I haven't given up!

Hi folks
I'm sorry I haven't posted in some time but due to my Mum being poorly and me spending all my time with her I just cannot get to blog at the moment. I will resume writing posts but it is a bad time for me and my family and I just wanted to let the people who read my posts know where I was and thank you for checking out my blog. I will continue to post some of my work on Twitter and I will be back!!
Michelle x.

I'm Still Here!

Hi Bloggers and Crafters

It's been a while since I last posted but I have been really busy with many Birthday cards and Wedding Stationary. I love writing this blog but unfortunately when busy that has to come first and I will always post something eventually so bear with me.
Here's a card I made recently to celebrate a 30th Birthday. My brief was girlie which is always music to my ears.

I love this colour combo. The papers were Kaisercraft's TigerLily. The card is an 8"x 8" easel made from some Crafter's Companion Centura Pearl (16"x16"). It is matted and layered and then the last mat is folded back and I inserted a heavily patterned piece in the space. The lace was from my stash. I think it came from The Craftz Boutique.

 Tucked inside the rolled back piece of card are lots of little paper roses made from the same papers and the Coordinations card I used to mat and layer. They were made using Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms (one of my favs). My Husband thinks I spend every waking hour making flowers and I probably do but I'm super fast these with a quilling tool!! At the front of the rolled back card I used a Heartfelt Creations Die called Decorative Butterfly Corner to cover the fold and make it look a little like a bouquet. I added some pink ribbon to complete the look (ribbon from stash). I used the second and fourth largest dies from Spellbinders 5x7 Matting Basics Sets A and B to make the large sentiment panel on the card front and the matching box. The sentiments were stamped in my usual way with stamps from Waltzing Mouse.

The bottom of the easel is matted in the same way with some more of the roses and the leaves from the same die set. There are actually 30 roses on the card in total. I used Spellbinders Ribbon Banners Large and cut two to create a shadow. I used my Justrite Alphabet Stamp Set to spell out the recipients name and I cut the large 30 on my Cricut (Storybook cartridge). I finished off with some My Mind's Eye pearl flourishes that I cut down to suit. 

 

The seemingly random shots of the back of the card should feature here and not up there but Blogger was playing up and wouldn't let me move them. Isn't that always the way when your in a rush because forty other things are vying for your attention. They show a Spellbinders Ornate Square die cut that holds a tag made from Our Daily Bread Designs Bookmarks Dies (the dies are made by Spellbinders). I've started doing this on easel cards as all the embellishing makes it so hard for people to write on the back of the card and this seems to solve the problem.

Hope you like it. Thanks for looking. I will be back soon.

Have a fantastic weekend and Happy Father's Day for Sunday to all the lovely Dads out there. I've sent my love up to Heaven. Happy Fathers Day Dad xxxx.

Michelle x.

A Pimms fuelled afternoon!!

Hi Bloggers. How fine has today been? Well we had unexpected visitors arrive and so the day turned into a Pimms fuelled afternoon so apologies if I don't make a lot of sense but then nothing new there eh!
Just a short post today to show you the card related item I mentioned previously. It is basically a wedding cake made from card and handmade flowers. The only thing I didn't make was the ribbon. The idea behind it is that you have one of these at your wedding reception and guests can post their cards and monetary gifts safely inside it. Later the Bride a Groom can lift it off it's base and retrieve all their cards and gifts.

These are decorated to match the couple's wedding colours and design. The flowers in this case were made with Spellbinders Spiral Blossom One and Bitty Blossoms (the two largest dies). The vines were Spellbinders Grand 12" On The Vine border. The flowers were all made from Creative Expressions cardstock. I think Sue Wilson described the colour as Khaki. It's a creamy/pale brown colour. I'd say biscuit coloured. Each one was die cut, rolled, and stuck and then edged with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. The vines were made from Coordinations card and chopped down to suit. The boxes were made using A3 and 16x16 Crafter's Companion pearl card in white with a hint of gold and were made on the Boxer Board on the Ultimate Pro. as long as you stager the measurement a couple of inches you get the tiered effect. Each tier or box was edged with ribbon from Creative Expressions.

 

At the back there is a slot that I have edged with Ric Rac (from stash) and this allows people to post their cards.

Before sticking all the boxes together I cut away the tops so the cards can drop through to the bottom tier or box. These card cakes can be made bigger or smaller with more or less tiers but this one does hold a lot of cards as I tested it. It easily takes a 5x7 card size and a little bit bigger.
Hope you like it. Thanks for looking in. Back soon.
Michelle x.

Weddings...your going to see a lot on this theme!

Hi crafty peeps. How wonderful has the weather been this week? Tomorrow is going to be even hotter I hear!
Well my son's two weeks holiday from school is almost at an end so hopefully my production line will speed up again but trying to work and entertain a six year old who in turn INSISTS on entertaining our already giddy dog isn't good for output!!(Is that a word? It looks odd. You'd think having taught English for the best part of six years would stand me in good stead but my brain has gone slightly mushy of late. Maybe it's the weather!) Anyway the dastardly duo have been detrimental to my creativity!
Today I wanted to show you a card that I did finish this week and if you know my Twitter page you will have had a glimpse but I then made the box for it and so photographed it again.

 

I love this colour combo because it's different from the usual cream or the black and white I'm usually asked for. It's actually shades of grey (what a great idea for a book title!!) but the photo made it look a little blue (there's a subconscious theme occurring here!). The darkest grey is Kanban cardstock and the lighter one is American crafts. The patterned paper with the encapsulated glittered sentiments is from Best Creations Inc and is aptly titled Mr & Mrs.

 To begin I cut, matted, and layered the grey cardstocks and the patterned paper. I then used the Spellbinders Edges and Borders Dies (I don't know which as I stupidly threw away the packaging) to create a panel to break up the patterned paper. I don't do this any more as all my dies are secure on magnetic sheets and labelled on the front with the title and how many dies in the set. I also cut the picture from the packaging and stick that on the back of the magnetic sheet for visual reference. They are all sorted and filed into categories and stored in boxes so I can grab what I want relatively quickly. (Sorry side tracked. I actually talk this way!!). I then attached a piece of ruffled ribbon (Webster's Pages) to the panel.  On top of this I used Spellbinders 12" Grand On The Vine Border and sniped it down to suit my needs. I recommend this die if like me you use lots of flowers and want leaves to match and they have a lovely embossed vein on each and even if you don't want all of them you have some for next time which might save you a little job. The leaves are all different sizes too so really useful. I then dotted around some Kaisercraft pearls in Pewter. The flowers are from Prima. For the rest I used Spellbinders Twisted Metal Tags and Accents, 5 x 7 Elegant Labels Four, Imperial Gold Labels Four and Labels Four. I then layered these using Pinflair. The Twisted Metal frame that you can see poking out at the top and bottom of the stack was cut in half to fit as it is much smaller than the label die cuts. I then stamped a sentiment from the Waltzing Mouse Big Day Additions set (Black Archival) and heat embossed with clear powder (Stamps Away). You do have to have your embossing powder at the ready as this ink dries super fast but it does work if your quick and I love the crisp print you get with this ink. Again I added a few pearls.

The inside is very simple and is just a dark grey matt on the patterned paper with a sentiment (Waltzing Mouse) stamped on a labels four die cut.

The box was made in the usual way on my Ultimate Pro using the Boxer Board and scoring two A4 sheets of card (same as before) for Base and Lid at 2". I then used a light grey matt and edged it with the ruffled ribbon.

I then used the frame piece that the Elegant Labels Four Die leaves behind (It is an actual frame). On top of this is another Imperial Gold Labels Four and a Labels Four with the Waltzing Mouse sentiment stamped on it as before. I then used Labels Twenty-Nine to make my little Wedding book (three layers). I then added a combination of Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms and leaves and some Prima flowers and a couple of pearls. Hope you like it and I haven't totally exhausted you. Ta (as we say in the North) for looking.
Back over the weekend with another Wedding item. Though not a card; it is related. Enjoy the good weather.
Michelle x.

Fathers Day Card Winner.

Hi all. Well it looks like Summer IS finally here. I haven't seen my dog or my youngest son all afternoon! I know they're in the garden somewhere!! They certainly love the sunny weather, as do I.
Well Sunday we had the Fathers Day Card Draw and after getting cramp in my fingers folding all those raffle tickets my youngest got the very important job of delving in the bucket (classy eh) and drawing the winner.

The winner was Gareth Lowe (number 686). Jude had the tickets upside down. He was too busy enjoying his moment of fame and importance. Trouble was he wanted to keep drawing numbers so we had to take the bucket from him!

 

Anyway The Gentry Grooming are informing the winner as they have the card but I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that bought tickets. We raised £483 and at £1 a strip there were certainly a lot of lovely folks that gave to the Race For Life/ Cancer Research UK cause. I have six weeks until the race so hopefully I will raise a few more pounds before then. I also want to thank The Gentry Grooming Co Didsbury for their help and involvement. They sold all the tickets so a huge thanks to them.

 

Well I don't have a lengthy crafty recipe for you today but I did want to show you the card below that I made a while ago for another happy couple as this weekend my baby brother (he's 37!) and his lovely partner have announced they are getting married in October. Yey to the wedding...but Argh, not long to make Save the Dates, invites etc. We are all very happy for them and look forward to their big day.

 

 

I will be back with something crafty and new soon. Enjoy the fab weather.

Michelle x.

A Girlie Version Of Yesterday's Offering!

Hi crafty folks.
Hope you have been enjoying the beautiful weather today and apparently there is more to come this weekend. Dare I say it... Summer has arrived!!
Today I have a card to show that is pretty much the same as yesterdays but with a more girlie feel. After posting yesterday I went away and made the female version because I wanted to make the Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edges dies look more feminine and I think they do. Probably down to the colour choice but I liked the result anyway.

The supplies were much the same as yesterday and the card was constructed in much the same way. The only differences are the Prima flowers and buttons(Rosarian), the twill lace,

some Creative Expressions Satin Edged Organza ribbon and the sentiment stamps. The sentiment on the card is from Inkylicious, as is the tiny Dandelion stamp that you cannot really see on this photo but I used it on both sentiment die cuts and stamped it using Tim Holtz Worn Lipstick Distress ink. I used a Heartfelt Creations stamp for the sentiment on the matching box. The sentiments were stamped with Ranger Black Archival ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. All edges were inked with the Worn Lipstick. I also used a layer of cream webbing (Kanban) as an alternative to another card layer on the matted die cuts. You can just about make it out. The inside of the card was matted and layered to match but I left a ledger piece of paper blank for writing a message on.
The papers were My Mind's Eye again and were as follows:
Stella & Rose Hazel "Memories" Lithe Lines Paper
Stella & Rose Gertie "Little One" Darling Dots Paper
Stella & Rose Hazel "Lovely" Adorned Paper.
Don't you just love the names! I'm a sucker for all things girlie and pretty but still sat on the fence as to whether I love the pink card more than yesterdays little number!
Anyway I shall disappear as I have a busy weekend coming up (family stuff) so I won't get back here until Monday, just in case you think I've gone AWOL again!!
Have a great weekend whatever you are doing and whoever you are doing it with!!
Thanks for looking
Michelle x.

More Fathers Day craftiness!

Hi crafty people. I'm finally getting back on track and catching up with a few makes. Today I thought I'd show you another Father's Day card as it's right around the corner (16th June in case you come from Mars!!). This card was pretty easy to finish quite quickly and amazingly, and unusually for me, only involves one Spellbinders die.

I love the colour combo and I think you could use it for a female card also. Maybe just use more ornate dies, and flower dies of course!

It all began with a humble piece of Kraft card (Creative Expressions, courtesy of Create and Craft) and onto this I layered a ledger piece of paper (My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Hattie "Remember" Roses paper) and placed a layer of the Kraft card onto this. I then layered a strip each of My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Gertie "You & Me" Numbers paper (top strip)) and My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Breeze "Boyish" Plaid paper). All papers were distressed at the edges with scissors and inked with Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers Distress ink.

I then wrapped three different colours of Seam Binding (AngelCrafts Embellishment Kit) around the layers and used the remainder to make a double bow. I then used Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edges dies and cut four pieces out starting with the largest die in the pack. I then layered these up placing then at various angles and stuck them down with Pinflair glue for dimension.

I then used a sentiment stamp from Waltzing Mouse (Man of the Hour set) and used Oregano Adirondack ink and Stamps Away clear embossing powder. I used another sentiment from this set for the inside of the card. I then added a button (AngelCrafts) and threaded it with a kraft coloured twine (Waltzing Mouse) and loosely draped more twine across the front of the card and on top of the matching box.

The matching box was made with the same card and I used my Crafter's Companion Ultimate Pro to construct it. I then used the Distressed Edges dies to add dimension and a home for a further sentiment (Waltzing Mouse). Again I added a button, which I inked along with the other button and draped twine across the front of the box and through the button.

Check out the My Mind's Eye papers. They are fab and honestly calling them papers doesn't do them justice. They are akin to cardstock and were strong enough to make a box that easily holds the weight of this card. The Stella & Rose line has a lovely canvas texture and yet my sentiments stamped beautifully on it. I've had it a while but I'm sure you can get hold of it.

Hope you like it and were inspired to get crafting your own Fathers Day creations.

Back Soon

Michelle x.