Daring Cardmakers-Just One Colour!!!

Well Lythan has set the challenge over at DCM this week and we have to use just one colour to make a card. Black is allowed for the sentiment if you are using white card but I decided to go all black with this one as the card was already out on my desk.......and if I have got it wrong again I am sure that Lythan will make me do another colour.
I stamped the background using Versamark and the vases and script were also stamped in Versamark then embossed using clear powder. Didn't want to use another colour to mount the pieces on so I just scraped the ink pad around the edges and dipped into clear powder to give a bit of definition.
Looks awfully dull here in the scan but IRL it does look very nice so I might have a bash with some different stamps and card colours.
Thanks Lythan.......great challenge this week.
Sheila-x-

Thank Gawd It's Thursday!!!

When I got to work this morning the boss very excitedly showed me some new sets of clear stamps that she had ordered last week which arrived yesterday. Once I had seen them all I was pretty excited too and my strong resolve to come away with my wages intact this week melted away like snow on a griddle.

Talk about value for money. I have here two sets of the nicest quality clear stamps. One set is Oriental and there are 12 stamps on that sheet. The other set is alphabets and you would not believe it for the price but there are four alphabets, upper and lower case in two sizes. The larger lower case alphabet has multiples of all the letters which is amazing in itself but wait until you hear how much they were......£5.99 a set.

I know I had to look twice at the price label and even asked the boss if she had priced them right.

There were also some smaller sets of baby, dog and teddy themed sets at £2.99......even in those there must have been about 10 stamps.

The stamps are by Habico and are called Interchangeable Clear Stamps.
So I had to make a card to show you just how fab these stamps are and I have used the Oriental set. This was my second choice of the two Oriental sets as the ladies who came to the workshop today all wanted the other set and we were one short so I let mine go to the one lady without a set and I'll have the other next week.



I had been thinking about having a go at doing the Bonded Pearls technique over patterned paper to see how it would look so I have incorporated it into this card and it looks fab.

For the basic Bonded Pearls technique please click on the Perfect Pearls section in the labels.

I used a piece of 6X6 from a Dovecraft Designer Paper Pack by Kelly Harwood and did the Bonded Pearls over the top then over stamped using black Stazon and the Oriental text stamp which I stamped three times across from the top corner and then repeated that in the bottom corner.

The vases were stamped onto a different paper design from the same pack and embossed in black and the background on the cream card was stamped in black Stazon.

The card is a 6X6 so you can get an idea of the good size of the stamps.

I am well impressed with them.

I need to play some more with this Bonded Pearls on patterned paper as I can see all sorts of possibilities with it..........I'll let you know how I get on.

Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Pirates of the UK Midlands

Hmmm..........doesn't quite have the same ring as Pirates of the Caribbean somehow does it?
Well I managed to have just a quick play with the new TandaStamps Pirate sets in between laundry loads and other boring jobs.
Quite plain and straightforward as I did have to be quick.
I started off by doing a double stamped mount for the background. Stamped first in black and then in Versamark using the ships wheel stamp.
The images were then stamped onto luggage tag brown card and punched with a medium square punch. I matted the squares onto black card and added white accents with a gel pen.
I don't have any vertical greetings stamps so used a peel off which isn't ideal but I wanted to use the tag on the side as the card looked a little empty until it was added.
Two very nice sets of stamps if you are looking for something just a bit different for male cards and ATC'ers will find these perfect for their works of art.
I have another card started but am waiting for some glue to dry before I can assemble it. I'll add it here when it's done.

Second card is now added..........it looks a bit wonky on here but it is straight IRL.

It hasn't scanned that well as the piece at the front which looks silver is actually a micro bead mix of gold, blue and pink with just a touch of silver sparkly bits.

To make the strip I stamped the wave border onto a piece of heavyweight card and cut it out leaving a tab at one end for holding it by which is cut off once the piece is dry.

I then covered it in glossy accents followed by the bead mix and left to dry thoroughly then trimmed off the tab.

The ship is gold embossing onto gold pearl card. Sails are filled in with white Souffle pen and the black outline and accents have been added with a fine tipped permanent marker.

Just need to get my kit ready for tomorrow and then I am going to have to tidy my desk. Somebody keeps coming in and throwing stuff all over it..........well it can't be me who makes all that mess..........lol!!!
Need to find a home for two boxes of card I bought on Thursday too. I promised myself I wouldn't buy any more card until I had made a good dent in what I have already but we had some gorgeous cream and white card in for the stand and as decent cream and white can at times be hard to get hold of I thought I would get some before it all went.

