A truck load of birthday wishes

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Tic Tac Toe challenge! Felicita has created the board for this fortnight and she has come up with ideas that will hopefully inspire you to get a masculine card or two under your belt! 

 

I was inspired by the diagonal from bottom left, but realised that the top row fits as well!

 

Earlier on this year when the days were dark and the rain never seemed to stop, I won a bumper prize from The Snippets Playground that really brightened my day :) Included in the parcel was a large Christmas die set from Tonic Studios which included a truck. The moment I saw that I wanted to play with it - and now is the perfect opportunity!

 

I cut my truck out of snippets of white card and sponged and watercoloured with distress oxide inks, trying to give it a 'seen some action' look! The tyres were cut with a circle punch and the whole thing put together and glued onto the shadow die which came with it.

 

For the background, I cut a rectangle out of a white offcut using a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle and cut across it with one of Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud border dies. The bottom of the rectangle was masked and sponged with green distress oxide ink. The sentiment is the Lawn Fawn Giant Happy Birthday To You die which I used with a yellow offcut of card. I trimmed off the 'to you' part with paper snips and glued the sentiment over the clouds, allowing it to burst out of the scene. To finish, I added the truck and a Clearly Besotted sentiment in a surprise pop of red.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog and check out the amazing inspiration from my team mates. To play, choose a row, column or diagonal on the board and make a card using the ideas; when you're ready to share it with us, use the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

I’m vroooming over to the Snippets Playground in my truck - anyone fancy a ride? The snippets I used were all white except a yellow offcut for the sentiment and a tiny piece of black for the tyres. I’m also joining in with The Sisterhood of Crafters where the challenge is All About the Men and The Male Room where the theme is Planes Trains and Automobiles. The Winter Village die set is making its debut so I shall stop to refuel and then motor on over to Darnell's NBUS Challenge :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I love taking my golden girls out for walks in weather which is dry and warm, but not TOO warm - like today. We can go out and play in the countryside then and don't need a river to cool Eva down with her thick coat (although if there's any water around, she will find it, no matter what colour it is and what it smells like!) If the girls aren't on a tantalising scent or chasing a cheeky bird or rabbit, they can always play Dens.

Here's a cosy little place that Lulu has discovered in a hedge. The perfect place to bring up a litter of puppies and welcome Bubba Dog home after his long day hunting!

I tell her that boy dogs and puppies are a lot of work and that Meaty Chunks twice a day plus extra treats, plenty of walks and snuggles on the sofa isn't such a bad life!

Sending hugs,

Truly tropical birthday

Hello, crafting friends!

 

The weather here has turned truly tropical and today's card reflects that! Come and see:

 

 

I started with some snippets of white card and a stamp set that's been loitering in my NBUS box for nearly two years - Tropical Bouquet by Avery Elle. I stamped the two hibiscus flowers in coral ink and a leaf in a dark teal and fussy cut them all. For my background, I cut a square of watercolour paper and painted in a sky and seascape using the same inks, plus a paler teal. When this was dry, I arranged the flowers and leaf in a cluster in one corner and stamped a boat and some birds in the opposite corner with images from Waffle Flower's Lighthouse stamp and stencil set.

 

To finish, the panel was glued to a slightly smaller square of teal card and then attached to a card base that I'd swiped with coral ink. The sentiment is a favourite from an ancient Clearly Besotted stamp set called Fly With Me, stamped and fussy cut.

CHALLENGES

There were lots of challenges helping me to celebrate the tropical weather! The colour palette is Jules' choice at Color Hues; Carol at Just Us Girls has come up with a gorgeous moodboard that features beaches and skies and boats; and at Seize The Birthday Vicki has chosen a beach theme as her Topping. I'm playing along with these challenges and sharing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge too as the Avery Elle stamp set is fresh out of the packet :)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have arranged my imaginary sunbed in the dappled shade of some palm trees just next to this hibiscus bush and am sipping a strawberry daiquiri while listening to the waves gently lapping at the shore. Anyone care to join me? In this daydream, the golden girls are frolicking about in the waves, but in reality it would be far too hot for them and they would far rather holiday in Alaska or somewhere!

