My designs spotted in cyber space!

I'm rather preoccupied at the moment...so sorry for the lack of creations and blogging but what a thrill to see other stampers using my rubber designs!

Here are a few links to some gorgeous creations.

....thanks for wanting to create with them everyone :)

Anesha

Hels
Jennie
Craftytrog
Helen

Dance stamps available here from The Artistic Stamper :)

And one of my own favourite journal pages using the dancer.

xoxo Sioux

Dream Lover Additions

Soooo......I liked the Dream Lover sketch of a face I did so much...

...that I decided to have a bash at carving a stamp based on it.

I'm rather pleased with it ;)

Looks proper lino sketchy doncha fink? LOL

I purposely omitted the pupils so that in future I can have her looking any which way LOL

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Come back tomorrow for my second piece for The Artistic Stamper this month and yet another chance to win some rubber ;)

A bit of Arty DIY!

My wardrobes have been bugging me ever since we got them!!!

You have to open one door in order to open the other door and as there are no handles on the mirror door you obviously get finger prints all the time and I hate housework enough...

...I certainly don't want to be doing extra for no good reason!!! A domestic Goddess I am not LOL

I suddenly had this eureka moment and made some "door handles" this weekend.

I cut two labels from grungeboard and added the little key hole die cut out too so that it is easier to grip.

Painted them on both sides with Adirondack juniper paint dabber to match my curtains ;)

Stamped my Dance dictionary background in Archival coffee on both sides.

Edged both sides with gold paint dabber and screwed them to the doors!

'Tis a small detail but you can't begin to imagine how happy it made me!!! ROFL

Result :)
Thanks for looking....see...... we girls can do DIY too ;)

xoxo Sioux

T!mtastic Hallowe'en

Yeh! It's back.......Grungy Monday that is :))))))
Here is my piece for Grungy Monday No 22 hosted by Linda at Studio L3.

This week the challenge is A Holtz-ian Hallowe'en.
I'm so glad I can join in this week......I love a bit of the dark side!! ;)
Whooooa (said with a spooky accent LOL)
I believe T!m's skelibob helped me win The Stamper of the Year title back in December 2009 ;) so I revisited the theme using the dancer again....only this time I did not have to draw it from scratch as it's now a stamp!!!! How cool ;)

At the time I could not get the skeleton for love nor money anywhere in the UK so I had to order it from Simon Says who came up trumps......I was very panicky in case it did not arrive in time for me to finish the piece (it had taken me a couple of years to pluck up the courage to enter!).....but luckily it did and the rest is history as they say!
Little did I know that 5 months later my DH would pass away.
....my tag says "Is this my beginning or is this the end?".....these are issues I'm still working on!

Thanks for the inspiration T!m........I could not have done it without you ;)

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

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. The link to my stamp sets are in the side bar if you are interested.
I'm sharing a piece for The Artistic Stamper tomorrow...so do come back and take a look :)

Carved stamp

Remember the green stuff from the other day?

I have managed to carve my very first stamp!

It is really easy to do the carving....it cuts like butter ;)

I don't think there is much chance of slicing my fingers off!!!

Whoops.........could be famous last words! HOL

Not bad for a first attempt I think.

Thanks for looking.........happy carving!! :)

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Come back tomorrow and there just might be a little surprise ;)

My Pass it Forward piece for WOYWW

My Pass it Forward WOYWW celebration piece has made it all the way to Elizabeth :)
How very spooky that it was an Elizabeth (Liz) who gave me a Pif gift....my Pif gift was sent to an Elizabeth and believe it or not my Mum wanted to call me Elizabeth but I ended up as a Susan!!!
(Does anyone know why there were so many Susan's in the 50's by the way?)

Anyways....I can reveal my Pif now....
...I could not stop myself and just had to make something with my Dance stamp designs for The Artistic Stamper ;) and a few other favourites too ;)

I aged the base tag with antique linen and scattered straw and added some extra wild honey dark spots with an inked dried up baby wipe.

Then added a little bit of stamping in aged mahogany with the very tiny grungy stamp from the mini set that was in the T!m TSV on QVC a good few weeks ago.
...love those speckles ;)

The tag is made from mount board and I'm making a little how to on the making of the tag shape for a future post ;)

Then stamped the Dance dictionary background with weathered wood.
Stamped T!m's corner flourish and crosses in aged mahogany.
The mount board had some printed numbers already on the bottom.....so to make a better background for my sentiment I dragged a bit of gold paint dabber over the area before stamping "Light you own Fire! in Archival black.

The crown is one of the lovely new ones on Crowning Glory from The Artistic Stamper...I stamped it onto some tomato paste tube metal in StazOn and molded it a bit with tools.
The WOYWW letters are stamped onto some grunge board that had the crackle glaze biz done to it using Paperartsy fresco finish acrylics....rusty rose as the first coat and snowflake as the top coat...and then the T!m metal stencil letters were inked through with black soot.....stamped onto more of the same with the month and date using T!ms month stamps and a Papertrey Ink number.
OOOH! I just love that crackle! ;)

My Dancer was stamped onto grunge paper using the outline version on the set and cut out....then I got out the distress embossing powder in tattered rose but....well.....I don't know about you but distress embossing never seems to be quite...well...
...just not distressed enough to me!!! LOL
So I do something that I don't believe T!m has ever suggested doing!!!

....I double or even sometimes triple emboss with it....yep I know it is not what everyone says but I like the effect it gives....it works particularly well when covering large areas like the dancer image....sometimes if you heat it for too long it can take on a shiny look in little areas but that too is not a bad thing and adds to the whole look....again it is just what pleases you.
...I can tell you it pleases me! ;)
....I would warn that it can use quite a bit of powder though.....
I used the crackled wings from the same dancer plate stamped in black onto grunge paper and embossed with Ranger holographic powder....love that stuff ;)



So that was my Pass it Forward art and I can tell you I liked making it a lot even if it did take me weeks to finish due to lack of motivation here!!! LOL

Oh! Nearly forgot...I gave the back a little decoration too.
...mainly because I accidentally got a splodge or two of snowflake paint on it!!! HOL

Typed up the wording on the old computer and die cut it with a Papertrey Ink mat stack 3 die.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!
xoxo Sioux

Monochrome Plus One Challenge for The Artistic Stamper

It was nice to see all the "Lovely Ladies and Gorgeous Girls" created for last months challenge, some were vintage, some cute, some arty :)
So..... how do you feel about this one then?

"Monochrome plus one other colour"

Yes it's a colour combo challenge for June over at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team ;)
As soon as I see that particular combo prompt I have to force myself not to add red every time!!
Hey! I could not help myself! LOL

I started by stamping a variety of backgrounds in different colours of Archival.
....I used black, crimson and coffee.....at this point I did not know what direction my piece was going to take!

Anyway........after I decided on the red option ;)
I used the houndstooth background stamped in Archival crimson as the first layer
(I used second stamping 'cos I did not want it too in your face!)
The next layer uses two different papers the dots background simply stamped in black and the baroque background stamped in crimson and then coloured over with Distress Ink aged mahogany.
...so elegant don't you think?
The dancer was stamped in black and I then cut just a portion of the image out using a scalpel knife.
...it works best for this...I find I end up creasing the card as I cut if I use scissors!
All of these layers were matted onto white card that had been coloured with Distress Ink black soot and attached with double sided tape....adding a bit of red ribbon to disguise the join where the two papers meet and a decorative brad.
The rosette....
.....ah! Yes...I have succumbed and bought both the original large rosette and the new die that cuts two smaller ones!...
....is using the smallest rosette from the mini rosette die with the large rosette middle on top stamped in Distress Ink aged mahogany and coloured with the same.

I had a happy accident with the rosette as I had cut it out of some decorative paper but when I put it against the layers it was glaringly miss matched.....I was so miffed I sort of threw the rosette back on the desk and it landed upside down.......wow! I really liked the way the score marks show up on the white and to help it blend in a bit more I added a bit of aged mahogany to the edges :)) It's a small thing but it made me happy!

Oh! By the way I am soooo looking forward to adding some of the new colours of Archival to my stash 'cos I like the effect of stamping in Archival and then colouring over with Distress or Adirondack dye inks ;)
Here are a few combo's I played with...

...Adirondacks pool and sunset orange...Distress walnut stain, faded jeans, wild honey, shabby shutters and brushed corduroy.
I like subtle tone on tone ones the best and I've taken a picture to compare the difference between stamping with Archival and then colouring over and colouring then stamping with Archival.....I hope you can clearly see that the Archival first gives a more blended look and the Archival on top (the larger sample) a more defined look to the pattern.
......which ever way you want it I think it looks fabby :)

...................

 

Make sure to take a look at the "Monochrome plus one other colour" creations the rest of the team have made and here are the DT member links for you.

Alison, Hels, Jennie, Minxy and Tina

So don't forget.............the monthly challenge is "Monochrome plus one other colour"

The rules are simple... all you need to do is make a piece of art, be it a card, ATC, wall art, altered art, scrapling ;)... 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 June 30th and the winner will be chosen by Random.org shortly after :)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping

xoxo Sioux

Dance to the Music of Time for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a tag 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 ;)
You never know you just might get lucky with this one today!
Thanks