Gratitude

Hello!

Second post of the day, and I dedicate this post to GRATITUDE.  My points of gratitude are not in any order of importance, just as I have thought of them.

1. This post is a submission for One Layer Wednesday #60, which is over on Simplicity this week.  Which is my first area of gratitude.  Susan Raihala over at Simplicity continues to inspire me with her creations.  And she shares so much with the rest of us.  I truly love reading her posts and seeing what she has come up with each time she shares.  As well as telling me all about design, colour, texture, simplicity . . . she also shares little tidbits from her life, and I love that too!

2. I am grateful for all my visitors who take the time to look at my creations and then take more of their valuable time to give me some feedback via a comment. Thank-you all!

3. I am grateful for my followers. That you have placed me on your list of people you like to receive regular updates from is humbling.  Each new person who shows up brings me a smile and amazes me all over again that you would want to see what I have created or perhaps hear what I have to say.

4. I am grateful for my real-life stamping friends, Manda and Cassie, who both inspire me constantly with their creativity and their generosity.  About three years ago, Manda introduced me to Stampin' Up! products via a workshop.  Along with an instant addiction to all things paper and stamping, I also gained some wonderful friendships, and then a further addiction to blogging!

5. I am grateful for all those talented artists out there in blog-land who share their ideas and creations with me via their blogs.  I am constantly amazed at the beauty of all that creative work out there.

6. I have so many other things in my life that I am grateful for, but since this post is about stamping, I'll restrict myself to the theme of stamping in my items of gratitude. . . for today. . . LOL.  I just thought of more stamping-related things to be thankful for. . . I think I could go all day!

So on to my entry. . . Susan REALLY inspired me this week.  The rules: Make a card that layers ink. USE ONLY STAMPED IMAGES AND/OR SENTIMENTS. No masking, no sponging, no embellishments of any kind!

Wow! Seriously?  So off I went to experiment with this "quick and easy" style. . . and discovered that quick and easy is exciting!  I couldn't stop.  Added to the excitement of quick and easy was my new stamp set (thank-you Cassie!) from PTI - Botanical Silhouettes, awesome! The only thing that stopped me was that I had an appointment to get to. But I think I might get back to it tonight for some more fun!
My challenge entry is this one, mainly because it has more layering in the stamping (and here I say thank-you again to Manda who enlightened me recently about using acrylic blocks by themselves to stamp, I love the effect).

Colours used: Barely Banana, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Certainly Celery

And now for my other work from today, this was my first one (colours Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Night of Navy):

Then came this one (using SU Organic Grace, and colours Daffodil Delight, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, and Chocolate Chip):

And my other one (using Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, and Chocolate Chip):

While I was working on the first card, my 8 year old daughter was working alongside me.  The whole reason we pulled out the stamps was to make Grandma a ThankYou card.  She asked me to share her card here with mine, so here is her lovley effort:

She's pretty clever, isn't she?

So what do you think of my flurry of one-layer cards?  Isn't Botanical Silhouettes an awesome stamp set?  I'm in love. I'll be heading over to PTI to order more of their fabulous sets sometime in the near future. So easy to use and gorgeous images.

See you again soon!

Michelle
xxx

Box card - Happy 18th!

Hello!

Several weeks ago, before I fell ill, I was in the process of responding to two challenges.  One was Just Add Ink fussy cutting challenge.  The other was a colour challenge at Colour Q.  At the Just Add Ink challenge site, I saw one of the design team member's examples and it grabbed my attention immediately. I was inspired. Take a look at Liam's box, it's so cute! The actual tutorial for the box can be found HERE.

Well, needless to say, I never did get the challenge entry in, but I did finish the box in time for my niece's 18th birthday party.  It was a hit.  I was so pleased with the reactions to this card, it made all the hard work worth it!  :-)

Unfortunately I forgot to take my photos before we wrote in the card, so photos are limited, and I've had to "spray paint" out some of the names where they were visible.  Regardless, I still want to share, to show you some of the work!

There were lots of firsts in this box for me.  It was my first box card.  It was my first ever flower creation (boy was it hard to get that rhinestone in the middle of the flower!):

So here is the box:

Take the lid off, and it falls open to this:



There are 18 little candles each individually stuck down in one of the squares. That was probably the most tricky work I had to do, other than thinking of designs.  I wasn't happy with how the cake turned out, but it's not too bad. LOL.

So I hope you like it. I'm sorry I didn't get many photos to show of the individual squares, but you get the idea. 

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Triggering CAS Rainbows!

Hello!

Someone is turning 21. . . and I'm almost 100% sure he doesn't read my blog, so I'm safe to share with you here before I actually deliver the card. LOL!  You really start to notice time passing quickly when those cute little toddlers are suddenly huge young men and making their own way in the world. :-)  To be honest, my nephew has been towering over me for many, many years now, but each time I see him it takes me by surprise again.

I just can't resist a rainbow, can you?  I love rainbows!  So when I saw the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World this week, I already had my thinking cap on. THEN CAS-ual Fridays announced that this week for CFC#7 we are working on Colour Blocking and my idea came to life!

Tuesday Trigger is this beautiful Rainbow Bright picture:

My idea was very simple, but it actually turned out to be a little tricky in the execution.  This is the first time I've tried colour blocking with diagonal stripes of cardstock.  I have done quilting before, but I expect quilting to be a little tricky with card.  I didn't think stripes would be tricky!  And then lining everything up on the card with diagonal stripes was challenging, the diagonals create an optical illusion of everything else being off square (I had to pull the ruler out!).  Also, I wanted to use wooden/chipboard numbering, but the only ones I could find were pale pastels.  I had a very messy night dyeing these numbers black and then glossing them up, but the end result was definitely worth it.

