School's Out! ...

...For Summer!
Thursday was the final day of term and the children are now free to enjoy a break from their normal routines ... some warm sunshine over the next 6 weeks would be very welcome too!
I put together some simple treat gifts for my daughter's teachers, using Papermania Honey and Hugs papers and some coloured card.

Plain white card was cut into rectangles and the patterned papers were matted onto coloured card leaving a narrow border. 
The treat pouch was created by scoring and folding 6" wide card at 2" and 4"  and using a scalloped circle punch for the cutaway in the centre section, before securing at the back with strong double-sided tape.  This was then stapled at the top and bottom onto the prepared paper panel and then stuck to the white rectangle base, hiding the staples from view.  

A computer generated message was mounted onto coloured card cut with nestabilities and adhered with silicon glue to hide the securing staple at the front.

On the reverse I had attached a panel with room for a personal message and by adding ribbon to make a hanging, the teachers now have a cute keepsake for their notice boards when the chocolate is gone.
Coincidently 4 Crafty Chicks are doing a "School's Out Challenge" this week and the current Joanna Sheen Challenge is "Summer Days" so I'm submitting my wee treat hangings for consideration.

My precious mum celebrates her birthday today so we'll be popping round with her card and gift this afternoon.  I'll share her card ... and the one made for my dear friend Ann who also has her birthday today ... later, so's not to spoil the surprise.
Have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are and whatever you are doing ... and thank you for visiting.

Thank You

Would just like to say a huge "Thank You" for all the lovely Get Well messages I have received via telephone, e-mail, Facebook, my blog and even on Bah! Humbug!  They are all very much appreciated.  
I had surgery on my arm last Thursday but a rather horrid experience meant I couldn't come home until my blood pressure stabilised and they got the pain under control, which was Saturday.    Am still very sore, but hopefully over the worst now - will just have to behave, do as I'm told by the doctor, keep taking the tartan tablets and all should be fine.  Will keep you updated with any progress but in the meantime, I will do my best to come and visit you over the next couple of weeks to drool over your creative projects lol!  Take care everyone and thanks again for your concern.

Luv'n'Stuff
Max
xx

Thank You

My daughter and I will be leaving for Sunderland later this morning as she is competing in a ten pin bowling tournament this weekend, so I'd best get myself off to bed soon.  
While we're there we'll be popping in to spend some time with my fellow 'Bah! Humbugger!' Irene and I hope she'll show me some of the goodies she bought recently at the NEC - I have a bib packed in my bag ready to catch the drool drips LOL!   Too much information I know!
I had made this card as my entry for Charisma Cardz Challenge #14 so wanted to post it in case I forgot and missed the deadline.  Their challenge this week is to make a 'Thank You' - quite appropriate actually as I'd like to say thank to Carlyann for the help in claiming my super prize in last week's challenge.  Looking forward to receiving that through the letterbox soon.

I broke out my Kanban 'Spring Silhouette' set with matching papers for the funky tree and Waltzing Mouse 'Blessed By You' collection provided the lovely sentiment.  
They were inked up with Brilliance Dew Drop Pearlescent - Cosmic Copper ink pad which has a wonderful shimmer when dry - as do all these little juicy gems in the set I purchased from QVC.  Unfortunately, this doesn't show on the photo so you'll just have to trust me.

I had some lovely unusual brown mirri card in my stash, which was perfect for matting both the image and the matching backing paper, as well as punching the small circles for the wooden flower embellishments to sit on.   A length of brown organza ribbon was wrapped and knotted across the panel before adhering it to the main card.  I used my score board to de-boss a few lines around the image and emboss the mirri card for detail and the final extravagance was some Kanban self-adhesive gems.
Hope you all enjoy a wonderful weekend and I'll see you when we get back from our trip. 

Still Here ...

Huge thanks to all who have contacted me recently wondering where I've been hiding. It's nice to know you've missed me and I'm really sorry for worrying you unnecessarily.
I've just had a bit of a 'Kidney Problem' over the last wee while ... I just 'kidney be bothered' ... and it seems to be affecting my crafting, blogging, and even general day to day stuff.

Hopefully it's just a temporary state of affairs and this week will see an improvement.
Am going to visit a few blogs over the next few days to see if that gets my motivation going again ... I'm sure it will.
Thanks again for caring so much xxx

**Edited to Add**
"Kidney Be" = "Couldn't Be" ... with a Scottish accent.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I'm being a total lazy lump this afternoon and chilling in my favourite place.
I'm not feeling particularly adventurous though so decided to keep things simple by using a DCWV card stack pack.
These pads are brilliant for making quick cards as all the matching papers and cardstock are there ready just to rip out and use.
The colours kind've fit in with the Our Creative Corner's Inspiration Challenge and the layout follows Carol's Sketch Fun Challenge #11 ... or at least I thought it did.
Until I checked the spacing of the panels and realised I should've paid a bit more attention.
However, not to worry ... it's a handy wee 'Thank You' card when all's said and done and will be added to the collection in the 'Grab'n'Go' box until needed.

Monday Monday

I must say a huge "THANK YOU" to everyone for all for the recent visits and lovely comments ... you do wonders for my ego! Please be patient with me until I get around to visiting all your blogs over the next couple of weeks as family life is pretty busy right now with the school holidays and hubby being home. I know many of you will understand but just don't want you to think I'm rude by not returning your kindnesses. I will eventually get round to you all.
My brother and his family are up visiting from England this week so we are spending some precious time with them before they emigrate to Australia in September. No doubt it will be a while until we see them again.

Following the disaster with Naomi's birthday card, I thought I'd show the replacement which sadly, isn't as nice as the one I destroyed ... but she liked it well enough so that's all that matters really and as she didn't see the original there was no disappointment.
The stamped image is 'Nellie and Foal' and I paper pieced Nellie but used Whispers Brush Markers to colour the foal and added a couple of dragonfly rub~ons that I thought were dinky.
Her favourite colour is purple so I chose various patterned papers and cardstock from my stash, with silver mirri card for layering and the observant among you will see that I once again followed last week's sketch from The Pink Elephant for the layout. Told you I'd be using it again.
Our Creative Corner Colour Challenge is to use purple this week so this will be my entry.

She enjoyed a busy birthday, especially as she had ten pin bowling training in the morning, but the most memorable moment was when she walked into her favourite restaurant that evening, expecting to sit down to a quiet family meal for 4 and was greeted by 18 family members singing 'Happy Birthday' ... well you can just imagine the surprise on her face I'm sure. It was just perfect. A memorable birthday indeed and I've no doubt she will treasure many magical moments of her special day in the years to come.
We're off to the cinema later this evening and tomorrow we are going to visit the The Falkirk Wheel so that should be a fun day out. We took the precaution of prebooking as there's so many of us and we didn't want to risk turning up and there not being enough room for everyone to make the trip. That would be a big disappointment.

Thank You and Sorry

Thank you so much for all the lovely e~mail messages I have received recently from visitors wondering where I am and and why I haven't posted anything.
Please accept my apologies to you all for causing any concern.
There's nothing to worry about ... honestly!
I'm just busy with other things and haven't had time or energy left for crafting or blogging.

I hope to be back soon but meanwhile ...
If anyone knows of someone in Scotland, with a double horsebox for sale ... or someone who has a flat to rent near Kings Buildings in Edinburgh ... ????
... then I would be your friend for life LOL!

Hey ho ... aww well ... must get back to the classifieds.

Luv'n'Stuff
Max
xx

Special Friends

Just wanted to say a humungous 'Thank You' to 2 ladies who are very special friends of mine, Ann and Irene.

I've been having a bit of an ongoing battle with my HS since last September and was slipping nearer and nearer towards the 'black hole' ... (where no one wants to go believe me) ... when these cards dropped through the door and saved me.

Perfect timing ladies ...

Awards ... Love ... and Thanks

I have been the lucky recipient of some more bloggy awards which is always a privilege and a constant surprise as I have a notorious reputation for not passing them on.

Huge thanks to Ann and Tasha for these recent additions to my collection.

I'm trying very hard to be a good girl and still continuing to use up magazine freebies so here's some more 'free' cards.

Everything including the cardblanks were magazine free gifts.

Can you spot the subtle difference between them?

My final offering shows a card I made using some of the Paper Cellar goodies which arrived yesterday.

The Spring papers are really bright and absolutely guaranteed to cheer up a grey day ... and don't you just love the funky shape of these alphabet stickies?

Thank You Card

While the router in the attic was having a hissy fit, making it impossible to get online, I made a wee 'Thank You' for my MSN buddy Carole who did me a huge favour last week.

Nothing too fancy ... just a wee show of appreciation.
As you can see I'm still enjoying using the scallop punch but also tried making a larger scallop using a mini circle punch and placing the punched shapes behind a circle of scrap card. Not too sure whether mirri card was the right choice but the technique is going to be handy, especially if you want a scalloped edge on an irregular shape.

Quick MaxMakes

I've been really busy getting a Xmas Card order completed and, because I haven't been too well recently it seems to have taken forever. Sadly I can't show them to you without permission, but I can show a couple of other cards I've made in between.

The first is a birthday card for my younger sister whose special day was 15th September.
The gold foiled card is actually pink, but the camera didn't pick this up very well.

This black and white card was a wee 'Thank You' card made for the surprise send to CB Towers organised by PinkPuppy (aka Louise) on the Crafts Beautiful forum.

By all accounts I think CB Towers Staff had a fabulous start to the week when a deluge of Thank You cards, created by forum members, were all delivered at the same time. Fantastic!

An Award ... or 4

Sorry for my recent absence but a combination of ill health and work / family commitments has kept me away from 'Blogland' and many of my normal online haunts.
I hope to be back in full swing soon and hope you haven't all given up on me totally.
What a lovely surprise to see that while I was away, I have been nominated for this fabulous award not just once or twice ... but 4 times!!

The Rules-
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate al least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.

Thank you very much Lauren, Jennifer, Tullavilla and Wendi for nominating me despite me being AWOL for so long.

After scanning my favourite haunts I see that most of them already have this award ... so I'm obviously visiting the right places * wink *

Therefore, I will pass this fabby award to all the visitors who pop by even when I'm not in. Your continued interest and kind comments about my work really make my day.

Now all I need to do is go and create something new for you all to look at and hopefully make your visits worthwhile.

Thank You Card

I was gutted the other day to discover that the Thank You card I'd made for The Crafts Beautiful team after being selected for MOTM never arrived ... especially as it was one of my better efforts and was an improved version of the 'Floral Flap Over' card I made HERE.

Thanks for nothing Royal Mail!

However, I decided to just make another one and hopefully it will arrive on Jenny and Kate's desk safe and sound.


This time I used fabric squares for the back and front and made a concertina type pop up for inside, which I covered in some scrummy floral papers from HOTP ... all held together with some bright, shiny turquoise ribbon.