Be You!

Nice to see the days getting longer & soon the clocks will be springing forward but today it is a bit on the chilly side.  It has been trying to snow and apparently it is going to be rather a cold week, it looks as though my heated throw will be staying out storage for a bit longer!

I was having a look for something among my crafty bits and bobs during the week and came across a sheet of Bird Crazy stamps I had coloured in a long while ago.  A couple of days later one of hubby's nephews had posted this Gif on his Facebook page

 so I just had to do something with the stamps which may be appropriate

I hadn't used these stamps for ages and when I saw the latest Freshly Made Sketches Challenge sketch

I originally thought that I would use one of the other stamps I had found as there were some ready coloured and cut out.  I came up with this in combination with a Tim Holt's Mixed Media #3 die but wasn't very happy with it so it was back to the drawing board (or rather the craft stash).

After a lot of staring at things I decided I hadn't really done many male oriented cards lately so set myself the goal at finding something to fit.  I had a checkered plate embossing plate (Crafters Companion "Gun Metal") and used that as my starting point and then the industrial theme began to take shape so the Tim Holtz "Gearhead" cog wheel dies came out. 

Originally it was just going to be an arrangement of the cog wheels but when it came to looking out a sentiment for it I found the Dyan Reavely "Be you, the world will adjust" stamp and remembered I also had a Tim Holtz world globe die.  My thinking behind this card was to set the globe slightly at an angle to the cogs as if it was part of a mechanism.  Oh well, it was just a thought, but this is what the reality of that looks like:

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

Marbles

It's hubby's Birthday today and even although I'd been planning on what cards to make, as usual I left it to the last minute to actually sit down and make them! I talked it over with our teenage son and it was decided that for his card it was to be Crazy Birds with one of Dyan Reaveley's amusing sentiments from her "Laugh Til You Leak" set. This is what I came up with:
 
 

   
 

I used the Tim Holtz "Splatters" layering stencil and Distress Inks to create the background and used my Brother Labeller to make the "Happy Birthday Dad". I used the matching Sizzix dies to cut out the birds and layered it onto the front of the card. The first half of the sentiment was added along with some coloured pearls to represent the . . .  as marbles!







 
 

 
Cardstock:
Image Super Smooth White
 
Stamps & Dies:
Dyan Reaveley - Laugh Til You Leak,
Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Sizzix Thinlits Bird Crazy,
 
Inks:
Tim Holtz Distress Inks,
Memento - Tuxedo Black
Promarkers
 

 

The Birds - Part Two

Following on from my Part 1 post I now have made similar cards using the remaining three birds from the Tim Holtz "Bird Crazy" Set using sentiments from Dyan Reaveley's "Laugh Til You Leak" and "Say It How It Is" sets.

Last night I managed to find and order the Sizzix die set to match these stamps so hopefully I'll have them early next week - I bet they'll arrive the day I promised my son & my friend I'd take them on a trip to Glasgow so will have to wait to play with them!

In today's mail was a set of stamps from the Doo-Lally-Pip collection by Lindsay Mason called "If You Want To Get Ahead" which consists of 15 items of head gear, I have added my first attempt at using them in conjunction with the Birds at the bottom of this post. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock:

Paperbox Kraft

Image Supersmooth White

 

Stamps:

Tim Holtz - Bird Crazy

Dyan Reaveley - Laugh Til You Leak

Dyan Reaveley - Say It How It Is

Lindsay Mason - "Doo-Lally-Pip" - "If You Want To Get Ahead"

 

Inks:

Memento - Tuxedo Black

Letraset Promarkers - Assorted