Oh Dear!!!

I seem to be spending an awful lot of time apologising for not posting pics but it has been pretty mental around here for the last couple of weeks and all the cards I have been making have had to be packed and shipped out before I have had a chance to take any photos. Although having said that....a lot of them have been remakes of old designs with newer papers etc.
We've had the builder in sorting out the water system so there have been floors up and goodness knows what else but.....everything crossed......it seems to have sorted the problem without the need for replacing the whole thing so not as expensive as we were dreading.
There has also been lots of soup making. I took advantage of a weekend special offer at Lidl and bought loads of tiny plum tomatoes to make Roasted Tomato and Garlic soup. Then I roasted butternut squash, red peppers,onions and garlic and made that into a soup too. I think there are about four or five different ones in the freezer now so my next thing to tackle is casseroles.
I have a week off from looking after Ruby next week....except for Tuesday when I will be having her for a couple of hours while daddy goes shopping for birthday party stuff. I can't believe she will be three in a couple of weeks. Where did that time go?
Don't know if I am going to be able to sleep tonight as DD and I have a rather exciting job to do tomorrow..........we are off to book a trip to New York. I am so full of squeeeeeeeeee that I can barely sit still. We won't be going until the end of November but we wanted to get it booked as we found the perfect package for our needs so thought we would book it while it's still available. I shall be saving madly for a trip to Michaels, The Ink Pad and Casey Rubber Stamps.........and if anyone knows of any other crafty shops please let me know. I will be visiting TJ Maxx and Target as I understand they have some spectacular clearance prices on craft stuff if you hit them at the right time. I am soooooo excited.
To calm ourselves down after booking it we are off out for a relaxing lunch once we have some shopping bits and bobs out of the way so I think it will be a lovely day.
Right....I shall get back to my card chopping.......I'm running short on blanks and it's about all I can concentrate on today.
Tara for now.
Sheila-x-

A Bit Behind!!!

There's been no time to take pics of the altered vase.......sorry about that but I have had a poorly little bean on my hands the last couple of days. It's been a little full on as she has been a bit scared about what has been the matter so a lot of bad temper and screaming. My nerves are shattered so I am glad she will be having a day with daddy tomorrow.
I'm in the workroom tonight and cracking on with things so I should have some pics to show tomorrow thank goodness......even I am getting fed up of 'Just Chatting' posts.
So much for the snow we were predicted. It did come down on Sunday in the night and we did get a slight covering. Monday it snowed very heavily but it was the wet mushy stuff which melted as soon as it hit the ground. Doodle and I had such plans for our snowman too. He was going to have a hat and scarf with coal for eyes and when I asked her what we would use for his buttons she looked at me like I was a complete idiot and said 'buttons ganma'....lol!!!
Anyway.....enough nattering. I must get on with this batch of cards.
Thanks for your visit.
Tara for now.
Sheila-x-

Mirror, Mirror!!!

Today I thought I would share an altered project I did for my living room.
This mirror started off life as a beautiful brown leather covered mirror but over time the leather panels started to lift away from the the base wood. I didn't want to throw it out and buy a new one so I removed the panels and used a pad of Papermania black and white paper and Mod Podge to cover the frame. Once it was dry I applied black chalk to shadow some of the details on the paper and gave it a couple of coats of varnish. I then used some silver gilding wax over the whole frame which I rubbed off immediately so that it left a metallic effect without covering the details on the paper.
All that's left to do now is to find my pot of paint to cover the fixings holding the mirror up.
Tomorrow I will show you the vase I altered to match the rest of the living room.
Tara for now.
Sheila-x-

Lovin' It!!!

Well my wish came true and the temperature has dropped quite drastically here at Manic Towers. We are even being promised some snow at some point over the weekend/early next week...yay!!! Just enough to be able to build a snowman with Doodle Bird would do me.....anything to put her in a good mood. She's going through a bit of a cranky phase at the moment with quite a bit of squealing added which I am not liking very much. Hope it's not a long phase.
There's not been much in the way of cardmaking going on the last few days with having Ruby....just prep work in the evenings and today there were housey jobs needing to be done in the way of freezer sorting before I went shopping, laundry and lounge cleaning. Tomorrow I will be hitting the workroom all day.....and Sunday too if I can get away with it......lol!!!
I'm off to crank up the Cricut and get some more stuff ready to be made into cards tomorrow so I shall say goodnight.
Tara for now.
Sheila-x-

It's A First!!!

Another card order done and dusted. This is for a man who restores old cars.......hence the cogs.
I used the cogs embossing folder on the fishtail flags and for the silver cogs I used the new die set. Both by Papermania.
Didn't get much done today in the way of crafting. I felt proper 'off it'. I don't know what was the matter apart from feeling hot and bothered all day. I long for some nice crisp, frosty weather.
Dancing On Ice seemed to be lacking something tonight.......not sure what. Hopefully it will get a bit more exciting.
Must go and tidy the kitchen up as Miss Doodle will be here first thing. I only saw her Friday but it seems ages ago so I am ready for my kisses and cuddles.
Tara for now.
Sheila-x-

Nose To The Grindstone!!!

At the start of every new year I always wonder if this will be the year that the card orders dry up and I will have to find something else to do. Well I don't think it will be this year. I have just completed four orders today (sorry....Saturday) and have a mahoosive order from my best customer for her cards for the whole year.
Lucky for me that I have new Cricut cartridges and stuff to play with then.
My card for today is made using the Cricut Suburbia cartridge which I had for Christmas.
The background is stamped using an Artemio stamp and I have gone around the edges with black chalk.
DD restocked at the shop for me on Thursday so I had a few pennies to pick up some of my want list from the new Papermania collections. So I now have the cogs stamp and embossing folder and the Vintage notes doily stamp and die. I also treated myself to a DCWV stack of glitter paper as I am fed up of the glitter card that sheds and gets everywhere. Oooooh I do love new stuff.
I'm hoping that Mr Manic will offer to do lunch tomorrow so that I can get on with making as everything will have to stop for Dancing On Ice......yay!!! Last year I watched Strictly Come Dancing for the first time.......loved it and am missing it so DOI has come along just right for me.
Well I just have to put the finishing touches to one last card for this session and then it's a cup of decaff and bed for me.
Bye for now......and thanks for visiting.
Sheila-x-
 

2013!!!

Happy New Year

to all my visitors.

Lets hope for a peaceful and prosperous

2013