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

Catch-up

Just popping in to have a quick catch-up from the last few weeks. Since I last posted, I have been working hard to get Emily's birthday album finished, and I am pleased to report that it is finally finished.  After a 12 hour crop on Saturday, I breathed a massive sigh of relief on Sunday lunchtime when I finished the final page.

 

Instead of one album, it ended up that I had to have two.  I made 80 pages in total and they wouldn't fit into one book.  I'm really proud of the work I have done and I hope Emily likes it.  I will post some photos in the coming weeks when everything has calmed down.

 

Card making has taken a bit of a back seat over the last few months (as has blogging!).  I'm looking forward to some relaxed card making time coming soon - especially as there is a new Stampin' Up catalogue going live in the next few weeks and I will definitely want to have a play with some of the lovely new products.

 

Anyway today I am sharing a selection of things that I have made over the last month.  The first being an anniversary card.  I actually had three anniversaries to make cards for in May, so I cheated and made three of the same design!

 

I used the Bloomin' Marvellous set from the SAB promotion, as well as A Word For You.  The colours are Wisteria Wonder, Calypso Carol and Lucky Limeade.

 

This next card was made for my neighbours' daughter, using some polka dot paper and Martha Stewart glitter.  A little bit of scoring and some Nestabilities completes the card.

And the final card is the one I made for my dad for Father's Day.  I used the Clockworks set with Always Artichoke, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso ink, on a Kraft card.  A little bit of Washi tape and natural twine, as well as the Teeny Tiny Sentiments.  It was a bit of a different look for me - I find masculine cards quite difficult - but my dad liked it.

And the final thing I'd like to share is a little crocheted cherry brooch that I made for a friend  who is getting married soon.  It's for her bridesmaid who is called Cherry!  I was rather pleased with it and may have to make some more.

So apart from a spell of illness last week, and Edward getting hit in the head with a tennis racquet (nice golf ball sized lump!) life ticks on.  I still haven't made Emily's card - she hinted at a pop-up Hogwarts card - nothing like a challenge.  Hopefully I will be back soon to share some quick cards that I made a few weeks ago from a kit.  Until then, take care and thanks fro dropping by.

Michelle x

Card Swap Group - 2

Hi Everyone

 

First of all, I want to say a big thank you to all the wonderful comments I have had about Emily's birthday album.  It's really lovely to have such great feedback and it has given me such a boost.

 

I've been a bit behind this week, too much going on, so all the posts I intended to make have not happened.  Anyway, today I would like to share the cards for the second month of the Card Swap group I belong to.

 

I made for Margaret this month, but she also had a rather special birthday so everyone made her a birthday card too.  The first card I am sharing is obviously her birthday card.  She likes natural colours, so I tried to keep this in mind.

 

I used a Kraft card as a base, then cut another panel in Kraft which I put in my Honeycomb embossing folder and ran it through a Cuttlebug.  I edged it with a couple of narrow strips of blue paper from the Spice Cake DSP.  I cut some hexagons from some scraps of the DSP and stuck them randomly to the embossed panel.  After attaching it to the base card, I wrapped some Pear Pizzazz pleated satin ribbon and natural twine around the middle of the card.  I cut a hexagon in Kraft card and stamped the 60 in Early Espresso ink from the Memorable Moments stamps set. I then mounted this on more Spice Cake paper and stuck it to the card with 3D foam.

 

 

 

This month Jane set a challenge to use left over DSP on our cards.  I really like the Tea for Two papers at the moment and have been using them a lot.  So I chose four designs that complemented each other and cut panels which I stuck to my square base card.  I wrapped a piece of So Saffron taffeta ribbon around the middle and tied a bow (which I'm very proud of!) on the left hand side.  I cut an oval from the Ovals Collection Framelits and stamped the sentiment from the Oh Hello set in Indigo Island.  I then cut a bigger oval from Lucky Limeade card stock and stamped the chevron design from Oh Hello with a Versamark pad.  I mounted them on the card with more 3D foam pads.

 

This next card is the beautiful card I received from Ann.  She picked my favourite papers of the moment and teamed them with Island Indigo.  I really like the little embroidery frame and cross stitch design, which ties in so well with the stitched edge on the patterned DSP.  Simply stunning.

 

 

Well I have finally got to the end of this rather long post.  Sorry I've rambled on a bit, hope you stayed with me.

 

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

 

Michelle x

 

Honeycomb Delight

Hi everyone.  Hope you are well and have had a lovely weekend (despite the rain).

 

I am sharing two cards with you today.  The first was made for my mum for Mother's Day, and features the new Honeycomb embossing folder.  Wow, this really does have lots of possibilities.

 

First of all, I ran a piece of white card through my Cuttlebug in the embossing folder and stuck it to the front of a card.  Then I cut up some scraps of the Tea for Two DSP and put them inside the folder and put it through the Cuttlebug - this gave me a guide to cutting out the hexagons and getting them the right size.  I stuck them down in a random pattern.

 

I then stuck a piece of Baja Breeze pleated satin ribbon across the middle of the card, followed by a piece of baker's twine (I borrowed that idea from Jane, at Eden's Tree - check out her blog here ).

 

The sentiment is from Notable Alphabet, stamped in black onto a piece of Tea for Two.

 

 

 

The second card is very similar (because I'm in love with it!!), and was for Jane (mentioned above), whose birthday was earlier in the week.

 

I used her favourite papers, Spice Cake, and teamed them with Pear Pizzazz pleated ribbon and brown baker's twine.  The sentiment is from the Hostess set, Stacks of Wishes, stamped in Early Espresso ink and mounted on the same colour card.

 

Jane has set up a card swap group and I received my first card this week - it's stunning and I will share it with you soon, as well as the card I made.  Jane received lots of handmade birthday cards this year - one from every member of the swap group - keep looking at her blog, as she is going to post them soon.

I've noticed that my three photos differ in quality - the first is a scan, the second I took and the third was taken my Mark,  I'll let you make your mind up which one is the best!

Take care

Michelle x