I'm hoping that my digital camera will arrive tomorrow along with some of the clothes I ordered yesterday so I shall be wishing the day away while I am at work so that I can come home and have a play with it.

Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Birth Card

Well here's my effort for the Daring Cardmakers challenge this week which was to make a card for a multiple birth.

I have used some of the Vanessa Arbuthnott papers, Hero Arts alphabet stamps, the number and exclamation mark are from a set of retro letters and numbers by My Sentiments Exactly and the baby is a Sizzlit die cut.

I did have a bizarre idea for doing a vintage card but thought that I would carry on with my sunshine and spring day I started yesterday even though it has been anything but.

My computer is playing up and it won't copy any picture files onto CD's. I've never had any trouble before. Also it has always been a bit sensitive since we had it and if you give it anything to do that it thinks is too much like hard work it overheats and an alarm goes off which means I have to turn it off and wait for it to cool down......it is obviously a male computer if it is unable to multi task.

I've spent all day sorting out folders and files etc to get them onto disks and it is sooooo frustrating not to be able to finish the job.

Never got to watch a film last night as hubby was tired so I had better go and see if he wants to watch one.......I'm hell bent on getting my hands on some of his choccies tonight........ha ha ha!!!

Before I go though I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who visits my blog and leaves such lovely comments. With so many blogs to choose from I am always shocked that people choose to visit mine so Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

See ya soon

Sheila-x-

Talk about a shock!!! In the nicest possible way.

Well I had one of the nicest shocks I have ever had today.
There I was at work sat making a card. I'd heard someone come through the door but as the boss was seeing to customers while I finished the card I hadn't looked up as I usually do. All of a sudden this voice says 'hello Sheila' and you will never guess who was standing there.........our Wendy (AnnTaurus).
Well I just about fell off my chair I can tell you.
Wendy and I have met before.........last year at a meeting of forum members from Crafts by Carolyn but this was a total surprise.
We had a smashing chat and I also got to meet her 'knight in shining armour' who is absolutely fab. I don't think I have ever seen anyone smile so much...generally men who come into craft shops don't do smiling much.........lol!!!
A great finish to the week........thanks Wendy.........come back soon.
I'm having to share a card I made some time ago today as I had such a lot to do when I got home from work.The stamp is by Paper Artsy and is amongst my most favourite.I usually use quite subdued colours with these stamps but the paper I have used was the last of a sheet that needed using.This card evolved over several hours as I put the paper onto the card and then laid it to one side, then I did the stamping and laid it to the side again.The letters have been cut from various materials using a Sizzix alphabet.......the 'n' is an upside down 'u' and just to add a touch of quirkiness I replaced the 'i' with the keyhole....also a Sizzix die.
Well I still have quite a bit of work to do (just taking a break for five minutes) so I had best go and get it done as if I finish it tonight I should get all day to play tomorrow.......yipeeeeeeeee!!!
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Get Well Soon

I make and sell lots of Get Well Soon cards so always have lots in stock.

Always very simple so that they are quick and easy to do as I like to keep the price down on them. People don't seem to want to spend a lot on things like Get Well Soon, Thank You or With Sympathy. I mostly do A C6 card with no insert.

As I make it a rule to not make more than 12 of one design, unless it's a flyer, the cards in these ranges tend to change by the week and depend a lot what bits I have lying around.

Thought I was going to have to write on one of these for DS earlier today......eeeeeeh I could have sent him into the middle of next week I really could. He's off to Tenerife on Friday so has started his packing. To give him his due he has washed and dried any special clothes he wants to take but after a morning sorting out the house and most of the afternoon sorting out paperwork and just as I had put tea on to cook he came and asked me to put a new zip in a pair of shorts he wanted to take with him. Now if there is a sewing job I loathe above all others it's replacing zips so my reply was neither ladylike or motherly, but one look from his big brown eyes and I'm a pushover so the job is done. Tea was later than expected and a little well done around the edges though.....lol!!!

Feeling a bit tired now so when Andy comes in I am off for a bath. If it wakes me up I shall be back to do some stamping.........if it soothes me I shall be having an early night to bed for a change and a nice read of me book which I haven't looked at for a few days......very unlike me.

Oooooh nearly forgot.......Paula D.......just in case you are reading this........thank you so much for the card.....wow it's beautiful.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

Wednesday Stamper

I've just finished off this card which I started the other day and hopefully it will be right for the Wednesday Stamper challenge Movies.

