Daring Cardmakers II-Little Extra Revisted

Well I must say.........this latest midweek dare has got the old creative juices flowing. This is my third card for this one. Just a pretty simple one but I just love these colours together.

I was supposed to be doing some work today if you remember but I decided I would get some household jobs done instead.......seeing as how I seem to be the only one in our house who knows the meaning of the words 'clean' and 'tidy'. So I got a bit done then thought I might as well have the rest of the day off as by the time we had finished tea and tidied up it was 7pm gone. A bit norty really cos I won't be working tonight much........got a date with hubby and a DVD and he doesn't get in until after 10pm.
Oh well there is always tomorrow and it is only a few packs left to make up and then get everything packed.........and if I packed everything now you can bet your bottom dollar there would be something I need to use and I would have to unpack it all again........well I've convinced meself of that anyway.

I've got nothing else booked for a while so I am looking forward to getting my teeth into some new experiments......I may even go so far as to get out my sewing machine.
I am also going to be sorting out my stamps and getting rid of some as I do have way too many that I don't use any more. The same with my dies for my cutting machines.
Then once I have had a good sort out I think I may redecorate the room, replace the old carpet and try to clear the window ledges and put up some curtains ready for winter.
Hubby was going to sort me out a shed to use as a work room but that is another thing on the back boiler for now as he is tied up with helping a friend through the summer with different landscaping and fencing jobs...as if I haven't got enough jobs want doing here......lol!!!

Right I'm off for a quick bath and then I am going to veg in front of the telly and watch The Apprentice.

Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-A Little Extra

Ooooooh those girls at Daring cardmakers are in sooooooo much trouble. The work I was supposed to do tonight went right out the window when I saw the 'Little Extra' dare. Just had to have a go at it as a couple of ideas popped into my head.

The first card is totally inspired by Godelieve http://www.stampingmathilda.blogspot.com/

who does the most awesome work stamping in white onto vellum. It's something I have never done because I don't actually like the feel of vellum....kind of a finger nails down a chalk board thing with me....lol!!! Anyway, I used the new Flourish set from TandaStamps and stamped and embossed the flourishes using Versamark and white embossing powder onto the black card. I then did the same onto a piece of vellum and cut out the flowers which were then attached with a spot of Glossy Accents and decorated with a tiny crystal.

Using a black Stazon pad I stamped the image once more onto vellum and cut out the flowers attaching them again with Glossy Accents and decorating with a crystal. The dots and writing are done by hand.

The second card..........well I don't know where that came from I really don't.....lol!!!

I have this huge pile of nasty pink card which looked lovely in the bright lights of the Paper Mill outlet..........didn't look so nice in the daylight though. So I thought I'd see if I could use a couple of pieces up and the rest they say is history......more like a mystery if you ask me.

It's all dye ink stamping using the spiders web from the new Tandastamps Set of Backgrounds. Grunged over with a black Stazon pad adding more to the edges to give a bit of definition.

The wording is done with my Dymo and set out onto a spare piece of card. I outlined it in black pen and then cut it out as a whole piece.

I feel so naughty because I spent all evening doing this..........but I didn't half enjoy it.

Apologies to anyone who has sent me an e mail. I can't access my mail box. It keeps telling me that I am not connected to the internet......which I most obviously am. I've tried everything I know to get into it and no joy so will have to wait for DD to have a look tomorrow.

Oh blimey it's half past two.........where on earth did the time go? Best go get some shuteye.
Night night
Sheila-x-

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

As you can see I have been ferretting in the drawer again. This time I found a piece of map paper and some travel themed cigarette cards.
Got the distressing inks out again for the map and grunged the cards with a Stazon pad in Timber Brown. Layered the cards onto some brown card and trimmed to leave just a tiny edge showing to frame the picture. Added some of the fabby gear die cuts and then die cut the letters from mountboard, distressed them by covering in ink and then spraying with bleach while the ink was wet. Once dried I added Glossy Accents.
It needed a little something so I drew the arrows onto some reddish brown card and cut them out.
I need to do some more prep work when I get home from the shop tomorrow ready for the weekend but after I have done I think I'll have another play and do something with a bit more colour in it seeing as I have posted three brown cards in row. Obviously just felt like being a grungy girl these past couple of days.......lol!!!
Well I am off to tidy up. If I clear the decks now I will be able to get the prep done quicker which gives me more time to play......eeeeeeh I'm not as daft as I look!!!
Night night
Sheila-x-
Edited.......I forgot to say that the layout of the card is based on a Becky Fleck sketch from April 2005. I need to practice with sketches as I am not very good at them so tend not to do them when they come up as challenges. Think I still need a bit more practice though.

A Little Bit Of Indoor Gardening!!!

Can't you tell it's a Bank Holiday Weekend?..............it's cold and miserable here so I don't much feel like going out in the garden or anywhere else for that matter.
So today I thought I would take a day off from doing stuff I have to do and have a bit of a play with some things I have had for a long time and never used. I have an office drawer set with five drawers stuffed full of background trial pieces and all sorts of things like vintage labels and little books of ATC papers so I thought I would set to and use a few bits as I have had some of them for years.
The card above is the result and I have to say I am quite happy with how it turned out even though it took me all morning to put it together after having the idea for it while doing something totally different yesterday.
I started off with a piece of ribbed brown card which reminded me of raked soil and went on from there layering a piece from an ATC book and then a piece of a page from a very old gardening book which was so dilapidated when I bought it that it was in a plastic bag to keep it all together. These were first distressed with some inks.
Next I mounted the seed packet image.........a sticker from Calico Crafts......onto another piece of the brown card and attached it on foam pads.
Then it was just a case of digging around to see what other garden related items I had so I made a hank of garden string secured with a staple from my Fastenater. The watering can is cut from copper sheet using a Wizard die and the trowel is a Quickutz die distressed with inks.
I also added a few small Prima flowers and dotted the centres with copper glitter glue and the letter G is a Hampton Art stamp from my Da Vinci alphabet. The rest of the word garden is my handwriting.
For a 6 x 6 card I seem to have made an awful lot of mess so I had best clear that up before I start anything else....lol!!! That's if I can concentrate with hubby fast asleep and snoring on the sofa in the lounge...........I swear his snoring would register on the Richter Scale it's so loud. Bless him!!!
Hope you are all enjoying the long weekend.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-Working 9-5

This week it's my turn (Jo) and I'm going to dare you to use bits and bobs from the office for your cards.
It's been a while since I had a 'real' job - other than being a Mum and of course playing with bits of paper...Reminiscing... I would like you to make a card using some thing that you would normally find in an office environment. Such as... staples, paperclips, paper fasteners, file folders, library cards, hole punches, lined paper etc you get the drift.

Mmmmm........I didn't have much in the way of office bits and bobs. I know I have some paper clips somewhere.....but where they are is anybody's guess. I hope the Dymo tape and the tag will pass muster for this challenge.

I started by stamping all the images onto smooth white card and then painted them with Moonshadow Inks using Burnt Umber for the background piece and Ethereal Emerald for the other images.

The alphabet tape is by 7 Gypsies and I used a luggage tag which I grunged with Stazon, as a background for the greeting.

Well I have had a very busy day today. I had a pile of mountboard offcuts that were really driving me mad as they have been hanging about for ages. So I set to with the Bigshot and I have reduced it all down into shapes to use as chipboard pieces. I think I must have cut over 500 pieces so expect chipboard to be appearing quite a lot on my cards for the foreseeable future........lol!!!

It was a pretty boring job as I couldn't have any music on to with two night shift workers in bed. Funny how they wouldn't hear me if I shouted them to get up but they can hear my music no matter how low I put it on.

I'm finding it fascinating reading what everybody's favourite crafting item is. I have to say that I haven't the faintest idea what a stamp-a-ma-jig is. I'll have to Google that one and find out.

I have to admit to being a bad girl..........I have ordered a Cuttlebug. I did say that I wouldn't have one as I was using the embossing folders in my Bigshot but being the untidy crafter that I am there just never seems to be room on my desk to put the Bigshot for quick jobs so I'm thinking that the Cuttlebug will solve that problem................I am soooooo good at justifying my spending aren't I?

Time to go and soak my poor aching arms and shoulders in a nice hot bath I think and then I had better go and let hubby know that he still has a wife. I will sit and watch a film with him.........hope DD has something we haven't seen in her DVD library.

Hope you are all enjoying the Bank Holiday weekend.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-