Crazy, Crazy, Crazy!

Apart from a couple of days & nights of the wind howling down the chimney, it's been a quiet week this week. 

The weather has settled down again, it's actually quite sunny today - well, sort of, when it's not cloudy. I've just been out to check the bird feeder and make sure it's got enough in it, I swear the birds around here are lucky they can get off the ground let alone fly - that's at least 12 fat balls & two lots of mealworm they've gone through since Thursdays & I've just filled it again! Yesterday it was like a scene from "The Birds".  When Jack went out for a nose around the garden they scattered.  They then started gathering on the old telephone lines, in the trees and on roof top aerials.  Once the dog came back in the birds started coming back and were queueing up to get at the feeder - then the squabbling started as to who was next - what a racket! If they are like this in the warm weather I think I better get well stocked up for the winter.

It's only been about 3 months since we started trying to persuade our teenage son to get a haircut, I'd been threatening to get him a couple of barrettes to keep his hair out his eyes! Yesterday, he finally gave in!  He has been asked to give a presentation on the "Career Ready" programme he's been taking part in for the last year or so.  It's to be given at a reception for new participants, local employers & various VIPs at a local 5 Star hotel so he needs to look the part! Oh, and it's school photo time - he's to be in three photos: solo, class & the Senior Prefect Team.  We don't have a photo of him in that school uniform & he's been there over 5 years!  He says he's camera shy but I'm hoping I'll have something for the family album.


Sketch Challenge

When I saw the sketch for this weeks  Freshly Made Sketches Challenge I decided that as it was a simple sketch I should perhaps make a card that was also something quite simple. 

There was a stamp in Crafty Impressions "In the Dog House" set that I had been puzzling over how it could be used so I decided to have a little play with that, and came up with this - I think this is the quickest card I've ever made!:

UPDATE

Thank you Kim for the Honorable Mention in this week's Challenge!

I Used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabriano

Black 300gsm - PayPer Box

Other Colours - American Crafts

Dies & Stamps

Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Crazy Cats, Crazy Dogs - Stampers Anonymous

Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Crazy Cats, Crazy Dogs - Sizzix Thinlits

"In the Dog House" Dog - Crafty Inspirations

Inks

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Ranger

Smokey Grey - Memento

Midnight Blue - Versafine

Onyx Black - Versafine

Bird Crazy, Crazy Cats, Crazy Dogs 

I'd ordered a couple of new sets of Dyan Reavely stamps but although only one set, "Ugh, People!" has arrived it's still been time to play.  I do like them using them with the Tim Holtz Crazy sets - only two complete for now:

I still had some of my coloured Crazy Dog die cuts to use up & decided to team them with some backgrounds I'd put away for future use:

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: