ABC at SCD!

Last weeks metal theme got away from me so am pleased to be joining in this week at SCD where the theme is ABC

Background inked with DI SS and over stamped with TD.........Impress ink "chocolate" used to over stamp again with the Langnickel Abc and the PA numbers stamps........hand wrote alpha numeric and faux stitched with a copper pen and pricking around the edges......

and honest it is moo size.........the terracotta jug propping up the moo is a miniature only 3.5cm tall!!!
Thanks for looking.
xoxo Sioux

Skull Sir?

I thought popped in my brain........as it does!....Well it does when I am not having a dry spell!!!......and now I can play along with the TGIF challenge this week which is "Skulls"..............

so, if you are of a nervous disposition........I'd look away now! LOL

Stamps on my ATC are Paperartsy and an oldie post card from my Royal Langnickel set......Skull from a Wikipedia file layered on top of the PA man.........hat cut from a vintage image of a circus poster........background various inks and shimmer spray...sorry made it a while back and can't remember what I used exactly! Wording from my computer and inked with DI SM and WS.

Thanks for the skull theme Sandie and thanks for looking......xoxo Sioux

Never Ending Circles

Over at SCD this week the theme is Circles in conjunction with the monthly moo challenge.........

I must have taken at least 20 shots of this moo before I got something that was in focus and looked "almost" as it does in real life!!........

It's a darn good job I don't have to pay for developing costs these days!!! LOL

I drew the digital "Mystic-Magical-Mystery" circle stamp you can see in the background using my Serif programme and printed it off using another digital image of one of my own tactile inked backgrounds...added a piece of stamped acetate with part of a clock showing.....cut out the butterflies and added a bit of stickles.....hand wrote "never ending story" down the side and aged the edges with DI WS.

Oh yes..........and the circle of yellow is a bit of chipboard covered with Adirondack acrylic.

Thanks for looking.........xoxo Sioux

Think My Moo's is Recovering!

Over at Something Completely Different this week the monthly challenge is to make Moo's whilst this weeks theme is the colour combo Black & Gold.

Since the make a moo challenge site stopped I have not made a single one........I am not an addict of them but find it interesting/frustrating to fit all I want to on such a small size!!! LOL

The sunburst lines are from a very large Inkadinkadoo Nativity stamp that was a RAK from Laura.......along with a variety of other goodies that has kick started the old muse................

Thanks again Laura :).........the word fly and the birdcage stamp images are the best bargain I have had in a long time....£1.49.........and there was another image on the sheet as well........thanks We are Memory Keepers........the bird is a free image from The Vintage Moth so thanks to Abbie.

The gold embossing does not seem to be showing up as much as I would like but hey ho! We can't have everything!

Thanks for looking

xoxo

To Thine Own Self Be True

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel but, being in,
Bear't that th' opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgement.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!
William Shakespeare - Hamlet Act 1 Scene iii

I am pondering.......I love that word in fact I like it so much I will say it again!....I am pondering the reason for my blog. I started out with the intent just to record what I have made and quite frankly did not comprehend the interaction that might follow........then I discovered Challenges!!.......the source of inspiration is amazing and I was caught up in a frenzy of "challengitis"......

so many blogs to visit so many people who deserve a comment.........

so many things to make..............

so little time to devote to making them......

as Mr Micawber said "result misery!".......

and burn out......which is what I think I am suffering from at the moment.

I came across the quote above the other day and was reading it whilst subconsciously thinking about blogging and it seemed to me that old Will could have been writing about blogging, challenges, commenting and the rest!!!

Is it me and my imagination........which can get the better of me LOL.............or can you see a connection in there too?

Imaginatively yours

Sioux

xoxo

Birthday - Stamp with Fun

The challenge theme this week at Stamp with Fun is birthday! So it's a birthday project on show today for me!
This was for a friends birthday and I can now post it as she has received it :)

I made the card using my own design digital papers and my Fitz digi stamp.....I made up a template for the box to fit 3 "Thorntons Chocolate Blocks".......it should have been for 4 blocks but afraid DH lost the plot in the shop and only came out with 3! LOL......The edge was punched with a Fiskars border punch......it's the only one I have but they are easy to use and I'd definitely have more if the old piggy bank would let me!!.....The papers were stamped on the edge with that little dotty border again too.The inside was decorated with more of the same papers and I stamped one of the Elusive Images sentiments from my lucky lucky win that is available at Graphicus on the pink heart paper.....I think you may have to enlarge the picture to read what it says..........The sunflower on the front uses the same template I designed for a poinsettia on this card........can't believe how different it looks inked with DI SM! LOL

Thanks for looking......happy stamping!
xoxo

Three Musketeers

I am not playing with anything at the moment........but thought I had better post something just to keep those who do visit interested!!!
This is a digital scrapbook page I did a while ago.....it features my Dad - John Whittaker (he is the one with a cigarette in his hand) and two of his friends that were so inseparable they were nick named the Three Musketeers......the one in the middle I knew as Uncle Sam (Sam Price) - even though he was not really my Uncle!........and I am afraid I do not know the name of the other chap on the end..........They were from Accrington in Lancashire so someone might recognise him perhaps......my dad would have been about 94 if he was still alive.......just as an after thought.....NO I am not that old please don't knock 20 years off and say that was when I was born!!!!!! LOL.........my mum & dad had me late in life. My Dad has been dead for 40 years but there is not a day goes by when I don't still think about him........just looking at the flowers or trees or grass or weeds brings him back as he was a gardener you see.

I am only guessing that this was taken in 1933 when they were about 18.....it could be a couple of years later......don't they look much older with the 3 piece suits? Everytime I look at this I can't help wondering if there isn't a bit of Greek somewhere in my Dad's distant gene pool.......he just seems to look a bit Greek to me!!!!!!!! LOL

Digi Elements Used; http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/ Antiquing Pack Created by Lauren Bavin: Victorian Edge Overlay Created by Suzanne C. Walker: Fall Date and Detail Chips Created by Jamie Rousselle: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/ World Traveller by Sande Krieger

Postcard back and wording my own design.

Thanks for looking.

Glass Half Full?

Inspired by the Sea and Two Colour Harmony - Graphicus July Challenge

I am usually a glass half full sort of person but for a number of reasons I am having a glass half empty period! LOL........Yes I can still laugh!!!!

So this sentiment from the Loving Sentiments set at Elusive Images that Glenda kindly gave away and I was mighty lucky to win suited my mood.....I am grateful to have come up with any idea at all for this months challenge at the Graphicus blog and it sort of evolved from the Distress Inks that I plonked on the mat and swirled around a bit!

The Faded Jeans and Shabby Shutters mixed together in one spot and formed the yellowish colour up in the corner that in the end I decided to keep as it looked like the sun was breaking through the clouds after a storm whilst the sea was still trying to calm down..........that's my interpretation of the torn bits of inked paper and I'm sticking to it! LOL

I have found there is also two ways of photographing your work.....one that shows the card in it's (more or less!) true colours.....and one that will show up any glimmer effect! I have as yet not managed to be able to do both at the same time.....any tips? So I am including a close up area of both!!!

The backing paper is one of Glenda's and is available as a freebie from her Artylicious blog here I just altered the colour to match the inked sentiment better.....the wide gro grain ribbon was a gift from a friend (she thought of me before she chucked it out!) and the metal tag is from All My Memories that QVC provided some time ago now.

Thanks for looking........keep stamping.........I am trying to.

xoxo

Edit: Today my boss gave me a rise.....Yeah!!!! It's back to glass half full for me then!!!

Desperate Romantics!

I am looking forward to Tuesday evening 9.00 p.m. on BBC 2........."Desperate Romantics"......it's all about the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters..........Rossetti, Millais and Holman Hunt.
I am imagining the colours, style and evocative feel of the programme already.....have always loved these paintings.
xoxo

Ready Steady Stamp

Get ready........get steady.........lets stamp!....Tomorrow sees the start of a new challenge blog......Ready Steady Stamp don't all groan!!!....This is a bit of refreshment from the norm.........no prizes! Who cares........if you are anything like me Mr Random never liked me anyway and......dare I say this?.........I think Mr Random degrades the quality of the entries at times......that goes for me as well because there are a couple of items on this blog that I am not proud of and I would never have posted if it wasn't for the desparate need to catch a deadline!!!! LOL

Also no cuteness allowed.........again there are plenty of other challenges to satisfy that when you want them.

Cant wait myself......see you there tomorrow.

xoxo

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

Singing Ringing Tree

There is a sketch to follow over at Katherina's blog......if you make a card using a Whiff of Joy stamp you might get to join in the blog hop coming up on 25th July as a guest designer......how cool is that!!....and you get one of the new release stamps to showcase too.
Thought I'd give it a go.....can't win it if your not in it!



Because you can see both the inside of the card and the outside at the same time it was difficult to get the whole card in focus standing up............so I laid it down flat to get a better picture and took a separate one of the inside.
The papers are my own digital designs.......I am still messing around with Christmas themes hence the red and green!.........The piece of music paper was the free download from CS this month which I distressed even more...scrunched up...unscrunched...... bit of DI FB and WS added and sprayed with some Glimmer....the buttons were coloured with Alcohol inks....The fruits on the tree had gilding flakes added to follow the "Singing Ringing Tree" title.........loved that fairy tale from way back when.....thought the tree suited it.....you can read about it here.
Thanks for looking.

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

Give it some Distress!

