More White And Pink!!!

I've been making quite a few of these envelope cards for giving gift vouchers or cash in for Christmas. They are so quick and easy to make.....depending on what you use for embellishing of course.

I made this one to go with the poinsettia card I posted and just added a little very pale green pearlised paint.

Although this is a different poinsettia image it is still by Stampendous but comes in a set of clear stamps.

For this project I started off with a strip of card 11.5 x 4.75 inches and scored at 2 inches and 6.75 inches. I then folded it and went over the score lines with a bone folder to sharpen the creases.

The envelopes are C6 and they have been sealed before being cut down to create a 4.50 inch square. They are joined together with a strip of tape down the centre and then attached to the inside of the card with a strip of tape down the centre of each side.

The piece on the front is a matter of personal choice and as well depends on your chosen embellishment but whatever size you do it, it is attached with foam pads only on the bottom edge.

Dawn over at Dawn's Stamping Thoughts did a video tutorial on this. I have just changed the measurements slightly to fit UK envelope sizes.

I've had a lovely day again today. We went out to a canalside pub for Sunday lunch and ate by the side of a roaring fire. Oooooh it was so nice.
After getting back I completed a batch of cards I started yesterday and I am just about to go and tidy up before deciding whether I carry on working or be a lazy madam and watch some tv tonight.........decisions,decisions..........lol!!!

Bye for now........and thanks for your visit.
Sheila-x-

What A Lovely Surprise!!!

I was very honoured to be featured on the Inspirational blog yesterday. I've hoped that maybe one day my blog would be chosen. But after seeing some of the truly awesome work that has been featured thought that I didn't really stand a chance.
You can imagine my shock when Julie left a comment in the post below telling me that I had made it.
Thank you so much.

Elsewhere in the 'Manic' household I have been sorting out my embellishments......of which I have an embarrassing amount.......and trying to put them into some kind of order so that they get used. What a flippin' nightmare!!! My desk looks like an explosion in a bling factory and if you melted down my brads you could probably make a good sized car out of the metal.

I took a break this evening and watched Mama Mia......last person on the planet to see it I expect but it didn't really appeal to me as over hyped films usually tend to disappoint me. I LOVED IT!!!!! What a fantastic film. I'm still singing away and not at all tired so I'm off upstairs to do a bit more sorting.

Thanks for your visit.
Sheila-x-

DCM-White Christmas!!!

Over at DCM this week the team are looking for a White Christmas with a touch of PINK!!!
So this is another version of the vellum poinsettia card that I have done loads of this year.
This time I have added a Cuttlebugged background and a hint of pink using pearlised watercolours.
Thanks for looking.
Sheila-x-

Winter!!!

What a fantastic night we had last night at the open evening. The shop was bursting at the seams and the atmosphere was wonderful. I almost wish we could do it every week........but only almost.....lol!!!
I managed to get just about everything tidied up and back to normal today and by the time I got home I was ready for a bit of 'me' time so I decided to finish off the card I had left drying the other night.



Again I have used the Beautiful Lady With Music image from Karen at Graphics Fairy. I love it so much.
Colouring has been done with various inks and pencils then I added two different Stickles (Crystal and Diamond) to the gauzy fabric she has wrapped around her.
For the background I masked out the image and stamped with a Christmas text (Teal StazOn) and then a snowflake (Moonlight White Brilliance).
The card has been finished with Basic Grey papers.



Once I have had a good soak in the bath I shall be back on track.......well apart from the infection I seem to have picked up on my elbow of all places. I suffer with very dry skin there so it must have cracked and let in a buggy thing. It don't half hurt and I am having to type with my elbow on a folded towel to stop it pressing on the table.
Doing the demo last night was agony when my arm touched the table but hopefully nobody noticed.....lol!!!


Right then I am off for a quick squizz around some blogs and then off for my soak and a read.
Bye for now and thanks for your visit.
Sheila-x-

Oh My Gawd....What A Mess!!!

I've just been up in my work room and spent an hilarious half hour playing with oil pastels and a hot iron and discovered just why it was I never took up Encaustic Art.
I have never seen such an almighty mess in all me born days. Shan't be trying that again......and no you can't see the mess I made.....it's just too embarrassing.....lol!!!
Was a bit proud of myself though.........I stamped an image on top of the mess and it didn't take too well so knowing it was headed for the bin anyway I overstamped it in a different ink and wouldn't you know I got it absolutely spot on which wouldn't have happened if it had been a good background........S's Law eh?


