I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I last posted.  Life is still pretty manic, particularly as we approach the end of the school year.  I have had no time over the last month to do anything creative, so unfortunately I have nothing to share with you. I am definitely getting withdrawal symptoms, especially as I have a rather large parcel of Stampin' Up goodies that I am desperate to play with!

So, since Edward's birthday weekend, Emily and I had a fab time at the Coldplay concert at the Emirates Stadium - it was one of the best concerts that I have ever been to. Emily was in seventh heaven!

We have also celebrated the Jubilee with a street party which was fun, if somewhat wet!

Half term was very quiet.  My crafting mojo disappeared and I spent most of the time reading and recharging.  I haven't even picked up my crochet for months.

We had a family outing to the Harry Potter tour at Leavesden Studios near Watford.  We are all huge HP fans and had the best time. 

Last weekend was Emily's 17th birthday.  We had a lovely day and a meal out at Pizza Express, Emily's favourite restaurant, and a family party the next day.

And now here we are and it is nearly the end of June.

I've been baking like a mad thing tonight.  It's my birthday on Thursday and I have made 3 dozen cupcakes to take into work - just got to ice and decorate them tomorrow night.

Hopefully this weekend coming will be a crafty one.  I have been invited to have a stall at a charity event in a few weeks, so I have got to get busy.  Perfect opportunity to try out all my new goodies.  Wish me luck!

Take care

Michelle x

A Touch of Greenery

Here's another card from my recent bout of creativity.  Again, a very simple card, and one I think would suit both male and female.

Ingredients

Stamps : All by Marion Emberson

Ink : Brilliance

Card stock from stock

I've got another card that I want to show you, that I made this week.  It fits the bill perfectly for the Less is More challenge blog - the subject being Polka Dots.  The only problem is that the card is for my Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary on Monday, and the final submission for the challenge is tomorrow, and my parents do read my blog - so what to do?  Ban them from reading the blog until Monday or not submit?

This week has been half term and a bit of a funny old week.  I've had very little motivation for anything, which is a bit worrying.  My dog is going through her first season (it's a bit of an eye-opener!!), and my kids are bickering.  It almost (not quite though) makes me wish I was back at work!!

Hope you are having a more productive week.

M x

Flower Power

Had a little card making session over the weekend, getting back to my roots - stamping and colouring.  I've made no secret of my love of Marion Emberson's stamps, and I finally got the time to have a little play.  I must say I really enjoyed the simplicity of stamping and colouring and adding a little embellishment with ribbon and sparkle, and my appetite has been whetted for more cards of this type.

For today's card, I coloured it in with my Promarkers, using my favourite colours.  Obviously there are plenty of options available.  I stamped the image three times, more or less in a straight line and just used two colours so it wasn't overly busy.  I made the little bow on the ribbon and stuck it down with Pinflair glue (in a syringe) -  I am quite impressed with the glue, I've never used it before.  I added a little bit of Glamour Dust in the centre of the flowers because I do like a little bit of sparkle!

Ingredients

Stamps : Flowers - Thanks a Bunch and Happy Birthday sentiment - Sunshine and Flowers

both by Marion Emberson

Promarkers : Orchid and Mulberry

Grosgrain ribbon and jewel from stash

Glitter in centre of flowers : Glamour Dust

Hope you like the card.  I feel very pleased with how it turned out.

I hope to share with you my Flower Garden blanket soon, I just have to finish the edging.  I am so pleased that it is almost finished - over 700 hexagons completed - wow!

I am really looking forward to half term (a week and a half to go), as work is getting me down a bit, but I feel in a way that other things have turned a corner.  That small glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel is definitely burning brighter.  I might even start to feel that life is getting better (although now I am scared I have tempted fate!).  Maybe soon I will feel like sharing.  All I will say at this point is that it has been a very long, hard year.

Hope you are all having a good week,  Take care.

M x

What a week!

Boy, am I glad this week is over!  It's been such a long, busy week and I feel absolutely wrecked.  Mark has been on a four day jolly - oops!  I mean business trip - to Spain and only got back last night.  He did bring me some chocolate, a bottle of gin and a bottle of perfume, so he is forgiven, but I am so tired with being virtually a single parent.  It was a big help that my lovely mum came to stay for four days (thank you Mum!) and she took care of Emily during the day, as well as Chloe, and kept my house clean and tidy - she's a star!  I haven't even had the energy to pick up my crochet in the evenings, not that there has been that much time, what with dog walking, school meetings and dog training.  Anyway, it's the weekend now, time to recharge the batteries.

So now I have the time, I'd like to share a couple more cards with you.  These were a bit experimental but I am so happy with how they turned out.  I bought a bag of mixed flowers in the sale from Craftwork Cards and these matched up with some blank cards that I already had in my stock.  I teamed them with a bit of ribbon and a sentiment, and added Candi to the centres - couldn't be simpler.  Hope you like them.

Have a great weekend.  I plan to make a few more cards, do a bit to my blanket and generally chill out a bit.  I'm off to have a rather large G&T.  Cheers!

M x

Stampin' Up

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all having a good weekend.  I think everyone's thoughts are centred around the events on this day 10 years ago, and I am sure like me, you can all remember vividly what you were doing when you heard the news.  I still can't watch the footage without feeling very emotional.  My thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims and all those brave people who risked their own lives to save people.

On a lighter note, I wanted to share with you, a card I made yesterday with my Stampin' Up stamps - Pocket Silhouettes (6 stamps in the set).  I am very impressed with the quality of the stamps, although slightly dismayed to have to assemble them myself!  For this card I stamped the image with a Distress ink pad - Dusty Concord and was very pleased with the results.

I really like using these landscape A6 cards, it makes such a change,  The problem is, I don't know where I got them from!  I have used some purple grosgrain ribbon from my stock and the ubiquitous Candi and sentiments from Craftwork Cards.  The style is a bit new for me, slightly adventurous, but I'm really pleased with the effect.

I've had a pretty bad week with things not working out how I needed them to.  There has been a lot of stress and upset.  Today is a better day and I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow.  I have been feeling very low and I have found it difficult to read other people's blogs and see photos of lovely crochet, flowers, homes etc where everything seems to be perfect - it's particularly difficult when it is so far from what I am feeling at the moment.  Then I read a couple of blogs where people were questioning why they blog and what was the point.  I often feel like that, especially as I have so few followers after blogging for two years.  I do have three very loyal followers however and I thank them very sincerely for sticking with me - you know who you are :)

But I have decided that the reason for the blogging in the first place was for me and a record of what I have been making, and I can't pretend my life is perfect, and really, whose is?!  So here I am for the foreseeable future and thanks for bearing with me during this moment of self pity.

M x

Bits and Bobs

Evening!  Well what a busy old week it's been this week.  I've made quite a few cards, been shopping quite a few times, been to the cinema, out for tea and walked the dog plenty.  Not to mention the boring chores of washing and ironing and planning meals.  I'm feeling pretty pooped to be honest.

Today Mark and I took Emily to Lakeside to buy clothes for 6th Form - not my favourite thing, shopping, but needs must.  Emily has had a rough old time in the last few  months and we did doubt that she would be able to go to 6th Form, but she is determined to give it a go.  So she needed kitting out.  Lots of clothes were tried on, a good many of them were discarded but we came home with quite a few shirts, trousers and cardigans, plus boots and a bag.  My bank account has taken quite a battering (the Ally Pally fund!!) but it will be worth it on Tuesday if she goes to school.

I wanted to share with you the card I made Mark for our Wedding Anniversary last week.  I've been meaning to post it on the challenge blog Less is More but haven't quite plucked up the courage.  I am running out of time for that one of my holiday goals, so I hope the challenge tomorrow is one I fancy!  Anyway, back to the card, it's a bit different to my usual style.  I inked all around the edge with Barn Door Distress Ink, and around the outside of the elements.  I also used Barn Door to stamp the heart border and hearts on the sentiment (which is a Paula Pascual stamp).  The main element is from a set of stamps by Marion Emberson - you know I am such a fan.  The grosgrain ribbon was from my huge (and I am not joking) collection of ribbon and the "Just For You" sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.  I wasn't too sure of the finished card at first, but I've come round to it.  Mark liked it anyway.

