Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside!!!

I had some lime, yellow and orange card left over from when I did the DCM pocket card the other week and so I thought I would use it up rather than put it in my bit box.
Couldn't think which stamps to use it with and then remembered that I had this lovely Summer Set 1 designed by Kim Harrison for TandaStamps.
I have used a ruler to draw a frame around the card. I just used the width of the ruler rather than measuring specifically and I used a pencil first in case anything went wrong and then went over the lines with a permanent marker pen.
The edges were then masked off and the centre was first chalked and then spattered with black and white acrylic paint in the style of American Folk Art painting.
The beach huts were stamped onto the three colours of card and cut out. I added a little white pencil crayon highlighting to add some depth.
The seagulls were drawn with a white gel pen and then I added slight shading in grey.
I stamped the ice cream cones onto a seperate piece of card and hand painted them using brush markers and a fine paint brush. They have also been finished with a layer of Artists Pearlising Medium to give a touch of sparkle.
I arranged them around the frame and then glued them down using a glue pen.
The dots have been added with a Dottariffic pen in Powder Blue.
The wording was stamped in black ink and coloured then I added the 2007 with a marker pen.
I really enjoyed doing this card even though it was a bit fiddly to cut out all of the ice creams.......but don't you think this would make a fab frame for a photo on a scrapbook page?



Well I have been a bit naughty today and sent DD out to buy a new scanner/printer for when the computer comes. I have an all in one already but only the scanner works and my other printer will only print in black or lime green now. The red just will not print.........I have done no end of cleaning runs etc and it just won't have it.
I got an absolute bargain from Currys and have had another Epson because until mine went kaput I was very impressed with it.


Got a lovely surprise in the post today. A blogging friend in Canada sent me a beautiful card which she had made with a stamp I sent to her and she also sent me a sheet of fashion stamps which are just fabulous. Thank you so much Kim


Wendy McGlinchey has also tagged me with another badge for my blog so I need to see who has it already before I tag another five people.


I am off to do some more stamping as I slept like a log last night and am not the slightest bit tired. Plus I have a million ideas whizzing round in my head which is what I get when I have been sorting stuff out.


Oh......I must just assure Di that the stuff I threw out deserved to be binned. Old dried up ink pads......I always save them thinking they will be useful.......for what I do not know. Papers that must have been printed when Noah was a wee lad and were dog eared and dusty. Some disgusting Christmas embellishments I can't even remember buying and some old catalogues. I promise that none of it was any use to anyone and all the better stuff has been saved.



Night night then.
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-All Checked Out

Well Hello !! Friday has come round again soooo fast ! Its my turn (Jane) to dare this week. Okay -are you ready ? For my dare you can choose any theme for the card BUT it must incorporate 'Checks', whether it be gingham paper or ribbon or squares, any thing really as long as it incorporates some kind of shape with 4 equal sides....... so go on- I dare you to think outside the square/step out of the box ..............easy as, eh ?!!

It's that time of week again and Jane at DCM is daring us to use checks on our cards as you can see.

I didn't have any checked paper that was up to much so I have used my Da Vinci alphabet stamps to create my checks.

Each one has been stamped individually and coloured with Versamagic chalk ink and then shaded with brush marker ink picked up with a damp paint brush.

They were then formed into a frame and attached over a stamped image of Mona.

I just had to use my new Stampendous Curls & Swirls stamps so they finished off the card quite nicely by making another frame around the main image.

I didn't get to blog last night as DD was being a bossy article and made me take a night off. She will be on a nine night stretch of shifts from tomorrow night so she wanted to spend some time with me.

We watched the DVD of Miss Potter. What a fab film it was. I really enjoyed it.

I've now got a few days to play as I have taken a few days holiday. I can play until Tuesday when the new computer arrives and then I will get that all set up with my favourite programmes so that it is all done before I go back to doing classes.

I also have some painting that needs doing upstairs. Not looking forward to that as although I love the smell of paint, it doesn't love me and gives me dreadful headaches.

