Paris Bag

I have been playing today ready for my trip to Paris shortly ;)

I bought a blank canvas bag from the wonder that is Trago Mills!!!

I decided that it would make the ideal bag for Paris as it sits nice and snug on the shoulder and there is a full zip across the top.....can't be too careful can you?

It desperately needed some decoration so that is what I did today...along with trying to work out exactly what I need to take with me......I hate packing!!

I feel the need to take my art journal with me.....to be in Paris and not make some art seems to me to be almost rude!! N'est pas?

TTFN

xoxo Sioux

Baroque Earring Hanger for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a dimensional piece 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

Paris Meal sans Quasimodo!

Just popping in to say thanks for the well wishes for the entertaining I did last Friday.

It all went well, although we had to eat inside because of the weather :(

What I have discovered is.......there are limitations as to what can be accomplished when doing this sort of thing on your own!

My problem is that for too long I have been used to Pip doing all the catering and the entertaining bit!!!

I could focus on the pretty finishing touches....right plates....right glasses...printed menu on the table....etc...etc.

I'll just have to get used to doing it differently won't I? :)

I just know that if Pip had been there we would have been treated (?!!!) to his Quasimodo party piece........again!!!! A great mimic our Pip ;)

If you had never seen it before it was one hell of a laugh but seeing as we have all been entertained with it on more than one occasion over the years perhaps it was a saving grace! :) ROFL

I wonder how I will feel when I eventually see Notre Dame!

xoxo Sioux

Oh! To kiss a frog?

I had the most fabulous suprise package sent to me on Saturday.

I love opening parcels when you have no idea what is inside, don't you?

All I knew was that is was from one of my northern chums Joanne 'cos she had written her name on the back ;)

I'd like you to read this piece of prose that was inside before I reveal the whacky but divine shrine she made me 'cos I'm off to Paris real soon. (click on it to enlarge if necessary)

Now that you have read it here is the divine shrine in all it's glory.....

The froggie on top....I love that he is sitting on a marigold (a French one of course ;))

One side decorated with a T!m French postage stamp

One side decorated with a quirky Mona Lisa (I don't think I can bare all the crowds at the Louvre just to get a glimpse while I'm there!)

One side decorated with a snail...or should I say un escargot ;) (a gorgeous Artistic Stamper stamp by the way)

It stands on four butterfly feet

And the front has the Eifel Tower stamped on acetate so that you can gaze inside to the far wall....can you see what I can see?

Yes it's the man himself RA!!!

Well what would you do? Eat or kiss the frog? I'd be chancing a kiss if I was lucky enough to come across one whilst I'm in Paris I can tell you!!! ROFL :)

It made my whole week receiving it and I could not stop chuckling to myself all day ;)

I desparately needed to keep the prose with the shrine so with Joanne's approval I rolled it up and put it in a T!m vial, tied a bit of bling round the top and placed it inside.

Be still my beating heart!

Thank you.....thank you.....thank you Joanne...the details are just fabulous!

Will Paris itself be able to top this? It could be a very close call!!!

xoxo Sioux

Entertaining Paris with an Accrington Stanley!

Wish me luck for Friday night ;)

I'm hosting our girls pre Paris evening.

It will be the first time in my whole life that I have done any entertaining on my own!!!

Done plenty with Pip.....team work is great isn't it?

It will also be the first time I have entertained since Pip died 14 months ago!

Ooooooh er!

I'm cooking chicken with 40 cloves of garlic or actually in my case 60 gloves of garlic 'cos the original recipe serves 4 and I'm cooking for 6 and we all like garlic!!

There is not much chance of being bitten on the neck in my garden tomorrow night I can tell you! HOL

I'm also serving Salade de Nicoise.

Thankfully the girls are all mucking in and bringing something French themed along.

Un pâte belle française  (sounds so much nicer in French!) LOL, crusty baguette, olives from a genuine French street market that was in Torquay this week (wish I could have made that but never mind I'll see the real thing soon), salade de pommes de terre, fromage française, artichike coeurs dans la vinaigrette, pain de rustique, salade de fruits and a mystery extra dessert ;)

Plenty of wine (goes without saying really) and perhaps a choice of a Kir or Kir Royale aperitif.

I might just be tempted to have an Accrington Stanley later on too!

What! You have never heard of an Accrington Stanley cocktail?!

I'm not surprised as it's a title Pip made up when we were on holiday in Austria one year and got drinking late into the night with a group of Swiss people, trading cocktails round by round.

It's Cointreau and bitter lemon served over ice.....simple but lush ;)

Picture him repeating the famous Cointreau ad (he was a great mimic) to a group of bemused Swiss ! HOL

We always imagined that all over Switzerland people now ask for an Accrington Stanley!!!

ROFL

I hope the weather can hold and we can be outside but it's not looking fab at the minute although today was great. Never mind....I have been beavering away all week to make the house fit for entertaining inside....just in case!!!

Have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing.

xoxo Sioux

St. Nick for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a canvas 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

I am Woman for The Artistic Stamper

Happy Monday! I'm sharing 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

Journal Journeys #1

Dawn has issued the first challenge over at her new monthly site

"Journal Journeys"

...and it is to use the colours Pink and Orange.

Today has been a glorious day full of sunshine here...so I decided that the grass could get cut tomorrow and I played in my A5 journal instead ;)

I am pleased with this even though the background is very simple!!!

(I know the orange looks yellow but honestly it is orange....the Neocolour label says so!!! LOL

Of course there had to be Guy of Gisbourne ;)...Tommy Lee Jones is another favourite in black ;) and then there is the WWF wrestling star The Undertaker!! I'm not a fan of the wrestling...but Pip liked it so I sat through my fair share of it...however I went all weak at the knees if The Undertaker was on :) HOL

Thanks for looking and hope you can play along with your journal journey over at Dawn's...I  know I shall be doing my very best to play every month and perhaps I can work out what my journal style might be?!

xoxo Sioux

Air Mail for The Artistic Stamper

I think you enjoyed creating for last months challenge, thanks for playing along :)
So it's a new month and a new theme

"Hot Summer Colours"
Over at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team ;)

I stamped the large calligraphic mat 13 in Distress Ink weathered wood onto a square card.
Stamped the butterfly/moth from insects and butterflies 1...
...(I can never tell the difference, although this looks like it might be a moth!)
...onto watercolour paper using black Archival and coloured in using Distress Inks as my watercolour medium.
Yep...they can be that bright when used this way!

Just a little note....when cutting out the butterfly don't bother with the fiddly antennae...cut them straight off! I added wire ones instead to the card.

I like to colour the back a little just in case the underside shows.

I also like to swipe a black Sharpie pen around the cut edges.
...it adds great definition.

I stamped the Paris tag from the labels plate in Archival coffee onto Kraft card and cut out...
...tattered the edges and coloured with Distress Ink walnut stain.

Here is a short interlude for a special announcement!

Starting this month the design team are additionally being asked to showcase certain items that will be on special offer to you over at The Artistic Stamper shop for that month.
...now that's music to  my ears....Special Offer ;) ;)
This month it's buttons and baubles...so I was very happy to use one of the buttons from Accoutrements Fanciful to become a focal point on the tag.

...I coloured the central clear gem with a Copik marker to co-ordinate with my card.

Stamped the postage stamp in Distress Ink worn lipstick and air mail in Archival black.
...both from the Airmail bird collage elements. 

....Finally I gently curled the wings of the butterfly and attached, along with the wire antennae, using silicone glue.

Head over and take a look at the "Hot Summer Colours" created by the rest of the team and here are the DT member links for you.

Alison, Hels, Jennie, Kat, Minxy and Tina

So don't forget.............the monthly challenge is "Hot Summer Colours"

The rules are simple... all you need to do is make a piece of art, be it a card, ATC, wall art, altered art, journal page ;)... 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 July 31st and the winner will be chosen by Random.org shortly after :)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping

xoxo Sioux