This next card is another departure for me too.  I'm not such a fan of cute images and rarely use them on my cards, but what can you do when you have to make a card for a 2 year old boy?  I don't really have any stash that fits the bill, until I remembered this set of paper that was a free gift from Scrapbook Magazine.  I thought the pirate boy was perfect.  I cut it out and used a strip of the waves backing paper, plus a little bit of plain card stock from DCWV and Bob's your uncle!  The button embellishments were part of the paper pack too and fit in quite nicely.

Have any of you read this book - One Day by David Nicholls?  If you haven't, I can't recommend it highly enough.  I couldn't put it down and was reading it every available minute of the day (just as well I am on holiday!).  I am toying with the idea of going to see the film version, but I have a feeling I may be disappointed - I hope Anne Hathaway can carry off a convincing Yorkshire accent.  We'll see.

Talking of the cinema, we took Emily to see The Inbetweeners film on Wednesday while Edward has been staying with my parents for a few days.  The film was very funny but SO rude!  If you are easily shocked, I wouldn't recommend it.  It is all about four 18 year old boys on holiday in Greece and nothing is left to the imagination!

I'm off to have a facial first thing in the morning - using a voucher that the children bought me for Mother's Day - and I'm really looking forward to feeling pampered.

Take care

M x

That's all for now . . . .

Christmas cards that is!  I've made 63 and I'm bored with doing them now.  I am really pleased with how they turned out - I absolutely love contemporary designs and colours - no red and gold, robins, snowmen etc for me.

Can you believe it's September already?  At least it has been a lovely day today, although have you noticed the drop in temperature in the evenings?  Time to get the snugly crocheted blankets out.  As the nights are starting to draw in, we're having to take Chloe out earlier and earlier so that she can still have a good run.  She's 6 months old now and is such a joy (even when she is being naughty).  Did I mention last week that she chewed a 12" x 12" DCWV scrapbook pad - I was not amused!

Tuesday is looming and that means back to work and school.  Emily will hopefully be starting 6th Form.  We have to take her shopping tomorrow to kit her out - uniform is so much easier!  She is supposed to wear business dress but would not be comfortable in a formal suit.  So we are going for smart separates.  But as you know, I can't stand shopping, so tomorrow is going to be torture!

Wish me luck!

M x

Even More Christmas Cards

Morning all!  Here's another batch of Christmas cards to share with you.  All materials are as before. 

I can't believe it's the last day of August already and that the summer holidays are almost over. I feel like I need to start them all over again, as I haven't achieved everything that I wanted to.  I am not looking forward to getting back on the treadmill of being back to school, the routine of packed lunches, uniform, homework etc.  The holidays have not been that great, due to personal reasons, and it's only this last week, just when it is nearly over, that things have started looking up. I guess that's the way life goes, but sometimes I wish things were different - ah well, never mind, just feeling a little bit sorry for myself.

Have a good day everyone.

M x

Flowers

Inspiration came from an article in Papercraft Inspirations (issue 87, June), a magazine I bought by mistake! The article featured the Four Flowers stamps by Hero Arts and was written by Angela Poole. I based my card on one of her designs, tweaking it here and there.

I used a cream scalloped base card and stamped on cream card stock, using raspberry pink to accent. The inks were Marvy Matchable dye inks and I used accent beads in the centre of the flowers (stuck on with Glossy Accents). The stems of the flowers were coloured with a Promarker, highlighted with a black Sakura gel pen. The pink flowers are raised up with 3D foam pads. I inked the scalloped edge with the pink dye ink for a bit of added interest.

I really love this card, even though it took me ages to make it. I wasn't sure exactly how it was going to end up, but am pleased with the effect. I will definitely be making another one, but will vary it and use a different colour combination. The stamps are versatile and I think they will feature in a lot of cards to come.

I have five more working days left until the end of term and I am already planning what I am going to do with my time. I have signed up to an online journalling class with Kirsty Wiseman here and am itching to make a start. I also have plans to make lots of new cards, and I may even give Christmas some thought. I don't generally mention the "C" word so soon, but if I don't make the cards over the summer holidays, I will not have the time once I am back at work.

The main focus of the summer holidays is to slow down. Life has been pretty tricky over the past nine months and stress levels have risen quite high. I am looking forward to a slower pace of life, maybe sorting out some menus for family eating (that has gone to pot too), reorganizing my craft area and taking the dog for a lot of walks, and generally to have a nicer time.

Hope everyone has had a jolly weekend, despite the appalling weather.

Take care

M x

And another finished blanket :)

So pleased that I finished Emily's blanket yesterday. This one didn't take very long at all, I started it in February and have done it in small bursts of energy.

Emily's room looking unusually tidy (I think all the rubbish and dirty clothes are out of shot!!).

The blanket consists of 10 colours and bands of 10 rows of each. I think I started off with a chain 180 stitches long, but to be honest, I can't actually remember! Each colour is repeated twice. After my epic Granny Stripe, this one was so quick to make, and a lot less ends to sew in! The wool is the usual Stylecraft's Special DK from here

Someone else has taken a shine to it too! Chloe always curled up on it when I was working on it, so it didn't come as a surprise that she was the first one to try it out when it was on the bed.

Chloe's such a cutie. We've had her for 12 weeks now and it feels like we have always had her. She's a good girl (most of the time), and has taken to her training very well. She's also my early morning wake-up call - when Mark goes down to her around 6.30am, she comes bounding up the stairs and onto the bed to say good morning, usually landing on my head!

Hope your Monday was trouble free. I've had quite a good day, nothing out of the ordinary, but no stress. I am busy making props for our Year 6 production of The Wizard of Oz - it's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it!

M x

Birthday Week

Another week, another birthday, this time mine. I reached the grand old age of 43 on Tuesday. My birthday was like the Curate's Egg, good in parts. All my family had clubbed together to get me a new laptop as my other one had died, and I have had it for about a month, so I didn't expect anything else. So it was a lovely surprise to get some little gifts from Mark and the children, and a bagful of crafting goodies from my parents (more of that in a later post - I haven't had time to take any photos yet).

At work my fellow teaching assistants surprised me with a voucher for a beauty salon and I am planning on having a much needed shoulder and neck massage, and maybe a pedicure. The two teachers I work very closely with were the only staff members in the whole school to forget my birthday, so that put a damper on the day - made me feel under appreciated - apparently it was too much trouble to even wish me a happy birthday. Anyway . . .

Mark and I had a lovely meal out at Prezzo, they do a divine chicken ravioli, and the gin and tonics went down really well!

I did make rather a lot of cupcakes to take to work - 3 dozen for the staff and 30 smaller ones for the children in my class, and like an idiot I forgot to take any photos. Which is a shame because I bought some really handy cardboard cupcake carriers and they looked so professional, they would make a great gift. Needless to say all the cakes disappeared in record time - my headteacher confessed to having three!

I had to make a 50th birthday card today to go in the post tomorrow. No time at all to think of a new design, so I went for the tried and tested one that I have made so many of this year.

The papers are called Sugar and Spice and are from the Dovecraft range. They are really pretty and were perfect for this card. I popped into The Range this afternoon and saw that they do embellishments and rub-ons to match (no I didn't buy any!).

I'm looking forward to finishing school in three weeks. I am starting to get some ideas together of things I want to achieve during the summer holidays. There will be more of that later. At the moment I just need to get through the next few weeks, because at the moment I feel like I'm pedalling backwards!

Have a good week.

M x

Busy Week

Well, I hope you are all coping with the heat. It's a bit of a shocker after all the rain this week, but it's so lovely to finally have a bit of summer.

It's been quite a busy week and I haven't achieved much in the card making department. The only cards I have made were for Thursday. The first was for a friend's daughter who was sixteen. I used the Craftwork Cards range of Fruit Scoop. It's quite bright, so am definitely adopting the "less is more" approach.

The second card was for my daughter Emily who also turned sixteen on Thursday. I can't believe where the time has gone, it just doesn't seem possible. She's a massive Mighty Boosh fan hence the pictures. She really loved it.

So the week was spent getting ready for her birthday, preparing for the family party yesterday, taking the dog for her training etc etc. Work has been a bit rubbish again, roll on the end of term.

