Ooak - Organized Chaos

Not been around for a while.

2009-06-16T03:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't posted in ages mainly because I just don't seem to have had time and I haven't had much to blog about. (There hasn't been much crafting going on either.)
Most of my time has been taken up with running the house and trying to walk my 10k steps a day, which is actually harder than it sounds. It's only 5 miles but sometimes it might as well be 50, lol. Between diet and walking I have managed to get my BMI down from 44 to 30 and my physical health has greatly improved.
So just a little catch up will blog again soon.
Shaz X

I got a job.

2008-09-18T03:33:00.000-07:00

Hi, just a quick update.
Well I briefly mentioned that I was looking for a job. And I GOT ONE!!!! The very first job I applied for as well! I went for an interview on Monday and I thought it had gone OK, and they said they would let me know on the Tuesday morning. When the call hadn't come by lunch time I thought that's it then, it had been good experience (my first interview in 20 yrs and all that) and I'd do better next time. But I got a call in the afternoon asking me to come in for an informal chat about a different job so I hurried down there and I was offered that job there and then.
And now I'm a bit shell shocked, I really didn't think it would be that easy, especially because I was looking for a complete career change and I didn't quite meet the required criteria. But I am so excited. I won't be able to start until the required CRB check has been done which will take about 6 weeks but that will give me time to get organized. I can't wait.

OMG

2008-09-13T04:17:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's 3 months since I last posted. Were does the time go? I haven't done much crafting in the past few months either.
Most of my time has been taken up with catching up with friends and family, home improvements and looking for a new job. I was suppose to start a college course last week but I had a problem with funding so that has had to be postponed until next September. So I decided to at least get a part-time job to tide me over. And I have a couple of interviews lined up. So wish me luck and I'll update soon.

Freebie Paper. CPS #67

2008-06-16T00:44:00.000-07:00

I printed the paper for this card a couple of weeks ago, it is from the FREE 'Echoes of Asia Kit' by Jessica Sprague. I printed it on textured off white/cream extra thick paper which gave a really nice rich finish. I cut the top card out and using a rubber stamp and Stazon printed the sentiment. Then I made 2 more the same size and simply matted and layed everything up with bits from my stash.

Round Card? CPS #66

2008-06-16T00:35:00.000-07:00

I know it might seem a little odd but I have this real aversion to round cards, lol. I don't know why but I just can't seem to get my head round them (no pun intended). So this is my take on the CPS #66 Challenge. The paper comes from a Partners paper pack and as always everything else is from my stash. I used the new Docrafts Multishaper in the Honour design to cut the circles.

Thank You Card. CPS #63

2008-06-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

This is a thank you card I made for my sister. It was made using paper from an old Anna Griffin Kit, some mulberry flowers (they look like a little rosette), ribbon and brads from my stash. The thanks is cut using a Quickcutz die.

A little bird told me..........

2008-06-15T23:51:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite makes of late. (I think it was the CPS #60 Challenge.) All the paper came from The Pocket Full Of Posies Mat Stack. I used Stazon to stamp the Home and Heart bird rubberstamp on some scraps of patterned paper. And the rest was pretty much straight forward, I cut a lacy border from some white card and just matted and layered everything up on a bright orange card with bits from my scrap box.

At Last Time to Blog.

2008-06-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

Finally, I have managed to find time to blog. Been a bit busy the past few weeks trying to make some headway in changing my career. Chasing up courses, finding voluntary work and updating my CV. You wouldn't believe how time consuming all this can be. And, you wouldn't believe how slow people can be to respond to enquiries, especially when it comes to volunteering, you would think that when an organization depends on volunteers that they would be a little better at correspondence.
So consequently there has been no blogging going on and very little crafting. I have done a couple of the CPS challenges and made a special Baby Boy Keepsake (above) for a friend of mine. I'll blog the cards over the weekend with a bit of luck.
Bfn Sharon.

Keepsake Cards.

2008-04-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie. Had a couple of orders for Personalized Keepsake Cards and thought you might like a look. I do quite a few of these, people seem to really like them. Ttfn.

CPS #59 'Hybrid'.

2008-04-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,
I finally have something to blog. Hubby has been off work the past couple of weeks so haven't had much time for anything. I don't know why it is but when he is at home I can't seem to get anything done. Anyway back to challenge.
I don't really understand 'hybrid' as the computer has always been a big part of my crafting. The very first card I made used backing paper that I designed on the computer and printed off. And I have always printed a lot of the sentiments.
I have spent the last couple of days trawling the Internet and found lots of places to get fab 'FREE' paper packs. (I'll add some links for a few of my favourites.)
This card was made using the 'Cherry Blossoms Kit' from Peachy Keen Designs, even the shoe. I like the kits this lady makes as a lot of the elements are on one page so there is a lot less paper wastage. So I simply printed off 3 different backing papers which I cut to size, inked the edges and matted and layered with a little silver card. The sentiment I printed with 'Black Stazon'. I printed off an elements sheet and cut the shoe out which I went on to ink the edges in black and added a little glitter glue and added to the card with sticky pads. I finally added some paper flowers and brads from my stash.

No Time.

2008-03-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Sadly there hasn't been any time for crafting or blogging over the past week, all I've managed are these booties which I make to order.
I make a few different types of keepsake, they are a bit boring to do but they help fund my crafting addiction. I will never get rich making them but they will keep me out of bankruptcy court,LOL.

The sympathy card is for a family friend who lost his wife just before Easter. I always find sympathy cards a real challenge. I'm not even sure they do any good. But I suppose it's better than doing nothing.

CPS #56

2008-03-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! This is my card for this weeks CPS Challenge. As you can see nice, bright and cheery.
This card was made with papers from the DCWV Pocket Full of Posies Mat Stack and Cuttlebug Die Cuts. The lace, brads and peel-offs are just basics from my stash. The printed image which you can just see in the bottom corner was printed using Stamp and Stick Gluepad and just dusted over with some Cosmic Shimmer.

'I'm A Laydeee.....'

2008-03-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

Feeling a little better this morning, had a good nights sleep which always helps. So thought I'd tackle the 'Sunday Stamper Challenge', which is 'I'm A Laydeee...'.
I won this stamp a couple of weeks ago on Ebay and I had planned to use it to make an anniversary card for my poor long suffering hubby. (Recons he's always skint because I spend all our money on craft stuff, LOL.) Anyway when I saw the challenge I immediately thought of it.
I first printed the butterflies on white card using Tattered Rose Distress Ink and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. Then I masked the butterflies over and used Tea Die Distress Ink and a crumpled piece of kitchen paper to distress the whole area where I was going to print the image. I printed the image using Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next I took a piece of off white linen effect card from my scrap box and cut it to size for layering, then on the reverse side I used more crumpled kitchen paper and the Tattered Rose Ink to distress the edges and I roughly dragged the Vintage Photo Die Pad over the edges to give a really irregular effect. I added some photo corners brads and an eyelet. The backing paper is out of my stash and is from K&Co I found some contrasting papers in an DCWV Old World Mat Stack and I just matted and layered the whole thing up and added a piece of lace also from my stash.

Home Made Photographic Light Tent.

2008-03-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

To keep myself busy this afternoon I decided to try and figure out how to take better photographs of my cards, they are looking a little sad. And after careful blog searching I found a tutorial on how to make a light tent, after a little search of the house I found everything I needed to make one and that's what I did. Another tip I found is not to take the photograph flat on. And just look at the difference. So I've changed one of the photographs I'll probably end up changing the lot.

How Depressing.

