz-inspired tag.

Yes, I even looked up which "route" goes to New York (the shadow fell strangely, but it's a 7, honest!), so I didn't add a random number and got one of my american friends pipe up "nice try, but that one runs through Arkansas", lol.

Now I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, but I must admit it took some doing!

Problem was the stamp. it was, in a word, awful! I'd bought it not long ago from a small independent online craft shop in the UK. I like supporting such shops, as even though they can't often beat the "big guys" on price, the service tends to be great and you know you're helping out someone who can use the help, rather than someone who already has a high-paying job working for a big firm.

However... In this case, when the stamp set arrived, it turned out to be cheap, super soft silicone from China. (the sleeve had a sticker on it in Chinese). Trust me when I say it wasn't even close to reasonable value for money. It took about half a dozen attempts to stamp something I could work with, and even then I needed to touch it up with a pen in many places.
I had no idea this was what I was going to get, and there was no hint of it on the website, but needless to say I will be avoiding that shop from now on!
I know there have been quite a lot of heated discussions about this kind of thing recently, but until now I had never come into direct contact with any of these products. I have no idea if it is a stolen design or not, as I'd never seen it before, but on quality alone it's an epic fail. It made even magazine freebie stamps look good! lol.

Anyways, enough ranting from me! Time for you all to go check on my fellow Sweeties, and then please come and play along with us.

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

August challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Hello again,

Back with post number 2, to tell you about the new challenge over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit. As always, anything altered art goes, and the team have put together some fantastic projects for your inspiration.

For my project, I played with a couple of Tim Holtz Burlap panels. I couldn't make up my mind whether I wanted to do a seaside or vintage themed one, so I did both!

The sea themed panel was achieved with crackle paste, distress paints and a lighthouse napkin, and embellished with various suitable bits and pieces. I have to admit I'm hopelessly in love with the Tim Holtz Typography letters, and will probably have to stock up on them before I run out and find they've stopped selling them! lol.

Some Glossy Accents make the water look rather inviting...

I love how well the crackle paste and the paint come through the napkin, without hindering the actual image.

The vintage panel also uses crackle paste and Distress paints, as well as a Stamperia rice paper clock and a handful of suitable embellishments.

I really enjoyed making these!

I suggest you go check out what my fellow teamies have made, and I hope you'll come and play with us this month!

Have an awesomesauce day!

Sammy-x

Christmas in July - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

It seems ridiculous to be thinking Christmas while we're in the middle of a heatwave (which I am absolutely loving, by the way), but if you're anything like me, the sooner you get started, the less likely there will be last-minute panic making just before Christmas, trying to get as many made as possible before it's officially too late to send them.

So, with that in mind, why not make a start, and then come share your efforts with us over at Sweet Stampin'?

I decided (surprise, surprise), to dig out one of my Tim Holtz stamp and die sets, and this was the result:

It's a little hard to tell, but there's so many lovely layers to the tree, and I had some fun with a sparkly pen and some glossy accents too.
Looks better than my real tree usually does! lol.

Your turn, but first, don't forget to go get a little more inspiration from my fellow Sweeties!

Have a great weekend!

Sammy-x

Father's day - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

New challenge time at Sweet Stampin', and this week it's time for your father's day creations.

I figured it was a good excuse to break out some Tim Holtz papers and ephemera, and try out a cyclist stamp from Creative Expressions that I bought with my dad in mind.

A few little touches here and there to finish it off, and it's ready to post off to Scotland.

Please do come and share the makes for the men in your life with us. I'm personally really looking forward to seeing what you share with us for this one, as it's a favourite theme for me!

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

May challenge - Altered Eclectics

Good morning everyone!

May already, which means it's new challenge time over at Altered Eclectics!

I have another mini album this month, as I've been super busy making loads of them for our charity craft fair this summer. They're a really good seller, so I'm hoping to have loads made by then!

This time I've gathered up the Tim Holtz supplies, and made one with a more masculine look.

I just adore the paper dolls, and if you look closely at the wording behind his legs, I arranged them exactly so on purpose... Got to have something to giggle at, no? hehe...

I don't know why, but I am hopelessly in love with that tape measure paper! I couldn't bear to cover it up.

There's lots of pockets, photo mats, envelopes, etc. for photos, ephemera and journalling.

Et voila. One masculine mini album ready for the craft fair. I have about half a dozen made so far, and LOADS still to go, lol.

I hope you'll all go check out my fellow teamies' fabulous makes, and then come and play with us!

Back shortly with my second altered project for the day...

Sammy-x