Greetings!

Typical, just as I thought the windy weather had finally settled down I received yet another yellow weather alert for strong winds from the weather app on my phone! It has been quite a blustery start to the year so far.

One member of the household, our wee Jack Russell, who hates the rain decided that for some reason he now likes to go out in the howling, gale force gusting winds. I'm not sure if it was because of strange noises or new smells but he kept going up to the patio doors to get into the back garden, at one point I opened the door just as a massive gust decided to head north & straight in through the house. My neighbours had the opposite problem with their young Springer Spaniel who decided he didn't like the noises the wind was making and was apparently freaking out so his dad ended up spending the night on the sofa to try and keep him calm.

Work on the late 60's/early 70's chest of drawers I bought to up-cycle for my son's room continues. I'm only doing a little at a time but the drawers are almost finished, they just need varnishing and the two painted ones need their new handles fitted.

The new handles cost 10 times more than I paid for the unit from a local second-hand shop.  The owners are moving to new premises and reduced the price of just about everything to the princely sum of £1! I had very nearly bought it the week before but wanted to check sizes of it to make sure I had enough of the decoupage paper I wanted to use to cover the area I needed it for.  

I asked my son how he would like it done and had to laugh when I was told "As long as it's in keeping with the aesthetics of my room Mum I don't mind"!

For my attempt at this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challege #222 I decided to go for black & ivory and hopefully manage to make a card suitable for a male of the species.

For the card base I used a landscape hammered ivory card. I then took some black cardstock and ran the two short sides through my Darice Feathers on Side folder and applied it to the base. The card is a UK A5 size and the folder much smaller. In order to prevent the edges from marking lines down the cardstock I ran it through my Grand Calibur but instead if using the full size Raspberry Embossing Plate I used the embossing plate from my Sapphire which was the perfect width for the feathers.

I used the ivory hammered card stock with an assortment of dies to create the embellishments and added some faux stitches around the edges of the black card.

After I originally thought I was finished I just kept looking at it thinking something was missing & it was bugging me! In the end I had another look through my die collection. I found the Spellbinders Delightful Tree set which  had some small birds which I felt would add some additional interest and be in keeping with the feather embossing.

What I Used

Cardstock
Ivory Hammered - PayPer Box
Black - PayPer Box

Dies
Leafy Flourish - Die-Namics
Birthday from Happy Birthday Garland - Spellbinders
Birds from Delightful Tree Set - Spellbinders
Roses from Floral Heart Accent - Spellbinders
Greetings from Tim Holtz Holiday Word Script Set - Sizzix
Oval from Radiant Rectangles Set - Spellbinders Gold

Embossing Folder

Feathers on Side - Darice