DCM-Buttons and Bows & Stripes

At last I have had time to catch up on the DCM dares. It's been a hectic few days with the opening of the new shop and we still have a few jobs to do to get ready for the Open Evening on Friday but I now have a couple of days off to catch up with jobs at home and some card orders I have in........not Christmas...thankfully. This card is for the Stripes dare and I have stamped the tulip in Olive Green Stazon onto some cream card and then masked it off using Masking Magic so that I could stamp the text background. I have then coloured the tulip using coloured pencils and odourless mineral spirits. The edges have been chalked then the piece was mounted onto some gold card. The tab at the side is Quickutz from the Revoloution tag die and this has been dabbed with Stazon in Saddle Brown and Timber Brown. The letter 'T' is from a set of letters which you insert into a metal holder but I don't like the bulk of the holders so use the discs on their own.

For the striped background I have taken a piece of Making Memories paper and grunged it with Timber Brown Stazon. This was then stamped with a text stamp but very lightly so that not all of the image was stamped.

Text on background and the tulip stamp are Rubbadubbadoo and I think the text behind the tulip is a Caroline's stamp.

Just a simple card for Buttons and Bows.

Stamp is unknown and colouring is done with The Works pearlised paints.

There is one card left to do for my orders. I have put it off as it is an anniversary card and as you know I don't like doing slushy stuff. It has to be done though so I am going to get that done tonight and then I am going to play for a bit.

I am finding that I am needing to get to bed earlier now that I have to travel further to work so no late night/early morning blogging or playing......except for when I don't have to be up.

Our new workroom is just about sorted at the shop and I can't wait to do my first class in there. We have a fabulous new table which will seat eight people comfortably.........10 if we are all good friends........lol!!! Some new comfy chairs but we only have four so I am expecting lots of camping outside the door at the crack of dawn by the class members in order to bag one of these......I am not averse to bribes if anyone wants me to put my handbag on one. Choccy biscuits will usually do the trick....lol!!!

Right.......I am away to see what the 'Little Extra is for this week.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

EDITED..........Oh blimey........I have just noticed that I have gone over 30,000 on my counter. I will need to celebrate that methinks with some Blog Candy but I won't have time to do it this week. I will post something for that when I am off over Christmas though I will do it before if I find I have some spare time to sort out the goodies.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!!!

Oh I am sooooooo excited.......we put our Christmas tree up today.
Yes I know that I am fifty and not five but this is the first year for I don't know how long that our tree has been up well before the week of Christmas and it just feels so nice to be in the swing of things. I even have some gifts waiting to be wrapped up which is very organised for me....lol!!! I am usually that mad woman rushing round town two days before Christmas but as I have decided that I hate going into town I have done some shopping on the net and DD has picked up some things for me while she has been out.....easy peasy!!!
Also unusual for me is that I don't really know what I want for myself this year. There is usually some must have gadget or something I want which can only be asked for at Christmas or for a birthday gift. DD bought me a big present down in Devon which was the Sizzix Fruit Smoothie alphabet that I have been wanting for ages. I had told hubby I wanted a Bind It All but somebody else may be getting me one of those so I haven't a clue what to tell him to get me now........anyone got any ideas?


It's been a lovely day today DD and I at home on our own for most of it, cold and miserable outside but warm and snuggly inside. I have got some jobs done that badly needed doing and made a list of jobs for tomorrow so all is fab in my world at the moment which is a wonderful feeling.


I promised you a couple more projects that make great gifts and these little photo frames are so easy to make.
The frame is cut from mountboard using the Sizzix Rectangle Frame die. I then made a backing...again from mountboard and cut very slightly smaller than the frame. I also cut a strip of mountboard to act as the stand.
The frames are stamped, inked or decorated however you like and then the back is attached with foam pads across the bottom and up two sides leaving the top open to slip your photo in. You can if you want add acetate to protect your picture This frame has been coloured with a soft blue fluid chalk ink and then sponged with silver ink. The words have been stamped and embossed in silver and then the frame has been embellished with Stickles.
The angel is from a Rubbadubbadoo set called Angel Art. She has been stamped onto white card, brushed over with blue chalk and then glittered with Stickles

Another style of frame. This time I used black mountboard and just stamped the feather background by Rubbadubbadoo in silver Brilliance. Once dry I embellished with turquoise glitter and added some bling with clear crystals.

Finding these projects again has set me off wanting to do some more so I think I will plan to do some while I am off work over Christmas.


Well I am off to have another bit of a sort out. Right now I am going through my cardstock and trying to organise it a bit better....no mean task if you could see how much I have but I am trying to make room for stocking some A3 card for bigger projects I have in mind.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

I Hate To Say This.............

