Amusing Michelle

Happy 1st Birthday!

2012-03-17T16:08:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Today I attended my niece's 1st birthday party. The card was made using the sketch from Pals Paper Arts Challenge #131 and the colours from CR84FN Challenge #50. I also made it with the guidelines from CAS-ual Fridays #44 which dictates that we use 1. A pattern 2. An image and 3. A sentiment.

It actually looks better in real life. It is very pretty. :-) I used the new PTI Anniversary Set Pretty Peonies (image and sentiment) and Hero Arts Zig Zag (my pattern). Colours are Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Daffodil Delight. The dies are PTI.

And just before I go, I will give you a peek at my niece's very gorgeous cake.

Thanks for coming to visit! It is always lovely to see your comments.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #26 - Get Well

2012-03-15T16:00:00.000+10:00

Hello!

It's time for another For Your Inspiration challenge! The inspiration photo this week is full of rich colours and so much inspiration. You could take the colour theme, the asian influence, the bridge, the trees...and so much more.

I liked that cream bridge hiding in all those red leaves. The colours are so rich.

I used PTI vintage cream card, and Stampin'Up! Ruby Red (retired). The flower is Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies stamped onto patterned paper and vellum, fussy cut, layered and glued together. The sentiment is Hero Arts Say It All. I stamped on the vellum with Stayz On ink, the other stamping is Memento Tuxedo Black. I did use the PTI canvas/linen impression plate on the red panel, but it doesn't show so well in this photo. Try this other photo (taken at night, so not so great).

I do hope you join us at FYI for this challenge. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Why don't you pop over to visit the other DT members, they have some awesome cards for this challenge.

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Mum!

2012-03-08T08:50:00.000+10:00

Hello!

I have two cards to share today. They were both rejects from a recent submission call. That was actually okay, because I really created them for my Mum and my Mum-in-Law for their birthdays. I was a bit worried that if they got picked up in the call that I would have to recreate them for the Mums, LOL!

The first was for my mother-in-law. She likes purple and she likes flowers, especially roses. She is one of the most talented gardeners I know. She has a small garden which always has something pretty, something that smells nice, and it is always under control (unlike my garden). I love looking over it EVERY time I visit. Here is her card:

The second was for my Mum. My Mum is more into Spring colours, she also loves flowers, and she is also a great gardener. My Mum's garden is gigantic. She has a half acre block with very little lawn, it is pretty much ALL garden. It is full of shrubs, trees, and flowers galore. There are also many, many fruit trees and a couple of vege patches. There are also food plants growing all amongst the flowers. Mum likes the cottage garden style, and she does it well. She has a fairy garden built for my girls and when we visit, they disappear in there for ages. The fairy garden is full of fairy lights and at night it is magical. This is my Mum's card:

The photo is terrible. It is an easel card, but to get all of the card properly in the photo, I had to angle it weirdly. Trust me, it's pretty, LOL!

I'm loving the combination of PTI Rosie Posie and Filigrie Border, yum!

Happy Birthday to both my Mum-in-Law and my Mum. Lots of love to you both.

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you like my cards.

Michelle

xxx

OLW#81 and LIM#57

2012-03-04T15:28:00.001+10:00

Hello!

This week's challenge over at One Layer Wednesday is to use Black, Cream, and Bling. I love this colour combination, and for some reason I never use it. Along came Less Is More for the week, and the colour theme is Neutrals. I love neutrals. If I can find the time, I am going to make another card (or two) in the neutrals theme.

Here is my card:

I used PTI Harvest Berries, and Hero Arts Say It All, along with some SU! Pearls, and a Copic Multiliner to create the frame. Easy peasy!

That was my second card. My first card, didn't turn out quite as I imagined, so it gets relegated to second place in my show-and-tell.

The flourishes are a retired SU! roller. The sentiment is Hero Arts Say It All. The little flowers with the bling actually belong to a PTI set, which I can't remember the name of. The bling is SU! Rhinestones.

Thanks for coming to visit today.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #25 - blue and orange

2012-03-01T17:00:00.000+10:00

Hello!

It's time for For Your Inspiration Challenge #25! The photo inspiration looks like it is from Greece, those beautiful white walls and blue roofs. And we get sunset thrown in as well.

Our March sponsor is Your Next Stamp. All participants at For Your Inspiration Challenge #25 get 15% discount off their next order. Their stamps are absolutely lovely, lots of cute images to choose from. The code for the discount is over on FYI, to collect when you link up your entry. :-)

The inspiration I took from the photograph this week was blue, white, and orange. As soon as I thought of that colour combination, I was thinking a fun kids' card. So that is what I made.

Fox and Friends (Stampin' Up!) are having a party!

Once I'd finished this card, I thought I ought to find a little Dutch boy to give it to. I'll tell you why (bear with me while I give you a small history of Brisbane football (soccer). I don't know much about Brisbane football history, so some of my facts may be wrong, LOL!

Several years ago, when my hubby and I built our first house, we lived down the road from the Brisbane Lions Football Club. The clubhouse was small and definitely not inviting. Around the same time, there was a merger of two of the AFL (Australian Football League - Australian Rules football, not soccer) clubs - Brisbane Bears and Fitzroy Lions. They wanted to become the Brisbane Lions, but the little soccer club in Richlands already owned that name... so there was a deal done. The Brisbane Lions turned into the Queensland Lions FC. (And the Brisbane Bears turned into the Brisbane Lions AFL club.)

Suddenly, overnight (or it felt like that at the time) the little soccer club in Richlands turned into a mega, super-duper, fully-fledged football club with their colours (blue and orange) blazing in all their glory. It's amazing what a little money will do for a sporting club. The club was excellent - the food was great, they had child-minding so you could relax, they had a cafe for coffee and cake, as well as the usual gaming machines. This is when I learned all about football clubs in Brisbane. The orange and blue blazing all over the new club reflected the Dutch heritage of the team. Orange is the Dutch national colour and the colour of the royal family (their flag is red, white, and blue). The Royal Standard is orange and blue. Other teams in Brisbane were other nationalities, and other equally bright colours.

Queensland Roar (managed originally by Queensland Lions) became a professional team in the new A-League national competition, and a few years later changed their name to Brisbane Roar (because there were now two more Qld teams), and in the 2011 season saw them win 36 times in a row to take out their first Premiership and Championship.

Now that you have learned more than you ever wanted to know about football in Australia (and let me tell you, football in Australia is much bigger than that little story), why don't you go and visit my teamies from the For Your Inspiration Design Team:

Vicki

Thanks for coming by to visit, it's always lovely to have you drop in.

Michelle
xxx

Liebster Blog Award

2012-02-26T21:31:00.003+10:00

Hello!

This week I have been honoured to receive the Liebster Blog Award from two bloggers that I admire greatly - Jen from JENerally Speaking and Gayatri from Handmade by G3. Thank-you, ladies. You both inspire me constantly, and I absolutely love receiving your comments on my own work on a regular basis. :-) If you haven't yet visited Jen and Gayatri, please do pop over to visit them and tell them I sent you! Their work is creative, beautiful, and inspiring.

What is the Liebster Blog award? Here is a quick explanation. 'Liebster' is German for 'dearest'. The award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers (based on Google followers).

Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:
1) Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you
2) Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
3) Copy and paste the award on your blog (see above)
4) Hope that those you award forward it to their favorite bloggers!

Without further ado, here are the five inspirational bloggers that I have chosen to forward this award to. They not only create beautiful work, but they also spread the love by leaving lovely comments on a regular basis.

1) Cassandra of Paper Addiction - The person who inspired me to start blogging in the first place, inspired me to enter my first challenge, who creates the most elegant cards I've ever seen, a great stamping buddy, and who is a wonderful friend.

2) Tessa of Happy - Tessa posts all sorts of projects on her blog. She doesn't post many cards, but those she does are always creative and trying new ideas. Her baking, parties, and building (furniture) posts amaze me with her creativity.

3) Ann of Kingston Mama Crafts - Ann is a CAS stamper and she always comes up with ideas that I hadn't even thought of. Her style is different to mine, but similar enough for me to take direct inspiration. I love visiting her blog as I always come away inspired.

4) Karen of Made by Meadie - I actually "met" Karen on Flickr in the Jane's Doodles Group. I always loved her cards, and she often visited me and commented on mine. Then I managed to find her blog here on Blogger and I became a follower immediately. I LOVE looking at her cards.

5) Judith of Jay Gee's Nook - How is it that Judith has (just) under 200 followers? I know that the Jay Gee's Nook blog is attached to Judith's store, and that she has her design team posts there, but it is also where she posts her personal work, and that is what I am linking Judith for. I am a big fan of Judith. She makes great cards, her colouring is awesome (I want to be able to colour like Judith when I grow up), and she takes great photos.

I hope you take some time to visit the lovely ladies on my list. When you do, please let them know I sent you. They are definitely worth a visit.

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study #79 and Tuesday Trigger: Home Sweet Home

2012-02-24T09:36:00.001+10:00

Hello!

One of the reasons I like entering challenges is that, as well as improving my skills, I am challenged to try different ideas and styles. Those of you who visit me regularly will know that I am primarily drawn to the Clean and Simple style of card making. This preference doesn't stop me attempting to try something different, although sometimes those forays into the unknown are more successful than others!

This month at CASE Study, the muse has been Karola Witczak. Karola makes some really, really beautiful items, and her style is stunning, but she uses so much more than me! Her creations are FULL of beautiful bits and pieces. I really, really love what she creates. If you haven't visited her before, you should take a look, it is a treat of pretty goodness. :-) Anyway, the reason for the long story is that I have taken the plunge and attempted to use a bit more of Karola's style, while still maintaining a sense of my own. Here is Karola's inspiration, it's an altered frame:

See what I mean about pretty?

The other challenge I am entering is Tuesday Trigger, where the theme this week is Home Sweet Home. This is the inspiration photo:

The first thing that struck me was the bright blue, red, and that little bit of green. I was stuck for a few days trying to think how I was going to create a "Home" card. The Kraft and the woodgrain kept running through my head. But then, while I was making my card, I felt that the true inspiration this photo gave me was the bright colours and the "sense" of home. For me "home" means family. The card I have created gives me a warm, homey feeling. Here it is:

I have to say, as a CAS card maker, it was really hard to work out how much to put on this card. I could probably add a few more things and still be happy, but I decided to stop where I was. Directly from Karola's inspiration is the green frame, the stripey banner, and the love heart. I also used the sense of texture and different patterns. From the Tuesday Trigger I used the colours, the blue ribbon, and my own sense of the warmth of home.

What I used: PTI Rosie Posie, PTI Tag It's #11, PTI White Card, SU! Old Olive card, Inks are SU! (Pool Party, Poppy Parade, Old Olive, Cameo Coral, Pretty in Pink), Patterned Paper is SU! Everyday Enchantment, Dies PTI Filigrie Border and Canvas Impression Plate, SU! Pool Party ruffled ribbon, SU! Limeade Ribbon.

I like it. What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

P.S. I'd like to add my call to everyone to turn off their Word Verification if they are using Blogger. I have had a number of comments lately that I abandoned because I couldn't get the words right. In about 18 months without WV on my blog, I have received about four spam comments (which I deleted). If you are worried, you can always moderate your comments and delete the naughty ones before they are published. :-) If you need instructions, Susan has done a great picture tutorial.

OLW79, LIM55, and Jay Gee's #16 - Colourful flowers

2012-02-19T14:28:00.002+10:00

Hello!

