Electrical things Suicide week

Why do electrical things all go wrong at the same time? First it was the dishwasher, we have had it about two and a half years, it had a two year warranty and we had the engineer out several times to try and fix the same problem it has now - he never did fix it completely! So we decided it wasn't worth spending money on it if it carries on doing the same thing so a new one is on the way tomorrow!

Then my brand new printer bought a couple of weeks ago jammed. I was printing photos to cut out on my Craft Robo to finish my son's graduation exploding box, he graduated a month ago but my old printer wasn't printing properly and I am using photos from the graduation. He will be home to collect some stuff to move into his new flat this weekend, and I wanted to print off some bigger photos and frame them for him too.
I contacted Epson and two days later they got back and told me to take it to an Express Centre, as listed on their website. I looked and there is a local one but I will have to carry it quite a way from the car to the shop, and back and it is heavy and I don't want to drop it! I am on my own this weekend too. I am to phone them first and make sure they have the same model in stock to be able to replace it. I sent an email back to Epson saying I am not impressed as this is not a budget printer, the last printer I had developed a problem and they sent an engineer out who replaced it and it was fine for years. If it was a cheap light printer it would be fine. I don't know if they will be any more help though. I also emailed PC World today as I bought it from them online but they are not listed as an Express Centre, if I could take it back to the one not far from work I could drive it there and not have to carry it far, in fact they would probably come and get it out the car for me. So I will have to wait and see if I get a favourable response from them or Epson!

The alarm clock decided to join in a couple of nights ago, it went off just before midnight, I accused Hubby, but he denied it. Then last night it went off twice around midnight and then didn't go off this morning. I thought it was my son this time as Hubby was to take him to the airport in the middle of the night, but when I checked the alarm times (there are two of them) are still set on what they were and not altered, so why did they go off and will it happen tonight?
Deep joy - another disturbed night if it does!

Haunted House

Another Halloween card, this time a Sizzix die cut house with Woolworth stickers, and the card front is cut so the house overlaps giving a more 3d look!

Happy Halloween

Here is my second ever Halloween card. Probably a bit late to sell these for charity for this year, maybe not!

I just have to get them to my friend in the London office and they may go!

Boo card

I had these brilliant Halloween eyelets in a mystery parcel, they were just crying out to be used!

So this is my first Halloween card ever. I took two versions, I am not sure which is the best but the one with the shine shows the detail better!

Before new drawers:













After new drawers:

This is my craft room before the new drawers arrived and after I had put them in place and started filling them.

You probably can't tell the difference but I am in mid re-organisation of the stuff! It doesn't feel like having all those extra drawers has made a lot of difference so far - in fact before looks tidier so far! Maybe I need to sell more stuff!

Snowman card

This jolly snowman card is for a challenge but I don't think it is good enough. I may enter it if I don't have time for another!

My first Christmas card this year

Here is my latest creation for a challenge on the Crafts By Carolyn forum. The challenge was a Christmas card using only black and white! I didn't think this would work but I am pleased with it. The girl is a UM stamp called Holly, I stamped holly corners, mounted Holly on black metallic card and cut holly leaves from the same, added a white feather, black bow, gem berries and a heart, and some black ric rac. I think this should go to someone special!

New challenge card and printer probs

This card is for a distressed and worn challenge and is my first attempt at distressed proper! I used a Hero Arts stamp with some travel paper that I can't recall the source of, ribbon and a chipboard buckle, and sepia ink pad wiped onto cream hammered card for an aged effect (hopefully).

I have left a gap at the bottom for a greeting when I decide who is getting this card, I think it will be for my son's girlfriend's birthday that is soon as they are going on two holidays afterwards!

