Bad Blogger, Bad Wife!!!

Honestly I am just completely useless at the minute. By the time I get five minutes to blog I am so tired I can't even be bothered to type.

I was thinking that soon I will have time to play and mess about with some new techniques but the work just keeps piling in and then today I remembered that I still have to do my tax return which is a pretty awful job......simply because I am a rubbish filer and everything just gets chucked in a carrier bag to be sorted later........lol!!!

For the ladies who have been asking about my Totnes workshops and Demos there has unfortunately been a bit of a mix up with the dates for October and we are rescheduling it for November. There will be a slight change in the order of things with the demo now taking place on Thursday instead of Saturday due to Finishing Touches having one of their own classes taking place on Thursday morning.
If you would like an update on any cancellations for the classes or anything else please give Dave a ring at the shop an he will let you know what is happening.




Bet you all want to know why I am a bad wife too don't you? Well it is hubby's birthday today and I am sat here blogging when I should be making his card. Luckily his pressies are under control.....wrapped but not written on though. Poor fella......and after the lovely things he did for me on our anniversary. I'll have it done before he wakes up hopefully........lol!!!




The cards I have posted today are some I have done workshops.
The bauble card is my yummy Elusive images stamps yet again.
This was a trifold card with the front piece cut as a half circle but the embellishment was a little too heavy for the card to stand up properly so I removed the half circle and just attached it to make a DL card which now stands up perfectly well.
Cardstock is Bazzill and the backgrounds are done in what I call 'shabby embossing'.
I stamp the images in Versamark and then instead of covering with embossing powder I just sprinkle it over with my fingers and then heat it. It gives a lovely subtle distressed look which really makes the stamped embellishment stand out.
I have made the bauble by cutting one red and one green circle with my Sizzix die and then using a compass cutter to make a slightly larger circle in gold glitter card. The two coloured circles have been stacked ontop of each other and the cut with a craft knife so that when you take one of each colour they fit together perfectly.
I have stamped and fully embossed in gold and then layered them onto the gold card, added a shaped piece for the top of the bauble and a rather gorgeous bow with gold dewdrop stars.




I had to get my beautiful Santa stamp out again. It would seem right to make cards without using him for at least one.
The paper I have used is some that DD bought for me last year. I forgot to look who it was by before I cut it and stuck it down and would you just know I used the bit with the name on..........silly woman!!!
The tags are cut by hand but you can get a Sizzlits set that does some quite similar shaped ones.
Santa is stamped in Denim Adirondack and embossed in clear powder.





I haven't done a card for the new Dare over at DCM yet but I will try and get one done sometime over the weekend.


Right best go and get hubby's card done.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

And Yet More Christmas!!!

Here is another card made using an Elusive Images stamp.
The stamp is actually the swirl pattern on the blue paper of the parcel. It has been embossed with Winter Wonderland EP.
All paper is Basic Grey and the poinsettias have been punched using a large Woodware punch.

Sorry this is such a short post but I have to get to bed to make sure I get up for work.....lol!!!
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Yoooooohoooooooooo!!!

Hi there........long time no blog. It seems ages since I last blogged although it's only a week.
I'm still busy but there is light at the end of the tunnel now and hopefully by the end of October I should be back up to scratch with daily blog entries.




Here is a quick card I did for the DCM Little Extra.....a bit late I know.
I have used my new Christmas stamps from an A4 sheet by Elusive Images.
Very simple gold embossing onto gold glitter card which has then been attached to a cracker shaped card and a tag added. It is a copy of the card below which I designed for last weeks Tuesday morning class.
For this one I did white embossing onto pink glitter card. Have to say that although I like the gold one, the pink is my favourite.

Here is another card using the same set of stamps.

I'm not sure what you call this card fold but it's a trifold card with one of the sections folded to make a smaller front piece. This will fit into a DL envelope.

I have stamped a background using Winter Wonderland embossing powder. This is a white powder with small flecks of silver.

The trees are stamped onto silver card using plain white, plain silver and Winter Wonderland embossing powder.