You can see all the entries at http://wednesdaystamper.wordpress.com/

I couldn't put a name to this face but she looks like a star to me.

The stamp is by Delta/Rubber Stampede. Word stamps are Rubbadubbadoo and the square swirl is Hero Arts.

Paper is K&Co

Thanks for looking

Oh What A Knight!!!

Oooooooh blimey it's cold today.
Had a fab day at work apart from the fact that I couldn't get warm all day. My feet were so cold that they hurt so I was glad to get home and get my slippers on.
I forgot to put some money in my purse before I went out this morning and when I got to the shop I found the new Basic Grey paper had arrived though some was out of stock. So I counted the shrapnel I had which came to just over four pounds.....big dilemma.......do I eat lunch? Or do I go home with some gorgeous paper? As you may guess the paper won hands down......lol!!!
I didn't go totally without though as I found a Cuppa Soup lurking on the shelf and had that with some crispbreads and Philly with chives.
I am in heaven now then with a sheet of Garden Party from the Stella Ruby Collection, a couple of sheets each of Sari and Julia from the Perhaps Collection and a couple of sheets each of Recognition and Rapture from the Scarlet's Letter Collection.
Boy are they gorgeous or what? Got to do something with those tomorrow.

Finished the Inchies for the swap on UK Stampers and I feel awful because I really didn't like doing them. Maybe if I had more leisure time I could get into them but I spend pretty much all of my crafting time working on stuff for workshops and demo's or my own cards which I sell so all the time I was doing them I felt that I should be doing something else. Also they are nowhere near as good as some of the one's I have seen. Never mind.......I've had a go so at least I can say I've done it.

At the moment I am having a dabble with the Medieval stamp sets from TandaStamps and I am trying to be good and make each card with stamps from just one set rather than mixing them.
This is the card I did tonight when I got home using Medieval Knights Set 2.
They are really fab stamps and each set has large images and smaller stuff that can be used for backgrounds.
The background for this card is some lovely off white card with grey specks in it and I have used the small heraldic shield with black Stazon to create a patterned paper.
The knight and the Fleur de Lys have been stamped onto some of my blackboard card using white Brilliance ink.
The strap has been cut from a scrap of blackboard card and then edged with silver Krylon. I also coloured the brad with the Krylon pen as it was an antique bronze one which didn't look right with the card.
I'm quite happy with it as I think the colour makes a nice change from browns which I usually use for this type of card.
There are still quite a few of stamps left in the set to play with and I have one or two more ideas lurking in the grey matter.

Off to play then until bedtime.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Normal services resumed

Well after my eventful foray into the world of Daring cardmakers and the ensuing chaos I caused for myself........normal services are now resumed.......well as far as the word normal can be applied to me.

My ribs will never be the same again after laughing until my sides ached. Hubby will probably annul our marriage on the grounds that I didn't declare that I was a raving nutcase before I said 'I do'. I was laughing so much that I couldn't speak to tell him what I was laughing at. In the end he gave up trying to find out and went off muttering that I had finally flipped.

I have scuttled off back to my comfort zone and there I am staying for oooooh at least a week......lol!!!

DS nearly gave me a heart attack this morning when he gave me a Mother's Day card. I think the last one I had from him was one he made at infant school so it was a bit of a shock.

DD bought me some fab new colours of Fusible Film and a pack of Making Memories Petals in scrummy denim and gingham plus the jumper and t shirt I got yesterday.........she does spoil me.

Hubby gave me chocolates as he does every year.......and then everybody eats them except me......lol!!!

He did offer to take me out for dinner but I prefer to eat at home as everywhere is just so busy. So he was cooking lunch except that he decided to walk up to the pub with the dog and I ended up doing most of it myself. He'd shopped for the ingredients yesterday and came home so chuffed because he got a turkey crown........I have spent thirty years telling him I don't like turkey and it ain't sunk in yet......lol!!!

Oh well it wasn't too bad.

Spent the afternoon pottering about making cards for the local shop and tonight I have mounted the piece I did on non slip matting onto a card.

The background is silver vellum stamped with a Magenta flower stamp in white ink and I have added some dots of glitter to lift it a little.

The scan makes the vellum look crumpled for some reason but it isn't so again I am going to ask Deb to take a photo with her digital camera and replace the picture later which will also show off the dragonflies better as they aren't stuck flat onto the mat as they look in the scan.

