Pretty Pastel Birthday

Hello!

Now I have two girls "helping" me with my stamping. The good news is that the big girl has taken the job of supervising the little girl with my precious stamps and inks. She is doing a good job of letting me stamp without having a heart attack every three minutes about mixing colours on ink pads or ruined stamps.

I have managed to make another card, despite my helpers. :-) This one is for Just Add Ink 115, which is a sketch challenge. I saw this sketch, and I immediately decided I was going to make a card using my Filigrie Border.

And I have used the colours from the new CR84FN Challenge #53.

Ooh, pretty colours!  I was so disappointed to miss the last challenge, so I was excited to find another pretty colour palette this week. :-)

This is my card.

I have used PTI Rosie Posie and Think Big Favorites #13. Colours are Stampin'Up! Soft Suede (sentiment), Pretty in Pink, Pool Party, and a little Cameo Coral for rock'n'rolling the roses. The patterned paper is SU! Everyday Enchantment. PTI Filigree Border die. Twinery twine in Blossom. SU! grosgrain ribbon.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CAS-ual Thanks

Hello!

The theme over at CAS-ual Fridays challenge 50 is to use trees or flowers in a CAS card. I made a flower wreath.

And at Less Is More challenge 65 we have been provided with a sketch.

I promise that I started with a little circle in my 4.25" square card. But once I stamped it, it looked bigger than I intended! I think it still qualifies, as there is lots of white space and it is a relatively CAS design. :-)

Stamps are PTI Rosie Posie, Turning a New Leaf, and Pretty Peonies. Ink is Stampin'Up! Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Pool Party, and Soft Suede.

Thanks for coming by. I'm off to see if I can come up with another card to share before the afternoon is finished. I'm having a lovely afternoon stamping with my big girl. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Bright Christmas

Hello!

I wanted to make a card for the last week with Laurie Schmidlin as muse at CASE Study. CASEing Laurie definitely stretches my creativity, and the card inspiration for CASE Study #88 is no exception.

This is Laurie's card.

It's so pretty! But for me, there is a LOT on there. I really love those embossing folders, but I don't own many. In fact, I own ONE and I have borrowed TWO. I wanted to have a dry embossed layer, so I had a choice of dots, stripes, or snowflakes. Oh my! I think I need to invest in some more folders, LOL!

I wanted to use a different colour combination, so I called on Color Throwdown #189.

At first glance, this colour combination frightened the socks off me. But then I realised it was really only three colours - red, yellow, and blue. I can work with that! I think it has been a while since I entered a challenge at Color Throwdown, it's good to be back!

Here is my card.

Stamp set is PTI Snowflake Serenade. Colours used are Stampin'Up! - Pool Party, Night of Navy, Barely Banana, Ruby Red, and Cameo Coral. I distressed using Crumb Cake. I didn't have all of the exact colours, so I used the closest option. My card base is Night of Navy. The background is white, dry embossed using Sizzix Northern Flurries - I wiped the folder with Pool Party before embossing to make the background aqua. I then went back and embossed the other side. My flower is made using two scallop circle punches. I like how my flower softens the card a bit (after all those spikey snowflakes). The ribbon and rhinestones are from my stash. The brad is SU! Everyday Enchantment.


Wow, another mega ingredient list. At least it was only one stamp set this time. :-)

Thanks for coming by. And WELCOME to all of my new followers! I was very excited this week to have a few new faces show up in my followers list. I have tried to visit you all, and I really enjoyed my visits!

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey April Blog Hop Challenge

Hello!

I've organised myself enough to join the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop again this month, yippee!  This is the lovely inspiration.

As soon as I saw this picture, I saw the fabric second from bottom. I have a pair of pyjamas in that fabric, and they're my favourite! :-)  (You really wanted to know that, didn't you?)  I would love to own this pile of fabric. I think I'd make a quilt out of it... I might need to give it to my girls, I'm not sure the hubby would want pink flowers in our bedroom, LOL!

Okay, so my mind went round and round with these types of thoughts, and when I sat down to make my card, I couldn't decide on just one fabric to use, I had to make a bunch of them, just like in the picture.

For this card, I used PTI Rosie Posie, Pretty Peonies, Background Basics: Circles, Think Big Favorites #13, and Hero Arts Zig Zag. Card base is PTI basic white. Blue card is SU! Pool Party. Ink is SU! Pretty In Pink, Cameo Coral, Poppy Parade, Bashful Blue, Pool Party, Certainly Celery, Old Olive. Ribbons are SU! Everyday Enchantment in Pool Party, Calypso Coral, and Lucky Limeade. Brad is Everyday Enchantments. 

