Celebrate ATC for Joan Gevaert

I made this ATC as a small thank you to Joan Gevaert who donated the twinchie stamps that I won over at The Artist Trading Club recently....and I had a lovely comment from Hermine who is the stamp designer that I very much appreciated....It makes you feel all warm inside!

You know I mentioned before about having a really bad aversion to ripping up books? Well....I bought a paperback the other day (one that held no desire for me to read!!) that had a naturally aged patina to the pages and am using them now...phew and only 30p...bargain!!! LOL

...now that I have started stamping on pages there will be no stopping me...so I am entering this into the Lots To Do challenge this week which is backgrounds.

Glued a piece of book page to the card and let dry.......then put sellotape where the stamp was going to go and ripped it back off to take away some of the top layer just like T!m did on one of the 12 tags of Christmas posts.....stamped the twinchie stamp in Impress chocolate and a Paperartsy border stamp on three edges in archival......the Paperartsy word "Joy" was distress embossed in tattered rose over worn lipstick ink...cut out and edged with black marker...a mixture of tea dye and walnut stain used to age the edges.

.....do you see the brads in the corner?

...these are not just any old brads!

...these are genuine antique brads!

.....over 50 years old at least to my knowledge (and the rest I suspect)....as you can read on the label these are from the days when they used to be called paper fasteners!!...I only have a small supply in this old tin box that I inherited from my father so they are very precious.....they have a colour and quality you just don't get today and the paperclip (bit on the rusty side LOL) was from the same source......Gorgeous!!
Thanks for looking and happy stamping.
xoxo Sioux

P.S. Anyone know what the copper medallion was for? It reads Accrington Corporation with the number 288 and is plain on the back.

SCD - Mad March Hare

What a fab lot of creations from the DT this week for the start of a new month focusing on ATC's over at SCD with the theme this week being Mad March Hare set by Laura.....and what's that I see? Chriss from the Artist Trading Club is guest designer....go over and take a look.

I could not wait to get my thinking cap on and here is the result.

I googled the knave of hearts and found the old playing card image on Wikipedia printed it out and stuck it to the base card....did the same with the mask....I love Venetian masks don't you?...I also found in my searching that the original mad march hare in Alice in Wonderland was drawn with straw in his hair......it seems it was a Victorian depiction of madness!!

...I've gone mad myself and given the hare points of the compass for eyes!!!...I also embossed the mask although It does not show up well on the photo.....much better irl.

(Tanda Stamps for the compass and the postage stamp)

......the word fragments are part of a phrase from AinW when the hare is at the Mad Hatters tea party......at least I think it is when they are at the tea party!!! LOL

.........crackle painted the larger heart in fired brick and glittered the little heart.

I can't seem to get Alice in Wonderland out of my head at the moment.....have you seen the trailer on my sidebar? I am so looking forward to seeing that film.....looks like a grand grown up version.

Thanks for looking and don't forget.........we are all going to send our ATC's in at the end of the month and get swaps back.....fun...fun...FUN!

xoxo Sioux

P.S. I've at last got round to buying some ATC pockets for protection....got them fromTanda along with the two stamps I used above

...................and they popped two free stamps in with the order isn't that great?!

ATC for Chriss

I've had more than my fair share of luck just lately and Chriss at The Artist Trading Club asked if I would make her a special ATC just for her with one of the twinchie stamps I won

.....I was happy to oblige :)

I clear embossed the sentiment "Dream as if you'll live forever......" onto the base white card then stippled DI's Scattered Straw and Frayed Jeans all over and then blended the colours a bit with a dry baby wipe......stippling seems to give the colours a more muted look in my view.......stamped the twinchie stamp kindly donated by Joan Gevaert in archival and sponged a bit of FJ on the watch and FB on the postage stamp......stamped and embossed the Elusive Images word "ART" in pewter (love that...it looks like liquid metal :)).....the word "make" is Paperartsy coloured with copics...T!m scroll around the edges in WS and the bingo line in Tattered Rose...Artifacts pen stamped onto copper paper and cut out..edges tattered and inked with WS.

I am thrilled that Chriss liked it.....doing a happy dance ;)

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

ATC Sewing

Here is the ATC I made for the Sewing theme over at the Artist Trading Club.....I thought I had posted this ages ago but it seems not!!!

I photocopied an old sewing pattern and reduced it to an ATC friendly size and cut out the sewing diagrams.....now....I can't remember exactly what I did with the background but I know it involved gluing some scrunched up tissue paper onto the base and scattering some distress embossing powder over it for some texture then I stamped a watch face in archival.....alcohol inked two of the buttons in the corner and the sentiment was computer generated and stitched on top of a small sample I had of patchwork quilting material.....I have enough of those small pieces to last 3 life times I think at the rate I am using them HOL!!!

Here are the ones I received in the swap are they not fab?!

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

A Fond Farewell!

No...not from me!

Rach has decided to take a blogging break.....shock horror!!

She seems to indicate it might be some time before she returns too.

Just to say that Rach inspired me to get in touch with my girly side...no mean feat as I am more of the grungey type LOL!....and her card confections are never anything but perfect.....I will miss popping along.

So have happiness in whatever you are doing instead of blogging Rach and thanks for the brilliant inspiration :).......

As sure as eggs is eggs.........if I were to be on a design team.........I think it would kill my creativity stone dead!!!.........I would end up feeling like I had to create instead of wanting to create....This is my way of relaxing not putting extra pressure on myself LOL!.....I don't know if that is how she feels but I understand if it is the case.

xoxo and hugs to Rach

SCD - Gothic Cat

SCD theme this week is Cats I hope this is o.k. nothing was said about how big a cat!! LOL

I am madly in love with Tigers :) and drew the image some time ago (wooo!! that would be about 18 years ago when I used to engrave glass.......time flies when you are having fun!!!) and now I have turned it into a digi stamp thanks to the wonder of computers.

I printed the image and quickly threw some clear emboss powder over it as soon as it came out of the printer!!! Whilst you don't always get the great coverage as with stamping, the heat does help to set the ink that might not have caught much powder.

......proceeded to stipple DI's Scattered Straw and Spiced Marmalade over the tiger and radiated outwards.......then masked the tiger and added some Faded Jeans and Tea Dye in places

........stamped the dark green leaves in DI Pine Needles using a second stamping for the lighter image......stamped the ferns in Shabby Shutters and over stamped with a second stamping of Walnut Stain......grunged the edge and dragged with Walnut Stain.

........I did not feel like doing my normal word fragments for the quote so decided to print it onto acetate.....added eyelets and for now have used fibres to hold the two pieces together...added a couple of gems and gold peel off scrolls.

I rather like the arch format.....thanks for the challenge all at SCD!....and perhaps will use metal rings to hold a whole book full of them in the future.......here is the open arch as it is not obvious about the overlay from the first photo!

The leaf and fern stamps are Royal & Langnickel.

Thanks for looking and happy stamping.

xoxo Sioux

SCD - Gothic Angel

Big fan of angels and any quotes that go with them

........could not miss SCD Angel theme this week then!

Decided to doodle my angel a la Teesha......the background is a digi paper from Rhonna Farrer that was a freebie collaboration for breast cancer awareness one year and I added the angel quote before printing it out........stamped the swirly edge stamp from Woodware and added the angel that I cut out and colored with chalks as I wanted a muted look then Distress Stickles Antique Linen was added to the wings.

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

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

Gothic Arch New Year

Over at SCD it's Gothic arches for the month and this weeks theme is New Year

Here is my offering.

I stippled.......like that word makes a change from swooshing!.......the background using a cheapo shaving brush with DI's Spiced Marmalade and Shabby Shutters then spritzed some copper glimmery mist which miraculously I seem to have captured again on film!! LOL

.....stamped the clock in Impress chocolate.....the sentiment in DI Fired Brick and embossed the chandelier with disco black......dabbed some Adirondack dimensional acrylic in terra cotta onto the scroll and stamped bits near the top and bottom.....tattered the edges with my scissors and used Walnut Stain around the edges..........word fragments stamped onto a piece of same background and edged with DI WS.

Not too sure this is finished quite as I am hoping to join in with a few more Gothic arches this month and depending on how many perhaps turn it into a triptych or a book or maybe this will be the only one in which case it might be the cover of a little journal book.....who knows?!

.........I have such good intentions LOL.

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

P.S. As a bit of fun I've added a vote widget about Distress Ink colour matched ribbons on the side bar.....closes end Jan

Hearts

A Spoon Full of Sugar challenge are asking to see "Hearts" this week.

I couldn't resist using the freebie stamp from Craft Stamper this month designed by Glenda Waterworth from Elusive Images.....it is gorgeous!

Stamped the image 3 times in DI's Scattered Straw, Dusty Concord and Fired Brick.....then masked them and used a T!m script stamp as a background with a gold ink although it does not look much like gold either in real life or on the photo!! LOL

The layer below uses the small flourish stamps on the Dawn Chorus plate from EI stamped in DI's Frayed Burlap, Tea Dye and Tattered Rose....both layers had tea dye sponged edges and Walnut stain to finish........stamped and clear embossed the sentiment and added the ribbons.

Now.........those ribbons......although I was ever so lucky and managed to find some bits I had saved from crackers a few years ago.......the top ribbon is not from the same source and is a different width etc but the colours are pretty good as a match to the inks so I went ahead and used them!

...........Guess what though? I had an idea and decided to e-mail T!m Holtz about it.....do you think I'll get a reply? Perhaps not........he must get hundreds of the darn things! LOL

.......anyways I asked if he could get someone to manufacture gro-grain and satin ribbon in Distress Ink colours.....do you you think you would use them if he did?.......perhaps T!m (being a man) does not think about ribbons much! HOL

I know I could have coloured some plain stuff with the DI's but it was not quite the look I was after.

Off to link it now before I'm too late!

Thanks for looking and happy stamping

xoxo Sioux

Edit: Ooooh! Ooooh! Ooooh! T!m replied.....he said "thanks susan - i'll pass it along."

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.

I believe in Angels

"I believe in Angels" one of my all time favourite ABBA songs!

So I thought I'd play along with the Three Muses challenge this week "Angels" and share a scrapbook page.

There is not one bit of stamping on this as I made it some time ago....I'd need three lifetimes to give scrap booking my undivided attention so needless to say I have not done many pages!!! LOL

The base page is Basic Grey and the music paper is 7 Gypsies both are to die for!! The hearts are padded and use some quilting material.......yes I've dabbled in that too.........the middle heart opens and has some pages of angel quotes inside........the picture is of one of my favourite Christmas decorations bought from Homebase a few years ago....she is gorgeous.....and the Angel wording was designed in my Serif programme and printed onto acetate which I raised up over the real feather that I had found on the ground and was so pristine white it was unreal! It was the starting point for making the layout in the first place as it looked to ethereal.

Thanks for looking.

xoxo Sioux

Copic Colouring Trial and Error!

Trial and error!

Yep......I'm still practising Copic colouring!!!

I'm sure eventually I will get the hang of this..........

I bought some 100lb smooth surface cartridge paper from Winsor & Newton to try and the first attempt (the wishy washy one on the left or is it the right.........never too sure if it's my left or your left or whatever!!! LOL) was stamped with an Archival black pad that could do with a re-inker...must find one of those on the net!...and as you can see there is no definition I tried going back and adding a bit of black lines over the top but everything slowly merged together wishy washy like!!........I suppose at some point it might just be the effect I want..but not on this....strangely the watercolour paper I tried the other day does not bleed the colours like this

....I would have thought it might!!

Not to be defeated I tried stamping with another black ink pad and clear embossing the image...then tried colouring and have to say it looks 100% better........still not blended quite as I would like but hey it is only the 3rd thing I've coloured in!!! LOL :)

Thanks for looking

xoxo Sioux

P.S. My northern friend Gez advised to try bright white coated card stock but that is easier said than done obtaining any round here!! LOL

WOYWW?

Or should that be Who's On Your Workdesk Wednesday?

Fitz has taken to sleeping in here lately if I forget to close the doors.

.....I've been using it for about 18 months now and he has never even thought of jumping up on the desk never mind sleeping in there!

Maybe it is his age? I forget he is going on 14 now.......not sure of his exact age as the rescue centre only guessed he was around 3 or 4 when we got him....do cats have senility problems?...Our first cat lived to be nearly 19 and was active until near the very end.

xoxo Sioux

P.S. What do you know? My link within widget is working again!!! I have installed and un-installed it more than once but tried it again yesterday and seems to be back after each post!!! Technology?!!! LOL

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

We have winners!

Just a quickie!

Great news!

T!m decided to give away more than one main prize for the 12 tags of Christmas

...such a generous guy!

What do you know? Gail on the splinter group was one of those lucky people!

Huge congrats :)

What's more Katie, Joanne and Helen won some candy over at The Artistic Stamper too!

Huge congrats :0)

xoxo Sioux