Catching Up With DCM!!!

I have managed to catch up with three of the 'dares' I missed and I have thoroughly enjoyed doing all of them. It made quite a change to do something I wanted to do and not something I had to.

So here we go.................... Piles of Presents

I hand cut a pile of presents from blue glitter card and then cut the lids again and attached them with foam pads.

I added hand drawn swirls and punched glitter snowflakes, wrapped it with silver ribbon and added a tag with the bow.

Snowmen and Snowflakes

Making this card did me a huge favour as I have used up nearly a whole sheet of silver snowflake peeloffs on it and as I am trying to banish everything but peeloff lines from my craft room I was very pleased with that.

The snowman is a Hug Club image which I have cut and layered with foam pads.

.....And Cut

Hand cut tag and holly leaves.

The tag is stamped with a Hero Arts stamp and the holly leaves are stamped and embossed using a Creative Expressions Christmas tree stamp which is made up of dots.

Paper is Hot Off The Press.

Crikey......I need a lie down after that lot......lol!!! I still have a few to go but they will be a bit slower coming as I have some jobs to do now and then I am at the shop every day next week on my own and I need to get stuff ready for the three classes I will be doing.

Best get cracking on that as DD has just gone out to buy the new Harry Potter to watch tonight.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

Who Nicked Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday?!!!

Not wanting to cast any aspersions whatsoever on all you lovely bloggers and blog readers out there..............but someone must be stealing all these days and keeping them for themselves...lol!!! I turn my back for one minute and whoooosh there goes another day when I didn't get to do all the things I meant to do.....it's very scary.

Anyway I have a couple of cards to share today. These are made with some very nice Craft Creations papers that we had in at the shop and the Dot and Stripe stamp set from TandaStamps.


This first card is much better IRL.....the ribbon looks burgundy on the scan but it is actually red. No fancy techniques really I just stamped the baubles onto dark green card and again onto some of the patterned paper which I then cut out and glued over the green card.
For this card I took inspiration from a layout by Joanne Sanderson which was in the Christmas issue of Beautiful Cards. It was just perfect for the three circular stamps from the Dot and Stripe stamp set.
At the moment I am working on a card for the Pile of Presents challenge which was this weeks Little Extra over at DCM so I will hopefully get that finished to post tomorrow after I have attacked the huge pile of laundry that seems to have appeared from somewhere. I hate washing.......well I do in the winter as my tumble dryer is in an outside store and it is flippin' cold out there and my workroom doesn't get warm as I am in and out all day fetching dry stuff in and taking wet stuff out.
Well I am going to make myself a nice cuppa and the I'm going to read for a bit.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Getting Corrugated!!!

Yayyyy!!! At last I have had a bit of time to sit and make a card for the latest dare over at Daring Cardmaker's I have really missed these dares while I have been too busy to do them and am hoping to catch up with the ones I have missed over the next few weeks.
This weeks dare was to use corrugated card which I have to admit is not one of my most favourite things to use on a card but I do have a few bits of it lying around which could do with being used up.
So for this card I have used a tree shape (which I cut on the Cricut) as a template to cut a tree from very dark green corrugated card. This and the strip for the side have been dragged over with a white Stazon ink pad to lighten the colour a little.
The red background paper is a paper bag and the tiny 'Joy' sign was purchased from Cally's Christmas Cottage.
I used a white gel pen to add the writing and the stitching.


I have a little crafty tip for you..........I have always hated using those wedgy make up sponges for distressing the edges of cards........they just don't seem to work too well for me.
Anyway the other week I unpacked some MM flowers and brads and the brads were pushed into some quite dense foam which I thought would be a shame to throw out so I have cut it into wedges and it is fantastic for distressing with inks and also for applying chalks. Using this foam with chalks you seem to be able to apply much deeper colour than when you use cotton wool.
I have quite a pile of them now as I have also purchased some Dovecraft brads which came in the same sort of foam.
Hope you find this tip useful.
Well I am off to do a bit more crafting before dinner. Hubby is cooking today and hopefully it will taste as good as it smells.


Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Blogging In Daylight.......Again!!!

Well this is becoming a bit of a habit. I usually update my blog in the wee small hours when everyone is tucked up in bed and I was going to do that today. Unfortunately I couldn't get near the computer as I had been having a bit of a sort out and the poor thing was buried behind a pile of boxes which I didn't feel like moving at 3am.

Hubby has let me have the cupboard under the stairs as extra storage space so I have been moving things about and putting stuff in there that I don't use that often or that is too big to fit in my room. I now have a relatively clear work space......wonder how long that will last......lol!!!

The cards I am sharing today are a couple more I did with the Hero Arts stamps.
The Mona Collage Tag is the Caught In Crystal technique but with a slight twist......I used Christmas napkins instead of plain tissue. The one I used makes a beautiful background as it is gold and beige with small snowflakes in it.


The background for the wisemen card has been made using the Cuttlebug Swirl embossing folder. I then used Opalite Nordic Ice over the top of this and embossed with one layer of clear embossing powder which gives a fantastic texture and doesn't make the piece too thick or heavy for the card.
For the main piece I stamped onto black card using Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder then again used Opalite ink pads in Sterling Frost and Nordic Ice to add the colour.


I am having a lazy day today.....well lazy for me anyway....lol!!! I'm all snuggled up in my workroom with a tidy desk so I am making a few more cards for the local shop after that I will try and come up with a few designs for workshops and samples for the shop. I have an embarrassingly large pile of new stamps that have not yet been touched including all of the new Hot Off The Press clear sets.......well I couldn't just pick one.....they were all gorgeous...lol!!! What's the betting though that it will take me three hours to decide which stamps to use.


Right best go and start deciding then.
Thanks for dropping by.
Sheila-x-

I'm Back!!!

Oooooh I can't tell you how great it is to be finally done with going away for this year.

Totnes was fabulous as usual. Dave, Liz and the staff at Finishing Touches gave us a very warm welcome as always. Lots of familiar faces at both the demo and the workshops and some new ones too and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

I spent an obscene amount of money while I was down there in Finishing Touches and at a gem of shop in Buckfastleigh called Cally's Christmas Cottage. If you like American Primitive and Folk Art style you really need to visit this beautiful shop. Cally is a lovely lady and she didn't bat an eyelid at a mad 50 year old ooooohing and aaaaahing like a five year old in a toy shop.

Much as I love doing the classes and demo's the designing, planning and preparation is very hard work..........not that I am going to be putting my feet up much you understand. I have a list of jobs as long as a squids tentacle which need doing both workwise and housewise. Also the shop I work at is relocating......hopefully at the end of November but possibly the end of December. Deb and I are very excited as the new shop is absolutely gorgeous. I'll give more information when we have a definite date.

I have a few new cards to share with you. Dave asked if I would do my demo with the new collage stamps from Hero Arts..........how could I refuse.......lol!!!

So the first card is done using Alcohol Inks on silver card. I applied the inks in single colors using Raisin, Denim and Stonewashed inks and then overstamped using one of the stunning corner stamps from one of my Fancy Pants stamp sets. All of the gems were clear to start off with and I coloured them using peeloff pens.

The image is stamped in White Stazon onto black card and attached behind the aperture. I stamped the smaller image onto the piece I removed and mounted it on a foam pad.

The second card is just stamping and layering on Dovecraft Christmas papers and Bazzill card.


Well I ought to go and get some sleep. I am not quite up to scratch healthwise at the moment. I've had a very sore back and hip for a couple of weeks and I have also been snookered by another ailment........details would be too much information but suffice it to say I think I am single handedly keeping the cranberry juice industry going..lol!!!
I have just about managed to get through the last two days at work but thankfully I have Wednesday off and then a long weekend to look forward to after Thursday.
I was going to the NEC on Friday but DD bought my Christmas pressies down in Totnes so we are not going to bother. We're going to have a lazy day at home instead watching DVD's and getting our strength up to finish off some decorating jobs on Saturday.


Bye for now
Sheila-x-