Wow! That's a lot for one little card!

I'll be back in the morning to link this up to the blog hop. Unfortunately the Blog Hop goes live around midnight for us here on the east coast of Australia. I plan to be well and truly asleep by then. :-)

Thanks for dropping by to visit. Leave me a comment and I will be back to visit you as soon as I can!

Michelle
xxx

Runway Inspired #10

Hello!

I'm here to share with you a bright happy birthday card, created in response to Runway Inspired Challenge. RIC is up to Challenge 10... already!

This is the inspiration.

And this is my response.

I have had all sorts of fantasies involving gold ribbon ruffles, but the reality is that I don't own any gold ribbon, LOL! So I satisfied myself with silver and gold zig zags. I versamarked the zig zags onto the red card as well. I fussy cut those zig zags at the bottom of the red section. I don't know why I torture myself, I really don't like cutting out, but sometimes it is called for. :-)  The card base is SU! Crumb Cake, the white is PTI white, the red is SU! Poppy Parade. The zig zags are done in silver and gold embossing powder. The sentiment is PTI Think Big Favorites #13. The zig zag is Hero Arts Zig Zag.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michelle
xxx

Starry Birthdays for CFC49 and PDCC128

Hello!

I'm here today with two cards, one of which is for the Play Date Cafe Challenge #128 and CAS-ual Fridays #49.

I will admit, I was stumped with the colours at PDCC this week. Bright orange and bright pink together aren't usually my style, LOL! When I made my Tuesday Trigger card, I thought to myself, "That almost fits the PDCC challenge, I can do it!"  I was also a little bit intimidated by the sketch at CAS-ual Fridays. But, I was making a card for my Dad's birthday (my second card today) and I realised that I had an idea for that sketch! Isn't it wonderful what your imagination will come up with while you are working on something else? :-)

Here is my entry to CAS-ual Fridays and The Play Date Cafe.

I borrowed PTI Star Prints from a friend, and I have now decided I need to buy it for myself. I love it! The sentiment is from Think Big Favorites #13. Colours are Stampin' Up! Pixie Pink and Pumpkin Pie.

My second card used the same stamp sets, but different layout and different colours. It is for my Dad's birthday, and he's not really a "blingy" type of guy. This one's a bit more "manly".

This card uses the same stamp sets as the previous one. The colours are SU! Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, and Real Red.

My little girl gave them both her stamp of approval. I quite like them, too!

Thanks for dropping by!

Michelle
xxx

Watercolour Butterflies for Tuesday Trigger

Hello!

Before I begin, just a little advice: Not a good idea to have your glass of wine near your computer or keyboard. Keyboards don't work very well (or at all) after they've been doused in wine... just saying! 

I'm now using my husband's ancient, dusty, old keyboard that takes a 100kg of force to press the keys down... but at least I can type, LOL!

So back to regular programming. The Tuesday Trigger this week had me thrilled. This is the beautiful trigger:

Isn't it beautiful?

For my card, I had a play with a few different ideas, and then I decided that I would try to incorporate the dreamy watercolour effect into a more CAS style that is more "me". I'm really happy with this card. I feel like I reflected the trigger but maintained my own style.

The butterflies are watercoloured with Derwent Inktense pencils (Fuschia and Tangerine). I then sprayed them with champagne shimmer mist. I'm not sure you can see that well in these photos.  I used PTI Turning a New Leaf in SU! Certainly Celery to create a little background. The sentiment is a mixture of PTI Pretty Peonies and Think Big Favorites #12, stamped in SU! Soft Suede. The card base is PTI Vintage Cream.

This is a close up of those butterflies. I punched the butterflies (using SU! Butterfly punch) before colouring. I like the way the colour soaked into the edges of the cuts. I used watercolour paper for the butterflies.

Thanks for dropping by!

Michelle

xxx

For Your Inspiration #28

Hello!

It's time for another challenge over at For Your Inspiration! Yay! Steph's chosen another super photo to get your creativity flowing. Take a look.

I chose to use the colours as my basic inspiration, but you also have that amazing sky and the grass fields, and I could go on...

This is my card.

At this point, I will admit that the purple layer was originally supposed to be on the bottom, to mirror the photo. But, in the effort to get my letters to line up and lay on the card correctly for die-cutting, I forgot about the orientation of the card, LOL! I was quite happy with how it turned out, so I have left it that way. :-)  This card is again inspired by Ange Kelly with the flowers and stripes and negative die-cut.

