The Stamp Man - new DT member

While I was away to the craft retreat in Yorkshire I was asked to join the DT for The Stamp Man. It was a complete surprise, I can tell you. Jill said "You can think about it and let me know". I think it took me less than a minute to say yes!!!
So it was a bit of a rush to make it for the next challenge - which will appear tomorrow on The Stamp Man Challeng blog. If you want to see how I get on alongside a very talented bunch then please click on the link tomorrow after 12 noon.
Since it's my first time I am sure they won't mind me showing you a sneeky peak

Check back tomorrow to see the rest!!

Creative Expressions - Christmas Post

For this week's DT piece I am cheating a bit. Things are a bit hectic at work and so I am pretty tired. Our new stamps arrived yesterday but I only managed to cut them out tonight. So samples with them will start appearing soon but in the meantime I will leave you with a couple more Christmas samples.

This lovely Robin also comes from the same set as I used in an earlier post, UMCHRISPOST The robin is stamped and embossed with a fine gold powder. I have also stamped the pine sprig several times onto the background paper and embossed with gold powder. I have layered  up the robin using Nesties. The beautiful border is one of the Grande Borderabilities.

In this sample I have used the same layout but a different colourway and I have also used the postage stamp frame. This is a really useful stamp.

So next time, I promise, something different. Just not enough hours in my day right now!!

Craft Retreat - Beamsley, North Yorkshire Sept 2011

I mentioned in my last post that my friend Linda Turner and I were going down to Yorkshire for a craft retreat. Well we have been and now we are home, tired but happy. We had a great weekend catching up with crafters we met last time in March, and meeting some new folk. We crafted, ate, laughed and went shopping to The Stamp Man and Embsay Crafts. There were some great characters and I just loved listening to their accents and banter. I also met the lovely Liz from Liverpool way who turned out to be a cousin of another crafting friend of mine, Sue.
This is the room we crafted in is part of an old church. The Beamsley project provides self catering accommodation for disabled people and their carers. So there's plenty of space. Which was definitely needed when you saw everyone arriving with their craft stuff.

I took Christmas stuff with me. I wanted to get on with some Christmas cards to take over to Ireland at the end of the month, for my Dad. I make him a batch every year for him to send out to his friends. 
I managed to make 24 (4 each of 6 designs) . Not bad considering how much time we spent yapping and eating cakes. 

This one was my favourite and the simplest!! I love the Stampendous "Wise Men" . I bought it last year and never used it.

• Blend 3 colours of Distress ink onto white card stock (Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire)
• Ink up music background stamp with Versa Mark and spritz with water. Stamp onto blue background and lift off. The water removes some of the ink to give a subtle resist type effect. 
• Stamp the swirl stamp (Hero Arts S5449 Fabulous Flourish) with second generation Stormy Sky)
• Stamp Wise Men with Versafine Onyx Black and highlight detail with gold pen.
• So simple!!

So a big thank you to Janet and Michelle for organising such a good retreat. Thanks to Emma and Andy who fed us all so well. And thanks to Drew who drove two gibbering budgies all the way there and back. Although we did sleep quite a bit on the way home.

Beamsley Lovin'-Ink Retreat Sept 2011

The Stamp Man Challenge #31- Monochrome and one Other Colour

I haven't had much time for entering challenges lately, but I do always try and make something for The Stamp Man challenge. This time round the theme is Monochromatic and one other colour. I have gone for blue and white.

A very simple card. I stamped the Hero Arts Exotic Blooms with Versamark and embossed with white powder. The I used a circle mask and 3 colours of Distress inks (Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire) blended over the top. 

 

I used a Martha Stewart punch to create the layering.  Sometimes it's nice to do something more simple!!

I am off to Yorkshire tomorrow with my crafting buddy Linda Turner for a craft retreat. We went down in March to Beamsley and really had a great time, so decided to go back!! I am looking forward to seeing some of the amazing crafters I met last time. I have packed everything but the kitchen sink!! But no doubt when I get there I will discover I have forgotten something important.
Have a good weekend.

Creative Expressions - Christmas Post

For this week's Creative Expressions sample I am using a Christmas set I got last year called Christmas Post. This very versatile set UMCHRISPOST is one of Sam Poole's designs. I used it last year for Stampaholic's very last One Day Workshop.

Christmas Post

 It has so many lovely little elements as well as several main images.

This is one of the cards I designed for the workshop. It is so quick and easy - just what you need for batching your Christmas cards.

I used the pine sprig to create the trailing garland effect. I also picked a soft green background paper to stamp on.

• Start at the bottom and stamp up towards the centre of where the circle will be. I stamped first in a soft grey, then over stamped with Archival Library Green.
• Stamp the snowy cottage onto the background paper with Archival Library Green ink and immediately cover with crystal embossing powder. Although Archival is a dye based ink you can emboss with it if you are quick!!
• Cut out with circle nestie and matt onto a scallop nestie.
• I finished off the trailing pine by adding dots of liquid pearls and covering them with crystal glitter. 
• Add your sentiment and you are done.

Where would we be without Nestabilities!!!
I am sure some of our regulars from Stampaholics will remember this one.
Siobhan

Winner of Dreamweaver Blog Hop

Every DT member was asked to randomly pick a name from the people who left a comment on our post. So I wrote out all the names, put them in a hat and got my hubby to pick one out. I tried to use that random org thingy but it was a bit beyond me!!

And the winner is
GEORGINA
I have tried to e-mail you Georgina. In case you didn't get it can you please e-mail Dorothy at Woodware Dorothy@woodware.co.uk to claim your prize and leave your name and address.
Well Done!!
Woodware are going to be giving stuff away every month so remember to check out the Woodware blog regularly for great ideas and blog candy.
Hope you are all safe and warm on this very windy night
Siobhan

Woodware Design Team - Sugar and Spice

Hi Everyone

This week at Woodware we are onto "Sugar and Spice". Help.......!!! I don't have much little girly type stuff apart from my Tilda stamps. I need another lifetime to get through all of those!!! So I had a rake and found this delightful Magenta stamp which I have used for baby cards. 

I then computer generated the words and hey presto ... I had the bare bones to get started. Sugar and Spice - well that had to be pink and brown but cinamon brown rather than chocolate brown.  The fan flowes were made with a die I have but you can do them by hand using any border scallop punch and scoring between each scallop. I used to do them that way until I got a die.

The punched  border is a cassette for the Woodware crafty edger and my favourite at the moment. Have I said before how easy these are to use!! Remember to check up on the rest of the DT at the Woodware blog.

Sugar and Spice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Hanging About

This months challenge at Crafty Individuals  is "Hanging About". The challenge was chosen by Lucy Edmondson and her brief was  ‘this would give people scope to do a wall hanging, canvas, frame, lantern, bird cage, bird house, jewellery, dangly things on cards, pennants – all sorts. Or they could interpret it as friends hanging about together.’    It is nice to do things other than cards so I decided to do a little triptych bird hanging using Autumn colours. While deciding what size to make each panel, I came across a pile of beer mats my friend Liz had given me. I liked the shape of them rather than being square and thought they would be ideal.

The back to show the beer mats I used!!

 Here's how I got on:

 All the stamps used are Crafty Individuals. I love the owl so had to include him of course!!

Top panel

If you like buttons, check out Textile Garden. That's where I found the lovely metallic leaf button. I just rubbed over some coffee archival ink to darken.
The next panel includes a piece of stampboard:

Centre Panel

I coloured the stampboard domino with Distress inks, then stamped in Coffee archival. I then triple embossed it to give a lovely enamelled look. The chipboard bird was done the same way but with some gold glimmer mist sprayed on before embossing to give it a bit of shimmer. I stamped the foliage stamp in gold and embossed with a detail gold powder.
For the final panel I used my favourite little wren stamp and made a feature of it on the die-cut frame.

I stamped trees along the bottom. Then to finish off I die-cut some leaves from shrink plastic. I coloured them with Brilliance inks before shrinking.
There are lots of inspiring samples on the Crafty Individuals blog. 
Hope you all have a good weekend!
Siobhan

Ethel - Where has all the Money Gone!!

It's time for this week's sample for Creative Expressions. I have used Ethel with her curlers in for this card from the "Wrinkles Don't Hurt" set. The sentiment is very apt I am sure for most of us, especially if we have recently got a bit carried away in a craft shop!!

I have used oval nesties for the matting. The lovely lace-like border is from one of the recent Spellbinder sets Parisian Accents. It is a really useful set.

 

I hand stitched the border and cross stitches with brown linen thread. The button came from a recent purchase of lovely buttons from Textile Garden. If you are looking for some nice buttons then check out this site!! 

The flower is from another recent Spellbinder set called Carnation Creations . I gave them a bit of shape by using a large ball embossing tool on a embossing mat and put them together with a brad.

I quite like the peachy tones. It reminds me of some Laura Ashley style prints my Grandmother had in her house.

On a completely different note, my daughter Catriona was home at the weekend and I found a few doggy pictures on my camera. She always seems to get better shot than I do!!

Here's Alfie lounging on his chair. He is definitely not a dainty miniature Schnauzer!!

He normally looks more like this:

Hope you are all having a good week!

Siobhan

Woodware Design Team - Sketch Challenge

This week is another sketch challenge over at Woodware. Here is the sketch :

Nice and simple. I thought I would do a couple of Christmas samples this time. I have just received a couple of new Woodware Christmas stamp sets. The Christmas tree comes from a new Francoise set FRCL 204  Teardrop Christmas. I used to do special workshops that included a set of stamps and I often used Woodware sets. They were always good value for money and this set would have been perfect. 

FRCL 204  Teardrop Christmas

I am sure I will be using this set again for future challenges. I used a traditional colour scheme for this very easy card. I don't know about you but I tend to do more simple ideas for Christmas.

The tree was embossed using a Stampendous embossing powder called Nutmeg. I also dry brushed a little gesso onto the dotty paper to make it look a little more interesting. Some simple layering and a sentiment to complete. 
The sentiment comes from another new Woodware set designed by Jane Gill JGCL 551. I embellished it with gold nail heads. 

The next sample is the sketch used the other way up.
This time I used a Stampendous set SSC1013 Winter Trees
to create my little winter scene. This is a lovely little set which I have used quite a bit in the past. This time I have gone for blues and greys.
The border for the centre strip was made using the Woodware Crafty edger starter set (with the ribbon slot border)

A Winter's Day

Check out the other girls work this week at the Woodware blog.

Circle Journal - It's Almost Time

This post is really for getting our circle journal ladies to contact me so we can arrange our first meeting.

If you are on this list can you please e-mail me at siobhanfyffe@gmail.com so that we can organize our first get together:

• Lin Connolly
• Liz Urquhart
• Isobel Hynd
• Lin MacInnes
• Linda Turner
• Maggie Higham
• Sue and Erin Veitch
• Elizabeth Mitchell
• and any one else who I may have inadvertently forgotten.

The first meeting will be just a chance to find out what's involved and to select your themes. I thought for the first meeting we could meet at my house. Liz Young is now a Stampin Up demonstrator so we could combine it with a chance to see some nice stamps etc. I will make some soup and sandwiches. 

Those of us who have already done a circle journal will bring these along  to show the others.

Here are the pages I did for Irene Ruddy's journal.

The theme for these pages was "My Favourite Stamps". So your theme can be very open or you can be more specific. This time I have chosen "Natural History" as my theme. 

So ladies get thinking and I look forward to getting started.

Woodware Design Team - Dreamweaver Week

Welcome to Woodware's first blog hop! And we have a giveaway too! We are really happy to be joining with the Dream It Up Team to bring you innotive ways to use our wonderful Dreamweaver stencils and supplies all week long. By the end of the week, you'll have seen stencils used in inspirational ways you just couldn't have imagined, and you'll see that, although our stencils are wonderful for papercrafting, they have SO MANY other uses too!! We will have several posts a day for you, from Monday 29th August to Saturday September 3rd. At the end of our celebration, each designer will randomly select a winner from all blog comments to receive a free Dreamweaver stencil. We look forward to you partying along with us!

 

Next to stamping I love stencils. You can do so many different techniques with them, especially now with all the different pastes on the market.

We were asked to make a home decor piece. So here is mine - a canvas with bevelled edges.

Flying Geese

• I sponged colour onto the canvas using pigment inks. I gave the canvas a light covering with yellows and soft orange.
• I used a piece of scrap paper to create a mask for the mountains. I sponged slightly darker tones along the mask and towards the bottom of the canvas to create my mountain range (I live in Scotland - I am obsessed with mountains!!!)
• I punched a largish circle out of scrap paper and sponged oranges and reds through the mask to make my setting sun.
• I then placed the stencil of the geese (LG687 - Flying Geese) onto the canvas and pasted with white Dreamweaver embossing paste. Repeat with the bulrushes (LL517 - Cattails).
• When completely dry I put the stencils back on to apply the colouring to the geese and bulrushes. I tend to use stencil brushes and pigment ink. I find them easier to use and as a stamper I have lots of colours. 
• I then stamped the sentiment onto a piece of card and die-cut the frame plate to finish off.

The geese in more detail

The edges of the canvas were bevelled, so I used a little border stencil (LM282 - Leaf Border) on each side for a little extra interest.

LM282 - Leaf Border

 

Here is a card I made in a previous post. For this I stencil embossed the geese with my light box onto the background paper and coloured with pigment inks. I then stamped the trees along the bottom. 

Home to roost

I have a little story to share about the geese. My father lives near the coast in South East Ireland. In the autumn there are often flocks of geese flying in to rest over night in the fields. My mum always loved to see them especially when the sun was going down and the sky would be all orange, pinks and reds. After she died of cancer a few years ago I made a card for my Dad with the geese stencil. I told him it represented him in the front with me and my sister close behind as we carried on our own life journeys without my mum. He is not normally sentimental, but at our first Christmas without her my father surprised us both. He had a local silver smith to make us each a pendant featuring the three geese. Needless to say there were lots of tears but we both have something to cherish that means so much.

Here is a picture of the pendant.

 Here is the card that I made - it was in the earlier days of me and stencils so it's a bit basic. My Dad however loved it and it sits in a frame in his hall.

Thanks for visiting. 
You can find all the supplies you need right here . Your next stop along the hop is to Wendy at Paper Therapy
Enjoy the trip!!
Siobhan

Creative Expressions - Christmas

I think I mentioned on a previous blog that I am trying to batch some Christmas cards to take over to Ireland next month. I always try to make some for my Dad to send out.  So I have just done a few of this one.

 

Winter Wonderland

This stamp is from a lovely Creative Expressions set I bought last year called Winter Wondeland. I stamped with Versamark and embossed with Detail White embossing powder. I then used this as a resist by rubbing soft blue and lilac pigment inks over the top. I then die cut with the Spellbinders Labels set 17. And layered up as seen. I love these colours for Christmas!! The snowflake just finishes it off.

Dreamweaver Blog Hop

This is an exciting week for our Woodware DT. We are joining in a blog hop with the very talented ladies from the American Dreamweaver DT. As Woodware are the UK distributors of Dreamweaver in the UK we were all very willing to join in and showcase some of the fantastic designs available.

My post is on Wednesday but if you want to join in now then go to Caz's blog  for the first post and she has linked to the next member in the hop. I have already been hopping this morning and I can honestly say I think it will be a good week.

Remember to leave a comment as you could win a Dreamweaver Stencil at the end of the week.

Here's an old sample I did using the beautiful Oriental Dragon stencil using metallic paste and foil. Nothing to do with this hop but just another sample of a Dreamweaver stencil!!

The Stamp Man Challenge #30 - Travel

I love having a go at The Stamp Man Challenge as it's usually a chance to get a bit dirty and grungy. I decided to have a go at a box for a change. 

I coloured the box with a combination of Distress Stains and Inks. The stamping was done using Rangers Archival Coffee ink. This is definitely one ink pad I could not manage without. The background stamp came from the Stampers Anonymous set" Papillon". The car and quote are both from Stampers Anonymous "Road Trip".  I added some flourishes with gold ink and embossed with gold powder.

Travel Box

I used gold ink and antique gold embossing to add some texture to the PARIS plate and to the keyhole on the side of the box.

Detail on the lid of the box

I can't manage the hinges myself, so hopefully I can talk my hubby into doing those for me. I am very fortunate... I have spent the afternoon in my craft room while Graham is cooking. He is really good. Tonight's dishes are all Spanish. I recently bought him Rick Steins new book.

I think I might give this to my son for all the foreign coins he has lying around his room!!

Hope you are all having a good weekend.

Siobhan

A Wish for Peace - Penny Black

This month's challenge at Penny Black at Allsorts is "free and easy". I am going to Ireland next month to see my Dad and sister. Since my mum died I started making cards for my Dad to send out at Christmas. Now he likes them every year. So I am trying to make a batch every week so I have his supply ready to take over to him!!

This is a stamp I bought last year from Penny Black called "A Wish for Peace". 

A Wish for Peace

I used Tom Bow brush markers directly on the stamp and spritzed lightly with water. It is such a delicate scene so I kept the background quite muted and soft. 

I know it's only August, but this year I am going to be organized...........!!! I bet you have all heard that before.

Siobhan

Woodware Design Team - Funny Folds

I am not really into all the wierd and wonderful ways of folding, so it took me a while to decide what to do. Once in a workshop for Stampaholics we made a tri-shutter card on a Scottish masculine theme. It was quite fun to do so I decided to use that idea for this week's challenge.

I have used the lovely CRP119 Dragonfly vine  stamp from Stampendous as my centre piece. For the rest I used one of the Magenta puzzle sets CSET 001. These sets are ideal for this type of card as they are all framed, so easy to cut out.

Tri-Shutter Card

If you have not tried this then here are the scoring and cutting lines. I have also included measurements for the matting layers. You can just use the larger sizes if you want a single layer, but the inner matting sizes are there should you want them.

 

I wonder what the rest of the team came up with. If you want to see then hop along to The Woodware Blog.
Here is the Scottish version I mentioned earlier.
 

Proud to be Scottish

Enjoy your day!!
Siobhan

Ethel and Murray - Out for a Drive

This week I decided to use Ethel and Murray in their car for this week's card for the Creative Expressions DT challenge. This image is from the set "Wrinkles Don't Hurt" as is the quote. I thought I would have a go at a side- step card. I found the instructions on-line. Just google "Side-Step Card" and plenty of sites pop up. All the trees came from another set - "Create-a-Scene  -  Trees." These are ideal for this type of thing.

"Out for a Drive"

I have a long weekend coming up and I suggested to my hubby that we should pack up a picnic and head off for a drive into the hills (with our dogs Alfie and Rory). So with this in mind I created a little autumnal Scottish mountain backdrop to set the scene.
Coming soon on the Creative Expressions website will be links to all 6 DT members. So you will be able to check out all the different samples from a talented and varied bunch of stamper's.

Dreamweaver Stencils - Wisteria

Tomorow the girls (Lin Rosie and Carey (and Alan) are coming over. They were all part of the Stampaholics team and I have been meaning to organise a wee get- together for ages. So I am looking forward to seeing them all and having a good old natter!!

So not much crafting this weekend - I have had to clean the house and cook!! I must sound like a right mink!! But I am sure you all know what I mean. I dread when my mother in law comes as she is so house proud!

Anyway here is another sample of a Dreamweaver stencil. Some of my old customers might remember this one.

Dreamweaver Wisteria stencil

For this piece I used matt black embossing paste. When the paste was completely dry, I put the stencil back on and applied versamark onto the dried paste with a sponge. I took off the stencil and I then used mica powders with a brush to add the colour. A big soft brush was used to brush any excess off the background card. I then spritzed lightly with water to set the powders. Unfortunately you can't see the lovely shimmer that you get with the powders but it really is very pretty.

Hope you like. Thanks for dropping in to have a look.

Siobhan

Woodware Design Team - Take Two Colours

Our theme this week was to take two colours and design a card. Well that's easy for me. My favourite colour combo is pale aqua and brown.

I wanted to use the lovely Stampendous Bird Frame stamp (CRP 126). As you probably all know by now I love anything with birds on. To give me more room to work with I used half a sheet of 12 x 12 Bazzill, folded so that the fold is at the top (tent card). I stamped the birds onto some aqua scrapbook paper with coffee ink and added some faux stitching around the edges.

New home

I also used the Woodware Crafty edger. The cassette I used is the one that came with the starter set. I thought it resembled a fence (upside down, I know!!)

To finish off I made a shabby chic style flower and finished with the lovely delicate maidenhair fern punch.  The instructions for this flower are in a previous post

.

As I couldn't find my new home stamps I used computer generated words for the sentiment tag. 

Very simple, but often less is more!!

Hope you like it. To see what the other girls have picked for their colours please visit the Woodware Blog

Siobhan