So Relaxing Sunday!!!

Well despite having only been up to my room to open the curtains this morning and not getting any crafting done at all....it has been a pretty relaxing day. Mr Manic and DD were both asleep after coming in from night shifts so I had my lovely clean kitchen all to myself and pottered about cooking a roast beef dinner ready for the hoards descending then prepared a huge round of shortcake for them have with strawberries and cream later. DS and DDIL did the washing up while I cuddled Ruby off to sleep.
Tonight I have watched DOI and have to say that I am pretty p'd off that Vanilla Ice was voted off. He is seriously gorgeous and now I have nothing to look forward to on a Sunday evening......boo hoo!!!
My back is still playing up and I did have a couple of scary moments in the kitchen this morning but tonight it does seem a little better than it has been so I am hopeful of it getting better this week.
Just off for a chat with DD who is at work before I sling myself on the sofa for a good read and a can of something cold......I am having a bit of a tropical half hour IYKWIM.....lol!!!
Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Pale And Interesting!!!

Green is one of my most favourite colours and this sort of greyish green in particular so when I saw this download at The Clipart Fairy  I just had to have it. Now that I am getting to grips with the Open Office programme it was so easy to print out everything I needed for this card onto just one sheet of A4.......and this is an A5 card.

Well I have Miss Doodle and her clan coming for dinner tomorrow and I am just taking a break from cleaning the kitchen. The unit doors are covered in somebody's sticky little handprints. They are so cute that I don't want to wipe them off........lol!!!

This cleaning lark is a bit difficult as I am suffering with my back again at the moment. It went on Monday and I was hoping it would be OK by now but it's hanging around a bit.

Back to the grindstone for me then.

Thanks for dropping by.

Sheila-x-

Just A Simple Girl!!!

........with a very simple card.

Adirondack inks with bleach stamping.

Foliage images are from a new set of Viva stamps I picked up from the craft shop at Byrkley Park. I think Viva need some new designs now.........I have nearly all of them. There is just one I am not too sure about and am putting off buying.

Short and sweet tonight as I am sure nobody wants to read about yet another hectic day at Manic Towers.......it's becoming the story of my life.

See ya

Sheila-x-

White China Flower!!!

I got a whole day upstairs today......it was just heaven!!!
This card had been floating about in my head for a few days and it was great to get it out and see what it would look like in the flesh.
I started with a piece of sanded Core'dinations cardstock.
The background for the flower is Bondaweb over Distress inks then overstamping with a text stamp and Distress inks.
Flower is Tim Holtz Alterations. I treated it to a couple of coats of white UTEE with a sprinkling of chunky blue pearl EP in the centre followed by a tiny sprinkling of baby blue EP.
The brads have been coated with chunky green pearl EP.
Leaves are hand cut and coated with the chunky green pearl before stamping with a crackle stamp.
I think I might look for a square picture frame and do another one of these as I love the colours.

It's been a hectic week here again. Miss Doodle was fabulous on Monday and crotchety on Tuesday. Her Mummy got caught at the office and was late home last night and what with baking birthday cakes covered in homemade fudge and one thing or another I haven't even been upstairs until today.
Tomorrow we are introducing Grandad to the joys of Jungala, Friday I have to go shopping and Saturday is batch cooking day so I should get some time upstairs up until the Princess is due again on Wednesday. I know I have said it before but I just don't know how I ever found time to go to work.

DDIL has taken a box of my cards into the office, sold some straight away and got an order for one too. Best get making some more over the weekend because no matter what you make there is always something gets missed.

Anyway....Mr Manic and I have some peace on our own and we're just about to sit and watch Red. Not sure I fancy it but I'll give it a whirl.

Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Ho De Hum!!!

Oh gawd...evrything is conspiring against me to keep me out of my craft room this weekend. So once again I have nothing to share.......what a bad blogger I am.
Today Mr Manic and DD have been in bed getting ready to go on night shift so I have been head cook, bottle washer and cleaner all day with half an hour respite when DD kindly beautified my hair with chemicals.
I think I will fetch some die cutting down to do while I watch DOI as I have need of rather a lot of daisy type flowers for a few cards I want to make when I manage to get upstairs.
Just off to make a cake now and then I need to get a bath before DD leaves for work as I can't go in the bath or shower when I am in the house alone.......too many horror films watched in my youth.....lol!!!
Thanks for your visit.
Sheila-x-

Slobbing On A Saturday Night!!!