I was thinking of trying to print a greeting on Safmat to rub on the chipboard, but I forgot the printer is out of ink, and I haven't bought more because I think it is faulty and as it costs about £68 to refill and extra if I try cleaning cartridges first I am going to buy a new one. The trouble is I can't decide which one to get out of about 5! I am tempted to go for an A3 printer but then I don't know what I would do with A3 size photos. Some of them print on thick media so that has tempting possibilities for crafting, one has a gold award but is not an A3 printer and doesn't print thick media. Epson has a good review but the print heads aren't changeable and that is what is wrong with my current one, after only a few years it is heading for landfill! HP and Canon do printers with replaceable print heads, and they have good reviews too.
The prices vary between £200 and £450, but I need one now.

Children do not listen, my 29 year old son didn't! He was looking to book a holiday and needed to print the confirmation. I said if you print anything change it to black and white! He printed first then asked if I could change it to black and white as it wouldn't print the second page - by then he had used the last drop of cyan and once any colour has emptied Epson's stop printing even if you set it to black! That is another thing I don't like about them! Put another colour in says DS, I don't have any I said! Flippin Heck, I told him to do it for a reason, now we can't print anything until I get a new printer - better make that decision I suppose!

Do you like my slide show?

I saw one on another blog, and I thought I would give it a go. When it first posted it was just another post but when I put it on the side it is slightly squashed up! I love the layout and colours I have now so I am reluctant to change to a different one to get it in.

What do you think, is it annoying or do you like it? Should I try a different layout?
I could move it lower down the side, that would be easy then it wouldn't be right in your face.

Great giveaway

I just heard of a great blog candy giveaway, just hot foot it over to rattytatty's blog, and leave a comment to be eligible for the draw!

Stamp reorganisation

I managed to sort out some of my mounted stamps today. They were already mostly in Tuff boxes, but I have now rearranged them on the shelf so they all fit, labelled them with the Dymo and photographed the contents so I can find them easily.

Just have all the non wood mounted ones to do now!

If you want to see the pictures of the stamps look on the Crafts Beautiful blog - link is at the right hand side!

this is probably the last card for the red, white and black challenge on Paper Craft Junkies forum, and I used shrink plastic and traced the pattern from the DCWV paper using Sakura Glaze pen before shrinking, edged it with red Marvy brush marker, threaded fibres through corner holes and mounted it on black then red card with black eyelets. The fibres went through the eyelets.

This was mounted on to the bottom corner of the card so the pattern on the paper can be seen, and the plastic has the image in negative. Finally the sentiment was stamped with Stampendous Window box stamps with black pigment ink and black glass effect Heat it Up embossing powder. The final embellishements were more of the fibre down the fold of the card and a Queen and Co black heart gem in the bottom left corner which is a bit hard to see!

This is another red, white and black card for the challenge. It is the first time I have made an acetate card, although I have used acetate with peel offs as an embellishment or window previously. I used Stazon black with Stampendous acrylic window box stamps (not to be recommended as you shouldn't use alcohol or you could damage the stamps), coloured in the red with permanent peel off pens and added some gem flowers and a butterfly. I put a white hammered card blank in the middle and punched a hole through both to thread the ribbon through and tie in a bow. The ribbon was from Joanna Sheen and is a sheer red ribbon with silver glitter hearts on it.

Red black and white challenge

I made this card for the next Papercraft Junkies challenge to make a card using only red white and black. This is similar to a card I did before. I hope to make some different cards to enter in the challenge soon.

I am on holiday this week but so is my Hubby! We thought about going away for a few days but he now has a cold, so it looks unlikely at the moment! I would like to be left to my own devices to make lots of cards but I doubt I will get away with that!


I also added a bit of glitter to the card I made yesterday which I thought enhanced it a bit.

Too late but here it is anyway!

Well I just made this card for the latest challenge on Paper Craft Junkies, it was use a letter or letters. I stayed up making it, designed and cut with the Robo and decorated with letters and daisies. I uploaded it and then saw the winner had already been selected! The challenges start on Monday morning at 8 am, or so it says, and last a week. Which I make tomorrow at 7:59 am! The next challenge is already loaded.

My day today

I was at a conference in a hotel where I stayed the night. The conference was good and finished at 4 so as I was near to Lakeland shop and a health shop I needed to visit I did that before driving home.

Bought a few things in Lakeland, some crafty some for the house and kitchen!

I bought a mini dougnut silicone "pan", for making pendants with my melt pot and UTEE I hope, I was looking for one for ages and tried to get one from the USA, but when I walked into the shop there it was! £9.99 so not cheap but I thought I would get it. Also bought a teeny tag set with tags, card squares to layer, and foil printed letters, with fibres and ribbons. I also bought a box of blooms, I have tons of them but these were spotty ones!
Got three boxes of glue dots, by two get third free. I also bought a pad of Dovecraft designer Christmas paper - I really should make some Christmas cards as I have tons of stash for them! Finally for crafting I bought some mini icecream spoons which I figured would come in for glitters and powders!

The rest was boring household stuff! I spent over £50 so it would have been better to do it online as I would have got free postage and a free gift!

I won a card making challenge whoo hooo

I won a card making challenge on Paper Craft Junkies forum this week, the theme was something old and something new. I submitted a few cards for this challenge, including this triplets card that won!
I am so thrilled, I have won competitions before but not for my cards! This was was a card I made for a lady who had triplets and was posting on the Crafts Beautiful forum, she told us she was pregnant and kept us posted on that, then was really surprised to be told it was twin girls, but then was called back urgently to be told there was a third heartbeat and she had three little girls as well as one she has already!

Parcel

Another parcel from the USA! I had to collect it as they didn't leave it in my parcel safe, which was annoying as it fitted with room to spare! The other item to sign for couldn't be found, the woman in the collection office said she would ask the Postman when he got back and get him to bring it round for me! I hope she does as it is difficult to get there during the week and I may have to wait until next Saturday!

I got some nice goodies, the main item was a Tim Holtz alcohol inks tin tote, which has room for 28 bottles, so my 6 look a bit lost. It has room for the applicator and spare pads too, but I don't think I will get the metallic and mixer bottles in too. I also ordered some papers, chipboard glittery red letters, a Heidi Swap mask, some brads, Heidi Swap blooms and chipboard flowers. Disappointingly the chipboard flowers that go with the papers I ordered were missing from the parcel and two of the four sheets of Junkitz papers were not the ones in the photograph, and I would not have ordered them. Also some of the brads are Clementine in colour which I didn't appreciate, as the photo showed green, white and black ones and though I can see there is an orange dot in the description and perhaps I should have realised that Clementine meant the colour not the range!

I also had some more Rubbadubbadoo stamps arrive, I bought mostly the reduced ones, some Baby ones, Christmas, and some words, and a couple of full price background stamps.

Thanks and good Knight!

I made this card to say thanks to someone who was working for me but has transferred to the other part of the team, so hasn't technically left - only my side of the room!

So he didn't get a leaving or good luck card and I thought I should do something to say thanks for all his hard work.

It is stamped with Rubbadubbadoo stamps, stamped with Brilliance copper ink and embossed with Heat it Up copper powder. The knight is matted onto copper paper, using foam pads, and the card is edged with Krylon copper pen which I hope will dry lighter to match!

Theatre blues

A few years ago I worked in an office with a woman who had a small theatre group and asked me to join them. The group consisted of 4 women including me from the office and the mother of one of them.

Once a month we all went straight from work and met up with the others for a meal in a restaurant in Bath, then on to the Theatre Royal to watch a play. We had all voted for the plays we fancied seeing, and the top scoring play was the one we saw.
Then I got promotion to a job that meant I had to work in London for 5 months, then in Bath but travelling to London twice a week. This made it difficult to hook up with the group, in addition one of the group was seriously ill and had to have major surgery and "Mother" also got ill with cancer I heard.

I was reading the local paper and the reviews of what is on at the Theatre Royal this week and realised how much I miss going, despite the really uncomfortable seating arrangements which was for people born in a time when they were all short! I used to fidget a lot I seem to remember, and tried to be in the end seat for aisle room. If the theatre was not full we could move around as two of us were taller than the others!

I must try and get my Hubby interested in going to see a play!