Spots - Sweet Stampin'

Good morning all,

Saturday again, and time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin'. This week our theme is a really easy one... Spots!

 I chose some pretty spotty paper, and made this birthday card.

                                       

There's unicorns absolutely everywhere right now. Including my blog, it seems (keep your eyes peeled for another - pretty spectacular - unicorn in a few days!).

Now, I'm sure you all have some spotty things hidden away in your stash, so break them out and come and play with us!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

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

September challenge - Rhedd's creative spirit

Hello again everyone,

My third post of today, and this time I'm here to let you know that there's a new challenge starting for September over at Rhedd's Creative Spirit.

This month, I have a mixed media journal cover to show you. And it's not just any journal cover. It's one I made under the expert tutelage of the fabulous Abs - better known as Autour de Mwa - at a recent workshop with Art Workshops.

This was so much fun to do! We started with the board journal blanks, and kept on layering and adding elements. I had a lot of fun working with colours I'd not often pick (I'm always a little scared of yellow!), and using elements and images I often see people incorporate but never do myself. It can be really freeing working outside your comfort zone, I think!

So to play along with us at Rhedd's this month, why not try something outside of your comfort zone? It can be so much fun, and you never know, you might discover something you absolutely love!

Have a fantabulous weekend!

Sammy-x

September challenge - Altered eclectics

Hello all!

September already, and of course time for another challenge over at Altered Eclectics. This month I altered a small box with a seaside theme.

I used crackle medium to weather the paint, and turquoise sprays followed by brass mica spray for colour and shimmer. I absolutely adore the seahorse key. It is quite possibly one of my single most favourite craft items I've ever owned!

I hope you'll come and play with us this month!

Be right back with one more post for today!

Sammy-x

Keeping it neutral - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

It's new challenge time at Sweet Stampin', and our theme this week is Keeping it neutral. So we'd love to see you use neutral colours on your creations.

I used my neutral colours, as well as a LotV stamp, to make a retirement card for my dad.

Apparently though, rather than relaxing, he's been kept extra busy by my mum with jobs around the B&B instead...

Your turn. we're looking forward to seeing what neutral creations you come up with.

I'll be back in an hour with a couple more posts, but until then, have a fantabulous day!

Sammy-x

Sports - Sweet Stampin'

Morning all,

It's time for a new challenge over at Sweet Stampin', and the timing for this week's theme - sports - couldn't have been better, as it was my rugby playing brother's birthday this week.

I searched for a suitable stamp, and in doing so came across Splash Crafts, who do some really fab digis, including the great rugby themed one I used below.

The papers are Docrafts Wellington papers (my first ever paper pad!). I may have taken a liberty or two when colouring the rugby ball, as it is a 6-nations ball and should therefore be coloured in several colours. But I figured my brother would appreciate it more if I used the only colour that matters...  ;)

There are some amusing memories attached to my brother's rugby escapades. Such as the black eye he managed to acquire just in time for my wedding. You can imagine what my wedding pictures look like...

Over to you now. Why not make a card for that sporty person in your life? Black eyes totally optional. and if you're stuck for ideas, my fellow Sweeties have come up with some great ideas, and beautiful cards, so please go check them out.

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