Here is my entry:

Aren't those colours wonderful?

I used Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Night of Navy, Real Red, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White
The sentiment is black embossed Curly Cute
The 21 is dyed with Basic Black and the glossed up with Crystal Effects

So what do you think? 

Michelle
xxx

P.S. I want to send out a very big THANK YOU to all of you who have been regularly visiting and leaving comments lately.  You really make my day, and I appreciate all of your feedback.  Part of the joy of card-making is the sharing of the end result, and sharing with my fellow card-makers is the icing on the cake!

Masculine Thank-You

Hello!

Second post for the night, on a school night, that's a bit of a record!  This is the other thank-you card for my team.  It is also A5, big enough for everyone to sign.  This time for a young man.

Oh dear, how I struggle with masculine cards.  This card I've made this evening is the most recent in a long line of attempts at an idea I have in my head that I am really having problems getting down on paper.  I thought this time I would share anyway, even though I'm still not happy, because I have found many, many times that cards I'm not enamoured of can be something that someone else actually likes.  And maybe if I look at it for a while I'll be inspired with some magic to make it better. . . maybe. . . LOL.

There is a new challenge out there called For Your Inspiration which I have been watching since it started a short while ago.  I have been inspired almost every challenge, but have never found the time to enter.  This time, at Challenge number 8, I am giving it a go.  And I have a couple more ideas which I might still try and enter a second time (with some layers, to jolt me out of this one-layer phase I'm in).

So the inspiration is this photo:

I love these colours.  I love the contrast of textures.  I'm not sure I captured it in my card, but take a look and let me know what you think (please be nice, I know it isn't my best work ever, but constructive feedback is appreciated).

I used mostly Stampin' Up!
Very Vanilla cardstock
Inks: Really Rust, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy, Garden Green, Creamy Caramel
Stamps: Circle Circus, Trendy Trees (sentiment)
I also raided my daughter's colouring pens for a grey pen to create the frame because I wanted to capture the grey of the water cascades.

So what do you think? 

Michelle
xxx

One Layer Butterflies for PDCC#86

Hello!

My experimentation with one-layer cards continues. . .

I have a few team members at work who are moving on to new teams, so I am working on cards to thank them as they move ahead to their new challenges.  I did the cutest little card with cupcakes (well, it was pretty big, at A5 like these other two I've done tonight, but it was cute), but I forgot to photograph it before it went out the door!  Argh!  It was chocolate and pinks, and sparkly, and it made me smile.  It was similar to this butterfly card in layout, but portrait rather than landscape. I'm teasing myself now, as well as you.  I'll have to make another and show you. :-)

So on to tonight's work.  This first post is in response to The Play Date Cafe Challege which caught my eye this week.   The colours are so bright and cheerful!  Take a look:

I already had an idea in mind for this card layout, which I picked up from Susan at Simplicity last week-end.  Because my card is A5, I felt I needed the extra butterflies, and I think it works quite well.  The photography leaves a bit to be desired because I was too impatient to wait for the morning  and natural light.

I've used all Stampin' Up:
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Butterfly Prints, Curly Cute
Colours: Only Orange, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White cardstock
Other: Shimmer Mist (on the orange butterflies), Rhinestones

For so long I resisted using pencil lines and the stamp positioner when making my cards (probably because I'm a bit lazy about pulling it out of the drawer), but using these simple tools really makes such a difference to the finished product. So neat and tidy!

So what do you think?  Tell me your thoughts.  I love hearing from you.

Michelle
xxx

Framed One Layer

Hello!

I'm so excited to be back stamping!  I've had a few weeks off as a result of getting a cough that turned into bronchitis.  You'd think all those sick days at home would be a blessing in disguise (more stamping time), but the tyranny of illness is that I just didn't have the energy for much other than being still in between coughing fits.  So frustrating!

Today I wandered off to the craft show, where I didn't buy much other than tape and spritzer bottles, but I did pick up some fresh inspiration.  I returned home hoping that my family would bless me with another hour or two to myself, and they did ... without my even asking!!

The challenge I chose to work on this afternoon was the new Less Is More challenge.  Week 19 is One Layer Week and the theme is In The Frame.  You saw my first efforts at one layer cards a few weeks ago, and today I gave them another go.  I made three cards: One I quite like, one I'm still thinking about, and one that didn't work.  I'll show you them all.

The first is my challenge entry:

With this card I got a bit adventurous (for me) and made an embossed frame around my sponged image. Surprisingly, first go and I managed to get the lines to meet correctly at the corners. :-)   What I used here was White cardstock, ink colours were More Mustard, Really Rust, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, the stampset is one of my favourites, Trendy Trees.  I like the simplicity of this card, it soothes me.

The second card was the first I made, and I do like it, but I feel like it is missing something.

What I used here was White cardstock, ink colours were More Mustard, Really Rust, Old Olive.  Stampsets were Curly Cute and Organic Grace.  Curly Cute is brand new for me, and I predict I'll be using these sentiments regularly for a while!  Organic Grace I have had for a while and I have made some lovely cards with it, but it seems that I never shared those on this blog.  What an oversight, I'll have to make some more and show you!

The third card didn't work at all.  This card is for one of my little girl's friends at kindy.  She thinks it's lovely and she thinks her friend will like it too, so that is all that matters really . . . but I'm going to have to have another go at the idea in my head to see if I can make the necessary improvements to make it work as it should!

Cardstock is Very Vanilla. Ink colours are Summer Sun, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, and Chocolate Chip.  The stampset is Fox and Friends (which always makes me smile).

So there you have it. After a card drought of a few weeks, I have managed to put together three in one go.

So what do you think? Which is your favourite?

Michelle
xxx