Well I am off to find a new book to take up to the bath with me. I have just finished reading Peter Kay's book The Sound Of Laughter. Oh it was just so funny.......I couldn't put it down so I got through it in no time.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sheila-x-

DCM Little Extra and Other Stuff!!!

The DCM Little Extra dare today is to use numbers on our cards.

I needed to make some new job cards so I have used some DCWV number paper from the Black and White stack which I coloured with chalk.

The stamps are from the TandaStamps Vintage Ads and Retro Women ranges.

The sentiment was printed from my computer.

This is one of the cards I have made with the paper I found during my sort out which I thought would go with the TandaStamps medieval stamp sets.

The main image has been stamped in black and coloured with pencils......not my strongest point I must admit.....lol!!!

I have then.....dare I say it......used the Bondaweb with H20 wash technique.

The leather straps are made from a small piece of leatherette paper I had knocking about and I have embellished them with faux stitching.

The same paper has been used here but this time I cut it from a different part of the sheet.

The stamps are once again TandaStamps.

The alphabet at the side is supposed to be chopped up and used as individual letters but I thought I would try it out as a background stamp first.......and I like it so it will be staying like that for the moment.

I have overstamped that with a knight effigy image using Coffee Bean Brilliance.

The medallion is stamped and embossed in black and then rubbed over with the coffee bean ink.

I did want to add fibres to this but didn't have anything suitable so it's just a plain and simple card to send to a 'knight in shining armour' as a thank you card perhaps.

As usual I have made much more mess than neccessary.....lol. I am going to have to tidy up before I can do anything else as I am working in a six inch square of space now and keep knocking stuff off the desk.

DD is sorting tea out so I will go and put my feet up for a few minutes, come back and tidy up and then start all over again.

Catch you later

Sheila-x-

It's That Bondaweb.........Again!!!

Yes I have been messing about with the old Bondaweb again. I do like to get value for money from a product so I do fiddle about and try other things to what I originally bought the item for.

After doing the blue and mauve Christmas card I could see other possibilties for using the technique for antique effects to resemble rusted or corroded metal like the old tin plate advertisement signs. So that is what I have been doing tonight.

My first attempt was the darker card and I started with a piece of mountboard which I coloured with inks from the Colourbox Autumn Pastels Fluid Chalks eight colour ink pad. I used a combination of Creamy Brown and Olive Pastel.

The images from the TandaStamps Vintage Ads Set 2 were stamped in Stazon Jet Black and then a piece of Bondaweb cut slightly larger than the mountboard was heated with a heat gun. You need to make sure that you heat it enough to create holes in the Bondaweb.

Once it had cooled I added a wash of Cinnamon Brown H20 paint which colours in the holes and gives the corroded metal look.

I have mounted it very simply onto a brown card and fixed it with screw effect brads.

The brighter card is exactly the same technique but I have used inks from the Colourbox Primary Pastels Fluid Chalk eight colour ink pad using Yellow Citrus, Lime Pastel and Blue Lagoon with a wash of H20 paint in Orange peel after melting on the Bondaweb.
The single image from Vintage Ads Set 3 has been stamped in Stazon Jet Black and coloured with the same colours plus a touch of Tangerine on the very top edge.

I really enjoyed doing these cards. The stamps are fabulous to work with and I can see me using them a lot.

I shall be making a start on using up some papers tonight and I have some fab text paper which will compliment the Medieval stamps I have from Tandastamps so I think that is what I shall do next and then I am going to do a card for the Little Extra dare at DCM which this week is Numbers.
I hope I manage to stay awake long enough........I feel quite tired today and have the urge to snuggle with my new book.

Catch you later
Sheila-x-

Shellshocked Sheila!!!

Papers from my bit box with punched flowers, brads and ribbon.

More papers from the bit box with Cricut flowers, buttons and rub ons.


Oriental printed card from Habico, Stamp from Creative Expressions.
The image has been embellished with glitter.