I used MFT Die-namics for the flowers. I used PTI block alphabet for the sentiment. I used PTI impression plate canvas/linen. Card is SU in crumb cake, perfect plum, lavender lace, apricot appeal, and old olive (I think that's what they are). No stamping at all, that's unusual for me!

Thanks for popping by. Why don't you go and visit the rest of the DT to see what they came up with, too?

Debbie

Debby
Rudlis
Karen

Rochelle

Sara

Steph
Sylvia

Vicki

I hope to see you over at For Your Inspiration soon. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Three Little Birds for Tuesday Trigger

Hello!

The Tuesday Trigger, Three Little Birds, this week is so sweet! Take a look.

This is what I came up with. The inspiration is pretty obvious. :-)

I used PTI Take Three: Summer for the images and Hero Arts Say It All for the sentiment. Colours are SU Bashful Blue, Pool Party, Certainly Celery. Ribbon is Lucky Limeade. Card base is PTI white.

It's raining here today, so my card matches the outside environment - grey skies and green trees. It's a lovely colour combination!

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

Happy!

Hello!

In my photo life, today's challenge was to capture "How You Are Feeling Today". So I created this little postcard.

I have many reasons to be happy (and grateful) today. One of the big reasons is that this afternoon I am taking a drive down to the Gold Coast to visit with a long-time friend who lives in Newcastle (NSW), but is holidaying in Qld. We don't see each other, or talk, often enough. We have been friends since we were 18, young, and silly at university. No matter how little we see each other, the friendship endures, deep and strong. :-)

Another reason is that I have again been honoured with the Liebster Blog award. What amazes me with this award, is that the people who award me are people who I admire greatly. It really triples the delight at receiving it. This time I received it from Nikki at My Sandbox.  I'm sure you all already know Nikki Spencer, but just in case you don't, or if you haven't visited her recently, go take a look. In particular, don't miss THIS CARD.

I have been honoured with the Liebster Blog before, see my big post HERE. You can see my list on my Recognition page. Receiving it already does not dilute how happy it makes me to receive it, believe me!

I am being kicked off the computer by the 4 year old tyrant... so I must go.  I hope you are all happy today also!  I will come back to edit and share a list of other blogs that I love to visit.

Okay, I'm back, after my day out catching up with friends, and a big sleep. We didn't get home until 10pm because my friend and I really could keep on talking for five days straight without stopping. I so wish she lived close by. When we were at university, we lived in residential college together, in rooms next door to each other. I never tired of having my friend close by pretty much 24 hours a day. It's probably lucky we were studying different courses, LOL!

Anyway, onto my Liebster Blog list.

1. Michelle Mathey at Pigment of My Imagination. Michelle does make cards, and I totally love her cards, but it is her amazing art adventures that have me entranced. Michelle is so talented and so inspiring.

2. Jen W at JENerally Speaking.  Jen does CAS perfectly, and every card is something new and different. I think Jen AND her cards are awesome. I know I received the Liebster Blog award from Jen earlier, but I wanted to acknowledge her anyway. :-)

3. Agata at Under Construction. Agata thrills me with every card she makes. And unusually, her scrapbook layouts get me excited also (I'm really not a scrapbooker, LOL!).

4. Rochelle at Two Tears in My Bucket. Rochelle is totally cool. She makes CAS cards, but completely differently to me, which I love. She's super creative which provides me super inspiration.

5. Susan Goetter at Keeping in Touch.  I "met" Susan over at Less Is More, early in my blogging life. Susan was brave enough to give me some tips on how to improve my photography and other tips (without actually saying that I needed to improve). I love that! Susan not only makes cards, she scapbbooks as well. She also draws/creates zentangles. Her zentangle journey has fascinated me. Go check her out, you'll see what I mean.

Okay, end of edit! :-)  Thanks for dropping by, and please do visit these wonderful ladies, it's really worth your time.

Michelle
xxx

Sweet and Colourful!

Hello!

Well, this card is probably going to shock you, coming from me, LOL! It is a little colourful, and not particularly CAS. :-) Still not frilly, but very flowery.