Today I have been making lots and lots of cupcakes to take to work on Tuesday for my birthday. I always make life more difficult for myself by making some for my class as well as the staff, but they do appreciate it, so it makes it worthwhile.

I have realised that this is my 200th post and am thinking of having a little giveaway (if I can work out how to do it on blogger - any help greatly received). I will have a little think about what I can do.

Hope you all have a really good week.

Take care

M x

P.S. Started a new crochet project even though I have a couple still on the go, just couldn't resist! Watch out for some photos soon :)

P.P.S Booked my Harry Potter cinema tickets for Friday 15th July - can hardly contain my excitement :)

Puppy Photos

I thought it was about time I put some more photos of Chloe on my blog. My goodness how she has grown. She is now twice the weight she was when we had her weighed at 8 weeks, and suddenly she seems all legs.

The first couple of photos are when she was about 10 weeks old and she looks like such a little thing - sort of chubby yet tiny.

She has a thing for shoes, any shoes, she's not fussy. She likes to pair up my Crocs in the flower bed (slightly OCD methinks!).

And this is her at 13 weeks, she is thinner and sleeker, and definitely leggy. As you can see, she loves her comfort - cushions and crocheted blankets. She particularly likes my Rowan Cashsoft blanket that I made last year.

She's not been very well this week, has behaving out of character, so tonight we took her to the vets and it would appear that she has a bladder infection. So now she is on a course of antibiotics for a week and we have to go back next week for a check up. At least she has no problems taking her tablet - pushed into a little bit of cheese, it didn't touch the sides. So different from giving tablets to a cat - what a palaver that was. Of course going to the vet is a licence to print money. I hope this isn't the start of things to come.

It's half term this week and all my grand plans of card making haven't exactly come to fruition, although I have made some today. I haven't got pictures yet as our main computer is down so I can't scan them. Hopefully I'll get some decent photos tomorrow.

I downloaded a blank Promarker colour chart from the Letraset website and had fun colouring in the squares of the colours I have. I have 66 pens including a blending one. Still loads to get!! Although after the vet bill, not for some time!!

The other day I felt the urge to do some painting. I used to love painting when I was doing my O and A Level art and I haven't done any for ages. I am inspired by Dyan Reaveley at Art From the Heart (here ) also a blog called Luna ( here ). I've only drawn the image so far and painted the background, but I will show you soon.

I hope you are all having a lovely week, nice that the weather is picking up. Back to work on Monday and another stressful week of my daughter doing her GCSEs. I know I haven't mentioned much about that but yes, we are in the throes of them, and I will be so glad when they are over. There are four next week - 2 maths, 1 history and 1 Italian - wish us luck.

Take care

M x

Grrrr!!

Haven't been around much recently as life and no internet have got in the way!

We've had no internet connection for quite a few days now and it's getting pretty tedious. It's only when you don't have it, do you realise how much you rely on it! (If you are wondering how I'm posting now, well don't tell anyone, but I've jumped on my neighbours unsecured connection!!). It's Edward's birthday soon and I've been worried about how to order his presents (all from Amazon and Play), we haven't been able to sort pet insurance out until today, pay bills etc!

This morning, Edward departed for a week's stay in Bude at an activity centre, as his Year 7 trip. He was so excited and not at all worried. I've spent the last few days gathering together all his bits and pieces to pack, with a niggling doubt that I had forgotten something - still can't think what it is, and it's too late now as he'll have probably arrived by now! It's the lack of contact that I don't like - no phone call to say they have arrived safely. I'm not used to being out of contact with my children being somewhat of a control freak, or over protective mum.

I'm woefully behind with all the cards I need to make for May, and haven't picked up a crochet hook for a few weeks. The puppy is keeping us busy though. Whilst she is adorable, her feet are well and truly under the table! She has her moments of naughtiness, has discovered the stairs, and has realised that she likes to bite things! At least we only have to get up once in the night to her, and the puddles in the dining room seemed to have stopped too!

Anyway, sorry to be all gloom and doom, but sometimes you just need to get things off your chest!

Hope the week and weekend have been good for you. Have a great week, I've got a busy one, Year 6 SATs!

M x