Well that is our overnight guest packed off home. She was such a good girl.
Tonight is Mr Manic's first night shift and DD and I are making the most of getting the tv to ourselves and settling down on this miserable drippy old evening and watching some Law and Order....what do I mean some.........it will be a lot.....lol!!! Usually we have to wait until he's gone to bed before we can watch anything.
No cardmaking done as I just haven't had time today so I hope I get a couple of hours tomorrow.
Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Busy Couple Of Days!!!

Had a fabulous but very busy day with Princess Doodle yesterday and by the time she went home I was fit for nothing but vegging out. Oh she was on top form I must say. Giggly, flirty and so funny but also into absolutely everything she shouldn't be. I thought we had pretty much childproofed the house but how wrong can you be....lol!!!

There were a few sellouts when we did the stand at the shop this week so today has been spent making stuff for restocking....mostly remakes so nothing new to share today.......I do apologise for that.

Tomorrow I will be doing housey things and then picking up the Princess who is coming to stay for the night as Mummy and Daddy will be at a wedding reception. It will be a bit hectic as we had planned the day around Mr Manic being at home but he is moving to a new job in the place where he works and has to go in for training. The new job is a permanent night shift which starts on Saturday and I am not looking forward that I can tell you.

Righto......I am back off upstairs for an hour and then a nice hot bath before I collapse on the sofa. I might watch a film and am quite in the mood for Avatar so I'll see what everybody else is up for.
Thanks for dropping in.
Sheila-x-

Thirsty For Ink!!!

So desperate to do something inky tonight so I shot upstairs as soon as Ruby had gone and tea was over and done with.
I just grabbed the nearest bit of card with some stamping on it and a few Distress Inks and off I went.
Large corner flourish stamp is Fancy Pants. Text is Viva and the main image is Rubbadubadoo.
A bit of sparkle added with a quick spritz of Smooch pearl spray.
I feel so much better now.

Have to say that although I am a winter girl at heart.......I am soooo ready for some brighter warmer weather. It's been dark and miserable here. The fire has been going since seven this morning and the lights have been on all day. We popped out to the supermarket early on and then up to the garden centre as I had a voucher burning a hole in my purse from filling a loyalty card. Ten lovely pounds which I put towards a set of square Go Kreate dies which match the rectangles I have. We didn't get to wander round as Doodle was fast asleep so stayed in the car with DD.

There are signs of beautiful things to come in the summer. I bought a bag of Allium bulbs last year which I neglected to plant out and they started sprouting in the bag. I've potted them up and most of them are growing. They're about four inches high now. I'll plant them later in the year and hopefully have a lovely show of flowers. I love Alliums.

I think I am going to spend the rest of the night with my feet up.....reading. I have Ruby again tomorrow so I need to get my strength up....lol!!!

Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Too Much Partying!!!

Having partied for three days solid since her birthday on Friday I'm afraid Doodle was a bit bit crosspatchety today. I was howling with laughing at her because one minute she was as happy as Larry and the next she decided she wanted to have a teeny tiny grizzle. Boy does she know how to play it as well. Looking at me with big brown eyes with tears just about to spill over and then a big grin and back to playing.......honestly she will end up on the stage I swear......lol!!!

I've only once (long ago) had a profile photograph of myself in my sidebar because I do not take a very good photo. I usually end up looking like something the family keep in the attic......on chains......but I love this one taken with Doodle at her party yesterday. Just wish I knew how to make it a bit smaller....it's rather big.

Absolutely zilch done on the crafting front today. I've got a few bits ready to assemble that I did the other day but they will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Off to have a ferret in the freezer for something for tomorrow night's tea.........I'm in a cooking mood.

Thanks for visiting.
Sheila-x-

Crash Course!!!

What a fabulous afternoon we had at Ruby's party. The birthday girl was so good and had a great time.
I certainly got a crash course in nursery rhyme singing but either they have changed the words or I have forgotten most of them....probably the latter.
The CD's I got for the party had some well weird stuff on but it kept the kids happy.
I got another order for a birthday cake for the birthday of the guy who ordered one from me for his wife's birthday. He said he was ordering it to make sure he got it.....lol!!!
Cold and nasty today so I was glad I made a casserole yesterday to heat up for our tea when we got in.
Now I am having a quiet hour before I flop into bed and read with a nice mug of Ovaltine.......bliss!!!
Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Cuttlebug De-Bossing!!!

I love, love, love this Cuttlebug folder and don't use it nearly enough......probably because I tend to forget what I've got....lol......and I'm sure I'm not alone there.

For this card I have cut a panel of Kraft card and embossed it. Then I inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and stamped the text in Olive Green Stazon. This folder de-bosses the flower images so the text doesn't fill it in......except in places where I just stamped a little too hard.

The paper used for the bottom panel is K & Co and the the scalloped edging is DCWV......cut from one of the sheets of a 12 x 12 stack of scalloped squares.

The buttons are tied on with some parcel string which I have separated into thinner strands.

The birthday cake making didn't quite go to plan. I made a cake for the kids of a little piggies face but it was so horrible that it ended up in the bin and I have made cupcakes instead. Enough for everyone so that I didn't have to make another cake for the adults. They look so pretty in pink gingham cases with soft pink icing and pale green spotty flowers for the candles to stand in.

I picked the cake cases up from Byrkley Park when I nipped up to get some children's CD's for the party to play Pass The Parcel to. Obviously I couldn't go up and not go in the craft shop so today I have finally completed my collection of Distress Inks when I picked up Frayed Burlap....yay!!!

Well I had best turn in for the night as I want to be up early tomorrow to gather the stuff we need to take to the party.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sheila-x-

Birthday Suit!!!

This is the card I made for Miss Doodle. It's not looking quite like this now.......lol!!! Clipart Fairy image and paper.
We nipped over to visit her this afternoon and she had really got into the spirit of the day by greeting us at the door in her birthday suit.....well just about......she did have her nappy on.
Mummy and Daddy had bought a cake so that we could have some with a cuppa and Ruby was allowed to have some. I have never seen such a small piece of cake spread so far in my life. She was covered in it. Her whole face was chocolate with a big grin showing two little teeth.......totally priceless!!!
She will be having a party on Sunday and I have been designated cake baker and have to make a childrens birthday cake and one for the adults as well so that is my Saturday sorted out.

Despite it being a week off this last week I don't seem to have had much time to myself or got very much done really but with DD at work this week on night shift I can't do noisy stuff and Mr Manic gets home at 1pm and sends everything to pot. I just can't get on when he's round my feet so I just give up trying.....lol!!!

Well I am off to bed as I have another fab book on the go....Sand Storm by James Rollins. I have just finished one of his called Ice Hunt.....it was very good.
Thanks for your visit.
Sheila-x-

A Sign Of Age!!!

A good way to use up some paper I had with quite a large design. I used a piece for a mat and then cut around one of the flower sprays and attached it over the top with foam pads and edged with Stickles Stardust. There were three sheets and I managed to get six cards out of it so I didn't think that was bad.

I should have posted this last night but after spending some time on the internet gathering pictures to catalogue my collection of embossing folders I'm afraid the old eyelids were drooping a bit so I scooted off to bed.

Seem to be spending quite a lot of time on the computers just lately as thanks to Wendy at The Clipart Fairy who has some very good tutorials I am learning to use Open Office properly.....well more than I have previously anyway.

So far I have only used it for letters etc.

Today I have a long list of jobs that need to be completed including a birthday card for Miss Doodle who is one tomorrow. Mr Manic is off to take the car to be mended and DD is in bed so I should get a nice peaceful few hours with nobody shouting me for anything.

I may even get to blog again later.

Thanks for visiting.

Sheila-x-

All Day Doodle!!!

Hooby Dooby.....the couple of hours Miss Doodle was staying for today turned into a bit longer than anticipated as I think DS and DDIL were rather enjoying their shopping trip which unfortunately for me means no time upstairs today. Having said that Ruby was so fabulous that I have just had an absolute ball with her for the day.

We've had some pretty strong wind today which has blown some ridge tiles from the roof. Luckily next door have a roofing man working there at the moment and he is going to repair the damage tomorrow for us. Mr Manic is not happy as he also has to have some damage repaired on his car which was done by someone on a car park who very kindly drove off. The quote from the dealer where he bought the car was an extortionate £600 but luckily he knows someone who can do exactly the same job for £200 so although it's still annoying to have to pay out for something that wasn't his fault it's better than £600.

I think the worst of my cold has gone now. Just a bit of a sniffle and a slight cough left so hopefully tomorrow I will be raring to go with my cardmaking....after I have tidied up.

