Well, after some recent grim weather - now here we are, absolutely roasting! It's pointless planning ahead these days if 'weather' factors into the mix.
Anyhow, we're celebrating regardless of Mother Nature and her 'moods' as Dudley has his 6th Birthday on Monday 22nd July. Here's his Birthday card from Len and myself:
And most of the leftover snippets! |
- 8" x 6" deckle edged cream hammered card blank (dating back to my early crafting days when I used a postal supplier in Chesham whose name escapes me now - but I'm thrilled to have unearthed them not too long ago!) - side opening
- a piece of the same cream hammered card, cut from a matching card blank, measuring quarter of an inch less on all four sides to use as the front panel - set aside for later
- next up was the Havanese image, which I didn't want to be a true 'Dudley photo' but a near enough portrait. I downloaded it from a digital images website for a small cost - the full sized image is utterly stunning and I think this little guy does the trick
- a fair bit of fiddling around with the size took place before I was happy - then printed the image onto printer paper as I couldn't face accessing the rear feed on my printer to use card. It came out fine!
- next, I used Stick It sheet to adhere the paper printed Havanese to a snippet of white card before then covering it with a snippet of self-adhesive clear plastic laminate sheet for a glossy finish
- then, used a die from the Marianne set of stitched circles to die cut the little guy's image - success!
- used a NBUS die from the Heffy Doodles 'Skinny Circle Frames' die set to cut the turquoise frame for the image and glued the centre fallout from that behind the doggie image for stability and a little bit of 'lift'
- final touch for the centre image panel was to die cut an outer 'frame' using a die from Tonic's huge set of plain circle dies - introducing terracotta into the mix - glued all the layers together and set it to one side
- for the 'Happy Birthday' I used more of the turquoise card and an unbranded 'Happy Birthday' die with no name, very much like Poe script - double layered then set aside
- the number 6 die is by The Works from their 'Numbered Candles' set of dies, long discontinued I think, double layered in turquoise card and then the flame was die cut from a paler terracotta card snippet, double layered and added to the flame area of the die cut
- next I dug through the lovely Funky Fossil 'Ransom Note' set of dies for letters to make up Dudley's name, used snippets of truquoise and two shades of terracotta to cut two of each and then double layered them
- and now the fun part - assembly time!
- first of all I glued the sentiment and the number 6 onto the hammered cream card panel
- then added the Havanese image panel using thin sticky fixers
- and then Dudley's name was added, using a glue pen
- final step was to adhere the finished panel onto the card front - using thin strips of foam tape in the usual way
I'd like to enter this card into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #64 - the Funky Fossil circle frames and also the Marianne stitched circle die sets were both NBUS. And the Funky Fossil 'Ransom Note' dies don't appear to have been used previously either!
And, into the current Allsorts Challenge #790, under the 'Anything Goes' rule.
Dudley Pupdate: Dudley is still a delightful pickle of course - recently he's been having a whale of a time between the house and our garden log cabin. He loves it when I'm relaxing in there and comes to visit to check I haven't run away. Tthen hops around the garden doing zoomies before popping back into the house to check that Len hasn't run away. It keeps him occupied and generally out of mischief. Of course, if there's something 'icky' to roll in on the lawn during his travels then he'll find it and give it his all!! On Friday he found a wonderful pile to roll over and he ended up with a slightly clipped patch for his pains - Len keeps a pair of rounded end doggie scissors handy!
The little guy's Birthday tomorrow will be a day much like any other - but, it did give me cause for reflection and I came across this 'progress' photo - sent to us by Cherie, the lovely breeder, It was taken after we'd chosen Dudley (or HE chose us!) ...... but he had to wait with his siblings until he was old enough to leave Dolly his Mum. He was about eight weeks old at the time and still sits in exactly the same way whenever he's hopeful for extra cuddles - or more likely treats! With that very same unwavering stare as well!
Very importantly, we have a new Challenge #485 being run by our lovely Sarn over HERE! Do please come and play - the more, the merrier!
Love from myself and Dudley, xxx