Curtain Call 63 & Sweet Sunday 98

A gloomy, rainy day today - perfect for cozying up in the Craft Cave - not so good for picture taking.  I read a few different tutorials and spent some time playing with the camera and a light box today.  Not much improvement, I'm afraid!  :)  Will keep experimenting and have also signed up for a digital photography class which will help I hope!


This card is for the Curtain Call 63 and Sweet Sunday Sketch 98 challenges

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Cardstock: SU Always Artichoke, Cajun Craze, Chocolate Chip; Stamp: Doodlebug Designs; Ink: Bashful Blue, Whisper White

Clean and simple.  I took a white flower and covered it with SU Bashful Blue ink - my fingers are still blue!

The Other Kids

No card today as it was a long day a work - 8am - 7pm.  Blerg!  However, I thought I should introduce my other 2 "kids".  Luis was cold tonight and decided that the dogs must be too.  Atticus beat Jem to our bed this evening and Luis kindly covered him up.  

Scout was on the sofa and got a blanket too!

Here they are when they're not snoozing...  Scout loves to jump off the dock.  She would swim all day if we let her.  We actually had to Invisible Fence the dock area so the dogs will only swim when we are around to supervise them!

Atti was a clumsy little 20lb puppy when I got him.  He's 93lbs now (he's part Rhodesian Ridgeback, part Doberman).  He's a big guy but this pic was taken the weekend I first got him.  I love his smile!

So can anyone guess what my favourite book is based on the kids?  :)

Lucy's Blog & The Bed Burglar

I love Lucy Abrams blog.  Her cards are gorgeous and her photos and presentation are always so perfect.  I aspire to match her photography skills!  :)  Lucy's been running sketch challenges this week and so far I've only managed to make a card for her first sketch but the other sketches are sitting on my desk waiting for their moment in the sun.  

Supplies: Card Blank: Cardblanks.com; Paper: Paperbilities kraft, watercolour paper; Stamp: Autumn Leaves swirl; Ink: ColorBox Violet; Other: Glossy Accents, watercolour paint, computer generated sentiment
I hand stitched the edges as I don't have a sewing machine.  Took a little time but I like how it came out so it was worth it.  For the hearts I painted a pink wash on watercolour paper, stamped the swirls in violet and then cut out the hearts and covered them in Glossy Accents.


I also wanted to show you my cheeky youngest "child".  Jem is about a year old and is a complete imp.  Every morning Luis and I make our bed.  After Jem has his breakfast he sneaks into our bedroom and pulls the covers down to make a little nest for himself!  I guess we should just quit making the bed and make his life easier!  LOL!

Just Add Ink - Just Add Summer

Another last minute entry for me.  I really must get more organised!  I've had this cocktail umbrella on my desk for ages and when I saw the Just Add Summer challenge at Just Add Ink I thought it was time to put it to use.  Took a while to figure out exactly how but here it is - a warm, summery beach scene!

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Patterned Paper: K & Co Happy Trails, Kaisercraft Offshore; Stamp: Hero Arts sentiment; Ink: Versafine Black; Other: Stickles Yelow, Orange Peel, Frosted Lace, Waterfall
I am still really struggling with photographing my cards.  I think I'll spend this weekend doing some research and improving my technique.  It really frustrates me when I can't capture the look.  

Challenges - JUGS #65 &TSG #87

I planned to enter this card in the Just Us Girls #65 and There She Goes #87 challenges but I've just realised I'm way too late for the TSG challenge!  LOL! The JUGS challenge is a sketch challenge and the TSG challenge was "to recycle something from Christmas to create a non-Christmas card."  I used a wrapper from a Quality Street candy (which only ever seem to appear at Christmas time) as my recycled item.  I'm pretty pleased with how this one came out.  I love the paper (DCWV Green Stack) and I seem to be using a lot of Ikandee twine these days.  Good for bows and for twisty flower stems!        

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Paper: DCWV Green Stack; Stamps: Hero Arts flower, Elzybells sentiment; Ink: Vintage Photo Distress Ink, VersaMark; Other: Ranger clear embossing powder. Ikandee twine, Woodware punch 

Moxie Fab World - Glitter Is Glam!

Moxie Fab World has a Glitter Is Glam challenge which I've really left until the last minute even though it's been going on for ages.  I absolutely love Stickles glitter glue so I knew I'd be using it for this card.  Just took me a while to come up with the master plan!  Here it is:

Supplies: Card Blank: Hero Arts; Stamps: Hero Arts swirl & sentiment, Elzybells sentiment, Autumn Leaves swirl; Ink: ColorBox Orange, Versafine Black; Other: Die cut star, Copic Y08, Stickles Orange Peel

As well as Stickles I also love stars.  I'm a sucker for anything with a star on it.  I coloured this star with a Copic and stamped it with a swirly cling from Hero Arts.  Then I went over all the dots in the swirl (not that you can see it in this pic) and the stardust trail with Orange Peel Stickles.  I had to do the star twice as after Stickling the first one I then put an acrylic block on top of it!  Doh!!!  Note to Self: Must keep desk more uncluttered while working...  

OLW Boot Camp - 1 image, 1 sentiment, 2 colours

I spent today doing a major Challenge Catch-Up as I didn't get into the Craft Cave at all on Saturday and Sunday.  Luis and I ended up doing a New Year's clean - house, yard, car and bike.  On Saturday I tackled the house while Luis worked outside.  The yard was a disaster.  We've had storm force winds on and off for the last week and the yard looked worse than it did after Hurricane Igor passed through in September.  Sunday we worked on the car and bike.  I really need to clean the car more than once every six months.  :)  It took over an hour just to vacuum the inside - three dogs can wreak havoc on car upholstery.  The outside had a ridiculous layer of salt on it from all the wind and sea spray.  Today, with everything all clean and shiny I felt okay about some crafty time.  (Since we cleaned the car and bike it rained of course so another good reason to hide away in the Cave!)    


I recently discovered the blog Styles Ink and the One Layer Wednesday challenges.  I love it!  I thought it would be so easy working in such a minimalist manner but it really is a challenge and I can't wait for the next one.  I came up with a few different cards for this week's challenge - 1 image, 1 sentiment, 2 colours.

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Stamps: PTI Dot Spot, PTI Asian Fusion sentiment; Ink: SU Melon Mambo, Versafine Black

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Stamps; Hero Arts Tree, PTI Asian Fusion sentiment; Ink: SU Tangerine Tango, SU Night of Navy

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Stamps: See D's background, Hero Arts sentiment; Ink: Color Box: Purple. SU Grey

I'm not super-excited about any of them.  Like I said, this turned out to be more of a challenge than I expected.  I'm going to try a few more because I want to come up with one that I love.  I love an excuse to keep playing!