Well I am off for a browse round the internet with a nice cuppa to warm me up. It's quite draughty in here tonight so I don't know how long I will be able to stand it before diving under my blanket on the sofa and reading.

Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

Cracking On!!!

Despite not being too well for the last few days I find I do have trouble sitting still and doing nothing. I am the worst patient ever.
So I have been pottering and adding to the stash of sympathy cards for the shop. I struggle to make sympathy cards suitable to send to men so I am rather pleased with this one.
This is an inked background from my backgrounds box stamped with a branch image from a set of stamps by Inkadinkado. The inchie images are also Inkadinkado and the sentiment is Hot Off The Press.

The lounge carpet is clean......yay!!! Just the kitchen and back room to do now. They will have to wait for the moment.
Miss Doodle is coming over for a couple of hours tomorrow while her Mummy and Daddy go shopping for their outfits for a wedding they are going to next weekend. I'm actually on holiday this week but I couldn't resist the chance of some time with my little angel.

The rest of today is booked up with Dancing On Ice and Law & Order so I don't expect I shall get back upstairs before tomorrow evening now........and boy have I got some tidying to do before I can make anything else.

Catch you later
Sheila-x-

Tales From The Sick House!!!

Gor blimey.......we are dropping like flies around here at the moment. Even the dog hasn't been very well.....albeit just a touch of garbage guts....again. Mr Manic and DD have caught my cold so I am in bad books.
I must say this cold has knocked me for six and I would very much like for it to go away now and not come back....thank you.
However I feel tomorrow the carpets have to be done as if they're not it will be a fortnight before I will have the chance again and I am just at the point of threatening to rip them up and burn them now so what I would be like in two weeks I just dread to think.
Anyway can't get off to sleep so I am going to haul my sorry carcass to the sofa and read for a while.
Thanks for dropping by my sick bed.....who ate all the grapes?.....lol!!!
Sheila-x-

Oh Woe Is Me!!!

My darling grandaughter has very kindly passed her cold onto me and I feel foul. Sitting here reeking of Olbas Oil and with a tissue permanently clamped to my nose. Hope I am not too bad to do the carpets tomorrow as I have set my heart on getting the job done.....mind you it would mean an unplanned craft day which wouldn't be too unwelcome......lol!!!
DD has just taken delivery of the new season of Law & Order SVU so I think we might have a little session before bedtime.
Bye for now and thanks for visiting.
Sheila-x-

Ball Games!!!

I thought I'd post some recent pics of Miss Doodle tonight......seeing as how I haven't made anything today.

This was taken at the play centre yesterday. She just loved the ball pool.

Just checking to make sure Grandma is OK. She looks for all the world like she's having a natter over the garden fence doesn't she?
Oh she is just too cute for words.

I've not made anything today as I have spent the day organising files and folders on my upstairs computer. A job that really needed doing. Then tonight I have watched a film with DD. We like to make the most of evenings together with her working permanent night shifts.

Well I am off to bed as Miss Doodle will be here in the morning and we are off out to the play centre and then the garden centre for lunch.

Thanks for dropping in.
Sheila-x-

Playing Away!!!

Another black and cream card today with a different design on a 5X7 card this time.

The flourish stamp I have used for the background is one of two from a set that cost an incredible £3.99. They are by the company that makes the Viva paints etc. They stamp beautifully with very little pressure and the backgrounds measure approximately 5x3 inches......I forgot to measure them exactly so this is give or take an eighth of an inch or so. Brilliant value for money.

The tulip is from Delta/Rubber Stampede.

All stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.

Today I have discovered my inner child at a local play centre. We took Ruby along for a change of scenery. What a fabulous place it was. Ball pools, things to climb on, slide down, crawl through and lovely jingly jangly music going on in the little group upstairs which had Ruby dancing and smiling. It was fabulous and we will definitely be going back.

The last couple of days have been quite hectic so tomorrow will be a chill out day with no major jobs planned because Friday I am going to tackle the carpets downstairs. They are filthy and desperately need cleaning. Mr Manic will be here to take the dog out of the way for a while so it will be the perfect day. Does it sound like I am having to talk myself into it?.......lol!!! Actually it will be perfect as I don't have Ruby next week so there will be plenty of time for them to dry thoroughly.

For now I am off upstairs for a while to make a start on some more cards before settling down with DD to watch a film and have a snuggle.

Thanks for your visit today.

Sheila-x-