Thursday 30 April 2015

Ancient Egypt (book page swap 10 of 12)

Welcome to another of my blog posts showing you the wonderful pages I made as part of a wonderful book swap with 13 fellow crafters dotted all over the world!

More about this swap can be found in my Book Swap Introduction HERE.

So, onto the eleventh page of 12 now that it has been received! This page was for Zahraa Darwish, using her chosen theme of ANCIENT EGYPT.

Zahraa herself lives in Egypt, so I had a lot to live up to!

I used the following materials/steps for this page:
loved doing this theme!  It really inspired and excited me!

The Pyramid is made from a sheet of sandpaper with coloured texture paste applied through a brickwork stencil.  Once dry I dry brushed white gesso over the top and added a few smudges of black ink to give the Pyramid depth.

I cut the Pyramid out from this piece of prepared sandpaper and kept the off cuts for the top corners of the page.

The sentiment was stamped using black Memento Ink (should have used Archival, oops!).  The mini alphabet stamp set is by Dove Craft.

I stamped the background with a script stamp and heat embossed with black embossing powder.

The Egyptian themed papers and topper had been hiding in my stash for a long time dying to be used, and I think I did them justice!

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Here are photos of the rest of the book page:




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I'd like to quickly finish off by showing you the page that Zahraa made for me, using my theme of Science Fiction:



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A big thank you for stopping by!  Please keep an eye out for the remaining book pages in this series and check the home page for ones posted already!

xxSAMxx

I would like to please enter this project into the following challenges

Tuesday 28 April 2015

Fairies & Fairy Doors

Hello again.  I back to share with you a project I've spent the last couple of days making, specially for the "No Cards" challenge over on the That Craft Place Challenge Blog! 

So here is the wall hanging I made for my niece! It measures 10" wide.


I read the theme when it launched on Sunday and knew straight away what I wanted to do! What's more it was the perfect opportunity to use more of the That Craft Place laser cut shapes and other goodies from their store!

I got in a bad fight with my glue gun during this project but still loving the results!


I used the following materials / steps:

SUBSTRATE: Brown corrugated cardboard from old packaging.

PAPERS: Cricut paper pad, stenciled with gesso.

FAIRY DOOR: Back piece gesso'd and painted silver. Then a coat of Crackle Accents was added. Front door piece gesso'd then given 2 coats of Ranger Embossing Tinsel in Snowflake.

BIRDS: Black/white bird gesso'd, stippled with black paint, then given a stippled coast of the Embossing Tinsel. Pink bird gesso'd, inked with Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick then given a coat of Crackle Accents.

FLOURISH: Gesso'd then some with black paint.

KEY: Gesso'd then given 2 coats of the Embossing Tinsel.

Greyboard hinge and key, and MDF fairy door, birds and mini frame designed and sold by That Craft Place (love Lisa's MDF and greyboard!).  

IMAGE: Called "Sugar Plum" and is part of the Sugar and Spice range from That Craft Place. I coloured her with DoCrafts Watercolour Pens.

ZAHRA: Letters cut from silver mirror card using Sizzix Bigz "Lollipop" dies.

PAPER FLOWERS: Old book pages cut and rolled up before inking with distress ink and embossing with the Embossing Tinsel.

EMBOSSED MIRROR CARD: Silver mirror card dry embossed used a Sizzix embossing folder.

Mirror card, cheesecloth and ribbons, paints, Glossy Accents, Crackle Accents, Pinflair glue gel, distress ink and watercolour pens all from That Craft Place!

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Here's some more photos:










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Thankyou as always for popping by. Please do take a look back at my home page as I've posted 2 other projects earlier today.

xxSAMxx

Please can I enter this project until the following challenge(s):

Personalised Owl Cushions

Hello again.  I back to share with you a sewing project this time, 3 cushions for a customer order.

These owls are my own pattern.




I used the following materials / steps:

Fabric from my rather substantial stash!

Ric Rac, blue buttons, pink buttons and felt from Felted Fancies Supplies.

Letters cut from Sizzix Bigz dies and hand stitched onto the cushion.

Finally, the purple buttons is from my local sewing shop Cottontail Crafts

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Here's some more photos:




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Thankyou as always for popping by. Please hang around as I still have 1 more project to share with you today.

xxSAMxx

Please can I enter this project until the following challenge(s):


Monochrome teen birthday

Hi folks. Well it's been a few days since my last blog post so thought I'd better have a catch up.  

First up is a card I made for an order and as it is the recipients birthday today, I can now share it with you!


I used the following materials / steps:

Topper and papers from Lelli-Bot Crafts. Black embossed cardstock also from Lelli-Bot Crafts.

Silver mirror card from That Craft Place.

Black cardstock guilded with Pinflair Buff-It from That Craft Place. 

Alphabet dies (by First Edition Craft) also from That Craft Place. 

Flower die by LeaneCreatief, flourish by Tonic, and butterfly by Sizzix.

Finally, the lace is from my local sewing shop Cottontail Crafts

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Here's some more photos:




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Thankyou as always for popping by. Please hang around as I have 2 more projects to share with you today.

xxSAMxx



Saturday 18 April 2015

10 Facts About Me (#gettoknowtheaddict) & a bit of watercolouring

So this evening (or was it last night? I don't know, its 4am and I've not been to sleep yet!), I stumbled across the #gettoknowtheaddict tag, for addicts of any hobby!

The idea is to give 10 Facts about yourself, before tagging 2 more people to do the same.

Over on Facebook, where I've also posted this, I tagged 3 of my friends (cos I'm a rebel like that!)... Kelly Donovan, Erin Stewart and Lisa Horton.

But before I get onto my long list of facts about me, I just want to share with you a couple of the images I've been colouring using my new DoCrafts Artiste Watercolour Pens from That Craft Place.  I have been having a play, and these have not yet been made into finished projects, but I've definitely found my perfect medium for colouring!

Dancer, by Saturated Canary
Dr Who, from MayzyArt
    
So, as a self-confessed #craftaddict here goes my 10 FACTS ABOUT ME!

*** 1..... As the hashtag above suggests, I am an avid crafter! My favourite crafty discipline is mixed media, but I also greatly enjoy paper crafts, card making and sewing.

I find the whole creative process greatly therapeutic and I truly believe that being able to lose myself in my art has helped me to overcome some very problematic moments and circumstances in my life over the past few years.  I am very lucky to have my very own craft room and can be found in their most of the day!

*** 2..... I was adopted into my wonderful family when I was 2 and love all my family dearly.  My younger brother is also adopted, although not from the same family.

*** 3..... I am gay and married my wife in November last year after 10 years together.  Our little family unit currently consists of 3 dogs (Lucy, an 11 year old lurcher, Murphy, a 7 year old lurcher, and Viktor our 12 year old former Romanian street dog). We also have 2 adorable guinea pigs (Winnie Wrinkles, and Dax).

*** 4..... I am an 80s child, born in February 82. My birthday makes me an Aquarius which, if you subscribe to astrology rhetoric, means I am intellectual, humanitarian and logical, yet impatient and temperamental. Artistic and inventive yet complex and scientific. (Yes I just googled all this as I don't follow star signs at all!). I'd say actually fairly damn accurate though!

*** 5..... I have a progressive (gets worse over time), incurable condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. This is a peripheral neuropathy primarily affecting my balance, ability to walk (mobility), and my hands. It also causes me significant pain and fatigue. That is the very simplified summary of CMT!... visit www.cmt org.uk if interested in finding out more.

I have a power wheelchair called Wheeliam who is fabulous but I am unfortunately unable to get him out of the house (where he is most needed) until social services get through their process.

*** 6..... I am very into films and TV programmes in the Science Fiction genre, my number one favourite being Star Trek (all the series, except TOS , which I forced myself to sit through out of respect for Roddenberry and because I felt obligated as a Trekkie!).

Other TV shows I watch and love include (but are not limited to!) Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Farscape, Firefly, Arrow, The Flash, Gotham, Defiance, Game of Thrones (not technically sci fi, but there ARE dragons in it!), Charmed, Dexter and Warehouse 13!  I also love the movies from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the TV show that runs alongside (Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

*** 7..... I am 6ft tall exactly, and yes, that is without any shoes on! So yes, as a very tall woman, I stick out more than I like but not much I can do about it!

*** 8..... If I had to choose 10 words to best sum up my personality, they would be: Creative, Non-confrontational, Loyal, Needy, Intelligent, Spiritual, Forgetful, Shy (but better than I used to be), Nerdy, Humorus.

*** 9..... I have very few "real life" friends. I can count them on one hand, half a hand in fact! However I am very blessed to have a network of a few virtual friends that I feel very close to.

*** 10..... 5 things I couldn't live without: Claire, my parents, my car, paint and a paint brush!

Hope you enjoyed that bit of self-indulgent waffle! Feel free to quiz me further, let me know if you knew any of these facts, or ignore completely!

xxSAMxx

Wednesday 15 April 2015

SHOUT OUT - to my favourite Bloggers & You Tubers

Hi folks! 
 
I hope you are all having a fantastic day! The sun has been shining here today and I've been and stocked up on gorgeous lace trims in my local sewing shop! A mixed media girl can never have to much! 
 
I just wanted to take a step away from showcasing my own creations to give a shout out to the fellow Bloggers, and You Tubers that all brighten up my day in some way or another! 
 
Please remember that this list is potentially never ending and not every blog or you tube channel that I've ever visited could be listed here. 
 
So, to those listed here, and not listed here, please accept my sincere thanks for the inspiration you've given me; For every tutorial, tip or long rambling video that I love so much (yes, I'm serious!). For giving me a brief peek into your lives.  Thankyou for sharing your art and your creations with me. I know the time it takes to put blog posts together and can only imagine that shooting and posting you tube videos is a similar, if not much longer, process! 
 
THANK YOU
 
Just for info, I have put a few key words in brackets after each link, summarising what they do and / or my reason for loving them! 
 
NOTE: A note stating "lots of talking" in videos is NOT a criticism! I love videos that are in real time with talking about the persons thought processes and / or mentions about other things going on in their life.
 
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So, without further ado, a few of the Craft Blogs that I just love to follow:
 
Erin Stewart - Toad and Magic
(mixed media, colouring)

That Craft Place - Challenge Blog
(best craft shop ever!)

Claudia Neubacher - Von Pappe II
(mixed media goddess!, tutorials)

Amanda Arnold - Amanda's Colour Creations
(cards, colouring)

Laine - Dream Laine
(cards, colouring)

Candy Colwell - Creativity Is Contagious
(mixed media)

Lisa "Ditzie" Horton - By Lilymac
(colouring, cards, mixed media)

Lorraine Lowe - coldwaters2
(cards, colouring)

Finnabair
(mixed media queen!, canvases)

Sandie Gough - Fairytale Daydream
(cards, colouring)

Erin "Sparkles" Fairclough - Elfie's Sparkle and Dust
(cards, colouring)

Mark Gould - Speshink
(mixed media, stamping, inks)

Mark Gould - Spesh-Chic
(DecoArt chalk paints, upcycled furniture)

Janet Babar - Crafty Kendalian
(cards, colouring)

Judith Taylor-Wright - Judith's Adorable Creations
(cards, digital layouts)

Sugar and Betty's Challenge Blog
(one of my favourite digistamp sellers)

Misty - Perfectly Imperfect
(mixed media, art journals)

Neil - Neelz Expressions
(mixed media, art journals, book covers)
 
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And not forgetting my favourite crafting You Tube Channels :

(lots of talking, beginners, money saving tips, art journals)
 
(lots of talking, money saving tips, tutorials, product reviews)

 Jane - velocityvette08
(lots of talking, mixed media)
 
Donna Downey
(painter, mixed media, canvases & journals)

  Gisele Grenier
(mixed media, canvases, art journals, tutorials, lessons)

Gabrielle Pollacco
(mixed media canvases, chipboard)

Andy Skinner
(DecoArt, mixed media, techniques, tutorials)

  Misty Russell
(mixed media, canvases, art journals)

  Wilma Voermans
(mixed media layouts, art journals, money saving)

  Chelle Steine
(Journal52 PromptsPrompts, art journals)

  Michele Theberge
(painter, acrylic paints, techniques, tips)

  Noell Hyman
(CHA demos!)

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Thankyou for visiting! I do hope you visit some of the showcased Blogs and You Tube Channels.

If you already read or watch any of these Blogs and You Tube Channels, please let me know in the comment box below.

I'd also very much like to hear of any bloggers and you tubers that I may be missing out on, so whack those suggests below too! 

Have a wonderful day.

xxSAMxx

Sunday 12 April 2015

Mrs & Mrs - MDF from That Craft Place

Today I'd like to share with you this Mrs & Mrs MDF freestanding plaque that I finished recently.


The Mrs & Mrs plaque is from That Craft Place, a wonderful craft shop that posts out if you don't live nearby! They obviously do a Mr & Mrs version but Lisa was more than happy to create a special version for my wife and I. What service!!

First I painted all of the edges of the plaque as well as the sides and bottom of the base piece (which comes as a separate piece for easy decorating). Then I sanded the unpainted surfaces to smooth off any paint overflow.


I spread a generous layer of Mod Podge over the back of the paper and stuck the plaque face down on onto it. I pressed down all of the surface firmly before flipping it over and smoothing the paper out to clear any bubbles. Then I left it to dry thoroughly!

Then came the very tedious job of trimming round the edges with my craft knife (why did I decide to cover in paper??!). After I had spent what felt like an eternity doing this I then repeated the process of glueing, sticking, drying and cutting on the reverse of the plaque... because, ya know, I apparently never learn!

Anyway, after that came the second tedious job of sanding down all the edges both on the front and reverse of the plaque. It is certainly worth doing this step as the finished job looked great! 

I followed the same process to cover and trim the base piece before using Distress Ink in Pumice Stone to add a little definition to the edges of both plaque and base. 

I wanted the & symbol to be separated from the two Mrs' parts so I painted and stippled this with DecoArt Metallic paint in Gold.


The lamp-post is a greyboard laser cut, also from TCP and I painted this in the same paint as before.  I then rubbed on a little of the gold metallic paint to highlight.  I paint the lamps gold and then set aside to dry.


Once dry I decided to take a risk and grabbed my glossy accents. I laid the lamp-post down on a piece of wax paper and squeezed glossy accents into the windows of the lamps.  Luckily once dry these looked amazing and I finished them off with orange paint mixed with gloss Mod Podge to make it transparent.  If you shine a light behind the lamps they glow.  Definitely glad I took the risk there!


Anyway, that just left the embellishing to do. I added some lace trims and paper flowers which I had sprayed with inks or watered down paint. Some of the flowers are handmade rolled flowers and some are ready made from TCP.  I painted the tiny metal leaves with green metallic paint.  



I used a brass pin and painted it gold before rubbing some of the teal paint over it. It real made the little "Love" words pop out.  Finally I cut a tag using a punch I have and wrote on our wedding day. 


The Mrs & Mrs mdf plaque, greyboard Lamp-post, metal leaves, distress ink, archival ink, gold paint, glossy accents and some of the flower embellishments are all from That Craft Place. (Yes I'm slightly addicted to this shop!)

Thankyou for stopping by once again and I do hope you haven't completely glazed over after reading all of this!  Hope you have a lovely day doing whatever you are doing! 

xxSAMxx

I would like to  please enter this project into the following challenges:

Thursday 9 April 2015

Birthday Sugar

Hi, and welcome to my blog. If you've been sticking with me throughout the last week of intensive book page related blogging, then a huge thankyou! 

Today we take a break from the book pages to share with you a card I made using a gorgeous image from my favourite craft shop That Craft Place. You can visit their Facebook shop HERE, and the link to their Etsy store, where their digistamps can be found, is a little further down the page!


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I used the following materials / steps for this project:

The adorable image is called "Love from Sugar" and is from That Craft Place's Sugar & Spice digistamp range, available to buy from Etsy.  The sentiment is also from That Craft Place's Etsy store. 

The image was printed onto Neenah cardstock and coloured using Derwent Academy Coloured Pencils, my first attempt using pencils!

That Craft Place don't just sell digital products, and indeed have a bricks and mortar shop selling craft goodies to stash addicts like me all over the country! Infact the mirror card on this project is from their store too.

The pink die cut with hearts cut out is from a die set by Tonic, and the yellow flower was cut with a die by XCut.

The papers and cardstock are from my stash.

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Thankyou for visiting today. I would love you to leave a comment and, if you are a blogger also, I will pop over to visit your blog too! 

xxSAMxx

I would like to please enter this card into the following challenges:

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Family (book page swap 8 of 12)

Welcome to another of my blog posts showing you the wonderful pages I made as part of a wonderful book swap with 13 fellow crafters dotted all over the world!
More about this swap can be found in my Book Swap Introduction HERE.
So, onto the eighth page of 12! This page was for Mandy Carnaby, using her chosen theme of FAMILY.  Sadly, this page didn't make it as far as Mandy's book but I wanted to share the process with you all the same.

I used the following materials/steps for this page:
Layers of patterned papers make up the background of this page giving it wonderful texture.  I stamped randomly over the background, once stuck together, with a script stamp.  I used Archival Ink in Tree Branch to do this (from That Craft Place).

The images on the background were cut from a lovely patterned paper and were coated with Mod Podge before layering onto cardstock an mounting on the page.

The feature of the page is of course the birdcage with it's family of robins (see what I did there?!).  The birdcage and birds are from Hobbycraft.

The birdcage was thoroughly painted with acrylic paint in burnt umber and then I applied several layers of gold heat embossing to really give it dimension and bling!  The robins were painted red and then the same brown acrylic paint was added leaving the red tummies showing.

As with all my pages, I finished the edges of the book with a thin border of paint as I don't like to leave the edges of the chipboard base exposed.  This definitely leaves a tidy finish to the page.
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Here are photos of the rest of the book page:


And the back of the page:

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I'd like to quickly finish off by showing you the page that Mandy made for me, using my theme of Science Fiction:

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A big thank you for stopping by!  This will be the last post about these book pages for a short while at least, as the remaining pages haven't yet reached their recipients! In the meantime, do please check the home page for ones posted already!
xxSAMxx
I would like to please enter this project into the following challenges

Tuesday 7 April 2015

The community of crafting...

I just want to say a huge thankyou to everyone I have every had contact with through this wonderful amazing crafting community.


This past few days I have felt especially blessed. Last week I got 3 Top 3's in blog challenges and today I found out that I was the very lucky winner of Jo Lovering's blog candy. 

Do please visit her blog! She has wonderful creations to show and it is the least I could do to say thanks! 


xxSAMxx

Tranquility (book page swap 7 of 12)

Welcome to another of my blog posts showing you the wonderful pages I made as part of a wonderful book swap with 13 fellow crafters dotted all over the world!
 
More about this swap can be found in my Book Swap Introduction HERE.
 
So, onto the seventh page of 12! This page was for Rhondda Lesley, using her chosen theme of TRANQUILITY.
 
 
I used the following materials/steps for this page:
 
Background was made from layers of textured cardstock by American Crafts and onto this I painted and drew the sheep using white gesso and my black Posca paint marker.

The fence is a length of jute ribbon from That Craft Place which I wrapped round the background before securing to the page.

The tree is a chipboard lasercut from Hobbycraft which I coated in white gesso to keep the colours pale.  I then stippled a watered down brown paint onto the trunk, blending into a greener tone further up the tree.  I finished this stage with a coat of glossy accents.

The blossom on the tree is faux Flowersoft, made from polystyrene which I sprayed with DoCrafts Artiste Spritzing Ink in Aubergine. Once dry I coated the upper portion of the tree with pva glue and dipped it in the polystyrene.  I repeated this until I had a nice full looking tree!

To finish, I stamped the sentiment onto Neenah cardstock in Tree Branch Archival Ink.  The mini alphabet stamp set is by Dove Craft.
 
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Here are photos of the rest of the book page:
  
 
And the back of the page:
 
 
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I'd like to quickly finish off by showing you the page that Ronnie made for me, using my theme of Science Fiction:
 
 

 
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A big thank you for stopping by!  Please come back tomorrow to see the next book page in this series and check the home page for ones posted already!
 
xxSAMxx
 
I would like to please enter this project into the following challenges