ATC - Keys

This post was hiding in my list so seeing as crafty pieces are not being made as yet I thought I'd post this now!

I managed to join in with the Key theme over at The Artist Trading Club in November here is the one I made (again I made 5 all the same).

I cut out the keyhole shape from some thin chipboard and dragged some terra cotta Adirondack dimensional acrylic on and left to dry then got some gold paste used to touch up picture frames and rubbed a little over....the rather dour lady is an ancestor of mine...afraid I'm not certain who she was...possibly a great great aunt...unfortunately I have no way of finding out since my mother died....

I'd have loved to use some of those T!m type metal key letters but needs must and I made them by stamping Paperartsy letters and blobbing some white dimensional pearls over......the metal bit was stamped with a Paperartsy border onto nearly the last of the tomato paste tube that Laura gave me.....I'm waiting patiently to use up the dregs from mine so I can have some more!!!...the same border was stamped directly onto the card at the top.......the background is some gorgeous paper from Provo Craft.

Here are the fantastic four I received in the swap.

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux

Quick Update

Nothing happening craft wise here at the mo!

Hospital visiting and work does not leave much time in the day!

Yet more blood tests yesterday......yep that's right....DH did not get to come home yesterday :(

More today and apparently has to have an outpatient appointment for endoscopy!! Why they can't just do it now that he is there I don't know!

Anyways........just to say thanks for your kind wishes and thoughts and perhaps will get back to normality sometime quite soon :)

Now it could be Wednesday when he gets to come home if all is well :)

Today is a Good Day

Today is my Husbands birthday and as he has got his card now :) I can show it here! He is still in hospital but the good news is he may be coming home tomorrow.....all the levels that should be going down are going down and all the levels that should be going up are going up!!! LOL

I used the thrinchie I made the other week and added it as an accent to the card.

I had a scrapling piece of card left over from cutting a square card from A4 card stock but it was not quite big enough for what I wanted to do so attached another scrapling onto it in white that I had stamped a T!m script stamp in DI shabby shutters onto.

...........added a bracket shape sentiment tab that extends over the back as well to hide the join and stamped the Paperartsy iron railing in DI SS again along the front middle edge.....matted the thrinchie onto card coloured with DI SS and black soot and added an insert....oooh I thought I'd mention as it might not be obvious from the photo but this is a tent fold card.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

WOYWW Q&A

It seems the eagle eyed amongst us spotted the shaving brush on the table last week for WOYWW and a couple of questions arose which I'd like to answer...

Angie asked: What do you use the shaving brush for ???

Answer: I use it to stipple Distress Ink colours onto my card.

I find it gives a more subtle and textured all over colour coverage than using the T!m tool with foam or felt....useful if you don't necessarily want the darker edge of colour to the card you usually get with T!m's method.

Gez asked: I'd love to know would you recommend the shaving brush thingy. I keep looking at them & wondering whether to give one a go?

Answer: I'm not one to encourage spending for no good reason ;) but yes....I would recommend having a shaving brush in your tool box! Please note that it's not advisable to go and nick your other half's best sable variety! LOL...nor is it necessary....mine was a cheapo cheapo one for 99p I think I bought it in Superdrug but it's quite a while ago and I can't be sure!....I've also found that it's not desperately necessary to have more than one....as long as you tap off the excess ink before using another there really isn't an issue with colour transfer.....I also try to think ahead and start with the lightest colour first before moving onto a darker shade!

Spyder asked: I was wondering, last week too I think, when are you going to give Mr Artyjen's his shaving brush back??

Answer: It was never his......it's mine all mine! LOL

Hope this answers your questions and thanks for popping by :)

xoxo Sioux

Get Well Soon..Get Well Soon...Get Well Soon!

You couldn't make this up!

No....you are not seeing double and if I hadn't already given DH his get well card there would have been three in the picture!!!

Not only is DH in hospital......but his brother-in-law has gone into hospital today for an operation on his heart to mend a leaky valve and his eldest brother who lives in Australia has only just gone home from hospital to recuperate from brain tumour treatment.

DH is doing O.K. at the moment thanks........they are trying to stabalise him with medication instead of using an invasive procedure and if it works he just might be home at the weekend. :)

Must dash...thanks for all your kind thoughts.

xoxo Sioux

Heamochromatosis

Heamochromatosis

Not heard of it before? Not many people I know have!

This is the hereditary blood disease that my husband suffers from and if you click the link above it will take you to an explanation of what it is.

As you will read in the article.....whilst there is no cure there is a treatment that involves taking blood from the person periodically to artificially reduce the high levels of iron that accumulate

........I know.....sounds archaic.....brings to mind Victorian medicine & leeches!!

Under normal circumstances............if detected early enough the condition will not necessarily shorten your life.

