Grungy Monday No 9

Here is my piece for Grungy Monday No 9 hosted by Linda at Studio L3.

This week the challenge is to use T!m's 2007 Day 10 Christmas tag technique for that shabby chic look.
It's a big bonus to be on holiday today so I can join in again :)

Mine has turned out much darker than I'd like mainly because I only have 4 colours of dabber....ideally I would have liked to add a touch of pinkness to the background but I had to make do with sitting the word fragments on a bit of pink card instead!!! LOL
To try to give it a bit of a lift I added some gold dabber in places and added the T!m word photograph in white dabber.

To see how it's done by the real pro follow the link above to T!m's blog.

Thanks for the inspiration T!m........you are a diamond ;)

And thanks to Linda for hosting this great way to start the week ;)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. I always apologise when using this stamp as I know clowns freak so many of you!
What can I say........I love this stamp! HOL

Kisses like Wine

Knock me down with a feather!

Now don't die of shock!

I'm back again today.....count them....it's three posts in one day!

It just goes to show what I could achieve if only I did not have to go to work! Hey ho ;)

I treated myself to a couple of stamps from Stamp Fransico over in America and they arrived on Saturday morning :) Along with my CS this month which is jam packed full of inspirational stuff.

I love this painting by Vermeer "Girl with a pearl earring"....well actually I like nearly every one of his paintings....anyway I just had to have it! LOL

I'm entering this in Hels Sunday Stamper this week where the theme is "Red"

Apart from Girl with a Pearl and the Studio G alphabets everything else is T!m....script, scroll, frame, Paris and London addresses.

Distress Inks on base tag worn lipstick, aged mahogany, frayed burlap, and weathered wood.

Girl stamped in Archival sepia and lips coloured with fired brick DI.

I read the book "Girl with a pearl earring" nearly as as soon as it came out a good few years ago now but have only just recently seen the movie......is it me or does anyone else find the usually sweet Colin Firth just ever so slightly creepy in that film! LOL

Thanks for looking yet again today! HOL

Happy stamping

xoxo Sioux

Grungy Monday No 8

Here is my piece for Grungy Monday No 8 hosted by Linda at Studio L3.

This week the challenge is to use T!m's 2008 technique challenge.
I'm so glad I can join in for the first time this week :)

I may only be just in time but I hope to make something tomorrow as well for the new challenge seeing as I have the day off ;)
All due to a Bank Holiday here in the UK and the lousy weather today where I live.
...oh!.....and the fact I woke up at 5.30 this morning!!! LOL

Do you know.....yesterday I was sooooo cold I nearly put the central heating back on but I decided to wrap a blanket round me instead!!
At least that saves me some money....see it is just a matter of changing your point of view! HOL

To see how it's done by the real pro follow the link to T!m's blog above.

I learnt everything I know from reading T!m's blog because where I live there just is nowhere to learn these things.....oh! the joys of the internet.

Thanks for the inspiration T!m........you are a diamond ;)

And thanks to Linda for hosting this great way to start the week ;)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!

xoxo Sioux

Just One Man!

Happy Sunday!

Weather is pretty dismal here today......I need to sit in the sunshine on Bank Holiday weekends!

What ever is it?! LOL

Do you recall the journal page I did the other week?

Got up at 5.30 this morning........had to do this.....well the stanza needed finishing didn't it? ;)

Here are the two pages side by side in my A5 journal book. As you can see I did tweek the first page a bit by adding words in the petals round the edges.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.
xoxo Sioux

WOYWW - One more week!

Well...with only one more week to go to the big 2nd anniversary Pass it Forward event over at WOYWW with Julia the head workdesk diva...I thought I'd share the little cutting station I've decided to dedicate to this little side table in my dining room.

I nearly made a faux pas and posted a picture that included the piece I've created for the event as it was hanging from the china display cabinet over it!!!

But luckily saw it just in time ;) Phew!

On the table is my handsome Vagabond....how I love him! LOL

My guillotine cutter.

A set of T!m stamps from way back that I picked up recently 'cos I love the sentiment.

My new T!m tiny tags and tabs die arrived on Saturday from the ever so prompt Jennie and I could not wait to try it...and of course lots of leftover bits from my experiments with said handsome devil! HOL

This set up means that if I ever get my act together and hold a dinner party again I can have it cleared away in no time at all. :)

Thanks for looking....now go take a look at more desks around the world over at Julia's place.

TTFN Sioux xoxo

***EDIT***EDIT***EDIT***

Sorry to shout!
I just need to say that I have been leaving comments today and cannot cope with the tantrums of Blogger! I for one have not enough time in the day to
1. Leave comments and be directed to sign in yet again to blogger
2. Having done just that a number of times I don't have the time to go back and check to see if it has published
3. Having done that a number of times if I don't stop trying now I will just lose the will to live and you would not want that now would you!
So sorry if you do not get a comment from me I've done loads I promise!
I'll try again later in the week when Blogger may have stopped his tantrums.....if not see you next week for the PiF event :)

Comfy for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a fun hanging piece today over on the The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog
using another of the Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps.

Curious? Then just hop on over to The Creative Team Blog for all the details.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping
xoxo Sioux

P.S. I appreciate each and every comment here but time is short in all our lives so please do not feel obliged to comment both here and on the creative team post.
...I'll see your comments and share the feed back all at the same time if you use The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog post ;)
Thanks

The Last Straw!

Just to let you know I'm not about to keel over and admit defeat on the dismal front!

But this could have been the last straw today...

...I nearly could not get into my bottle of wine the metal bit just kept moving round and round and not coming off!!

Help.......sound of a bugle and the cavalry to the rescue

...YES! T!m and his scissors save the day ;) Phew!

TTFN
Thank you for the biggest hugs in the world that you have left already.....it means a lot....and yes Clare I am too independent for my own good! LOL

Sioux xoxo

Am I Bothered?

Well yes.......quite frankly I am bothered but also I'm not....nothing but contrary then!

The eagle eyed who come here to see some creations will have noticed that I have hardly posted anything in that line for a while....except for my DT commitments to The Artistic Stamper that my conscience would not allow me to miss!

Quite simply I'm finding it difficult to adjust to living on my own and having to do everything myself....it is such a effort! LOL
If there is a crack in the wall I need to mend it, grass needs cutting...that would be me then! Need to eat....make that too, get the right kind of stuff to mend the crack.
...I'm not thick, I sort of know what I need but don't need some idiot telling me to use something I know is completely wrong...I haven't lived with a man who knows about these things for 33 years without some knowledge rubbing off!!
Do the weeding, clean the bath, replace light bulbs, do the hoovering, replace strimmer plastic stuff that now does not seem to want to work.....clean the plastic chairs 'cos the darned visiting pigeon pair seem to like perching on the edge and leaving evidence all the time.

...oh! Go to work full time.....do the dustbin man's job for him as well (you know the recycling boxes and where to put stuff nightmare I can never remember!)....go for walks 'cos I need the exercise re my diabetes......is it any wonder I never have the will to actually make anything?

If only I could afford to pay a man that can I'd be laughing! HOL

I know there are lots of people out there who live on their own and manage very nicely thank you and must think me some sort of wimp...but after living with someone for 33 years it is a very big shock to the system.

One that must have been praying on my mind more than I cared to admit 'cos I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night on Sunday with the realisation that yes........I really am on my own!!!

I've been in the dismals ever since and was soooo in the dismals on Monday that I could not pull myself together and my boss said take the day off, sit in the garden and have a glass of wine!

I was so in the dismals that I thought it can't get any worse so you know what? I went and collected Pip's ashes....it's a pleasant 5 minutes walk to the funeral directors...but that was about the only pleasant thing about it!

I will pull myself together it will get better......I thought it was....but hey ho the 1 year anniversary of Pip's death has been more traumatic than I thought.

I'm going out with my girlie friends on Friday.......sod the crack in the wall!
Sorry to be a misery guts...but real life is not all "sunshine, lollipops and rainbows"!

Things are not all bad!
Come back Saturday for a fun little Artistic Stamper piece ;)
TTFN Sioux xoxo
P.S. I'm not seeking sympathy although you all very kindly give it and thanks for that.
...just telling it how it is! I tend to use this space as a little diary to myself and I sometimes forget that others actually read the $!*£ too!!!! HOL

What a waste!

What a waste of a fabulous voice!

It would probably not have stood a chance anyway (Can you really see a classical song winning Eurovision?!!!).

..but the delivery of the French song was not good and so did not deserve to win....bless.

....I think nerves got to him.

Having said that......although the Azerbaijan song was "nice".....it was not the best vocals of the night either!!!

Hey Ho! That's Eurovision!!!

TTFN Sioux

Outstanding!

Quick post!

Outstanding performances on Eurovision for me were...

...

Austria

Slovenia

UK

Serbia

Georgia
Hungary

...France was a less than best performance...don't think it has a chance now.....but I still like it!

xoxo Sioux

It's Cava Time Again! Eurovision Style

Yep it's cava time again!

What the ? happened to Blogger then?!

All I know is it lost my post I had done just waiting to add a piccie!

So here I am starting again and with something not quite like the post I had ready!

I'm relaxing all day today in the garden with a nice cold glass of cava and one of my summer concoctions! It's got feta, tomato, red chilli, black olives, garlic, olive oil and fresh herbs.....the ones growing at the moment here are mint, basil, thyme, Greek oregano and parsley.....it's scrummy.......what to come round and share?

Today is also Eurovision final day.......I'm so excited!

Love, love, love it ;)

My favourite this year is France...it's also classical which would be a first if it won but I do like my classical....it sends shivers down my spine which is always a good sign of a winner.

...but it's also the bookies favourite and I've been too late to place a little wager this year.....I confess I nearly missed seeing the whole previews as it's usually on a little later in the month!

