Welcome to my Blog!

Hello Crafters! Crafting is my escape into my own little world full of ideas. Some of my best creations are produced in the early hours of the morning out of my craft cupboard …. hence ‘Open all hours’. Plus, as I have three lovely small children, often, evenings, weekends and late at night is the time when I can concentrate on making cards.

Tuesday 24 November 2009

Christmas - Two Challenges


I'm still trying to get my Christmas cards done so it's great to find a couple of challenges with the theme 'Christmas', 'Everybody Art Challenge' and 'Papertake Weekly'. Here's my little 'Gorguss Girl' with the addition of a santa hat and my new 'forest scene' stamp in the background, the sentiment is a Penny Black stamp. This is amazingly organised for me with my Christmas cards, I'm normally scribbling them out at the last minute! Bye for now,
Michele
x

Sunday 22 November 2009

Whiff of Joy Challenge 56

Here's my card for this week's Whiff of Joy Challenge. I made it a few days ago but I've been busy and the light hasn't been too good for taking photos when I've had the chance. I loved this sketch and I needed to start making my Christmas cards so I thought this would be a good time to start. I've added a tree and some snow to the background to give it a more festive feel! Hope you've all had a lovely weekend. Bye for now, Michele x

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Papertake weekly challenge - Spots 'n' Stripes




Here's another one of my Halloween cards for the Papertake Weekly Challenge. The kids and I are going to be making little ghosts and witches today and Halloween cakes so we'll definitely be getting into the 'spirit' of things!

Sunday 25 October 2009

Halloween - Penny Black Challenge


Hello Everyone,

It's been a very long time since I posted anything as I've been busy working on the Stamp Addicts Design Team assignments. Check out the Purple Zone to see my work and the other Design Team member's cards. Anyway, I was delighted to participate in this week's Penny Black Challenge as I love making Halloween cards. I really like the bright vibrant colours you can use. The Penny Black Design Team cards look great. I have only got one PB Halloween Stamp which isn't very big and not really a main feature for a card. So I thought I would adapt one of my other PB stamps to make it fit the bill! I chose this little mouse and drew a hat on it and added a few other little Halloween stamps by Daisy and Dandelion to complete the look. Here's my card... I am looking forward to spending the rest of this afternoon making some more Halloween cards for my family and checking out the other PB challenge cards. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend. Bye for now, Michele x

Saturday 15 August 2009

Penny Black Challenge - Blue & Tan


Hi Folks,

I love this colour combination for this week's Penny Black Challenge. I am being moaned at to get off the computer as my son and his cousins are desperate to get back to club penguin! So here's my entry...

Sunday 2 August 2009


Hello Everyone,

Back so soon! I coloured in an image yesterday and thought, 'What challenge can I use this for'? Then I remembered Crafty Lou's lovely blog lists a few of the challenges on her site. There I found 'Cutie Sunday' and I liked the sketch. So Here's my entry

Saturday 1 August 2009

Penny Black Challenge - Summer


Hi Everyone,

This is my first challenge for ages. The summer theme has worked out just great for me. My nephew has asked me to make him a thank you card for his friends parents for taking him on holiday with them. So here it is for this weeks Penny Black Challenge. Also a big thank you to Victoria for my award and your nice comment. Plus congratulations on the birth of your gorgeous little boy.

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Stamp Addicts Christmas Show - 30th July

Hi Everyone,

It's been a really long time now since I have posted anything on my blog but I have been really busy with the children and making cards for Stamp Addicts for their next TV show. It will feature some really lovely Christmas stamps, you can watch it on 'Create & Craft' tomorrow at 11.00am. Here are a few of the cards I made with Judi kins stamps 'Crayon Santa' and 'Layered Frame Holiday' and 'Just Checking' sentiment. Hope you are all having a lovely summer despite the weather! Bye for now, Michele x




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Sunday 10 May 2009

Colour Create Sunday Challenge - Week 15, Blue & Green ...

Good afternoon everyone,

What a lovely day, I should be planting the plants I bought in the week for my hanging baskets, but when I saw the colours on today's 'Colour Create' challenge I thought, I must use my little 'Lilli of the Valley' dragon stamp. So here he is for his first outing, he's such a cute little fellow...

Image coloured with Copic Markers, (I'm still addicted to using them!).

Enjoy the rest of your day, bye for now.

Michele
x

Monday 4 May 2009

Colour Create Sunday Challenge - Chocolate, red and cream...


Hi everyone,

Amazing! I managed to get a little more time for crafting today. I love the colours for this week's 'Colour Create' Challenge, Red,chocolate and cream. I nearly used these colours for the PB Challenge on Saturday but changed my mind, so when I saw the colours I knew exactly the papers I would use. I love 'Stampin up' papers as it is so easy to match everything up. Check out Jackie's House of cards. Jackie is a Stampin' up demonstrator. The 'Gorguss girl' is one of my purchases from Ally Pally, I think they're so sweet.

I can't believe how quickly this weekend has gone, I wish it went as quickly when you're at work!

Here is my card, hope you like it....

Saturday 2 May 2009

Penny Black Challenge - Week 47 - Shapes


Hi everyone,

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend. I haven't had much time for crafting lately so it's good to get back to it today. I had already coloured in the little hedgie earlier in the week with my Copic markers so I couldn't resist using him for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge. I have used a rectangle and a circle and punched out some flower shapes and some swirls. So hopefully that covers the 'at least three shapes'. So here's my card...

Bye for now and enjoy the rest of the long weekend,

Michele
x

Sunday 5 April 2009

Stamp Addicts TV show - Sneaky peek No. 5

Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Here's a last sneaky peek at some of the cards I made for tomorrow's Stamp Addicts TV show which is on Ideal World tomorrow at 11.00am.

Michele x


Saturday 4 April 2009

Stamp Addicts TV show - Post no.4

Hi everyone,

Here's another glimpse at some more cards I made for the Stamp Addicts TV show. I used an acetate window with rain drops on it, though I'm not sure you can see them in this photo. With the next card, I masked the girl and stamped her three times. I used one of the flower stamps that came with this set of unmounted stamps to add necklaces to two of them and flowers on the other girl's top. She also comes with the text 'love' and 'peace' as well as 'save the world', also the little sleeping bunny. Hope you're all having a fun weekend in this lovely sunshine. Michele x




Friday 3 April 2009

Another peek at what to expect on the Stamp Addicts TV show on Monday....

Here's another peek at some of the cards I made for Monday's TV show. Again, I have used the rain girl, but this time she's wearing her rain hat. I added some ties on it with some thread. I used diamond glase on her raincoat and hat and wellies to add shine. The other one is the little football girl who also comes with assessories, drink bottle and football and whistle and text. I will post some more very soon. Bye for now, Michele
x

Thursday 2 April 2009

Another sneaky peek!




Hi everyone,

As promised here's another couple of cards I made for the Stamp Addicts TV show which is being shown on Monday on Ideal World 11.00am. I am entering these for the Cute Card Thursday challenge as the theme is citrus and they both include lime green. All images have been coloured with Copic and Promarkers. Hope you like them...

Wednesday 1 April 2009

Stamp Addicts TV show - Sneaky peek! Plus Papertake Weekly Challenge



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Hi everyone,

I've been a busy bee working on the cards for the next Stamp Addicts next TV show. It is being broadcast for the first time on Monday 6th April on Ideal World at 11.00am. They are brilliant stamps and I've had lots of fun working on these great designs by Judikins. Here's a couple of cards I made using some of the stamps. More of my cards with the other designs to follow shortly. Check out the other DT members, via the Purple Zone, who have made some great cards. The theme for this week's Papertake Weekly Challenge is circle, stamped image and ribbon, so I couldn't resist adding my first card in for this challenge as it fits the bill perfectly!

Thursday 12 March 2009

Cute Card Thursday Challenge 51


Hi everyone,

I love this week's sketch, and because it's a sketch it saves me having to think about the layout too much, which speeds things up a bit! Although my five year old little girl slowed things down as she wanted to make a card of her own. It takes her about five minutes to colour the image and then she wants lots of goodies out my craft cupboard! Anyway I got there in the end, so this is my entry for the weeks Cute Card Thursday Challenge...
Magnolia Image coloured with markers.

Sunday 8 March 2009

Colour Create Sunday Challenge - green, orange and yellow...



Hello everyone,

Here's my entry for this week's Colour Create Challenge, green, yellow and orange.
Well, the weekend's nearly over and it's back to work tomorrow, so I shouldn't really be up late crafting, but you know what it's like once you start! Hope you all had a fun weekend.

Image coloured with Promarkers and Copics.
Sugar Nellie stamp - Reflective

Michele
x

Saturday 7 March 2009

Penny Black Challenge - Recipe 3,2,1


Hi everyone,

Wow, I couldn't believe it when I saw that I'd won the draw from last weeks challenge, I had to do a double take, lol! What a great start to the weekend. Thank you so much to everyone on the Penny Black Challenge Team.

I got up early this morning and did this week's challenge so I could get all the mess out the way early, I'm not a tidy crafter! So here's my entry for this week's Penny Black Challenge... Have a great weekend, and thanks for looking, from a very happy blogger, Michele x

Sunday 1 March 2009

Colour Create Sunday Challenge...



Hi everyone,

Hope you're all enjoying your Sunday. I love this colour combination, brown and blue. Here's my entry for this week's lovely Colour Create Challenge
I've coloured the Magnolia image with my marker pens, I'm addicted to using them at the moment!

Michele
x

Saturday 28 February 2009

Penny Black Challenge - Something to eat...


Hi everyone,

The cards from the Design Team look fantastic this week. I have quite a collection of PB stamps thanks to a sale that was on at the Stevenage stamp show but only one that includes food! So here is my entry for the Penny Black Saturday challenge, coloured with my Promarkers and Copic Markers. Have a great weekend.

Michele
x

Monday 23 February 2009

Papertake weekly challenge - Dawny's sketch #9


Hi everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend. Lovely sketch from Dawny for the Papertake weekly challenge. Here is my entry with a gorgeous Penny Black stamp that I bought at the Stevenage Craft show. Image coloured with Promarkers and Copic markers. I'll probably re- take the photo in the day time as the colours will probably look nicer.



Hope you like it,

Michele
x

Sunday 8 February 2009

Penny Black saturday challenge No. 35



Hello everyone,

Hope you all had a good weekend. I've had a very busy weekend so far organising a party for my son who was 9 and my daughter who was two, but today I've managed to fit in a little time for crafting. Here is my card for the Penny Black saturday challenge. This challenge gave me the opportunity to use one of my new stamps and to practice using a combination of my new Copic markers and Promarker pens. I really love using them as they make it so quick and easy to colour an image, which is definitely good when you've got three children!

Michele
x

Monday 2 February 2009

Hearts & Flowers - Papertake


Hi everyone,

I'm back posting after a long break! I've been trying to rest my hand to alleviate my RSI injury. I hope everyone is well and still enjoying crafting. Unfortunately I am still having problems with my hand/arm, therefore I'm still keeping my time on the computer to a minimum, so I won't be able to check out too many of your lovely blogs. It's really frustrating and I've really missed having a good old look, but once I start I don't want to stop!

Anyway here's my card for the Papertake weekly challenge. I made this card for my gorgeous little girl, Beth, who will be two years old tomorrow. Here she is having a rest and enjoying a cup of tea...


Bye for now,

Michele x