At Tuesday Taggers this week the theme is to distress using Tim Holtz techniques....can't refuse that one! There is a sponsor this week with a prize from The Craft Barn.

My tag has turned into a bit of a deep thought exercise......with making Christmas cards on my mind I started out with one thought but it turned into this thought..........that for everyone who celebrates Christmas and the Joy that surrounds the season............there will always be people in the world who will not be living in peace & harmony.....I did say it was a bit deep!!!
The wording and numbers are both Paperartsy, the head is from one of my computer fonts....DI's SS,FB,WS,PN,WL........Adirondack acrylics cranberry and butterscotch.

Thanks for looking........and as dear Dave Allen used to say "May your God go with you"
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

It's Christmas! - Ismaki 22/06

The sketch this week at Ismaki was just what I needed to kick start my idea's for my Christmas cards this year....I had already had a thought to do a design based on moo sizes and this sketch fitted that perfectly.........

I just could not stop when I started.............in the end I will not be making 65 of these for Christmas!!!!!!!!...LOL.............far too labour intensive....so will have to think again......I used Paperartsy stamps for the moo sized images and the background is an Anna Griffin stamp....made the flower up...the poinsettia that is........not the little burgundy ones near the swirls.........added a bit of stickles to the edges........distressed all layers a bit with DI FB.

It is a super gorgeous day here again....hope you are having good weather too wherever you may be.....It did seem a little odd making a Christmas card!

Thanks for looking.

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

Upside Down & Round and Round - Yippee!

The title says it all really............that is how I felt when my new upside down stamp from Funky Kits arrived today.........YES! today........I only ordered it yesterday just before I went on the blog hop that launched the new range and here it is and here is the card I made almost straight away.........yes, Yes, YES!!...........I'm easily pleased LOL. ;)

As soon as I saw this design by Diane Duda I just had to have it............I was going to buy a new bra this week but I decided that could wait and went for the rubber instead!!!.........I have a multitude of ideas brewing for this one but for now I stamped her as is and coloured in with the pencils & baby oil technique........oooh dear bra's.........rubber.............baby oil..........hope a search engine doesn't come to the wrong conclusion! HOL. :)))
Thanks for looking....Happy Stamping.

xoxo
P.S. At the time of writing the stamp is still in stock.......I'd be inclined to go there quick and order though because I am sure there will be lots of great cards made with this one.

P.P.S. It must be my lucky day..........I was looking for some challenge inspiration and this card fits the Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge to use pink & green....I love pink & green........

spooky!!!.........off to buy a lottery ticket. LOL

Dotty Nellie with a Masking Technique

Yesterday I had a play with masking those flower pots I used the other week with Fitz........but it was just not working out as I wanted it to........so I had to draw a flower pot outline myself and then add the flower spray........here is how I managed it........ran out of time to post this yesterday on my Dotty Nellie for the challenge.....................learn from my mistakes LOL...........feel free to laugh when you get to the end of it!!!!!!!!!

I stamped the main image of
Nellie with Flower then stamped the sunflower with pot on scrap card and cut out the stamped flower pot only.........as you can see in the top corner...... BTW the pen is a "Pilot" drawing pen....they come in different nib widths, this one is 01.

I placed the cut out of the pot where I wanted it just a little higher on the page than the main stamp and drew a line around it but left the top of the pot open as you can see on the left hand side.

Now.....please make sure you now mask your main Nellie image........I forgot to the first time round arrrrrrrrg!!! LOL...........I couldn't just use the flower pot mask to stamp the bunch of flowers as the stems were too big and would have shown.....also the rim of the pot had to be cut away or I would have masked out more of the flowers............so I had to first cut a smaller pot mask then cut a larger piece of card and attach underneath the pot mask and then stamp the flowers!!!................This still meant that part of the flower image was lost because of the mask as you can see on the other side.
So I had to draw in the missing bits with the pen!.....added a bit of shading with the pen to edges of pot and at last a finished stamped piece ready to colour in and here is a reminder of the card I made with it.

If anyone has a tip for me on how I could have achieved this in an easier way I'd really like to know!!! LOL .............I suppose I should have just used the original stamp but I wanted a change.......I hope you find this useful.

Thanks for looking...........Happy Stamping.

xoxo

Dotty Nellie

At Stamp with Fun the challenge is to use dots.........I'm feeling in a dotty mood myself at the moment so I'd better join in!
I've used those digi freebie papers again from The Shabby Princess........my friend loved the thanks card I did the other day BTW.

I wanted to have a play with masking those flower pots I used the other week with Fitz........but it was just not working out as I wanted it to........so I had to draw a flower pot outline myself and then add the flower spray...........hope you think it works........I'll be posting a Tips & Tricks on this tomorrow if you want to take a look.
Thanks for looking...........must dash.......Happy Stamping.

xoxo