Daring Cardmakers-Word

After yet another busy day [whatever happened to Sunday being a day of rest?] I decided that I would snatch a little time before going to bed to make a card for the new dare over at DCM
This week Rhi has set the dare and here is what she says.

This week I dare you to use a Word as the main focal point to your card. It can be a name, a greeting or just a word that inspires you. You can use other text but only one word as a main embellishment. So dig out your dictionaries, die cutters, alphabet stamps, rubons or download a funky font and show us what you can do! The design team have come up with some fabulous creations to inpsire you.

I have posted two cards. One is from last year when I was really into the big letters and was very much in love with the blue paper from Magenta.

I made the letters by printing them in a 350 point Times New Roman font onto card and cut them out to use as templates.

Since then I have acquired a Cricut machine and a Base Camp cartridge.....now call me daft if you like but I preferred my original method of making the letters by hand. They just seem to look a little less perfect and I like that look.

The other card was made using some new paper from The English Paper Company which my daughter bought for me yesterday. I have torn the top piece and layered it over the tree print paper. These were then layered onto some silver sparkly paper and sewn.

The word 'angel' has been cut with the Sizzlit Nouveau alphabet and the stars were punched with a Fiskars plier punch out of silver mirror card.

Both cards are very simple but I like simple now and again.
Well the boss should be back from her holiday now but as it is her day off I don't expect I shall see her until tomorrow.
Today is our first day of opening six days a week and I am going to be doing Mondays on my own. I have a great plan to prepare all of the workshop materials for the week on Mondays so that we are not rushing to get stuff ready on the day. Hopefully everything will go to plan.

Best get off to bed now then else I won't be up in the morning. It's going to seem odd getting up to go to work on a Monday.

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

DCM Little Extra-Big and Little

I have managed to fit in a quick card for the Little Extra dare over at Daring Cardmakers which I have probably got completely wrong again..........you know what I am like.....lol!!!

I thought about this card last night and made part of it at work this morning then finished it tonight at home.

Yummy BG Fruitcake paper on a trifold card which has had the fronts shaped by drawing around a dinner plate......how technical is that?............lol!!!

Embellished with two sizes of snowflake.

This may be my last dare for a couple of weeks as I really must concentrate on getting my stuff ready now for Totnes which is approaching at an alarming speed.

My chauffeur and the hotel are booked so it's just me that needs to get properly sorted. I have too much sidetracking going on at the minute. I am going to promise myself to have everything prepared and packed by next Friday so I want you all to keep your eye on me and give me a swift nudge if I get distracted and start playing instead of working.

Just want to say a quick 'hi' to Margaret. It was lovely to see you today. Also 'hi' to Kathryn...........I've never met you but I know all about you.........lol!!! Thanks for the lovely comment you left.

Kerry..........hope hubby enjoyed his beans on toast in place of the pork he was supposed to have.........lol!!! I hope you told him that it was my fault.....again.

I am sooooooo ready for bed now. Going out to work every day is tiring me out.....lol!!! I think the last time I went to bed before midnight was when I was twelve.

The pain from the abcess is nearly gone now so I am hoping for a decent night tonight.

Catch you later

Sheila-x-

Me Poor Neglected Blog!!!

I am so sorry for being such a lacksadaisical blogger at the moment. I just don't seem to have enough hours in the day lately.
I could have blogged yesterday but we had a bit of a special day here to celebrate. It was our 31st wedding anniversary. Hubby surprised me by having the biggest and most beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to me at work and then when I got home he cooked us a lovely meal. I couldn't eat the steak he had planned for me as I have had an abcess under my tooth again but he cooked me a lovely piece of chicken instead. It was still very painful to eat but I did at least manage some of it. He had booked the day off so that he could do some jobs for me too so it was a really lovely day.



Anyway before I went to work yesterday the postie delivered me some new stamp sets from Tandastamps. One of the sets was the new Flower Set 3 by Kim Harrison and that is what I have used for the card above. There are eight stamps on this sheet.
I have used the lily image which I think is just gorgeous with those lovely tendrils hanging down. I know the colours I have used are not true to life but I really am rubbish at colouring so decided to do something a bit different.
The card is a trifold card with a half circle cut from one of the sections which folds over the front.
The papers used are DCWV.
The flower has been stamped onto a piece of plain turquoise and cut out leaving all the tendrils intact. These were glittered using Stickles Diamond. I then stamped and embossed a second lily onto some white vellum using Versamark and silver EP.
That was cut out removing all the tendrils and attached with a glue dot.
I have added a stamped flower border to the vertical striped paper using another stamp from the set.
This really is a lovely set of stamps and if you haven't visited the Tandastamps website before or if you haven't visited for some time, you really need to go and check out all the new stamp sets available. There are a couple of new designers with their first sets just being launched so go and take a look at what is on offer.



