Christmas Tags with Tracey

Hello!

I'm thrilled to be here today joining Tracey McNeely in her 25 Days of Christmas Tags! I can't imagine coming up with 25 different ideas for tags, let alone doing it year after year! Tracey is Superwoman! Tracey and I met here in blogland and over the past couple of years we have built a lovely friendship that I truly value. I am honoured to join Tracey in her tag extravaganza!

I've never really made many tags, but this past year I have tried it a few times, and I am really enjoying it! Tracey's invitation had me panicking a little - would I be able to come up with a tag that was pretty enough to share? I can report that I'm happy with these. :-)  They are double-sided. The green is on the back of the white. I think these may be my favourite tags that I've made so far.

I used Mama Elephant Merry Greetings, and PTI To You From Me stamps. The die is Mama Elephant Embellished Tag. Colours are SU! Poppy Parade and Gumball Green.

Here is a little closer view of the tags.

Do you make tags? I'd love to know. Recently when I made some tags and shared them on my Facebook page, someone asked me what I would do with them. My answer was that I would place them on presents. What do you do with your tags?

Thanks for visiting.

Michelle
xxx

Dynamic Duos #80

Hello!

I'm joining in with Dynamic Duos this week. I couldn't stay away! :-)  And what's this? They have three colours? Uh oh! They're calling it the "Triple Threat" week. I'm not sure how I feel about this... LOL!

My card uses my new Mama Elephant Party Kit stamps again. I can see this set being a new favourite. I made this card for my brother's partner. Her birthday is just around the corner, and I have actually sent the card, so I think it may just arrive on time (depending on Australia Post and Royal Mail both working properly). I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, but if she does... Happy Birthday! :-)

Stamps are Mama Elephant Party Kit and So Breezy. Dies are Mama Elephant Femme Frames. Colours are SU! Pretty in Pink, Primrose Petals, and Old Olive.

Just a quick one tonight. I'm hoping to get to bed early. Although, I'm so behind with my "end of school year" tasks that I probably should work through the night!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 167

Hello!

CASE Study this month has Keisha Campbell as the muse. Keisha's cards are amazing, but they are in a style that I find a bit unattainable. Me being me, I can't resist a challenge. So I thought I'd give Keisha's style a go. I have a LONG way to go before I come anywhere near Keisha's style. With this card, I really just copied, not so much as following the muse as copying the muse... but at least I gave it a shot, and I'll try again, I'm sure!

My card is a mish-mash of stamps and dies. The feathers are Waltzing Mouse Fine Feathers, flowers are Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies, zig zag is Hero Arts, the sentiment is Papertrey Ink Stylish Sentiments. The dies are Mama Elephant. I would love this card, if I hadn't accidentally stuck the feathers in slightly the wrong position (the glue stuck by accident while I was positioning, argh!). It's really different for me, but still reflects my style. This is one of the things I love about CASE Study, I get to stretch outside of my comfort zone. :-)

This is Keisha's beautiful original.

This morning my daughter attended her piano exam. She has decided to stop learning piano, even though she's very good at it, because she doesn't enjoy it. I'm sad. I'm hoping she goes back to it in the future. She will continue violin (which she loves) but, for now, the piano is to be sidelined. She's only 11, there's still time to return.

Now it is time for my beauty sleep. It's been a busy few weeks. Only a week and a half left of school, and I don't have the teacher gifts done yet, eek!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Colour Q 216 - Birthday Balloons!

Hello!

It was my brother's birthday recently. He and his lovely partner also had a new baby. My baby nephew was arriving over the time of my brother's birthday, and so in the excitement I forgot to make and send a card! Oops! It's okay. I'm now going to send my brother's card and the baby card all together, so they can have a double celebration. ;-) I'm celebrating like crazy here! My brother lives in London, England, so my new nephew is a LONG way away from me. It may be a good thing, otherwise I may just be smothering him in too much love right now. He's pretty gorgeous! I cannot wait to meet him when he comes with his parents to visit me next year. :-)

Back to the card. This is my brother's birthday card.

I used Mama Elephant Party Kit stamps. The sentiment is PTI. The dies are Mama Elephant Femme Frames. Colours are SU! Crumb Cake, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue.

I took my colour inspiration from this week's Colour Q colours.

We've had a busy week-end here. My daughter's swim club hosted an A-Grade meet yesterday. It was a fun day! My daughter swam two PBs and made me proud, as always. Tonight we are having our pizza night instead of last night. The pizzas are cooking right now, and my house smells heavenly. I love pizza night!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Christmas is coming!

Hello!

