A Sad Farewell

It is with deep sadness that we said goodbye to our wonderful standard schnauzer Charlie yesterday evening.  He would have been 14 next month and for anyone who is an animal owner/lover you can image how devasted we are.  We were given him when he was 13 months old, when he was a bit of a character and a handful to manage.  With lots of love and affection and without loosing the wonderful traits in his character Charlie became everyone's "friend". We had no endless amount of visitors who wanted to take him away with them as they left our house.  This is one of my favourite photos of Charlie sitting on the embankment in our garden where he used to love watching the rabbits in the farmers field.

                                               Farewell my handsome chap  x ....

Less is More - Butterflies

I have been trying to have a massive clear out in my den these last few days as I am so running out of space!  The Children's Hospice Association Scotland are shortly having a Craft Sale at the beginning of June so I thought it was an ideal opportunity to try and sort through some of the items I don't use for donating.  As well as that I had bought some lovely storage containers when I was over at the Yours Sincerely craft show and decided to store all my brads, eyelets and embellishments in these instead of having them dotted all over in separate containers within drawers etc.  4 hours later after methodically colour co-ordinating them I finally managed to achieve my goal and if I live to be100 I will never need to buy another brad again!!!  Anyway after seeing this weeks Less is More Challange I managed to find enough working space to have a bash.

I love this butterfly stamp which is part of a Penny Black set. 

As I have several birthday cards to make this week I also made this card from another favourite stamp of mine.

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/05/week-16-theme-butterflybutterflies.html

Flights of Fancy

I don't know where this week has goneI  Until yesterday I hadn't even managed to work on any new projects to post on my blog.  Last night with either the choice of Eurovision or Britains got Talent I took myself into my den to potter.  Hopefully this will make up for the shortage of postings during the week.

I went to a wonderful workshop in Perth last year where we were shown how to alter a square mirror.  I decided to try my own take on that project using a square wooden frame and the stamps in my craft room.   Lo & Behold most of the stamps I have used are sets I have purchased over several years "for rainy day projects" and I have combined the various stamps from these sets within this picture. I then restamped the birds/insects seperately and glued on top of the stamped image on the picture to lift and give a 3d effect.  I have finished these off with glossy accents to add dimension and protect the finer areas I have cut out.

Although you cannot see the full effect of the dimensions it is really very effective when looking at the real project. Away now to tidy up all the sets of stamps, etc.  Ps. Eurovision was on in the background whilst I was working away, it was better this year than in previous years.  I even found myself foot tapping away to Jedward's song aah!!!

ATC - Friendship

I saw on the Stamp Man blog they run an ATC swap.  As I haven't made ATC's for a while I thought I would have a bash at this month's title which is Friendship.   It gave me the chance to try out some of my unused Crafty Individual stamps!!

 

Sky - Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue

 Friends (C1-277) stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepa

I masked the legs and then stamped the ground (C1-116) with Archival Sepia

Less is More - Congratulations!

I am so loving these challenges!  You forget sometimes how effective the basic techniques can be.  I have also found I am also using stamps I haven't used for a while. 

For this card I have used Hero Arts Cling CG170 Wildflower Garden and Wavy Congratulations F3421.  I stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate and just touched up the petals with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink.  It is still as effective without the colour in the petals as I have made another one uncoloured for my card box.  So quick, easy and effective!
http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.com/2011/04/week-13-lucky-dip-thank-you-or.html

Milestones

Back to work today after a wonderful sunny week off work.   Haven't had much time for crafting/blogging over the weekend.  Saturday saw a visit to the Sincerely Yours Papercraft show at Edinburgh with a couple of friends and Sunday was a catch up day in the garden.  Can't believe we have managed to get so much done so early on in the year.  Hopefully if this good weather continues I shall be able to just sit outside and enjoy it instead of having to try and finish the hundred and one tasks that always need doing.

Back to the crafting, I decided this evening I would take up the Penny Black Saturday Challange, the theme for this week being "Milestones".  Although I have had this stamp for some time this is the first time I have used it.  I have cheated with the background paper instead of layering different papers/inking I brought this ready printed sheet back from Australia a few years ago to use in my holiday scrapbook and didn't use it.  I suppose then you could say it has the "holiday" feel about it.
http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/