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

Happy New Year!

I don't know about anyone else but I'm sure glad to see the back of 2016 - it's not been the best of years! 

Still 2017 is an important one with some big Birthdays, including our son's 18th Birthday, plus a couple of Weddings among our family & friends to look forward to.

It's been a few weeks since I last took part in the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge so thought since there was two weeks to get an entry in, I may just make it in time - "just" being the appropriate word!

A while ago I spotted some very reasonably priced dies (between £3-£5 per set) on The Works website - with my 25% discount code I bought the full 7 set range for the bargain price of £20.25! I have to admit, at that price, I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for but I have been pleasantly surprised with them.


For the sketch I used the Birdcage die and a couple from the floral leaves set.

I don't usually use much in the way of glitter card but I had a piece left over from some Christmas cards & decided to use it for the cage.

I Used

Cardstock

6x6" Linen Card Blank - Craft UK

Black "Canvas" Card - DoCrafts Black Cat

Silver Non-Shed Glitter Card - The Works

Dies

Birdcage Die & Floral Leaves Die Set - The Works M&C Boutique

*******

For Hubby & Teenage son's Christmas cards I decided to use a couple of the Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs that I had stamped, coloured, cut & put away for future use and came up with these:

I teamed up this pooch with one of Diane Reavely's "Christmas Words" stamps  

I bought the Indigo Blu Dinkie stamp with my boy's Christmas card in mind! I masked out the stag's head from the centre

I Used

Cardstock

6x6" Linen Card Blank - Craft UK

Stamps & Dies

Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs Stamp Set - Stamper's Anonymous
Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs Die Set - Sizzix Thinlits
Good All Year - IndigoBlu Dinkie

Inks
Versafine
Promarkers

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: