Woodware - Sending a Smile

This week at Woodware we are sending a smile!! For my effort this week I have used a combination of old and new in a very simple card.

The old is the sentiment and flower. Both Stampendous stamps. H248 "Everyone Smiles" is a wood mounted stamp that is still available and the swirly flower is a cling called Ruffled flower. I embossed the flower with white powder on white card stock and used a DTP (direct to paper) technique with 3 shades of blue to colour the flower. Once cut out I added some crystal glitter to the ruffled edges and some pearls for the centre.

 For the new I used the lovely fern from a new Woodware set designed by Jane (JGS274 Ferns). This I stamped onto some text paper (from my trusty French dictionary!!).
Then I used my new crafty edger "Garland". 

A bit of ribbon and a few pearls finish off this quick and easy card. 
Have a good weekend whatever you are doing. 
Siobhan
 

Alter It at The Stamp Man

There is a new challenge over at The Stamp Man. I have literally just finished my project and my fingers are still covered with ink. My daughter Catriona has just moved back home for a while as she has just got a new job in Perth. So while I have been covered in paint  last weekend, it was for the walls and not a craft project. And for what seemed like ages I couldn't get anywhere near my craft desk as my craft room was filled with boxes!!
However normality is slowly returning and I have had a pleasant afternoon crafting. 
Now I have never done anything even remotely Halloween before, and I had not intended too but somehow this is what I made.

 
It started life as an Ikea mirror. I made a patchwork of stamped pieces to cover it. The sides of the mirror were painted and stamped with a texture stamp.
All the pieces were white card stock and I blended Distress inks, using a palette of oranges, reds, browns and purples. 

 

To each piece I added a few details like gold embossing or embellishments.

The stamps were all Stampendous and Tim Holtz Stamper Anonymous. I absolutely love this raven. He is new from Stampendous. The Stamp Man stock lots of lovely Stampendous stamps at really good prices.

 This wrought iron gate is also from Stampendous.

And this lovely little owl came from a hair slide from Primark!!
If you want to join us and have a chance of winning a £10 voucher then all you have to do is alter something. It could be a frame, a box, a note book, a bottle or anything you like. There are some gorgeous samples made by my team mates to inspire you. 
Siobhan x
 

Dreamweaver Blog Hop

 

All of this week, the Dream Team and the Woodware UK teams are celebrating the release of the new holiday designs from Dreamweaver Stencils. Of course, no celebration is complete without prizes...and there are some fabulous ones for those commenting on both sides of the "pond". 

Each team will be providing the opportunity to win four prize packages of stencil designs, perfect for the holidays. Just leave your comments each day on each players' post as well as the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs, and the Dreamweaver and Woodware Facebook pages. Two random commentors  will be chosen from the batch of weekday posts, one each from the DW and WW Facebook pages, and from the big hop on Saturday...from each side of the pond!* That's a total of eight prize packages up for grabs! Here's what you could win:

I chose this lovely new Dreamweaver design LJ921 Heart Ornaments. I just loved this simple design as soon as I saw it. I decided to go vintage for my first card.

 

I blended 3 or 4 colours of dye inks on some white card stock. I lightly stamped the music background in brown ink (Stampendous music score). A few splatters of water adds to the vintage look. Then I stencil embossed the design and added colour with pigment inks and a stencil brush through the stencil.

I stamped through the stencil with a flourish border (from Stampendous clear set Elegant Borders ). I added some Stampendous Frantage Aged Gold to the edges before mounting onto the background.

The background paper was very simply stamped with a new Stampendous pine boughs and embossed with gold powder. 

To finish off I used one of Woodwares new crafty edgers and some green and gold organza ribbon. And of course a pearl or too!!

I haven't had much time this week to go blog hopping so I am looking forward to sitting with a cuppa this afternoon and catching up with all the girls both sides of the Atlantic to see what they have created with their stencils. 

Don't forget to leave me some holiday cheer as you move on to the other players for today:

Kristi Van Doren

Dream It Up!

