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!!

Thank You Crafty Individuals

At last some real life stamping to show!....Still got the sniffles...still got the sneezes....still blowing my nose!!! Sorry.......was the last bit too much information? LOL

...Thank heavens for Kleenex Balsam tissues!!!!!!

Here is the card I made from some of the stash from Crafty Individuals.

I used plate numbers C1-203 - Ledger background C1-201 Four square blocks with silhouettes of birds in hearts C1-053 Journey wording and C1-180 Venezia bird.

........I could have done with some of that Distress Ink colour co-ordinated ribbon again for this!!! Why not vote on the side bar if you haven't already....I know there might not be many of us but perhaps T!m will give it some thought if enough people enter the vote widget...who knows?

...and speaking of T!m have you seen the new die cutting tool he showed yesterday on his blog?

...Wow! I don't own a die cutting machine and have no plans to buy one but seeing that has really made me have a double think....it seems it can cut really thick stuff like acrylic.....lets hope it will be manufactured sturdily enough to cope with the tough jobs I know a lot of people will want to do!! LOL ;)...unfortunately in my experience far too many craft tools/machines are not up to the job they were designed for...don't know about you but I for one cannot afford to throw good money after bad!

Here is a (fairly) quick how I did the card......

I stippled DI Shabby Shutters onto some white card and stamped the Venezia bird in Impress Chocolate...wiping off the ink on the postage frank area and adding DI Fired Brick cut out and tattered the edges and inked with FB again

.....Stamped the ledger background in DI Tattered Rose and stippled bits of Tea Dye and Scattered Straw.......tattered the edges and inked with DI WS

....Stippled DI Worn Lipstick onto white card and stamped the silhouette bird in Walnut Stain and distress embossed with worn lipstick....n.b. I forgot to dry off the stippled background and everything was still wet when I embossed...der!...as it happens I quite liked the way it turned out!!! ;)

........Stamped part of the Journey wording onto a sheet of CI printed paper and cut out a bracket shape from thin chipboard to stick this to...filed the edges and edged with a Pilot gold pen

..........the photo corner was chipboard again with a piece of CI paper......made a mini tag at the side from left over bit of a previous stamping trial!!.....stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment and attached a paperclip with a ribbon

Sorry for the long waffle.

Thanks for looking and thank you Crafty Individuals for giving all this scrumminess as a prize.

xoxo Sioux :)

P.S. I'm entering this in Allsorts challenge as it seems to fit their Hearts & Flowers theme.

Crafty Individuals Prize

I have coveted owning some of these stamps for ever! So you will probably understand how thrilled I was that these were part of the Craft Stamper of the Year prize :))))

It is thanks to not having the money to buy any of these that I played around with the stamps I did have to try to emulate the fab collage stamps they do......I'm convinced it has helped me on the road to being a better stamper in a perverse round about way and has helped me try out techniques I might otherwise not have.....LOL!

I'll be posting a card made with some of these goodies soon :)

xoxo Sioux

P.S. I never did get round to making the Home Impressions card I promised due to that pesky cold/fluey bug!!.....in fact I have felt I bit perkier only in the past couple of days....I'll have to make another attempt at the card soon...the idea I did have has gone off the boil! ;)

Home Impressions Prize

Eclectic mix of fab stamps in the Home Impressions prize package

These have to be some of the most deeply etched stamps I've come across

....don't think there is much chance of ever not getting a perfect stamped impression!

I received some bright white coated paper today in a candy package from my sweet blogging chum Gez and have had yet another Copic practise!

.......Yes!........It really must be the paper that makes the difference I'm quite pleased with the result on this as I only used 3 colours and just kept adding another layer of the same colour to get the different shades......the more experienced Copic creators out there might question the state of my blending but I'm just so happy that there is no bleeding!!!!

I'll post the card I made with it tomorrow if I can get it finished.....got another fabulous cold from hell!!! :(

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

Thank You Woodware!

Here is the card I promised yesterday!

