Sunday 23 September 2012

Is my deer overdressed for Christmas?

Hello!

A new deer came home this week, to keep Dasher company. He's named... Christmas Deer! I couldn't resist him. Apparently he can't help overdressing himself on his first outing. Way too many ornaments on this fellow tonight. This card started as something completely different, but, here it is anyway, the way it wanted to be. :-)
The stamps are SU! Christmas Deer, and PTI Stylish Sentiments: Holiday. The colours are SU! Poppy Parade, Early Espresso, and PTI Fine Linen. Pearls are SU!

I used The Play Date Cafe Challenge #150 colours.

I have to admit to something. I love Christmas. I love tinsel. I love Christmas carols. I love Santa. And when all those Christmas stamps are released, I go into a frenzy of attempting to resist, while still buying WAY TOO MANY.  Does anyone else have this problem? I love reindeer. I love snowflakes (even though Christmas is in Summer here, and it never, ever snows, EVER). I love baubles. I love Christmas trees. I love nativity scenes. Oh dear! All I can think to do to make up for this love of everything Christmas is to make hundreds of Christmas cards to make these stamp purchases worthwhile. ;-)

Michelle
xxx

Happy Anniversary, my darling!

Hello!

This week was my wedding anniversary. Unfortunately for the hubby, I was nursing my sick daughter leading up to the day, and then I was dying on the couch on the day itself after catching the bug my daughter had. This meant that no card was made for the occasion. Four days late isn't too late, is it? :-)  We've been married 13 wonderful years this year. We've been together for 19 years. Time passes by so quickly!

Here is the card.
Card is PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake. Ink is Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake. Stamps are PTI Heart Prints and Think Big Favorites #16. Button is PTI. Twine is Twinery.

I really like how it turned out. I am responding to the CR84FN colour challenge #63, and it calls for the colour "denim". My blue collection is severely limited, so I made "denim" by mixing SU! Bashful Blue and a dab of Night of Navy. I actually love the colour result, I may use it again. :-)  I'm also throwing my hat into the ring for the DT call at CR84FN.
I used a sketch from Retro Sketches #30. I turned the sketch upside down.
Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

Sunday 16 September 2012

Retro Sketches 29

Hello!

My littlest daughter is attending a friend's birthday party today. I whipped up a present and card very quickly and the good news is, the little one approves both. :-)

This is the card.
Stamps used were PTI Pretty Peonies and Strawberry Patch. Colours are PTI Berry Sorbet, SU! Pretty in Pink, and Poppy Parade. Card base is PTI white.

I feel like I may have gone too plain here. I used the Retro Sketches #29 sketch, which I followed pretty much exactly. I WAS aiming at plain, but I may have gone too far, LOL!
The card was made to match the present, which is a frame. The weird photograph angle is an attempt to avoid reflections.

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

Saturday 15 September 2012

It's Movie Time!

Hello!

Part of my rare appearances here in blogland lately is the number of family events happening. One such event is in the future, but is taking a little bit of time to organise. My eldest daughter is planning a Movie Party with a friend to celebrate their 10th birthdays. I almost gave up on doing themed invitations, when at the last minute I found MFT Just The Ticket stamps and die set.  Right now, the two young girls in question are thinking I'm okay. ;-)

These are the invitations.
Although the design is fairly basic, it has taken quite a while to put them together. What made me think of die-cutting three tickets for each invitation? Or stamping over the entire back of the postcard? Really, sometimes I make work for myself, LOL!
 Lucky for me, I have had two little helpers to divide up the work with. They think all this die-cutting, stamping, and sticking is fun. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Thursday 6 September 2012

Pastel Prettiness

Hello!

I made this card a few days ago for a young friend of ours who celebrated her 10th birthday this week. Happy Birthday, Sophie! I'm sorry the card hasn't made it into the mail early enough to arrive for your birthday!
I used PTI Hexagon Cover Plate die, PTI Strawberry Patch stamps and die, SU! patterned paper, ribbon, and brad.

My inspiration for the card came from Tuesday Trigger: A Pin Therein
and from Jay Gee's Nook Challenge #23 (the pretty pastels, especially those dots)
I'm also entering this card into the Moxie Fab World Asymmetry challenge.

Thanks for dropping by to visit!

Michelle
:-)

Sunday 2 September 2012

Happy Fathers Day!

Hello!

Have you missed me? It's been several weeks since I've been able to do any crafting, and my visiting/commenting has been severely limited. I miss you! We've hit birthday season, combined with end-of-school-year events ramping up. Between August and October we have all four family birthdays, fathers day, wedding anniversary, as well as many other family/friend birthdays. It's crazy! My eldest daughter plays violin and piano. She is in the school string ensemble, and sings in three school choirs. In the next three months she has several concerts (ensemble and solo concerts) and three exams (violin, piano, music theory). I can't imagine what it will be like when my youngest daughter starts up with the same activities! Every year, we get to mid-December and collapse with exhaustion... luckilly we are in Summer holidays by that stage and can laze around by our pool doing NOTHING, LOL!

Anyway, the reason for today's post is that it is Fathers Day here today in Australia. The best reason in the world to pull out the crafting gear and making a card. :-)  The hubby requested that I make a card using the black "riveted steel" look I used on another card (that would be Swiss Dots on black card).

Here it is.
Stamps: Hero Arts Envelope Pattern, PTI Embellishments, PTI Heart Prints. Ink: SU! Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Old Olive. Card: SU! Soft Suede, Basic Black, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Ruby Red. Paper: Mocha Morning. Dies/Embossing: PTI Tiny Tags, Sizzix (?) Swiss Dots. Twine: Capuccino from the Twinery.

I am entering this into the Asymmetrical Challenge over at Moxie Fab World.

The card is a hit. :-)

Just before I go, I'll share last week-end's birthday cake. Terrible picture, but you'll get the idea.
My youngest daughter turned 5. This cake was her request. I was doing okay until I got halfway through putting on all those marshmallows, and then I started cursing. I was so glad it turned out so cute and that the little girl was delighted!

Hopefully I'll be back again soon!

Michelle
xxx