Woodware UK

Louise Healy 

Debs Frost

Lee Kellogg

Terrece Siddoway

Georgia Sommers 

Pam Hornschu

Cyndi Bundi

Remember to follow along with the challenges on the Dream It Up! and Woodware UK blogs for more prize opportunities, and more crafty inspiration, as well as "liking" DW and WW on Facebook.

*Winners selected must be from USA/Canada/UK only.

Woodware - Paper Piecing

I am first to post at Woodware this week. And the theme is "Paper Piecing". This is not something I normally do much of as I am not into fiddly cutting out. But I guess thats why we have so many different challenges. Some suit and others take you out of your comfort zone. 
After a rake through my Woodware stamps I came across this useful set designed by Francoise. It is a clear set FRCL 132 Looking Good. Being clear stamps, positioning on patterned papers is easy. Francoise is really good at this technique so I knew I better make a decent effort at cutting out all the pieces. 

The papers came from a GCD 8x8 pad called Planes and Trains. I like plaids for men's cards, and this one worked a treat.

Here are a couple of close ups of the paper piecing panels. I used coloured pencils for the guy's neck and background for the trousers.

To finish off I added a few buttons from Woodware's coffee and cream mixed bag. These bags of buttons are great value for money. I keep all mine in little spice jars from Ikea on top of my ink pad wall unit and they look great!! Sad I know!!
Be sure to stop by Woodware this week to see what the others make. There are sure to be some great samples as most of them are more into this technique than I am.

The Stamp Man - Precious Medals/Metals - Olympics - Gold, Silver of Bronze

Time for another new challenge over at The Stamp Man. Angela is hosting this challenge and she wants us to make something inspired by the Olympics. Team GB have done a fantastic job representing our country and winning so many medals. My only regret is that I haven't been able to watch more of it. Although I did see Andy Murray win his gold medal!!

So my project is a loose interpretation of the theme. I had a chipboard circle and ring (Wendy Vecchi Art Parts) as my starting point. I thought the ring would represent one of the Olympic rings.

I covered the ring with aluminium tape (from B&Q), then used metal tools to add rivets etc. I used alcohol inks to colour the silver tape. Once dry I wiped over a black StazOn pad then sanded with some fine grit paper. During the opening ceremony the forged rings came out of the fire and then all fused together. So my faux metal ring came from that idea. I wanted it to look like a porthole looking out to a world of possibility ...I know, I do get a bit carried away at times!!
The background was made using blended distress inks and a few flicks of water, then over stamped with various Tim Holtz stamps.

 
Then to finish off I wanted my umbrella man looking out about to step out into a brighter world ....right that's enough of the poetic licence!!
To fit the gold theme I build up about 4 layers of gold embossing powder then sunk in a beautiful flourish stamp (this on is my favourite and is from Hero Arts). I had inked the stamp with Versamark before making the impression. This allowed me to dust over a little bronze mica powder to highlight the flourish. You don't really see that in the photo unfortunately.

Why not join us on the Stamp Man challenge blog and enter a project. You never know, it could be you winning a place in the top 5. 
Thank goodness it's Friday, another very busy week and I am so looking forward to a quiet weekend!! Hope you all have a good one too!
Siobhan x
 

Woodware - Black and White with a Pop of Blue

I have just got my hands on a few new stamps from the latest release from Stampendous. As soon as I saw this Raven on the script background (CRR152 Cling Raven Background), I knew I had to have it. And a perfect choice for this week's challenge at Woodware - "Black and White with a pop of Blue".

The frame was made using another new Stampendous stamp CRR145 Cling Decorative Grate. I cut out the frame from thick white card, stamped all round with the grate stamp in black pigment ink then embossed with clear powder. I just liked the Gothic feel it gave to my main image.

 I 3-D'd the raven, added a bit of blue to his hat along with a black pearl. For a final pop of blue I made a flower from lots of large daisies punched from an old dictionary I picked up from a charity shop. Before assembling the flower I mixed some blue Pearlex powder in a little spritzer bottle with some water and sprayed all the flowers. Once dry it's a case of putting all the layers together with a small brad, a bit of scrunching and a big white pearl to finish. 

 
To get more inspiration, check out the Woodware blog this week to see what the other girls have made

Woodware - Shrink Plastic

Normally I love shrink plastic. The brand that Woodware sell is what I used to stock in my shop and I use it myself. Somewhere in my garage is a box with some shrink plastic in it. But at the moment the garage is filled with boxes of my son Paul's belongings while he is away travelling to Canada. One look and I decided that I would have to abandon that idea!! But as luck would have it I found a whole sheet of black shrink in my craft room. Easy I thought...intaglio!! Have you ever had one of those evenings where every good idea you have ends in disaster!! Well it was one of those times and everything I tried ended up in the bin!!

So eventually I found a little scrap of white plastic, just enough to punch out a jumbo tag. I thought I better play safe and stamp it to make an embellishment to go on a card. Here it is.....

This is for a friend who loves music and birds and I went for nice vibrant summery colours. I used a Stampendous stamp "Music Score" and a Magenta stamp called "Shadow Branch" to stamp the background.

As the shrink plastic was white I very lightly sponged with soft orange tones before stamping the bird with black stazon. The branch was stamped with Stazon Gold metallic ink. I love this little mini bird, it is so sweet. 
To keep the sort of natural theme I used garden string rather than ribbon to attatch my tag.

The lovely bird stamp is another Stampendous stamp. I have used this many times before and it is still a favourite. If you are looking for Stampendous stamps check out The Stamp Man. They stock a really big range and their prices are very good.
At the end of the day, not what I had planned but I was quite pleased with the result in the end.
Siobhan x

The Stamp Man - Anything Goes Celebrations

The latest challenge at The Stamp Man is entitled "Celebrations". I must admit I found this one quite difficult even though there are loads of occasions to celebrate. And then because I couldn't make up my mind I ended up last night having to make something quickly. I started with the Aspect of Design "Antique Script with Keys" stamp. By the time I had that layered up, I had the idea of making it into a more masculine 21st birthday card.

 I used Squeezed Lemonade, Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed and Vintage Photo for my blended background. Then I built up some layers of stamping for depth.

I dug out some of my Tim Holtz Ideology "Numerals" to add and then embossed them with copper powder. T turned out really nice!!
The "Time to Celebrate was a free stamp ages ago from The Craft Stamper magazine. 

 
 As a finishing touch I added the key and Bob's your uncle or your 21 year old nephew!!
So if you would like to join us at The Stamp Man then come up with your take on a celebration and be in with a chance of winning a £10 voucher.
 
Our circle journal group are off for a picnic tomorrow weather permitting!! Better go and look out the wellies. Hope you have a good weekend whatever you are doing.
Siobhan x
 

Woodware DT - Zentangle

This week we have been asked to to some zentangle. Luckily I had bought a book on it at the last craft fair in Glasgow. And I took the stuff I needed on holiday with us so I could have a play. But we were blessed with good weather and the zentangle stuff never got taken out of the bag. So this week I had to have a quick go and come up with a sample to post today. 
So I dug out my Dreamweaver outline stencils and found the two ginger jars. Once I got started I quite enjoyed it and can easily see how it can become addictive. So please be forgiving as this was my first attempt but I am sure I will get better with a bit of practise.

 

Once i finished layering up I used a script background paper and a Chinese coin to finish off.

The coin was finished off with a couple of cocktail sticks coloured with black ink and a bit of silver thread wrapped around the sticks. 

There have been some brilliant samples of Zentangle on the Woodware blog this week. Be sure to check them out. I love the fact that you can stamp out or draw your outline, then all you need is a fine tipped black pen.
Hope you have a good weekend. 
Siobhan x

Not Much Crafting

Well it has been quite a few weeks. My son Paul left last Sunday on the start of his big adventure to Canada. I would love to say it all went smoothly. But true to form and his laid back nature, the last couple of weeks before Paul left were truly memorable!! He has left a trail of devastation which will take us some considerable time to sort out!! But by the skin of his teeth he got his flight last Sunday. At least I was spared a lengthy and tearful goodbye. And thanks to facebook I know he is still alive and well and made it to Atlanta in time for his best friend's wedding.

So this weekend I have just been a bit shell shocked and not getting much done. So I thought I would share a few of my holiday photos from the beautiful Hebridian island of South Harris.

View from our holiday cottage

Seals just below cottage

Alfie playing ball on the beach

Seilbost beach

Rory and Graham

 

 

An amazing sky one night just before sunset

Oyster Catcher taking off

Scarista Beach

Mol Ban - our home for a fortnight

Binoculars and a glass of wine - my favourite seat!!

I love the Scottish Islands. They are a great place to go to unwind!!
Siobhan x

Woodware DT - Grey and Chartreuse

The colour theme for this weeks project was chosen by our American DT member Pam. She makes a lot of gorgeous samples for Stampendous and Dreamweaver and her blog is well worth checking out. She gave us a lovely photo of this colour scheme used for a living room.


 Not normally a colour combination I would choose but I actually like it!! Here is my interpretation of the brief.

I used the lovely Stampendous stamp CRF215 Profile Portrait which I stamped in a soft grey. I blended the background with shades of yellows and greens to try to achieve the feel of Chartreuse. I added some layers of stamping for depth.

I used a combination of embossing powders around the edge (Lettuce, Champagne and Aged Silver - all Stampendous) to give it a Frantaged look.

The words were computer generated and cut out. Really as a reminder to myself!!! Stampendous have a stamp which says "Enjoy Life's Simple Pleasures" which would do nicely. It's on my shopping list!! And then I made a paper rose to finish off.
Join us next week when we have a go at Zentangle. That should be interesting!!

Woodware - Anything But a Square or a Rectangle

I was allowed to have a bit of time off the Woodware team. Kim Reygate did a great job taking my place for a while. But now I am back. This week we were asked to make something that wasn't a square or rectangle. So it's another quickie from me as I am knee deep in boxes. As some of you know my son Paul is heading off on his big adventure to Canada. He leaves on Sunday and so all his belongings have been coming home. What was meant to be two trips to Glasgow turned into now four!! I am trying to get my head together so that I am not a blubbering wreck at the airport!!
I made a little triangle card for my project. I am last up this week and there have been some lovely ideas from the other girls, but thankfully no triangles.

I used a lovely clear set designed by Francoise called Oriental Ladies. There's not much to tell, it literally took 15 mins. The most time consuming part for me was cutting out my geisha girl...I hate cutting out!!

I coloured her with watercolour pencils and added some pink nail heads to her fan. I used a Woodware punch for the flowers and the floral punch art stamen punch for the centres. I finished off with a few pearls. 

 I made a template to cut out my card blank. This one fits nicely into a 6 inch square envelope.

The Stamp Man - Summer Colours

It's my turn to host the latest challenge over at The Stamp Man. The challenge is "Summer Colours - Anything Goes". So you can pretty much make anything you like as long as you chose vibrant summer colours. With all this awful rain, it doesn't feel much like summer. So we will just have to create it in our art work!!
I chose a Cling Hero Arts stamp CG288 Leaf Cluster. I wanted to use the same stamp for the focal point and for my background. This is a great technique for a quick card. As I have quite a lot on just now, quick cards are very useful right now. But that doesn't mean to say, you can't create a lovely card!!

For the main image I used several colours of distress inks....mustard seed, spiced marmalade, wild honey, peeled paint and barn door. I inked up the entire stamp with mustard seed. Then added the other colours from lightest to darkest, finishing with barn door. Use the corner of the pad for more control. Then spritz lightly with water and stamp. The new distress markers give you even more control. I have some of these but none of the vibrant summer colours!! 

Then for the background I blended Wild Honey, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and just a touch of Barn Door. Splatter with water for a lovely distress effect. Then I inked up the clean stamp with Versamark and spritzed with water. Stamp and lift and watch the magic happen. Repeat until happy then heat set. I use this technique so much because I love creating layers of stamping. Then I lightly stamped using spiced marmalade - stamping a couple of times before re inking. Hopefully you can see the effect.

 For more inspiration, pop over to The Stamp Man to see what the Design team have been up to. Remember that there is a £10 voucher for the winner, which I will have to pick after the closing date!!