I need to go and check out the new dare over at DCM and see if I can squeeze in a bit of time to do that and then I need to get a couple of cards ready for tomorrow and also have a think about what I am going to do with the new Racing Set from Tandastamps which I shall work with tomorrow if I get chance.
I need to go and have a bit of peace in the bath first though as the dog has been driving me nuts tonight barking at every little noise and needing ten times more attention than he usually does. Hubby is home now so he can Smudge sit while I go and soak for ten minutes.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-

DCM-Purple,Holey, Torn Christmas

At last I have managed to finish my card for this weeks dare over at DCM. It's only a simple one as I have been rather busy this weekend DIY'ing.

I have stamped a holly background using a Magenta stamp and Versmark ink which I left to dry for a watermarked effect.

I then stamped and embossed the holly in silver onto a tag cut from spotted lilac paper and painted it using the pearlised watercolours from The Works.

Once dry I glued the tag to a piece of card and cut it out then punched the corners using an EK Success corner punch.

The two torn pieces of paper have been edged with a silver pen.

The tag has then been tied to the card so that it swings free.

Another fabulous dare.......thanks girls.

Well as I said I have been busy DIY'ing this weekend. I had stripped one side of the bathroom door and just needed to do the other side. What a nightmare it turned out to be. It has taken me six hours to get all the paint off one side. I don't know what they painted it with whoever did it but I think they really meant it to stay on there.

Anyway once the paint was off all I wanted to do was bring the door inside and put it on a card. It looked just like a distressed background done with the Tim Holtz ink pads. There was a gorgeous green and a mustard yellow with dashes of brown and beige. It must be years of undercoats and primers or something but it's gorgeous whatever it is.

Hubby will now be in charge of doing the sanding and then I get it back for priming, undercoating and glossing but that will have to be next weekend now as I am at the shop all week.

Well I have a couple of orders I need to get done for tomorrow so I suppose I had best get on with those and then more prep for Totnes. First stop though has to be a bath as I stupidly wore my Crocs while stripping the paint and bits have fallen through the holes so I have like half a doors worth of paint stuck between my toes.........yuck!!!

Bye for now

Sheila-x-

Thank Gawd It's Friday!!!

Actually my title should read 'Thank Gawd It's Saturday' seeing as how I just missed posting on Friday night........just doesn't have the same ring to it though does it?
I was hoping to have some new cards to post tonight as I have been dabbling a bit today but the two that are nearest to completion still need that elusive something just to finish them off.
I also had a look at the DCM dare for this week and am playing around with some ideas for that one. It's a real toughie this week which includes the colour purple,holes and Christmas. What a combination. As usual though it will be great fun.
If you haven't tried any of the dares yet I can highly recommend them. They really are fun and often push you to try things outside your comfort zone.



I am posting archive cards again........sorry.
These two cards show what can be done with some paper scraps and leftover peeloff corners.

I do use a lot of peeloff lines for edging but very rarely use the corners that come on the sheets of my favourite very thin lines. As you can imagine they do build up into quite a collection so last year I decided to do something with them rather than store them or throw them away. This card is a right old mish mash of various bits and bobs I had in a box.

The paper was from Woodware and I started off with the teabag folded piece which I edged in silver corners and embellished with gems.

The six pointed piece was made by laying silver corners around a circle and then cutting around them to make a backing for the teabag rosette.

This was then laid onto a circle of silver mirror card and then attached to a half circle of the paper.

The circle was completed with silver snowflakes.

It's not something I would make usually but it was a bit of a challenge to myself to see what I could come up with.

This one is the same layout with the half circle and snowflakes but this time I laid peeloff corners around a larger circle and then cut around the shape to make a background for this beautiful Santa which is a stamp from Rubbadubbadoo.
I can't remember who the holly paper is made by. It was one of my favourites over a couple of years but I have now run out of it.

Well I have quite a busy week next week. Deb who owns the craft shop is off on holiday so I will be at the shop Tuesday to Saturday. There won't be any workshops but I have a list of jobs I want to get done such as a new window display and a bit of cleaning in corners that don't get done in a normal week. Hopefully they will get done in a couple of days and then I can wreak havoc on the shop stock and make loads of card samples for workshops. By Thursday I will most probably be falling asleep in my tea when I get home......lol!!!
When Deb gets back we are going to start opening six days a week so I will be doing an extra day permanently then.
Some of the extra money I will earn next week has already been spent....lol!!! I had put the Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge on my wish list and as luck would have it Deb was ordering from that supplier on Tuesday and it has arrived already. I may have to have a play with that this weekend. We also had some more scrummy BG Christmas papers so I just had to add some of those to my stash.



Right well I am off to catch a few zeds as I want to be up early in the morning. DH is off to help a friend with some turf laying and DD and DS will both be in bed having come in from night shifts. Once I get a few household jobs out of the way I should have a pretty peaceful day up until about 5pm when they will start wanting feeding.
Bye for now
Sheila-x-