Happy Birthday Katie!

My friend Katie is celebrating her 40th birthday today, she's the baby of our group. The card I made for her uses Craftwork Card products. I hope she likes it. Have a great day Katie!

It's going to be a long week this week - back to work tomorrow and Mark has gone to France for the week on business. I hate it when he goes away, stuff always seems to go wrong when he's not around and then I feel helpless (not good for my self esteem!). Anyway, fingers crossed for me please!

Take care.

M x

Handbags

Here is my latest offering - handbag cards. The basic cards are from Craftwork Cards and the papers are from various DCWV paper stacks.

I used to make a lot of handbag cards and had quite a few special commissions for them over the years because I would personalise them. I haven't made any for a couple of years now until I came across the left over card blanks this week. My daughter needed a card for her friend's 15th birthday, so I made the pink one below, then I just got carried away (and more are works in progress as I type). Emily changed her mind when she saw the butterfly one and has given that to Alice instead - hope she likes it!

My favourite one is the blue and cream one - I think it looks really classy.

Have a good day.

M x

Having trouble with Blogger today - really infuriating. I uploaded these photos yesterday and have just typed all my comments about them, and can I get the post to publish, I cannot. I can't work out why it won't - heigh ho, just going to have to do it again - grrrrrrr!

I used Basic Grey papers for this first card, from the Boxer range. It's a retirement card, made as a special commission. Don't know the recipient which always makes it tricky, especially if it's a man, but my client was pleased with it.

The second card was Edward's birthday card - designed by my husband and assembled by myself. Edward was thrilled - cricket is is passion and we had bought him a Kookaburra bat for his birthday.

The final card today was made as an anniversary card - in fact I made two. The oval design and the red Card Candy are from Craftwork Cards and I cut the scalloped oval using the Cuttlebug.

Hope you like them. More tomorrow.

Had to wait in all day yesterday for the washing machine repair man (it broke down on Saturday). Sadly he wrote the machine off as the repair was going to cost over £500! It's going to take at least two weeks before I get another machine - how will we cope??!! My friend and neighbour has washed three loads for me and my parents came to collect a further five loads last night. I fear it's going to be a very long two weeks.

I'd planned to dedicate the whole day yesterday to card making, but it turned out to be quite stressy in the end - let's hope today is an improvement!

Have a good day. Toodlepip!

M x

Ta-dah!

After many weeks of decorating and unpacking boxes, I finally had my ta-dah moment to my family and friends on Sunday for Edward's birthday party. The house (well downstairs!) has never looked so tidy and probably never will again! I'm so proud of it and Mark for all his hard work.

(Note craft shelves in the corner!).

Obviously it wouldn't be a party with a couple of dozen cupcakes - chocolate at Edward's request and Emily chose the mauve colour for the vanilla flavoured ones.

My mum made Edward's birthday cake - the only thing he stipulated was that it had to be chocolate! It's the biggest chocolate cake I've ever seen! It's got Smarties and mini marshmallows around the bottom - yum!

Here's the boy opening his last couple of presents - money from his Godmother and cricket stumps from Grandma. One very happy 11 year old!

And finally - again at Edward's request - the chocolate fountain. It's a lot of fuss for melted chocolate, but the children enjoyed it. Even better, Mark cleaned it afterwards instead of me (it's a bit of a pig to do - result!!).

A happy day!

Enjoy your Wednesday. Take care.

M x

Favourite Books

I've been pondering today about making a list of my top ten books of all time and have decided that it is an impossible task! I've been an avid since I was a child - always a book in hand, often reading til the early hours - how can I possibly narrow it down to just 10 books? I have favourite books to suit my mood, old favourites that bring me comfort or a bit of nostalgia, some that just make me laugh out loud, some that are pure escapism and some that make me cry. Here are just a selection of books, or just authors that have given me pleasure over the years (in no particular order).

1. The Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent Dyer. I started reading this school series when I was about 11 and was really enchanted with the setting - the Austrian Tirol. I managed to buy about 30 books in the series with no idea really of how many were still left to get. I revisited these books about 8 or 9 years ago and discovered that there were 62 (!!) in the whole set - wow. I now own all 62 and have had lots of pleasure reading the whole series from start to finish. I dream of passing them on to my daughter but sadly she has absolutely no interest in them!


2. As a child I was a fan of all things Enid Blyton. I absolutely loved the Famous Five and the Secret Seven, as well as Mallory Towers and St Clares. The Faraway Tree books were also enjoyed, plus various mystery and adventure stories.


3. I really enjoy "Chick-Lit" - it's pure escapism. Anything by Fiona Walker, Jill Mansell, Jane Green, Freya North, Elizabeth Noble, Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes et al.


4. Anyone who knows me, knows I am obsessed with the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. I try to convert everyone I can! You are either Team Edward or Team Jacob and I am firmly Team Edward - read them and decide for yourself.


5. I've always been a Jane Austen fan - even before Colin Firth came out of the pond in his white shirt! My favourite is of course Pride and Prejudice, but I love Emma too, as well as Sense and Sensibility.


6. Some recent books that I have enjoyed immensely (if that's the right word) - The Kite Runner, The Time Traveller's Wife, My Daughter's Keeper, The Lovely Bones, Sacred Hearts, Star of the Sea and Wedlock.


7. One of my all time favourites - Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I first read this when I was 12 and devoured it in just 4 days. I love reading about that time in history and who can help falling in love with Rhett Butler!


8. The Harry Potter series - I adore these books and frequently read them. I cried at the end of The Half-Blood Prince and was on the edge of my seat during The Deathly Hallows, desperate not to be let down by the ending (which I wasn't!).


9. Watership Down - always makes me cry. Those rabbits really got to me!


10. And finally - anything that is recommend to me. My son often suggests I read some of his books - which I do. I really enjoyed the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. I have recently read Holes by Louis Sachar at Edward's instigation and will probably read the Percy Jackson books after reading some to Edward in the bath the other night.

I'd love to hear about other people's favourite books - let me know what you think.

M x

Birthday Boy

Yesterday my baby turned 11. I can't believe where the time has gone. He's in in final term of primary school, champing at the bit to start his new school. In fact, on Saturday, we went to a treasure hunt at his new school and he went off with his mates quite happily without a backwards glance. It tugged at my heartstrings, but I'm so pleased that he felt able to go. I'm not looking forward to September though!!

We had a rather full-on weekend of laser party, treasure hunt and football fun day. Edward has had a great time. He is thrilled with his presents - pretty much all cricket equipment with the exception of some Percy Jackson books and the DVD of Avatar. His face says it all!

The above photo shows the card I made - it's of a Kookaburra cricket bat and a cricket ball, designed by my husband no less!!

Hope you are all having a good week - three more days till half term!

M x

New Cards

I've had a few special commissions lately - five of which have been wedding cards (not my favourite type of card to make), but here's my first design. I'm not very traditional with my card designs, I prefer a more contemporary look, so I just went for a white and silver design (although it looks black on the photo). The paper is from a QVC kit by Kanban that I had totally forgotten I had - whoops! I'm really pleased with the card and I will be duplicating it for one of my other wedding orders.

This card is for my neighbour's daughter who will be 2 on Friday. The image is a Hero Arts stamp called Jessica that I have had for years. The paper is from an extreme paper stack by DCWV.

I'm counting down to half term now - 7 more working days. I really need the break and am looking forward to having a rest and having a play with my card making kits.

I have a busy weekend coming up - my youngest child Edward, will be 11 on Monday so I will be making cupcakes for him to take to school. He's having a party on Friday evening - a laser party - got the cake, made the party bags already. Edward will then be visiting his new school on Saturday morning and then it's a weekend of football. Luckily his Dad will take him to football whilst I get on with making his card and wrapping his presents - left it to the last minute as usual!

Have fun.

M x