Three Valentine's and a Baby

Hello hello!  Hope all is well with everyone today.  I've just come back from a nice long walk with the hounds - well, 2 walks actually.  First I take Jem and Atticus, the crazy boys.  Once I've (somewhat) tired them out I take Scout for her walk.  She's the oldest of the bunch and has terribly arthritic elbows so she can't quite keep up with the other two these days.  It's quite nice to have a leisurely stroll with her after bouncing all over the place with the boys!


I had a busy morning carding and ended up with 3 Valentine's cards and one for a baby shower.  The mum-to-be doesn't know what she's having yet so I couldn't go for the usual pink or blue.  Here's what I came up with instead:

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Cardstock: Paperbilities; Patterned Paper: HOTP; Stamp: Hero Arts stork & Elzybells sentiment; Ink: Memento black & Palette purple; Other: Nestabilities Labels Fifteen, Copics, Making Memories thread, misc buttons


And finally some sunshine without gale force winds so I could take some pictures outside.  Whoo hoo!


The first Valentine card is a quickie using Cosmo Cricket paper and chipboard stickers.  Love this stuff - simple but effective!

Next is a simple one layer card.  The backgrounds are SU ink but at this moment I cannot remember the name - Melon Mambo maybe?  I have no idea who makes the little hearts and sentiment stamps.  They have no labels on them and someone gave them to me several years ago from their stash.  At the time I thought they were kind of cheesy and that I'd never use them but never say never I guess!  The first one I made I very meticulously lined up all the squares and had the hearts perfectly centered but it looked "too" perfect.  So I did the same design but this time free hand.  Lots of crookedness but I kind of like it...

The third Valentine's card was super simple.  I've had this roll of velvet ribbon sitting around for ages and today it was screaming at me to be stamped on.  So I obliged:

Now I'm off to plug in some heaters.  I may be in Bermuda and it may be 60 degrees but it's damp here and we live in a stone house with no central heating.  Thank goodness for space heaters and warm doggies!  Have a lovely evening!

Card Positioning Systems, Moxie Fab & Stamptacular Sunday

3rd Post of the Day! - Please scroll to end of this post for improved card photo!                                                                                                                              

I'm entering this card in 3 challenges: Card Positioning Systems #199, Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger , and Stamptacular Sunday Challenge #92.  SSC92 is a photo inspired challenge but I can't seem to get the photo to follow me home to my post!  You can check it out on the link above.  I turned the CPS sketch 90 degrees to the left.

Supplies:  Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, glitter vellum; Stamp: Rubber Stampede Scribble Heart; Punches: Woodware grass punch, Marianne Designs flower punch; Other: Martha Stewart glue pad & Crystal Fine glitter, Stickles Frosted Lace, Basic Grey gems, Nestabilities Lacey Circles, tulle, pearl button

I know it's stretching it a bit for the CPS sketch but that's half the fun isn't it?  ;)  I busted out all sorts of odds and ends for this one - shimmery paper, vellum, punches, a stamp, bling, glitter a button and some tulle.  I had the wreath idea when I started and was originally going to have some branches make the upper part of the shape from the CPS sketch.  Then I started playing with the tulle and thought it looked like a veil so I went with it.  I really had fun with this and am still rather glittery (as are the hounds - Jem's nose is particularly sparkly!).

P.S. Spent ages on Photoshop improving the quality of the picture.  Finally got a result I was pretty pleased with and blogger won't let me upload it!!  It keeps saying "Server Rejected".  What the heck is that all about??  Will have to use the dark and dingy pic I guess...

UPDATE!

Photoshop Success!

The Sweet Stop 90 & Play Date Cafe

This card is for The Play Date Cafe Challenge and The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge #90.  

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Paper: Black Ink green, gold vellum, silver cardstock; Stamps: Hero Arts background stamp & Pop Stems stamp; Ink: Archival Brilliance Platinum Planet, VersaMark; Other: Ranger clear embossing powder, Nestabilities Labels Seventeen, Basic Grey gems, Magic Mesh, dragonfly brad

As usual, not a great pic but you can see the embossed design on the gold background in this shot so I'm going with it.  I wanted to take some pictures outside today but aside from it being another gloomy afternoon it was wild and windy!  Didn't need my cards making like kites and flying away.  :)  I wasn't sure about a sentiment on this card.  I had originally thought I'd put something in the bottom right corner but I didn't really leave myself enough space and I wasn't sure where else to put one.  Thoughts?

Blogger Award

Michelle at Studio MSG very kindly gave this award to all her followers.  To accept this award I have to meet a few requirements:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award

2.  Share 8 things about yourself

3.  Pass it onto 8 bloggers

4.  Contact those bloggers and tell them about their award.

Cheers for the award, Michelle!  (Michelle was the second follower on my blog!)  I'm pretty sure that most people I would hand this on to have had one already but I will follow the rules and pass it on anyway.  Ladies, sorry if you've had this already - don't mean to be a nuisance! 

Lynn Mangan - The Mango Boys and Me

Emily Leiphart - Art From The Heart

Karen B. - The Bald Dragonfly

Claudia Rose - Pretty Pressings

Debby - Limedoodle

Susan Raihala - Simplicity

Janelle - Show & Tell

Tina - KittyKatKards

1. I was born and raised in Bermuda.  When I left high school I swore I'd "never come back to this rock again."  I spent 8 years in the US (at university and working) and lived in New York (Long Island & Manhattan), Louisville, KY, and Chicago.  After 8 years I finally learned to appreciate "the rock" and came back. 
2. I studied Theatre Design in university and worked as a Stage Manager in the above mentioned cities.  I'm still a member of Equity, the theatre actors and stage managers union.
3.  I never had dogs growing up but now I have 3 and I can't imagine life without a few hounds in the house!
4.  I am a big reader but, as with my craft supplies, I buy books faster than I read them.   I have about 1300 books at the moment.  I've probably read 20% of them.
5.  I am a little AR/OC when it comes to watching TV shows.  I must watch them in order.  If I start watching a new series and miss an episode then I stop watching and wait for the DVD to come out.  I also prefer to wait until the series ends and then watch all the DVDs in one go.  I hate waiting for the next set of DVDs!  (I'm the same with books - I didn't read the Harry Potter series until they'd all been published and then I read them all in one go).
6.  I taught myself to juggle when I was 12 and really wanted to go to Clown College at Ringling Brothers Circus.
7.  I've never broken a bone or had stitches (knock on wood!)
8.  I learned how to swim before I learned how to walk.


So there you have it.  Jen's mini bio.  Have a great weekend!


  

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge 89

2nd Post of the Day!

I pulled out these gorgeous Basic Grey Ambrosia papers today and thought they'd be fun for stacking up for this Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge.  That is, after I got over the fact that they're so pretty that I didn't want to cut them up!  Does this happen to any of you?  Do you find yourself "saving" things (papers, embellishments, etc) for the perfect card?  Sometimes I feel like I can't use something because I might not do it justice.  This is why my supplies build up so much faster than cards get made!  :)

Supplies: Card Blank: Handy Hippo; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Ambrosia; Stamp: Cloud 9 sentiment; Ink: SU Basic Grey; Other: BG Ambrosia stickers, BG gems, Martha Steward butterfly punch, Fiskars threading water border punch, Micro Pop Dots

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?  :)