I used the elephant image from this post and punched a decorative border along the bottom before matting it onto a piece of purple card.....The base A6 size card is Kraft and I stamped the peacock feather from the same Woodware set randomly over the top half using a mixture of Colour Box cats eye ink pads directly onto the stamp in Celadon, Colonial Blue and Peacock....how fitting!! LOL

Stamped the sentiment and clear embossed then sponged around the edges of both the card and the focal image with DI TD.....tied knots in the blue ribbon both sides of the focal image...'cos an elephant never forgets!.....and added some gems for a bit of bling.

Thanks for looking..and thank you to Woodware for donating the prizes.......I have only scratched the surface and used this one set of stamps so far..........happy stamping!

xoxo Sioux

Woodware Prize!

Here is the Woodware part of my prize and if anyone is looking from Woodware and thinks there is something missing they would be right!......I shared some of these goodies with my Auntie Bella as a Christmas present along with some other bit and bobs..........she is 94 years young and has been making things all her life and really enjoys making cards now that she is not as physically active as she used to be.........it must be where I get it from!

I'll share the card I made tomorrow.

xoxo Sioux

P.S. thanks for all the helpful input regarding best card to use with Copics.

Thank You Paperartsy

As soon as I saw the fancy shield/plaque stamp from Crowns & Castles 5 I thought it looked like a face/head and decided to try and make a body with some of the other stamps to go with it!

Here is the card I promised to share yesterday...it is A5 size.

I stamped the shield onto a piece of card that had already been coloured and cut it out then used the Copics to colour the crown and added some Adirondack dimensional acrylics and bling.

....the nose and eyes were from Crowns & Castles 3.......one of the small arch windows became the nose and the eyes were from the arch border......the body was from the set of stamps I won before Christmas from Paperartsy.........designed to be used with metal........but I stamped it onto some paper with an image from the Graphics Fairy ssbfl left over from this project....the arms are the pen nibs from Crowns & Castles 5 stamped onto some dictionary quote papers (K & Co I think)...the border around the card is from Crowns & Castles 6 stamped with Adirondack stream and the whole background had inks & glimmer sprayed over the whole lot.....and I seem to have caught the glimmer for a change in the photo!!

Both sentiment stamps are Paperartsy and a bit of fibre wrapped around the spine finished it off along with a printed insert.

Thanks for looking and thank you to Paperartsy for donating these as a prize I shall have many a happy stamping hour I'm sure.....Spookily Hels' week 85 challenge over at Sunday Stampers is Faces...so I'm off to link it there.

xoxo Sioux

Paperartsy Prize!

Been having a play with the Paperartsy part of my prize.

Fitz decided to get in on the act...I'm too soft....that is my piercing mat he is resting his head on!

All together now Aaaaaah!

Will share tomorrow the card I made.

xoxo Sioux

New New New!

If I hadn't been laid up over Christmas I could have had a crafting frenzy with my prizes

.......as it is.....I have only yesterday started to actually have a play.

I have a lot to look forward to in the New Year with all these goodies waiting to be used so I started with trying out the Copics that were provided by the Craft Barn........In a million years I would personally never have bought any Copics.....it seems like a money pit waiting to happen!! LOL

I tried colouring in a Whiff of Joy image that I had stamped previously onto some rough watercolour paper but perhaps it is not the best surface, I'll have to keep experimenting as you can see from the scan! That's all the trial test dots along the bottom too.

......I found it a bit confusing with the colours seeming to be so similar and then I decided to make a trial colour swatch and a light bulb moment occurred when I could see that

............as the fab Copic creator who is Rachel demonstrates

..........there are distinct sets of colours in light, medium and dark tones that you can put together

.....I fear there are an extra couple of less vibrant colours I could really make use of as well!!!

Hope your New Years Eve celebrations go well....we are sharing the moment with friends...ten years ago was Millennium and some of those friends we shared the moment with are no longer with us.....life is short......party like it is 1999!!! LOL

Thanks for looking and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ein Glückliches Neues Jahr!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo

UNE BONNE ANNÉE !

xoxo Sioux.

Just the one then!

I decided that opening just one of my prizes wouldn't hurt! ;)

Picked the one with the books in to open...........as a belated birthday treat.......'cos browsing through them till Christmas will keep me occupied.

xoxo Sioux

Brown paper packages

My "Stamper of the Year" prizes arrived from Craft Stamper!

I've put them under the tree........going to save them up for Christmas;) LOL

.....Well I might just open one!