I just love Christmas! I love Christmas carols. I love Christmas decorations. I love it all! I think I would happily buy every Christmas stamp available every year if I didn't have a stern talk to myself about how useful those stamps may be for the rest of the year. Regardless of my self-talks, I still ended up with some yummy new stamps this year, yippee! When Mama Elephant released their October release, I wanted just about everything on the release. Unfortunately for me, but perhaps fortunately for my wallet, by the time I returned from my travels and got to my computer many things had sold out. I had to wait. Then the "other" things I wanted sold out, argh! Not to worry, I still ended up with a very happy haul. :-) Then I went away for work again, and had to wait to play. I know that my work pays the bills, but sometimes it really cramps my stamping style, haha!

Enough of my talk. Here are a couple of cards.

Aren't Santa and Mrs Claus just so cute? Don't look too carefully at the colouring. I don't own Copics, so I used my daughters Faber Castell connector pens. The dies are Mama Elephant Femme Frames, and I am in love with them. You'll see these quite a bit, I think. The stamps are Cozy Christmas. Can you see how the presents and hands are popped up? That involved fussy cutting, sigh! The good news is that the stamp set includes a set of hands, so I don't have to cut around the Santa and Mrs Claus stamps just to get their hands out. The present is also separate.

This next card was just a quick play with the Christmas tree from Cozy Christmas. I like the simplicity of this card, although I'll probably go back and fill in that star with gold now that I've taken another look at it. There are those Femme Frames again... ;-)

Edit to add: I'm linking this tree up with Curtain Call CAS-ual Christmas. I forgot to link up when I published, and managed to miss the CAS-ual Fridays side of this challenge!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

One Layer Wednesday #166 - Tags!

Hello!

Right up front here I am going to let you know (in case you haven't yet guessed) that I struggle to photograph tags. I'm too impatient (and maybe too lazy) to style them nicely like other people do. ;-)  One day I might take the time to learn how to make them look pretty. In the meantime, I apologise, LOL!

One Layer Wednesday is on Cheryl's blog this week and the challenge is to create tags. It just so happens that I have a new tag die and some new tag stamps that I couldn't wait to try out. So here they are. Clean. Simple. One Layer.

The stamps and dies are Mama Elephant. The stamp set is No Peeking. The die is Embellished Tag. The ink is Mama Elephant Apple and Memento Tuxedo Black. I coloured the reindeer skarf with my daughter's colouring pens.

Just a quick one tonight. I'll be back again in a day or two. Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Pink Christmas!

Hello!

Last week, the evening before I went away for work, I received a parcel in the mail. My Mama Elephant order had arrived! I have just spent several frustrated days being unable to dig straight into this wonderful new stash of goodies - stamps, ink, dies! This card is the first I made, and there will be many to follow, I'm sure!

I just LOVE Mama Elephant. And I love the products even more now that they've expanded to include dies and ink. I can tell you that the stamps, dies, and inks are all excellent quality, I've tried them all. ;-) Anyway, onto my card. I made this for this week's Muse Challenge. Therese made a Christmas card with non-traditional colours, using snowflakes, so did I. :-)  I used Mama Elephant Merry Greetings and No Peeking. The dies are Femme Frames. Colours are SU! Pretty in Pink and Memento London Fog.

Today I watched my eldest daughter's end of year string ensemble concert. All of the school ensembles played - 8 ensembles for kids ranging from Grade 2 at school (beginner string students) to Grade 12 at school (most of them advanced string students). There were some amazing performances, as always. I'm always so proud watching the kids play so beautifully.

Now I'm off to bed for some beauty sleep before starting the work week again tomorrow. Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Anne Marie!

Hello!

It's Anne Marie's birthday! Our mutual friend, Lesley, has organised a super birthday party to celebrate over on the Dynamic Duos Challenge blog! I may be a little late to the linky party - it is the middle of the night in Australia right now, and I'm in Canberra for work, so no access to my computer for blogging. Never-the-less, I'm still here partying on my blog, and will link up as soon as I'm able. :-)

For those of you who don't know, Anne Marie is one of the sweetest people in the world. Not only is she a talented card artist, but she is the best animal foster carer in the world. If you pop over to her blog, you're sure to find photos of her foster pups and kitties, and they are ALL SO CUTE! Her own pets are gorgeous, too! Anne Marie's tireless efforts to find homes for homeless animals is a small indication of her BIG HEART.

Happy Birthday, Anne Marie! I hope your day is fabulous! Your card will probably still in the mail on its way to you at this stage, but at least it is on its way. ;-)

Knowing that Anne Marie likes pink, I went VERY pink on my card. The card base is Soft Stone, the watercolour panel down the bottom is Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies white embossed and watercoloured with Melon Berry and Berry Sorbet, and then a little Perfect Pearls added for shimmer.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Moxie Fab Thanks Blog Hop

Hello!

Today we say a Moxie Fab Thanks to Cath Edvalson, who is the Moxie Fab-est of all, with a GIANT blog hop, the biggest blog hop in the history of blogging! I think the size of the hop is only a small indication of the great love we all have for Cath, and also a very small indication of how much she will be missed.

Personally, my blogging journey has been accompanied by advice, ideas, inspiration, and fun provided by Cath at Moxie Fab World. While I didn't participate in every challenge (although I would have if I could have found more time), and I didn't comment every time, I did read every single post that Cath published from the moment I discovered her. I also participated in my fair share of Tuesday Triggers, which I discovered while browsing back through them all recently!

My card is influenced by one of my favourite Tuesday Trigger inspiration photos from a couple of years ago. This card has white embossed and watercoloured flowers with silver strip down the side and silver embossed sentiment on vellum.

The stamps are Hero Arts Everything Flower background and Simon Says Stamp Flower Friend. Colour is SU! Pacific Point. White and silver embossing. Twine from The Twinery. SU! Rhinestones.

This was the inspiration that originally convinced me that I should join in the Tuesday Trigger Challenges. So elegant!

If you have been hopping along, you will have come here from Melania's Blog.

The next step in the hop is Jamie at Avery Elle.

If you are lost, I am number 64, and the full list is available below and also at Moxie Fab World.

Cath, thank-you for all the years of inspiration (Oh My Moxie Fab, Tuesday Triggers, etc), enabling (Moxie Fab Stamp of Approval), great advice (on being published, on being picked as a Trigger Target, etc), and just sheer fun! You have made me giggle more times than I can remember. I feel like I've gotten to know you a little over the past few years, and I can say without any hesitation that you would be welcome to drop by for a coffee (or wine) and a chat with me anytime! Good luck with your new adventures. You will be missed.

Cheers! *raising glass*

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Lynn!

Hello!

Today is Lynn's birthday (that's Lynn from The Mango Boys and Me)! What better excuse for making a card than the birthday of one of the sweetest bloggers out there? :-)

I am playing along with Less Is More for the first time in a very long time. The inspiration picture and the challenge - to use a pop of colour on a dark background - enticed me! This is my take on it.

I used PTI Snowflake Flurries stamps. The star was made using a mask (made from wPlus9 Star Stax) and stamping in white ink and then chalking in two tones of pink. The little tags are made using Tiny Tags II, inked in SU! Pretty In Pink and Primrose Petals.

This is the inspiration picture.

I always think fireworks when I use PTI Snowflake Flurries stamps, so when I saw this picture, that was the stamp set that came straight to mind.

Lynn, I hope you have a fabulous day and that your boys all look after you like a princess! Happy Birthday!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Tracey!

Hello!

Two posts in one day? Well, this one couldn't wait, because it is my friend Tracey's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tracey!!!  

The queen of party-planning, that would be Joyce, has done it again, and organised a super party to celebrate!

I used Simon Says Stamp Flower Friend and Sketchy Banners. Colours are PTI Hibiscus Burst and Memento Tuxedo Black.

I used the sketch from Seize the Sketch for inspiration. I turned it on its side.

I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

Tracey, I hope you have a fabulous day! I'll be thinking of you!

Michelle
xxx

Thank You So Much

Hello!

It's my first week-end for a very long time where I am not on any design teams. This means that my crafting time was spent just wandering around seeking inspiration from current challenges, and working just for now, not for a week or two in advance. ;-)

This card is made for Cards for Cath at Moxie Fab World, where yesterday we received the devastating news that Cath Edvalson has posted her last post. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the news. Cath's advice to papercrafters, her constant inspiration, and her positive and fun attitude have been mainstays of my papercrafting world. So, for all of this, I say THANK YOU SO MUCH, Cath! If I had a chicken stamp, I would have made you a chicken card. ;-)

I used SSS Flower Friend. Paper is PTI. Card is SU! Basic Black, Real Red, and Whisper White. Ink is SU! Real Red and PTI Hawaiian Shores.

The sketch I took from Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

The colours I took from Dynamic Duos, because I'm having withdrawals from being on the DT. The new DT is AMAZING, so I can't be too sad about it! :-)

Edit to add: I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

And now, I can hear my family having fun in the pool, so I think I shall go and join them!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx