Final Card Swap Challenge

Today, I am sharing the card I made for our final challenge.  Sadly, our card swap group is coming to an end, but I've thoroughly enjoyed being part of it for the last three years.  I made some good friends and received so many beautiful cards.  A big thank you goes to Jane for getting us all together, setting the challenges and co-ordinating everything.

 

The challenge was that anything goes but there had to be stamping on the inside and on the envelope.  I kind of knew what I wanted to do but I still had a little look on Pinterest (I spend my whole life on there!), and saw something similar to what I had in mind.  I had bought a SU set a few week's ago and have been dying to use it - Birthday Blossoms - it was perfect for what I had in mind.  I also used three of the new SU In-colours - Mint Macaron, Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder.

 

The card was fun to make, and used a few techniques - stamping, masking, punching die-cutting and colouring.  I hope you like what I've made.

 

 

 

Thanks for dropping by, and I really appreciate any comments that you leave.  Enjoy the rest of your day.

 

Take care

 

Michelle x

Embossed Card

Good morning.  Today I'm sharing a card from my card swap group.  The challenge was embossing.  I decided to keep the colours simple and showcase nine of my Stampin' Up embossing folders (they look pretty cool on the Very Vanilla cs).  I added some stamped and punched butterflies and a few crystal gems.

 

This is the card that I received from Aileen.  The colours are gorgeous and the embossed and stamped hearts are so pretty,  I love the way the card has been put together - it works really well.  I'm really not very good at placing elements at angles.  Anyone who knows me well, knows I don't like random!

I'm still trying to catch up with my backlog of posts.  Hopefully, over this half term week, I will be able to remedy this.  Although I have more photos to share of Shaun in the City (part 2), and I'm really hoping to get busy with some paper later on in the week.

 

Thanks for popping in.

 

Take care

 

Michelle x

Hello Hexagons!

Goodness me, what a lot of catching up I need to do!  I hadn't realised quite how long I had been absent from the blogging world.  Life has been quite tricky recently, hence the absence, however I won't bore you with all the details. 

 

This card that I'm sharing today is from my card swap group.  The challenge was to use some sort of shape in the design.  Well, instantly I knew it would be hexagons.  I made a patch work effect with the SU Six Sided Sampler stamp set - one of my all time favourites, and I used Soft Sky, Pear Pizzazz and Smoky Slate as my colour palette. I am currently loving the Hello You thinlet dies, and lots of my cards are featuring one of the sentiments.  Finally, as you can't go wrong with butterflies, I popped one on the tag for added interest.  The challenge was hilarious, because nearly everyone used hexagons in one way or another, and butterflies featured quite heavily too!

 

 

I finished work today and am on holiday for just over two weeks, and I couldn't be happier.  It's been a bit of a slog of late.

 

Wishing everyone a happy Easter.  Take care

 

Michelle x

Jennie's Birthday Card

Good evening.  Just popping by to share a birthday card that I made for a member of my Card Swap Group.  I decided to try out the new SU Butterfly Basics stamp set, using Blackberry Bliss, Crushed Curry and Wild Wasabi.  I mounted the butterflies on 3D foam to give a little bit of much-needed dimension. 

 

I really like this stamp set as I think it has plenty of possibilities.  I do like to get as much out of my stamps as possible. And you can't go wrong with butterflies!

 

I hope everyone is having a good week, and staying safe in the horrible weather.  We don't have any snow yet, although I'm hoping that if it comes, we might get a snow day at work!

Take care

Michelle x

Family Birthday and Card Swap

 

Hi everyone.  This week has seen us celebrate Edward's 15th birthday.  He had a good time although it seemed quite low-key - a meal out and then a small family get together.  He was happy though that his birthday was over half-term so that he didn't have to go to school!

 

I wasn't sure what to do for his card this year, but after much discussion, Emily and I decided that a Hobbit theme would fit the bill.  I usually make this type of card as a 9-square one, but Emily insisted on 16 pictures and so the card size had to be increased to accommodate them all.  The card is 8" square.  Edward was delighted.

 

 

Of course we had to have a suitable sentiment inside.  Mark found this font on-line and it was just perfect.

 

Emily and I have been winding Edward up a lot recently by singing songs from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat so it only seemed fitting to make a Joseph themed card for Emily to give to him!  He was SO impressed.

So, this month's card swap was all about banners and pennants.  This is the card I received from Ann.  It's really lovely and I like the shades of brown and the way she has used the banners to make the sentiment.

I really struggled for this challenge and I don't know why.  I think it's because I have recently made a card for Jane with banners on and I wanted to do something completely different.  I took my inspiration from Pinterest and pretty much CASEd this card.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out, even though there is no white space on it at all!  It took me a long time to make but I enjoyed it immensely.