.........but I HATE PAPER!!!
Well maybe that is a bit strong but after a day spent sorting and filling stands full of paper it is not my favourite thing at the moment.....lol!!!
I used some very bad unladylike language when a piece of paper sliced into an existing cut on my finger......oh gawd it did make my eyes water I can tell you.
Still the paper room is coming along now and there is only all the card stock to put out in there and it needs sweeping and mopping before Friday but I am not there again now until early Friday morning and we will be opening at 10am.
The shop is looking fabulous now that we have a lot of the stock out and Deb is taking a male friend with her tomorrow to help with all the heavier lifting and DIY jobs.
I am so shattered that I just can't face any cardmaking tonight so I am sorting through my files on my computer and moving all my archived cards to CD's......I have filled four so far.

Anyway I came across these projects which I thought might be a bit of a change from cards. They are some things I did when I was designing projects for Rubbadubbadoo and these are using some Celtic sets. This little Tag Book has been made using mountboard and a Sizzix die.

All the colouring is Fluid Chalk Ink and stamping is Stazon Jet Black.

The jigsaw pieces have been triple embossed and attached with PVA glue.

Lengths of fibres threaded with beads adds the finishing touch.

This Draughts board and game pieces was a labour of love and took me days to complete.

The board has been made so that it folded into a box which I made to go with it. The stamped squares were cut, stamped and attached individually.

The game pieces are stamped circles of funky foam which have been heated and stamped. They have then been coloured with Rub On Waxes in red and green and then edged in gold. Once cured they were glued onto circles of mountboard to add a little weight to them.

My daughter and I actually had a game with this.

Unfortunately I don't know where this is now as I sent it to somebody at the office.....(he knows who he is..wink, wink) and I have never seen it since. I reckon he thought it was rubbish and binned it.....lol!!!

I have a few more things to show you tomorrow which may give you some ideas for Christmas gifts.
I'm off for a Radox bath now to soothe my aching legs and feet.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Random Ramblings!!!

Just a quick blog tonight I'm afraid as I am up rather later than I should be given that tomorrow is the first day in the new shop and as it involves a half hour car journey I need to be at the boss's house for 9am. I didn't have to leave until 9.30am before and was at the shop in 15 minutes.


Didn't get any cardmaking done at all today as we had visitors this afternoon and they never left until 11.30pm.
I have found this card in my archives which I only did the other week and I thought I had posted it but can't find it on here.
Anyway the stamps are Elusive Images and I absolutely adore the Three Kings stamp.
I bought it as a single UM years ago at the NEC but they now have a set out with other stamps on it too and I have used the set as this card was for a workshop.
I drew a template for the shaped card front using an EI's worksheet as inspiration The blue paper has been dabbed with a Versamark pad and a fine fine sprinkling of silver EP has been added then heated. This gives a very subtle effect which doesn't show up too well on the scan.
The purple paper has been stamped with other stamps from the set.
The Three Kings have been stamped in Stazon and embellished with silver glitter and turquoise jewels.


Right I had best go and get some shut eye as we will be busy tomorrow unpacking all the boxes we just packed the other day. I expect I shall be shattered when I get home.
Night night
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Birds

The 'dare' this week over at DCM is to make a card featuring birds. Now I am not very partial to birds I'm afraid after a traumatic incident when I was younger so I don't really have any bird stamps to speak of. Luckily I had a pack of the gorgeous Periphery papers from Basic Grey which has a couple of sheets with birds on. So this card is just a very simple one using papers and elements from the pack with a stamped sentiment. The stamp is from Creative Expressions.

The traumatic incident involving the bird was when I was about sixteen. I laugh about it now but at sixteen I was somewhat nervy and babysitting for the first time for a couple who lived in a house on the very edge of our village surrounded by fields and woods.
So I was sat watching TV.....can't remember what I was watching but knowing me it would have been a drama of some kind......all of a sudden I heard this flapping sound which just about frightened the life out of me and I just froze in my seat... like you do....and listened to see if I heard it again and the next minute something landed on my head and got caught in my hair. You can imagine how hysterical I was....lol!!!
So there was me running madly round the lounge trying to get this thing out of my hair which I eventually did and it turned out to be a flipping canary. It had escaped from it's cage in the corner of the lounge which I hadn't noticed when I went in.
I never sat for that particular couple again and I am still very nervous of anything that flies although I adore robins. Especially if they are like little tennis balls on legs.

Bug thing seems to have gone now thank goodness but the leg problem is back. At one point tonight it was so bad I had to resort to using my walking stick which I haven't used for years so I really must go and get it checked out. I'll see if it settles down a bit over the weekend as I did spend six hours today packing stuff at the shop which could have made it seem worse.

Anyway I am off to do a bit more of something..either tidying or cardmaking. Not ready for sleep yet.
Bye for now then
Sheila-x-