Busy times ahead

Hello all,
First I must say welcome to the latest followers,  thank you so much for joining us.  I hope we can get to know each other and share some fun times.
Okay, before I start I have something I need to say.    At this moment my life is extremely busy as the house is being de-cluttered, spring cleaned (Ok don't panic, I know it's summer!) and then decorated.  I need to have it made easier for me now so decluttering is a must!  Unfortunately, as most of you know, I suffer 24/7 pain with my back and all this is going to take it out of me for a while. 
So you may find a post missing now and again or the posts may be very short on words, but the cards should still keep coming as crafting is my way to relax and destress.
Now that's over, let's get on with todays card.

I was looking at the cards I'd made the other day and I spotted my CAS (clean and simple) ones and I was so happy with how they came out that I decided to have a go at another one.  So todays card is just that, Clean and Simple but with lots of layers.   I hope you like it.

    
I used the lovely LOTV (Lily of the Valley) Special Day stamp and I chose this because it fitted so well within the overall design.  This is a lovely stamp set to use as you can write in the month and year of the Special Day and circle the actual day.  There is another circular stamp in the set and also several greeting stamps too for a very reasonable price.  They fit so well within alot of the Spellbinders or Marianne dies.

I embossed the background with a Cricut polka dot embossing folder and cut the edge shape with Spellbinders Labels 20.   The patterned paper and first blue matt were cut with Nellie Snellen dies and the top blue matt was cut with an X Cut die (I will update this with the names as soon as I can get to them).  The final circular matt was cut with the middle sized Spellbinders small circles.

Some of you have asked about the sizes of my cards, so here is a rough guide to help you:
Larger squares:-  7x7" or 8x8" 
Smaller squares:-   6x6"
Tent cards:-   6x8"   However todays was 5.5 x7.5" (it suited this style better)
Larger cards (8x10"  (but, again, the style/layout may alter that slightly).

Ok, that's it for today, its gone 4am and I am shattered now so I am off to bed.  Have a fabulous crafty day.  I will try to finish my blog rounds and my emails this weekend also.  Linda xx

I'll be back.......!!!

Sorry all, I meant to say I'm back.....LOL!   I was having a Terminator moment there.   If only aye! They could just slide in a new spine and I'd be off and running.   Look out world, here comes the Bionic Terminator........... nah, don't fancy having to shoot people, I will stick with good old 'Bionic Woman'  (Lynsey Wagner was better looking anyway!!)
Ok enough of my sillyness;  this is what happens when I am left to my own devices for too long:  I craft,  watch a bit of TV on my laptop and then start talking to myself.  'Do you?'  'Yes I do!'  'I'd stop that if I was you, they'll be putting you in a straight jacket next.'  'Who will? Theres no one here but me.'   'And me!'   'Who are you?'   'You of course, you silly woman.  You're going a bit doolally on the quiet!'   'What do you mean on the quiet, I'm telling the world about this'   rofl :D   ha ha ha (sorry still laughing at myself)  ....Actually, that's not a good sign is it?   Bad joke aye..................!  :(   Not laughing now.
Sorry world, I really have got my silly head on.  If you find that really stupid, please, please forgive me and move quickly on to my card, well actually it's not technically a card, it's a tag.  Whichever, here it is:-

I used Maroon card for the base and topped it with a piece of Mariposa paper from the DCWV paper stack.  I chose carefully where to cut the paper so the embossed bird would sit behind my cage when I had finished.  I then cut out a spare bird and two butterflies from the same piece of paper and decoupaged them as shown.  The birdcage was diecut from mirri and orange card with a Marianne die, the orange one then cut directly down the middle.  This allowed the orange to show above and to the side of the whole diecut when glued; each half slightly offset, beneath.

The semicircle braid is hand crocheted and the rolled flowers are made from half thickness of bias binding, with the rosette flowers being stitched and ruched from a 1inch piece of grosgrain ribbon (all handmade by me).  A button with twine and threads is added to finish.
Using another piece of grosgrain ribbon in orange, I pulled out the threads and used them to make a tassle.  Finally I stamped out my sentiment onto strips of paper and trimmed the ends to form banner points.   Small gold brads were added to these to coordinate with the gold embossing on the paper.
I was going to distress it all a bit but it looked nice the way it was and so I left it alone for a change.

STAMPING TIP
I have a little tip for you now:-   If you want to use the words on a phrase stamp seperately but they are too close together to just cut between when stamped the best way I have found to do it (as I have done on my tag) is to use masking tape.
1. Tape over unwanted words, leaving the required word exposed (if the tape won't stick to the stamp properly, make the tape long enough to stick over the stamp and onto the block, both sides).
2.  Ink that word, remove the masking tape carefully and set aside.
3. Stamp the word onto the card.
4.  After stamping, clean and dry stamp.
5.  Using the same masking tape cover the next lot of unwanted words.
6.  Repeat  steps 2- 5 as required.
NOTE  If you have words that are not in straight lines, just use smaller bit of tape at angles to cover all unnecesary bits.

This is a fab way to use alot of your phrase or poem stamps and split them across a card front or even between the front and inside too.  One of my favourite ways is to use the seperated words on tiny bunting across a card.   Have a practice and play with them to find new ways for yourself, it good fun.

Well that's it for the tag.  I hope you enjoyed the change of direction today.  But before I leave you I found this on a blog I was reading yesterday and just had to post it to give you a little giggle for the day.   I do hope it brings a smile to your face for the day.   Big hugs Linda xx