I have told you before how much I love rainbow colours, haven't I? :-) This months challenge inspiration over at Jay Gee's Nook uses so many bright and happy colours, it's irresistible. As is usual for me, I've been pondering this card for ages. The original concept for the card I've made today came from Amber over at Damask Love. For some reason I can't find the card that inspired me, but if you've seen Ambers cards and calendars, you'll recognise the inspiration (Amber does it so much better than me). The layout and design for the card is a very direct CASE from Michelle at Pigment of My Imagination. When I saw Michelle's card, I knew I just had to bring my ideas to reality, right now! Again, Michelle has done it so well, I'm not sure why I am even considering doing it within the same challenge that her card is in (that would be One Layer Wednesday), LOL! I also made this card for Less Is More Week #55 (theme punches or dies), because it has been too long since I visited and had a play there, and I miss it. :-)

Here is my card:

I had to hold it together so that you could see it more clearly:

And here is the colour inspiration collage from Jay Gee's Nook Challenge #16:

Gorgeous, isn't it?

For my card, I used Stampin' Up! inks in a variety of bright colours. I used PTI Fillable Frames #5. I used PTI Rosie Posie, PTI Turning a New Leaf, and PTI Botanical Silhouettes stamps - 8 stamps in total.

I really like this card. It's exactly what I wanted to create. I just love it when a card turns out as I imagined.

Thanks for visiting. I love having visitors, and hearing what you have to say. :-)

Michelle

xxx

For Your Inspiration #24 - Green!

2012-02-16T17:00:00.000+10:00

Hello!

It's For Your Inspiration Challenge 24, and the inspiration photo this week has allowed me to totally go to town with GREEN. I really like green. :-)

This is the inspiration photo:

I love weeping willows.

This photo reminds me of the Avon River in Christchurch, New Zealand. Christchurch is one of the prettiest cities I've been to, and I have been saddened by the impact the earthquakes have had on such a beautiful city, especially its people.

Here is a picture I found to show you of the Avon, Christchurch.

Photo Credit

Here is my card. The zig zag pattern reminded me of water flowing, and I wanted to add some leaves to reflect that beautiful willow just a little. And of course, I've used about four different greens in creating this card. I've added the bling for the sparkle of the water.

I used Hero Arts Zig Zag and Say It All, PTI Turning a New Leaf, PTI buttons, Stampin' Up Ribbon (certainly celery), SU! green inks (certainly celery, old olive, green galore, gable green) and Memento Tuxedo Black. The die is PTI Fillable Frames #10.

At this point I would like to welcome our newest Design Team members - Irena, Karen, and Sylvia - three wonderfully talented ladies. Why don't you pay them a visit along with the rest of the DT?

Vicki

Thank-you so much for stopping by. I hope to see your cards over at FYI very soon!

Michelle
xxx

Happy 5th Anniversary Papertrey Ink

2012-02-06T21:18:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Just call me "Speedy" tonight. I wanted to enter PTI's 5th Anniversary Contest, with all that awesome talent on show from the DT, but I thought after spending all day at work that I wouldn't make it... then I realised I had one hour left. This is the first time I've managed to make the deadline for a PTI challenge, woo hoo! I'd better stop talking and get this blog finished, though, or I'll miss it, LOL!

The challenge was to choose one of the DT's gorgeous cards on show. I chose Jessica Witty's card. This is it:

I had to do a little lateral thinking to make my interpretation, but I think you can see the influence:

It is a one-layer card with a round aperture on the front. The heart is inside the card, and is die-cut using PTI's Heart dies. I used Tiny Tags dies and Tiny Tags II stamps. I also used, Think Big Favorites #11 and Tag Its #11.

I apologise for my night-time wonky photo. Considering the conditions, it didn't turn out too bad. :-)

Thanks for stopping by.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #23 - Blue

2012-02-02T17:00:00.000+10:00

Hello!

It's that time again, time for another For Your Inspiration Challenge. Yay!

We do have a sponsor. It is the one and only Kenny K, and the generous prize is four free digis! I anticipate many entries to this challenge. Enter and it could be YOU who gets those free digis. :-)

Here is the inspiration photo:

This is a very interesting building, and could inspire you in all sorts of directions. Shapes, colours, theme, etc. For me I took the emotion "blue" as my inspiration.

This is my card:

"I'm blue without you". Coloured with Inktense pencils. Image is Giraffe from Kenny K, our sponsor for this challenge. The patterned papers are Pebbles, Happy Go Lucky.

Before racing off to make your entry for this challenge, take some time to browse my fellow DT members' creations for this challenge at their blogs:

Vicki

Thanks for dropping by!

Michelle
xxx

Rainbows - CASE Study 75 and Runway Inspired 4

2012-01-28T12:26:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Sometimes it takes me a while to come up with an idea. It floats around in my head for days... and days... and days... and I can't figure out how to make it work. Those of you who visit regularly, and who see my comments on other people's cards, will know that I love rainbows. I really, really do. But for some reason, when it comes to making a rainbow-inspired card, it takes me FOREVER to work out a concept! This is the case with Runway Inspired Challenge #4. I saw the inspiration photograph and thought "Woo hoo! Rainbows!". That was almost two weeks ago now, LOL! I almost missed the deadline. This is the inspiration:

If I thought I could get away with it, I would wear this dress. It is so bright and happy, and I LOVE those fluoro green shoes, LOL! (Those of you who know me in real life will be aware that I am very conservative with my clothing colours that I actually wear, so this might surprise you).

Then along came CASE Study #75, and my idea started gelling together. The inspiration card is by Jennifer Rzasa, and it is one I always loved. This is it:

When I've thought of CASEing this one previously, I have thought of a more direct CASE, pretty much copying, really. :-) BUT, my limited number of BIG sentiments and colourful twine has so far prevented that direct CASE, and I have been forced to think a bit more laterally about how this card inspires me. So for me it is - one layer, colourful, lines, twine, simple sentiment.

And this is what I came up with:

The photo is a bit fuzzy, the light here today is more grey than white. It is still raining here in Brisbane, sigh!

One layer PTI white cardstock. PTI Flower Fusion #11. SU! inks: old olive, real red, pumpkin pie, daffodil delight, bashful blue, perfect plum. Memento Tuxedo Black. Twinery Twine.

That was my actually second card made this morning. The first one didn't grab me, so I tried again. I still like the first one, but the second one I like better. Here is the first:

I used certainly celery instead of old olive in this one, and the open flowers combined with the lighter green created a much softer feeling card than I was aiming for with these two challenges. Still worth showing you, but not my entry. :-)

I'm also entering this over at Simon Says Stamp where this week it is Anything Goes.

Thanks for popping by to look at my cards!

Michelle
xxx

Rosie Posie - TT Winter Blossoms and Jay Gee's Challenge #15

2012-01-26T16:02:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Second post for the day. I couldn't stop at just one card with my new Rosie Posie stamps and dies. I had to have a good play!

In my previous post I forgot to say a big welcome to my new followers! In the last few weeks I have had a few people join me here, and I feel honoured that you would want to see my creations regularly. Thank-you!

These two cards I made for Jay Gee's Nook Challenge #15 and Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger:Winter Blossoms.

I have been watching the inspiration photo boards over at Jay Gee's Nook challenges for months now. Every time I think "Ooh, that is SO nice! I must make a card!", and then promptly miss the deadline. This time I remembered just in time, YAY! This is the inspiration for January.

And here is my card:

I used Rosie Posie, Filigrie Border, Curly Cute (Stampin' Up!) sentiment. Colours are crumb cake (kraft), blush blossom, barely banana, and certainly celery. Cardstock is PTI vintage cream.

Over at Moxie Fab World, the Tuesday Trigger uses very similar colours to Jay Gee's challenge. I thought while I had all those colours out, I would whip this one up too! Here is the Winter Blossoms trigger.

Delicious, isn't it?

Here is my card.

I used pretty much the same supplies as in the last card, minus green, and including the Soft Suede ribbon and sentiment.

On both cards I am still thinking about adding some pearls, but I haven't decided yet, so here they are shown pearl-less. :-)

Thanks for coming to visit and take a look at my cards, I love having you here.

Michelle
xxx

Colour Q #121 and Happy Australia Day

2012-01-26T15:38:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Apart from my blubbering about national pride and Australia Day below, this post is about my card for ColourQ #121. The colours this week are:

This week my PTI order arrived, and in there was Rosie Posie. Today was the day to ink it up. Here is the first card I made using my new set and the gorgeous colours from colourQ.

Oh, I like this card. One layer. Bright colours on kraft. A nice big sentiment. And lots of open space. The white is an Inktense pencil. The sentiment is Think Big Favorites #11

Today is Australia Day. It is a national holiday. We get to celebrate the federation of Australia over barbeques and beer, maybe watching some sport on tv, generally relaxing. I got to do one of my favourite things for Australia Day this morning. I attended a Citizenship ceremony. I think Australia Day is the perfect day to become a citizen, and every time I attend one, I get all teary at welcoming our newest Australian citizens on our national day. I make it through singing the national anthem (Advance Australia Fair), but then we sing the national song (We Are Australian) and I get so choked up that I can't sing properly. I'm a big wuss! So to everybody in Australia today, I say, Happy Australia Day.

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Days 6 and 7

2012-01-19T18:50:00.001+10:00

This is my second post of the day. To see my For Your Inspiration post, just scroll down. :-)

Hello!

I had three really busy and really long days at work to start this week, so I had zero chance to even look at the Clean and Simple Classes 6, 7, and 8. Today I looked over Class 6 - Simple Embellishments, and Class 7 - Plainly White, and I decided to combine the two into one card. I think I used just about every technique we were shown in the tutorial videos!

My "embellishment" is my butterfly. I've used a negative die cut again because I just LOVE negative die cuts. I have another card to make for these two classes, and I might get to that one tomorrow.

Here is today's effort:

I used my Stampin'Up! Butterfly punch twice (patterned paper and vellum), I edged the butterfly (and covered myself) in Dazzling Diamonds glitter, I stamped the sentiment in Pretty in Pink to keep the soft feel of the card.

I like it.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #22 - watercolour flowers

2012-01-19T17:00:00.000+10:00

Hello!

This week at For Your Inspiration Challenges we have another beautiful photograph to inspire you.

Remember, the Design Team Call is still open until January 31st, so if you'd like to join our team, please check out the details at the For Your Inspiration DT Call post.

Without further ado, here is the inspiration photo:

Isn't it restful? And all that colour, yum!

My take on it was to create a watercolour-style image, using the same colours. I inked up my stamps, then I sprayed them with my shimmer mist liberally, and then stamped onto watercolour paper. This caused the images to run slightly and cause a much softer effect than just straight stamping with ink.

I used Soft Suede cardstock, Old Olive panel, and watercolour paper for the image panel. Inks were Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso (sentiment). Twine is Buttercup from the Twinery. The flowers are PTI Botanical Silhouettes.

I'd love it if you would join in the fun with us at For Your Inspiration. And please do take some time to take a look at what the rest of the Design Team has come up with. They have done some amazing work, as always.

I'm looking forward to seeing you over at FYI very soon!

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Day 5 - techniques

2012-01-15T10:55:00.004+10:00

Hello!

Day 5 at Clean and Simple Classes is about using techniques. The first technique is called Watercolour Blocking. It uses distress inks, of which I have none. That hasn't deterred me from attempting this technique, LOL! My first few attempts truly aren't fit for sharing. But I soldiered on!

