Oops! . . . He Did It Again!

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted any makes, must admit I've not been feeling at my best - and as for Hubby . . .

Our wee Jack Russell, for some reason, seems to think that he hasn't been for a walk unless he's been out with Hubby. Recently he's been getting rather vocal in trying to get his way, it starts off with a rather wimpy whine & then progresses into a definite nagging bark telling hubby to get off his backside! Suitably chastised off they go out just before dinner. They weren't away very long. As they got in the door I discovered that the expensive, brand new, extending lead I'd just bought had been pulled out so far that it now refused to retract back into the handle - I proceeded to lecture the pair of them about pulling & being allowed to pull whilst on the lead.  After dinner hubby said he was going to have an early night which he does from time to time and I didn't think any more about it.

Fast forward several hours later when I'm having one of my can't sleep nights so settle downstairs to watch a film but must have dosed off a bit. I must have been in that not asleep but not awake mode when I had one of those strange feelings that I was being watched, as I turned round there was hubby looking white as a sheet and announcing "I think I've broken my arm!" Turns out when Jack pulled the lead right out hubby lost his balance & put his left arm out to try stop himself falling flat on his face.  He had then gone into 20+ years of Bootneck training that "it's only pain" until it went beyond the "only" stage - eejit! Can't believe the numpty waited 10 hours to tell me.

I quickly realised from the symptoms that he had managed to break the head of his left humerus less than 2 years after doing in the right one! I got his arm immobilised, gave him some of my strong painkillers & headed out to A&E. X-Rays show he's gone one better than last time & fractured it in 3 places! He's got exercises to do at home but it's back to hospital next week for the start of physio.


I have been making cards, I have even been following the Freshly Made Sketches Challenges, I just haven't got around to photographing & posting them. Anyway, I actually managed to get some photos done so here we go for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge:

I had some stitched circle dies which have been rather underused so decided to get them out for this card.  The hedgehog & ladybug stamp is from the Penny Black set "Bubbly".  The strip across the card was run through the bottom section of my Darice "Grass" embossing folder to give a grassy effect.

I Used

Cardstock

Green - Ceraldo 270gsm

White - Fabriano 300gsm

Stamps, Dies & Embossing Folder

Hedgehog, "Bubbly" Set - Penny Black

Thanks Sentiments - Paula Pascal Personal ImpressionsStitched Circles - Die-Versions Whispers Nesting Dies

Grass Embossing Folder - Darice

Inks
Tiramisu Memento Brilliance - Tsukineko
Assorted Promakers - Letraset/Winsor & Newton

Other Cards

Cog Dies - X-Cut

Friends - Tim Holtz "Handwritten Love" Set
Checkerplate Embossing Folder - Crafters Companion

Mixed Media #2 & Stitched Rectangles - Tim Holtz

Lost Love

In spite of this week's title, it's not going to be a piece of romantic fiction, more like a case of forgetfulness/carelessness on my part.

I had decided that I was going to use a variety of Tim Holtz Mixed Media/ Alterations dies in this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.

I had decided to use the Heart from the Scribbles and Splats set along with the "Love" from the Handwritten Love set.  I had the dies laid out but, unfortunately, when it came to cutting out the Love it had disappeared from where I left it/thought I'd left it.  Anyway I can't for the life of me find out where the heck it has got to but hopefully at some point it will show up and I will utter the immortal words "I wondered where that got to!" (apparently amongst family & friends I'm quite famous for it!).  I tried other sentiments but nothing was working so I had to improvise but I think it worked out ok in the end. 

I Used

Cardstock

White 300gsm Super Smooth - Fabiano

Plain Colour cardstock - Crelando

Stamps, Dies, Embossing Folders

Tim Holtz Crazy Birds, Cats, Dogs - Stampers Anonymous

Dyan Reaveley "How About Never"  - Rangers

Tim Holtz Crazy Birds, Cats, Dogs Thinlits - Sizzix

Tim Holtz Handwritten Love - Sizzix

Tim Holtz Mixed Media #2 - Sizzix

Tim Holtz Scribbles & Splats - Sizzix

Tim Holtz Alterations Stitched Rectangles - Sizzix

"That Folder" - Craft Stash

Hearts - So Crafty

Inks

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Ranger

Promarkers - Winsor & Newton/Letraset

I had been playing with some backgrounds using Distress Inks, sprayed water, salt & sprayed bleach. I now have quite a few collected so decided to team some up with some of the Tim Holtz Crazies that I have been colouring & saving up and Dyan Reaveley sentiment stamps. Here are my three latest ones:

 

The pedestal column was cut from the lower half of "That Folder"

These next backgrounds were originally in browns and greens but the addition of some sprayed on bleach solution changed them into pinks and purples:

The ball of wool stamp and die from their Crazy Cats sets was wound with some twine coloured with Distress Ink.

Who Let The Dogs Out? - Part 1

Finally, over a month after ordering them on pre-release, my Tim Holtz Crazy Dog stamps have arrived.  Seems to have been a bit of a mix up at the retailers.

Never mind they are here now and I've been having a play with those and my new A5 die cutting machine from the Aldi "So Crafty" range. Didn't know that Aldi did such a thing? Me neither but they do now and it's a rather nice piece of kit! It came with two A6 embossing folders and 11 small dies, 2 of which are shown in the photo below.  The machine takes all formats of dies. In the Facebook Groups I belong to there have been quite a few people who have purchased one.  So far, everyone has been really impressed by the quality of it.

Anyway, I digress, back to the "Crazy Dogs" - aren't they cute! Got a few ideas for them although only 3 finished cards are on here at the moment - more to follow!

I decided to try and fit one in the sketch for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

I decided to use the smallest of the dogs, not sure but it could be a dachshund I guess, and combine it with some stamps from the Crafty Impressions, Cathie Shuttleworth's "In the Dog House", set.  I think, perhaps, it's a rather loose interpretation of the sketch.

I Used

Cardstock

White 300 gsm Supersmooth - Fabriano

Colours - Crelando

Dies & Stamps

Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs - Stampers Anonymous

Barking Mad, "In the Dog House" Set - Crafty Impressions

Don't Tell Me, "I've Had Enough" Set - Lindsay Mason

Never Forget, "Smiles & Years" - Lindsay Mason

Here are the other two - not sure if they are meant to be a French Bulldog (or Pug perhaps) & a Bulldog or not:

Friends

I do wish that the weather would make up it's mind what it wants to be! Just when you start to dream that a sunny summer could be just around the corner, a few days of heavy rain bring you back to reality!

I've been telling hubby for a while now not to put bread on the patio for the birds as it's not the best thing for them to eat. Finally I found an article on the subject and that, plus the heavy rain causing the bread to make a soggy mess on the patio which I made him clear up, he decided to stop it.  In return I bought some special wild bird food balls that he could put out for them. Neither of us could believe how hungry our fine feathered friends are, they may be wee but they've gone through one ball every other day & I'm now down to the last one - something else for the weekly shopping list!

I thought I had my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge sorted out - oh how wrong could I be when I realised, after I'd made it, that I had used the exact same stamps I'd used a few weeks ago! Ah well, it was back to the drawing board to come up with a new card to fit in with this week's sketch:

The original card I came up with used stamps from the Penny Black "You're Retro" set. I used some Spray Distress Inks to create the multi-coloured back layer:

I Used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Blue - Crelando

Stamps

You're Retro Stamp set - Penny Black

Inks
Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Promarkers - Letraset / Winsor & Newton

Once I'd realised what I'd done I started looking through my crafty stash to see what I had and found a Darice embossing folder "Feathers on Side" and decided to try something with that.

I thought instead of using different layers I would try using different colours on the same piece of card and used a highlighted part of the design to form the area where the dark strip is in the sketch. Once the Distress Inks (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers & Seedless Preserves) were on I used some Starlight Gelly Roll pen over metallic Promarker to create the highlighted area. The sentiment was stamped using clear Versamark and set using silver embossing powder.

I had problems trying to get photos which showed the embossed stamp in the correct colour- some made them look black instead of silver, whilst not the best, these hopefully these show the detail.

I Used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Stamps

True Friendship Stamp set - Kaisercraft

Inks
Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Promarkers - Letraset/Winsor & Newton

Gelly Roll - Sakura

The Birds - Part 4

While waiting for the Crazy Cats stamps to arrive I had a play with some Bird Crazy Stamps & matching Framelits, some embossing folders and Lindsay Mason Stamps.

Rules

I Used

Cardstock
Kraft - PayPer Box
Blue - Crelando
White - Image Supersmooth

Stamps, Dies & Embossing Folders
Tim Holtz - Bird Crazy
Lindsay Mason - I've Had Enough
Craft Concepts - Hand Script

Inks
Distress Inks - Tim Holtz
Memento Tuxedo Black

Sitting Around

I Used
Cardstock
Kraft - PayPer Box
Blue - Crelando
White - Image Supersmooth

Stamps, Dies & Embossing Folders
Tim Holtz - Bird Crazy
Lindsay Mason - I've Had Enough
Couture Creations - Pure Pleasure

Inks
Distress Inks - Tim Holtz
Memento Tuxedo Black

.

The Birds - Part Three

Yep, it's those wacky Bird Crazy stamps again!

I recently came across a set of stamps by Lindsay Mason called "Quips" that I thought would be a great fit with Tim Holtz Birds, so here are a few of my attempts so far:

Voices

For this one I created a splattered background using the Tim Holtz Stencil to give a slightly, dotty, psychedelic look which I (or was it the voices) thought would perhaps go well with the Lindsay Mason Voices Quip stamp.

 What I Used

Cardstock

Black - PayPer Box

White - Image Supersmooth

Stamps & Stencils

Bird Crazy - Tim Holtz

Quips - Lindsay Mason
Splatters Stencil - Tim Holtz

Ink

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Memento - Tsukinenko

Promarkers - Letraset

Stand Out

The background for this card came from a card my friend gave me for my Birthday. The front had a filigree cut out section so it just had to be kept as a template for experimenting with! This effect was created by running it through my Spellbinders Grand Calibur with the paper covered by the rubber tan mat. The embossed paper was then rubbed over with Distress Ink to lift the design. The Tim Holtz Bird was cut out and attached with a 3D glue so it would, as the quip says, stand out!  

What I Used

Stamps & Stencils

Bird Crazy - Tim Holtz

Quips - Lindsay Mason
Splatters Stencil - Tim Holtz

Cardstock

Navy Blue - PayPer Box

Green - Crelando

White - Papermill Direct

Inks

Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Memento - Tsukinenko

Promarkers - Letraset

Pigeon v Statue

This quip was the one that sold me on the "Quips" stamp set and I just had to have it for my birds!

I kept the background simple and stuck with an open air feel by using Distress Inks to create a grass & sky background.

What I Used

CardStock

Black - PayPer Box

Pale Yellow - Crelando

Stamps

Bird Crazy - Tim Holtz

Quips - Lindsay Mason

Inks

Distress Inks

Memento - Tsukineko

Promarkers - Letraset