More Flowers

Hi all, hope your Monday has been OK. 

The cards I am sharing with you today took me ages to make, seriously I really mean it!

First I cut a circular aperture from a 12cm x 12cm white card, using my Cuttlebug and one of my circle Nestabilities.  Then I stamped the flower 12 times (3 colours, 4 of each) on plain white card.  Cutting each flower out was more time consuming than fiddly.  I randomly stuck them inside the aperture, joining them by the petals.  Then using a scalloped and then the same circular Nestabilities I made a frame from coloured cardstock, which I adhered around the aperture.  Finally I added some Glossy Accents to the centre of each flower to add some definition.

Ingredients

Card : Craftwork Cards

Cardstock : From collection

Stamp : Candi Stamps - Craftwork Cards

Inks : Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive - Stampin' Up

Glossy Accents

Hope you like it.  The only thing I haven't figured out, is where to write the message!

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

Michelle x

Four Frames

Hi everyone.  Hope all is well with you.  Today I am sharing with you two cards that I made last weekend with the Four Frames stamps and coordinating punch from Stampin' Up.  I loves these stamps, particularly the dotty one (love all things dotty!).  The stamps are so versatile as you can put any sentiment you like in them.

The card blanks were ones I cut myself from a sale pack of A5 card from Craftwork Cards.  They measure 10cm x 10xm - perfect for notecards or thank you cards.

Ingredients

Purple card : Craftwork Cards

Paper : The Bloomsbury Collection - Kanban

Stamp and Punch : Four Frames - Stampin' Up

Ribbon : Grosgrain from collection

Sentiment : Find Joy Every Day - Marion Emberson

Inks : Rich Razzlebery, Old Olive - Stampin' Up

Ingredients

Cream card : Craftwork Cards

Paper : The Canterbury Collection - Kanban

Stamp and Punch : Four Frames - Stampin' Up

Ribbon : Grosgrain from collection

Sentiment : Find Joy Every Day - Marion Emberson

Ink : Tempting Turquoise - Stampin' Up

I'm not generally a fan of Kanban, but I really like these papers.  They are very good quality and the designs are so elegant.

I've planned my next Stampin' Up order and have managed to persuade Mark to buy me something for Mothers Day (I've promised he can keep it until the day and wrap it up!!).  I love the Ink Spots and can't wait to get another set - I think I am going to go for the Subtles this time.  I definitely need to expand my range.

I hope you have managed to sneak in some crafting time today.  I spent the whole morning cleaning up after the dog - there was more mud on the floor than in the garden!  I have managed to spend a couple of hours making cards this afternoon though, so that made up for it.

Chloe seems to have calmed down at night.  She is still howling pathetically, but it's each night it's gets less and less.  I think she has finally got the message (famous last words!!).

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

Michelle x

Candi Stamps

Two posts in two days!  Don't get used to it, it wont last!

Here are the two cards that I made yesterday with my new Craftwork Cards Candi Stamps.  I love this flower and have been looking for a stamp like this for a while.  I stamped it in three colours on digi-smooth card stock and cut each one out (a bit of a faff!!), then stuck them on in a wavy fashion.  The centres have Candi in them.  The ink pads I have used are my new Stampin' Up ink spots.  They are divine!  The colours are lush and they have such gorgeous names.

 Stampin' Up ink spots - Rich Razzleberry, Tangerine Tango and Melon Mamba

SU ink spots - Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie and Regal Rose

Hope you like them.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out and I'm looking forward to having more of a play (less than 3 weeks until half term!!).

Off to bed now to make up some sleep that I lost out on last night.  Chloe decided to keep us up until the early hours, howling for no reason.  In the end I caved in and let her come upstairs.  Wish me luck for tonight!

Michelle x

Oh dear!

Hello everyone, hope you are all well.  I can't believe it is Sunday evening again, the weekend goes so quickly.  Hope you have all had a good one.

Why is it that you make New Year's resolutions and then before January is up, you've broken them already?! My main one this year (apart from the lose weight, get fitter ones that I never quite manage) was to not spend so much money on crafty things.  How did I ever think that that was going to happen?!

I have become completely obsessed by the Stampin' Up catalogue, there are just so many wonderful things to tempt me.  I have just bought a set of 10 ink spots in bright colours - they are absolutely gorgeous.  So naturally I want them in the other colour ranges too.  I've bought some stamps and a punch as well - I am very happy with those.  I have put post-it-notes on all the pages where I like something - too many to count!

It didn't help that Craftwork Cards have launched some new products, and you know I am a sucker for all things CC.  So let me show you the two sets of Candi Stamps that I am the proud owner of.

These are great and I have already made a couple of cards with one of the flowers, which I will hopefully show you tomorrow,

Another thing that I have bought from CC are these Message Bands (not sure the photo does them justice).  The set has loads of them in so many different colours, plus lots of sheets of sentiments too - couldn't resist them!

How are you all getting on with resisting the temptation?  I hope I am not the only weak willed person out there!

Have a good week.  Thanks for dropping by, and hopefully there will be some cards to share with you over the next few days.

M x

A Quick Hello

Just popping by to tell you about my scrapbooking crop on Saturday.  Sorry that there are no photos to show you, it's all a work in progress!

I had a really great time and everyone was so welcoming and friendly.  I was very nervous about going because I have only dabbled at scrapbooking, as you know I am a card maker, and I was terrified of looking stupid.  I needn't have worried.

I had roughly planned a couple of layouts, but not in any great detail.  It was really hard to know what to take so I took bagfuls of stuff!  I will have a better idea next time as I took a lot of notice of what all the other ladies brought with them. 

I'm going to make up project packs for next time and thoroughly plan each layout.  I will have more time as the next crop I can go to is in March (the Feb one coincides with the day Edward gets back from his school skiing trip).  I do feel that I will really get into scrapbooking though, and what was really nice was to spend seven hours in the company of like-minded people.  The time flew by, although I did spend the first hour chatting to my friend Helen, who I went with!  It's surprising that we got anything done.

And when I got home, Mark had cooked me the most delicious meal and World War III had not erupted in my absence, so all in all, a happy day!

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

Michelle x

PS Sorry I haven't visited other blogs for a while, I've had a really tough week, work etc and have barely been able to keep my eyes open in the evenings.  Will try to remedy this soon x x

Catching Up

It's been a funny week.  The weather has been hideous, all that wind has been so scary.  On Tuesday I got absolutely soaked to the skin just popping into town for an hour.  My umbrella was worse than useless in the wind.  Wednesday was back to work and school, which wasn't too bad, like I had never been away.  It was a bit sad taking all the decorations down on Friday night, the place looks so bare now.

Yesterday was Mark's birthday, and to celebrate we went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo at the cinema and then afterwards we went for a Thai meal.  We enjoyed the film but preferred the original Swedish version.  I think if I hadn't seen the original I would have liked the new one more (Daniel Craig is an added bonus though!!).  The Thai meal was excellent too, so all in all, a very enjoyable evening.

From a craft point of view, there's a lot of things going on that I am very excited about.  Firstly, I am definitely joining the scrapbooking crop on Saturday.  It's a local group called Scrapbags and they meet once a month in a village hall near to where I live.  I am excited but also very nervous.  I don't know how much stuff to take, what to take etc.  The advice I have been given is to plan a few layouts and pick papers and embellishments for each one.  I'll let you know how things are going and will hopefully have some layouts to show you.

Another thing I am enjoying is Art Journaling.  I have painted two backgrounds so far and just need to pluck up the courage to add some journaling.  I have discovered that I am not frightened of the paint and you can't really go wrong.  There's another journaling project I want to try, where you make a monthly calender - check out The Kathryn Wheel blog (here) to see what I mean.  I'm not sure if I am going to do it, as I don't want to take on too much - we'll see how it goes.

I'm keen to add more lovely Stampin' Up products to my collection so I have joined the Stampers 6 club on this clever lady's blog (here).  You commit to spending a certain amount of money each month for 6 months, and one month you are the hostess,  It's all very exciting!!

Finally, on to the card I have made this weekend.  It's a 40th birthday card for a friend at work.

Ingredients

Patterned paper : The Canterbury Collection by Kanban

Purple Cardstock and ribbon from collection

Glitter : Martha Stewart

Ovals : Nestabilities

Punch : Martha Stewart

Well, I hope you like it and thanks for dropping by.  I hope you have had a good week and I'm off to have a peek at what you've been doing.

Take care.

M x

Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year and I hope that 2012 is a good year for everyone.  On a personal note, 2011 was without doubt, the worst year I have ever had and I am not sorry it is over.  But I do feel that this year will be a much better one - here's hoping! 

I don't know about you, but I haven't made any resolutions this year, mainly due to the fact that I usually break them!

My personal goals are still to craft more, and to take better care of myself.  I also need to restrain myself with my craft purchases (my stash overwhelms me most of the time!).

The main thing I HAVE to achieve this year is to make a real start on a scrapbook for Emily's 18th birthday in June 2013.  I have just less than 18 months to do it, and I need to complete at least one layout a month, at the very least.  I am hoping to join a crop once a month, where I will have 7 hours to craft - bliss!  So I need to get organised, make a plan, and to start putting together some paper and embellishments.  Watch this space for my progress.

Today was the last day of my holiday, and aside from getting soaked to the skin popping into town, and writing 52 thank you letters to the children in my two classes, I have actually made a card.  It's for a friend's new grandson who was only born this morning. (Excuse the fact that it looks wonky, it's the scanning, not my card making!!).

Ingredients

All products by Craftwork Cards

Well, that's me for tonight.  Time to go to bed and hopefully get a good night's sleep.  See you next time, thanks for dropping by.

Michelle x