Goodbye Fibby

Sad news today. 

Fibby, my beloved crippled duck had to be put down. He had broken or dislocated his right leg and could no longer walk.

It's one thing having a duck that can't swim. Its another thing having a duck that can't walk.

I had to go out every couple of hours to carry him to the food and water.

I couldn't watch him suffer any more.

I have no words for what I feel.

It breaks my heart.

Bunny Zoe's Bank Holiday Sale!

Hi Everyone!

Enabler Alert! Enabler Alert!

Bunny Zoe is having 10% off all this bank holiday weekend.

And to top it off, 

 all SALE items are at least 35% off!!!... over 500 products so be sure to have a look!!! 

Foto Friday ~ Arches

Hi Guys!
I'm playing along with:

This photo was taken in the ruins of an old nunnery on Iona Island in Scotland.. I just loved the arches. Beauty in decay. :-)
Why does that work for buildings and not teeth? lol

On a somber note, I found that Fibby (my beloved crippled duck) wasn't walking this morning. I examined him and can't find anything noticeably wrong although his breathing is scratchy and labored so he may be sick and just too weak to walk. I don't know but it breaks my heart and leaves me second guessing myself and everything I've ever done for him.

We've been "batting down the hatches" this morning, getting ready for Hurricane Irene. Mainly removing lawn furniture etc that could become flying missiles if the winds get bad. I'm still waiting for my emergency crank radio to arrive, I know; I guess I should have ordered it after the tornado instead of waiting til another storm was upon us. But who thinks like that? Anyway, lets hope it arrives today. We're not directly in its path. Its should slide by just east of us and leave us with strong wind and rain. But my thoughts go out to all in its path and I hope that if that is any of you that you're taking all the necessary precautions.
Be safe!

The Kraft Journal Giveaway

Hi GUys!

Just wanted to let you know of a fab giveaway that the Kraft Journal is putting on. For full details click here.

You could win this prize pack worth over $35. See you over there!

Back To School

Hi Everyone!

How has your week been going? We're getting ready for the hurricane this weekend. They're still unsure if its going to cream us or just miss us and cream the outer banks. Its good to be on the safe side so I'm off to see if people left anything in the shops for me.If not, well there's always my case of mallow cups.lol We may have to live off them if we lose power for any length of time. One thing about it: If I eat  them  all I'll be so dizzy I wouldn't know if it's me or the house spinning.:-D

To be honest, the only thing I'm worried about is my ducks. I'm afraid their pan will fly away to the land of Oz if we get a hurricane and where will my ducks go? Will they find a friendly scarecrow to point the way home?Will he point the right way home? Hold on, no, he doesn't have a brain, does he... See? It doesn't bear thinking about.

Anyway!

The theme this week at Mo's Digital Pencil is:

Back To School.

Recipe:

Papers: DCWV

Ribbon: Sew Sweet

Decorative Corners: Sizzex Die

Sentiment: TLC

Image: Mo Manning

Colors: Prismacolors

Challenges:
Going Grey With Scrap-Creations - Back To School
Paper Take Weekly - Dies To Die For (Use Diecuts)
Partytime Tuesdays - Back To School
The Stamping Boutique  Stripes & Dots
ColourQ - COLOUR*

Crazy Challenge -  Back to School
Creative Stamp Friends - School
Creative Inspirations - Back to School
2 Sisters -Back to School

Hi All!

Well its been like FOREVER since I joined in with WOYWW.

So what is on my worktable this Wednesday? Pretty much nothing! 

I have my tins of colored pencils out (they stay out) and two pink striped bags of crafting goodies from Sew Sweet. That's about it. I've been tidying.

But my duck says hi. :-)

Her name is Betty, by the way. :-)

See you all tomorrow!

Whimsy And Stars~ Corner Bookmark

OK well you'll have to trust me on this one. It does look better in real life. The lighting was a bit off when I took these pics so it made a bit of a glare, washing out the colors a bit. In fact, from this angle it looks like her face is in need of a good scrub. lol But I assure you it's not really like that. :-)

Anyway! This is my final project as Guest Designer for Mabelle R.O's Whimsy And Stars.

It's been a real blast working for Mabelle and I just have to say that if any of you ever get the chance to GD for her, grab it. She's one of the sweetest designers out there.

