For Adam

Today is my nephew's 18th birthday.  It's hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly.  It only seems a few years ago that we were waiting for him to be born. Adam is the first grandchild, so it was hugely exciting.  And now he is a man (I feel so old!).

This is the card that I made for him.  It's a large 8" square card and I cut the numbers from My Mind's Eye papers.  The plain card is Bazzil and the little circle is Candi from Craftwork Cards.

The weekend seems to have gone by in a blur.  Yesterday I was baking for my nephew's party, which was last night.  And today I have been playing catch-up.  I've been sorting through photos of Edward for the mini album that I'm making for his 13th birthday (in just over 3 weeks!).  It has made me so aware of how disorganised my photos are - it took so long to track some of them down.  But I did find some gorgeous ones of Emily too, for her 18th album.  So now I have an order ready to upload to Snapfish (40% off until May 6th) and then it will be nose to the grindstone to get it done in time.  Wish me luck!

Let's hope for a drier week this week.  Take care and thanks for dropping by.

Michelle x

Happy Birthday Abbey

Been meaning to post this card today but the day has not gone according to plan so I'm just doing it very quickly now, before I go to bed.  This card is for my neighbour's daughter whose birthday it is tomorrow.  I've known this girl since she was born and she is a good friend of Edward's, so it's a little bit shocking that she is becoming a teenager.  But then so will Edward in a month's time.

The paper is by Dovecraft, can't remember its name - Sugar and Spice rings a bell.  The plain cardstock is Bazzill and the butterflies (told you there would be more!) are on glittery paper and are 3D.

I had a lovely day at my scrapbooking crop yesterday (probably why today has been so rubbish), and it was good to chat to other people as my friend Helen was unable to go this time.  I'm doing well with Edward's mini album, and have almost finished another layout for Emily's book.  The problem is that I don't plan ahead so I spend too long trying to decide what to do.  Not to self:  I MUST be more prepared before I go next time.

Hope you all have had a good weekend.  Thanks for dropping by.

Take care

Michelle x

In the Pink!

Well, it's the end of another busy week.  The first week back at school, and it feels like we have never been away.  And the weather hasn't helped, it's been so awful - I'm fed up with walking to work and feeling soggy by the time I get there.

Here's the card that I made on Monday for my friend who has just got engaged.  The pink stripe card blank is from Craftwork Cards (Spring Fling), as is the vellum message ribbon.  I am so addicted to making 3D glittery butterflies with my Martha Stewart punch, they are on lots of cards I am making at the moment.

Tomorrow is my monthly scrapbook crop, Scrapbags, which is very exciting.  I don't have any pages planned at the moment, but I am taking so much stash that I'm sure that won't be a problem.  I really must crack on with Emily's album because I have only completed one page so far.  I'm definitely way off course with it.  I planned to complete at least one page a month!

Anyway, better go and get packing otherwise I'm bound to forget something (like the first session when I forgot my cutting mat!).  Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend.

Michelle x

Too busy to blog :(

Well the school holidays are nearly over, Edward went back today, but I don't go back until tomorrow.  It's been a busy old time and not the rest I had envisaged.  But on the positive side, we have a lovely new deck, Emily has had four full nights sleep in her new bed and her room has had a massive clear out.  I haven't had a great deal of time to craft but that is a small price to pay I guess.

Here are a couple of cards I managed to find time to make.  They are both made using the Moorish collection from Craftwork Cards.  I bought this kit on a whim and then I found it hard to be inspired by it.  The papers are quite vibrant and strong, so I found that they needed quite a lot of white to make them work, but then I prefer the CAS look anyway.

I'm struggling at the moment to make my nephew an 18th birthday card for the end of April.  It's a bit tricky because he doesn't really have any interests and typical male images just wouldn't work for him.  Emily has helped me come up with an idea so I'm just playing around with that at the moment.  I also must get on and make an engagement card for a friend at work who has just got engaged to her partner after being with him for ten years - so exciting!

Hope you all have a good day.  Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle x

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all enjoying the Easter weekend.  The weather has definitely taken a turn for the worse, it's distinctly nippy today, but at least we haven't had any snow .

It's been a bit of a busy week (not quite what I had planned it has to be said!).  We have bought Emily a new bed because her sleeping is so poor, and we are desperate to do anything that will improve it.  We went to buy a single bed, and have come away having ordered, a double one!  This is not as straightforward as it should be, because now we have to move Emily's room around, before it is delivered next Thursday.  We are making the most of the opportunity to have a good clear out and she has thrown bags and bags of stuff away.

Mark is on holiday from work for the week, and he is replacing our deck which has been rotting away for a few months now.  In fact it resembles a patchwork quilt.  We have had it for over 12 years so it's done well.  We have also cut back some of the bushes that have got a bit out of control.

I persuaded Mark to take me to a scrapbooking/papercrafting shop in Cambridgeshire this morning (about an hour's drive for us), called Capture the Magic.  Wow, it was a like a big warehouse of crafting goodies.  I bought papers and letters for Emily's album, as well as some Scrapbook Trends books and some storage boxes.

I haven't made many cards recently (been too busy tidying!), but I was commissioned to make the following card for a colleague who was celebrating her 10th Wedding Anniversary.  She requested the nine square card with the circles, so I just picked the papers and the text.  The papers are Spice Cake from SU and I used Old Olive ink.  The sentiments are various Paula Pascual stamps.  I added some crystals to jazz it up a bit.

It's very exciting on the scrapbooking front at the moment.  I have another Scrapbags cropping day booked in a couple of weeks, and I have plucked up the courage to book a place on a Scrapbooking Retreat at the end of August.  It's in a beautiful hotel in Hertfordshire and it lasts for three days.  I am nervous because I don't really know many people that are going, and I am still finding my way with scrapbooking, which feels odd as I have been playing around with bits of paper for over 15 years!  I thought it would be a really good opportunity to get on with Emily's album, which isn't really happening as quickly as I would like.

I'm going to love you and leave you now, so that I can stroke my pretty paper.

Happy Easter and thanks for dropping by.

M x