2008-03-15T02:49:00.000-07:00

No cards today just a little chat.
I had a hospital appointment yesterday afternoon and my husband and I decided to make a day of it. A little shopping and a couple of drinks in the city centre. Now bear in mind even though we ran a pub for 20 years I am not much of a drinker. I go out maybe half a dozen times a year and I never drink at home. And my husband has very little tolerance for alcohol these days.
So I bought a lovely pair of shoes then we headed off for a drink. There's a nice little pub called the Poste House off Victoria Street that gets a really mixed crowd, has a good atmosphere and the drinks are reasonably priced. So we had a lovely time we only had 4 drinks each so I was a little merry and my husband was a bit closer to drunk. Now your thinking there is nothing remarkable about that and there isn't, the rub comes this morning when I get up almost suicidal.
Does anyone else feel like that after having a drink? I am wondering if it is a chemical thing? It's not a hangover no headache or upset tummy or anything just really really low. I noticed the last couple of times I have been out ending up feeling like this. If it is the same as last time it will last for about a week. But it should start to ease by about Wednesday. I tried walking the depression off last time but it didn't really help. I know from previous experience it will pass but that doesn't help when you are feeling this low.
I don't think the week after is worth it anymore, I think it is probably time to drop the booze altogether.
Anyway enough, time for my walk.

More CPS Challenges

2008-03-13T11:25:00.001-07:00

CPS #55

2008-03-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

Now I know I said I wasn't a great fan of the oriental theme but when I was looking for a stamp I found this Tiger Lily Stamp which just happens to be one of my favourites and I decided to incorporate it in the CPS challenge.
I love the effect you get when you stamp the image on linen effect paper so I stamped the image on card from the DCWV Far East Stack which is textured. The little oval plate is cut using a Cuttlebud Die out of card from the same pack and stamped with a little chinese dragon. Finally I simply matted and layered everything up (using more card from the same pack)on a cream card and added some cream ribbon and some flatback pearls.

Oriental Theme.

2008-03-12T03:58:00.000-07:00

Hi,
This was the very first set of stamps I ever bought, they are from the Stick'n'Stamp range from Rubbadubbadoo. I am not a great fan of the oriental theme and I know some people love it, but it is everyone to their own, so when I saw the 'Sunday Stamper Challenge' I decided it had to be a quick make. And you couldn't get a quicker make than this it took all of about 10 minutes.
First of all I masked off a strip of red paper and printed it with the dragon image I used each inking up three times so I got different depths of colour. Then I edged where I'd masked with gold peel-offs and cut to size. Next I printed the Geisha image on black satin finish card and heat embossed in gold and cut out. I cut a large gold mirror card circle and cut 1/3 off. Finally I inked the edges of a black card, assembled and added three coin charms.

Altered Book Mark.

2008-03-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,
As you may have guessed I didn't get much time to blog or craft for that matter during the past week. This b****y computer went on the blink and had to be taken back to factory settings. This meant that I lost loads of files including most of my music. I had to spend 2 days trying to retrieve everything and only got back some of it, and I am absolutely gutted that I have probably lost some of the music forever. So that was my week gone.
I bought these plastic oversized paperclips last year and had no idea what to do with them so when I got some alcohol inks through the post this morning, I was a bit dubious as I hadn't used anything like them before, I decided to give them a go on one. I played round with them all morning and WOW you can't go wrong with them they are absolutely fool proof, can't wait to have a go at something else.

More Stamped Cards.

2008-03-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd show you a couple more cards I managed to make this week using stamps.

'Man Oh Man' Sunday Stamper Challenge.

2008-03-03T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hi,
This is my interpretation of the Sunday Stamper 'Man Oh Man' challenge. When I first read the challenge I nearly fell off my chair laughing, I thought this is going to be fun, the only stamp I have with a male image on it is a Christmas stamp with Father Christmas on it. But after a little search, and to my surprise, I found I had a few that would have been suitable and I settled on this one.
It's another one from Rubbadubbadoo and I printed it with Stazon to help get a really sharp image. Once I cut around the image using a Sizzix Die I inked the edges up with a Versamark pen and I went over the whole thing with some chalk and an ink pad to help age it. The wording and the seal are just printed and heat embossed. The little castle in the bottom corner was printed using a Versamark watermark pad and chalked to give colour. I wanted a backing paper that looked really old and I found this one in my stash, I thinks is from DCWV Once Upon a Time range and I just inked up the edges with an ink pad. I finally just matted and layered everything up with black card.