I was stamping (translate that as chatting, if you will) with two of my real-life stamping buddies (Cassandra and Manda) yesterday. We spent several wonderful hours together ignoring all of our children as we had our grown-up play date (the kids were superbly well-behaved, considering we almost forgot to feed them). Anyway, the ladies noticed my scrap paper I was stamping over, and suggested politely that perhaps I was a bit OCD, because on this paper was printed the current challenges, all neatly arranged. There is a good reason for this, my memory is a sieve, and printing out the challenges reminds me what I am working on... and sometimes a brilliant idea comes to me while I'm working on something else... sometimes. Anyway, after we all had a good giggle, and someone else admitted they have a similar "system", we decided that we would give ourselves our own personal challenge - we would choose one sketch and make it using Everyday Enchantment (Stampin' Up! paper). I just LOVE that paper. It is my very favourite SU! paper of all time. I've made a big dent in my small supply already.

The sketch we chose was Sweet Sunday Sketch #156.

This sketch appealed to me the minute I saw it.

As I was preparing to sit down and create my card today, I saw that Just Add Ink had released a photo inspiration for Just Add Ink #113.

It totally works with Everyday Enchantment paper, and my design changed to work with this inspiration as well.

This is my card. I have the stripey rug, the floral curtains, the coral of the sofas, and the blue accents.

Night time photo again. I only finished this tonight while wrangling the kids into bed. Yep, I'm the ultimate multi-tasking Mum. :-)

I used SU! colours Cameo Coral (retired), Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Old Olive. SU! DSP Everyday Enchantment. Card base is PTI Vintage Cream. Stamps used were PTI Think Big Favorites #13, Postmarks, Rosie Posie. I used a square punch to make my banner ends.

The more I look at this card, the more I like it. It's pretty. :-)

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

Runway Inspired #9

Hello!

Here I am squeezing in an entry to Runway Inspired Challenge at the last minute, again... The worst part of doing these entries at the very last minute is that I have to photograph my cards at night, and we all know that there is no substitute for daylight when taking those photos!

Here is the inspiration from Runway Inspired Challenge #9.

I really like this dress as inspiration for a card. I like that bit of bone/cream running across the white dress, the colourful strip and the small green strip. I was pretty literal with my interpretation. No matter how much I tried to think of something "more", my ideas would not budge from what I ended up creating.  Here it is.

I used a white card base. Stamped PTI Background Basics: Circles in SU! Crumb Cake, then Hero Arts Say It All sentiment in Old Olive. Then I placed my colourful strip (PTI Harvest Berries stamped in Crumb Cake, Ruby Red, Old Olive on vintage cream card), and lastly my little rectangle of old olive card.

It's a really simple card, and I like it. Unfortunately the night lighting reduces the "white" of the white base, but I think you can get the picture.

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

CASE of Ange for Jay Gee's Nook #18

Hello!

This morning, as I was browsing blog world, I came across THESE CARDS on Ange Kelly's blog and my jaw dropped open. It stayed open for a long time. I pinned this card. 51 other people re-pinned it almost immediately. The card did not leave my mind all morning. So at lunch time today, I sat down and had a play to see what I could make in the same style.  First I pulled out PTI Botanical Silhouettes, but what I really wanted to create was a fun card for my two year old niece. So I grabbed PTI Tag-Its #10, Think Big Favorites #13, Block Alphabet dies, and a rainbow of Stampin'Up! inks and off I went.

This is my card.

I already had rainbows and balloons and parties in my head from the inspiration board for challenge 18 over at Jay Gee's Nook for this month. Ange's card just galvanised me to action, immediately!

I will admit that making this card was a little fiddly. Trying to double pop those letters with tiny pieces of foam was difficult, and my hands were shaking, LOL! But I love how it turned out.

Thanks for coming to visit today.

Michelle
xxx

Happy Easter! Buona Pasqua!

Hello!

Happy Easter everyone!

Not a card post, just a photo of my lunch and a link to my other blog where I have put the recipe (if you are tempted). :-)  For Easter lunch we had Torta Pasqualina (Easter Pie).

And because it was Easter, I added some bunnies.

If you would like the recipe (I'm not the best recipe writer, but you can use it as a guide), then you can pop over to my photo blog (Happy Snap Michelle).

Thanks for visiting, and I hope you had a marvellous day.

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 85 and PPA132

Hello!

Still working on finding my mojo. I did better this morning. It wasn't so agonising! It probably helped that I had a gorgeous card by Laurie Schmidlin to push me on my way. :-)  Laurie is the muse for April over at CASE Study. This is her card for CASE Study #85.

Pretty, don't you think? I decided I would pretty much CASE the entire layout, because it appeals to me so much (and I'm struggling with my mojo...)

I went looking for a colour combination to use and found Pals Paper Arts #132.

Yum! One of my favourite combinations!

And this is what I came up with.

