It's a Party!

Things are beginning to feel like we're getting back to normal as Hubby is now back home recovering from the Reunion with his fellow "fairly famous" Bootnecks in Plymouth.

Meanwhile our son is recovering from the excitement of turning 18.  These school holidays have been spent mainly sleeping, eating & spending time with his friends.  It's not all been fun for him as he has important exams coming up next month and has been also been taking the opportunity the school has provided with a few hours extra tuition.  He's still  waiting for an interview for a College place and, hopefully, there may also be one for an apprenticeship for a large local company which will allow work experience as well as College.  As part of his Birthday I bought him an Arduino kit and we have been working through some of the tutorials for it.  Last week I even decided to get a smaller kit for myself so I can learn a bit more about it so we can work on things together - it could be beginning to get competitive!

Tomorrow it's time for me to go to Edinburgh to get the injections for my TMJ so we are all making the most of it & are taking a trip to IKEA followed on the way home by a meal out - a belated Birthday promise.

I actually managed to find some time this weekend to make something for this week's

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge. 

I felt I had to break out some Tim Holtz Crazy stamps for this as I wanted to create the look of a window frame or framed portraits as part of the design with a character popping out. I finally decided that these Crazy Dogs fitted the bill. 

 What I Used

Cardstock
White 300 gsm - Fabriano Supersmooth
Patterned 200gsm - Purple Paradise (Poundland)

Stamps & Dies

Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs &
Tim Holtz CrazyTalk - Stampers Anonymous
Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs - Sizzix Thinlits
Stitched Squares - M&C Boutique
Happy Birthday - DoveCrafts

Ink
Memento Tuxedo Black

Salty Cat Story

I  may not have posted much lately but it doesn't mean I haven't been crafty . Perhaps not really crafty, crafty just sort of crafty as in playing about with Distress Inks to make some backgrounds that might come in handy.

I have bought a few of the Tim Holtz Distress Ink mini pad sets so have a wider range of colours to play with now - added 4 new colours to my collection at the weekend. I sat and played for a wee while the last couple of nights putting ink on to card stock - different colour combos some left as the were while other had various things done to them. Nothing too exciting just some sprayed water or a fine spray of diluted bleach. The last couple I made were done using a lot of  water over the inked card stock followed by taking my salt grinder and leaving pieces of sea salt on the card then allowing it to dry. The salt reacted with some of the now diluted inks leaving flower-like images behind.

My camera has run out of charge and only had enough power left to photograph my entry for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge so will post other examples once it has charged up again.

I decided to use one of the new backgrounds on the card I was going to make for the challenge, if you look closely you can see the little flower-like areas left by the salt after it reacted with the ink. I decided to pick up on the orangey/yellow colour in the background to use as a contrast and to colour the Crazy Cat.

What I used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Yellow - American Crafts

Dies & Stamps

Crazy Cat Stamp -

Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz
Crazy Cat Die & Stitched Ovals -
Sizzix Thinlits Tim Holtz
Cat Sayings - Stampendous

Inks

Assorted Mini Distress Ink Pads

Assorted Promarkers

Be You!

Not blogged for about 2 weeks, unfortunately when my son had our wee Jack Russell out for a walk it was attacked by a the same Husky that attacked him almost 3 years ago and it has left him rather traumatised so I've been having to look after him. My boy rather shaken especially as they were chased all the way into our front garden with the Husky's owner hauling it off Jack on our doorstep! Whilst he wasn't as badly injured this time he's still been in a lot of pain and it was nearly a week before he was able to go for a walk/hobble outwith the back garden.

The Police, actually came out to get a statement this time because it was the same dog who had attacked him before, that and the fact he was being walked by a youngster when it happened. The PC said that a report would be sent to the Fiscal.  The local Dog Warden has  also contacted us and told us that there will now be a Control Order put on the Husky. Shortly after the last attack it was seen with a muzzle on and was kept on the lead but that didn't last long, hopefully this time they'll take heed.  We've certainly noticed that they have changed the route they walk and no longer pass our house!

A couple of days ago my son announced it was one of his friend's Birthday and there were plans that some way or another there would be a party. This particular friend is embracing his inner Emo/Goth look at the moment and has a habit of "borrowing" his sister's eye make-up. We have had discussions on the merits of eye pencil over liquid liner etc so I thought for his Birthday I would treat him to some eye-liner and related bits and bobs of his very own. I also thought I'd make him a card using one of the Tim Holtz Bird Crazy Stamps combined with a Dyan Reaveley sentiment that I think sums up individuality - "Be you, the world will adjust".

 

 

 

 

Cardstock:

PayPer Box -  Kraft,

Image Super Smooth - White 300gsm

 

Stamps:

Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz Bird Crazy,
Ranger - Dyan Reaveley - Laugh Til You Leak,

Crafter's Companion - Moonbeam Meadow

 

Ink:

Memento - Tuxedo Black
Letraset Promarkers

Just Saying . . .

 

Good grief we've actually had a couple of consecutive days of sunny weather so Summer must be here at last . . . just in time for my son going back for the start of the new school term on Wednesday!

 

 



For this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge I decided to keep it quite simple - a background using Distress Inks onto some watercolour paper and a stamped image from the Tim Holtz Flower Garden Set. I inked the stamp with Memento Tuxedo Black and stamped three images from a single inking. The background was placed onto some black cardstock and finished with a piece of DS Satin ribbon and a small banner which was inked with Barn Door Distress Ink to match the background.

Cardstock:
PayPerBox - Black
Water Colour Paper

Inks:
Tim Holtz Distress Inks -
Barn Door, Mustard Seed,
Dried Marigold

Memento - Tuxedo Black






Stamps:
Stampers Anonymous -
Tim Holtz Flower Garden

Sizzix Framelits - Hello Jillibean Soup