My first stamped project in years.

2008-02-25T07:37:00.000-08:00

So I get up this morning with all my new found enthusiasm for stamping to find that my new ink pads are on the step. I had took a look at the Sunday Stamper Challenge yesterday and found that the theme is 'Time'.
Now, I don't have many stamps and I haven't seen most of them in years and I wasn't sure I would have anything suitable. But with further inspection I found a Rubbadubbado Inspirations sheet which just happened to have a couple of time pieces on it, perfect.
The timer I printed and heat embossed in gold on the textured side of some cream hammered card and shaded around the image with chalk and I added a little more colour with some pencils. The face came from the same set and I just printed this on some paper that looks like old cracking paint.
I found the backing paper in a pack of K&Co. Life's Journey which I just tore to fit my card and inked up the edges.
The wording I remembered from a bumper sticker and I printed this up on the computer.
And finally I matted everything up and added brads and peel-offs from my stash and added a couple of contrast paper corners.

Inspiring Coincidences.

2008-02-24T15:27:00.000-08:00

Hi,
Well there I was the other day thinking I had spent way too much, again, on craft stuff and wondering what happend to the part of my New Years resolution about cutting back on unnecessary spending. Now being fair to myself I hadn't spent on anything other than necessities up until last week then I lost the plot a bit. I ordered some ink pads, a couple of rubber stamps, some Mod Podge glue stuff and a die. Non of which were particulary expensive but they add up. I ordered the items because when I first started cardmaking I was quite into rubberstamping until the paper piecing took over and I decided I wanted to have another go (I still have some stamping items sitting idle) and the Mod Podge is for an altered art project that I've had in mind since Christmas and still haven't got around to. Then I was on the CSF yesterday and I came across the link Jackys' 'Wacky Stamp Heaven' and I was really inspired. I had forgot how fab and individual stamped projects could be. I just adore the photo quality stamps.
Then there I was today checking out a couple of the challenge blogs only to find that CCC's challenge is about stamping too.
So I am setting myself a new personal challenge which is try to make at least one card a week using stamping and to get back on track with my spending.
I'll let you know how I get on.

My Stuff.

2008-02-24T04:16:00.001-08:00

Another challenge completed.

2008-02-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

Oooo! I have been quite productive today. My computer went on the blink so I had to fiddle about with it to sort the problem out so while I was scanning for viruses which takes forever I completed a couple of challenges. This is my version of the CCC's 'Blues, Browns and Buttons' challenge. The paper is from the DCWV Retro Paper Stack and the other bits are, as always, from my stash.

Mixed Challenge.

2008-02-22T09:51:00.000-08:00

This is my attempt at the CPS '#52' challenge and the Daring Cardmakers 'Oh sooo juicy' challenge.

The orange paper I used for the mats came from (my fave) DCWV 'Pocket Full Of Posies' paper stack. On the rear mat I went over the design with a 'Sakura Tiara' pen in an orangy colour to give the pattern a little more depth and added a corner die-cut (Cuttlebug) in lemon. I edged the forward mat with a lemon 'Souffle' pen. The lemon paper, ribbon, prima flowers and brads are basics from my stash.

CPS #51

2008-02-21T12:37:00.000-08:00

I have to confess I am definately addicted to card challenges. I only found the CPS challenge blog recently and from there I have found at least a dozen others I visit a couple of times a week. I even joined a second Birthday List (CraftyC's) to help use up some of the cards. This my version of the CPS #51 challenge.
I made this card using paper from an Anna Griffin QVC special value pack I bought a couple of years ago. (This is a magic pack as I use it all the time but it never runs out. lol) The printed image actually came from a free font I found recently on dafont.com. After cutting the paper to size and sticking it to the card I roughed up the edges with a sanding block and coloured them with a matching ink pad (also Anna Griffin). The flatbacks and ribbon are basics from my stash.