Finding a big block image to use was a bit of a challenge in my stamp collection. I was also thinking about the Papercrafts Connection April Gallery Challenge and looking for a silhouette. I have found two massive holes that need filling, LOL!

For this card I used
Stamps: PTI Rosie Posie, PTI Think Big Favorites #13
Card: PTI vintage cream, SU! Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla
Paper: PTI Plain Jane
Ink: Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake (distressing edges)
Embellishments: PTI Heart die, button; Twinery twine in Blossom

Thanks for dropping by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Tuesday Trigger: Sweet Surprise

Hello!

This is my second crafter's block card... This one is for Tuesday Trigger: Sweet Surprise over at Moxie Fab World.

The inspiration this week is lovely.

What did I see? That gorgeous big bow. And I saw lots of white. There is so much there that inspires that I didn't use. I might have to make a second entry if I can find the time (and some mojo).

Here is my card:

This card is 4 1/2" square.  I have used Stampin'Up! bashful blue and pool party for my two colours. The card base is PTI white. The embellishment is SU! Triple Layer Doily punch sparkled with dazzzling diamonds. The ribbon is SU! ruffled taffeta in pool party. Stamps are Hero Arts Dots and Flowers and PTI Tag-Its #11.

Here is a closer look at the card.

Thanks for dropping by. I hope you are having a great Easter week-end so far.

Michelle
xxx

Less is More 61

Hello!

First up, I want to confess... I have crafter's block. It may seem that someone who has crafter's block should NOT be posting two cards, but I'm working on the theory that if I just keep on making cards, eventually my mojo will return...maybe!

The worst thing is, this inspiration from Less Is More this week for Challenge 61 is a Design Seeds colour palette, and I was totally in love with it the minute I saw it. Here is the inspiration:

Yummo! Pale pink gerberas. I just love gerberas. And I love pale pink.

Well, onto my card.

I used Stampin'Up! Organic Grace and PTI Think Big Favorites #12. Colours are certainly celery, pretty in pink, pale plum, and old olive. Lots of masking, a little bit of bling and a little bit of twine to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #27

Hello!

Oops! I'm late! It's time for a new For Your Inspiration challenge - challenge number #27! Our sponsor for this challenge is The Cutting Cafe, and they have donated three stamp sets for one of our lucky participants. The design team has used some of the sentiments on offer, but there is so much more to choose from.

This week's photo is an interesting inspiration. I love the lighthouse, I love those stormy skies, I love all that grey. And there is that little patch of yellow on the buoy in the foreground. Take a look.

What came to mind straight away was a sympathy card. And here is what I created.

For some reason the photo has come out all fuzzy. It isn't a fuzzy card in real life!

I used Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies, PTI Pretty Peonies, Hero Arts Say It All, and The Cutting Cafe sentiment. The dies are PTI Mat Stack #1 and Layerz Mat Stack #1. Card is Stampin'Up!

The team have come up with some wonderful cards this challenge. Why don't you visit them and take a look?

Debbie

Debby
Irena
Karen

Rochelle

Sara

Steph
Sylvia

Vicki

Thanks for stopping by to visit. If you leave me a comment, I'll be sure to visit you in return. :-)

Michelle
xxx

A study in ultra-CAS

Hello!

Today's card is a study in ULTRA-CAS.

I was going to bling it up a bit, but then I thought it was good for a serious male card. The males in my life aren't blingy type guys. :-)  If I end up using it for one of my girlfriends, then I'll pile on the bling to make them smile.

I computer generated the sentiment, using Wisdom Script typeface. The cream panel is embossed with PTI's linen impression plate. The numbers are PTI. Card is SU! black and soft suede, and PTI vintage cream.

This card is made in response to The Play Date Cafe Challenge #125 - black, white, and a splash of brown.

Also, CASE Study #84. Another of Laura's beautiful creations. You can't really tell with the photo of my card, but those numbers are negative die cut, and I used the brown panel (in place of the grey) and black card.

And the third challenge I'm entering this card into is CAS-ual Fridays #46 - make a card based on a song. In case you don't have tweenie/teen girls in your house, my song is "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars.

And one last photo. While I was photographing my card, my loyal companion was lying beside me. Then she just about turned herself upside down to check that I was still there. I was... with the camera. This is Coco, my spoodle (cockapoo).

Thanks for dropping by. If you are leaving me a comment, would you do me a favour and please let me know if word verification has reappeared? I turn it off, and for some reason Blogger keeps turning it back on in my settings. I'd hate to be driving everyone crazy if it has reappeared.

Michelle
xxx