This one that I created used a completely different watercolouring technique, and came about because I was playing with my Derwent Inktense pencils to create blocked watercolours when my little girl came up to check out my progress. She said "Oh, YES! Yes, yes, yes! This one! Can this be for me?" Only it wasn't yet a card she was looking at, it was just rainbow stripes on watercolour paper. It was my way of clearing the creative brick wall I had hit in attempting this technique... Anyway, who can resist an enthusiastic 4-year-old? Not me, for sure! We sat together, she told me what she wanted, and away we went.

Here is the outcome, my little girl's card she designed for her big sister:

I'm not sure if you can see all the shimmer on the card. It is a very shimmery rainbow background. And the little one INSISTED that there be bling on the heart. The heart is black embossing. The black frame was drawn in my magic little Copic pen (the one Copic I own). The heart and the sentiment stamps are both from retired Stampin' Up! sets. The cardstock is Night of Navy and Crumb Cake.

I do love rainbows... now I'm off to try to create some more.

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Day 4, and CASE Study

2012-01-13T17:08:00.002+10:00

Hello!

Clean and Simple Card Classes sure are keeping me busy! Lucky I've been on holidays this week. I'm not sure how creative I'll be next week when I'm back at work. Day 4 is all about using your stamps in different ways, it's called "1 stamp, 3 ways". I did two cards I was happy with, then I tried to squeeze out that third card, and with no time my inspiration evaporated. I'll show it to you anyway, you know me, I'll show you my flops as well as my successes. :-)

I am also entering my first card into CASE Study #73, because the inspiration for the card came directly from Jen Rzasa's card, which is here:

My card is this one:

This is a much more direct translation from the original. I don't think you have to look hard to find what inspiration points I took from Jen's card, LOL!

The two cards I am happy with for Clean and Simple Card Class are these two:

Here is a close-up of the second one:

Edited to add: I finally found where my inspiration came from for this little graphic card. I knew the idea was not my own, but I couldn't remember where I saw it. It was Maile Belles, of course! Take a look at her version here.

And here is the poor old third card, which was rushed out, and will go into my daughter's miscellaneous cards box (where she digs when she wants to send a card). It's cute, she'll like it. :-)

I used PTI Background Basics: Circles - in the first card as a background with a bit of a patterned paper effect; in the second card as a design element; and in the third card as the grass under Mr Snail. The images on the third card are Jane's Doodles Garden Friends. Colours used in all three cards are: SU! Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana (retired), and Memento Tuxedo Black. White cardstock is PTI White. Twine is from The Twinery.

I'm really enjoying these classes. They are stretching me to think creatively in a different way, every day. I like that. I love CAS, and I'd love to be GREAT at CAS. :-)

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study #73

2012-01-13T16:41:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Here is my first entry for CASE Study #73. The muse this month is Jennifer Rzasa, and since I find Jen unendingly inspirational, I couldn't resist taking part.

The inspiration card is this one:

It's so pretty, don't you think?

I picked up negative die cuts, very clean layout, pretty colours, and a little bling.

This is my card:

So simple, and so pretty. I like it.

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Day 3

2012-01-12T19:33:00.000+10:00

Hello!

In Clean and Simple Classes Day 3, the topic for discussion was Inspiration. Where to find it, and what to do with it. I have to admit, I find inspiration EVERYWHERE, but I don't always use it. A little while ago, I found a piece of art on Pinterest, and was instantly inspired, but haven't had the time to go back and work on my ideas. For Day 3, I decided I would work on this. When I got into it, I realised that the time required to produce what was in my head was going to be more than I had, so I modified my design and my expectations. The original idea will wait for another day when I have more time. :-)

This is the art work, by Frank Stella:

When I first pinned it, I didn't have a die-cutting machine. And I didn't have any circle dies. I now have both. I started by cutting lots of circles using Spellbinders Nestabilities Circles.

This is after I had sorted them out. Bad photo, but you get the idea. Then I stuck them down and cut them up. And then I played around for ages.

This is what I ended up with:

And the individual cards:

I don't really know if these qualify as CAS. They actually are quite simple, but they are very busy to look at, a bit like a 1970s bedspread or curtain, LOL!

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Day 2, Part 2 with OLW74

2012-01-11T19:04:00.003+10:00

Hello!

When I saw One Layer Wednesday this week, I decided to try to wake up my mojo and make another card for Clean and Simple Card Classes, Day 2. I made another stack of one-layer cards and this one is the very best of that bunch. Sigh!

Here is the card:

This card has potential. I need to reposition the elements at the very least! As it is, my kids like it, and they will use it, yay!

I used PTI Turning a New Leaf, and SU! Wonderful Favourites. Colours are Real Red and Pixie Pink.

I'm actually a bit embarrassed to share this one, but someone recently commented on her blog how nobody ever shows the less-than-perfect cards. So this post is for her, and you never know, someone else (a lot less critical than me) might like it, or it might inspire someone to make a better version, and that would make me happy. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Day 2 - Part 1

2012-01-11T18:50:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Oh, dear! Day 2 at Clean and Simple Card Classes is One Layer Cards! My nemesis! You would not believe the number of mistakes I made in my cards. In the end I gave up and have decided to show you the two best of a bad bunch. I really couldn't believe it, because lately I have made many, many one-layer cards that I have been very happy with. Obviously I was struck with performance anxiety, LOL!

Here is the first card:

I was totally inspired by Amber's mixed backgrounds cards. Unfortunately, I only have one set of background stamps, so it is a mixed-circle background card. Don't look too closely, and it looks really nice! I love this idea and I will practise more to perfect it.

I used PTI Background Basics: Circles, SU! Pumpkin Pie, and the sentiment is from SU! Trendy Trees.

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Day 1 - Part 2

2012-01-11T08:52:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Here is my second card for the Day 1 Clean and Simple Card Making class.

This one is based on a card by Maile Belles. I can't tell you how much I like Maile's cards, they're CAS-perfect!

Here is my card:

It's a bit BRIGHT isn't it? :-)

Here is a close-up of the flower die-cut:

I used PTI White card, SU! Only Orange and Yoyo Yellow (both retired), Twinery twine, and a SU! flower brad. The sentiment is PTI Botanical Silhouettes. The die is MFT, I forget it's name. I slipped the orange flower into the space left by the die-cut in the yellow panel.

I'll be back later with Day 2. I have to go visit my 10 month old niece first! Definitely a pleasure worth skipping a bit of blogging for. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Day 1 - Part 1

2012-01-11T08:42:00.000+10:00

Hello!

A quick one today, I am taking part in the Clean and Simple Card Making online classes. It's actually almost the end of Day 2, but I thought I'd start at the beginning with what I've created for Day 1!

We had three sketches to work with. I got to two of them. This first one is based on Kristina Werner's card.

I've used Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies for the stamping in SU! Real Red and Memento Tuxedo Black, MFT mini rolled roses (oh, these are a work in progess, I need to practise, practise, practise to get these right!). The card is PTI White.

I quite like how this one turned out.

Michelle
xxx

RIC#3 - Black and White Love

2012-01-09T14:38:00.001+10:00

Hello!

I've been pondering Runway Inspired Challenge #3 for a little while now, trying to think how I would use those black and white stripes. Today the idea came to me, so I sat down in this 36 degree heat (96.8F) and whipped up a little card quickly before I go for a swim. :-)

Here is the inspiration:

Black and white isn't my forte in card-making. Neither are stripes, really, but I like them!

I went for a black and white heart, and I picked up the circles off the runway floor.

Here is my card:

PTI Heart dies, PTI Background Basics: Circles, PTI Botannical Silhouettes (sentiment). A really easy card, and I really like it.

Now, I'm going to try to beat the afternoon thunderstorm to the pool. It was a clear blue day 30 minutes ago, now we're looking at this:

It doesn't look much, but it won't be long until the sky is dark grey with lightning and thunder - that's my prediction anyway. It's rare for us to have this heat, and high humidity all day without an afternoon thunderstorm. We can't swim in a storm, so it is a matter of getting there before the thunder starts growling.

Michelle
xxx

PDCC#113 - Baby Congratulations

2012-01-09T10:50:00.000+10:00

Hello!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge this week has the most beautiful sea glass colours as the inspiration. I think these colours rival yellow as my absolute favourite. Unfortunately, I don't have sea glass colours in my ink supplies, a major oversight that I MUST take care of.

This is the colour story:

Yum, don't you think? I am pretty sure I have that top left photo torn out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine, for future reference for paint colours somewhere in my home. :-)

I have gone for a "blue" theme and hope it fits well enough. One of our cousins has just had a baby boy within the past 24 hours, and this card will be winging its way to him very soon.

My card:

I absolutely adore this card, totally. The frog is one of my favourite images from Jane's Doodles' Garden Friends set. The dies are PTI. The embossing folder is Sizzix, I inked it up before embossing to get the blue stripes. The sentiments are from PTI - Inside and Out: Baby. I coloured the frog using my Inktense pencils.

I hope you like him.

Michelle
xxx

2012 in photos - first week

2012-01-08T21:06:00.000+10:00

Hello there!

Due to ongoing wall construction and painting work (which has caused massive dust issues here), I have not had any crafting time. I can't pull my gear out, or it will be instantly covered in dust. So I thought I would share a little of my other project - participating 2012 in Photos. Here is a collage of my first week:

Would you like to take a look at the stories to go along with the photos?

You can pop over to my other blog Happy Snap Michelle. I'd love to see you there.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #21

2012-01-05T17:00:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Welcome to my post for the first challenge of the year over at For Your Inspiration. We are up to challenge #21 already, gee time flies when you're having fun!

There is lots of fun to be had, as always, and there are prizes too! Our sponsor is The Wax Fruit Company and the prize is a $15 store credit. Go take a look, there are lots of lovely digi stamps to choose from.

The image I chose to work with for this challenge was Heart Quilt. The reason for this is that the inspiration photo is a church, which made me think of LOVE.

Here is the image for this challenge:

And here is my card:

Yep, the photo of my card isn't great, LOL! Here is another view:

And another close-up:

Thinking my light may not have been the best when taking those photos.

I used SU! Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, and Soft Suede (sentiment). I used The Twinery Blossom twine as my washing line to hang the quilt on. The "white" paper is PTI Vintage Cream.

Now, have you thought you might like to be on a Design Team one day? Well, the call is out for some more Design Team members over at For Your Inspiration. I can tell you that this team of ladies is fantastic to work with, and Steph's inspiration photos for each challenge make it EASY to come up with ideas. If you haven't already been there, pop over to the For Your Inspiration blog for more details on how you might join the team.

The rest of the DT has come up with some gorgeous work for this challenge, why don't you pay them a visit too?

Michelle
xxx

2012 in Photos

2012-01-04T21:26:00.000+10:00

Hello,

I started a new blog. My blog-friend Steph brought to my attention that Lori Boyd is running a 2012 in Photos blog. Since I am working on improving my photography skills, I thought I'd start a blog to keep my photography adventures separate from my other crafty adventures. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with this Photo a Day idea, but I'll give it a shot.

My first photo was this one:

If you'd like to take a look at my new blog, come on over to Happy Snap Michelle. I'd love to see you there.

Michelle
xxx

CAS-ual Coffee

2011-12-27T16:51:00.002+10:00

Hello!

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you have all had a wonderful, joy-filled celebration. My family and I certainly did. I haven't been stamping much lately due to the rush and busy-ness involved in Christmas preparations. Now I can take a breath, and I've sat down to make a card that has been brewing in my imagination for a few days.

Over at CAS-ual Fridays this week they are teaming up with Market Street Stamps. I don't own any Market Street Stamps (yet), but they have kindly offered a free digi to join in their Block Party fun. I signed up at The Neighborhood and took a little time wandering around, familiarising myself with what was there (and collected lots of ideas, stamp "needs", and inspiration) and then collected the digi and set my mind to work on forming a design idea.

The theme at CAS-ual Fridays this week is Kraft and Twine, with a bonus offer of joining in the Market Street Stamps Block Party.

So, today I had my idea and set to work. Do you sometimes find that your idea was much simpler to execute in your head? For a simple card, I sure had some troubles putting this one together, LOL! If anyone has any good suggestions on how to adhere twine down on a card, please let me know. This time I used sticky dots, but I don't think this is the ideal solution. Argh!

The Coffee Cup image is from Market Street Stamps. I reversed it to get the two cups facing each other. I printed the image onto Crumb Cake cardstock and then put that panel through the Big Shot with Swiss Dots folder. The sentiment is from PTI Embellishments. I paper-pieced with Crumb Cake and Real Red. The card base and sentiment strip are Soft Suede, and the card base has been put through the Big Shot with PTI Canvas impression plate. The twine is The Twinery Maraschino.

What do you think? I quite like it.

Michelle
xxx

Christmas Cake

2011-12-21T21:11:00.000+10:00

Hello!

No cards this time. This time I'm showing you my Christmas cake. If I hadn't had the marauding hoards snapping at my heels begging me for a piece of the cake, I would have presented it more nicely for your viewing pleasure. As it was, I was lucky to snap a few shots before the first cut, LOL!

Every year I make a Christmas cake. This cake is a BIG cake and it takes a few hours to make. Some years it is fantastic, and some years I don't make it as perfectly as I'd like. This year's cake is PERFECT! Moist, delicious, mouth-wateringly fragrant...hang on, I might need to grab a piece before I go on...

I usually try to keep it whole until Christmas Day so that everyone gets to appreciate its beauty before cutting, but, as I said, it is perfect, and we couldn't wait until Christmas to try it out.

Yum! It's a boiled fruit cake. I put in some extra treacle this year, so it has gone very dark. It isn't burned, it's just dark brown. The nuts are macadamias, brazils, walnuts, and almonds.

So what do you think, do you feel like popping over for a cup of tea and a slice of fruit cake?

Michelle
xxx

Edited to add: P.S. Ooh! I just noticed this is my 100th post. That would be a reason to celebrate... I might go and have a piece of cake...

For Your Inspiration #20

2011-12-15T16:48:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Welcome to another For Your Inspiration post. This week's photo is a stunner. I really hope you come and join us in the fun.

Do you find that time flies by twice as fast at this time of year? It's only 10 days to Christmas, and I am NOWHERE near being ready. I haven't even sent one little card! Eek!!! I must get organised. I know that at this stage my overseas friends and family will not receive my cards on time. I'm sorry, I even had the cards made on time this year! I haven't finished shopping ... I haven't started cooking... oh dear!

Enough of my panic-filled talk, let's move onto happier topics, like this week's photo from FYI:

I just love this photo. I love the colours. I love the water. I love the clouds. I love the reflections. It's beautiful!

For my card, I wanted to use the multiple blues with a white base. I used navy, pale blue, and turquoise. Here it is:

I was playing around with this idea and I have a second card to show you also:

I also had a third card started, but it didn't quite work. I might still finish it, because I sort of like it, and I do love this concept. I just love Harvest Berries by Papertrey Ink. No matter what you do with it, it looks beautiful and elegant. The sentiment is from PTI Botanical Silhouettes.

What do you think? Do you like my blue ginko leaves? :-) Please come along and join in the fun over at For Your Inspiration, I'd love to see you there.

Now why don't you go and check out what the rest of the design team have come up with?

Michelle
xxx

CTD #171 & SSSC#147

2011-12-11T23:08:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Just a quick one before I head out to work. I'm entering a card into the Color Throwdown Challenge #171 and the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #147.

The colours are:

The sketch is:

My card:

I used (mostly SU!)
Inks: Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede, Old Olive, StayzOn Black
Stamps: Curly Cute, Circle Circus
Card: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Paper: Mocha Morning, something retired, vellum
Twine: Twinery capuccino
Button: Papertrey Ink

So what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts. :-)

Michelle
xxx

New Challenge - Runway Inspired Challenge

2011-12-08T09:32:00.001+10:00

Hello!

I am very excited about this new challenge. Runway Inspired Challenge has been started by Jennifer Rzasa, who has brought together some of my most favourite card designers in the whole wide world. Seriously, they are ALL my muses and I aspire to one day create something nearing their level of creativity! If you haven't taken a look at this challenge yet, head on over and join in on this first one!

To cap off my excitement, the very first inspiration photo uses my very favourite colour, YELLOW. I love, love, love yellow. Here is the photo:

As soon as I saw this photo, an idea formed in my head, and it has stayed there until I found a tiny slice of time available this morning to put it onto card.

This is my card:

I can't tell you how much I like this card (I might even have trouble giving it away, LOL). Yellow and cream together. YUM. It's raining here this morning, so the light isn't so great, so my yellow looks a bit golder and darker than it really is. It's close enough.

I used PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Daffodil Delight, Sentiment is Curly Cute stamped in SU! Early Espresso, Images are PTI Turning a New Leaf, Dies are PTI - Mat Stack #4 and Fillable Frames #10 (I think).

Thanks for coming by to look at my card. Please leave me a comment letting me know what you think of my card, and to let me know you were here, and I'll come and visit you back sometime soon.

Michelle
xxx

One Layer Wednesday #72 - Sentiment Only

2011-12-01T19:55:00.001+10:00

This is my second post for today.

For my FOR YOUR INSPIRATION post, and a little tour of Brisbane, scroll down.

Hello!

Susan at Simplicity has given us an ultra-difficult challenge this week for One Layer Wednesday. At least, it's ultra-difficult for me! The brief is to use only one sentiment stamp on a non-standard card size. That's it! Nothing else...just that one stamp...eek! And we have to do at least two versions of the card. Oh dear!

My cards are 4.25" x 4.25" All are made with PTI white cardstock, and PTI Stylish Sentiments Holiday.

The first one is using SU! Real Red

The second is made with SU! Early Espresso

The third is made with glittery red embossing. The next photo is an attempt to show how sparkly it is.

I'm not sure you can see it, LOL!

I like the Real Red version best. Which do you like?

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #19 - Brisbane!

2011-12-01T17:00:00.000+10:00

Hello!

For Your Inspiration Challenge #19 is VERY EXCITING for me, because of the inspiration photo. Take a look:

Yes, it is beautiful purple... but more than that... this is my home... BRISBANE...yay!

Now another reason to celebrate, is that we have a sponsor for this challenge. One of our lucky participants is going to win two rubber stamps from Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps. There are some very cute images over there - go take a look quickly and then pop back here for the rest of my post.

A beautiful photo of Brisbane to inspire and the chance to win a prize, what more motivation could you need?

In celebration of the fact that the photo inspiration is Brisbane, I went out taking photos in my lunchtime at work yesterday, so that I could show you the Story Bridge in the daylight, and a little bit more of Brisbane. I will go out again, it was a really nice way to spend my lunch time - wandering along the river with my camera.

Before I get to my photos, I will show you my card. It had to be purple, of course. I couldn't get past the purples and pinks in the photo. I didn't quite have the makings of the "city silhouette" that I had in my mind, but I feel that I captured some of the "twinkling lights" feel. Here it is:

My card base is Soft Suede, which is about the exact colour of the Brisbane River. The Brisbane River is tidal and it is ALWAYS brown, unless the blue skies are reflecting off the surface, LOL! I used Hero Arts Dots and Flowers to clear emboss the background panel. I used my yellow rose to represent the yellow lights on the bridge.

The rest of the Design Team have also come up with some beautiful projects, so go take a look at their posts, too:

Rochelle - welcome to the team, Rochelle!

Sara

Steph

Vicki

Now, once you have read this post, please come along and play at FYI#19. It would be lovely to see you there.

Are you still with me? Come and take a look at some photos of Brissie...

This is looking back at the Story Bridge from the opposite side to the inspiration photo. I'm standing in Riverfront Place here (I think). I love those stair/ramps in the foreground, great design (very functional) and fun. That tall building to the left in the background with the crane on top is going to be Brisbane's tallest building. I think it is already the tallest, and it isn't finished yet.

Looking up. I like the contrast of the different buildings against each other.

Still looking up, but a bit more abstract.

Walking further along the river walk. It was raining on me. You wouldn't know it from the photo.

A City Ferry. These little ferries are small, noisy, and smelly (of diesel fuel), but very convenient to hop from one side of the river to the other. The trees along the river's edge in Brisbane are mangroves (quite stinky if you get too close).

A City Cat. These BIG ferries are sleek and fast, and if you ever come to visit Brisbane, you MUST jump on one and take a cruise up and down the river. It's worth it.

And to finish off, a Moreton Bay Fig. This tree is amongst a group of figs that sit in the middle of a busy intersection in Brisbane City. I love these trees. There are quite a few scattered around Brisbane, and they are always spectacular to look at.

Are you still with me? Are you inspired? Leave me a comment to let me know you were here. I promise to visit back as soon as I can. And I look forward to seeing your entry over at FYI.

Michelle

xxx

Spring in Brisbane

2011-11-28T19:05:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Well, we're on our last couple of days of Spring, and I had promised you a look at the jacarandas in flower. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good jacaranda season this year, so I didn't get photos of the full trees in bloom, but I did get a few close ups of the flowers to show you. I also took a few other photos around my garden, to show you the face of Spring here in Brisbane.

This is the jacaranda with new leaves and flower buds just starting to burst:

The flower buds and flowers:

I love the way that the flowers are almost iridescent, so pretty.

More flowers:

The rose leaves just coming out with their beautiful purpley-red blush:

I'll show you the rose flowers in my Summer photos. This one is a beautiful white, highly fragrant, multiflora. I can't remember its name right now.

Our gorgeous azalea:

It looks like white flowers until you get up close, and then you see that beautiful pink blush. Unfortunately our azalea bush is infested with spider mite. I hope to get rid of that sometime soon so that the leaves are as beautiful as the flowers.

This is Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (I forget its botanical name). It is a highly fragrant bush that sits right beside our front door. All through September this bush sends dreamy perfume into my home. It is called Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow because the flowers come out dark purple and change to white over time - Yesterday (white), Today (light purple), Tomorrow (dark purple), I think.

This is Murraya (otherwise known as Mock Orange). We have a hedge of this beside our pool. Again, highly fragrant. I almost swoon when it flowers and sends the scent along on the breeze. It flowers again in Summer also, right when we are using the pool and can enjoy it.

How about the real thing? Well, lemon, not orange, because I forgot to photograph the orange, lime, and mandarin flowers. I have more lemon flowers that I took the other day in the rain. I'll show you those another time. I love the citrus flowers, the scent is heavenly and they are so pretty. I also love the fruit that follows!

Speaking of fruit, how about passionfruit? YUM. Have you ever looked closely at a passionfruit flower? They're amazing.

How about a little closer?

And now some tomatoes:

These ones have been eaten already. I had to fight off the scrub turkeys, but I got to eat most of them myself. I should take a photo of a scrub turkey for you one day. You can Google them - Scrub Turkey, Brush Turkey, Bush Turkey. They aren't edible turkeys and they are protected, so we can't get rid of them. We have a family of them living in the yard next door (which is like a jungle).

And to finish off, the first hint of Summer, the frangipani (aka plumeria) coming into leaf. I love our frangipanis. We have three white-flowering trees, two right beside the house. I do love all the coloured frangipanis, but I love the scent of the white ones the best. And I love the white and yellow flowers, they're so pretty. Our trees are about to launch into flowering. I'll show you the flowers when they arrive also.

So, are you still with me, did you make it to the end of my marathon show-and-tell? I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Michelle
xxx

Silhouette Thank-You

2011-11-20T15:21:00.001+10:00

Hello!

I have an entry for three challenges today.

Less Is More, Week 42: Silhouettes. Thank-you Chrissie and Mandi, I have had this little silhouette idea in the back of my mind for months, and you've galvanised me to action.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #108, which has these beautiful, warm autumn colours:

Clean and Simple Stamping, Layout #167:

As soon as I saw this layout, I imagined cutting a circle out and placing my image inside the aperture, which is exactly what I did.

And my card is this one:

Forgive the wonky photo, I didn't realise I had put it on such a lean until making this post, and I only took one shot, oops!

I quite like this card. What do you think?

Now I'm off outside to play in the water with my kids. We have a water amnesty this week-end, which means we can use as much as we like, yippee! We usually live with very, very strict water restrictions due to the effects of drought, but the powers-that-be are preparing for another bumper wet season, so trying to reduce the water in the dams. I hope it does end up being a big wet season, otherwise all this water wastage will feel very frivolous in hindsight. I washed my car yesterday for the first time in a long time. It's so shiny! I love using water guilt free sometimes...

Michelle
xxx

Tuesday Trigger - Fall is in the Bag

2011-11-17T17:44:00.001+10:00

This is my second post today. For my For Your Inspiration post, please scroll down.

Hello!

Around here, Fall (or Autumn, as we like to call it) is well and truly in the bag, we're about to launch into Summer and the heat is already here. Fall is in the Bag is the theme of the Tuesday Trigger challenge over at Moxie Fab World. The trigger photo is a handbag:

I looked at this handbag and immediately thought of one of my favourite little stamp sets, Stampin' Up! Trendy Trees. I love the colours on this bag. I wish I had this bag myself. *smile*

I made the mistake of going to visit the first few entries to the challenge before I started my card. Gee, there are some awesome cards on show there already! I almost scared myself out of making my card, but then decided I'd tough it out and make my card anyway.

My card is this one:

I had some troubles getting a decent angle on the photograph to show you the depth of the card. The front cream panel is adhered to a brown panel, which is popped up on top of the brown card base. The brown sentiment strips are popped up again. Brown doesn't photograph so well when you are trying to show the layers. Here are a couple of other photos.

The background was fun to make. I actually enjoyed lining all those little trees up and choosing which colours would go where. For a change, I used my stamp positioner, and pencil lines to keep things on track. The colours I used were (SU!): Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Not Quite Navy. The button is out of my mending box. I really hope I don't need it for a particular item of clothing!

Thanks for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #18

2011-11-17T16:05:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Welcome to my contribution to For Your Inspiration Challenge #18. Another beautiful photo has been chosen by our fearless leader, Steph. From this photo I was struck by that beam of yellow sunlight shining in the middle of the photo and the fluffy blue-ish clouds. When I pulled out my cardstock to try to put some of the colours together, I loved the colour combo created with the rust, orange, yellow, and blue. It took me by surprise how nicely they all went together.

The photo inspiration:

How can you NOT be inspired by this. Come on, my friends, come and join us and submit a card inspired by this beautiful view. I'd love to see you there!

My card:

The photo was taken in the middle of the night, so there are a few shadows there, and I had an interesting time trying to edit this back to true colours! Cream cardstock turns yellow under artificial light, and any auto-fixes turn the card BLUE, grrr!

I used Papertrey Ink Snowflake Serenade, PTI Vintage Cream card base, SU! Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana ink and Daffodil Delight satin ribbon.

Go take a look at what the rest of the design team have come up with. They always do beautiful work, so it is worth taking a wander through their blogs.

Debbie
Debby
Keva
Peggy
Sara
Steph
Vicki

On another note, this morning I went to our interview for my littlest girl's school place. She is starting in Prep at the end of January in 2013, when she will be 5. Our eldest daughter is already at this school, and we love it. The little girl did some drawing, some writing, some puzzles, answered a few questions, and did us proud. I can't believe we still have to wait another year before she starts school, it will be an interesting year. Luckily for us, she is in a good Kindy programme, otherwise I think she'd drive us crazy, LOL! The good news is that we had a good interview and it looks like she'll be offered a place, yay! My baby is growing up so quickly, ooh it will be a wrench when I have no more pre-schoolers in the home. I still have a year to get used to the idea...

For those of you curious to know what I am doing with the advice you gave on Big Shot accessories. I have Swiss Dots embossing folder (thanks Cassie!), I have ordered Nestabilities Circles set (all four sets), I am looking at PTI linen/canvas impression plate (and maybe woodgrain, and maybe more...), I think I HAVE to have the new PTI alphabet die set, I'm thinking of MFT Die-namics mini rolled roses, and my wishlist is ever expanding! I will eventually buy all of the Nestabilities basic shapes, I think, but it will take time as I allocate my limited hobby budget to the most important (desired) things first. Thank-you all for your wonderful advice. I truly appreciate that you took the time to give me the benefit of your experience.

Thanks for dropping by. Leave me a comment to let me know you were here, and I'll visit back as quickly as I can.

Michelle
xxx

Leaves and Christmas

2011-11-13T16:16:00.001+10:00

Hello!

I am excited. My September Papertrey Ink order arrived after travelling to Brazil on its way to Australia. 7 weeks is a really LONG time to wait when you ordered Christmas stamps to make your cards this year! I hope my next order doesn't take quite so long to get here...

I think Mandi and Chrissie KNEW that I had ordered lots of LEAVES and would want to try them out, because that is the theme they chose for one-layer week at Less is More Challenge #41. Woo hoo!

I have a few things to share. Two cards are one-layer cards with leaves.

First card:

I used:
Stamps: Think Big Favorites #8, Turning a New Leaf, Harvest Berries
Ink: SU! Certainly Celery, Ruby Red, Early Espresso
Card: PTI White

Next card:

I made this card for my daughter's classroom teacher, to match the present I made her. The colours used are the same as the above card, I used Vintage Cream Card instead of white. The sentiment is from Stylish Sentiments: Holiday (I am loving this set). The leaves are Harvest Berries.

The present to match is a note book (A5 size), which I created a new front cover for:

The notebook has a hard frosted plastic cover (which I opened to take the photo). The pages inside are beautiful thick unlined paper. All stamps used here are Harvest Berries. The same colours again as above - Certainly Celery, Ruby Red, Early Espresso.

And the last card I have to show you is the card I have made for my daughter's music teachers (I made three of the same card):

I love this card. Really LOVE it. The papers are SU! Mocha Morning, and KaiserCraft Sheet Music. The stamps are Stylish Sentiments: Holiday and Tag-Its #8. The Ink is Early Espresso, Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake.

This week-end has been stunningly beautiful here in Brisbane. We've had the first hit of Summer weather this week. The temperature has been very (stinking) hot at times. This means that our family, between school swimming carnival and solo violin concert, have spent most the the last few days in the swimming pool. I'm lucky I got any card-making done at all!

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Thanks to everyone who gave me advice for my Big Shot from my previous post. I appreciate your guidance, and I'm putting it to use. Some time soon you'll see the first projects using dies, embossing folders, and impression plates.

Michelle
xxx

LIM 40 and a Question

2011-11-10T11:44:00.000+10:00

Hello!

It's been a while since I joined in the fun at Less Is More. Time seems to slip away from me so quickly! I love red and orange, which is the colour challenge this week. I didn't quite produce what was in my head, but you take a look and let me know what you think.

I also have a question, so if you'd like to give me some advice (and I'd really love it if you would!), keep on reading after you take a look at my card.

The card:

What I used (all SU! other than the ribbon and black ink):
Stamps: Snow Swirled, Dasher, Curly Cute
Card: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black, Versamark
Clear embossing powder, miscellaneous ribbon (which I had to colour to get the orange) and bling.

And now onto my question. I finally purchased a Big Shot. Yay! If you are in Australia, and looking for a good price, Lincraft are selling them online for $99 currently. But my problem is that I have no dies or embossing folders. There are SO MANY of these out there. I want to know from those of you who use die-cutting and embossing machines: Which dies and embossing patterns do you use the most? What could you not live without? Do you have any recommendations for me?

Thanks in advance for any comments or advice you decide to leave me. I appreciate each and every visitor.

Michelle
xxx

Reject Blog Hop ... again

2011-11-05T14:42:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Well another Paper Crafts submissions call has been and gone, and I didn't get selected again. But that's okay, I'll keep on trying. One day one of my cards will make it into print...eventually, LOL! Amber over at Damask Love is having another Reject Blog Hop, and I am joining in again. I love seeing the "rejects" because they are all wonderful and full of inspiration. Most of them I can't believe didn't get selected. It just goes to show how many excellent cards the selection team have to choose from.

I submitted five cards this time. Four of them I really liked. One of those I knew wouldn't get selected, but I liked it so much I just had to throw it in (just in case). One of them I was not sure of, but thought I'd put it in, because you never know what other people like.

The one I am sharing here, I do like. It was in response to the Sketch challenge. I wish I had remade it when I decided the dimensions/balance were wrong. Not to worry, I WILL make it again, for my own enjoyment because I love the colours and the images on this card. And it's really pretty in real life, even nicer than the picture reflects.

I used:
Card: SU! Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Paper: SU! Mocha Morning Specialty (Oh, how I love this paper)
Stamps: Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies, SU! Curly Cute
Ink: SU! Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Versamark
Other: Clear Embossing powder, Pearls, Shimmer Mist

So, what do you think of my "reject"? I like it.

Michelle
xxx

Beads and Baubles...

2011-11-04T16:06:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Do you sometimes find that you start working on a card with a fully developed idea in your head, only to find that when you put it together it makes itself into something completely different? This is what happened with this card for me. This week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World is a photo titled Beads & Baubles, so in my head was a confection of blingy bits and pieces. But when I was making the card, it was more the colours and shapes within the photo that inspired me, rather than the pearls and jewels.

This is what I ended up with:

This is the trigger:

The card is SU! Crumb Cake with an Early Espresso Matte. The floral background paper is Pink Paislee Diamonds from the Soiree Collection. The image is a digi from Paper Pretties, called Crocuses. The ink is Early Espresso. I coloured the flowers with Inktense pencils. The sentiment is from PTI Botanical Silhouettes.

Now I need to get back to the cards I HAVE to make today - my little girl is off to a birthday party tomorrow, and she needs a card to go with the present...the order is for a unicorn card... don't you love it when the four-year-old has faith in your ability to whip ANYTHING up? LOL.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #17

2011-11-03T16:05:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Well, here we are for another fantastic For Your Inspiration challenge. The inspiration photo this week really appealed to me... I know, they always do, but this one appealed more than usual, LOL! Take a look at the inspiration photo:

It isn't the house so much (although that is nice, too), it is the bright yellow light in the middle of all that dark. It probably helps that yellow is my favourite colour.