I know it's daft as it's not as if I don't know what prizes there are...however only a couple are marked on the outside so it will still be a surprise!

I've never been anxious to open a gift until the given time since I was about 7 yrs old........you know how it is when you are that age you just can't wait and that year I was determined to find the hidden stash of birthday presents.....I was not allowed in my parents bedroom unless my mother said.......so it was with much trepidation and beating of heart that I took my life in my hands and went to look in their wardrobe

.....one of those big old ones made of dark wood that could have been the entrance to Narnia!

...believe me I kept hoping! LOL

Anyway I did find my presents and although it was exciting I couldn't let on obviously and it was even more excruciating when my birthday arrived and I had to pretend new found joy at said presents!!

Never again.

xoxo Sioux

Stamper of the Year! OMG it's me!!!

I've been bursting to share with you...

but my lips were sealed till publication day.

Craft Stamper Magazine

have voted me

Stamper of the Year!

Can you see me doing a happy dance?

I am flabbergasted! I am in disbelief!............I'm the one in the middle! HOL

What’s more, silly me forgot to renew my subscription and I have only just been able to buy a copy from my local W.H Smith LOL

(not so local as it's 5 miles away!)

Some of you may have had your magazine ages now and not have realised it was me as I have never posted my full name here.....I have always been a bit wary of posting too much personal information....you never know what fruitcakes there are out there! LOL

I was thrilled enough when Katy, the editor, asked for my pieces to be sent for judging on the short list from the photo’s I sent, as I had been in two minds whether they were good enough and left it very late to send the e-mail!
People say things like “I’m over the moon” when faced with such wonderful news

…..but that does not really convey how I feel.

How about......

“I feel like running to the edges of the universe and back in 30 seconds”!!!

Do you get my drift? Do ya?

I want to thank those that judged my pieces special enough to be chosen as

“STAMPER OF THE YEAR!”

what an honour and I still can't believe my "Dance to the Music of Time" canvas is on the front cover....I mean just look at all the talent on the front cover with little old me!!

It is surreal..........ooh er!.........I feel a wobble coming on.....

that means I have to live up to this!

Can I do it?............I will certainly try :)

xoxo Sioux

P.S. If you are looking for my T!m 12 days of Christmas tags and any newer posts please scroll down as I am leaving this as a sticky for a little while.....

just so I can get used to it ya know! HOL

P.P.S. Detail of how the canvas was done are on the Craft Stamper website here.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 12

T!ms day 12 tag is here.

And mine?

Bet ya didn't think I was going to make it in time!

Wasn't sure myself!!! LOL

Here is my day 12 tag.

Stamps used Stampers Anonymous, Paperartsy, Craft Stamper freebie ticket and Royal & Langnickel.

I don't have any grunge paper so made these roses out of ordinary 160gm card stamped a dotty background and a Paperartsy Christmas wording background and coloured with DI SS edged with PN and Adirondack cranberry....can't sploosh all that water and shimmer on this card so added a bit of PSX Diamond glitter glue to add sparkle......If anything....I have more of a hatred of ripping up music paper than pages from a book!!! LOL

....so the free digital download from Craft Stamper

of an antique music sheet has come in handy for me a few times already...thanks for that.

Well that is the end of 12 Tags of Christmas :(

...it has certainly been entertaining...it has been fun finding some new faces in blog land playing along too :) Big Wave

.....I have had a fab one to one session with T!m Holtz ;).........what?!

....you mean he didn't do it just for me? HOL

Thanks for looking

.......and my goodness there seems to have been an awful lot of you

....sending a big hug to you all for taking the time to leave such wonderful comments.

Happy stamping

xoxo Sioux

P.S. I'm off to have a lie down!.....I may be some time!!! LOL

Viking Men

"It is the great North wind that made the Vikings"

Great quote don't you think?

Especially for a man card! As I've mentioned before I work in the fishing industry in my part of glorious Devon and get to make men cards more than women's! Here is one I made last year and forgot to post......so yer tis now.