The two white trees are attached to the card with DST and the silver one with a foam pad.

Well as I say I am still very busy what with one thing and another. I am now working three days at the shop and it's surprising how that affects the time I have to do other things and I really missed being at home last Monday.

I am really looking forward to the end of October when I will have loads more time to play and blog.

I have been watching series three of Grey's Anatomy on the computer while I have been working. We couldn't wait for the release of the Region 2 set so DD bought a multi region player and we have it on Region 1.
I have never ever been so hooked on a TV programme in all my life. It's so bad that DD has ordered me a tee shirt which says 'Seriously' on it in bright pink.......lol!!!




Anyway I must be off for my 5 minutes peace in the bath before I start work again.
Catch you later
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Word

After yet another busy day [whatever happened to Sunday being a day of rest?] I decided that I would snatch a little time before going to bed to make a card for the new dare over at DCM
This week Rhi has set the dare and here is what she says.

This week I dare you to use a Word as the main focal point to your card. It can be a name, a greeting or just a word that inspires you. You can use other text but only one word as a main embellishment. So dig out your dictionaries, die cutters, alphabet stamps, rubons or download a funky font and show us what you can do! The design team have come up with some fabulous creations to inpsire you.

I have posted two cards. One is from last year when I was really into the big letters and was very much in love with the blue paper from Magenta.

I made the letters by printing them in a 350 point Times New Roman font onto card and cut them out to use as templates.

Since then I have acquired a Cricut machine and a Base Camp cartridge.....now call me daft if you like but I preferred my original method of making the letters by hand. They just seem to look a little less perfect and I like that look.

The other card was made using some new paper from The English Paper Company which my daughter bought for me yesterday. I have torn the top piece and layered it over the tree print paper. These were then layered onto some silver sparkly paper and sewn.

The word 'angel' has been cut with the Sizzlit Nouveau alphabet and the stars were punched with a Fiskars plier punch out of silver mirror card.

Both cards are very simple but I like simple now and again.
Well the boss should be back from her holiday now but as it is her day off I don't expect I shall see her until tomorrow.
Today is our first day of opening six days a week and I am going to be doing Mondays on my own. I have a great plan to prepare all of the workshop materials for the week on Mondays so that we are not rushing to get stuff ready on the day. Hopefully everything will go to plan.

Best get off to bed now then else I won't be up in the morning. It's going to seem odd getting up to go to work on a Monday.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

DCM Little Extra-Big and Little

I have managed to fit in a quick card for the Little Extra dare over at Daring Cardmakers which I have probably got completely wrong again..........you know what I am like.....lol!!!

I thought about this card last night and made part of it at work this morning then finished it tonight at home.

Yummy BG Fruitcake paper on a trifold card which has had the fronts shaped by drawing around a dinner plate......how technical is that?............lol!!!

Embellished with two sizes of snowflake.

This may be my last dare for a couple of weeks as I really must concentrate on getting my stuff ready now for Totnes which is approaching at an alarming speed.

My chauffeur and the hotel are booked so it's just me that needs to get properly sorted. I have too much sidetracking going on at the minute. I am going to promise myself to have everything prepared and packed by next Friday so I want you all to keep your eye on me and give me a swift nudge if I get distracted and start playing instead of working.

Just want to say a quick 'hi' to Margaret. It was lovely to see you today. Also 'hi' to Kathryn...........I've never met you but I know all about you.........lol!!! Thanks for the lovely comment you left.

Kerry..........hope hubby enjoyed his beans on toast in place of the pork he was supposed to have.........lol!!! I hope you told him that it was my fault.....again.

I am sooooooo ready for bed now. Going out to work every day is tiring me out.....lol!!! I think the last time I went to bed before midnight was when I was twelve.

The pain from the abcess is nearly gone now so I am hoping for a decent night tonight.

Catch you later

Sheila-x-

Me Poor Neglected Blog!!!

I am so sorry for being such a lacksadaisical blogger at the moment. I just don't seem to have enough hours in the day lately.
I could have blogged yesterday but we had a bit of a special day here to celebrate. It was our 31st wedding anniversary. Hubby surprised me by having the biggest and most beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to me at work and then when I got home he cooked us a lovely meal. I couldn't eat the steak he had planned for me as I have had an abcess under my tooth again but he cooked me a lovely piece of chicken instead. It was still very painful to eat but I did at least manage some of it. He had booked the day off so that he could do some jobs for me too so it was a really lovely day.



Anyway before I went to work yesterday the postie delivered me some new stamp sets from Tandastamps. One of the sets was the new Flower Set 3 by Kim Harrison and that is what I have used for the card above. There are eight stamps on this sheet.
I have used the lily image which I think is just gorgeous with those lovely tendrils hanging down. I know the colours I have used are not true to life but I really am rubbish at colouring so decided to do something a bit different.
The card is a trifold card with a half circle cut from one of the sections which folds over the front.
The papers used are DCWV.
The flower has been stamped onto a piece of plain turquoise and cut out leaving all the tendrils intact. These were glittered using Stickles Diamond. I then stamped and embossed a second lily onto some white vellum using Versamark and silver EP.
That was cut out removing all the tendrils and attached with a glue dot.
I have added a stamped flower border to the vertical striped paper using another stamp from the set.
This really is a lovely set of stamps and if you haven't visited the Tandastamps website before or if you haven't visited for some time, you really need to go and check out all the new stamp sets available. There are a couple of new designers with their first sets just being launched so go and take a look at what is on offer.



I need to go and check out the new dare over at DCM and see if I can squeeze in a bit of time to do that and then I need to get a couple of cards ready for tomorrow and also have a think about what I am going to do with the new Racing Set from Tandastamps which I shall work with tomorrow if I get chance.
I need to go and have a bit of peace in the bath first though as the dog has been driving me nuts tonight barking at every little noise and needing ten times more attention than he usually does. Hubby is home now so he can Smudge sit while I go and soak for ten minutes.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

DCM-Purple,Holey, Torn Christmas

At last I have managed to finish my card for this weeks dare over at DCM. It's only a simple one as I have been rather busy this weekend DIY'ing.

I have stamped a holly background using a Magenta stamp and Versmark ink which I left to dry for a watermarked effect.

I then stamped and embossed the holly in silver onto a tag cut from spotted lilac paper and painted it using the pearlised watercolours from The Works.

Once dry I glued the tag to a piece of card and cut it out then punched the corners using an EK Success corner punch.

The two torn pieces of paper have been edged with a silver pen.

The tag has then been tied to the card so that it swings free.

Another fabulous dare.......thanks girls.

Well as I said I have been busy DIY'ing this weekend. I had stripped one side of the bathroom door and just needed to do the other side. What a nightmare it turned out to be. It has taken me six hours to get all the paint off one side. I don't know what they painted it with whoever did it but I think they really meant it to stay on there.

Anyway once the paint was off all I wanted to do was bring the door inside and put it on a card. It looked just like a distressed background done with the Tim Holtz ink pads. There was a gorgeous green and a mustard yellow with dashes of brown and beige. It must be years of undercoats and primers or something but it's gorgeous whatever it is.

Hubby will now be in charge of doing the sanding and then I get it back for priming, undercoating and glossing but that will have to be next weekend now as I am at the shop all week.

Well I have a couple of orders I need to get done for tomorrow so I suppose I had best get on with those and then more prep for Totnes. First stop though has to be a bath as I stupidly wore my Crocs while stripping the paint and bits have fallen through the holes so I have like half a doors worth of paint stuck between my toes.........yuck!!!

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

Thank Gawd It's Friday!!!

Actually my title should read 'Thank Gawd It's Saturday' seeing as how I just missed posting on Friday night........just doesn't have the same ring to it though does it?
I was hoping to have some new cards to post tonight as I have been dabbling a bit today but the two that are nearest to completion still need that elusive something just to finish them off.
I also had a look at the DCM dare for this week and am playing around with some ideas for that one. It's a real toughie this week which includes the colour purple,holes and Christmas. What a combination. As usual though it will be great fun.
If you haven't tried any of the dares yet I can highly recommend them. They really are fun and often push you to try things outside your comfort zone.



I am posting archive cards again........sorry.
These two cards show what can be done with some paper scraps and leftover peeloff corners.

I do use a lot of peeloff lines for edging but very rarely use the corners that come on the sheets of my favourite very thin lines. As you can imagine they do build up into quite a collection so last year I decided to do something with them rather than store them or throw them away. This card is a right old mish mash of various bits and bobs I had in a box.

The paper was from Woodware and I started off with the teabag folded piece which I edged in silver corners and embellished with gems.

The six pointed piece was made by laying silver corners around a circle and then cutting around them to make a backing for the teabag rosette.

This was then laid onto a circle of silver mirror card and then attached to a half circle of the paper.

The circle was completed with silver snowflakes.

It's not something I would make usually but it was a bit of a challenge to myself to see what I could come up with.

This one is the same layout with the half circle and snowflakes but this time I laid peeloff corners around a larger circle and then cut around the shape to make a background for this beautiful Santa which is a stamp from Rubbadubbadoo.
I can't remember who the holly paper is made by. It was one of my favourites over a couple of years but I have now run out of it.

Well I have quite a busy week next week. Deb who owns the craft shop is off on holiday so I will be at the shop Tuesday to Saturday. There won't be any workshops but I have a list of jobs I want to get done such as a new window display and a bit of cleaning in corners that don't get done in a normal week. Hopefully they will get done in a couple of days and then I can wreak havoc on the shop stock and make loads of card samples for workshops. By Thursday I will most probably be falling asleep in my tea when I get home......lol!!!
When Deb gets back we are going to start opening six days a week so I will be doing an extra day permanently then.
Some of the extra money I will earn next week has already been spent....lol!!! I had put the Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge on my wish list and as luck would have it Deb was ordering from that supplier on Tuesday and it has arrived already. I may have to have a play with that this weekend. We also had some more scrummy BG Christmas papers so I just had to add some of those to my stash.



Right well I am off to catch a few zeds as I want to be up early in the morning. DH is off to help a friend with some turf laying and DD and DS will both be in bed having come in from night shifts. Once I get a few household jobs out of the way I should have a pretty peaceful day up until about 5pm when they will start wanting feeding.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Christmas......Bah Humbug!!!

Just a quickie blog today as I am still up to my ears in Christmas and prepping......with a bit of paint stripping and floor mopping and stuff thrown in....just for good measure......lol!!!

Archive cards again I'm afraid. I have made some Christmas cards today for stock for the local shop and the village fair but nothing too exciting. My favourite black and white. I think it looks so classy particularly for Christmas cards.

Here I have stamped the Rubbadubbadoo image onto acetate and cut it into a tag shape. This has then been tied over a tag cut from pure white glitter card.

The same image here but stamped onto some layers of Fantasy Film using the iron and parchment method.

I added a punched star for a little dimension.

Well I have to say night night. I have been working since 8am yesterday morning and it is now nearly 3am so I think I had better go and get some sleep as I have a class later today.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

Head Or Heels?..........I Dunno

I have so much going on at the moment that I don't know if I am on my head or my heels...........that is me being polite.
I love to be busy though so I am quite enjoying me little self.
Apart from the DCM card I made at the weekend I don't think I have made a full card this weekend as I have mostly been doing prep work.....you know cutting and folding card blanks, die cutting and printing off labels and other stuff.
The die cutting was supposed to reduce the amount of offcuts I have but they don't seem to have gone down at all.
Also I have been doing bits of DIY jobs. We now have a bathroom with carpet....yay!!!
But we have no door on there now as I took it into my head to remove it and strip it back to the bare wood to repaint it. My own worst enemy I am....lol!!!
Well I thought it was a good idea as hubby has made noises about moving house sometime in the future so every job I do now I will do properly. Once the bathroom is totally finished I am starting on the hall, landing and two staircases which will be a big job as all the paintwork needs stripping and repainting then I will have to paper both the ceilings and the walls and paint those. Ha......that should keep me busy until Christmas but hubby has promised me a new carpet all the way up to the third floor so it will look so fab once it's done.
He bought me a pressie today not the normal flowers or choccies but a new hot air gun to strip all this flippin' paintwork........how unromantic is that eh?
I am secretly quite chuffed......lol!!!

Anyways this means that I have no new cards to show you so it's more from the archives I'm afraid and this time there is absolutely no stamping at all. How shocking is that for a manic stamper?

For this card I have removed half of the front flap of an A5 card and added a cream and gold layer with rounded corners. The letters are cut with the Sizzlits Nouveau alphabet with the 'O' being replaced with a wreath from a pack of Crafty Bits embellishments. The sentiment was printed on the computer and layerd onto gold then attached over the top of a strip of green paper.

I know you shouldn't blow your own trumpet but I absolutely love this card. It was made before I aquired a front door die.

I have removed half of the front flap again and this time covered the inside with printed paper.

The door was made up on the computer using shapes and then printed off. All of the panels have been outlined in gold peeloff lines and shaded.

The letterbox is a strip of gold card.

The tree started off as a plain triangle drawn onto the back of a piece of green card which I then cut around using a pair of deep deckle scissors.

It was outlined in gold gel pen and then embellished with tiny punched flowers with glitter centres.

The pot is a Sizzix diecut.

I don't think I will be making many quite this intricate this year. I shall soon be coming to the end of my Christmas cardmaking for this year and will soon be starting on Valentine's and Mother's Day neither of which is high on my favourite cards to make list.

Before then though I have the workshop and demo weekend down in Totnes and hopefully another private workshop in Stockport. I have just started the prep for those today.

Right well I am off. I seem to have developed an acute addiction to Grey's Anatomy and DD will not let me have the DVD of the last five episodes of Season 2 to watch as she is now on nights for two weeks. So I am starting again at the beginning and am watching them on my computer while I work.........well how could I live without seeing Patrick Dempsey for two whole weeks.......I ask you? It would be like going without food.

That man has the sexiest eyes I have ever seen in my life.......he should be available on prescription......lol!!!

Night night then

Sheila

-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Die Cuts

Good grief I just can't believe that I have neglected my blog for so many days. Where has this week gone?
I seem to have been so busy this week but don't have an awful lot to show for it although my workroom is a little tidier than it was.
Thanks to everyone who has left comments for the Blog Candy. I have added an extra item to the stash...........a pack of Crafts House chipboard letters.
The giveaway closes at midnight tomorrow so if you want a chance to win then leave a comment on the next post down.



I am going to be in so much trouble at DCM this week. I have read the brief wrong again. I was supposed to use three die cuts to make a card and I have used twelve.
I am sooooo going to be sent to the naughty corner but I have to post the one I have done as I don't have time today to do another one.
Anyway here is what I used-:
Black and white spotty paper is Pink Petticoat.
Postage stamp die cut-Cricut Base Camp Cartridge.
Snowflake stamp-Stampendous.
Letters are Sizzix Lollipop cut from mountboard and covered with pink snowflake paper from Crafts House.
Snowflakes punched from glitter card and embellished with a gem.



My daughter has been spoiling me rotten this week for some reason and keeps coming home with pressies for me. I now have the DCWV Metallic Stack, a load of Sizzlit dies including one of the long alphabet ones, a beautiful Magenta project book, a writing tablet thingy for the computer and a load of cartridges, the complete collection of the new Studio G Christmas stamps and as if that wasn't enough she went up to Craft Central this morning to get herself some beady things and came back with one of the Fancy Pants huge sets of stamps. I just don't know what I have done to deserve all of this I am sure. It's not my birthday or anything so I can only think that Christmas has come early this year. Isn't she just the best?



Well I had best go and get something done workwise in the hope that I will have time later to try one of the projects in my Magenta book.

Have a fab weekend.
Sheila-x-