Weatherwise it has been a pretty wild day which started off with clear skies and sunshine but very windy. We have also had rain and hail storms then tonight we got the snow. I'd say we had a good three inches but it's melting down into slush already and everywhere is all drippy and horrible now.

Well I think I might go and get a bit of sleep now as I have got really cold.

Night night

Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers Episode 2

I can't believe I did the challenge wrong yesterday......what an idiot......I must have got it mixed up in my mind with a previous challenge I had read somewhere or something.

Anyway I've been back to the mixing bowl and here's what I got......

A piece of paper from scrapbox

Ribbon

Glitter glue

Even deeper despair than yesterday but I managed to make a very simple card by going over the pattern on the paper with the glitter glue and tying the ribbon around it once it was dry.

I was tempted to have another item from the bowl in the hope of getting a stamp to add a greeting but decided against it in the end.

Hopefully this time I got it right..........lol!!!

Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Random

Oh bxxxxr.........I just realised I did this wrong and we weren't supposed to add anything extra...........back to the mixing bowl for me then...........stupid woman........lol!!!

I wasn't going to have a go at this week's dare from Daring Cardmakers because I do like to plan my work usually in respect of technique. But then I thought.....oh gawd stop being such a wimp and get on with it.

I put in a mix of things that I have had for a long time and things I haven't had so long but haven't used yet.

This is what came out of the hat.....actually the mixing bowl

Decorative brads.........I have tons but rarely use them as I love round ones.

Matt black card......bought last summer and never touched.

Tin of K&Co Chipboard Tags and shapes......bought last May and never touched.

I sat there totally flummoxed for about 2 hours and just about gave up as I was trying to make the elements fit into my style of card and had absolutely no inspiration whatsoever.

Back at the drawing board I had a bit of a stamp onto the black card. This card looks like it has been painted with blackboard paint so I thought I'd try stamping in white ink and it looked fab. A hefty dose of inspiration from Gillian Hamiltons style of cards and I was away.

All in all I think this card has taken me about five hours to make so I don't think I will be making many of them.....lol!!!

Other items used

My bargain clear flourish stamp set

Dunelm bloom

Spotty ribbon

DCWV paper

Silver mirror card

White card blank

Peeloff words

The buckle thing was coloured with a Stazon ink pad as it was a bit of a strange colour.

Had a lovely morning out this morning with DD. She has her own car now so she wanted to take me out for a ride.

We started off at Bridgemere Garden Centre and went to Hobbycraft where I picked up a couple of bargain stamps.......2 for £1.99. Didn't get much else as I was a tad naughty at the shop on Thursday and spent a bit too much money.

Then we went on to Trentham Gardens by which time the sun was out and it was a beautiful day to walk around the shopping village.

DD bought me a lovely jumper and t shirt from Cotton Traders and we went and bought sweets from the old fashioned sweet shop. They sell all the things you remember buying as a child........such a fun shop to visit.

Came home and promptly fell asleep which I blame on the fresh air.

It's gone awfully windy outside now and I can't believe they are predicting snow after the gorgeous weather we had today, still..........bring it on......I do like a bit of snow........lol!!!

Well I have a bit of a thing going now for stamping in white on this black card so I'm off for a play as it's given me a few ideas for Father's Day cards for the shop.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

Sod's Law.....................

...........seems to be in permanent residence at my house just lately.

Came home from work yesterday all fired up to play with the rubber mat and embossing powders and blow me DD had taken more orders over the phone before I got back.

I always like to try and get the orders done as they come in since the time a lady ordered a card and said there was no rush for it. Delivered it the next week and the birthday had been two days earlier. She still had it and sent it as a belated card but I've had a horror of cards being late since.

So once I had done the orders and tidied up I didn't feel much like getting a whole load of other stuff out and settled for sorting out my bit box and cutting some mats for mounting on cards.

I've had a play today and I am so pleased with how my piece turned out but unfortunately it doesn't scan awfully well. I've posted it but I'm going to ask Deb at the shop if she will take a photo with her digital camera when I go to work on Tuesday and then replace the posted scan.

I think you should get the general idea for now.

The base then for this technique is non slip mat [top picture]. It's the kind that you put on lap trays to stop your dinner flying off all over dog and it comes in various colours.....mine is white.

Next I have used the Ultra Thick Embossing Crystals from Once Upon A Stamp at Chesterfield and I tell you now.........these babies are to die for!!!!!