 

 

The colours are Very Vanilla, Strawberry Slush, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso.  The stamps are Hardwood, Banner Blast, Best of Shelli and Chalk Talk.  I also used some Hot Cocoa Liquid Pearls.

 

Well, I didn't sleep much last night, too much on my mind.  Today is a very big day in the Stampin' Up world - retiring lists, Project Life, sneaky peaks, etc.  No wonder my mind was buzzing!

 

I'm also thinking about kitchens constantly.  Last Friday we received the news that Mark had won a prize in a monthly draw at work - A NEW KITCHEN!!!!  I'm not even joking.  We have a budget which we are really trying to adhere to (it's very hard!).  Emily has her ideas, Mark has his, Edward doesn't care, and I don't know what I think!  The catalogue is massive - so much choice.  We've been to the showroom, and I've been round to a friend's house to look at her new kitchen.  Again, my mind is buzzing.  It's so exciting, and scary.  Watch this space.

 

Anyway, thanks for dropping by,  Your comments are, as always, very much appreciated.

 

Take care

 

Michelle x

 

Card Swap Group - Post-it-Note Holders

Hope you are all enjoying this gorgeous sunny weekend.  It really lifts the spirits to see the sun out, as well as having all the windows and the patio door wide open.

 

So, today I'm getting round to sharing last month's card swap.  Jane tasked us to make Post-it-Note holders.  I made mine for Margaret, who makes the most gorgeous cards.  I decided to use Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla as I thought they would appeal to Margaret.

 

I masked off a panel and stamped the script stamp in Crumb Cake (can't remember which one).  My Stamp-a-ma-jig came in really handy for this.  I scored a couple of lines above and below the script.  Then using Papillon Potpourri, I stamped two butterflies and cut them out with the corresponding punch, as well as two in Crumb Cake cardstock.  I added a sentiment and then the butterflies, curling the wings a little bit to give some dimension.

 

I also made Margaret a matching card in exactly the same way.

This is the Post-it-Note holder that I received from Aileen.  It's really beautiful.  The photo doesn't really do it justice (not helped by the fact that I don't seem to be able to make it larger - silly Blogger!).

 

It's been really nice to have a calm, relaxed weekend.  The last couple of weeks have been crazy!  Edward had his practise expedition for DofE last weekend, and the weather couldn't have been more awful - rain, wind, hail!  Having said that, he had a really great time.  The real one is the middle of June, and I think we'll all be more that prepared for it.  This week has been the SATs tests at school which comes with its own stresses.

 

I'm on a bit of a countdown - 5 working days until half term!!

 

Have a great week.  See you soon.

 

Take care

 

Michelle x

Lots and lots of cards!

Hi all, thanks for dropping by.  I'm making up for my erratic blogging by posting a few cards today, so be prepared for a long post!

 

The first card uses two SU stamp sets - Petite Petals (my current favourite) and Sassy Salutations. I chose three pastel shades of ink - Blushing Bride, Crumb Cake and Pistachio Pudding, scored two lines to create a panel across the middle and a added a few gems.

 

 

The next card uses the Fresh Prints DSP stack, along with Petite Petals, Flower Shop and Teeny Tiny Sentiments.  My favourite colour scheme at the moment is Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana and Whisper White.

 

Another card using the Fresh Prints DSP Stack, this time teamed with Crumb Cake and Real Red. And of course, Petite Petals. 

 

The next card is similar to the one I made for Mark's birthday back in January.  I used Smoky Slate, Real Red and Whisper White again, as well as Gorgeous Grunge, Simply Stars and Sassy Salutations.

 

The next two cards are from my card swap group.  The first one is from the lovely Sue, and the challenge was to use red, orange and yellow. The card is amazing - I really lovely all the different flower images and there is so much dimension on the card.  It really is fab.  I was so impressed because the insert has been decorated and the envelope too - such attention to detail.

The next card was made by the equally lovely Jane, using one of her favourite stamps. The brief for this card was to use embossing and Jane has used a new embossing folder, which I think will become a firm favourite of hers.  I love the colours she has chosen.  A beautiful card.

 

Needless to say, I have yet to make my card for this month's swap, but hopefully that will be remedied soon!

 

I have been a little bit busy recently.  Mark and I have taken Emily to two University interviews in the last two weeks, and we are so thrilled that she has been offered a place at both Universities, in fact she was offered a place mid-interview at Worcester on Wednesday.  It has been a massive boost to her confidence, especially as she had convinced herself that no one would want her.  After a really tough three and half years, it's so great to see her dream of being a teacher getting closer to becoming a reality. 

 

That's it from me now.  Have a great weekend.

 

Michelle x

 

 

 

 

Card Swap 11

Hi everyone.  Well January is over and what a long month it has been.  "Junk Free January" is finally over and I am so proud that I didn't weaken once.  Both Mark and Emily were successful too.  For me, it was more about challenging myself and proving that I actually do have some will-power.  The funny thing is, that now I can actually have some chocolate today, I don't really fancy it - how ironic!

 

Today I am sharing the card I made for Alison, for the January card swap.  I had a lovely email from her, so I know that it went down well.

 

The brief was to make a fancy-fold card.  This isn't really my forte, so I went back to a tried and tested one for me - a concertina card.

 

I cut the card from Basic Black cardstock and used my trusty Simply Scored.  The papers are the very beautiful Sweet Sorbet DSP from the Sale-a-bration promotion.  The flowers are from the new Spring/Summer catalogue and are called Petite Petals.  They are so sweet and there is a matching punch too.

 

To be honest, I'm finding it a bit hard to get my crafting mojo back on track at the moment.  January has been rather a stressful month.  I'm also doing a course for work which runs for 10 weeks and involves weekly homework (information that wasn't forthcoming when I agreed to do it!).  I was supposed to be making cards today, but that hasn't happened either. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

I hope you are having a good weekend.  Thanks for dropping by.

Take care

Michelle x

Card Swap 7 and 8

Greetings lovely bloggers!  Be prepared for a long post today.  Typically, I am massively behind in posting about the last couple of card swaps.  Scarily, Jane has just sent out the email regarding the 9th card swap - so I thought I had better get my act together!

 

Card swap 7 - the theme was to have a sentiment as the main feature.  Now, I'm not really big on sentiments (you may have noticed this already).  I like a simple little "happy birthday" or "thank you" etc.  So I was a little bit scared to have to make it the main feature.  I admit that I tried a few ideas with stamps and inks and I just wasn't happy with the results.  So I got out my favourite SU Paper Stack in the current In-Colours and cut out the letters of hello in Baked Brown Sugar and Pistachio Pudding dotty paper.  These were mounted onto white card, which in turn was mounted onto corresponding card stock (I added a little border of piercing for interest).  I mounted a piece of the Pistachio Pudding  dotty paper onto the base card and added the sentiment on top.  It did look a little bare, so on the advice of my daughter, I added some punched flowers and gems in the corners.

 

I was quite pleased with the result  I hope the recipient was too.

 

The card I received was amazing!  I was totally blown away by it.  It was made by the lovely Margaret who is such a talented lady (check out her blog here ).  I don't think the photos truly do it justice, but it is definitely my favourite card so far.

So onto card swap 8.  The theme this time was to create an Autumnal card.  Now I don't really have any leaf stamps from SU so I reached for a really old Hero Arts set that was just perfect.  The rest of the materials are all SU.  I stamped all three leaf designs in a variety of colours - More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Real Red and Early Espresso - onto a single piece of white card stock.  I softened the edges with an Aqua pen and trimmed the panel into three pieces.  I made a card blank from Crumb Cake and then cut a slight smaller panel out of the same card stock and stamped the Woodgrain stamp onto it with Early Espresso.  The three leaf panels were mounted on top. I then cut a band from More Mustard and stamped a sentiment from the Teeny Tiny Sentiments in Early Espresso.  The leaf embellishments were cut out and I used Glossy Accents to give them a bit of a shine.  These were stuck to the band when they were dry.

Again I'm quite pleased with the results - a bit of a departure for me - and, again, I really hope the recipient likes it.  I felt quite bad because I was very late in sending my card off, but actually as I haven't received my card for October yet, I cut myself some slack!

The subject for November's card swap is to use your all time favourite stamp, so this is going to require a lot of thought -  I do have rather a lot of stamps that I have accumulated over the last 18 years!

I mentioned in my last post, that I had made a card for my parents' wedding anniversary, and here it is.  I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest (what would we do without it?!), but tweaked it a bit.

The products are all SU.  The stamps are Creative Elements and Teeny Tiny Sentiments, and the colours are Old Olive and Tangerine Tango.  I used a variety of punches and some retired Scallop Dots ribbon.  This card did take me a while to make as I had a couple attempts at the stamping and the aperture until I was fully satisfied with the result.  I'm very pleased because there is still quite a lot of white space on the card!

So that's all the cards and photos for the time being.  Last weekend I was away at a Scrapbags Retreat - three days in a hotel scrapping all day - bliss!  I really have the scrapping bug now, but save it for retreats and crops, otherwise I would never get any cards made!  I'm still trying to get my Christmas cards finished, not panicking quite yet!  And with all this, we are still in the middle of University visits and UCAS - but that at least is all under control!