Sending hugs,

It's a wonderful life

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Lorraine at Allsorts Challenge has chosen a theme very close to my heart this week: For the Love of Animals. "It would be great to see entries with the animals we have as pets," she says on the post. Say no more Lorraine, I need absolutely no encouragement!

 

As a golden retriever owner, you'd think my shelves would be groaning with retriever stamps, but no. Stamp manufacturers don't seem to understand that these are the best dogs in the world (this may actually be just my own biased opinion!) and golden retriever images are sadly few and far between. I do have a Penny Black set though, called Doggone Sweet, which does represent my pair of rascals pretty well! 

 

 

The dog nearest the hedge is Eva. At nearly ten years old she is the sensible one of the pair and occasionally demonstrates this. She has no toys near her - we, the humans, are her toys! She plays us for fools all day long, taking breaks for well-earned snoozles. If we aren't available, Eva does like to tear apart a toy sometimes, imagining herself to be a great huntress, and if we have guests she likes to rummage about in the laundry basket and parade through the room showing off our oldest underwear!

 

We adopted Lulu last year. She was four years old and will be five in June. She still behaves like a puppy despite my efforts to train her to be a Grown Up Lady Dog. She expends a lot of energy chasing things and trying to communicate her urgent desire for snacks, so she needs plenty of naps too. She loves a ball and her little plushie toys and uses them as a comfort blankie when she gets confused about life. Her sleep style is pretty much always on her back with her paws all over the place. Both dogs' hobbies include getting wet and muddy, snacking, rolling in nefarious stuff and pretending they have no idea what 'No' means.

The card is very simple: edges of card base masked off with low tack tape; dogs stamped and masked; sky and foreground sponged in; hedge and trees stamped with retired SU sets; masks removed and dogs coloured and detail added with ink and paintbrush. The sentiment, from an old Clearly Besotted set, was chosen with a chuckle - there aren't any days that aren't wonderful in these dogs lives. The worst that happens is that Mum goes out for an hour or two to replenish stores of Meaty Chunks and Fishy Treats!!

 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Allsorts but also Stamping Sensations, where I've been inspired by the spring mood board, and We Love Stamping where the theme is also Spring. Double D's challenge this month is Cute Little Animals and although I explained to the golden girls that they are NOT little, they insisted that they are extremely cute and practically handbag dogs, so I'm joining in there too ;)

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I've been very light-hearted about the dogs but when Lulu came to us, she was very stressed, had lost a lot of weight and was really scared to be in new surroundings. She had begun to be reactive around other dogs and had to be toilet trained all over again. She didn't want to let me out of her sight and barked her head off if I left the house. She slept on the bed right from the beginning and would wake multiple times in the night whimpering. I would just cuddle her until she fell back to sleep. Eva is not a dog that likes to be in close contact with other dogs but gradually, she began to help to comfort Lulu. They bonded on our daily long walks which really helped Lulu to unwind and let go of her fears. This is a (very bad, sorry!) photo of her in the early weeks cuddling up at night with Eva and with a stuffed toy as her comfort blankie.

 

Today, she has put on weight and become beautifully fluffy! She knows our routine and is no longer stressed. We have just come back from a long walk and she has swum and fetched sticks from the river and frolicked about with Eva. We met several dogs and she greeted each of them calmly with a friendly wag and a sniff. On the way back I bumped into a lady I know with a lab and a wolfhound, and we all walked back together while the dogs sniffed and played. I am so proud of Lulu's progress and of Eva who has helped to rehabilitate her sister.

Thank you for reading my ramblings about my beloved dogs! Sending hugs,

Autumnal mushrooms

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Are you ready to do some Saturday crafting? Well have a look at the new Code Word at Addicted to CAS, brought to you this time by Ceal:

 

I was thrilled to see this word because it gave me a chance to get my Greetery Mushroom dies out and have a play! I think mushrooms make a lovely autumnal focal point and they're great for male cards.

 

This one is for my eldest nephew whose birthday is in October, and who will be celebrating with a slap up meal at my house this year! It's very simple. I made a stencil out of the waste from die cutting an arch and sponged inks into it. The arch was extended with sticky notes to form the banner and I continued the ink blending with those in place.

 

The mushrooms were die cut from snippets of white card stock and sponged with ink, then I assembled them and glued them to my background. The card was finished with a pair of sentiments I'm enjoying combining lately - Happy Birthday from Uniko's Floral Vines and Have a Wonderful Day from Clearly Besotted's Fly With Me.

 

Okay, so now it's your turn! I know you have some mushrooms in your stash somewhere... why not get them out and make a clean and simple card to share with us! You'll find loads of inspiration at the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and will find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post to link up your own creation. Have fun!

CHALLENGES

This is my homework for The Snippets Playground - I used snippets of white card to die cut my mushrooms and used die cutting waste to make a stencil; I'm also joining in with Four Seasons where Anything Goes with a Fall Theme; it's Anything Goes with a birthday theme at HLS Birthday so I'm linking up there; also Less Is More, which also has an Anything Goes challenge and the cards must be clean and simple of course; I'm also sharing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge where we showcase our Never Before Used Schtuff.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The summer in the heart of England has been odd this year. It's tended to be warm but damp and the combination has brought the mushrooms out like a rash!  We've seen proper fairy rings appear in the fields behind our house, and who better to frolic about in them...

 

... than our very own fairy queen! She's obviously been trying to magic up some extra treats but it's just not working... we have to watch that waistline madam!

Sending hugs,

 

The colour of sunshine

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and time for another round of crafting Tic Tac Toe courtesy of the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Joanne is on Board Duty today and what an inspirational board it is:

 

I've gone for the diagonal from the top left: Letters/Yellow/Sunshine and made a card to bring some sunshine into a friend's life :)

 

I started with a yellow card base, left over from an old card kit. The Sunny Day stencil from Clearly Besotted was positioned over it and yellow ink stenciled into it for a tone on tone look. I found some coordinating washi tape that needed using up and made a border with it, then stamped a favourite Reverse Confetti floral stamp at the bottom in black ink and coloured it with yellow alcohol markers.

 

The sentiment is my 'letters' part of the board. I was excited to put a current Uniko sentiment with an older Clearly Besotted one which is a lovely wavy shape. To add a bit more interest to my card, I trimmed one corner with a Corner Rounder, then stamped the flowers and leaves again on a scrap of white card, coloured them, fussy cut them and popped them up on dimensional pads. 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which row or column has grabbed your attention this week? Or is it one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge blog to check out the gorgeous samples the rest of the team have made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation with us. Have fun! We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

In the Color Dare Challenge #562, you get to choose whether to use 1, 2 or 3 of the three colours shown. I opted to use the yellow and team it with black; I'm also joining in with the Stencil Fun Challenge - not going for the optional Butterflies theme; I'm not going for the optional Butterflies at Allsorts either but I will link my card up there; It's the first outing for this charming floral set so I am sharing at Darnell's NBUS Challenge too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I am such a fan of the colour yellow. It is the colour of sunshine, positivity, warmth and happiness. There is a good reason that there are so many famous yellow logos! I was given a bunch of beautiful, deep hearted yellow roses the other day, and they lift my spirits every time I look at them!

 

 

I hope they have the same effect on you today :)

Sending hugs,

Goodbye high flyer

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS, brought to you this fortnight by  Ceal. Here's the code word she has chosen:

 

Very thought provoking! In our house we have the saying 'Free as a bird in the sky' so I made it the theme for this card. Perhaps it could be for someone who might be flying the nest or who might be leaving the workplace for greater things!

I started with a thick card base, sponging one corner with cloudy sky using a stencil made from one of Lawn Fawn's Puffy Cloud Border dies. To this background, I glued the words 'fly high' cut from coral card using The Greetery's Slim Alphabet Dies. There was a nice little space that I filled with the 'we'll miss you' sentiment from an old Clearly Besotted set. The swallow is an X Cut die. I cut him out of white card and coloured him with alcohol markers. 

 

Okay, so now it's your turn! My team mates have come up with some amazing cards using this code word, so do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge blog to check them out. We'd love to see your interpretation too! You can share your entry with us by using the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post on the challenge blog. Don't forget to keep your cards nice and clean and simple with plenty of white space!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at Happy Little Stampers Die Challenge where Anything Die Cut Goes.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

All my human babies flew the nest a long time ago, although one has since returned which is nice :) My  fluffy baby will definitely not be leaving home as she lives the good life here! Sometimes I sense that she would prefer an extra meal or two a day and if I wouldn't mind diverting the river so that it runs through our garden for handy swims - oh and if I could just let her out onto the street in the mornings so that she could say hello to all the neighbours as they're getting reading for work/school, that would be good too. On the whole though, we're not such a bad family!

Sending hugs,

Birthday surprise!

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS! Now, gather round and listen carefully please as Miss Jaydee comes forward to give you the code word for this fortnight!

Isn't that fun?! I decided to make a card featuring kids FOR kids and reached for an older set called Fly With Me by Clearly Besotted. The lego-style kids are designed to be put into the aeroplane in the set but I decided to have them leaping out from behind a birthday banner waving balloons!

I stamped the group of kids first, directly onto a card base, and coloured them with oil-based coloured pencils. The balloons were added by stenciling colour into a stencil made with a small circle punch. The strings were added with a fine-nibbed fineliner pen.

When the kids and their balloons were in place, I positioned Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil over the group and gently sponged pale yellow ink through it to create a fade-out background. The banner is a favourite from Sugar Rush by Winnie and Walter (sadly no longer trading.) After stamping it, adding the sentiment and snipping it out, I added it to the card front using dimensional pads.

So now it's your turn! What does the word Kids inspire you to make? We can't wait to see! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site to check out the team's ideas. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation with us. Don't forget to keep your card clean and simple with plenty of nice clear space!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Addicted to Stamps and More where Birthdays is the latest challenge.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

A heatwave is sweeping the UK so we've been spending a lot of time on the river walks.

I leave you with a rare sighting of the Golden Hippo!

Sending hugs,

Tip it up and start again

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Like lots of crafters, I have a little box where I keep all the elements I die cut, colour, emboss or otherwise prepare and then decide aren't right for a project. You don't want to waste all that hard work! After a conversation with  a crafty friend the other day, I decided that tipping my box out and making something with some of the contents would be a fun thing to do -  and it WAS!!

When I tipped the box out, it looked like this:

Aaargh! Total chaos! But I rummaged about and found these items...

And put them together like this:

 

I glued the offcut of sponged scene to the bigger snippet of wood effect paper, then trimmed the top and bottom with a stitched rectangle die for a neat finish. The circle frame was cut using two circle punches once and I was able to tuck one of the little flower clumps behind it for a 3D look. The flowers are from Stampin' Up's Under My Umbrella and have been coloured and fussy cut, so I'm glad to have made use of them at last!

 

That lacy die cut is part of a Stampin' Up window die given to me by my friend Em - thanks lovely!! The butterfly is from Uniko's English Country Garden Butterflies and has been embossed in gold and coloured with markers.

 

 

A top tip for this kind of card is to choose items of similar shades or hues and then to introduce a 'disruptor colour'. My disruptor is the sentiment which, although it is stamped in brown which works well with the frame and background, has been sponged in yellow so it pops off the page. I glued my collage panel to a card base and added blue sequins to finish.

CHALLENGES

I made this card for The Snippets Playground which has got a wonderful new makeover for the new year. It remains a lovely friendly place to play and there are prizes to be won so do check it out! I'm also linking up with We Love Stamping where Anything Stamped Goes with the option of Wings.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Well, there IS no news apart that I'm a little fed up of the winter already! That's no attitude is it? Perhaps I should write a list of all the things that are wonderful about the winter. Can you help?

Sending hugs,