Lucky Charm

Just when you think the worst of the weather has gone, it decides to come back for more!  It's been really cold, with strong winds making it feel even colder but at least the snowfall has been light this time around.

I kind of got a little carried away this week making cards, well the weather was lousy and I wasn't going anywhere.  I had three attempts at making something for this week's  Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

 

The first two attempts were fine but just felt that they were, perhaps, just a wee bit too dark.  I had a couple of sets of stamps which I recently acquired and wanted to have a bit of a play with those, I thought that the Woodware "It's The Little Things" sentiment stamp "Nothing says Happy Birthday like a piece of folded card!" was quite amusing and decided to use that for the first one.  I had some matt copper metalic cardstock and went for a verdigris colour ing using distress inks for the front panels.

 

Still using the verdigris look, slightly darker  this time, I played about with some dies I had bought from "The Works" earlier this year, they have only started selling dies in the last 12 months, some branded names & some of their own.  The ornate & square dies in this card are from their own collection.

and for the third one I dug out an old set of matching stamps & dies.

Over the weekend it was St Patrick's Day with Ireland playing England in the Six-Nations Rugby Championship.  An Irish win on St Patrick's Day would see them with the Triple Crown and the Grand Slam. I didn't have anything with a shamrock on it but I did have the Lawn Fawn set with the lucky four-leaf clover on it so decided to use that.  I was making the card while the game was on in the background, it must have done the trick as they beat England 24-15 and won the Triple Crown (they beat Scotland, Wales & England), the Grand Slam (as the Triple Crown plus France & Italy) and ,of course, the Championship.

Knotty Nautical

So much for Spring being sprung.  I think we were being lulled into a false sense of warmer weather was on it's way way - hubby was even sitting out in the sun on Saturday afternoon.  Fast forward to today when it's been like a chilly winter's day with couple of very heavy hail showers & strong winds - there's even snow forecast for tonight!  Having said that, our garden is beginning to come to life again with lots of buds beginning to open up.

Last week our son started back at school for his final term.  This week marks the last time he will be at school with all his friends. On Friday they will break off for Study Leave as exam season looms large next month and he will only go in for particular study groups or for exams.  I'm not sure if they have anything planned for Friday but if past years are anything to go by there could be high jinks for those leaving this year.

I wasn't sure what to make for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

but then a parcel arrived earlier than expected containing an order I'd placed last week for some crafty stuff.  After a rake through, I picked out an embossing folder and a paper pad with some vintage style papers that I thought would go with some nautical themed stampCs and dies.  I thought the X-Cut "Cable Knit Pattern" embossing folder would work quite well with the nautical Sea Breeze Collection items.

The embellishments were cut from Centura Pearl Snow White cardstock and then coloured in layers with Distress Inks. I tried to get a pearlised effect for the shell and a metallic look for the anchor.

 

What I Used

Cardstock

300gsm Supersmooth White - Fabriano

Modern Vintage Paper Pad - The Works
Centura Pearl, Snow White - Crafters Companion

Dies, Stamps & Embossing Folders

 

Sea Breeze Collection Shell & Anchor Dies - Couture Creations

Sea Breeze Collection stamps - Couture Creations

Cable Knit Pattern Embossing Folder - X-Cut

Ink

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Ranger

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

Hang On!

Had my son out for another driving lesson this weekend. It's been 2 weeks since his first one as I left it too late to book a car for last week. While we were sorting out the paperwork for this hire I booked us up for the next 4 weekends just in case I forget again!

He's doing really well so far. Now if he makes a mistake he remembers to put the handbrake (parking brake) on first before throwing his hands across his face and giving it "aarrrggghhhh!!!" although, fortunately, the incidents of this are decreasing! He has however now decided that 20 miles an hour is plenty fast enough for him to handle for the moment but it's all a confidence thing & the more we go out the better it will be.

It doesn't happen very often but when I saw the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge for this week I actually knew what I was going to do with it!

I've wanted to use this sentiment for a wee while now and thought it was just the thing to go with this stamp - love the surprised expression on kitty's face!

The cloud background was created using Tim Holtz Distress Ink and stamped with the image from Penny Black "Bubbles". A variety of blue and grey Promarkers were used to colour the cat, balloons and two rectangles cut from the white cardstock. The lighter coloured rectangle was stamped with the sentiment from the Lindsay Mason's "Random Thoughts" set.

I used

Cardstock

White 300gsm - Fabiano

Stamps

Bubbles - Penny Black

Random Thoughts - Lindsay Mason

Inks

Onyx Black -  Versafine

Tuxedo Black - Memento

Faded Jeans - Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Life's An Adventure

Only a week to go until my boy turns 17 and I make good on the promise I've made to him over the many years he's asked me "When I'm old enough, will you teach me to drive?" So next Sunday I'm going to give him his first driving lessons! It's been a while since I've taught so the lesson plans are being dug out from the depths of my filing system and I've got some homework to do to see what changes there have been to the test! I've decided not to do it all myself so after the initial couple of hours of basics he will be going out with an ADI & I'll be taking him out for practice sessions. As I no longer have a dual controlled car I've hired one for two hours next Sunday afternoon - hopefully we each will still be in one piece afterwards & able to go out to his favourite Chinese restaurant for a Birthday buffet!

I was out shopping the other day & spotted a couple of paper crafting magazines which had some nice freebies with them. After trying to decide which one to get and not making up my mind I finally decided I'd been good enough to treat myself to both! One was "The Cardmaker's Collection" featuring dies, embossing folder, stamps & paper samples from Couture Creations latest collection "Sea Breeze" - just the thing for making some men's cards. I love the embossing folder! I was also pleased there was an anchor die as it may well come in handy for some wedding décor next year. In the meantime the collection will come in handy for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

I did make a wee mistake, I forgot to check which way up the card blank was and stuck the already rope-stamped blue card the wrong way around, hence the flipped layout. I only noticed when I was ready to put the "Framing the Breeze" panel on!

I started off with a 6" x 6" Kraft card base which was given a mat of light blue before adding a panel of white card embossed using the Sea Breeze "Framing the Breeze" folder. The card was then given a light brushing with "Faded Jeans" Distress ink and highlighted with Cosmic Shimmer's "Cast Bronze" gilding wax.

The light blue card was stamped with the knotted rope stamp in Vintage Sepia and two circles were cut out and stamped; one with a ships wheel and the other with a compass from a Hot off the Press set. The stamps were then heat embossed with a clear powder and lightly gilded. A die cut anchor in matt bronze metallic cardstock was placed in the centre circle of the embossed design.

I Used

Cardstock

Kraft Card 6x6" Blank - Hobbycraft

White Supersmooth -

Blue - American Crafts "Summer" 12x12"

Dies, Stamps, Embossing Folders

Anchor Die - Couture Creations Sea Breeze Collection

Ships Wheel & Knotted Rope Stamps - Couture Creations Sea Breeze Collection

Framing the Breeze Embossing Folder - Couture Creations Sea Breeze Collection

Compass & Life is an Adventure Stamps - Hot Off The Press

Inks, etc

Vintage Sepia - Versafine

Faded Jeans - Tim Holtz Distress Ink

Cast Bronze Gilding Wax - Cosmic Shimmer

Cogs, Scribbles & Splats

Happy Valentine's Day!

Teenage son comes into my room to inform me that he will be heading out to meet some friends. "Who is she?" I enquired as son's face turns various shades of red, "Who says there's a girl, Mum?" so I told him his face told me all I needed to know - apart from her name but my guess as to that was, eventually, correct. I gave him the little box of heart shaped chocolates that came with the M&S "Dine in for Two" Valentine's selection his Dad & I plan to have tonight. Not to worry, there's a rather yummy pud (looks like a bar of gold bullion)  I picked up that may make up for  losing out on the chocolates.

