Food Festival

Today there is no garden watch!

It's Sunday and the man who can does not work.......he deserves the days off 'cos whilst he is here he certainly grafts.....I can recommend him if you are looking for a landscaper in the Torbay area :)

So today I'm sharing my day at the Dartmouth Food Festival.

Across the river to Dartmouth....such great weather.

Coming into the landing stage for the passenger ferry.

First stop for coffee at our favourite coffee stop.
Great food stalls but some sections were given too little room and the paying public could not get close to sample, enjoy and purchase :(

Now.........you can't go to a food festival and not be festive can you?

So here are some of the delights on offer :))))

Cookery demo.

You can see that it was a given that the diet was ditched for the day!!!

I broke it and just had to have potato wedges with chilli dip for lunch....OMG it was divine! :)

Lets not mention all the glasses of wine we had shall we?!!! HOL

xoxo Sioux

Garden Watch - Day 5

The end of day 5 saw the garden looking like this.

The upper patio containing wall is now just to the level the paving will sit....

As it's Saturday and the man who can is not here today (I'm blogging a day behind anyway)...
..the next instalment  should be on Tuesday.....that is as long as the weather keeps being kind :)

Unfortuantely Monday looks like it could be a bit of a stinker here!!!

xoxo Sioux

Garden Watch - Day 4

Hi folks!

Reporting on Day 4....I know it's not as exciting as Autumn Watch on the BBC....but it's very exciting to me ;)

Day 4 saw delivery of even more bricks, sand and cement...

yet more digging out...this time to prepare to build a small wall from reclaimed rocks to contain the wild end of the garden a little bit ;)...

and the start of the brick laying :)

I can appreciate how people must feel who are able to have their own house built.

...don't you just love Kevin McCloud and Grand Designs?

My project is very small in the great scheme of things...

....but oooh! The thrill of seeing those walls begin to take shape!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Please see my other post today for the link to my piece on The Artistic Stamper.

Follow 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

Garden Watch - Day 3

Today more pick-axing required to finish the trickier sections of the footings!

All of the concrete poured for the footings...

and the bricks that will be used.....:)

I'm after a rustic look to tie in with the already weather worn appearance of the reclaimed paving slabs......I think it will work!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. Come back tomorrow and there will be some craft work for The Artistic Stamper ;)

Garden Watch - Day Two!

Some really heavy work involved today for the man who can!

Breaking up the existing falling down walls and reclaiming the patio slabs.

Digging the footings for new walls.

There is a nip in the air this morning....no frost....we rarely get anything really bad...I know I'm lucky!!! Leaves are still on the trees. Even on a small island like ours the variation in climate can be amazing can't it?

The gas boiler man is here for the annual check but I am still going to refuse to put my heating on till the beginning of November ;)

xoxo Sioux

The Meadow is Gone!

Pip used to mock-laughingly call the back lawn a meadow!

The man who can, started on my back garden and the falling down walls today and the meadow is already gone!

xoxo Sioux

Diet Watch!

It's Monday and I've been on the diet for 2 weeks now.

Last week I lost 1.5 kilo and was 76 kilo.

This week?

I've lost another kilo so now I'm 75 kilo :)

Oh well....that means I've got to soldier on some more as it's still working!!! LOL

I have even managed to stick to the 30 mins walk every day so far...although some days it's been 15 mins and others it's more like 45 mins so it evens out really!!!

I am getting very bored with the protein, I find myself eating more yoghurt than normal (plain vanilla or 0% Greek as you are not allowed fruit not even a fruity yoghurt!) but I like yogurt so that's O.K......anyway, I made a beef bourguignon on Saturday, and I know it's not really allowed, but making a beef bourguignon without using red wine for stock is just not the done thing.
...so I did LOL!!! (I did not have a glass with it though and I did not thicken the gravy!!)

It was scrummy but I did miss not having a jacket potato with it to soak up the lovely juices...I'm not going to be able to eat potato, pasta, rice, bread, or fruit till 14th December........sigh!

I can eat this though ;)

I've eaten more eggs these past two weeks than I usually get through in 6 months!!
One of the things I'm using them for is to make a baked egg custard.....it's allowed! That is as long as you use fully skimmed milk (not quite so yummy) and don't use sugar......I made one without sugar at first, but it was vile, so I bought some Splenda powder. Plenty of nutmeg grated on makes is passable but oooh! I'd much rather have a crème caramel/crème brûlée made with proper whole milk, a touch of cream and that little sweet kick on the bottom/top LOL ;)

xoxo Sioux

Gothic Fly with Me

I've made a gothic arch tag for Hels Sunday Stamper this week.

It' a colour theme to use blue and orange.

Here is mine.

Bit of masking to achieve the effect background stamped with a script from The Artistic Stamper and background coloured with DI's rusty hinge, spiced marmalade, vintage photo.

Arch from AS again stamped in Adirondack eggplant and watercoloured a little.....because it's not Distress the inks separate out a bit but it's good 'cos it's got a blue tinge to it ;)

T!m raven/crow sits on the T!m hand coloured a spooky shade of green!

Which is a bit the way I was feeling yesterday at work.....me not likey having the flu jab on Tuesday for the first time ever....felt like I was on the verge of sickening for a cold!!!
Today I feel heaps better....thank goodness.

Hey, suppose it's better than getting the flu! LOL

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

Pickled Onion Overdose!

Is it possible to overdose on pickled onions?

If it is then I am definitely in the running! LOL

One of the things allowed on the Dukan diet even when you are on your protein only days is onions.....strange but true.....added to which you can have the usual salt, pepper, mustard and seasonings including vinegar........well it's fine by me.....I like pickled onions but I don't usually eat a jar and half every week.....a jar usually lasts me a good month, often much longer!!!

How come I have been happily eating my yogurt and raspberries every morning.....perhaps a sandwich for lunch......a jacket potato and chili or red pepper pasta for evening meal (all without anything high calories like butter I might add) and not thinking once about eating between meals?

Now I can't seem to think of anything else but what I can eat next that is not protein!!! HOL

Hence the overdosing on pickled onions!

I'm taking a multi vitamin to be on the safe side whilst I'm on this diet.....it does not sit very comfortably with me but needs must :(
As long as I keep loosing weight.....and I know it's early days but it is working.....I'll persevere but as soon as it stops working and my weight stays static.....I'm back to eating the stuff I enjoy that kept me at a static weight for the past 8 weeks!!!! LOL

xoxo Sioux

Shine On...

Seems appropriate to post my tag for the "Whole of the Moon" theme at Dragons Dream today.....seeing as it's the full moon tonight!! LOL

Only just in time but here it is :)

T!m trees in Distress inks....mask for the moon and weathered wood, scattered straw and wild honey for the sky.....and hints of the same for the moon surface too. T!m birds and Hero Arts sentiment in black soot.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

Top of the World for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a journal page 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

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 :)

I'd kill for a Raspberry!

Mmmm! Strange title you might think......but if you had been on the Dukan diet since Monday 3rd October you may very well feel the same!!!! Actually technically speaking I did not start it until Tuesday as I had some stuff that needed eating in the fridge and that something was tuna with cannelloni beans (the beans are a no no! Why? I love em!) LOL

That's not quite a week yet but I had a burning desire for some raspberries on Wednesday!

To put it into context....I eat raspberries every morning with my Greek yogurt (give or take the odd day when I run out or they have taken on a bit of a bloom that could induce botulism if eaten HOL ;) ) and you are not allowed to have fruit until you reach your "Consolidation" stage...and for me that is not going to be till 14th December in theory.....but quite frankly I can't see me keeping this up for that long!

To make it even harder the first 3 days when I was on the "Attack" phase is all about protein and I'm not a great protein eater at the best of times :(

Thank goodness you are allowed low fat yogurt I say!

Anyway I thought I'd share this with you fabulous people and then perhaps I can not back down till it actually starts working!!! HOL

I have to tell you I stuck to it to the letter on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and come Friday I was allowed to start adding vegetables....way hey!!! I can't begin to describe how I looked forward to the home made veg soup I had prepared for my lunch that day :)))))

SCRUMMY!

Unfortunately it was a night out with the girls on Friday too but I had steak and salad so that was fine......the 5 (or was it 6!) gin and slimline tonics?

Well you've guessed....they are not allowed on the Dukan diet!!!

Hey life is short.....I don't go out that often......

but I weighed myself this morning..............I only usually do it once a week as it has become a bit depressing since the trip to Paris as I have not lost a single pound! True, I have not gained a single pound either but that's not the point. I need to loose some more weight or when I'm called back to the docs for a check up with the type 2 diabetes thing they are going to think I'm not trying!!

.....yes I weighed myself on Monday and I was 77.5 kilo still.....this morning I was 76 kilo :) so something has kick started the weight loss again....even with the G and T's.......phew!!

I'm off to watch Strictly.......no Cava for me tonight....just soda water, more ruddy protein and some yogurt to make me feel better :)

xoxo Sioux

Life Thoughts 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

AKA Mr Mojo!

Hiya all!

It's been a glorious weekend here weather wise....hope you have had some of the same :)

It really is the start of the countdown to Christmas with Strictly back on our screens and I had a little wager and am quite pleased that I managed to get 25/1 on Russel Grant before the odds went down to 20/1! Now I'm not a fan of RG but I feel he is so enthusiastic about being there and learning to dance it just might see him through ;) Who knows? But at least it will add a little spice to watching the show! LOL

I could not go to bed tonight without finishing this page in my A5 journal to enter into this weeks Sunday Stamper from Hels.

The theme Hels chose is Mr Mojo...or lack of!! What a fickle partner he is!!! LOL

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.....hopefully with Mr Mojo in tow. :)
EDIT...EDIT...EDIT...
It seems I had not quite finished after all!!!
Had to add to it this morning with another Elvis song that woke me up in the middle of the night!!! ?
Heaven help me LOL

xoxo Sioux

Imagine Journal for The Artistic Stamper

It was nice to see all the numbered creations for last months challenge, all were different, but all so arty :)

How do you feel about this one then?

"Autumn Colours"

Yes it's a colour challenge for October over at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team ;)
and additionally the design team have been requested to use some of the fabulous stamps newly released by Jennie.
And what do you know? These beauties have 25% off this month :)
I am very fond of the Autumn season especially when the sun shines and makes the changing colours come alive.

I made a little (4x4) journal to keep my 4x4's in! LOL
First I cut two square pieces of thick grey board (chipboard) 4⅜ by 4⅜ inches and then two square pieces of sticky back canvas approx. half inch bigger all round.

I coloured the canvas by squirting some home made Distress spritz that I made by using a mini-mister with one full dropper of Distress re-inker and filling with water in barn door, dried marigold, dusty concord and peeled paint.......then I gave it a good old squirt of Perfect Pearls mists heirloom gold....when it was dry I fixed it to the covers.
Because I "needed" ;) to experiment with my new Distress Stain picket fence I gave the back cover a coating of this to see what difference it would make.
I took the new large dotty open background stamp and without attaching it to an acrylic block it was inked up with Archival sepia and stamped on the covers. A couple of stampings with the large ink splat from the A4 sized swirls,splats and dots plate in Archival black made me happy too.

The "Imagine" title was stamped in Archival black onto Ranger gloss paper that had been coloured with Alcohol Inks in purple twilight, terra cotta, pesto and copper mixative......with enamel accents added for the shiny black dots.....to give it a bit of dimension I glued it to some grey board, cut out and edged with gold marker......lastly layered onto a piece of white card edged with black marker.
NOTE TO SELF.....because it's a shiny surface the dots seem to have spread a bit and are not as pert as they usually are on normal paper! LOL

I then made some end papers to finish off the insides and swooshed my paper through a mix of the same Distress ink sprays that had been spritzed with the Perfect Pearls spray to dilute on the craft mat.
When it was dry I stamped the new mini polka dot background in Archival coffee and edged all round with some tissue tape before attaching it to the inside of the covers.

The inside pages are cut 4 x 4⅜ to take into account the bit at the edge you loose where the book is bound.
As this is a work in progress I have chosen to keep it simple with two rings that I can easily keep adding pages too ;)
Two metal corners were added on the front and...............I tried and tried to get a good pic of the scrummy shimmeriness on the cover and was about to give up when the sun began to shine just right ;)....hope you can see it too!

You really must take a look at the "Autumn Colours" creations the rest of the team have made and here are the DT member links for you.

Alison, Hels, Jennie, Kat, Minxy Tina and our brand new teamie
Emma at That's Life
Big wave to Emma ;)

So don't forget.............the monthly challenge is "Autumn 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, mini journal book ;)... 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 October 31st and the winner will be chosen by Random.org shortly after :)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping

xoxo Sioux

Amazing!

The other week I went to an art exhibition held at Torre Abbey in Torquay.

"Death and the Maiden" showing works by the late Robert Lenkiewicz......to say he was eccentric is probably putting it mildly! There is a real embalmed body on display...that of Diogenes....a tramp that was one of the painters muses.

Now I find some of his paintings hauntingly beautiful but none of the ones I like were on display and quite frankly the body was not art to me....but.....but.....

The entrance ticket included looking around the rest of the permanent art, ruins and gardens which was great as I had never visited before......how sad when it's on my doorstep!

The most amazing thing was that I saw a painting by a pre Raphalite who I greatly admire

William Holman Hunt

Yes I could not believe it! The real deal right in front of me....it made my day! :)

See you Saturday for an Artistic Stamper piece for the October monthly challenge.

xoxo Sioux

High Life tag

A little tag for Dragons Dream Tag it on with the theme of mother and using embroidery this week.

T!m sewing pattern lady coloured with (very watery) neo colour....wording done on the computer and sewn on with red thread.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

LIM Sketch

Had to play with a bit of my stash from yesterday and join in again with Less is More who have a sketch challenge this week.

Inkylicious Julianna stamped in versafine....lips coloured with Distress worn lipstick and Victorian velvet.

Hero Arts sentiment stamped with Cat's Eye chianti.

