What's That Yellow Thing?

Good grief - it's the sun!!! 

Looks as though Spring may just have finally sprung! 

It was my older sister's Birthday on Thursday but we didn't manage to catch up until Friday,  We met up at our local farm shop and cafe - the first of the season's strawberries were in so it had to be a cream tea (although I had coffee with mine!). It was rather yummy with a cherry and dark chocolate scone, clotted cream, strawberry jam made with fruit from the farm and, of course, some new season strawberries!

Unfortunately, it has been a bit of a naughty week eating wise, and after having that plus a Chinese take out that evening I got a bit of a shock standing on the scales yesterday morning - it's back on plan starting tomorrow!

I've had some peace and quiet today as hubby is out with his brother while son is out with some friends so the time was good to sit down and have a proper look at this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

I remembered a Darice embossing folder that I bought a few years ago which embossed a lacy oval but hadn't quite decided as to what else to do with it.  We have some family members moving house and I had been working on cards for them so while looking at my stamps I decided that I would use the Woodware Love Birds stamp to go with it.

It was actually warm and sunny enough to go & take photos outside, just a slight breeze to keep knocking the cards over but I got there in the end!

I used Nuvo pens to add colour to the embossed design and also used the matching pen to create both the mat and the plaque to take the sentiment "It takes hands to build a house, but only hearts can build a home".

The challenge card with other "New Home" cards I have made recently

The images were coloured using a mixture of Tonic Nuvo & Winsor & Newton Promarker pens.  For the "Three Houses" stamp set I went for the Tobermory (Balamory) coloured house look.

Whilst not exactly a new house card I just had to include a card made using the Woodware "Unfrogettable" set.  Coloured with some "Script" alcohol markers I bought in Aldi a couple of months ago.  The dragonfly has had some Sakura Gelly Roll Clear Stardust applied to it's wings.

What's the story in Balamory?  Our niece Nikki has a new home!

 

Alfie and The Aliens

Well, still waiting for spring in these parts.  I can remember bringing our son home 19 years ago and the cherry blossom being out on the trees in front of our house. Today the branches look bare.  When we got married 21 years ago (give or take a couple of days) all the daffodils that were out in bloom across the town in the grounds of the church but in our garden today our daffies are only in bud (maybe they'll make an effort for Thursday!).


I'm still working on putting together a selection of cards for my friend who is unable to get out and about since her stroke.  Her Great-Nephew has a birthday coming up so I decided to use the sketch at this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge to make a card for him.

Among my latest stamp acquisitions has been "The Blimps" by Woodware so felt that one of the little aliens would go well with some card stock I have had lying around for quite a while.  I've not used either of them before so I suppose for Alfie's card I'm going to be venturing into alien territory!  

After taking the photos, I thought that it might be an idea to use a googly eye on the stamped image to add a little bit extra dimension to the alien.

Products of Insomnia!

For a long time now I have been having problems sleeping.  Often when I'm using my stamps I'll stamp off a couple of extras and put them away to colour up on those nights when I can't sleep.  I also make up some backgrounds using Distress Inks and put them away in a folder for future use.  My friend is housebound so I thought I would start putting a few cards together for her so that instead of her spending a fortune on buying from online stores she could have some at home for when she needs them. 

I have accumulated a few now so thought I would haul them out and get some photos taken.

 Woodware Clear Magic "Jacqui's Garden" coloured using Promarkers.

Not entirely sure which way up is the right way up!

Woodware Clear Magic "Long Tall Flowers"

Woodware Clear Magic "Fairy House" with Couture Creations "Pure Pleasure" Embossing Folder.  Stamped and embossed with white embossing powder to give a faux bleached effect.  Coloured with Distress Inks.

Woodware  Clear Magic "Sweet Tweet".  Coloured using Distress Inks & Brusho powders.

 Tim Holtz "Mixed Media #5" Die Set with Distress Ink background.

Mushrooms or Toadstools?

The last few days have been a pain - quite literally!  The injection I get for my TMJ has been wearing off for the last couple of weeks and so the long wait until the next one (end of April) begins.  Headaches, earache and the worst toothache (pressure from the over-tightened jaw muscles) I have had in goodness knows how long.  I was taking muscle relaxants and strong painkillers and still the toothache persisted, then I remembered clove oil - only I didn't have any and it was the middle of the night so off to the kitchen and flinging things around the baking cupboard until I found the long lost jar of cloves.   Within about half an hour of sucking on a couple of cloves (tastes awful) the pain was gone!  It's amazing how the simplest of natural things can be more effective than mighty pharmaceuticals!

When I can't sleep and looking for things to do I sometimes will get the stamp platform out and make some images that I can colour in later another time I can't sleep.  What a difference having a stamp platform makes when you aren't very good at stamping right first time!  I got my recent Woodware stamp purchases out and got on with churning some out, some just stamped and some stamped and embossed.  I recently ordered a couple more but they won't be here until later in the week (I hope).

