Hello

Well, apologies for the absence.  I won't bore you with all the details, but we have been a very poorly house recently, so crafting and blogging have taken a very large back seat.  I'm slowly getting round to visiting other blogs and leaving comments.  I feel like I have missed out on seeing lots of lovely inspirational work.  I've even had a box of new goodies from Stampin' Up sitting on my living room floor for nearly two weeks without barely giving it any attention at all.  Inside are all the lovely Hearts a Flutter stamps and framelits, as well as the More Amore DSP, intended for Mark's Valentines card - well that didn't happen!

 

Anyway, I'm back on track.  It's half term and I'm feeling crafty!  Robbie Williams is on the CD player.  I've set myself a goal to spend the morning scrapbooking and card making and then catch up on other stuff in the afternoons.  I'm having a little break to write this post - and feeling rather virtuous as I have completed a scrap book layout for Emily's album this morning.

 

I would like to share a card with you that I made a few weeks ago before the lurgy struck.  I've copied it from one I saw in Pinterest, so I can't take any credit for it at all, and all the materials are from Stampin' Up, apart from the gems.

 

The stamps used are from the Best of Everything stamp set, which I really love.  The colour scheme is dictated by the paper - a retired hostess set called Cheerful Treat - Lucky Limeade, Concord Crush and Melon Mambo.  I've used some matching stitched ribbon and a couple of gems for the middle of the flowers (punched with the flower punch  from the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack - a very versatile punch).

 

So that's me for now.  I'm going to delve into that box of SU goodies and see what I can come up with.  Hopefully there won't be such a long gap until my next post.

Hope you all have a good day.  Thanks for dropping by, and as ever I really appreciate your comments.

Take care

Michelle x

Happy Birthday Dad

 

Good morning.  Hope everyone is feeling OK today.  I'm thrilled that all the snow has finally been washed away, it means I will get in my car now!  I had a bad experience in snow many years ago, so now when it snows I don't get in my car for anybody!  But today it's all gone and the sun is shining - hurrah!

 

Yesterday we were celebrating my Dad's 70th birthday with a little family party.  We had a lovely time.  My sister and I bought Dad a voucher for a gliding lesson (his suggestion, not ours!) - so watch this space in the spring or summer for photos.

 

Today I am sharing with you the card I made for my Dad.  I am very excited by it because it uses some of the free gifts that you can get with the Stampin' Up Sale-a-Bration promotion (a free gift for every £45 you spend).  There are some beautiful stamp sets, paper, ribbon and so much more).

 

I have used the Sycamore Street DSP and the matching Sycamore Street buttons and ribbons set.  The plain card stock is Indigo Island (love that colour) and the sentiment is from the Itty Bitty Banners stamp set (cut with the Bitty Banners Framelits).  The letters and numbers are highlighted with a Sakura glitter pen.

 

 

I may have to get another set of the papers because I really love the colours and patterns - it's brilliant because it suits male and female cards - so versatile.

 

Well that's me done for today.  I'm off to catch up with the ironing - the usual Sunday activity.

 

Take care and thanks for dropping by.

 

Michelle x

 

 

 

Best of Everything

 

Hello everyone. Sorry for the absence.  I had such high hopes this year for more regular posting but I didn't count on Blogger letting me down.  I've been having so many problems trying to upload photos from my files.  I've had to go about it in a rather laborious fashion - via Picassa Web or something like that!  It was rather frustrating, but I got there in the end!

 

Today I'm at home as our school has closed due to the snow.  Emily is here too as her college has closed, but Edward is most put out because his school is open and I made him go in.  I did have to bribe him with a sausage sandwich for breakfast!  We've has a fun time this weekend, playing in the snow with Chloe - she adores it and wants to be out in it at every opportunity.  In fact, she never leaves Mark alone, constantly fussing at him to take her out.  Now though, I wish it would go.  We had to cancel a family celebration in Kent at the weekend for my Nan's 90th birthday, and my Dad will be 70 this weekend, so we are keeping our eyes on the forecast, and our fingers crossed.

 

The card I am sharing with you today uses a lovely set of stamps called Best of Everything.  I am very taken with them and I think they are really versatile.  I CASEd part of the card from the current Stampin' Up catalogue, but the rest is all mine!

 

I used Real Red, Tangerine Tango and Daffodil Delight for the flowers and Gumball Green for the stems.  The Curly Label punch works brilliantly with the dotty border and I used matching ribbon and coloured card for mounting.  Of course, no card is complete without a little bit of bling. 

 

 

 

Well, that's it from me today.  I'm off to wrap up warm and take my gorgeous girl for a run in the snow.  Have a great day and stay safe.

 

Michelle x

Happy New Year

Happy 2013 everyone.  I hope you have all had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas.  I've had a lovely time and am feeling so chilled, I am almost comatose!  Mark and I have really enjoyed spending a lot of time just doing nothing, catching up on programmes that we have recorded and not had time to watch (like The Killing and Homeland) and just generally recharging.  Poor Emily was full of cold again on Boxing Day and has been feeling pretty grotty since.  She was really poorly before Christmas, so she is not terribly happy.  Having said that, she soldiered on admirably.  Edward is a typical teenager and has spent a lot of time on his Xbox, apart from when family obligations were enforced!

 

Between Christmas and New Year I managed to grab a few hours to make some cards.  I'm trying to get organised so that I don't have the normal panic of not having birthday cards for people when I need them.

 

The card I am sharing with you today was made with the fabulous Betsy's Blossoms set (Stampin' Up) and some of the new In-Colour ink pads - Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit and Primrose Petals.  This is a replica of the card that I made for my mum (see here ).  I love this card so much and really wanted to make another version.

 

I've had a go at taking the photos myself rather than getting Mark to scan them.  I've realised that scanning the cards doesn't show some of the dimension that I add.

During my tour of blogland today, I was very interested in people's round-ups of the year. Having looked through all my blog photos from 2012, it became apparent that I didn't actually do a lot last year!  I know that sounds dramatic, but looking through last year's calendar gave me the same impression.  So I'm going to try a little bit harder.  It really bothered me that I hardly made any Christmas cards, and I was quite sad that it was the first year in a really long time that I sent so few.  I also have a deadline for Emily's Scrapbook - 6 months until her 18th.  It's very scary because I've still got so much to do - so I've tried to make myself an action plan.  I'll keep you posted on how it's going (expect tears!).

Enjoy the rest of the day, and thanks again for dropping by.

Michelle x

Christmas Wishes

 

Hello everyone.  Just popping in to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I hope you all have a lovely time and that you keep safe and well.  Thank you for visiting me this year and for all your kind comments, I appreciate them so much.

 

As usual, things have been very hectic here.  Emily and I are finally over our illnesses.  School has been manic, with pantos, parties, church services etc.  We finally finished work on Friday, and I went straight off to Sainsburys to start my Christmas food shopping.  We have had a very busy but not-so-stressful weekend getting ready for Christmas.  The house is looking very tidy and festive, the trifle is made, as is the gingerbread house and the yule log, and the Christmas cake is decorated.  The Indian take-away is about to be ordered and then we are ready.

 

I have realised that I have omitted to send out all my Christmas cards - apologies if that is you.  I can only put it down to illness and my work situation - I'm really sorry.

 

Before I sign off for the Christmas period, here are the last few cards that I made for the charity event that I participated in.  The irony is, that for the first time ever, I didn't make any cards of my own to send out this year (apart from the ones I made for the Scrapbaggers!).  Oh well, there's always next year!

 

 

Thanks for dropping my, and again, Happy Christmas!

 

Michelle x

Candlelight Christmas

 

Hello.  Hope everyone is managing to keep well as we approach Christmas.  Unfortunately our house has managed to succumb to the fluey type virus that is going around.  Poor Emily has been ill for over a week and even managed to lose her voice for a couple of days.  She is on the mend now but has been unable to go to college and work placement which isn't good.  Edward and I both have had nasty colds and have been home for a couple of days.  Mark so far remains clear (hope I haven't just tempted fate!).

 

I'm feeling a little bit anxious and under-prepared for Christmas, still got lots to do and not enough time to do it all.  This year I was supposed to not let the stress get to me but it has. I'm still in the process of writing Christmas cards with more still to make, as well as presents to wrap.  I like to be really organised and "last minute" doesn't sit well with me.

 

Anyway, the card I am sharing with you today uses the Candlelight Christmas Speciality DSP, along with the Ornament Keepsakes stamp set and Holiday Ornaments Framelits (all from SU).

 

I think these papers look great on the kraft card and I just added a touch of matching ribbon to the bauble (which is mounted on dimensional foam).

 

 

I'm going to a 12 hour scrapbook crop on Saturday (!!), I've never done this before.  At the moment I'm thinking it's not such a wise idea with so much to do, but I am planning to get some Christmas cards made there.  I just hope I'm not feeling too hungover as we have our staff party the night before.  Will have to rein in the G&Ts I guess to keep a clear head.  Which leaves Sunday to put up the decorations. 

 

Hope you are not buckling under the pressure!

 

Take care

 

Michelle x

 

 

Four Seasons

Hi All.  Feeling festive yet?  It's a bit of a shocker that it's suddenly December isn't it?  I know it's a bit of a cliche, but where has the year gone?

 

It's been a pretty manic week at work and it's only going to get worse.  This week I have been working on a Victorian shop window for the backdrop of our Christmas play.  Lots of brown paint and fake snow.  We have also had a Christmas Fair on Friday, which was very different this year - it was outside!  It was based on a German Christmas Market, and the atmosphere was fab, the only problem was that it was VERY cold!  I had a stall selling my bits and pieces and was outside from 5pm to 7.30pm.  By the end I couldn't feel my toes despite my thermal socks.  Having said that, it was a great evening and I applaud the hard work of all the volunteers.

 

Today's card is made using the Four Seasons stamp set which is a current Hostess gift.  I chose to stamp the image in red Brilliance ink and added some red sparkle embossing powder and heat embossed it.  I stamped some of the image again, I just wanted the robin in the middle, and heat embossed that too.  I cut the two circles out and mounted the main one on a circle of red mirror card.  The smaller circle was attached to the middle with 3D foam pads.  I used a piece of red satin polka dot ribbon around the middle and stuck the circle element over it using more foam pads.  The sentiment is from Craftwork Cards.

 

I'm very pleased with how the card turned out, I really like the simplicity of the red and white.  Hope you like it too.

We've had a lovely day today having friends over for a pre-Christmas get together.  It was really chilled and they were good company.  It did mean a massive tidy up beforehand though.  Had to actually put all my cardmaking and scrapbooking stuff out of sight (on our bed!).  Heaven knows where it's going to go over Christmas (Mum and Dad's maybe?).  I really  must have a big sort out after Christmas, I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by it all.

Thanks for dropping by.  Until next time.

Michelle x