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

Silhouette

Weather wise it has been a strange couple of weeks - brilliant sunshine, temperatures in the 30C's, thunderstorms and torrential rain that the car's wipers could barely cope with. During a break in the wet weather, hubby finally got around to putting up the 3 panels of fencing that he's promised to do for the last 3 years - hooray!!!

Our wee Jack Russell is happy that he's finally able to enjoy the freedom of the whole garden again rather than just as far as his long lead allowed him to go. He was really funny on the day of the thunderstorm, this is a dog that hates the rain but he was absolutely fascinated by the storm & kept pawing at the patio door. I knew he wasn't going to out in it so I opened the door for him.  Straight out the door went his nose and he seemed fascinated by all the scents that were being stirred up by the lightning and heavy rain, he'd sniff the air, then he'd look at me as if to say "can you smell that" all the while his tail was going nineteen to the dozen. At one point he did take a step out into the rain but shot straight back in again.

My friend is finally on the road to recovery and, although she couldn't see it before, she now admits that she's making improvements everyday. It's hoped that in a few weeks instead of going to a stroke rehab unit she will be able to go home and continue her treatment here.

Not been making anything this last couple of week's but thought it was time to get started again. This Freshly Made Sketches Challenge  seemed a good place to start.

The only thing I knew I wanted to do was not to make the horizontal piece a sentiment - but wasn't sure what it should be! I had a look through my stash and came across a Cottage Cutz Petites "Bird on Branch" die and decided to use that as the basis for the card.  Originally I'd thought of using a Kraft card base as the ready made tags I had were Kraft card but finally decided to make my own from white cardstock and have the die cut bird on a branch as a silhouette. Originally I thought about the circle as the sun but after making up the card decide and mulling over it overnight, next morning I decided that a. I felt I'd made a couple of mistakes in the placement of things  & b. A paler, perhaps moon-like, colour would be better for a silhouette.

The tag was embossed using the trunk section of the embossing folder from "A Walk in The Park" set, free from Simply Cards and Papercraft Issue 150.

So I started over again. 

To do this it was just a case of changing the colour of circle and extending the branches across the tag. I decided to add a little movement to the card by setting the tag at a slight angle:

What I Used

300gsm White Card - Fabiano

Black Linen 12x12 - Black Cat

Dies, Embossing Folder & Stamps

"Bird on Branch" - Cottage Cutz Petites

"A Walk in The Park" Set, Tree Folder - Simply Cards & Papercraft Issue 150 
"Just Because", Paula Pascal Mixed Sentiments - Personal Impressions

Inks

Weathered Wood - Distress Ink Tim Holtz

Scattered Straw - Distress Ink Tim Holtz

Tuxedo Black - Memento

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.