I had some images already coloured and had already been cut out in stitched circles and when I saw this week's  Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

I thought I might use one of those but in the end decided against it and went for a simple mat and layer style instead using one of the Woodware "Three Toadstool" stamps I had been colouring in.  I had originally coloured one in red like a traditional "fairy" toadstool and made it up but after looking at it a couple of times I decided maybe I needed a to be a bit more colourful instead and came up with this instead. For the band I stamped some of the grass from the bottom of the stamp onto some green cardstock and fussy cut it to make a foreground then added a sentiment and the small heart in heart die from the Tonic "Hello Beautiful Layering Hearts" set.  The shaded background gives the hint of a circle.

Is it Spring Yet?

Last week we had "The Beast From The East" weather front that brought lots of snow and wind & this week they are talking about "The Pest From The West"!  Fortunately this time around it looks as though it is going to miss us over here in the Kingdom of Fife.

The snow from last week is almost gone, just the remnants of where it was piled up from path and road clearing & we can see the snowdrops and crocus in the garden again.

I've been staying warm indoors & been trying some crafty things I've been meaning to for a while now - been ages since I experimented with something messy!  I've had Brusho colour powders for ages but not really done much with them so I dug them out and had a play - should have worn latex gloves!  Got some backgrounds done and then decided to have a try at doing some resist techniques with them, faux bleach effect.  Out came the embossing kit and some new stamps to try.  Put the new stamp on to the stamp platform and started applying the Ranger Perfect Medium that I've had for a while but not used in ages - what a mess!  As I am applying it the Perfect Medium sponge (or whatever it is) decided that it was now chewing gum and left lumps all over the stamp - not impressed and not the kind of messy crafting I had in mind when I started!  Fortunately I had a different embossing pad and could use that instead.  I ended up trying the faux bleach effect with the Brusho colours and also using my Distress Inks as watercolours with two of my new Woodware floral stamps; "Wiggly Stems" and "Tall Flowers".  I used one of these efforts as the background to this weeks Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.

This background with the faux bleach effect was made using the Woodware "Wiggly Stems" and Distress Inks.  I originally had the Crazy Bird stamp also with the faux bleach effect but it just look weird - sort of had that "You're not really going to make me wear that!" look my son gave me as a toddler when I bought him a hat with teddy ears on! I soon changed it to a normally stamped  image instead.  The bird was coloured with Promarkers, which I then went over with the blender pen to give the appearance of watercolour and to try and tone to match the Distress Ink.

and using faux bleach effect on the Bird Crazy bird, not one of my better ideas - maybe a finer detail powder would be better.

The Woodware "Tall Flowers" stamp using same technique with Distress Inks

This is one of the Brusho backgrounds I came up with.  I had the stamp in mind when I was making this one so was trying to aim to get some of the colours in the areas I wanted to colour the flowers.  It's an A5 piece of cardstock which was cut down for stamping once it was dry.  Compared with the Distress Inks, the Brusho colours seemed much more vibrant and intense.

A Big Birthday - A Little Birdie (or 3)!

So far this year I've not been doing much in the way of blogging - just a combination of things between not feeling too great and a massive bout of can't-be-botheredness but hopefully now that I have made something to blog about I may just find my mojo again!

There are 3 "Big" birthdays and our 20th Wedding Anniversary in the offing this year, hubby's brother-in-law is 60, our son is 18 and my big sis is also 60.  The first is my out law Robert's birthday.  I've spent ages wondering what on earth I was going to do for him and I've lost count of the cards I've started and then gone "Meh" to. 

In the end I just started working my way through all my dies and stamps to see what I hadn't used for a while and found Elizabeth Craft Designs Karen Burniston's Katie Label Pivot die and decided to give a try. I had bought the Tim Holtz Crazy Talk stamps a wee while ago but I had only used a couple of them so they came out the folder & if you're talking Crazy then the birdies just had to come along too!

As I seem to be getting more problems with my dexterity I decided to treat myself to a WRMK Precision Press & it certainly makes a difference to my stamping.  At least now when I miss a bit I don't have to ditch everything and start again, I just re-ink and re-stamp over the missing part.

I had some cardstock which I had Distress inked up a while back but it was only after I cut out the label inserts and went to cut out lettering I realised I didn't have enough to do all the personalisation. As I had already glued the labels in place I had to try and match up the colours to do the letters and numerals - fortunately the finished results weren't that far off the original.

Hopefully Robert will like it!

 What I used

Cardstock

Linen Card 6x6 Blank - Craft UK

White Supersmooth 300gsm - Fabriano 

Stamps & Dies

Tim Holtz Crazy Talk & Bird Crazy Stamps - Stampers Anonymous
Tim Holtz Bird Crazy - Sizzix Thinlits

Smiles and Years - Lindsay Mason Designs

Inks

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Ranger

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Assorted Promarkers - Winsor & Newton/Letraset

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.

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: