February challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Hello again,

Back with my second altered project for the day, this time for Rhedd's Creative Spirit.

I had a play with another canvas, but where the earlier one was full of colour, for this one I stuck to a neutral palette.

I signed up for Creative Jumpstart 2019, and for me the most inspiring project of the month was that of Mystele Kirkeeng. Her projects used all of my favourite supplies and techniques, and it served to remind me that learning new things is great, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun playing with what we know and love too!

So this is my canvas, inspired by Mystele. I hope I did it justice!

The creative jumpstart theme is "My home is my castle", and so I tried to incorporate a few things that I enjoy when I'm at home, such as book paper (I'm an avid reader), a teacup (because I adore tea. Especially really nice loose-leaf ones), and I included a pen nib alongside the heart, as hubby and I met at a time when we both wrote, and it helped to bring us together (I met him in the pub, where he was sitting on the floor in the back, with his manuscript spread out all around him!).

So there it is. One mixed-media home-themed canvas. I hope you have some ideas of your own about things you enjoy and want to turn into a piece of art. when you do, be sure to come share it with us!

Have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

February challenge - Altered Eclectics

Aaaaand we're back!

After an extra long 2-month challenge, it's finally time for a brand new challenge over at Altered Eclectics, and this month I have been playing with a canvas, and did a Finnabair style portrait.

The face was drawn by my lovely daughter, and I added the rest.

I love this kind of technique, because you can take all those bits and pieces you don't know what to do with, or are the wrong colour, or just plain ugly, and turn them into something prettiful!

Case in point: The large gemstone/diamond looking embellishment just to the right of the big flower below. I got a whole packet of them in a craft box a couple of years ago, and I really thought they were awful. They were really tacky-looking plastic things in not very nice colours, and they'd been taking up space in my craft stash for too long. But on this project it doesn't look out of place at all!

After all the paints and waxes are added, you get a lovely uniform look, that can hide even the most (formerly) ugly embellishments!

Why not give it a go? Dig out some of those pieces you've been hanging on to, even though you don't really like them much, and transform them into something beautiful. Please do come and share it with us when you're done though!

Back in just a minute with my next project!

Sammy-x

Bright and cheerful - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

Let's brighten up the gloomy, cold and snowy yuckiness that is this morning (at least here in the UK) shall we? Our new theme over at Sweet Stampin' may help with that, as this week we're looking for your bright and cheerful creations.

Now, I don't normally do bright colours so much - I tend towards the grunge and the pastel usually - but I ended up making this birthday card for my father-in-law, and figured the orange was pretty bright!

I do miss Kenny K stamps :(

So, I hope you guys have lots of bright colours just waiting to be shared. if so, don't forget to come play with us!

Have a fantabulous day!

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

Last minute Christmas cards - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

New challenge time over at Sweet Stampin', and this time it's a two week challenge as the DT get a little time off during December. The theme this week is Anything Christmas/last minute cards.

Now I've only just started on my cards for this year (!), so quick and easy is definitely the way to go. So I decided on a design, and started churning them out over the past couple of weeks.

The design is like so:

I've made about 20 pairs of cards this way (and have gone through a terrifying amount of black card and double-sided tape!), which has at least helped me make a little dent in the ridiculous amount of Christmas charms I own...

The stamp set used is a really fab set of mini stamps from LotV, which are just perfect for doing a blackboard technique with. I just stamped a whole load of them onto a sheet of card with embossing ink, added white embossing powder and embossed them all in one go. Super quick to do it that way, though you do have to work quickly before the ink dries!
I then cut the card and paper, and stuck everything down in batches of two. It'll work with most papers, but I find the traditional red and greens look best.

Of course, after making so many of these, I don't ever want to make another again! lol.

Now it's over to you guys. You know you've forgotten a card or two (or like me, have barely even started), so this is a perfect time for you to have a play and join us for the challenge.

Have a fantabulous day,

Sammy-x

December challenge - Rhedd's Creative Spirit

Morning all,

Eek! It's December (and I've not even started my Christmas cards yet!) and therefore time for an extra long two-month challenge over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit, as the DT gets some time off for good behaviour over Christmas.

This month I took a lovely mirrored half-birdcage, and made it a little more festive. I purposefully stayed away from anything too overtly Christmassy, so it can be used as a year-round decoration too.

Tell you what though... with the mirrored back it was nigh impossible to photograph. I ended up having to use hubby and some sheets of white card to stop reflections from confusing the picture.

And now it's over to you guys. Come and play with us, we'd love to see what you make!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

December challenge - altered Eclectics

Hello all,

December already, and it's dreary and miserable out. Which is why I decided my DT inspiration for Altered Eclectics this month should be bright and colourful!

I recently did a fantastic workshop organised by Art Workshops with the fabulous Marlene Meijer-van Niekerk. While the second day was pretty much my usual fare - a selection of tags - the first day pretty much had me quaking in my boots. The workshop was called Funky Faces, and we were required to draw!

Anyone who knows me is well aware that I don't, can't, draw. I don't draw, doodle or otherwise create an image from nothing without stamps and ink!

Imagine my horror when we were handed a huge board to work on and were told we were doing just that!

But after a few false starts, I managed to get the basics down, and after that it was playing with colours (and Marlene's gorgeous papers!), colours and more colours.

And this was the result:

And just so you get an idea of the terrifying scale, this is the same picture with a standard Promarker lying in front...

Considering I never believed I'd even  get past the first step, I am so very pleased I managed to actually complete this! And it is quite possibly the most colourful thing I've ever made!

Right then, it's over to you. Let us see your fabulous makes (colourful or otherwise). You have two months to play along this time, as we take some time off over Christmas.

Be back shortly!

Sammy-x