You will need to work inside some kind of tray for this as even using a low blow gun the powders go everywhere to start with. I use a flapjack tin which I place on a glass worktop saver so that the desk top doesn't burn.

Line the tray with a piece of heat proof liner or if you don't have that use greaseproof paper or parchment.

Cut a piece of the nonslip mat and shape it if required. Mine had straight sides with a curved diagonal top.

Cover with Versamark ink and then add a layer of Ebony UTEC and melt.

Keep the heat gun over the piece of work and keep sprinkling the Ebony crystals until you have the coverage you like.

Now keep the heat going and start to sprinkle in some of the colours.

Mine were Pearl Blue and Pearl Green with a touch of Christmas Silver for a bit of sparkle.

Keep adding colour until you have a pleasing effect.

Take a stamp that has been inked with Versamark and stamp into the hot crystals leaving the stamp there until the crystals have cooled.

During the adding powder and heating you inevitably get crystals around the edge of the piece of mat. These liquify and as you push your stamp into the hot crystals they blend with the mat to give some fabulous finishes.

Once cool remove the stamp and peel the mat away from the lining paper and decorate as you like.

I used.....Background stamp Bead Curtain by Judikins, Dragonfly free on the cover of a magazine.

The dragonflies were stamped onto self adhesive acetate and cut out. Screwed up Fantasy Film was then applied to the back and trimmed.

Like I said, I am sorry about the scan but will try and get the picture replaced as soon as possible.

Well as I have worked so hard this week I think I should allow myself a little more playtime and have another session with this mat and powders with maybe a bit of Friendly Plastic thrown in for good measure........if I dare cut the sticks I have.......mean old devil that I am.......lol!!!

Have fun...........I will be!!!

Sheila-x-

Spring is sprung....the grass is ris.........

I wonder where the birdies is..........?

Well there has been no shortage of birds in our garden today.

When I got home from work they were all stuffing their faces on the newly replenished bird table..........it was like a Hitchcock film out there.......lol!!!

Busy, busy busy at the shop today. Two workshops, one rep turned up right time wrong day, one rep right day and right time and two reps turned up who had not booked appointments........so it was verging on Bedlam at about 3pm......but good fun and lots of new goodies to look forward to.......I hope you will all visit me in the debtors prison when I bankrupt myself buying all the new BG the boss ordered.........lol!!!

I've been having a bit of fun tonight too making a card for the Spring Flowers challenge on Ink Stains.

This card is sooooooo not my usual style.....which is what made it fun.

It has helped me to relax a bit as I am just in the middle of another visit from the Migraine Monster. It hurts but not enough for me to be lying about on the sofa so this has taken my mind off it a bit.

So I have stamped and embossed some flowers from the Elusive Images set and painted them with my twinklies(H20'S) and added some Diamond Stickles. Layered them over a piece of pale orange card cut into a pot shape and then cut around the flowers for a shaped card.........the blue background isn't part of the card.......I just put that in during scanning.

The word Spring has been cut on Jimminy Cricut.

I took a break halfway through to watch the final part of Fallen Angel the drama which started on Sunday night. They obviously showed all the best bits on the trailers because halfway through the second of the three parts I was losing the will to live. Watching part three was absolute flaming torture.........but you just 'have to' don't you? I couldn't not watch it as I might have missed a good bit which would have been compensation for wasting four and a half hours of my life watching it......lol!!!

Hubby took DD out today to look for a car for herself and she found what she wanted so Friday when she picks it up we shall be a three car family. It's a good job I don't drive else we'd have cars coming out of our ears.

I'm not happy about the number of cars we have but as the bus service out here doesn't fit in with work timetables or locations it is unavoidable.

Well I am just trying to decide whether or not to start a new project now or go and get some sleep and start it tomorrow.........I think I'll make my decision over a nice cup of tea.

Bye for now then

Sheila-x-

L for Leather

I hope everyone has had a great weekend.

Mine was fun although I was working.......if you can call making cards working...lol!!!

I managed to get over to the craft shop with my little list of envelopes but anyone who knows me would tell you that I never come back with anything from my list and Saturday was no exception.

For a start they had none of the envelopes I needed, they only had a certain brand of rub on words which wasn't what I was looking for and the only die they had that I wanted was a Thin Cuts bow so I got that while they had it.

The Cuttlebug was new in but having so many die cutting machines and knowing that the dies would work in my Bigshot I wasn't tempted. I did buy two of the embossing folders.....script and textile which I think will be useful.

