Birthdays Galore!

 

Just a quick post today as I am in the middle of packing for my trip.  I have had a lot of birthdays and events in September.  Some cards I used from my stocks, but some I have made especially. These cards are new and I really enjoyed making them.  One was for Alison from my Card Swap group and the other was for a friend of mine from college.

 

I have used the lovely Crisp Cantaloupe and Pool Party, alongside Smoky Slate (another fave!)  The flower is from Flower Shop, punched with the coordinating punch, and the strips of paper are from the DSP Paper Stacks. The inspiration for these cards came from Pinterest - www.snippetsbyandrea.blogger.com.

 

I hope you like them.  Thanks for coming to visit.  All comments are truly appreciated.  Take care.

Michelle x

 

Hi everyone.  Thank heavens it's Friday!  This week has seemed very long and incredibly busy.  At school we've been getting organised for our week away at PGL in Wales next week.  I'm really looking forward to it but there has been so much to do, and I still haven't organised home life for while I'm away, let alone begun to pack.  Well, that will have to wait until Sunday because I'm off to Scrapbags tomorrow!

 

Here's a card I made for a colleague at work who is celebrating a very special birthday today.  I used some Craftwork Cards products that I found whilst I was tidying up over the summer, as well as glitter and ribbon.  The sentiment is SU.

 

 

The next card was a commission from a friend at work.  I've made a lot of these concertina cards over the years, but never for a wedding.  It's very plain and simple, but I took the lead from their wedding invitation.  I didn't have any letters that were the required size, so with Mark's help, I braved it and dusted off my Silhouette die cutting machine (I've been too scared to use it!!).  I'm so thrilled with the results and will be using it a lot more, particularly in my scrapbooking.

 

I used SU card stock - Not Quite Navy and Very Vanilla. and my fantastic Simply Scored to make the folds.

 

And finally, just cos I'm so proud, Edward got an award tonight at his cricket presentation evening - Most Improved Player for Under 14s.  Well deserved (yes, I know I'm biased!).

Well that's me for tonight - I really must go and organise paper and photos for tomorrow.  If I don't see you before, I'll see when I get back from Wales - goodnight :)

Take care and thanks for popping in.

Michelle x

Warning - Non-Crafty Post (it goes on a bit!)

Hi all.  I know I haven't posted for a few weeks now, but the last couple of weeks of the summer holidays have flown by.  We had a week in Kent, the same place we stayed in last year.  The house we stay in is perfect for us, and for Chloe, and just round the corner from a lovely little beach, with a sea pool.  Chloe finally overcame her fear of water and had fun in the sea pool every night - it proves she'll do anything for her Frisbee, and a treat!  We had days out in Whitstable, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, took Emily to the Shell Grotto in Margate, as well as visiting the Hornby Visitors' Centre, and the Turner Contemporary.  Edward loved playing on the beach (he's 14 - I wonder how much longer this will keep him happy), he even persuaded Mark and my dad to go swimming with him.  We had gorgeous weather, apart from one day, so we ended up going to the cinema to see Monsters University.  And then we played Adventure Golf in the rain!

 

The Saturday we came home, was the wettest day of the summer - so much so, we couldn't unpack the car until much later in the evening when the rain had eased off.  We spent most of Sunday unpacking, washing, ironing and repacking, as we had an early start on the Bank Holiday Monday.

 

We left really early on the Monday to go to Bristol for two days.  We went to find Gromits - yes, you read that correctly.  Over the summer there has been an art exhibition all over Bristol called Gromit Unleashed with 80 5ft Gromits dotted around the city.  The Gromits have been decorated by local artists, as well as celebrities such as Harry Hill, Joanna Lumley, Zayn from One Direction, Philip Treacy, Quentin Blake, Jools Holland - there was even a Cath Kidston one!

 

We knew we would never find all of them, but we did manage to find 42 - it would have been 44, but two had been removed for repair.  Don't worry, I'm not planning on showing you all of them, just a handful - some of my favourites.  We had such a great two days, we walked for miles, the weather was gorgeous and we had some lovely meals (and some very special ice cream - orange and Cointreau - yum!).  We would have liked to have had another day, but we just couldn't fit it in.  The exhibition ended today, so we are just glad we could sneak in a couple of days.  We saw so much of Bristol, which is a truly wonderful city.

 

The is first photo is of Mark and Edward at Temple Meads train station (Edward is happier than he looks!).

 

 

We loved this Gromit - Salty Sea Dog - at the Cascade Steps where the lovely ice cream was.

 

 

One of Edward's favourites - Isambark Kingdog Brunel at Temple Meads station.

 

I loved this next one - it's called Butterfly, and it's by Philip Treacy OBE, and it was at the Bristol Old Vic.

This one is called Where's Wallace (love that play on words!), and we found him in the foyer of the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel.

 



This one was one that we all wanted to see - Vincent Van Gromit.  It was tucked away on a corner, off a side street - fabulous!

 

This one is called Golden Gromit - pretty self-explanatory - outside the Victoria Rooms, a pretty grand building.

 

We found Grrrrromit at the Windmill Hill City Farm.

Emily's favourite - Gromberry - outside a pub on the river.  We nearly missed this as the pub was tucked away.

And finally, Antique Rose by Cath Kidston.  It just had to be done.  This one was located at Cribbs Causeway - a retail park a few miles outside of Bristol.

I hope you have managed to stay with me!  I'm now planning my next scrapbook project - can you guess what it is?!  I was going to make a mini book of these photos, but to be honest, it really wouldn't do them justice.  So it's going to be a full on 12" x 12" album.

So now I'm back at work, which is a bit of a shock to the system.  Our first day was 6 hours of a first aid refresher - yawn!  I've got two more weeks of work and then I'm away on a residential trip to PGL - no abseiling for me this year!

I have managed to get some card making in this weekend, although nothing is photographed.  But at least I will have something to show you over the next few weeks.  I did feel that my crafting mojo had dried up again, but thank heavens for Pinterest!

So I've rambled on and on.  Thanks to those of you who stayed until the bitter end,  I'm off for a catch up of my favourite blogs.

Until the next time.  Take care.

Michelle x