Beautiful Butterflies

Gosh, it's been a while.  Life has been pretty hectic over the last two weeks - the final weeks of term at work are always completely full-on.  I've had to stay late, go in early and give up an evening for recent school events, but it's been fun.  Now, however I have two weeks off and I am going to try really hard to enjoy them!

My plans are to rest, relax and read (currently reading The Hunger Games series - amazing!), and to craft - card making and scrapbooking.  We are going to try and chill out at home.  Edward has to revise for exams at the end of April, and Emily needs time to sort out her sleeping - not being able to sleep at night and then crashing til the afternoon is not great - so a new bed is going to be bought.  Mark has some time off over Easter - not to rest and relax though, he is going to lay a new deck as our current one is rotting away.

So here are a couple of cards I made last weekend using the new Butterfly stamps from Craftwork Cards.  Actually the card was inspired by one I saw Julie Hickey make on her recent QVC appearance.  I've used Melon Mambo ink from Stampin' Up for the first one  and the second one is a Versamagic ink but I can't remember the colour.  I've cut round the edge of the main butterfly to give it some dimension and given it a little bling on the body.  The sentiments are also from CC.

Apologies that the photos are not great.  They are scans of the cards and they don't do the cards justice.

I hope you are having a jolly weekend.  We've had a lovely day with friends.  Shame the weather has taken a turn for the worst.

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

Michelle x

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely mums out there.  I hope you are having a day of relaxation and pampering, or at the very least, you have had a cup of tea made for you!

Yesterday I went to my second Scrapbags scrapbooking crop.  I enjoyed it much more this time as I was better prepared, both with equipment and with layouts to make.  It was great to spend a day away from the hubbub and just quietly craft.

Here is the card I made for my Mum (I obviously have a thing for blue at the moment!). Most of the products I used are Stampin' Up.  I used the Fresh Vintage stamps from the Sale-a-bration offer, as well as Dots, Dots, Dots.  The ink colours are Pacifico Point and Baja Breeze.  The coloured card is Bazzill Basics and there are some gems from Mei Flowers.  The "Mum" sentiment is from a set of alphabet stamps by Marion Emberson (I think!).  I used a Fiskars punch to punch the scallop edging.  Hope she likes it.

I have had some lovely presents from my children, but am yet to have a cup of coffee made for me.  Oh well, I live in hope I guess!  I'm spoiling myself by drinking Prosecco and watching Pride an Prejudice.

Thanks for dropping by.  I love to hear your comments, they mean so much.  Have a good day.

Michelle x

Birthday card for Jane

Well, this is surprising isn't it - another post so soon.  Today is my friend Jane's birthday (check out her lovely creations here ) and I wanted to share the card I made for her.

The card base is a cream square card measuring approximately 10cm x 10cm.  I chose one with an elegant edge because I felt it suited the stamp.  The stamp is from the Elementary Elegance set (one of the Sale-a-bration sets) from Stampin' Up - I love this set so much and I know I will use it a lot.

I stamped it on to a strip of cream card using Night of Navy ink and them punched the centre out with the Curly Label punch.  I was going to back it with a contrasting colour, but I really like the cream and navy combination.  I edged the strip the navy card and adhered it to the card base.  I had to trim the edge to get the fancy edge. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the same set as the frame. Then I added some grosgrain ribbon, made a little bow and then finished it off with a gem.

This is one of my all time favourite cards and I think I will have to replicate it soon, and maybe try a different colourway.

I am really loving my Stampin' Up products, I love the way everything matches which makes life so much easier  and the stamps are so beautiful.

Thanks for stopping by.  Take care.

Michelle x

Thanks for joining me today.  I'm pleased to say that after a very long week of feeling ill, I now feel so much better.  I think I need some multi vitamins though, to give me a bit more "oomph!".

The card I am sharing today is for a friend who has just had surgery.  I hope it will brighten her day.

The green card is from a collection called Spring Fling and it's from Craftwork Cards, as are the message band and sentiment.  I cut the aperture from the centre of the card (leaving a 2.5cm border all the way around).  Then I punched out 6 pink glittery butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch, and stuck three together (twice) to make 3D embellishments.

I'm really happy with how this card turned out.  It didn't take very long to make which was perfect as time was short and I like the freshness of it.

I hope you are all having a good week.  Mine will improve radically tomorrow when my washing machine is repaired.  It has been out of action for over a week.  Thank heavens for my lovely mum, who has been doing it all for me (and ironing it too!).  With a family of four, my machine is on at least once every day - it's the one appliance that sends me into a panic if it breaks down!

Take care and thanks for visiting.  I am so appreciative of your comments.

Michelle x

Spice Cake

Hi Everyone, hope you are all having a lovely weekend, and feeling creative. There has not been a lot of creativity recently at Frecklepuss unfortunately.  This week has been a bit of a wash out because I haven't been well - a week of feeling dizzy and nauseous, headachy and so tired.  Still not feeling 100%, so I'm having a chill out weekend.  I'm hoping I might feel more in the mood for creating something tomorrow, especially as a massive Stampin' Up order arrived yesterday, with lots of lovely freebies to play with.

Next Saturday is my second scrapbook crop with Scrapbags, which I am looking forward to enormously.  I put in a large order of photographs with Snapfish last week and am just waiting for them to arrive.  It was really hard to sort them out without Emily noticing.  She thinks I am doing something for Edward - let's hope it stays that way!

So here is a card I made a couple of weeks ago with the Spice Cake papers from the Stampin' Up Spring Mini Catalogue.  I love these papers so much and I think they are really versatile.

Ingredients

Papers : Spice Cake - Stampin' Up

Card Stock : Craftwork Cards

Gem : Mei Flowers

I cut out a flower from one of the sheets of paper for the central motif, and stuck it on a co-ordinating piece of card stock (cut with a scallop punch).

Hope you like it.  I'm not in love with it but it's OK.  Do you ever get that, sometimes you just love the cards you make, and other times they are just OK.  This is one of those for me.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Thanks for dropping by.  I really do appreciate your kind comments.

Michelle x

Better late than never . . . . .

Hi Everyone.  Hope all is well with you all. This card that I am sharing today was supposed to be posted about 10 days ago but due to work and life getting in the way, I'm finally getting round to it!

I've been so excited about the Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration stamps and papers and this card is the first one I have made using the Fresh Vintage stamps and Everyday Enchantment DSPs.  I love the freshness of the green and blue and have teamed it with a cream card base.  I like it because it is clean and simple, I hope you like it too.

Ingredients

Paper : Everyday Enchantment DSP Stampin' Up

Stamps : Fresh Vintage Stampin' Up and Marion Emberson (sentiment)

Card Stock : Craftwork Cards and Bazzill Basics

Gem : Mei Flowers

I hope you are all having a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.  Thanks for dropping by.  Be back soon.

M x