There was a bin of Anita's stamps all at £1.99 including the huge ones. I got a fleur de lys background stamp which I know was £7.99 previously plus a couple of others.

I found some decorative edging scissors at 99p a pair so I bought 3 different designs as I only have deckle edgers.

My best bargain though was a set of clear stamps........26 flourish and ornament stamps for the unbelievable price of £4.99 and that included a really useful sized block. I was very pleased with that I can tell you.

So that's more new stuff to play with........oooooh I do love shopping!!!

I spent most of Sunday making cards for the local shop but did manage to have a play later on.

The leather paper background I have used on the Vetruvian Man card was made when I was messing about with the floorwax earlier in the week so I thought I would use it before it got lost among all my other papers.

It's a really easy technique which I have done many times but the addition of the layer of floorwax to finish it off really makes it look fab.

To make it you will need a piece of thin cream card and this needs to be screwed up tightly to create lots of creases.

Flatten it out and rub all over with pale brown chalk. Make sure the cream is completely covered.

Next, take a darker brown chalk and apply lightly so that it just hits the creases in the card and highlights them.

Now you need to iron the card to flatten it out. I iron on the chalked side which seems to give a better finish.

Use a cotton wool ball to pick up some colour from a Brilliance Coffee Bean ink pad and rub sparingly into the card. Repeat with Brilliance Galaxy Gold.

You can leave it at this stage and it looks great.......the Brilliance ink gives a lovely glow to the effect but you can add a layer of floorwax for a much deeper shine.

I would advise dabbing the wax on rather than brushing it on as brushing can move and smudge the applied colour.

Leave to dry.

Although I mostly use this technique when I want brown leather paper, I have at times used other colours such as green and even pink so don't be afraid to experiment.

I have posted another couple of cards made using this background technique so that you can see how useful it is.......especially for mens cards.

Ooops.......had to edit this as I forgot to say that the hinges and key plate are cut from mountboard using a Sizzix die. They have been rubbed with bronze Glimmer Chalk and then grunged with a brown ink pad. More bronze chalk was added over the ink.

The key is a brad.

Have Fun

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

Another new set of stamps

I have been wanting to try the Silken Mist technique after seeing it so beautifully done on Wendy McGlinchey's blog and at the trade show I went to a couple of weeks ago I also saw a different way to use Fantasy Film which looked amazing.

So I have combined both techniques on one card along with two stamps from yet another new set from Elusive Images. This set is called Fashion Dream and is utterly gorgeous. Very girly which isn't usually me but I just loved the images......especially the ladies face used here.

I did the Silken Mist background exactly as Wendy described it but added a second layer after the first had dried to get some darker patches and a little more texture.

The lady has been stamped onto the rough side of ink jet printable Overhead Projection Film using StazOn in Jet Black. I added some extra colour to the background on the image by painting with the H20's.

This was then mounted onto a sheet of double sided adhesive so that the whole back was edge to edge adhesive.

Next I cut a piece of Fantasy Film slightly larger than the stamped piece, screwed it up tightly, flattened it out and then applied it the back of the stamped image pressing it down firmly.

I then added another layer of edge to edge adhesive and layered it onto the background.

The word stamp was done with a black Memoiries ink pad.

I also added a jewel to her earring.

Thanks Wendy I enjoyed that.

BYE FOR NOW

Sheila-x-

Paper Flowers

This card is a bit of a departure from my usual style. It still uses stamping but in a very basic form.
I bought an A4 sheet of unmounted flowers by Elusive Images. On the sheet there are sixteen flowers ranging in size from just under one inch to about three and a half inches and in a mixture of patterns.
The stamping, using two different sizes of flower, has been done onto patterned paper using a Memories Artprint Brown ink pad.
Once dry they have been cut out. Two of the large flowers have also had the teardrop shapes between the petals removed with a craft knife.
I then arranged the solid flowers for the background, glued them to the card blank and then edged them with a gold gel pen.
The more open flowers have been layered with a smaller one on top and I added a button tied with ribbon for the centre.
The edges of the card and the square mat have been edged with gold Versacolour ink and after layering it all I took ink from the same ink pad on the handle end of my piercing tool and added the dots pattern to the background.

I have to admit that I do quite like it and will try it with different papers and maybe add some glitter.

Didn't do any more experimenting with the floorwax as it was giving me a bit of a headache unfortunately........it does smell a bit strange. So I think just short sessions with that in the future.

Best get off and get some sleep as we are having a workshop design day at the shop tomorrow. The boss and I will be seeing what we can do with some of the new stamps and materials.

Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Gardening At Night

Had a fab day yesterday at work. Another delivery........this time our restock of Bazzill card. Some was colours we had run out of but we had some new colours too. I was in raptures over some of the new ones which are like lovely soft ice cream colours. This is quite worrying given my penchant for dark colours....lol!!!

I'm hoping that our order of Clarity stamps arrive this week as I can't wait to get my hands on some of them.

Came home floating about six inches off the floor. I was doing a class on Waterfall Cards in the afternoon and we were just chatting away as you do and for some reason the conversation came around to age and I told them that I would be having my big five oh birthday this year. They were all so shocked and I got a bit worried thinking that maybe they thought I was older.........turns out that they all thought that I was in my late thirties. You can imagine how fab that made me feel. So I have cancelled the tanker of Revitalift for now.

Had an urgent need to do some messy crafting after doing the Waterfall Cards and I seem to have rather a lot of floorwax about in different jars and bottles. I decided to have a play with it along with my Perfect Pearls and some offcuts of dark card.

I started by sponging the floorwax onto some black textured card and then flicked PP's over it from a brush.

Then I sponged more floorwax over that.

Sponging does tend to leave lots of little bubbles so I dabbed over the surface with a tissue which got rid of those and then left it to dry.

The card did curl a bit so I ironed it on the back which sorted that problem out.

Once it was dry I started thinking about things I could stamp to look like solid silver to mount onto the background but nothing I tried seemed quite right. Anyway for some reason an REM song kept going round and round in my head. Why I don't know because I haven't played it for ages...........I'm just in my David Gray period at the moment........lol!!!

The song is called Gardening at Night so that led me to thinking about a garden on a frosty night and hey presto I had a theme to work on.

I used Moonlight White Brilliance to stamp the shadow flowers and once that was dry added touches of Diamond Stickles Glitter Glue.

I'm quite pleased with the effect and will be trying it again with other colours.

Back to the experimenting then but first I really need to move this two drawer chest from under my desk as I keep catching my knee on it and it's getting quite sore.
Bye for now
Sheila-X-

Wonderful Day

Today has been a lovely day. I got lots of stamping done and managed to watch the drama Cold Blood on tv. Boy did it give me the creeps.....not at all sure I shall sleep after that.
Feeling a bit miffed now though as I have just found out that I have to go to work on the bus again in the morning and I hate it.......not the bus itself.....just the wasted time. I need to take my workbox too as I have a class tomorrow and you don't half get some odd looks boarding a bus with a tool box at 7.30am.
Hopefully after April 1st I will never have to go on the bus again. DD has just applied to go on a permanent night shift at her job and it is looking pretty much like she got it. I am so pleased because the shifts she has been doing up until now have left her with very little free time. This week is one of the worse as she does an early shift 6-2 Monday, an all day shift 7-9 Tuesday, off Wednesday, late 1-9 Thursday and Friday and then a fourteen hour shift each day Saturday and Sunday.
The only week she does the same hours all week is on nights.
This new shift pattern will give her a week on and a week off so we are very excited.
Also at the moment she is sharing a car with hubby which isn't ideal so Wednesday she is off to buy herself a small car for everyday use and then she and hubby will swap cars when she takes me off to do my demoing.
Oooooooooh I so love it when things start to go right for a change.
Anyway enough chatting.............here is another card I made today.
This will be a quick and easy card for a workshop for the ladies to do if we finish the main card and have time to fill at the end of the class.
Very simply a watermark background using the Versamark ink pad and a small stamp from the Elusive Images 'Rose Abundance' stamp set.
The main image is also stamped onto brown card with Versamark and then dusted with Perfect Pearls in gold.
The letters are my fabulous Da Vinci alphabet from Hampton Art stamped in Timber Brown StazOn onto gold pearlised card.
Like I say.......very simple but sometimes it is nice to do something like that.
Well I am not really tired right now so I am going to try and organise my card blanks a bit better and see if I need to buy bags and envelopes.
Bye for now
Sheila
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Lucky, lucky me!!!

How lucky was I to receive this beautiful giraffe stamp? Blog Candy from Kim of Creative Diversions.

As I just love giraffes.........very lucky indeed.

I just couldn't wait to get stamping with him and knew that the Memories Mists would be perfect with this image.

So I started by spraying a piece of smooth cream card with the Pale Ale MM and followed this with a spritz of Amaretto MM.

I wanted a clean image from the stamp so used StazOn in Timber Brown for the stamping rather than the chalk ink pad which gives a softer finish.

Colour was added to the image with a pencil crayon and the edges of the card were smudged with Glimmer Chalk in a lovely coppery tone.

The background paper was a little too clean looking for the for the stamped piece so I also spritzed that with MM's to tone it down.

I enjoyed making this card so much that I made another one which is something I don't often do but that will go in my box of cards that I dig into when I need to send one.

Thanks so much Kim

Sheila

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A First Class Stamp

I've been a busy little bee for the last few days though not all crafting unfortunately.

Had a plumber in to fit a new shower on Thursday so the bathroom is now all ready for the final touches such as fitting the carpet and adding the accessories......must order some new towels too while I think about it.

30 years I have been married and this is the first bathroom that is exactly how I want it so I am a very happy bunny.

Thursday was also a busy day at work as the first of the orders started to arrive from the show.

First to come were some fabulous cheapo storage boxes. They come in so many sizes it's amazing. Of course I had to have a few..............ok well a lot then as I have been wanting to condense my stamps down into a more organised storage system for a good while now.

The Elusive Images stamps arrived and oh my life they are just soooooo gorgeous and yes some of those went in my basket too.........four sets. I have started work with those on some cards for workshops.

I also got four of the Memories Mists.......spray inks with a matching chalk ink pad for stamping. I do think they are a tad expensive for what they are but they are very scrummy.

So Friday I spent all day sorting out my stamps and I have come to the conclusion that I have a slight problem.........I am addicted to rubber stamps.........but at least they are now better organised and I can find what I want.

Die cuts are on the way to being better sorted and my eight drawers of ink pads are very organised and everything to hand instead of trawling backwards and forwards to find them.

Still have a problem with where to put my big multicolour ink pads but never mind.

My lot are all in total shock as they can now see the worktops and desk in my room......we'll see how long it lasts:0).

Today has been my kind of day......thrashing it down with rain and very cold so I have been snuggled up in my nice tidy craft room with the heater on stamping away like a........well like a manic stamper.

The cards above are both done with my new Elusive Images set Rose Abundance.

They are both very simple cards.

On the distressed card I have stamped a small rosebud in chalk ink over some script paper and grunged it down a bit with my StazOn in Timber Brown.

The large image has been stamped in on card that has been sprayed with a Memories Mist in Pale Ale. I used the chalk ink pad that came with the mist and as the card was very porous it gave a lovely soft, faded image which I grunged very slightly.

The smaller image has been stamped the same but has been glazed with Sepia Accents Glaze.

The hinges are peeloffs but I have used brads on them to make them look chunkier.

I layered the small image onto some Stardream card in a lovely brown placing the ribbon in between the two layers. I attached the piece with foam pads and then tied the ribbon.

I wanted to do something a little more colourful for the second card so I spritzed the cardstock with a Memories Mist in Margarita......a lovely green. This time I wanted a clearer image so stamped with Versafine in Olympic Green.

The background strip is stamped with one of the smaller images from the set and then I have stamped the large rose onto some burgundy paper and cut the roses out. They have just been attached with glue stick as I didn't want a decoupaged look. The smaller rosebuds have been painted in Cranberry Adirondack ink.

I think I shall go and do some stamping now with the other sets.............I can feel them calling to me..lol!!! My husband always says that I am as mad as a box of frogs and I am beginning to think he's right.

Enjoy what's left of the weekend.

I am off until Tuesday so have another day to play tomorrow although I do have to paint the bathroom skirting boards at some point..............boring stuff!!!

Bye for now

Sheila

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Daring Cardmakers-Out Of Your Comfort Zone

This week Tracy aka Bondgirl challenged us to go outside our comfort zone and I have gone so far out of mine that I shall need a map to get back.

The resulting card is going to haunt me forever as the ladies who come to the classes I teach know very well my feelings on Teabag Folding and will pull my leg something rotten about this.

So here it is........not my finest moment in cardmaking I have to say.......lol!!!
Anyway......I'm sorry I have neglected the Blog for a couple of days but I have had quite a lot going on at home and work and have been absolutely shattered. I've not done any stamping so tonight I am going to stamp me little heart out and use all the new goodies that have come to live at my house this week........you'll find out what they are as I use them and post the results. I daren't list them all at once as I would probably give myself a heart attack at how much mahoney I've spent.

Have you gone outside your comfort zone yet?

Go on....................I dare ya!!!

Sheila

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