Now if that beautiful picture isn't enough to inspire you to join in the fun, we have a PRIZE up for grabs from our sponsor. Yippee! Our sponsor for this challenge is Paper Pretties, and our winner gets to choose five digi images as their prize. Oh, I should let you know, the winner of the prize is a random pick, so you ALL have equal chances of winning, so long as you enter the challenge.
I have to say that I have loved working with the Crocus image for this challenge, it is so pretty.

My card is this one:

For this card I used Night of Navy card base, Daffodil Delight matte, and watercolour paper to print the digi Crocus. I used Derwent Inktense pencils to colour the image (oh, how I love my pencils). I used Daffodil Delight Taffeta ribbon.

The rest of the Design Team has also come up with some fantastic cards, so please do take some time to go and browse their creations too. In fact, while you are there, if you haven't seen their work yet, take a look around, there are some BEAUTIFUL cards to look at in their blogs.

Debbie
Debby
Keva
Peggy
Sara
Steph
Vicki - Vicki is our new team member, WELCOME VICKI!

Thanks for popping by today. Please leave me a comment so that I know that you've been to visit. I love hearing from you.

Michelle
xxx

Pink & Grey Christmas

2011-10-30T12:07:00.001+10:00

Hello!

It's been a while, I've been a little busy... making halloween costumes, the usual kiddy activities, music concerts and exams, housework...

Today I'm bringing you a quick little Christmas card that I whipped up yesterday just before transforming myself into a witch (dark purple eye shadow sure is difficult to budge when you're finished with it, LOL).

The colour combination I've chosen is from Just Add Ink Colour Challenge #91.

The layout is from Clean & Simple FTL#164

And my card is this one:

The stamp sets are PTI Snowflake Serenade and Christmas Friends. I heat embossed the bauble and the string. I also added some SU! Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The snowflakes were stamped in Versamark. I love grey snowflakes.

Before I go, I'll show you one of the costumes I created for yesterday's party. I have chopped my little girl's head off in the photo because I don't put my family photos in this blog, for their privacy (a real pity, because she looked SO cute). Her hair was yellow with ribbons made from the same material as the skirt all over her head. She was Oscar the Grouch, and she loved her costume. The skirt can now be used by my eldest daughter, because the straps and Oscar's face were all just pinned on for the evening. My big girl is thrilled because this skirt is VERY twirly and floaty.

I hope you liked the card, and enjoyed the peek at my costume. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Case Study #62 & PDCC #104

2011-10-21T13:37:00.000+10:00

Hello!

This card is a response to two irresistible challenges. Case Study #62 and The Play Date Cafe Challenge #104.

The colour scheme over at The Play Date Cafe this week is:

Yummo!

Case Study's muse this month is Niki Estes, and just about every time I see a new creation by Niki, my jaw drops open in awe. While I am totally intimidated at the idea of even trying to copy Niki, I aspire to be able to create such beautiful cards, so here I am, giving it a go, LOL. Niki's card is this one:

And my card is this one:

I stuck pretty close to Niki's original design. I liked her design a lot. I really struggled finding a sentiment that would work. I truly am in short supply in sentiments, I must invest in more.

Here is a different angle:

What I used:
Stamps: Pretty Peonies (Jane's Doodles), PTI Botanical Blooms, PTI Outlines Alphabet, SU! A Little Treat, Hero Arts Flowers and Dots...yes, I think I tried to use as many stamp brands as possible, LOL.
Card: SU! Old Olive, Barely Banana, Pale Plum
Ink: SU! Old Olive, Pure Plum, Elegant Eggplant

So what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #16

2011-10-20T16:05:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Welcome to another post for For Your Inspiration! Steph has chosen another beautiful photo to inspire us this time, I'd love it if you would join us in Challenge number 16.

There is so much to inspire you there. I decided to use the lines created by the trees and the colours. My sentiment follows the angle of the horizon. The card is 10.5 x 10.5cm.

What I used (all SU!):
Card: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Ruby Red (retired), Pumpkin Pie, Tempting Turquoise
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly

I'd love you to go and take a look at the other Design Team member's blogs and see what they've come up with. And our guest designer this week is so worth a visit, too!

Debbie
Debby
Keva
Peggy
Sara
Steph
E.T. (guest designer)

Thanks for stopping by today, and I'd love to see your response to the inspiration photo in the gallery.

Michelle
xxx

Storm

2011-10-19T20:23:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Last week-end, my hubby and I were out on the front veranda watching a storm come over. Unfortunately, I didn't capture any of the spectacular lightning...but I did get some photos of those angry clouds! Take a look...

They were rolling, tumbling, rumbling...

In this one below, you can see that there is still light at the horizon, even though the rest of the sky was dark grey.

And then a window started opening up in the middle of the sky. So, so deep!

The sunlight was peeking through a massive hole in the middle of these GIGANTIC clouds!

Then it started raining, so I retreated indoors for about 30 minutes. When I came back out, this is what I found:

Who would believe that only 30 minutes earlier there had been a spectacular storm underway?

I hope you enjoyed my show-and-tell. Thanks for popping by.

Michelle
xxx

Christening Day

2011-10-16T11:36:00.002+10:00

Hello!

Yesterday was Christening Day for one of my nieces. I looked everywhere for inspiration for a Christening card and sentiment, but it seems they are rare in blogland, or I was looking in the wrong places! So I decided to just make a card I liked and to write my own sentiment inside.

The card:

You might guess her name is Elena. The photo is a bit fuzzy, sorry!

I used the colours from CR84FN #40 again.

I SERIOUSLY love these colours.

I used SU! Card stock Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Ink was Real Red, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Ribbon is Soft Suede Taffeta
I also used Shimmer Mist all over the vanilla panel, and it sparkles so softly.
Stamps: PTI Outlines Alphabet, I have no idea what these babushka stamps are - I was given them without a name. They are clear stamps.

The Christening was wonderful. Elena was beautifully behaved right through the ceremony, and didn't flinch when she was baptised. She did give a little wipe of her forehead, but that was it. The party afterwards was superb. My step-family are Italian, and my sister's husband is Croatian, so we had the very best of Italian and Croatian food and hospitality. I seriously LOVE these family celebrations with the big extended family and our special friends.

Now I'm off to enjoy this beautiful blue-sky day (and perhaps squeeze in another card-making session later).

Michelle
xxx

ColourQ #106

2011-10-13T16:41:00.000+10:00

Hello!

For my ColourQ entry this afternoon we have some dodgy photography on show. I didn't realise how LITTLE I use grey as my card base. When I've gone to photograph my grey card on my normal grey background, the card DISAPPEARED with only the front panel showing. So many variations of colour and positioning later (battling with the purple and grey skies outside), the final product is not so pretty, LOL!

This is my response to ColourQ #106:

I snuck in an extra colour, but shhh, don't tell anyone. My balloon baskets are actually grey with black stamped on them, but that is a bit hard to tell.

Here is the colour inspiration (isn't that backpack so cute?):

What I used:
Stamps: SU! A Little Treat, and PTI Botanical Silhouettes (sentiment)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Certainly Celery
Card: Basic Grey, Whisper White

So what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

OLW#68 and CR84FN#40

2011-10-13T10:17:00.002+10:00

Hello!

I'm rushing out the door, so creative blog titles elude me! LOL. I whipped up a couple of cards this morning to share with you. The first is a response to One Layer Wednesday #68 and CR84FN Color Challenge #40.

Susan's challenge for OLW this week is to use triangles. I think you can actually SEE the triangle in this one-layer card, yippee. This time I created the stamping on a scrap piece of paper BEFORE stamping the card, just to make sure I could create the triangle that I had in my imagination. I'm thinking of adding a couple of blingy bits to this card later. I like it as it is, but I also like a little bling.

The colours came from CR84FN:

I couldn't resist. I might come back and make some more cards in response to this colour challenge. I love them!

I used SU! Real Red, Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake. The stamp set is PTI Botanical Silhouettes.

My other card I made in response to a beautiful card I found on Pinterest and tracked down to Ingrid Danvers' blog. Ingrid's card is this one:

I wanted to make a one-layer card pretty much the same. BUT I had a masking accident and my beautiful white space I had created was RUINED, so I added a green strip instead of the twine and white I'd planned. Here is my card:

I still like it, but I'll try again to make what I have imagined.

Must rush off - it is gymnastics day for the little one.

What do you think of my cards today? I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Michelle
xxx

Happy 9th Birthday!

2011-10-09T21:50:00.002+10:00

Hello!

No cards this week-end. It was another busy birthday week for us this past week. I'm about to pop off to bed to try to catch up on some sleep before I launch into the working week once again. But before I go, I thought I'd share my little bit of creativity for the week.

Well, actually, I copied someone else's creativity... but I did do the work myself, once I'd found the idea, LOL.

My eldest daughter turned 9 years old this week. 9 years! How does time pass so quickly? She had a Hawaiian pool party planned with a few of her school friends. Saturday morning dawned. . .well, it actually didn't dawn... it began with a MONSTER storm that had the morning as dark as night - wild wind, lightning, thunder, torrential rain, everything a storm can be. It was amazing. And a little worrying, considering we were planning a pool party, eek. Anyway, as the day progressed, the clouds slowly, ever so slowly, cleared. By the time party time arrived, we had some blue skies and some sunshine. A miracle. The fact that the pool was freezing cold was not a problem for this group of kids. They had fun in there anyway. Crazy.

So onto what this blog is actually about. The cake. I like wandering through Pinterest. I collect ideas there. I also collect ideas on the internet and pin them back to Pinterest for safekeeping. One of these ideas was an owl cake. My daughter liked this cake and requested it for her birthday.

This is my take on the cake (not a great photo, but you get the idea):

This was the idea, found HERE:

Close ups of my little owls:

And a Hula Skirt fruit platter that Super-Dad put together:

The kids loved it. The cake got lots and lots of positive attention. The party got many comments of "This is the BEST party ever!", which is very satisfying, considering I chose to NOT entertain the children, but left them to their own devices (under our supervision). They played in the pool, they played basketball, they played on the swingset (yes, 9 year olds will still do this, apparently), and they made their own disco party. They were well-behaved, polite, and had a wonderful time. My daughter has some very cool friends. My daughter is very cool, too.

Do you like my cake? It was red velvet cupcakes under all that decoration. They went down a treat.

Hopefully I'll be back to some more card making this week. Fingers crossed...

Michelle

xxx

For Your Inspiration #15

2011-10-06T16:16:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Well it's that time again, another For Your Inspiration Challenge. And that means another amazing inspiration photograph. Yay!

Also, being the first challenge of the month, we have a sponsor, and this sponsor has some of the cutest digi-stamps around. Go over and take a look at Bugaboo Digi Stamps, they're gorgeous. Bugaboo have Catch The Bug Challenge Blog, which is worth a look too. Bugaboo Stamps are giving away 7 digi-stamps to one of our lucky participants this challenge. An extra reason to enter the FYI challenge, on top of the beautiful inspiration photo.

This photograph has so many different ideas to use. It was hard settling on just one. And so I didn't.

This is my first response to the photo, meet Clyde:

I liked the way Clyde's wings mirrored the shape of the windows in the cathedral. I also coloured him in similar colours.

What I used:
Stamp: Bugaboo Digi Clyde, and I forget where the sentiment came from
Card: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Watercolour paper
Ink: Night of Navy
Inktense Pencils

A couple of weeks ago I was cutting out kites with the Die-namics Fly A Kite die, and when I finished a row of kites, I found a lovely row of windows. My first thought was "Play School" (round, square, diamond window). My second thought was church windows. Then I thought, hang on a sec, here is another idea for the FYI challenge. It took me a couple of weeks from idea to execution, but I have made it in the knick of time. Here it is:

The colours were selected by my littlest girl who needs a birthday card for one of her little friends this week-end. Apparently he likes green and blue, LOL.

What I used:
Stamps: Bugaboo Digi Clyde, SU! So Happy For You (sentiment)
Card: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Green Galore, Night of Navy
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Inktense Pencils

So, off you go, whip up a card to enter into FYI #15.

Oh, but before you go, tell me what you think of my fun dragon cards, I love to hear from you.

Michelle
xxx

Delightfully Random friendship card

2011-09-30T19:54:00.003+10:00

Hello!

I have been wanting to make this card in response to the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World ever since the Delightfully Random trigger photo was released. I have mulled over ideas, but always came back to this gingham fabric, which I was envisioning as a picnic blanket in my card.

Here is the trigger photo:

Lovely, isn't it?

And here is my card:

I have created a thrown-down picnic blanket, and a flower for my field in which I am picnic-ing. *smile* My little flower is actually a twine pom-pom, which I created around a fork (the idea for which I found on Pinterest). I frayed the edges of my fabric to create a tasselled edge on the blanket. I sponged the vanilla panel in pink and blue and then spritzed it with shimmer mist. And I did a little sewing (don't look too close).

The card has lovely depth, it will definitely be a hand-delivery card, this one.

What I used:
Card: SU! Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla
Ink: SU! Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Real Red
Stamp: Janes Doodles Pretty Peonies (sentiment)

Not my usual style. It is a hit with my girls, so I'm happy.

Before I go, I thought I'd show you a card my 8 year old daughter made up yesterday. I was working on something else and didn't even look until it was finished. I really love the way she's put the images and the sentiment together, and I think I'm going to steal her colour scheme for something similar on a card of my own. :-) It is a little card, but very cute:

So, do you like my pom-pom flower? What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Happy 40th Birthday

2011-09-29T17:36:00.002+10:00

Hello!

I have been thinking about my brother's birthday card for a few weeks. I have to send it to the UK, so I need to be a little organised. I would sort of like it to arrive in time for his birthday this year, since it is a big one... I am fairly certain that he never looks at my blog, so I should be okay sharing his card here well before the big day.

If he does pop in (by a miracle), Happy Birthday, dear brother!

I picked up a new-to-me, hand-me-down stamp set or two the other day (thank-you, Cassandra), and I've been itching to get into them. Added to those, I have a couple of borrowed stamp sets too. Oh, I am a lucky girl to have such good friends.

I found the Mojo Monday Sketch #208, on Monday, funnily enough, and I have been looking for a colour scheme ever since. The sketch is this one:

The square sketch really, really appeals to me. So neat and tidy, two squares and two rectangles inside a square. Mmm, nice!

Today the new Play Date Cafe Challenge #101 came out. The colour scheme is gorgeous, and perfect for a masculine card. It is also perfect for the ideas I had floating about in my head for this card. These are the colours:

On the subject of The Play Date Cafe, I'm very thrilled to let you know that the card I squeezed in at the last minute for Challenge #100 received an Honourable Mention. I'm the Cream in their Coffee! Am I feeling a little excited about this? You betcha! I find it so thrilling when a card I really like, is really liked by others. Thank-you, thank-you, PDCC Team.

So back onto the subject at hand...my card:

There is a tonne of shimmer mist on the cream panels, but I don't think you can see it much in any of my photos. The patterned paper is metallic, so the shimmer mist works well. I don't usually do this type of stamping - lots of different stamps layered on top of each other - but this is what has been sitting at the back of my mind for a week, so I did it. The card is supposed to be warm like a big hug, with uplifting messages (live, love, laugh, dream), along with the birthday wishes. I feel that I achieved what I was trying to do. I played around with all sorts of other embellishments, but I couldn't work them in. My CAS soul wouldn't let me frilly it up any further, LOL!

What I used:
Stamps: PTI Embellishments, Postmarks, Outlines Alphabet
Card: SU! Soft Suede, Very Vanilla
Paper: SU! Mocha Morning (yummo! I just knew I NEEDED this paper)
Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Ruby Red
Shimmer Mist

So, what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

One Layer Friendship cards

2011-09-29T10:08:00.002+10:00

Hello!

I have a friend who has been having a bit of a tough time lately. Luckily she has been receiving lots of loving support from friends and family. I was thinking of her. I already sent a card. I already sent messages. I already offered my companionship and services. What else could I do? I thought maybe a set of little "thank-you" cards for her to use. I have made a few of them in response to the One Layer Wednesday Challenge #66, which is over at Susan's blog this week, so I thought I'd share.

The challenge this week is to "get inspired by Janelle". Janelle is going through a difficult time right now. She is totally inspirational in her positive attitude and her generosity while she is undergoing medical treatment. It is worth taking a look through her blog, there are some beautiful posts in there. I particularly like her "travel" labeled posts, not for the destinations, but for her chat about the people involved in her travels. I was inspired by plenty on the blog, but I chose two cards in particular as my starting point, this one and this one. I'm going to go back and do more, because I'm still inspired by these. These are the pictures of Janelle's cards:

I used the SU! set Lifelong Notes. It is an old retired set, but it is new to me. I'm liking it. I did the cards plain, but my friend likes a little bit of embellishment, in EVERYTHING, so I added a little bling and I added twine. I think I like them in the plain version (imagine the twine missing), but I like ultra-CAS.

The photos are a little fuzzy. The skies are quite grey here today. And it's turned cool again. So much for our beautiful, hot (32c/90f degrees last week), Spring we were having.

The cards are 10cm x 10cm (3 x 3), just little note cards. The pinks are retired SU! Pink Passion and Pixie Pink (how I love that pink). The other card is Soft Suede and Real Red. That is a combination I will use more, I was surprised at how much I liked it.

So, what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Birthday Peony for PDCC#100

2011-09-28T10:03:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Another card being squeezed in at the last minute. This time for The Play Date Cafe Challenge, number 100. I've been thinking about the colours for this challenge since they were released. Some of my favourite colours.

Here they are:

I actually made my daughter's birthday invitations in these colours on Monday, also. But I hadn't realised they met the challenge at the time. I might edit this post later and add a photo or two of the invitations. I haven't taken photos yet.

The card I made in response to the challenge is this one:

My inspiration, other than from The Play Date Cafe, was from a couple of cards I'd seen over at Lime Doodle recently. They are here:

Debby just has CAS perfected. I love everything she does.

What I used for my card:
Card: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie
Stamps: Hero Arts Dots and Flowers background (borrowed, thank-you Manda!), Janes Doodles Pretty Peonies
Other: Inktense pencils, assorted rhinestones

So my effort doesn't really even approach Debby's cards, but I still like it (even if it is a bit too "green" for me).

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

CTD#160 Take Two with a Kite

2011-09-27T10:18:00.002+10:00

For my For Your Inspiration post, please scroll down, or click HERE

Hello!

I told you I'd probably come back for Color Throwdown Challenge 160. I meant it, I love these colours! It is very last minute, but I think I'm going to beat the deadline, LOL!

Yesterday I spent the day with my stamping friend, Manda, having a stamping play date together while our kids had a more traditional play date (building tents in the back yard, riding the scooters, filling the living room with every little toy in the house. . . you know how it goes when the Mummies are distracted by stamping. . . ). At the end of the day, I decided to use her Big Shot and punch out some shapes to take home. One of those shapes was her brand new, not yet used, Die-Namics Fly A Kite die. Manda commented about making a baby girl card with a pink and chocolate kite, and I thought, "That's it! That's my other Color Throwdown card!" Not only could I use Manda's brand new kite die, but I could use my own brand new twine, yippee!

I didn't make a baby card, I made a birthday card. I'll keep the baby card idea in mind for later.
To remind you, the Color Throwdown colours are:

And my card is:

It's a really simple card, but I like my cards that way. And I like this card.

What I used:
Card: (all SU!) Chocolate Chip, Pretty In Pink, Very Vanilla (yes, this time I remembered I was using Vanilla)
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Paper: a retired SU! paper in Pretty In Pink
Die: Die-Namics Fly A Kite
Twine: Twinery Capuccino and Blossom (oh, I just love my new twine)

Here I am going to throw a plug in for Jay Gee's Nook. For those of you in Australia (and International customers, the postage will just be a little more), who haven't yet discovered Jay Gee's Nook, go and take a look. Jay Gee has a great selection, great prices (and low postage prices because she's in Australia), and excellent (outstanding) service. I got my Twinery Twine from Jay Gee (and the Die Namics die, and the Jane's Doodles stamps, and some other wonderful things. . . ) and with every order, I have never had to wait or follow up, I just order, and it arrives with perfect service. With my email enquiries, no matter what time of night or day, I get REALLY FAST responses. I truly LOVE great service like this. Thank-you, Jay Gee!

So what do you think of my little kite?

Michelle
xxx

One Layer Monochrome

2011-09-23T22:15:00.002+10:00

For my For Your Inspiration post, please scroll down, or click HERE

Hello!

Over at One Layer Wednesday this week, the idea is to let the sentiment take centre stage, or at least have equal billing with the images. I'm not sure I've achieved this here. I did discover that I am very short on sentiments in my stamp collection.

For CAS-ual Fridays Challenge 21, we are being asked to use three shades of one colour and to add brown. With this challenge, I discovered I need more colours! I did find that I have quite a few greens in my collection.

With eight hours to go over at "Less Is More", I thought I'd throw in another card for their Anything CAS Goes challenge, where they are hoping for 1000 entries this week. They might make it, if Mr Linky doesn't succumb under the pressure of all those entries!

So with those instructions, this is what I came up with:

I don't usually embellish my one layer cards, but this card needed something extra, so my new twine came to the rescue.

What I used:
Stamps: PTI Take Three: Summer, and PTI Botanical Silhouettes (sentiment)
Ink: SU! Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Mellow Moss, Chocolate Chip

Now, I'm a little weary, so I might toddle off to bed. Tomorrow I go to visit my new nephew, who will be around 24 hours old by the time I get to him. I'm smiling already.

Michelle
xxx

Baby girl card for CTD#160

2011-09-23T14:56:00.004+10:00

For my For Your Inspiration post, please scroll down, or click HERE

Hello!

It is a stunningly beautiful day here today, and I am on holidays! Yippee!

Yesterday I spent the day with a couple of stamping friends, and got a lot of chatting accomplished, but not a lot of stamping, LOL. I did stamp out some friendship jars, so hopefully I'll do something with those elements soon.

Today I actually did some housework BEFORE starting stamping. Yes, floors and bathrooms are sparkling, a load of washing is swinging in the breeze, and I even emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. The kids played around taking photos. I haven't looked at the photos yet, I'm a bit scared of what they might have come up with...

This card was supposed to be an entry into the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge, but when I got to the point of making my circle, I realised I gave back my borrowed circle cutters yesterday. . . oh well.

It is also supposed to be an entry into Color Throwdown #160, and despite one very obvious flaw, I am still going to enter it, and I am going to ask you all to pretend that the white is Very Vanilla *wink*. These are the colours:

I'll probably have to make another card, because I truly LOVE this colour combo, I just forgot that I was supposed to be using vanilla and got all excited and carried away with how nicely my card was turning out.

This is my card:

Mmm, that looks a bit out of focus. . . let's try another one:

I really like how this turned out. I hand-folded that ribbon and stuck it down with lots of sticky strip. I like it. I think I'll do that more. I paper-pieced the little birds, they're so sweet.

What I used:

Stamps: Jane's Doodles Garden Friends, PTI Inside and Out: Babies (sentiment)

Card: SU! Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Chocolate Chip

Paper: SU! retired DSPs with Regal Rose, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie

Ribbon: Regal Rose grosgrain

So, what do you think?

Oh, I wanted to say thank-you to everyone who has been nice enough to leave me comments recently. I have made an effort to get back to visit everyone, I hope I didn't miss anyone. It took me a while because I got distracted by all the beautiful blogs that I ended up visiting. Isn't it always the way?

Michelle

xxx

CAS Mini Card

2011-09-18T21:09:00.000+10:00

For my For Your Inspiration post, please scroll down, or click HERE

Hello!

Today I had a tiny little bit of time to do some stamping, so I made a little tiny card. I'm responding to CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #20, which is to make a mini-card, no more than 4 x 4 inches.

I'm also responding to "Less Is More" week 33, where they are aiming for 1000 submissions, and the theme is Anything CAS Goes. That is a huge goal. This is my contribution.

My little card is here:

It is 4 x 4 inches. The central square is 3 x 3. The flower and sentiment are from Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies. I used SU! Crumb Cake card, Soft Suede ink, and Derwent Inktense pencils to colour. It is hard to capture the soft, subtle colours of this card in a photo.

Now you may wonder what my post header photo is about. Well, I went out with Mum yesterday to buy my birthday present. Actually we swapped presents (I still owed her one from ages and ages ago). We visited an art supplies shop... I'm lucky I came out without taking the whole store with me! What did I get?

This:

Mmmm, yummy! Derwent Inktense pencils. I had to make up a colour chart for myself. The colours are delicious. You'll notice I left some gaps where the other colours are missing *grin*. I had a few pencils already, so now I have 40 of the 72 colours.

I mucked up my chart and didn't leave a space for one of the blues. One day, when I have that blue, I'll make a new chart. For now it sits at the bottom right side corner holding its blank space.

See how beautifully these pencils turn into watercolours? So bright and fresh! And when they dry, they're permanent, which I love.

Thanks for popping in today.

Michelle
xxx

Reject Blog Hop

2011-09-17T09:28:00.001+10:00

For my For Your Inspiration post, please scroll down, or click HERE

Hello!

Amber over at Damask Love is holding a Reject Blog Hop for those of us who have cards that did not make it into the March/April Paper Crafts magazine, but still wanted to show off some of our creations. Amongst those "rejects" are some truly beautiful cards. Go and take a look. And if you also have a reject, perhaps you'd like to share too?

Here is my card:

This was responding to one of the sketch challenges. I still really like this card, even though it was "rejected". The colours appeal to me, the contrast of the Modern Basics with the floral In Bloom, I like it all. Part of what I like is that, as someone who doesn't do much colouring, I really like the way my flower and leaves turned out. In real life it looks pretty, too. I might even make more like this.

So, what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Pretty Peonies for OLW & PDCC

2011-09-15T16:21:00.000+10:00

For my For Your Inspiration Post, scroll down.

This is my second post for today.

Hello!

I am very lucky. So, so lucky. And feeling blessed. And excited!

You may ask why.

I won a new stamp set. *squeal* Not just any stamp set. . . a BEAUTIFUL new stamp set. From Jane's Doodles! This is the set:

Every time I look at it I'm inspired. Pretty Peonies was released last week. I won this set when I was selected from the Jane's Doodles Flikr Gallery entries for August. All you have to do to enter each month is use Jane's Doodles stamps, and load your project into the gallery. That's your entry. This is pretty easy for me, because I'm loving these stamps... as you may have noticed, LOL!

It may sound like I'm advertising, or that I'm being paid to say these things, but I'm not. I'm just thrilled with the stamps. I love them.

On to the reason for my post. I'm entering a card into One Layer Wednesday, which is over at Susan's blog Simplicity this week. The challenge is to stamp an image and colour it.

For my colours I have used the colours from the Play Date Cafe Challenge #99 (Ooh, almost to #100!). The colours are so soft, pretty, and sweet this week:

My card is here:

I used:
Stamps: Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies
Card: Stamping Up! Whisper White
Ink: SU! Barely Banana, Lavender Lace, and Memento Tuxedo Black, and a Blender Pen

I'm still learning how to colour. I think I'm improving. I also did a little masking on this card.

A couple more photos for you, if you feel like continuing to hear me waffle on. . .

This week was my birthday. Presents aren't really my big thing. I like presents, but I am not so fussed on presents for presents' sake. BUT, when someone puts some thought into a present, and gets me something that I have never asked for but really, really wanted. And that present is USEFUL. This rings all my bells and fills me with gratitude. I received a couple of these types of presents this year. But one in particular I'm sharing with you because it is stamping related:

My very own, personalised stamp for the back of my cards. I didn't have one. And I wanted one. My sister-in-law is one of the most thoughtful present-givers in the world.

And one more. To take my card photos, I sit on the floor, beside the big windows at the front of my house, with my cards on a chair, getting as much natural light as possible. So each time I sit down, I suddenly have a very nosy companion attempting to get her nose into my picture, or her body on my lap. Every time.

She's cute, but I don't want her wet, sloppy nose on my camera lens. And I don't want to be bumped when I'm carefully focusing on a sentiment. Especially when she's been digging in the sandpit. I do love her, though. This is Coco.

So if you made it all the way to the end of this post, would you take a little time to leave me a comment to let me know you were here? I really love hearing what you have to say. I promise to come and visit you in return.

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #14

2011-09-15T16:05:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Welcome to my second challenge as a For Your Inspiration Design Team member. I'm still excited! If you haven't joined us yet, please do! The inspiration photos are beautiful, and you get lots of lovely comments on your work. It is also worth taking a look over the work of the other DT members, as they offer so much inspiration.

This week's inspiration photo is this one:

I was inspired by the beautiful greeny-blue water and the heavenly look of the sun through the rain in the background.

My card is here:

I used PTI Snowflake Serenade (such beautiful snowflakes and sentiments). I stamped the sentiment first in navy, then I clear embossed my snowflakes. Because I didn't have the colour inks that were in my imagination, I had to get a little creative with making my colour. I sponged (SU!) bashful blue, certainly celery, tempting turquoise, and night of navy inks to create just the right colour feel, and then I spritzed the whole lot with champagne shimmer mist (oh, how I love shimmer mist) to create the shimmery, heavenly, light feel I was looking for. It was a bit naked at the top, so I added a night of navy ribbon to create some balance. I used Whisper White, Night of Navy, and Crumb Cake cardstock. I thought of making the card base white, but it didn't work. The Crumb Cake reflects the rocks of the photo better, and it doesn't distract from the other elements of the card. To finish off, I added some rhinestones for that little extra sparkle.

I really like this card. What do you think?

Please do head over to take a look at my fellow Design Team members' blogs and leave them some love too.

Debbie
Debby
Keva
Peggy
Sara
Steph

Michelle
xxx

OLW #63 - Baby card

2011-09-09T08:35:00.000+10:00

For my For Your Inspiration post, scroll down

Hello!

One Layer Wednesday is back! Yay! If you haven't looked at Jennifer and Susan's challenge, you should pop over to Jennifer's blog this week and have a go. If you haven't tried one layer yet, you should definitely have a go! For me, it is extra challenging. This week there is the added bonus of a giveaway up for grabs - A Muse products, LOVELY!

This week's challenge is to create a one layer BABY card. I have a few cards sitting on the table right now after spending last night trying to create SOMETHING that looked good on one layer.

I'm still playing with Jane's Doodles "Noah's Ark", because I adore the image, and I know I haven't explored everything I can do with it yet. This time, instead of paper-piecing (because of the one-layer rule), I coloured. Yes, ME, I coloured. Another of my personal challenges. I used SU! inks with a blender pen. It turned out okay. I was using pale colours and attempting to make a gender-neutral card. I tried to anchor with the blue sponging, but I think I need something more. Maybe that is just because I have been anchoring this image with "water" in all my other cards, I feel it is a bit NUDE this time. This was quick to create, which is always a bonus. I must be getting better at one layer.

What I used:
Card: SU! Whisper White
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! various colours
Stamps: Jane's Doodles "Noah's Ark"

What do you think? Do you like my simplified Ark?

Michelle
xxx

Nicely Neutral Baby!

2011-09-04T16:17:00.000+10:00

For my FYI post, please scroll down, or click HERE.

Hello!

It's Fathers Day! I probably should be spending some time with my family instead of blogging. . . but my hubby and kids are having fun between basketball and Playstation, so I'm having some time out to myself. I've been having stamping withdrawals these past two, very busy, weeks.

Today I decided to respond to the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World, which this week really, really appeals to me. . . all those neutral colours, yum!

I needed to make another baby card. It seems that there are babies arriving left, right, and centre at the moment. I loved the idea of making a baby card in neutrals, something different to the usual pinks and blues. And I ABSOLUTELY love how this card turned out.

In real life this is so soft and warm looking. The frilled ribbon is the first time I have done anything like that for a card. I ended up having to sew the ribbon down on small strips of card to keep it in place. I do like how my "ribbon water" turned out. The ribbon treatment was to reflect the frills on the cushions. Because of the ribbons, I had to double-pop the ark to get it to fit over the water! I added the bunting to Noah's Ark to reflect the bunting on the headboard above the bed. I luckily had a bunting stamp from Pink Paislee that fit across Noah's Ark perfectly.

What I used:
Card (SU!): Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Paper: retired SU! paper which I forget the name of
Ribbon: Chocolate Chip Taffeta, kitchen twine
Stamps: Jane's Doodles "Noahs Ark", Pink Paislee "Soiree"

Sigh! I just LOVE this card. What do YOU think?

Michelle
xxx

Some exciting news. . . For Your Inspiration!

2011-09-01T16:10:00.002+10:00

Hello!

Well, do I have news for you! I was invited to join the For Your Inspiration Design Team. . . and I accepted! Can you tell I'm excited? I just love the photo inspirations at this challenge. Every new photo sets my creative spirit alight.

Lucky me, I get to start with an extra exciting challenge - the first challenge in September, and the first sponsored challenge. Yes, you heard me right, this challenge is sponsored by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. What does that mean for you? Well, when you enter For Your Inspiration Challenge #13, you have the chance to win a $10 voucher from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. As if the beautiful inspiration photo wasn't enough to drive you to enter the challenge to start with...

Sigh! I wish I was in Paris. . .

My card in response to this beautiful photo uses Sweet 'n Sassy digi-stamp "Forget Me Not".

I really loved the purples and blue of the sky in the photo, so I have tried to reflect those in my card. I also just had to throw in the Eiffel Tower while I was at it. I was very clever with the ribbon, but it turns out that when photographed, a dark purple ribbon doesn't really show up the detail, LOL.

What I used:
Stamps: Forget Me Not by Sweet 'n Sassy, