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

Oh Joy!

Okay some may say I'm leaving it late because they've been at it since January but to me this is soon enough to start thinking about C*******s cards - oh joy! Don't get me wrong, I like C*******s I just don't like the commercial hype in the run up to it - even seen decorations & cards in a shop already!

Now the schools are back, Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes night are approaching so I reckoned it's perhaps about time to start thinking about designs. Last year I had my heart set on the Creative Expressions Filigree Poinsettia dies but left it so late they couldn't be had for love nor money so this year I've made sure to get them and they arrived at the weekend. Also in the package was the IndigoBlu Flitglu starter set and two pots of gilding flakes - something else I've been promising myself. What better excuse to try them out than this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge:

 

I think the gilding flake panel gives an unintentional an Gustav Klimt-esque look to the card that may become intentional in other cards!

 

 

CardStock:

PayPer Box - Pearlised White
PayPer Box - Matt Bronze

Dies:

Creative Expressions Sue Wilson - Filigree Poinsettia Set
Creative Expressions Sue Wilson - Snowflake Striplet Die

Other:

IndigoBlu Flitglu
Cosmic Shimmer - Gilding Flakes - Persian Dawn
Stamp - Christmas Words from (Magazine) Freebie Set

 

HB 2 Ewe

Ah well. that'll be that then, today is the last day of Summer (what Summer?) and that's the rain on once again! It's been a rather strange season warm and wet I think sums it up best!


This week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge certainly got me thinking about what that "Any Shape" could be and after a search through my dies I decided that I would use a fussy cut stamp instead.

 

 

 

I originally got this cute Rachelle Anne Miller "Love Ewe" stamp to go with the Lawn Fawn Hippo Birdie stamp & die set to make a Birthday card for my friend and thought it would be a nice shape to use for this design.

 

 

 

 

 

I created two backgrounds, a sky for the rectangle and a hillside meadow on the strip, using Tim Holtz Distress Inks and some torn paper masks.

 

 


Cardstock:
Image Supersmooth - White
Crelando - Blue

Stamp:
Crafter's Companion - Rachelle Anne Miller "Love Ewe"

Inks:
Memento - Tuxedo
Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Evergreen Bough, Faded Jeans

Congratulations!

What could be more apt for Freshly Made Sketches 200th Challenge than a Congratulations card!

 

Didn't think I was going to be able to post anything for this week's challenge as I have been having laptop problems which meant I had to revert to my old, on it's last legs (will be lucky to last till the end of this post), one! On top of that I couldn't get my photos transferred from my camera as I couldn't get it to upload to the computer or find the SD adaptor (aargh!) in the end I had to resort to my smartphone and take the photos with that.

 

 

 

I decide for such a simple sketch I should try white on white with a hint of silver.

I've used a pearlised white cardstock throughout with the embossed front panel raised off the base with foam tape to highlight the die cut panel.

 

The centre of the flower embellishment was created using a glass mat, a hot glue gun and some glitter. I squeezed out some hot melt glue onto a glass mat where it formed a blob and while it was still hot, sprinkled on some silver glitter and allowed it to set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock:

Payperbox - Pearlised White

 

Dies & Embossing:

Spellbinders - Arched Elegance

Spellbinders - Jewel Flowers & Flourishes

Spellbinders - Congratulations

Darice - Vine Flourish

 

Ribbon:

Club Green - White & Silver

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marbles

It's hubby's Birthday today and even although I'd been planning on what cards to make, as usual I left it to the last minute to actually sit down and make them! I talked it over with our teenage son and it was decided that for his card it was to be Crazy Birds with one of Dyan Reaveley's amusing sentiments from her "Laugh Til You Leak" set. This is what I came up with:
 
 

   
 

I used the Tim Holtz "Splatters" layering stencil and Distress Inks to create the background and used my Brother Labeller to make the "Happy Birthday Dad". I used the matching Sizzix dies to cut out the birds and layered it onto the front of the card. The first half of the sentiment was added along with some coloured pearls to represent the . . .  as marbles!







 
 

 
Cardstock:
Image Super Smooth White
 
Stamps & Dies:
Dyan Reaveley - Laugh Til You Leak,
Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Sizzix Thinlits Bird Crazy,
 
Inks:
Tim Holtz Distress Inks,
Memento - Tuxedo Black
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

 

 
 
 
 

Time to Try Tim's Tags!

Whilst searching online for Tim Holtz products I kept coming across references to his 12 Tags projects so finally decided to investigate further.  I found the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015 and his tutorial for the August one and decided it was perhaps time to give it a try. So I can now answer one of his "Way with Words" stamps "When was the last time you did something for the very first time?" with "Today!".

 

I've decided that if you like to get messy whilst crafting then this sort of thing is made for you and, oh boy, did I get into a mess! Fun whilst I was making things but a pain to tidy up afterwards - I managed to get glue everywhere but fortunately was able to sort it out before hubby got back!

 

I don't have a lot of Tim Holtz products although I do have some Distress Ink pads, Bird Crazy Stamps & Dies and his "Way With Words" sentiments set so used those as a base to start with. As I don't have any tags I made one from some of my usual cardstock.

For his tag Tim used a series of word dies to cut into the top layer of his tag which was then backed by a printed page and another tag to hold it in place, as I didn't have any suitable word dies I decided to use some heart, star, arrows & flourish shapes instead - unfortunately the camera doesn't seem to be picking up the areas where these are.

 

Once the basic tag was made I took some pieces of a fine tulle netting and a piece of courser net from a bag of lemons and glued them into place before applying white gesso. Once the gesso had dried I used "Peacock Feathers", "Picked Raspberry" & "Mustard Seed" Distress Inks to add colour.  The sentiment "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful" was stamped and embossed before being coloured with "Peeled Paint". The die cuts were coloured using the same inks as the background, the flourishes were over stamped in Tuxedo Black using a small ivy stamp.

 

 

 

 

The Bird was coloured with Promarkers and once all the die cuts were in place they were coated with pva glue.

When I ordered the Bird Stamps from Art From The Heart they arrived in a lovely little parcel of red tissue paper tied up with some twine which had a double heart charm attached to it so it I decided it was appropriate to use these on the Tag.

To finish it off I added some bling gems coloured with Promarkers to the die cut stars and some smaller gems added to the crown and arrow tips.
 

Cardstock:

PayPerBox - Ivory

 

Inks:

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Letraset Promarkers

Memento - Tuxedo Black

 

Stamps & Dies:

Stamper's Anonymous - Tim Holtz Bird Crazy
Sizzix - Tim Holtz Bird Crazy

Sizzix - Hello Jillybean Soup

Cute Monkey - Hello There!

While we're still waiting for summer to get here I decided to take my son & my friend over to Glasgow for a day out.

As always on our trips to Glasgow our first stop is the Chinese bakery for a supply of pork buns (yum!). This was followed by lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in Saracen Street before heading off to the shops. School clothes shopping with a 16 year old male of the species is such a joy - not! I swear that it was easier taking him shopping when he was a toddler that it is now he's a teenager! I haven't decided if it's a male thing or a teenager thing but either way it's hard work!

 

For this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge I decided to use the small "Cute Monkey" Hot of the Press stamp set I bought in a sale a while ago but had yet to use it to make something - I thought this sketch seemed ideal.

 

The stamp set consists of the main "Cute Monkey", the "Hello there!" sentiment, a single leaf and a banana. I coloured a small piece of card using pastel yellow Promarker and used the wee banana stamp to make a background for the rear panel. The single leaf was stamped onto a small strip of cardstock for the banner behind the main embellishment. 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock

PayPer Box - Ivory

Stamp

Hot off the Press - Cute Monkey Set

Inks

Tsukineko - Brilliance Tiramisu

Letraset Promarkers

 

 

 

 

 

Love and Kisses

Well August is here and still the weather is more like Autumn than Summer.  In the garden my wee James Grieve apple tree has plenty apples on it and I guess, if nothing else, this wet weather should help plump them up. I pruned it for the first time in January and was worried in case I had taken too much off but all, so far, seems well!

 

This coming week sees my son get his exam results. The exam system changed here last year and instead of "Standard" Grades they now take National 4 or 5's in S4 but still take "Higher" Grades in S5/S6.  I really must see about making him a "Well Done" card before Tuesday gets here! 

  

For this week's  Freshly Made Sketches Challenge I decided to make my own background to use for the banner part of the design.

 

 

 

On a strip of card I used two heart stamps from one of my 29p bargain stamp sets to create a confetti-like pattern with a mix of colours from my Tsukineko Royal Satin Kaleidacolor Ink Pad. The banner and matching tag were cut from the strip and some faux stitching added. The tag was stamped with kisses and the twine was coloured with Promarkers to match the die cut "Love" that finishes the card.

 

 

 

  

 

 

Cardstock:

PayPer Box Hammered Ivory

Image Supersmooth White

 

Stamps & Dies:

Royal Langnickel Mini Clear Stamps - Hugs & Kisses

Lawn Fawn - Love

 

Inks:

Tsukineko Kaleidacolor Ink Pad Royal Satin

Letraset Promarker Rose Pink

 

 

 

 

.  

The Birds - Part Two

Following on from my Part 1 post I now have made similar cards using the remaining three birds from the Tim Holtz "Bird Crazy" Set using sentiments from Dyan Reaveley's "Laugh Til You Leak" and "Say It How It Is" sets.

Last night I managed to find and order the Sizzix die set to match these stamps so hopefully I'll have them early next week - I bet they'll arrive the day I promised my son & my friend I'd take them on a trip to Glasgow so will have to wait to play with them!

In today's mail was a set of stamps from the Doo-Lally-Pip collection by Lindsay Mason called "If You Want To Get Ahead" which consists of 15 items of head gear, I have added my first attempt at using them in conjunction with the Birds at the bottom of this post. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cardstock:

Paperbox Kraft

Image Supersmooth White

 

Stamps:

Tim Holtz - Bird Crazy

Dyan Reaveley - Laugh Til You Leak

Dyan Reaveley - Say It How It Is

Lindsay Mason - "Doo-Lally-Pip" - "If You Want To Get Ahead"

 

Inks:

Memento - Tuxedo Black

Letraset Promarkers - Assorted