Had a busy day at the shop tidying and sorting stuff out for the sale. There are lots of half price goodies and one or two special offers so we are hoping to see lots of crafty shoppers with an eye for a bargain.
For those customers who haven't visited in the last couple of weeks or for those who didn't pick up an invitation the sale will start at 10am and go right through until 8pm.
From 6pm to 8pm there will be drinks and nibbles.
Hope to see you there.


I am not required until lunch time tomorrow so knowing that I can have a lie in.....I am away to my room to make a card with a piece that has been drying....well if it is dry now of course.
Bye for now and thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Christmas Collage Stamp!!!

Oh it has been such a lovely day today. Although I was a bit miffed to find our snowfall didn't quite live up to expectations. I was reading Ikea Goddess's blog last night and they had six inches of snow......if you had swept up all of our snow and added the next three villages I reckon we may have managed an eigth of an inch between us.......lol!!! However it has been windy and wet with a touch of sunshine and rainbows which viewed from the cosiness of my workroom is a lovely day.

I am slowly working my way through a mountain of Christmas stamps and trying to decide which to keep and which to rehome so today I have used this Hero Arts collage stamp to make a card before it goes in the rehoming box.

I started off with a piece of white gloss card to which I applied StazOn in Teal Blue and Blazing Red.....straight from the pad. I then went over it with an alcohol ink tool loaded with blending solution to smooth out the colour.
The image was then stamped in Ancient Page Coal Black ink and left to dry while I stamped another image onto plain white card and stamped the Basic Grey Flourish Borders onto the card blank.
I removed the middle of the coloured image and attached it to the white one then punched a hole and added an eyelet.
Highlighted around the holly leaves with a white gel pen and added silver brads over the holly berries.
I added a line from top to bottom to join up the borders using fineliner pens and once that was done I added Diamond Stickles for a bit of bling.
The tag was then attached to the card with white glittered thread.

There are no classes now until Thursday as we have to spend tomorrow getting the shop ready for the open evening. Deb made a start on Saturday and then phoned me in a panic and said it looked like a bomb site. I am sure everything will be 'alright on the night' though.

Back of to my nest to do a bit more stamp sorting.

Thanks for dropping by
Sheila-x-

Shrink Plastic!!!

Here are the results of my little play with Shrink Plastic the other day.
For saying that it's not really my favourite thing to work with I am quite pleased with this.
I started off with a rectangle of clear plastic and inked the back of it with Stream, silver mixative and a little blending solution.
The stamping was done on the front using StazOn in Jet Black and I punched a hole for hanging.
For the background piece I inked the edges of a small piece of card with Memories Teal metallic ink and then inked the Cuttlebug embossing folder with Versamark before putting through the machine. I then added Ranger Polysparkle EP and heated.
This left the snowflakes and spotted circles bare so I inked over them with the teal ink on a sponge.
Once the embellishment was shrunk I added Diamond Stickles and hung it on a piece of silver thread.
The greeting was stamped in StazOn and lightly glittered with stickles.
The stamps are Inkadinkado.
If you click on the picture you should get a larger image which shows the glitter much better.

I can't believe it's gone 4pm already. I was up early this morning to go and do a freezer shop with hubby and then we went and bought a new dining table to replace the one I pinched for my workroom. I've packed a few cards and that's it.......day is nearly gone.
I'm cooking tea now as hubby has just assembled the table and four chairs and he is exhausted...............men!!!

Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Magenta Holly Tag!!!

I decided to have one last session with this stamp before I consign it to the 'stamps to rehome' box.
I've had it for a few years but haven't used it quite as much as I should have.
Here I have stamped it twice in black Ancient Page onto water colour paper and used pencils and low odour thinners with a blending stump for the colouring.
After colouring I layered one tag onto gold card and threaded it with gold thread to hang from the top of the card. The other I attached as a border.

I'm off for three days now to gather my strength ready for our Open Evening at the shop on Tuesday. It will be a combination of our first birthday celebrations and the start of our winter sale. If everyone comes who has said they will it is going to be quite a busy day.

Need to do a bit of catching up now as I fell asleep on the sofa after tea and I have a couple of jobs I promised myself I would get done tonight.

Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Been Telling Porkies!!!

