Shaving Foam!

What a fab afternoon I have had today!  And this is the card that started it all off.  This is the beautiful card I received from Zoe, from my card swap group.  I was fascinated by the background, and she told me it had been made using the shaving foam technique.  She briefly explained how to go about it, and after checking out a couple of videos on Youtube, I thought I would have a go.

 

 

I used the Stampin' Up reinkers that I had (Brights), and created two different coloured backgrounds,  The first one used Real Red, Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight.  I realised after a few tries, that I needed to swirl it a little bit more, so I had another go, this time using Tempting Turquoise, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive and Pacific Point.  This batch looked much better - more marbled and less splodgy.  And here are the four cards I made from them.

 

Each one is different and I'm pleased with them all, but my favourites are definitely the blue ones.  I know I will be having another play with this technique, and I may even use it for my scrapbooking.  What has been really lovely today, is just having the opportunity to play - usually I make cards for a specific reason.  Today, I could just enjoy getting messy and experimenting, with no pressure. 

Apart from the reinkers and shaving foam, I also used:
Card stock : Real Red, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black and Digital Smooth card stock.
Stamps : Gorgeous Grunge, Petite Petals, Butterfly Basics, Teeny Tiny Sentiments, Crazy About You and Sheltering Sky - Stampin' Up, as well as Your Special Day by Marion Emberson.
Sequins, Gems, Punches, Dies and Glossy Accents.

Hope you like them and thanks for dropping by,  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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 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

CASE Card

 

Greetings lovely people!  Don't know about you, but I'm finding it hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of October.  I know it's a cliché to say this, but where has the year gone?

 

I guess now I have to start thinking about the dreaded C word.  To be fair, I have made a good start on my Christmas cards, but I really must get my head around what to buy people.  I try to be organised each year - I like my lists - but this year I have the lovely SU Seasons of Style This and That Journal to help me out.  Hopefully it will bring me divine inspiration too!

 

I wanted to share some cards with you that I made at the end of the summer (yes, I'm appallingly behind!).  I was totally inspired by a card I saw on the very talented Jen Nelson's blog, The Tiny Blue Butterfly - check out her card here.  I was really struck by it and knew I had to copy it.  I particularly loved the die that she used - it's from Avery Elle in America.  I immediately had a little Google and found the die on the website and, oops, it just fell into my basket!

 

The card is cut from Crumb Cake cardstock, and the paper is from the Gingham Garden set.  I made a little pin wheel and found a tiny little brad to finish it off, and the sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Sentiments.  I'm really a fan of this type of card with the fold at the top (as you will see over the coming months!).  Jen makes a lot of cards like this and her blog is truly inspiring.

 

I used the smaller of the four dies to make the following card.  The card stock is Pear Pizzazz and the paper is still Gingham Garden.  Sentiment as before.

 

The final card in this selection is made using Calypso Coral card stock.  The paper is from This Is Me.  I added a stamped element along the bottom as my daughter said the card was too plain!  The chevron stamp is from an old SU set, Border Banter (stamped in Basic Grey).  I actually cheated and stamped it on an off-cut, cut it out and added it to the card afterwards - I was too worried I would muck it up and ruin my card!.

Well, it's half term for me this week, and I am enjoying a really lazy week.  I did actually make a card yesterday - for my parents' Wedding Anniversary on Thursday, 49 years.  And today I am in the middle of making a card for the Card Swap group I belong to - probably should have made that last weekend, but  we are still in the middle of University Open Days - only two more to go!  I'm hoping to get a little more crafting done over the next two days and then on Friday, I'm away at a scrapbooking retreat my Scrapbags, which I am looking forward to immensely.

I'll leave you now as my SU Envelope Punchboard has just arrived and I'm off to have a little play!

Thanks for dropping by.

Take care

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

Birthdays Galore!

 

It's been a busy time recently - lots of April birthday, and lots more in May.  The following cards are a few that I made for last month.

 

This first card was made for a good friend of mine who celebrated a milestone birthday.  I cut an oval in the middle of the card and pierced around the outside of the aperture and the edge of the card with a piercing template.  I attached a piece of green Twitterpated DSP behind the aperture.  I cut some chipboard numbers and coated them in Martha Stewart glitter and attached them to the DSP.  A Teeny Tiny sentiment and punched out labels in white and Pear Pizzazz completed the card.

 

This next card was made with a scrap booking kit that I have had knocking around for years and thought I ought to start using!  It was a card made in a hurry for the little boy next door.

An finally, another card made from a pad of scrap booking papers.  Actually I used offcuts from Emily's birthday album, to use them up.  The card was for a 14 year old girl and I hope I pitched it correctly - it's a funny old age, 14!

 

 

Hopefully I will be back soon with some more cards.  Because I have a lot of birthdays in May, I've gone in for some batch making sessions, and revisiting an old design.  But I do have something new to show you that I am very proud of - so watch this space!

 

See you soon.  Take care

 

Michelle x

How long?!

 

My poor, sadly neglected blog - it's been so long.

 

Where has the time gone?  It's been a bit busy recently, to say the least.  My lovely dog was spayed a few weeks ago and has recovered well.  It was very difficult keeping an exuberant 2 year old Labrador calm for a few weeks.  She was only allowed in the garden on the lead, and when it snowed she went crazy, desperate to play in it.  I was a total wreck when she was in having the operation.  I'm such a worrier, but she is so precious to us, and was a lifeline to Emily when we first got her.  But all is well and she is back to her normal, mad self.

 

Emily is still fighting off germs, even succumbing to another cold on Easter Sunday.  I had to take her for blood tests where they are pretty much testing for everything!  Won't get the results for another few weeks.

 

Easter came and went.  It was a pleasant weekend - saw family, and chilled out.  Mark has been off all of last week but we didn't really do too much - the weather was off-putting.  He did take me to a lovely scrap booking shop - Sugar and Spice in a farm park and craft village in Essex.  The next day he visited the Henry Moore Foundation which is quite near to us.  I didn't go because it was too cold (it snowed while he was there!).

 

This week is all about scrap-booking.  I'm away at a retreat on Friday, the children are staying with my parents and I'm devoting all my time to getting on with Emily's album.  I've had a very productive day today and hopefully tomorrow will be the same.

 

There has not been much going on with card making.  I've probably mentioned joining Jane's card making swap group.  Apologies that I have not had time to share my cards - will try and remedy that this week.  I must make at least four cards this week before I go away.

 

I did make a quick card on Saturday for my friend who has just had surgery.  I used a 10cm square card, with a scored boarder.  I cut a smaller white panel and mounted it on the spotty paper from the DSP Patterns Stack. I used the Patterned Occasions set from the recent Sale-a-bration promotion at SU.  I stamped the image and the sentiment (Teeny Tiny Sentiments) in Calypso Coral.  Very CAS I think.

 

 

 

Well that's me for now.  Hope you didn't fall asleep with all my ramblings.  Take care and enjoy the lovely Spring weather.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

 

Michelle x