Mabelle, thank you!!

 My recipe:

Papers: K&Co (a gift from Dana. Thanks Dana!)

Image: WhimsyAndStars

Colors: Prismacolors

Punch: Martha Stewart

Twine, Ribbon and Button: Sew Sweet

Corner Bookmark Tutorial: Splitcoast Stampers

Challenges:
Crazy Challenge - Back to School
Creative Stamp Friends -School
Happileigh Scrappin -  Girly
Incy Wincy Designs - Anything But A Card
Karens Doodles -  Use Your Punchers and Die Cu
KB Cute Monday - Use twine
Card Cupids - Bookmark
Corrosive Challenges -  Girlie
Paper Sundaes -  Green, Buttons, Banners and /or Twine (use a least two)


Happy Crafting!!

Blueberry Girl

Hi All!

I hope you all had a good weekend. We did, although it was hot and humid in the mid 90s. Way waaaaaay past blueberry season but I still fancied coloring up this little cutie from Mo Manning. I'm not usually a purple person but mixed with a generous helping of yellow I can swallow almost any color. lol

Recipe:

Papers: a mixture of DCWV and scraps from my stash.

Button, Twine and Ribbon : Sew Sweet .

Image: Mo Manning, colored with Prismacolors

I am using this card as my Catered Crop project this week.

Here's your FTR19 recipe.

(remember you can use any or all of the ingredients. My ingredients are in purple)

• Colors – jewel tones of pink, violet and blue, gold/yellow and brown
• Stamps and Stickers – gears or clock works, wizards and magic, butterflies, text/script, sentiment
• Color Mediums – stamping/distress ink, markers (ProMarker, Copics), and acrylic paint
• Embellishments – ribbon, brads, tags, polymer clay, glitter/Stickles
• Techniques – mix-media, collage, use and/or layer digital stamps, edge the card with paint

As always, the winning entry gets an "I Baked it Best" button to put on their blog,  will be the inspiration for the next challenge and can be a guest Chef for our QuickFire.

And . . . one lucky, randomly picked player will win a fabulous prize from Stampee Crafts.

I would like to play along with:
Make it Monday - always Anything Goes
Make it Monday with Kraft Outlet -  Movies, Songs or Books "Blueberry Hill" ~a song
Stamp with Fun - Summer
Corrosive Challenges -  - Girlie
Paper Sundaes -  Green, Buttons, Banners and /or Twine (use a least two)
Poodles Parlour -  anything goes
Sew Many Cards -- summer time


Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Foto Friday ~ Sunflower

Hi All!

Today I am wanting to play along with Lori's "Foto Friday".

This is a pic of a sunflower I took a year or so ago. I always loved the texture in it. So beautiful.

I hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Twinery Giveaway!

Would anyone like a craft room

full of  baker's twine???

The Twinery is giving away TWO full sets of their Ultimate Twine Bundle - that's a full spool of each color, $168.00 value!

Check out all the details of their anniversary celebration here

Something Blue

Hi All!

How has your week been treating you all? 

I got the garden planted for fall so I'm feeling pretty good about that, now I just have to keep it moist!!

This week's challenge at Mo's DP2 is:

Feeling Blue.

Of course I had to throw some yellow in there but basically we want to see your blue cards. :-)

Recipe:

Papers: assorted from stash

Clothes Pin: from stash

Image: Mo Manning

Colors: Prismas on Kraft

Sentiment: TLC

Button &Twine: Sew Sweet

Ribbon: Crafty Ribbons 

A few challenges:
Deep Ocean Challenge - Light Blue
Try It On Tuesday - Anything Goes
Bling It On - - A.....B.....C........ you must have something starting with each letter on your card:
(A- antique tub
B-Baby, Bath, Bubbles
C- Clothes Pin)
Creative Craft World - - For a Child
Cupcake Craftroom - - Soft and Sweet
KB Cute Monday - Babies
Make it Monday with Kraft Outlet - must include Kraft cardstock - Anything Goes
Make it Monday - always Anything Goes
Crafts and Me -  blue 


Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Portrait Preparation ~How to change a Photo into a Sketch in Paint.Net

Hi Guys!

So today I'd like to share something different with you all.

I've been itching to do a Colored Pencil Portrait (ambitious, I know) for some time and for those of you who might be similarly inclined I learned a few tricks online.