Thanks for looking
Must dash need to plant my garlic....bought yesterday at the garden centre.

xoxo Sioux

On with the show this is it!

I've been to the Exeter Westpoint Creative Stiches and Hobbycraft show today with my talented friend Sue (yes yet another Sue! LOL)

We had a fab time wending our way around exhibitors stalls......and a nice variety of things to see for a change....not too much of one thing....although there were to be fair quite a number of knitting and wool stalls to choose from! LOL

Sue's passion for all things material and yarn was catered for and mine for inkyness was too.

Now.......would you like to see my show stash?

Well of course you would.....who does not like a nosey? HOL ;)

Spent far more than I had intended (don't we always!) but hey........you can't take it with you and my fixed rate mortgage comes to an end real soon and the fab news is I'm going to be that little bit better off each month! Things are looking up ;)

My most prized buy was the Scor-it-all........I saw it and went OOOooooh! really loud as I have been wanting coveting this quality scoring tool since forever.....and this was a bargain believe me. Kraft resist paper from T!m...it's lush.

A foam stamp that spoke to me......something along the lines of buy me, buy me!!! ROFL

Blank card top up for the Xmas card marathon that will have to start soon. Some masks which were another show bargain, ink refills and pad and my first ever Distress stain.
The new 7 Gypsies rulers....now they are fabby!
And last but not least a couple of sets of stamps from Inkylicious....who kept my friend enthralled with a stamping demo whilst I did some retail therapy on the stall! LOL

Finished the day on the way home with coffee and cake at the garden centre just down the road.

I hope to get some play time tomorrow.

TTFN

xoxo Sioux

Art card for Less is More

I confess the concept of less is more does not come easy to me! LOL

I made this for the challenge over at Less is More where it's anything goes this week (and they are trying to get to 1000 entries wow!)

Used T!m wings - Artistic Stamper Art and crown - Papertrey sentiment

Inks - Distress old paper, pumice stone and wild honey....Archival black

Thanks for looking and happy stamping!

xoxo Sioux

Keep Calm! for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a tag 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

Fashion Icon

A tag for the challenge at Dragons Dream Tag it On this week with the theme

Dedicated Follower of Fashion

I find it fascinating that......after I had finished the tag and just wanted to add some words from the song in my own writing down the side......I googled the lyrics and spookily I had included elements of them in the design!!! I swear to God that I only knew the words to the repeating chorus and could not sing the rest of it if my life depended on it! LOL

(there are an awful lot of verses by the way).....I wrote

"One week he's in Polka-Dots, The next he is in Stripes!

'Cos he's a dedicated follower of fashion."

The fab graph paper background is one of the new ones at The Artistic Stamper in archival chrome yellow...birds and umbrella man from the small acrylics in the QVC TSV...I stamped the umbrella from my other larger acrylic man, cut out and added some polka dots....base tag coloured with DI faded jeans, old paper and brushed corduroy.

Ribbon was white and coloured with fired brick.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping :)

xoxo Sioux

Bird Art for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a 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

Aslan Awaits for The Artistic Stamper

I'm sharing a journal page 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

Lucky Numbers!

Another month another challenge at The Artistic Stamper :)
This time I got to choose the theme.....yay! So I chose

"Lucky Numbers"

Why not join us for the September challenge over at The Artistic Stamper Creative Team ;)

This month the team are additionally being asked to use T!ms tissue tape in our work...and you've guessed it! It's on special offer this month too......I love special offers don't you? ;)

So I decided to cover a chipboard frame that I would never have used in a month of Sunday's as it was a funny green colour!!!
What possessed me to buy the stuff in the first place is beyond me!! HOL

Anyway now it fits perfectly into my collage type layout on the card :)

I stamped the golfing man from the Men's Plate in Archival black and coloured him with Distress vintage photo, aged mahogany and antique linen before attaching him to the back of the frame.
The small bingo card is stamped in Archival sepia and aged a bit with Distress vintage photo on the tattered edges.

The fandabby dossie large Happy stamp from the new Journalling Words set was Archival again and the numbers were added in Distress aged mahogany as was the vintage stamp from Airmail bird collage elements.

Just to finish it off I drew the corner lines with a Sharpie pen and circled the number 50 on the bingo card too for good luck ;)
Oh!......and I aged the card base itself with a touch of antique linen.

Head over and take a look at the "Lucky Number" creations the rest of the team have made and here are the DT member links for you.

Alison, Hels, Jennie, Kat, Minxy and Tina

So don't forget.............the monthly challenge is "Lucky Numbers" and you just might be the lucky one this month if you follow these few simple rules.....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 of NUMBERS... 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 September 30th and the winner will be chosen by Random.org shortly after :)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping

xoxo Sioux

P.S. I've got on-going blog candy here....be quick entries close 17:00 GMT this Sunday 4th September.