OK, that's me for today.  I hope you stuck with me, you are amazing if you did!  Thanks for popping in, and I really love hearing your comments, so thank you.

Take care and have a good week.

Michelle x

A Wedding and a Birthday

 

Hi everyone.  I've been wanting to share this card all week but apathy has ruled this week!

 

A good friend and colleague got married last week and this is the card I made for her and her husband.  The theme of the wedding was natural colours and wood, and I followed the colour scheme from the invitation.

 

The base card is made from Kraft card stock.  I cut a panel from Very Vanilla and stamped a heart from Hearts a Flutter in Early Espresso, Soft Suede and Crumb Cake all over it.  I mounted the panel on glimmer paper and adhered it to the card.  I then wrapped some natural twine around the bottom third of the card and added a sentiment, which is from Border Banter stamped in Early Espresso.  I personalised the card with some brown rub-ons.

 

 

The next card is a birthday card for one of our Card Swap Group - Ann.  Happy birthday Ann (it's today!).  I used a white square card blank, and cut a slightly smaller square of Pool Party.  I cut a circle from the centre and stamped over the cs with a stamp from Best of Shelli in Versamark ink (you can just about see it in the photo).  I then stamped the same image in Midnight Muse on the white card blank to show through the aperture.  I used my paper piercing templates to add some interest around the edge and around the aperture.  The sentiment is from Morning Meadow stamped in Midnight Muse.

 

That's me for now.  Have a super weekend.  Thanks for dropping by, and all comments are gratefully received!

 

Michelle x

Card Swap Group - 3 and 4

Well after quite a delay I'm posting photos of the last two card swaps.  This is May's card from Zoe, and I really love the colours she has chosen - I'm a big fan of peacock colours, so it fits the bill perfectly.  Apologies to Zoe for posting it so late - I've been a bit snowed under for the past few weeks.

 

 

June's card is from Sue and I love the colour she has chosen - Soft Sky by SU.  I was intrigued by the flower element - it's made from air dry clay and pressed out from an embossing folder - must try that technique.  What you can't see from the photo is the embossing on the flower on the right hand side and the inside is beautifully decorated too.

And here's the card I made for Jane.  The theme was embossing, either heat embossing or dry embossing - I hope the scored lines count!  I chose Strawberry Slush and Baked Brown Sugar - the new SU In-Colours - they go together so well.  I used the flourish type stamps from Floral Words by Marion Emberson, and the butterflies are Papillon Potpourri (SU).  The sentiment is from Marion Emberson too - Find Joy Everyday.  I'm really pleased with this card and may make a couple more for my box of stock cards.

Well, I'm off to help out at our school's summer fair - we certainly have the weather for it.  Have a great weekend and see you soon.

Michelle x

Card Swap Group Birthday Cards

Hi, hope you are all well.  I'm good - getting a little bit excited because Emily and I are going to see Robbie Williams at Wembley tomorrow night.  Also, the new Stampin' Up catalogue goes live tomorrow and I have my order ready and waiting - although I'm not able to place it until Wednesday because of going out.  It'll wait a day though, I guess. 

 

Today I'm sharing the beautiful birthday cards that I received from my fellow Card Swap Group.  The first is from Zoe (her blog here ).  I really like all the different textures, and the colours are really me.  I also love the faceted button, I've already added those to my list!

 

 

The next card is from Alison.  I am fascinated by this card and have been trying to figure out how to make one.  I'm going to give it a try when I've finished work for the summer.  I love the colours on this card, as well as the flowers and the punched edges.

 

The third card is from Margaret (her blog here).  We both agree that this stamp set didn't grab us in the catalogue, and how we are both total converts now.  I really like the scoring effect she has added, and I will definitely be trying that out on some of my cards. Again, the colours are beautiful.

 

The next card is from our group leader, the lovely Jane (her blog here ), who knows that I love hexagons (wait till you see the new hexagons from the new SU catalogue - top of my list for Wednesday!).  I love the summery colours - perfect for a June birthday, and the simplicity of the card - it's the sort of card I would make.

 

And the final card is from Sue, who had to make me two cards this month - more about the Swap card on another post.  I really liked this card because it is so different  The colours are perfect, and I love butterflies.

As I said, I will be sharing the Swap Group card from Sue on another post, also the one I received from Zoe the previous month - apologies Zoe, I've had no time recently.  Also, apologies to Jane as I still haven't posted her card for June - it is made, just needs to be photographed and then I'll pop it in the post.

Thanks for dropping by.  I'll be back soon.  Take care.

Michelle x