I say "tricks" but there's nothing sneaky about what we're going to do. Artists have been tracing, or 'projecting' the subject they want to paint onto a surface for decades.

 I could sketch my subject  but it would just take a lot longer so I'm skipping a step. And I'm going to show how to do it too.

First of all, I am using Paint.Net (a free photo manipulating software similar to photoshop)

So after you've downloaded Paint, open it up. It will look like this:

Click on FILE in the upper left hand corner, then OPEN to retrieve your photo from a folder.

A box will pop up which will allow you to fumble around for your picture. 

When you find it, select it and click OPEN at the bottom right.

See below:

Now your photo will appear on your Paint screen.

Next, click on EFFECTS located in the bar at the top of the window.

Then, in the pop up box, select ARTISTIC and

then PENCIL SKETCH.

You're going to have a box come up right smack dab in the middle of your picture.

This box allows you to manipulate the size of the "pencil" strokes so you can make your sketch as light or as heavy as you like.

Click OK

Here's the finished sketch below. Amazing, isn't it?

Now don't forget to save your sketch by going back to FILE in the upper left corner. Selecting SAVE AS.

This is so you can keep your sketch somewhere safe on your computer and retrieve it again.

So I have my finished sketch on file and so I printed  it out onto some proper drawing paper.

I also printed out an original photo, as well as a photo covered in a grid and a sketch covered in a grid. I don't know if I'll need the latter two but I figured I'd cover all bases just to be on the safe side. :-)

 So there's the easy bit done. Now I have the challenging job of making this sketch come alive. I'm a bit nervous if I'm being honest but there's a quote I read from one of you crafter's blogs that said "whether you think you can do it or whether you think you can't, in either case you're right."

So I'm going to try. :-)

It will take some time but I promise to show you all how it comes out.

*In passing, there's a technicality you might want to know.

When you make use a sketch printed out like this to do a colored pencil painting you are not allowed to enter it into an art show under "Colored Pencil Painting". It would have to be labeled as "Mixed Media" because of the print ink.

However, if you really wanted to be "artistically correct" you can remedy this by simply taking your printed out sketch and transferring it onto your sketch paper with a graphite sheet of transfer paper. You would have to trace it, but the marks would be graphite and so "pencil".

I'm not planning on winning any blue ribbons so I'm happy with this but its good to know.

Happy Crafting!

Just The Two Of Us

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by to visit today. :-) I have a card for you using another image by Whimsy And Stars.

It's called "Dancing Love". You can find it here.

I decided to do a "freeform patchwork" design which means just like it sounds. I just lay the paper down, mark and cut it in random designs. If you haven't tried it you need to, it feels liberating somehow. As long as you pick out coordinating papers it can't fail to come out good and yet its always a surprise. Shakes things up a bit.

My recipe:

Image: WhimsyAndStars

Colors: Prismacolors on Kraft

Papers: from stash, scraps

Ribbon and Twine: Sew Sweet

Tickets: Whimsy Stamps

Card Candy: from stash

I would like to play along with:

Make it Monday with Kraft Outlet -  - Anything Goes

Make it Monday - always Anything Goes

Pink Elephant - Stitching

Creative Inspirations Paint - Orange and Pink

Paper Sundaes -- Just Saying Hi

Crafty Emma - Mix and Match

Inspire Me Fridays - always anything goes

Thanks so much everyone for your encouraging comments. I know how busy we all are and its sometimes difficult to get around all the blogs we like to support, so I really appreciate the time it takes to stop and say hi. You guys are the best!

I'll see you around Blogland!

Ducky Update

Hi Guys!

Well a few of you keep asking about my ducks and wondering how they are. I figured the best way to tell you is to show you. My penned ducks are doing well but we are down to three free range ducks as one just got eaten two days ago by a fox or a raccoon. Not a turtle this time. I know because I found the feathers. :-( Turtles don't leave feathers.

Anyway, you'll notice in the video below the black duck to your right which I focus on and follow. That's Fibby, our crippled duck. You can see how he gets around quite well, albeit awkwardly .

These are our free range ducks below, looking into the pen where our penned ducks are.

(The photo below I am linking to Foto Friday.)

And Fiona the Crested Runner.

Gotta Love that Do!

 And Kiki sees a bird or a plane or superduck below:

And here is our garden, in the midst of getting ripped apart and replanted for a second crop for Autumn/ Winter.

We would be totally lost if it weren't for our rainbarrels. Here are 5 of the 15. They used to be pickle barrels but my husband added spigots and made rainbarrels out of them, a fairly common thing here in the South.

So that's all I have to show today, I hope you all enjoy the weekend!

Cuddly Buddly ~ Anything Goes

Hello all!

This is my final project for Cuddly Buddly's challenge which happens to be:

Anything Goes!

I've been on a bit of a notebook craze lately and so made this one for my daughter who never seems to put a book down, the image seemed so her. Especially with the cat. But the hair's not right. Hers is about two feet longer. lol

My Recipe:

Image: Cuddly Buddly

Colors: Prismacolors on Kraft

Ribbons & buttons, : Sew Sweet

Corner filagree: Wild Orchid Crafts

Papers: DCWV

Border Punch: Martha Stewart

I would like to enter this in the following challenges:

Celebrate the Occasion -  BACK to SCHOOL

Crazy Amigo Challenge - Anything goes (open until Aug16)

Creative Craft Challenges - - Summertime

Sweet Stamps - - Bling It Up

Craft Your Passion - Under the Sea or Your Favorite Season (summer!)

Cupcake Craft - Stitching real or faux

Daisy Doodles Creative Challenge -  School Time

Karens Doodles - - Buttons and Bows

Squigglefly -- Buttons

C.R.A.F.T. - -Gifts

Craft Us Crazy  - Anything goes in August

Crafty Purple Frog -  Anything but a card 

Shelly's Images --Back to school

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bella & Bronte Bookmark

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're all having a good day!

This week's challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil is:

Anything But A Card

I decided to make a bookmark for my daughter using Mo's Bella and Bronte.

.

Recipe:

Papers: K&Co

Ribbon: Sew Sweet

Image: Mo Manning

Colors: Prismacolors on Kraft Cardstock

Punch: Matha Stewart

Dies: Spellbinder's Nesties

Corner Bookmark Tutorial: Split Coast Stampers

And a close up:

I also decided to use this as my Catered Crop project this week.

This week we are inspired by talented  Cheryl Gorka 

(just click on her name to be taken to her fab blog!)

Below are the ingredients and in red are the ingredients I decided to use.

• Colors – primary colors like red, yellow, blue (and green), and a little brown for dirt
• Stamps and Stickers – anything that grows from a seed, gardening, back to school, worms!
• Patterns – circles, checked/gingham, notebook paper
• Color Mediums – stamping ink, markers (ProMarker, Copics)
• Embellishments – buttons, ribbon, thread/twine
• Tools – border punch, die cut shapes, embossing plates
• Techniques – make a bookmark, mat your panels, tie ribbons through your buttons, machine sewing
• Theme – garden, back to school

As always, the winning entry gets an "I Baked it Best" button to put on their blog,  will be the inspiration for the next challenge and can be a guest Chef for our QuickFire.

And . . . are you ready for this?!

May Arts Ribbon is only THE leading distributor of high quality ribbon products, serving a wide variety of merchants from large retail outlets to home-based business in the craft and scrapbooking, gift, stationery, quilting, fancy food, floral, interior design and jewelry industries. Be sure to check out all the wonderful products and inspiration over at the May Arts websiteHERE!

Those lovely folks at May Arts sent  a Big, Big box of no less than 20 different ribbons (about 1 to 3 yards each) to give to one lucky randomly chosen player of our Catered Crop linking party. Yay!!

A few challenges:
Sweet Stamps - - Bling It Up
Cupcake Craft - Stitching real or faux
NEW* Heart Song Inspirations - - Back to School, and/or Use circles
Paper Creations Ink -  Stitching Theme
I Did It Creations - Children
Sparkles Forum -  One for the girls
Celebrate the Occasion - BACK to SCHOOL
The Spotted Chick: Kraft 
Art Impressions Stamps Challenge -- Favorite Technique
C.R.A.F.T. - Gifts
Crafty Purple Frog - - Anything but a card - 2nd week
Crafty Sentiments -  Punches and Die Cuts




I'll see you all tomorrow!