• Just a few of the cards I have been making today for the local shop. I wasn't at all tired last night so stayed up for most of the night and made a grand total of thirty nine cards plus a few embellishments to mount on to cards tomorrow.
• I am quite shocked.......it's ages since I produced anything like that amount in a day and they are all new designs as I never go back to a previous design I've done.

• I'm also surprised that I lived through the night to tell any sort of tale at all.......there I was sat minding me own business, working away when all of a sudden there was an almighty bang on the window just in front of where I work. We are talking around 3am when you don't really want anything banging on your window especially when you live out in the sticks and it's creepy enough at night......thank you very much.
• Anyway I screamed and poor old hubby comes dashing down the stairs stark naked thinking I was being murdered. When I had calmed down enough to tell him what had happened he said 'you silly moo......it'll be a bat or something' and right then it happened again and we saw what it was........oh my gawd......it was the biggest moth I have ever seen in my life. It's wing span must have been four inches and talk about meaty. It was flippin' horrible with big glittery eyes. I am so glad there was a window between me and it or I think I would have died on the spot.
• I've never seen anything like it before so I think it must have been a foreign one that maybe got lost on it's way to the ugly bug ball...lol!!!

• Well I hope he won't be coming back tonight because I have to go and tidy up the mess I have made today. It looks like a whirlwind has been through my room and I really don't know how I get in such a mess..

• Hope you all had a nice day today with the bit better weather. We just had a short shower around lunchtime and the rest of the day has been quite nice. It's gone pretty cold now though so I think the heater will have to go on cos me poor toes are cold.

• I am having the same problem as Wendy McGlinchey in finding someone to pass the Rockin' Girl Blogger thing onto as it seems everyone already has them. I shall keep looking.

Bye for now

Sheila

Petals and Flourishes!!!

What a foul day it's been today. I have been so cold I have had to fetch my little room heater back out and have it on. Usually I don't mind the rain but even I am heartily sick of it now.
So the garden remains looking like a jungle and I have spent the day making cards for the local shop and trying out a set of stamps I bought a few weeks ago. It's a set called Petals and Flourishes from Stampendous and you can build a flower with all the different elements on the sheet of clear stamps.
For the card today I have used three different papers from my K-Ology paper pad.
The flower centre has been stamped and embossed in gold onto a mottled green and the petals onto purple. These are then cut out and glued together into the flower shape. The stem is stamped and embossed straight onto the paper which I distressed with a sanding block.
I couldn't believe that I found the most perfect matching colour brads in my stash to embellish the two strap type things I added. There are lots more stamps in the set to have a play with and I am in the mood to have another go at colouring with pencil crayons and Gamsol which I am blaming on the weather as I don't usually have the patience for detailed colouring.
I also have a great heap of new stamps from TandaStamps to test drive so lots to keep me busy.

Have you seen my pink thingy up at the top of the page? Anna awarded me a Rockin' Girl Blogger badge. I'm quite chuffed seeing as how I have got to fifty without ever rockin' at anything..........lol!!!

Hubby is watching Terminator on DVD for about the thousandth time so I am off to play for a bit longer as I can't bear to watch it again even though it is a pretty good film.

Thanks for dropping by.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Pockets

Daring Cardmakers have a fabulous 'dare' this week. Lynne has set the challenge and she would like us to use pockets on our cards for this one.
I had all sorts of ideas for doing a vintage style card but one look at the miserable weather outside and I decided I would do something a bit more cheerful and went with the 'pocket full of posies'.
As usual the colour is better in real life...the yellow, lime and orange are much more zingy than they look here but it is far too dark to take a photo so I have had to scan.

I really enjoyed doing this dare so huge thanks to Lynne for setting it.
I'm off to see what everybody else has done now.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells....La, La, La, La, La!!!

This card has been made using two of my favourite mediums......Bondaweb and Twinkling H20's.

I have stamped and embossed in silver and then used purple and blue H20's to water colour the image.

