Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside!!!

I had some lime, yellow and orange card left over from when I did the DCM pocket card the other week and so I thought I would use it up rather than put it in my bit box.
Couldn't think which stamps to use it with and then remembered that I had this lovely Summer Set 1 designed by Kim Harrison for TandaStamps.
I have used a ruler to draw a frame around the card. I just used the width of the ruler rather than measuring specifically and I used a pencil first in case anything went wrong and then went over the lines with a permanent marker pen.
The edges were then masked off and the centre was first chalked and then spattered with black and white acrylic paint in the style of American Folk Art painting.
The beach huts were stamped onto the three colours of card and cut out. I added a little white pencil crayon highlighting to add some depth.
The seagulls were drawn with a white gel pen and then I added slight shading in grey.
I stamped the ice cream cones onto a seperate piece of card and hand painted them using brush markers and a fine paint brush. They have also been finished with a layer of Artists Pearlising Medium to give a touch of sparkle.
I arranged them around the frame and then glued them down using a glue pen.
The dots have been added with a Dottariffic pen in Powder Blue.
The wording was stamped in black ink and coloured then I added the 2007 with a marker pen.
I really enjoyed doing this card even though it was a bit fiddly to cut out all of the ice creams.......but don't you think this would make a fab frame for a photo on a scrapbook page?



Well I have been a bit naughty today and sent DD out to buy a new scanner/printer for when the computer comes. I have an all in one already but only the scanner works and my other printer will only print in black or lime green now. The red just will not print.........I have done no end of cleaning runs etc and it just won't have it.
I got an absolute bargain from Currys and have had another Epson because until mine went kaput I was very impressed with it.


Got a lovely surprise in the post today. A blogging friend in Canada sent me a beautiful card which she had made with a stamp I sent to her and she also sent me a sheet of fashion stamps which are just fabulous. Thank you so much Kim


Wendy McGlinchey has also tagged me with another badge for my blog so I need to see who has it already before I tag another five people.


I am off to do some more stamping as I slept like a log last night and am not the slightest bit tired. Plus I have a million ideas whizzing round in my head which is what I get when I have been sorting stuff out.


Oh......I must just assure Di that the stuff I threw out deserved to be binned. Old dried up ink pads......I always save them thinking they will be useful.......for what I do not know. Papers that must have been printed when Noah was a wee lad and were dog eared and dusty. Some disgusting Christmas embellishments I can't even remember buying and some old catalogues. I promise that none of it was any use to anyone and all the better stuff has been saved.



Night night then.
Sheila-x-

Daring Cardmakers-All Checked Out

Well Hello !! Friday has come round again soooo fast ! Its my turn (Jane) to dare this week. Okay -are you ready ? For my dare you can choose any theme for the card BUT it must incorporate 'Checks', whether it be gingham paper or ribbon or squares, any thing really as long as it incorporates some kind of shape with 4 equal sides....... so go on- I dare you to think outside the square/step out of the box ..............easy as, eh ?!!

It's that time of week again and Jane at DCM is daring us to use checks on our cards as you can see.

I didn't have any checked paper that was up to much so I have used my Da Vinci alphabet stamps to create my checks.

Each one has been stamped individually and coloured with Versamagic chalk ink and then shaded with brush marker ink picked up with a damp paint brush.

They were then formed into a frame and attached over a stamped image of Mona.

I just had to use my new Stampendous Curls & Swirls stamps so they finished off the card quite nicely by making another frame around the main image.

I didn't get to blog last night as DD was being a bossy article and made me take a night off. She will be on a nine night stretch of shifts from tomorrow night so she wanted to spend some time with me.

We watched the DVD of Miss Potter. What a fab film it was. I really enjoyed it.

I've now got a few days to play as I have taken a few days holiday. I can play until Tuesday when the new computer arrives and then I will get that all set up with my favourite programmes so that it is all done before I go back to doing classes.

I also have some painting that needs doing upstairs. Not looking forward to that as although I love the smell of paint, it doesn't love me and gives me dreadful headaches.

Well I am off to find a new book to take up to the bath with me. I have just finished reading Peter Kay's book The Sound Of Laughter. Oh it was just so funny.......I couldn't put it down so I got through it in no time.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sheila-x-

DCM Little Extra and Other Stuff!!!

The DCM Little Extra dare today is to use numbers on our cards.

I needed to make some new job cards so I have used some DCWV number paper from the Black and White stack which I coloured with chalk.

The stamps are from the TandaStamps Vintage Ads and Retro Women ranges.

The sentiment was printed from my computer.

This is one of the cards I have made with the paper I found during my sort out which I thought would go with the TandaStamps medieval stamp sets.

The main image has been stamped in black and coloured with pencils......not my strongest point I must admit.....lol!!!

I have then.....dare I say it......used the Bondaweb with H20 wash technique.

The leather straps are made from a small piece of leatherette paper I had knocking about and I have embellished them with faux stitching.

The same paper has been used here but this time I cut it from a different part of the sheet.

The stamps are once again TandaStamps.

The alphabet at the side is supposed to be chopped up and used as individual letters but I thought I would try it out as a background stamp first.......and I like it so it will be staying like that for the moment.

I have overstamped that with a knight effigy image using Coffee Bean Brilliance.

The medallion is stamped and embossed in black and then rubbed over with the coffee bean ink.

I did want to add fibres to this but didn't have anything suitable so it's just a plain and simple card to send to a 'knight in shining armour' as a thank you card perhaps.

As usual I have made much more mess than neccessary.....lol. I am going to have to tidy up before I can do anything else as I am working in a six inch square of space now and keep knocking stuff off the desk.

DD is sorting tea out so I will go and put my feet up for a few minutes, come back and tidy up and then start all over again.

Catch you later

Sheila-x-

It's That Bondaweb.........Again!!!

Yes I have been messing about with the old Bondaweb again. I do like to get value for money from a product so I do fiddle about and try other things to what I originally bought the item for.

After doing the blue and mauve Christmas card I could see other possibilties for using the technique for antique effects to resemble rusted or corroded metal like the old tin plate advertisement signs. So that is what I have been doing tonight.

My first attempt was the darker card and I started with a piece of mountboard which I coloured with inks from the Colourbox Autumn Pastels Fluid Chalks eight colour ink pad. I used a combination of Creamy Brown and Olive Pastel.

The images from the TandaStamps Vintage Ads Set 2 were stamped in Stazon Jet Black and then a piece of Bondaweb cut slightly larger than the mountboard was heated with a heat gun. You need to make sure that you heat it enough to create holes in the Bondaweb.

Once it had cooled I added a wash of Cinnamon Brown H20 paint which colours in the holes and gives the corroded metal look.

I have mounted it very simply onto a brown card and fixed it with screw effect brads.

The brighter card is exactly the same technique but I have used inks from the Colourbox Primary Pastels Fluid Chalk eight colour ink pad using Yellow Citrus, Lime Pastel and Blue Lagoon with a wash of H20 paint in Orange peel after melting on the Bondaweb.
The single image from Vintage Ads Set 3 has been stamped in Stazon Jet Black and coloured with the same colours plus a touch of Tangerine on the very top edge.

I really enjoyed doing these cards. The stamps are fabulous to work with and I can see me using them a lot.

I shall be making a start on using up some papers tonight and I have some fab text paper which will compliment the Medieval stamps I have from Tandastamps so I think that is what I shall do next and then I am going to do a card for the Little Extra dare at DCM which this week is Numbers.
I hope I manage to stay awake long enough........I feel quite tired today and have the urge to snuggle with my new book.

Catch you later
Sheila-x-

Shellshocked Sheila!!!

Papers from my bit box with punched flowers, brads and ribbon.

More papers from the bit box with Cricut flowers, buttons and rub ons.


Oriental printed card from Habico, Stamp from Creative Expressions.
The image has been embellished with glitter.

• Just a few of the cards I have been making today for the local shop. I wasn't at all tired last night so stayed up for most of the night and made a grand total of thirty nine cards plus a few embellishments to mount on to cards tomorrow.
• I am quite shocked.......it's ages since I produced anything like that amount in a day and they are all new designs as I never go back to a previous design I've done.

• I'm also surprised that I lived through the night to tell any sort of tale at all.......there I was sat minding me own business, working away when all of a sudden there was an almighty bang on the window just in front of where I work. We are talking around 3am when you don't really want anything banging on your window especially when you live out in the sticks and it's creepy enough at night......thank you very much.
• Anyway I screamed and poor old hubby comes dashing down the stairs stark naked thinking I was being murdered. When I had calmed down enough to tell him what had happened he said 'you silly moo......it'll be a bat or something' and right then it happened again and we saw what it was........oh my gawd......it was the biggest moth I have ever seen in my life. It's wing span must have been four inches and talk about meaty. It was flippin' horrible with big glittery eyes. I am so glad there was a window between me and it or I think I would have died on the spot.
• I've never seen anything like it before so I think it must have been a foreign one that maybe got lost on it's way to the ugly bug ball...lol!!!

• Well I hope he won't be coming back tonight because I have to go and tidy up the mess I have made today. It looks like a whirlwind has been through my room and I really don't know how I get in such a mess..

• Hope you all had a nice day today with the bit better weather. We just had a short shower around lunchtime and the rest of the day has been quite nice. It's gone pretty cold now though so I think the heater will have to go on cos me poor toes are cold.

• I am having the same problem as Wendy McGlinchey in finding someone to pass the Rockin' Girl Blogger thing onto as it seems everyone already has them. I shall keep looking.

Bye for now

Sheila