Who Let The Dogs Out? - Part 2

It would appear that Autumn has arrived! 

It had been unseasonably warm earlier this week but for the last two days it has been quite heavy rain and this afternoon it has started to become rather windy.  My wee apple tree has dropped a few of it's crop this week and I have enough to make an apple crumble.  My friend who is recovering from a stroke has been dropping hints for the last couple of weeks that she's running out of the last jar of the strawberry jam I made for her. I finally got some jam sugar and made some.  It was just cooling down as my son got home from school for lunch - the door opened followed immediately by "I smell strawberry jam!" as he headed straight for the kitchen.  I have to admit it went down rather well on a brioche bun washed down with a small pot of Earl Grey!

I have been playing with my Tim Holtz "Crazy Dogs" stamps & dies again this week  - I had stamped them out and when I haven't been able to sleep I've been colouring them in.  I decided that I would make a card as part of this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge 

I must admit I had a couple of goes at this one as I wasn't happy with the way the first card turned out but, finally, came up with this one.  I must admit brown isn't a background colour I would normally think of using:

Here are some more cards using "Crazy Dog" stamps & dies that I've put together.  The first is my original attempt at the Challenge sketch:

Still Talking?

Sitting Around

Mucky Pup

Rainbow Sprinkle

I Used

Cardstock

White 300 gsm Supersmooth - Fabriano

Ivory Hammered - PayPer Box

Brown- Crelando

Colours  - American Crafts Summer Collection

Stamps, Dies & Embossing Folders

Tim Holtz "Crazy Dogs" - Stampers Anonymous

Tim Holtz "Crazy Cats" - Stampers Anonymous

Woof, Woof  "In the Dog House" Set - Crafty Impressions

Dyan Reaveley, Dylusions "Laugh Til You Leak" - Ranger

Dyan Reaveley Dylusions "Quintessential Quotes" - Ranger

Tim Holtz "Crazy Dogs" - Sizzix

Tim Holtz "Crazy Cats" - Sizzix

Tim Holtz - "Scribbles & Splats" - Sizzix

Tim Holtz - "Handwritten Love" - Sizzix

Nesting Scalloped Rectangles - Tonic

"Ditzy Floral" - Crafters Companion

Inks

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Ranger

Smokey Gray & Vintage Sepia - Versafine

Promarkers - Windsor & Newton

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.

Spring!

The days are getting longer now and I'm looking forward to the clocks going forward to BST next weekend. The snowdrops have been out for a while and the daffodils are now getting into bud. One thing this town is renowned for (apart from the town planners extensive use of roundabouts in the roads system) is it's floral displays and in two or three weeks time the whole town will be a mass of yellow.

Earlier today I had gone out to get something from the car and as I came back up the path I spotted something pink I didn't expect to see - our miniature cherry tree was in flower! The reason for my surprise was that I had to prune it right back last year as the top half of it seemed to be dying back. I thought I'd prune it before it went any further down the stem. There is only a few branches at the base but they are all in flower so hopefully it may be on the road to recovery! Another reason I wasn't expecting cherry blossom is that the mature cherry trees are still bare.

It's my friend's Birthday next week. I did think about using the Crazy Cats stamps & dies cos she's cat crazy but as Spring is in the air I decided to use a new die, "Spring Garden" that I thought matched the "Ditzy Floral" embossing folder I had - both are Crafter's Companion so they at least have that in common!

I Used

Cardstock

Metallic Silver Card Blank - Docrafts

Pearlised White - PayPer Box

Dies & Embossing Folders

"Spring Garden" - Crafter's Companion

"Ditzy Floral" - Crafter's Companion

Ribbon & Bling from stash.

For this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge I decided to stick with a floral theme as I had bought a die and stamp set called "Beautiful You" in the Sizzix website sale that was still to be played with and thought I would give it a try using this sketch.

I had been going to use reds for the flowers but decided to use a pink instead as I felt it was more Spring-like. I spent ages going through my cardstock supplies looking for a matching background for the card base and was getting to the point where I thought I was going to have to change colour scheme then it dawned on me - what a numptie! This silly eejit somehow managed to forget how I normally matches the colours I'm colouring in with . . . use the same Promarkers! I swear I actually blushed in embarrassment when I realised!

I Used

Cardstock

White Pearlised - PayPer Box

White Supersmooth - Image

Dies

Beautiful You Set - Sizzix

Inks

Smokey Grey - Memento

Winsor & Newton Promarkers