For the background I cut a piece of card to finished size and painted it with the blue H20 paint then let it dry. I added a piece of slighlty larger Bondaweb and heated it to create the holes and then painted over it with the purple H20 paint.

Because the card warps after heating the Bondaweb to it I have mounted it onto a piece of stronger card with carpet tape to stop it lifting from the card. Next time I do it I will do the background onto some gessoed chipboard and see if that works better.

This one is just a quick and easy card.

I have stamped and embossed onto a piece of patterned paper and then picked up some darker pink from a Marvy pen with a watercolour brush and added some shading.

I cut out the image and mounted it onto white card.

The card blank has been covered with the same paper I stamped on and I added a piece of text paper from the same range......Winter Wonderland by Crafts House.

These papers are stunning as they are pearlised.

This card has been made by Deb who owns the shop where I work.

She has used the scrummy BG Fruitcake papers and done some pretty nifty paper piecing.

Thanks Deb.....it's a fab card.

So that is pretty much what I have been doing today along with humming Christmas carols to put me in the mood to make the cards......lol!!!

I have also been trying to work out where I am going to put the new computer when it comes. I think I am going to have to lose a tower of 10 paper trays to fit it in and heaven only knows where the contents of the trays will go.......it's a nightmare.

I've got a busy day today with two classes so I shall go and tidy up my mess and get packed up ready to go in the morning.

Oh while I think about it.........Message for Sue C who sent me an e mail regarding classes.......I am so sorry........I got you mixed up with another Sue who e mailed me on a totally different matter and I have now lost your e mail address. Please e mail me again and I will attend to your enquiry.

Catch you later

Sheila-x-

DCM Little Extra-Go Faux It

OK........you might need to sit down for this one. Not only is this a very 'pink' card.......this is my first half decent photo done with the digital camera. I persevered and actually did it........and I transferred it to the computer all by meself which I am a bit gobsmacked about as I don't usually like sticking wiry things in....frightens me to death........lol!!!

The 'Faux' on this card is the glitter card used for the tag as it did not start off it's life as glitter card.

I have taken a white Sizzix tag and embossed it on the Cuttlebug. I then chalked it with the pinkest pink chalk I could find, covered it in Versamark and used Crystal embossing powder to glitter it. The flower is diecut and glittered in the same way.

The ric rac which looks nothing like ric rac......lol......is cut from card using scalloping scissors. Apologies...the picture for this card seems to have disappeared.

Just in case I have not gone 'Faux' enough........ha ha ha!!! I have added a card I made some time ago with faux leather paper......and here is how you make it........

Take a piece of thin cream card and screw it up being careful not to tear the edges.

Work as many creases into it as you can and then smooth it out.

Take a pale brown chalk and rub all over the card working it right into the creases.

Next take a darker brown chalk and rub lightly over the card to highlight the creases and then iron the card with a dry iron.

Using a cotton wool ball, pick up some colour from a Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink pad and gently swipe it across the card but don't colour over all of the chalked colour. If your ink pad is quite new dab the excess colour off onto some kitchen towel.

Next take a Brilliance Coffee Bean ink pad and again pick up some colour with a cotton wool ball and apply gently around the edges and very gently over some of the creases.

It takes a bit of practice to get the Brilliance inks just right but if I say you are looking to give the card a subtle sheen rather than a heavy coverage that may help.

Once the inks are dry you can give it a coat of Mod Podge if you like but it's not neccessary.....it just gives a deeper shine.

The poinsettia stamp is by Rubbadubbadoo.

I have to dash off now and be a loving Mum to a distraught DS. He has not long got back from Manchester Airport after seeing off his girlfriend who has gone on an exchange visit to Sydney, Australia for twelve months. It's breaking my heart to see him so upset. I've hardly seen him for a week as they have been spending as much time as they could together.
Oh well off to do the coffee and hugs.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Sheila Goes East!!!

Just a couple of cards made with bits and bobs from my 'technique drawer'.