The weather has been fickle again this time it can't make up it's mind if it wants to rain, snow or sleet but as long as it doesn't get too much colder I'll be fine. As it is this cold snap is playing havoc with my TMJ (painful jaw joint) as it sets the pain off. It doesn't help that the new Doc carrying out my last injection would appear not to have hit the right part of the muscle and I am experiencing the problems I normally get as the effects of it wear off around 12 weeks down the line only it's only been 3 weeks and my next one isn't due until the end of May. I can't have another injection so that leaves me muscle relaxants which are non selective and have been leaving me a little spaced out!

Time for this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.

As it's Valentine's Day I used "love" for the sentiment but I didn't intend this as an actual Valentine's card.

Cogs

I decided to try a masculine card as I had recently bought a couple of "industrial" type embossing folders one with cogs the other with a tread plate design.  It was kind of crying out to be made using metallic cards so out came the copper, silver and gold cardstock and my Grand Calibur.

Craft Essentials Creative Embossing Folder was used to emboss the cog design on the copper & silver card while the individual cogs were cut from gold card using X-Cut Cogs Chronology dies. Crafter's Companion "Gun Metal" folder was used as a back ground. The card stock with the embossed cogs was lightly sanded and then lightly inked to give a distressed look.

What I used

Cardstock

PayPer box

Dies & Embossing

X-Cut - Cogs Chronology

Lawn Fawn - Scripty Love

Crafter's Companion - "Gun Metal"

Inks

Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Peeled Paint
Memento - Black

Scribbles & Splats

This is another card I've been playing with using some Tim Holtz Dies. I love the ornate grille design, in fact it was the reason I wanted the set. I decided to team it up with the Scribbles and Splats.

The card stock base is a 300gsm white linen and for each cut out in the white cardstock there is a shadow piece in metallic copper placed behind it. I used a leather effect paper in Navy blue as a contrast.

What I Used

Cardstock

Hobbycraft - DL White Linen Card Blank

PayPer Box - Navy & Copper Metallic

Dies

Tim Holtz - Scribbles & Splat

Tim Holtz - Mixed Media

Lawn Fawn - Scripty Love

Treasure Chests

In the months in the run up to Christmas I decided that for the younger nephews and nieces I would this year make them something more lasting than a toy to be cast away soon after Christmas.

In an earlier blog post I showed some wooden wine boxes I had worked on for Christmas presents for grown ups, the same do lots of other box styles and so I added a few to my possibilities for presents list. For the boys I decided that I would make some treasure chests for them to be filled with gold chocolate coins for Christmas and hopefully to fill with their own treasures in the coming years.  Even although I started my projects weeks well in advance of Christmas I was still working on them on Christmas Eve as I hadn't planned on a  painful flare up of my Fibro which put paid to progress while waiting for things to dry before starting the next stage helped pace me.  I now know what suffering for your art means!
 

The boxes were a nice quality although one did have a couple of screws missing on a hinge but that just took a phone call & an emailed photo to customer services at The Works and I was able to get a replacement box.

I used Distress Inks (spray & pad) to stain them. The ink gave good coverage and after they were done they were left for a couple of days to make sure that the ink was dry.

 

Once the ink was dry the inside was decoupaged with napkins which had a vintage map design and the inside edges gilded with Gedeo Liquid Gold. Once that was dry the outside was varnished before adding Grosgrain Petersham ribbon and some pyramid studs to look like leather strapping. Although not shown in the photo each chest had the recipients initial added before finishing off with a final coat of varnish. The initials were coloured with the matching ink and then coated with clear embossing powder and heated to give an enamelled look.

I left the boxes open for a few days to make sure the smell of Mod Podge and Liquid Gold had gone before filling some cello bags with chocolate coins & putting them in the chests.

I am happy to report that they were a massive hit with the boys, especially the pirate lovers!



What I Used

 

Medium Wooden Chest - The Works 

Distress Inks - Tim Holtz

Liquid Gold - Gedeo

World Map Cocktail Napkins - Caspari

Decoupage Glue - Mod Podge

Varnish - Deco Art