The map background was scanned from an old fishing book in the office where I work and printed onto textured card......had to add a bit of grungy ink to it. The Viking boat is a Microsoft clip art file printed and cut out. The compass another clip art file printed onto some vellum that had printed squares on......these were attached to another clip art file used as a background to which I added a bit of stamping round the edge with some Paperartsy stamps that were in the subscription to Craft Stamper last year. This was layered onto gold mirri card and the quotation panel was digitally designed in my Serif programme and is hidden behind the front panel until the card is opened.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

(Although there is precious little of it on this one!! LOL)

xoxo Sioux

Light up my Life!

It's Sugar Bowl challenge time again for me and I have been tinkering with the Gorjuss one! The sketch this time is by Judy which was really for a square card but I needed to make a different size format so this turned into an A5 card.
The lighting here today is bad...the weather is bad.....I feel bad!!!! Lingering cough plaguing me from my summer cold still.
I decided she needed to be sat on a string of Christmas lights.......still pondering my Xmas cards you see..............this is the first time I have included the little birdie....it's not that I don't like him/her but the other times it sort of didn't fit in!

The die cut swirls were just some plain card that I added glue and glitter to and I put 3D glaze to the bulbs which shows up a bit better in the close up...............added little blobs of glue to her dress and sprinkled on the glitter.....made up the flower........hope you think it is poinsettia like!!! The dotty and green papers are my own digital design again.........the striped bit is K&Co and the music paper is the web freebie from CS this month.....gave it the same treatment as my last card...........I like to think this would be equally suitable for a man to give a woman or for a woman to give a man.
Thanks for looking........happy stamping!
xoxo

Edit: Bl*&$£y H#!**l!!!! I've put the music on upside down.....unforgivable

Fly With Me? - Papertake Weekly

Once again the sketch by Dawny at Papertake Weekly has come up trumps just when I needed it....I'm beginning to wonder if she is psychic!!!.......fab sketch and suited what I had made as the topper/ATC itself had the sentiment already so no need for additions.....although I did decide to add a trio of gems top and bottom.

I stamped the Artistic Stamper birdie (free with CS) and the Paperartsy heart thingy and swirls onto some patterned paper for a change instead of making my own background as I did with this one...sometimes time is of the essence! LOL.......all the papers are K&Co Roam.

The yellow fibre stuff was from a stall at the Exeter craft show a few years back......it is coming again in September but I am thinking of giving it a miss as it just seems to be the same old stuff.....afraid it is one of the hazards of living down here on the way to nowhere else because it is a long way for a lot of companies to travel to......

Wondering whether to save up the pennies and have a look see at the NEC one coming up anyone any recommendations on that? Is it worth the trek up there and the extra cost for me considering I would most likely stay overnight to make the most of a full day there....any comments gratefully received.

Thanks for looking...........and thanks again for another super sketch.........loved it.

xoxo

It's So Exciting!....but I'm stumped!

I couldn't be more excited if I had won some candy..............and believe me if I ever do I will be so shocked I will no doubt keel over in a dead faint!!! LOL.........anyway.......I am so excited to see one of my cards in Craft Stamper this month in the "Inspired By" section.........hope you have your copy by now....I made a masculine version of the card first which you can see here and because I liked the free ticket stamp so much went on to make this card and decided to send it in....here is the blurb I sent with it that appears in the mag......

"Just wanted to say thanks for the great stamp this month………and thought I would send you one of the projects I did with it. I love collage stamps and drool over quite a few but on a limited budget it is hard to quantify the cost….so I decided to try and work out what it was that I liked so much and then have a go at creating my own with the stamps I already have…….so here is my collage homage to Crafty Individuals. Thanks again……………I can see me using this stamp quite a lot."

Actually I should be doubly thrilled because I also got a mention in the "Design a cover stamp" article..........well I am really.....but also a bit mortified that it was the stitches design that got a mention....It was my least favourite by a mile and it contained no drawing skills whatsoever!!!!.....it was all done digitally.......whilst my other two were hand drawn........I'm not sure if I can show them here though as CS now hold the copyright to all the designs sent in.......it was part of the conditions of entry..........with which I had a bit of bee in my bonnet about.......hey ho......I'm a bit stumped as I really wanted to use my drawing of a fancy bow and a tiger myself.....perhaps if I change them a bit that will get round it?

Love the dragonfly stamp this month by Kay and The Stamp Man and perhaps I'll send in something else soon.....it is very special to see something of your own in print. :)

xoxo

Enjoy Today - Sugar Bowl #13

The Sugar Bowl Challenge sketch this time is by Lilian and it was a pleasure to work with...although I like the look of lots of layers I don't always feel like making them all! LOL......
the please include is to use "Kraft" in your piece.....I loved how this turned out if I do say so myself.

I stamped the bunch of flowers all over a piece of Kraft card with DI TR for the background and wrapped some raffia round the middle.........the piece of DP in the top corner is my own design digital paper (the one I used for my blog background)......the bottom piece of DP is by Deja Views which I also used to make the flower....it is double sided so coordinates well.....

I distressed a couple of petal layers with DI to tie in with the colouring on the image......Yep my stamp arrived day after I ordered it how great is that!!!....masked off the flowers,butterfly and bees and stamped upside down one the right way up.....if you get my drift!........masked the girl and added a stamped background of script by Paperartsy (sub freebie from CS again) in DI TR.....coloured her with pencils and computer generated the word sentiment.

Thanks for looking.......I'm a happy stamper......I wanted that stamp........I needed that stamp!

xoxo

Queen for a Day - Sugar Bowl #12 sketch

Over at The Sugar Bowl the sketch looked inviting so I gave it a go and used the "must include" to have the colours blue & green on your card.
I have gone back to the Gorjuss one and decided to play around a bit.......added a crown and sat her on the fairy kingdom ticket that was the free stamp with CS last month....love that stamp.

Me and bling don't usually go together but if you are going to be "Queen for a Day" then you've got to have it daaaaahlink......also embossed the swirly curls with disco black powder......actually I might put a few more on...not sure........made and inked the flower layers to match in..............and the sentiment was computer generated as I so often do.
Thanks for looking.....enjoyed the sketch by Lia........Oh! Nearly forgot to mention......there is a chance.........and in my case a very slim one!........of winning the upcoming new release stamps from Duda Daze. at the Sweet Shop..........have not seen any peeks yet but she does have some great art work in her Etsy shop (love the frogs)......Happy stamping.

xoxo

As easy as "ABCDE"

This is the ATC I made for my first swap over at The Artist Trading Club. I hope everyone has received theirs now that I am posting this............mine arrived Saturday :) The theme was to include "ABCDE"......some included this all on the one ATC whilst others obviously made 5 different ones with one letter on each.........I have to say I find it challenging enough to make one design and re-create it 5 times.......never mind make 5 different ones!!.......................... Congrats to those who can.

I have included two shots as I wanted to try to convey the interference effect on the Paperartsy man..............this was stamped with black Versafine and then painted over with oyster H2O's...........I know this stuff will probably last ages but what happens when I run out?.....Panic!.....as they are going ,or have gone, out of business!!.......The red background was stamped with cranberry Adirondack and painted out with water and the butterfly/moth (not sure which!) was a mixture of DI and chalk on the wings with Adirondack acrylic - cranberry for the body. The old fashioned "Time Book" paper was a free download from Tim Holtz a couple of years ago........it was available as a workshop project sheet........not that there was any possibility of me going as it was in America........but hey! It was a freebie!!! Came in useful at last for this and I added the computer generated wording..............distressed a bit round the edges with DI walnut Stain......By the way............I kept this one as I had got a stain right in the middle of his eyebrows!!!

Here are the four great ATC's I received on Saturday

Chris Rollins

Love the image and stamping that has all been done on glossy card. Chris explains more about it on her blog.

Denise Long (sorry Denise..........don't know your blog link)

Love the background......I am presuming alcohol inks but I might be wrong........and to me it looks as if the moon is peeping out from a cloudy/misty night sky. Perhaps Oliver Reed is about to make an appearance as the "Werewolf"? Sorry..........I do have vivid dreams. LOL

Jaci Wright

Super six pack!! Just a hint of sparkle and I love the quotation "I don't care much for reality... I prefer art."........How true.......reality sucks!

Chris Rowe

Fantastic background..........again with Alcohol inks and I love that eye.....I can imagine almost anything looking at that!........also love the little white dots......just adds to the whole effect.

I adore each and every one and now that I have a little collection started I am going to have to make something special to keep these in.

xoxo