The pale one is an Chinese Crysanthemum stamped and embossed onto a tag which was coloured in a session I was having one day. I was dabbing various ink pads onto a piece of plastic and spritzing it with water then dabbing and dragging tags, jigsaw pieces and bits of card through it. I kept spritzing with the water until there was hardly any colour left and was still getting some lovely results. The tags above are from the very end of a session and are quite pale.

All the bits and pieces were left to dry and then I used Moonglow Spritzes to add some metallic sheen.

The flower has been coloured with my bargain Pearl Paints from The Works and I then stamped the text over the top using Memories Soft Gold ink. I also stamped the second tag with the text.

The tags have been threaded with some thin pale pink cord which I grunged a bit with the Soft Gold ink pad.

For the background I stamped the trellis in Soft Gold ink and then added a soft pinky brown chalk to the edges. I didn't want this to be an all over pattern but the top and bottom corner looked a little bare so they have been filled with some lovely large peeloff corners in gold and then I finished the edges with gold lines.

The final touch was a coin which I attached with carpet tape.

The background for the darker card is made from painted kitchen roll. I think I first saw this technique on Trish Bee's website but I may be wrong. I know this piece has been in the drawer for quite some time.

I started by painting the kitchen roll with black acrylic paint which I then left to dry.

Once dry I used a sponge to dab metallic acrylic paint over the painted surface leaving some of the black showing through and left it to dry again.

I have stamped and embossed the Chrysanthemum in gold and then used a Moonlight White Brilliance ink pad to stamp all of the text.

I then matted the main image onto gold pearl card and embellished with matt gold brads.

All of the stamps are from the Habico clear sets except the trellis background which is Stamp'n'Stor by Sunday International.

As usual the scans are rubbish but it isn't the scanner it's the programme I edit the pictures with. Hopefully this will be remedied before long as I am just about at the end of my tether with this laptop and have ordered a new computer today with Windows XP so that I can have all my favourite programmes back. The new computer will be just for my work and for DD to play games on. The laptop will be for internet access only. It means having yet another shufty round in my room to make room for it to go but at least it can go anywhere and doesn't have to be near the phone line.


I am at work in the morning but I don't have any classes as they are both the boss's. I have two on Thursday so I don't have to get anything ready tonight. I think I will have an early night and read some more of a new book I have just started.
DD and I have been picking up some of the special offers in the supermarkets and some of the books we have been getting 3 for £4 are absolutely brilliant. They are not our usual reading choice but we both devour books at an alarming rate so we decided to try some. I read one a couple of weeks ago called Damsel in this Dress and I have never laughed so much in my life.......it was hilarious!!!


Right well I'm off then......catch you later.
Sheila-x-

TandaStamps Vintage Ads

Well the guys at TandaStamps have done it again and produced yet more fab stamps that have have been on my wish list for some time.

This set has a good mixture of images which come in handy for all sorts of occasions as well as being useful for more arty collage work.

I thought I would go with some occasions cards and this Get Well soon card was such fun to make and such a change from the usual jokey or flowery cards you see.

I started off by stamping the 'Coughs and Colds' image onto the card blank using Versamark for a watermark effect.

Using the template above I then made a small paper bag from brown Kraft paper. I drew around the template and cut across the top and bottom lines with pinking scissors and then cut along the other lines with straight scissors. The dotted lines need to be scored before folding the 5cm section into the centre. Then fold and glue the 4cm piece followed by the bottom flap.

The 'Porous Plasters' image has then been stamped onto the bag using Blazing Red Stazon and then I added a little brown chalk around the outside.

The Quickutz tag has been swiped with the same brown chalk and threaded with parcel string. I have attached this to the bag with DST and then anchored the string with a Fastenater staple.

The mini thermometer was was from The Fruit Pixie

I thought the typewriter and pen nib ads would be fabulous for a card to wish someone luck in a new job in an office.I have used a background paper of typewriter letters and then stamped the ad images onto a tag using Saddle Brown Stazon. This has been edged with chalk.

The Retro Women image has then been stamped onto a smaller tag and coloured with pencils. After colouring I then inked up the stamp with Versamark and stamped over the image again about a millimeter off the main image and then embossed with clear powder to give a slightly blurred look to the image.

I added a paperclip to each tag and threaded them with parcel string.

I thought I was over whatever was wrong with me earlier in the week but I am still feeling very tired for some reason. I was planning on doing so much today but spent most of the afternoon asleep again. I find it so frustrating but I would rather go and lie down to sleep than zonk out face down into an ink pad or something.......lol!!!
Anyway I am off to do some more stamping while my eyes are staying open. I'm attacking the 'technique drawer' again and using up some bits and bobs that are too nice to throw away.

Catch you later
Sheila-x-

DCM-A Visit To The Haberdashery Department

Apologies for neglecting the Blog for a few days. I've not been quite myself and haven't felt like doing much apart from lolloping about on the sofa and sleeping. Never mind.......feeling much better now.

Well over at Daring Cardmakers this week it's Gillians turn to set the challenge and here is what she has to say.......

G'day all, Gillian here, and it's my turn to dare you all this week
Your card can be any theme you like, just as long as it's got something you'd find in a Haberdashery Department on it
Alright then, grab that old sewing basket of yours or raid your sewing machine drawer, have a look at what creative bits are hidding away there....maybe it's buttons, a zip, hook & eye's, ribbons, braids, Dressmaking patterns, tape measures,Pins & Needles, lace, safety pins or embroidery thread....
so many wonderful little treasures just waiting to be added to your next card :O)
I'm going to add one more rule....
Yes you may stitch on your card, but that can't be your only haberdashery item....

The card above is my 'no sew, sewing themed card'. No sew because after the last disaster I was a bit wary about getting the sewing machine out. So this one is held together with carpet tape and a prayer.........lol!!!

I have used part of an old sewing pattern and a Tim Holtz stamp to decorate the front of the card and then cut a 'V' shape from the front and inserted the zip. I have also used bits of lace and ribbon, buttons, a piece of an old diary page and a pin.

Thanks for that Gillian.........what a fab challenge.

I need to get my head together now and work on some samples for workshops and my gallery over at TandaStamps. I am so happy that Alex sent me a set of the new Vintage Ads stamps and I am looking forward to doing something with those.

Also just wanted to say welcome to Anna Moore who has just joined the TandaStamps Design Team. You will find a link to Anna's blog in my UK Blogs list.....please go and take a look at her work......it is fabulous.

Well back to work for me then.

Hope you are all having a good weekend.

Sheila-x-

DCM Little Extra-Retro 60's

A little bit late posting this one as it's been a bit mad here to say the least.

I don't have many 60's style stamps at the moment which is something that does need to be rectified........I feel a bit of a spend coming on......lol!!!
I did have this magazine advertisement though from 1962....the year I started school.....nah..I'm never that old!!!
I've done the card to look like a counter stand so the large flowers are stamped on what is the inside of the card and the ad is attached to a shorter folded front stamped with smaller flowers.

I had fun doing this one........thanks Daring Cardmaker's

Sheila-x-

I Am In Love!!!

At one time I used to wish for 'a two day week and five day weekend' which is pretty much what I have now as I only work two days at the craft shop but the five days I am off are now getting to be so busy that I am thinking of asking if I can do five at the shop........just to get a rest......lol!!!


Anyway I did find time to have a bit of a play with something just for fun. I found the tutorial for this Joy Fold Card on Beate's Blog and I just fell in love with it. I'm not big on doing different folded cards as usually I put so much time and effort into the stamping that I don't want to spend even more time sorting out complicated folds etc.
This little beauty caught my eye though and this is my first attempt.
I used aqua and lavender cardstock and the papers are from one of my new K&Co Designer Mat Pads-Hopscotch Girl. The papers are so gorgeous I have just let them do all the work and have just stamped some gentle images using Versamagic Teardrops.
This one was made to the exact size of the tutorial and is approximately C6 but I rarely make this size of card now and have sized it up to make future cards at 5x7 and it looks equally gorgeous at that size.


Well it is knocking on for 2am but I still have a bit of work to do getting ready for two classes tomorrow so I had best be off and sort out my stuff.


Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Holly Doodles Samples-Cards 3 & 4

Card 4

Card 3

Another couple of cards done with my Holly Doodles stamp set by TandaStamps.

This time I have gone for some slightly unusual colour themes.

Card 3- I took some cream glitter card and coloured a piece with a black Stazon ink pad. I then buffed it with a tissue and stamped the holly tag with Versamark and embossed it using Marcasite embossing powder by Stamp'n'Stuff.

The round tag and the greeting were stamped onto the cream glitter card and again embossed with the Marcasite embossing powder.

For the border around the background piece I masked off on the diagonal of two corners at a time and stamped and embossed in Marcasite.

I layered the background onto a piece of black card and then onto a hot pink card blank and embellished the round tag with hot pink gems.

Card 4-I cut three strips of Bazzill cardstock in a light, medium and darker tone and stamped the lightest and darkest with the holly border stamp using a Warm Green Colorbox Chalk ink pad.

I then took some Liquitex Painter's Pearlising Medium and dropped small puddles on to all of the berries and painted a thin layer over the holly leaves.

The strips were then arranged onto a DL card and edged with silver lines.

The greeting was stamped in the Warm Green ink.

A very simple card but ideal if you have lots of cards to make.

If you click on this card it will show you a larger image which shows the pearling finish better.

Thanks for looking

Sheila-x-

Holly Doodles Samples-Card 2

I seem to be having one of those days where nothing goes right. The samples I did yesterday didn't look quite so good in the cold light of morning so they have gone in the bin and I have started again.....lol!!!
I was LMAO at myself after sitting the other day and drawing out templates for these octagonal cards and struggling to grade them down in size for the overlays. The George cartridge for the Cricut has an octagon in eleven flippin' sizes........duh!!! So this morning I sat and cut out one of each size ad then transferred them onto one of my Poundland chopping boards and made a set of quite robust templates which will stand up to the wear and tear of being used constantly in the classes. I even thought to punch holes in them and hang them on a book ring........eeeeeh there's hope for the old girl yet.


So I used the largest octagon template to cut a card blank from a folded piece of A4 card and then cut the first layer from green glitter card and the smaller top layer from cream glitter card. This is the one that has glitter embedded into it rather than the one with loose.
I stamped the twin holly onto the cream piece using Versamark and then embossed with gold powder.
The insides of the holly leave have been removed with a craft knife and then this piece has been mounted onto the green with foam pads.
Gem stones were fixed over the stamped image using Glossy accents and both layers have been trimmed with gold peeloff lines which were mitred with a craft knife where they crossed over at the points of the octagon.


Well if the rain holds off we are about to fire up the BBQ for tea and then it's back to work for me to see if I can redo the rubbish cards I made yesterday.

Hope the rain is holding off for you too.

Catch you later.

Sheila-x-

Introducing.......Holly Doodles!!!

Blimey.............three posts in one day. I have obviously got nothing better to do......lol!!!

I just had to share this card though.......my very first card made with one of the stamp sets I designed for TandaStamps.
These stamps are from the Holly Doodles set and are all hand drawn by me. I can't tell you how weird it is to see something you have drawn as a rubber stamp but I am just so happy with them. A huge thank you to Andrew, Tanya and Alex at Tanda.

The scan as usual is the pits as the shading looks very brown when in fact it is green.

Just a simple card. The background is stamped in Olive Green Stazon and then the berries have been painted with Cranberry Adirondack.
Green shading is done with chalk and the speckled effect is done with a Fiskars Speckle Brayer and Memories Soft Gold ink pad.
The holly leaves and berries and the small round tag have been stamped and embossed in gold then painted with Meadow and Cranberry Adirondack.
Chalking and speckling as before.

I do hope you like them. I am thrilled to bits with them and will be working with this and the other set quite a bit over the coming weeks as we now have classes booked at the shop to make cards using them.

Thanks for looking
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Cartoon

Tried to get this finished for the DCM Little Extra before I went to work this morning but forgot I needed to be there a bit earlier than normal today.
So this is sort of a Winnie The Pooh theme without actually using any copyright images.
Beehive and flower stems are Cricut.
Pot and flowers are punches.
Grass is a Sizzix die.
Bee sticker is by Provocraft.
Sentiment is from a Hampton Art small clear stamp set.

Sheila-x-

Trying Out New Card Shapes!!!

Phew.....busy day again what with one thing and another. My workroom is getting very organised now and after all these years of working in a tip that is quite scary.


Took some time out this evening to have play with the new shaped cards I made templates for yesterday and pulled out this gorgeous DCWV paper from the Olde Worlde Stack. I thought it looked quite Oriental so added to that by stamping a Kanji background over half of the paper. Both this and the Kimono stamp are Stamp'n'Stor from Sunday International. The Kimono was stamped onto pale blue card and embossed in gold and then stamped and embossed again onto a piece of the background paper. I love how the embossing picked up the texture in the card.
I then cut them out removing the cuffs, hem and collar from the top piece and mounted them on foam pads onto the card.
As the colour was so soft I didn't want to use a solid ribbon so used organza in Baby Blue to tie the coin on.
I am very pleased with how it turned out for saying it was just a practice piece to try out the cards which along with a hexagonal one will feature quite largely in my Christmas designs this year just for something a little different in the workshops.
We stopped doing the cracker card last year as we had done it for three years so last year was mostly A5 and large square cards.


Still waiting for my sets of stamps to come that I designed for TandaStamps which I expect is after effects of the postal strike. I guess they will come tomorrow and I will have to wait until after work to have a play with them........I'd stamp my foot if it wasn't for the fact that my feet are so bloomin' cold it would hurt........lol!!!


Well I had best go and clear up my mess. I only made the one card but I can't even see my desk for stuff at the minute.

Catch you later

Sheila-x-

Another Beady Card

I've had a very busy weekend this weekend. Yesterday I had a really good sorting and tidying session in my room and got rid of yet another load of rubbish. I have a huge pile of cardstock put to one side for diecutting and have made a start on doing some Christmas diecuts for the shop.........yes I know it is only July 1st but at least they will be ready when we start getting asked for them.


I've also been sorting out some different shapes of cards and making templates ready for the Christmas workshops and sorting through files on the computer to delete some old stuff as I am worried the new laptop will blow a gasket if I add any more new stuff.
While I was sorting through the files I came across this card I made quite a while ago that has beads on it. I thought I would show it as it is a card suitable for a man and male cards aren't usually the first thing you think of when using beads so I thought it was a bit different plus with being so busy this weekend I haven't made any new cards to show.
Thanks to everyone who has left such lovely comments on the cards I made for my first week as Guest Designer on Daring Cardmakers. It really is nice when people take the time to do that.


Tomorrow I have to spend the day sorting out a class on backgrounds which I am going to have to do three times this week......twice Tuesday and then once on Thursday. Well at least I shall know that class inside out shan't I?......lol!!!


Picked up a gorgeous stamp today from Craft Central. It's just the word 'Newborn' but it's huge and in such a gorgeous font that I couldn't resist it. At £4.49 I thought it was quite a bargain too. I was very good as this was the only deviation from the list I took with me but it replaced an item I wanted but they didn't have.


Well I had best go and crack on with a few more jobs. I shall be up for a few hours yet as for some reason I was so tired this afternoon I had to lie down and sleep for a couple of hours. It went very hot and sticky all of a sudden this afternoon and I think that may be what did it.

Hope the rain hasn't spoiled your weekend.

Sheila-x-