I scored all the songs in both semi's....yep I am that barmy! And what do you know I picked 8 out of the 10 qualifiers in both heats.....sad or what?!!! LOL

As a second choice I'd go for Hungary......which I feel could have won but she does not have quite the live voice....at least in the qualifiers it did not sound as good as the pre recorded vid.

Now.....there may very well be a renewal in fortune for the UK this year....I'm not a fan of Blue and quite frankly did not think much of it when I first heard it a few weeks back but it's grown on me and they do have a big fan base still in Europe....which counts for a lot....so you never know!

I'm going to read my mag now and have that cava and a bite to eat.....got to make it through to the final tonight! HOL

xoxo Sioux

P.S. My little day surgery op last week was to remove a growth from my ear.....yeeew!

I kid you not......it had grown like Topsy within the space of a couple of weeks and I was in danger of being the Elephant man by Christmas at that rate! HOL

Can't complain about the NHS as from initially seeing my doctor to having it removed was only 5 weeks......and the good new is it was non malignant.....phew!

Perhaps I can concentrate on some fun stuff now?

TTFN  

Sometimes for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing something different today over on the The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog

Curious? Then just hop on over to The Creative Team Blog for all the details.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping
xoxo Sioux

P.S. I appreciate each and every comment here but time is short in all our lives so please do not feel obliged to comment both here and on the creative team post.
...I'll see your comments and share the feed back all at the same time if you use The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog post ;)
Thanks

Page Three Girl!

Bet you are wondering what is coming with that title? LOL

Have I ever told you I was once a page three girl?

No?

Well I was....and I was only about 7 or 8 and no front teeth either!

Those of you who have enjoyed the programme Lambing Live recently will get a lamb fix from this photo that once appeared in the Isle of Wight newspaper to celebrate the arrival of Spring.

I seem to remember I had to hold on to those lambs for dear life or they were off like a shot!!!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and thanks for your comments you have been leaving.

I have been a bad blogger and have hardly left a comment anywhere recently!!! I've been feeling $#!£ but my cold is much improved at long last :) Thanks for your well wishes.

........I'm not being negative or feeling sorry for myself but have to say it is just not the same feeling under the weather and not having your DH around to make a soothing bowl of soup or a hot cup of something for you ;(

Also had stuff on my mind...
...minor day surgery today that I hope does not turn into anything major!

I'll be trying to keep myself occupied this weekend...probably busy doing nothing....partaking of a few glasses of wine on Sunday as it's the first anniversary of Pip's death.
I wish my mojo and the sun would return :)

xoxo Sioux

Flowers in Life's Garden for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a card today over on the The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog

Curious? Then just hop on over to The Creative Team Blog for all the details.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping
xoxo Sioux

P.S. I appreciate each and every comment here but time is short in all our lives so please do not feel obliged to comment both here and on the creative team post.
...I'll see your comments and share the feed back all at the same time if you use The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog post ;)
Thanks

Little Things for The Artistic Stamper

It's time for The Artistic Stamper monthly challenge for May

"Ladies and Girls"

I created a quick and easy card using the very cute "Walkies" stamp, colouring the image with Copic markers.
Me being me I just can't do stamping without changing something around!!!
The full stamp has a cute little doggie too...

...but I masked him off inked up with Archival black and then drew in the line of the skirt with a black Sharpie pen as the image would not have been balanced with the sentiment I wanted to add. :)
I'm still not happy with using Copics but I do keep trying! LOL
Thankfully this image is a nice easy one to practice on ;)

I even practiced with the 0 colourless blender that magically takes away colour and added a few spots on her light blue skirt......it's a bit subtle but it is there ;)

One of the things I used to do when I first started making cards was try to build up a stash of card stock in different colours to use as backing mats and layers.....it cost me a fortune!!!
Then I discovered stamping and ink pads and now it is simple to colour a plain cheapo piece of card with Distress Inks or Adirondacks dye or pigment inks
(I use 160 gsm from the stationers).

After colouring and adding the sentiment I edged the image with a gold marker pen and matted and layered it onto a piece of digital background paper.
Because the paper is quite a busy design I decided to abandon using any embellishments to let the image be the focus.

You really must pop over to see all the creative "Ladies and Girls" that the rest of the team have made and here are the links for you.

Alison, Hels, Jennie, Minxy and Kat our guest designer.

So don't forget.............the monthly challenge is "Ladies and Girls"

The rules are simple... all you need to do is make a piece of art, be it a card, ATC, wall art, altered art ;)... just remember that it must include some rubber stamping and the theme... and... if you use Artistic Stamper stamps on your entry you will be entered into the draw twice! The prize is £15 worth of stamps from the Artistic Stamper shop... along with the KlingOn to mount them onto.

I hope you get chance to play at the challenge... it is open until May 31st and the winner will be chosen by Random.org shortly after :)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping

xoxo Sioux