Unfortunately by the time my husband was diagnosed 7 years ago a great deal of damage had already been done.

His condition might have gone undetected even then due to a combination of factors colliding at the same time, one of them being pneumonia that landed him in hospital......however he was lucky.......as it turns out we have one of the leading experts in the field based at our local hospital.

That was 7 years ago and now he has to return to hospital.

Please read the
Heamochromatosis

web site......you never know.....someone close to you could possibly have this without them necessarily knowing.

I don't post about really personal things here as a rule but felt the need to share the info

..........it just might be a help to someone out there :)

xoxo Sioux

Colour my World

I decided to put the tag I made a few weeks ago to good use....it took some time but at last I am happy with the result :)......I'm such a fussy crafter!!! LOL

...over at A Spoonful of Sugar the theme this week is Easter..."make something inspired by Easter" .....well Easter has to include daffodils for me...I just noticed this morning that my tete a tete ones are in flower....didn't see them there yesterday I'm sure!!!

I stamped the full Popcorn stamp in Impress chocolate onto white card and used it as the background to attach the coloured tag to.....see here for a run down on the colours used.

....created the sentiment block on the computer....inked the flowers and scrolls with a combo of DI's scattered straw, spiced marmalade, rusty hinge, pine needles and shabby shutters......adding the little wording stamp used on Popcorn's tag to the petals of the largest flower.......stamped a little flower all over the base card and layered everything up....although I've used brads to hold the flower layers together I glued them to the card with silicone to get different heights.

I've sent this off to Crafters Companion to say thank you for donating the fabulous set of popcorn stamps and CD's I won as Craft Stamper of the Year (have I mentioned that before? HOL).

Thanks for looking and thank you again Crafters Companion for donating the prize....happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Thanks for your well wishes yesterday...I & DH very much appreciate them....I did not find the time last night to visit everyone......so sorry! And time may be in short supply for a while with hospital visits as I'm afraid he will have to be admitted as soon as...like tomorrow!!

Trial Backgrounds WOYWW

Nothing much crafty to see here for WOYWW.....just a lot of mess on top of mess I'm afraid!!

My excuse....if I really need one is the time taken up with DH trips to both doctors surgery for blood test (3 times in 7days) and hospital for scans as he can't make it on his own...off to the hospital again later today to see consultant.......It's a good job I have an understanding boss :)

Anyways the bits of paper stamped in Shabby Shutters on the cutting mat are background paper trials I'm practising with.....seeing the green colour (spooky coincidence) reminds me

...........Happy St. Patrick's day!

I find it really necessary to use a stamp positioner when using rubber stamps for this.....it's the only way to be sure it's lining up right :)....not that these samples are.....so don't look too close!

.......I love those polymer Papertrey background element stamps which make it much easier to line up but I can't bring myself to pay the extortionate cost of the P&P they charge from America to get some!!! Also some of the sets, to me, don't seem that competitively priced but hey I'd still like one or two!!! LOL

Do you want to see my stamp positioner? Are you ready for a laugh?

.....what do you think? Bit of a Heath Robinson affair eh? But it does the job!

TTFN Sioux

Men Thrinchie for SCD

It's thrinchie making time over at SCD this month and the theme this week is Men.

Even though I make quite a lot of male cards I only seem to have three images of men on stamps!!! I'd like more LOL!

Base card stippled with DI's Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey and Shabby Shutters...Paperartsy man stamped in Versafine then masked...Tanda cheque stamped in Shabby Shutters then masked....Crafty Individuals ledger stamped in Frayed Burlap....CS mag free key stamp in Colourbox celedon and clear embossed....sentiment stamped in Rusty Hinge.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

Boys 2 Men Card

Remember this ATC I made? Well it's turned into a birthday card for a dear friend. It also fits the Double Dutch challenge this time so I can enter it there now....only just in time but could not blog about this till said friend had got the card could I?

I added some more stamped images and collaged them......stamped an image in Staz on onto a large brad in the lower corner....the base card I've had for ages...a QVC TSV from way back........dragged some gold paint dabber over the embossed bits and around the edges too.

.......I think the size of ATC's make great accents for a card don't you?

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux

ATC Hallowe'en

Here is the ATC I made for the Hallowe'en swap over at the Artist Trading Club in October.

I stamped and embossed the T!m skeleton with winter wonderland powder (it's got silver glitter in it!) and used DI's frayed jeans & scattered straw on the background...masking off a circular section for the very full harvest moon...we get some really fab ones around here and it takes your breath away when one looms at you over the hill as you drive into our little town.

.......the ticket I designed on the computer and inked....the web is Inkadinkadoo...the dots the full stop from a Studio G set of alphabet stamps as are the word fragments.

Here are the fabulous swaps I received in return.

Thanks for swapping everyone and for looking in today........happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux