Just Because

Hard to believe that I have reached 100 posts - but I have and this is it!

The mature cherry tree opposite our house has finally decided that it's Spring and the first cluster of blossom has appeared. However, today, the weather hasn't decided what season it's meant to be! Never mind four seasons in one day we had four seasons in the space of an hour! Nice bright sunshine had the patio doors opened and our wee Jack out in the garden, next he came running into the house because he was being pelted with hailstones! The sun comes back out and I decided that I was going to go out and do some background papers with spray Distress Ink but the wind was making it go places I didn't really want it to and all of a sudden out of the sky came not hailstones this time but teeny, tiny, little snowballs - weird!

One of the reasons I was making background paper with Distress Ink is that I was wanting to use some for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.  I had a few attempts at making cards using the sketch but I wasn't entirely happy with them so decided to try something else instead.

Eventually I decided on using one of the Tim Holtz Mixed Media 2 dies to create a background and took it from there and came up with this:

The doily die from the Mixed Media #2 set was cut into the card blank and the backed with card which had been sprayed with Distress Ink and bleach to create a background. A strip was cut from the background to create a strap of card to go under the die (I positioned it to match up to where it was cut from).

I used

Cardstock

A6 Card Blank - Papermania

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Dies & Stamps

Doily, Mixed Media #2 - Tim Holtz

Bird Crazy - Tim Holtz

Just Because - Paula Pascal Mixed Sentiments

Inks

Distress Ink Sprays - Tim Holtz

Assorted Promarkers

Here are the ones that didn't quite make it:

This was the first one.  I really wasn't happy with that orange blob in the middle - but as the sentiment says "Don't be afraid to make mistakes"!

It was shortly followed by this one using a Crafter's Companion die coloured with Distress Ink. It was this one that gave me the idea using the Mixed Media die.

I Used

Cardstock

White Smooth 300gsm - Fabiano

Dies, Embossing Folders & Stamps

Spring Garden - Crafter's Companion

Bird Crazy - Tim Holtz

Random Thoughts - Lindsay Mason

Don't Be Afraid - Lindsay Mason

Inks

Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Onyx Black - Versafine

Assorted Promarkers

This one isn't based on the sketch but as I had stamped, coloured and cut out the bird out I decided to make a card with it anyway.

Hang On!

Had my son out for another driving lesson this weekend. It's been 2 weeks since his first one as I left it too late to book a car for last week. While we were sorting out the paperwork for this hire I booked us up for the next 4 weekends just in case I forget again!

He's doing really well so far. Now if he makes a mistake he remembers to put the handbrake (parking brake) on first before throwing his hands across his face and giving it "aarrrggghhhh!!!" although, fortunately, the incidents of this are decreasing! He has however now decided that 20 miles an hour is plenty fast enough for him to handle for the moment but it's all a confidence thing & the more we go out the better it will be.

It doesn't happen very often but when I saw the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge for this week I actually knew what I was going to do with it!

I've wanted to use this sentiment for a wee while now and thought it was just the thing to go with this stamp - love the surprised expression on kitty's face!

The cloud background was created using Tim Holtz Distress Ink and stamped with the image from Penny Black "Bubbles". A variety of blue and grey Promarkers were used to colour the cat, balloons and two rectangles cut from the white cardstock. The lighter coloured rectangle was stamped with the sentiment from the Lindsay Mason's "Random Thoughts" set.

I used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Stamps

Bubbles - Penny Black

Random Thoughts - Lindsay Mason

Inks

Onyx Black -  Versafine

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Faded Jeans - Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Shop Til You Drop!

It doesn't take much shopping to make me drop these days, going out for a couple of hours can take me a couple of days to recover, hence I do a lot online be it the mundane grocery shop or more fun crafty stuff.

Some stamps I ordered from Amazon a few weeks ago, Penny Black's "You're Retro", finally arrived - unfortunately they were too late for the occasions I originally had them in mind for but they are great for cards for my friend's charity work. I wasn't too happy that the original order was cancelled by the seller without any explanation several days after they sent me an email saying it had been dispatched, same seller did the same thing on a previous order. It was even more annoying because they were still listed as being in stock & being offered for sale by that seller. Never mind, I managed to get them from another seller and now they're here it's been time to play!

The Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week I found to be exactly that - a

challenge. I don't know why but I just couldn't decide what to do and when I did I just couldn't seem to get those two side triangles to fit right then I had one of those "Doh" moments and it came together. It took me a wee while but I got there in the end!

A couple of weeks ago I got an 8x8" Lily of The Valley Nit Wits Collection "Perfect Pair" paper pad free with a craft magazine that were mentally "filed under 'L' for Later". The papers have some rather nice Spring/Summer designs so I had a look in my stash and found a nice spring-like green to use as a background.

The stamps used are from the Penny Black "You're Retro" set and to colour I sorted through my Promarkers and found some colours which approximately match those in the printed paper.

I Used

Cardstock

White - Fabiano 300gsm Smooth

Green - American Crafts, Summer

Pattern - Lily of the Valley, "Perfect Pair" Paper Pad

Stamps

"You're Retro" - Penny Black T for Transparent

Sentiments

"Meow!!"/"Never under estimate . . ." Stampendous "Cat Sayings"
"Growing old is compulsory . . ." Lindsay Mason "Smiles and Years"
"The older you get . . ." Lindsay Mason "Age Doesn't Matter"

Inks

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Promarkers - Letraset/Winsor & Newton

Other stamps from the Penny Black You're Retro stamp set:

April 3rd

April 3rd is an important day in our household.

April 3rd 1982. My husband was one of 22 Royal Marines who under the command of Acting Lieutenant Keith Mills RM  defended the small island of South Georgia against an Argentine invasion force of hundreds for several hours before finally being forced to surrender.*

April 3rd 1999 was the day our son made his first appearance into this world. Within minutes he was in an incubator hooked up to wires and tubes fighting to survive in the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit. He is now taller than his Mum & Dad and a typical teenager.

April 3rd 2016 and Liam's 17th Birthday. When he eventually parted company with his bed and opened his presents it was a mad dash to get to the car hire in time to pick up the dual control car for his first lesson. Once the formalities were taken care of, I drove him to the industrial estate just around the corner to start his lesson - not driven a stick shift for at least 5 years so I was able to show him how to stall the engine before we'd left the forecourt!

He was rather excited about being in the car and it was showing as soon as he got behind the wheel - I had to remind him to breathe on more than one occasion! Once we got the "Cockpit Drill" done and went over what all the different controls did it was time to have a go at actually getting the car actually moving He got it moving off first time but is going to have to learn not to press down so hard on the gas! There were a couple of stalls and a bit of "I can't do this" but I just reminded him if he keeps telling himself he can't then he won't! I also asked him if he had read what was on the Birthday card I'd made for him but apparently he had only looked at the picture - typical teenager! I told him if he looked carefully at the words he would see the line "You are . . . Smarter than you think . . ."!

On the way home driving my automatic transmission car I found that old habits die hard and much to the amusement of my boy I kept going to use the gear stick only to grab a handful of air!

For his Birthday card I used this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge sketch as it's base.

and came up with this:

I Used 

Cardstock:

Blue & Green - American Crafts, Summer

White - Fabriano 300gsm

Dies, Embossing Folders & Stamps

Bird Crazy - Sizzix/Tim Holtz

Star - Nellie Snellen

Bird Crazy -  Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz

Quintessential Quotes- Rangers/Dyan Reavely Dylusions

Dotted Chevron A4 Folder - EBosser/Theresa Collins

Inks

Promarkers - Winsor & Newton/Letraset

Tuxedo Black - Memento

* April 3rd 1982. My husband was one of 22 Royal Marines who under the command of Acting Lieutenant Keith Mills RM  defended the small island of South Georgia against an Argentine invasion force of hundreds. They holed a warship with an anti-tank weapon, downed a helicopter and held the Argentines off  for several hours before finally being defeated. There is a very famous photograph taken of them before the invasion began that was lucky to survive and only did so because the Argentine who took Lt Mill's camera couldn't work out how to open it! Below I've linked an interesting interview with Keith Mills given to the BBC for the 30th Anniversary.

Keith Mills Interview

Invasion - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly