My first ATC's

A class this week on the Design Collective by Jane Hall is about ATC's (that's artists trading cards for those not in the know me included LOL). They have to measure 3 1/2 inches by 2 1/2inches and should have (apparently) 4 elements. Background paper, subject, accent and embellishment. Wasn't going to bother with them but then Jane decided to set up a swap where by we each make three and send them to her and she then sends three from other members back to you plus a bonus one from Jane herself.
Have to say I was completely stuck for an idea but eventually the penny dropped and as my username on DC is greyhound lover the choice was obvious LOL. Had good fun making them but once you start trying to work on them you realise just how small they are. Hope I don't end up being embarrassed if the other members are much better than mine LOL. Going to post them to Jane tomorrow and sit back and wait for the swaps to arrive.






I made the background paper by typing a verse from a poem dated 1486.
A greyhound should be Headed like a snake,
And necked like a drake,
Footed like a cat,
Tailed like a rat,
Sided like a team,
Chined like a bream.

The hounds were made by using alcohol inks onto transparency then printing the image onto that and cutting them out. Stamped a paw and made the hearts and letters on CR which were then coloured, and either foiled or glittered....

Popped to Ipswich yesterday to see Vikki and Ben and ended up bringing the little chap home with me, poor Rulu's face was a picture "you can't be serious Mum". Anyway we had a really lovely time, after lunch we went to the little park over the road and Ben and Eric had a great time LOL. Eric took him home a few hours later and the cheeky little man only wanted to get back in the car and come back AGAIN!!!!

Needless to say Eric and I were shattered LOL

Conservatory plans...

So on what had to be the hottest day of the year Eric and "the boys" spent a very long hot day dismantling the conservatory and bringing it back here. All done with no breakages, so I said to Eric great we've got a conservatory to which he replied no what we've got is a flippin great big jigsaw LOL

The plans are coming on well and Eric should have them done next week so we can apply for the planning permission, I've been seriously impressed with what he's done. It has to be done to scale so that's me lost straight away.

Been another hectic week so no change there but did have a lovely day scrapping with Dawn.

This first layout of Ben is with a photo taken last July and just seemed to capture everything that was so magical about his first summer. I scrapped it for Vikki in her album of Ben's first year but had to use it again for my album as it was my favourite photo of his first summer.



This second layout is based on a Design Collective class by scrapdolly called "nifty negatives". I had wanted to do a layout showing all these photo's but was struggling on a way to incorporate them all on one page, this class fitted the bill perfectly and I'm really pleased with the end result.

Hectic time

Lord it's been completely mad here for days....We have bought a second hand conservatory which has to be dismantled so Eric been busy arranging help and tying up dates and transport. Also he has sold one of his motorbikes, so had that to sorted out. We finally got TR7 back here (OMG it's awful how could we let that happen) and Eric managed to find some time to fix my car yay !!!! plus collecting a cement mixer he got on ebay auction, it's been non stop.

So Saturday is the day of getting the conservatory luckily "the boys" are available. Then we have to draw up the plans and apply for planning permission "DRAT" apparently when the double garage was built it used up the permissive rights for this property, shouldn't be a problem but it's still a pain and will take approx 8 - 10 weeks. Now you know me I want it up like yesterday LOL.

Had a wonderful day scrapping with Dawn today and actually finished a whole layout!
Wanted to have my own album of Ben but as I've already scrapped his first year by each month for Vikki didn't really want to repeat it in mine so came up with this which covers his first year and now I'll just add pages to the album as and when.



Page is based on a Design Collective class by Amber Harrop-Johnston "going round in circles" also loved a page a fellow DC scrapper called dotty scrapper did, so have pinched (with her permission) the basic LO.

Mum had her birthday yesterday and I made her a matching birthdays book and address book. The birthday book was a doddle as it was a DC class by Karen Miller with really easy to follow instructions.



The address book was all my own work and with no instructions was quite difficult to work out, got there in the end and Mum loved it which was the main thing.

Tagged as a Rockin' Blogger!!

Yay I've been tagged as a rockin blogger by Sharon, thank you Sharon apparently the rockin blogger award was started by a lady called Roberta. Anyway it has really cheered me up after a very stressful evening.

We we're supposed to be going over to Eric's friends farm to collect our TR7 which they have been storing for 7 years (oops) so anyway Eric takes the battery out of the Volvo (thinking it's a fair bet the TR won't start LOL) we got into my car to go BUT my car had no drive but then decided it did, so off we go down the drive, stop at the bottom for traffic go to pull away and no drive again, only this time it didn't come back! so then Eric had to put battery back in Volvo and tow my car back up drive. Looks like a big job as the seal has gone on the crank shaft and oil has got into the automatic gear box!!!!!! poor Eric he really doesn't need the extra work. AND we still have to get the TR7 back ASAP.

Anyway I'll have to have a think about who I will tag.

The Face I Love

This is the prompt for the challenge on "one true friend A priceless treasure" this time I was determined to do it as so far I've only managed one challenge despite my good intentions. As it was my local crop this week I made sure I was prepped and ready to do the layout of Jim but made the mistake of taking my hound album with me as several people had asked to see it and spent far to much talking about it and only just managed to get this one layout done. Photo was taken last year when we had stripped the bed off to change and Jim dived under the duvet on the floor so we rushed for the camera and managed to get the shot as he peeped back out.


Have today managed to do a Design Collective class today "dress up your chipboard" by Debbie Jewell well I didn't have any chipboard so cut out my title on the CR and then had great fun with glossy accents, foil and glitter, course the dogs are now all walking round with red glitter as highlights LOL.

Finally !

It's stopped raining yay !!!!! warm, overcast and humid but better than rain.

Well I have a pack of poorly dogs. Mac's lump turns out to be bone growing over the metal and causing a callous as removing the plate is not an option we're treating him with anti inflamatories and pain relief as and when he needs it. Jim who has had a pain in his neck/shoulder area for weeks is more serious than the muscle strain we suspected, at best he has a spine problem and at worst a tumour so he's on complete rest and we've had to pick up all his balls to try and restrict him playing and generally charging round like a loony. Lucky has for the 3rd time already this year gingivitis and is on AB's...

Been busy scrapping this week and have just completed two pages I have wanted to do for a long while. They are of Puddin our very first greyhound, Puddin was the beginning of our love for greyhounds and it's down to her that we have gone on to rescue 7 so far. Both layouts are based on Design Collective classes, I love the way they stretch me and take me in different directions.

This LO is from Kirsty Wiseman "break into digi"



And this one is from Suzanne Torr "working with less than perfect photo's"
I've also created the journaling from an idea from another of Suzanne's previous classes. Over the circle I have made an acetate circle and printed the title onto it and secured it with the button brads, hasn't turned out quite as well as I wanted but I think that's probably because it was such an important page for me to try and record plus I kept crying LOL.



The journaling reads as :
The year was 1999 and one morning I woke up and simply announced to Eric we need to rescue a GREYHOUND
WHY?
Something that has gone on to change our lives forever and I simply can’t remember what I saw, or read to reach such a conclusion. With no knowledge of greyhounds at all (remember this was before the internet was widely available) I answered an ad in the local paper and found Nicola, a young single Mum who was trying to rescue as many of these beautiful dogs as she could. Puddin had been found wandering the streets with a young pup and so Nicola had taken them in. Puddin was suffering from pyometra (cancer of the womb)Nicola had nursed Puddin for months and had been told by the vet she was now ok, as soon as we saw her we could see she really wasn’t very well but it was to late, we had already fallen in love with her. Unfortunately within days of her coming home with us, we found a lump and our vet confirmed our worst fears the cancer had returned. We knew her time with us would be short but we were determined to give her the best we could and in those three and a half short weeks, we really did have fun, despite knowing she would soon be wrenched away from us.
We took her to pet city and boy did she make us proud as she stood and looked so
serene “a quiet oasis” amongst a storm of barking dogs. We adored her, as did
everyone who met her. She was so elegant, graceful and such a lady. No amount of
time would ever have been long enough! And when the time came for her to leave
us our hearts truly did break…
BUT
Puddin had left us with the thirst to acquire knowledge so we could go on and do whatever we could to rescue these beautiful dogs and to raise the awareness of the horrors they suffer.


Have all the family coming over Sunday to meet Marc's new girlfriend and to celebrate his new job, he's in the Police Force and has just landed himself his dream position but I guess I hadn't better say more than that...

Yup still raining!

When will we ever see the sun, just keeps on raining and raining.

Had a lovely day today with Vikki and Ben coming over. Ben has just the cutest little wellie boots you ever did see "postman pat" he adores them and screams if Vikki tries to take them off. Today Eric had a day off and needed to do some work in the garden in between the rain and of course Ben was out there following his Grandad and helping out. Got some good photo's will have to scrap them for sure BUT I need a new camera! our digital camera just isn't fast enough to catch Ben or the dogs and I get so frustrated with all the shots of the back of Ben's head or a dog just moving out of shot. Think it will have to be my Christmas present although technically I've already had it as last year Eric treated me to a craft robo for my birthday/Christmas for the next zillion years LOL.

Dawn is away in France on yet another holiday so as Thursday is our scrapping day I'll be doing it on my own, now where near as much fun and it's always good to work alongside someone when you need a second opinion.



This is another layout based on a Design Collective class by Debbie Jewell. The photo is of Poppit now one of my bridge babies.


Mac and Jim are booked in to the vets Friday. Mac's leg really hasn't improved and we are now really concerned that the leg is rejecting the metal plate and pin. Because he's now 11 we have been hoping he wouldn't need another op but it's beginning to look like we're running out of options. Jim has been have pain in his neck shoulder area for a few weeks and despite resting him it's still there!

Had the renewal for the dogs insurance through. Sandy, Jim and Lucky's has gone up from around £15.00 per dog per month to £25.00 and Mac's has gone through the roof to £43.00!and it doesn't cover any treatment on his leg.... question is do we keep paying or cancel and run the risk of a massive bill? when Mac broke his leg the op alone came to £2,500..... guess it's to risky to cancel and at least they have a no excess policy.