Still trogging away at Christmas cards despite saying I wasn't going to be doing any more. This is due to having workshops booked with ladies who are well up to date on all of this years designs and I have to find new ones for them to do.
Lurrrrrrrrrrving my new Inkadinkado stamps though. How can I be grumpy with beautiful images like these to work with.........lol!!!
As tomorrows main technique is Shrink Plastic this card is just a simple design for the last half hour of the class.
The greeting has been stamped in black Ancient Page straight onto the paper and embellished with a white gel pen and Crystal Stickles.
The deer has been stamped in black Versafine and embossed with Ranger Polysparkle EP.
I am loving the soft denim blue/grey card we just had in on the Paper Cellar stand and it goes beautifully with the Magenta paper I used here.

The ears are a bit better now. They still hurt this morning but as the day has gone on they have gone from very sharp pains to a dull ache so it's not too bad.

Got to go and create something with Shrink Plastic now. Not something I use a lot of myself to be honest but I don't mind a dabble now and again.......I am going to have a cuppa first to build my strength up......I could be at it all night.....lol!!!

Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Vintage Sewing!!!

Just a quickie post tonight. I am feeling pretty yucky.........think I have an ear infection coming on......and I could do without that at the moment.

Anyhoo this is another card made with the Stamp To Your Arts Content unmounted sheet..........yes there are other stamps on it but this one is my favourite as it is BIG.
Accent stamps are........Rubbadubbadoo (scissors), Sunday International (French wording) and Royal and Langnickel (tag).
Other items used.......old sewing pattern, buttons, ribbon and a brad through the scissors.
All finished off with a bit of doodling for the stitching and the outer corners.
Hope you like it.

Need some sleep now as I have a busy day tomorrow.......ear infection or not!!!
Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Nothing New Today!!!

Sorry I have nothing new to post this evening. There is a card under construction but it isn't dry yet so I don't want to stand it up to photograph it in case everything falls off.

While I am waiting for it to dry I have been having a bit of a fiddle about with a new header for my blog. I'm thinking that it is a bit bright so I might change it yet again some time this week.

Once again the weekend has flown by and it's back to work tomorrow. I am almost scared to go as I know that we have had deliveries while I've been off........and of course I shall be wanting some of everything as usual.

Well I had best go and tidy up my mess.

Bye for now
Sheila-x-

DCM-Birds!!!

It is so long since I had the time to play along with The Daring Cardmakers so I was delighted to see that their dare this week fit in with a card I made just yesterday.
The robin has been cut using a Dovecraft template which is actually for a decoration I think but I have added skinny striped legs and bovver boots just because I was in a daft mood.
If I had thought about it I could have used one of my many new bird sets of stamps so maybe I will have to play some more.......lol!!!
Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

A New Stamp!!!

Anyone who has seen this image before will be thinking.......hang on a minute that doesn't look quite right...........and they would be right.
The image is actually contained within the frame and only a part of her dress is visible so I stamped onto a spare scrap of card and extended the dress shape by drawing it and then made a template that I used to draw around on the back of some Basic Grey paper.
The image was stamped onto some pale silver pearl card using Ancient Page-Coal Black and the dress was then pieced over the top. Obviously this obliterated her hand so I stamped again and just cut out the glove.
Edging down the side and across the bottom is hand drawn.
Bling was added with silver Stickles.

The stamp is from an A4 unmounted sheet by Stamp To Your Arts Content of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.

Thanks for stopping by
Sheila-x-

Cased Christmas!!!

This card was made before I said I wouldn't be making any more Christmas cards and it is one I 'cased' from a card made by Deb who in turn 'cased' it from a birthday card she had.
We both loved this folded front with the tags.
The images on the tags are all paper pieced and are from a set of stamps by Kars. The sentiment is from a set by Habico and the papers are Basic Grey and 7 Gypsies.

Well for a very wet day and the first day of the craft show at the NEC I had a pretty busy day at the shop today. I had myself all set up to do a pile of die cuts to keep myself occupied in the workshop upstairs and I was up and down the stairs all day.......got to be good for my figure.....lol!!!
I came home with the hugest bag of stash including yet more stamps and then got home to find three more sets of stamps and a little pile of the new Basic Grey Wassail........be still my beating heart......lol!!! It is just gorgeous. I only have four of the designs but that will be rectified next week after we get our delivery at the shop.

Can't do any stamping tonight as I have orders to finish for tomorrow......thankfully no tractors this time!!! Once they are delivered in the morning I shall have to get out some of my new sets and have a play with them and some ink pads I got today.

Back to work for me now then.
Bye for now and thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Little Dancer!!!

Just had to show this card I put together using one of the little people that DD has made for me from the Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge. Sorry the colour looks a little washed out but I took the pic using a daylight lamp as the natural light has been pretty dire these last few days.
DD is loving making these up for me........which is a good job really as I don't think I would have the patience to do them having seen some of the tiny bits you have to do.

Deb very kindly let me borrow her Storybook cartridge for a few days so tonight I have been cutting out a few things with that. Didn't think it would be on my list of must haves I must admit but it so is now that I have had a play with it.
The intricacy of some of the elements on it just astound me.

I expect a lot of UK ladies will be having an early night ready for a big day out at the NEC tomorrow. I've not been for a couple of years and am not planning on going again ever if I can help it. Not a big fan of crowds these days though I will probably go to the trade show with Deb in February..........well I will if she asks me........hint, hint Boss.........lol!!!
Anyway make sure you have your Weetabix ladies and have a fab day.

Right........I am off for a nice soak in the bath to finish off the book I am reading and then I am going to start on my traditional, this time of year book.......Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher. I have read it so many times but it is my most favourite feelgood book......comfortable and cosy for these dark autumn nights...plus it starts to get me in the mood for Christmas and start planning ours.

Night night......and thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Just When You Thought I'd Finished!!!

I know I said I was done with Christmas but I have made a few more cards just to use up some leftover papers.
This one is my current two favourite Basic Grey papers and the tag from the stamp set I designed for TandaStamps last year.
Haven't decided on the greeting yet.....or to leave as it is.

Deb and I are busy at the moment sorting out things at the shop ready for our open evening on November 25th. We are celebrating our first year in the new shop and starting our winter sale.
It doesn't seem like five minutes since we put them away but the Christmas decorations will be coming out again in the next few days and the shop will look very festive.......my favourite time of year.

Did a lovely class with some ladies this afternoon making gift bags and baskets. It was such a nice change from making cards and I think I enjoyed it as much as they did.

Well I am off to my little nest in the attic where it is warm and snuggly. We have only just lit the fire down here so the heating hasn't kicked in yet and I am freezing.

Thanks for visiting.
Sheila-x-

Totally Traumatic Tractor!!!

As a girl who knows next to nothing about motor vehicles of any kind and who's only interest is that it has four wheels and a CD player, I have to say I did panic a bit when asked to make a card with a tractor on it.
I searched everywhere for anything with a tractor on it and found nothing so had to bite the bullet and do a handcut one.
Now I could......if I was that way inclined......let you all think....WOW isn't she clever....but I will hold my hands up and admit that I did download a childrens colouring page to help get the proportions right and all the twiddly bits. Having said that....it looks nothing like the original picture.
You will have to excuse the glare from the cello bag but I wanted it packed up so that I didn't spill anything on it and have to do it again.......it took me about four hours as it was......lol!!!

I have some prep to do tonight for tomorrow's class then I am going to gather up all of my new stamps and start to design some new cards with colours other than red and green..........YAY!!!

Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Sorry I Didn't Send Postcards!!!

Well I enjoyed my little holiday and now I am back.
I spent most of the week catching up on orders and making childrens cards for the local shop.........or doing the samples etc to get the layouts right anyway.
By last night I was ready to do something I could get my teeth into and I had this beautiful image that I have been wanting to do something with for quite a while.
It's an image from the fabulous Graphics Fairy site which is run by Karen. She posts a new image every single day and there are some awesome ones on there.

I printed this image onto some good quality printer paper and then colourwashed her skintone using a Marvy Le Plume pen which I scribbled onto my work mat and picked up with a water brush.
I then added a wash of turquoise glitter gel pen to the laurel wreath and clear glitter gel pen to the white parts of her costume.
Once dry I layered the image onto some Basic grey paper and then some Bazzill which I scruffed up with my scissor blade.
The background was stamped with a flourish stamp from a new set of Inkadinkado stamps and decorated with large punched snowflakes and a bit of silver Stickles on the flourishes.
If you click on the image you should get a bigger version.

I'm scuttling back up to my workroom now as it is freezing in the room where the computer is......my ex workroom which is very draughty.

Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Taking A Break!!!

Just wanted to let you all know that I am going to take a break from blogging until the weekend.
I have just about finished with Christmas cards now so will not be designing any new ones and will be starting to design things for the new year in the next few days which I will hopefully have to show at the weekend.
See you then
Bye for now.
Sheila-x-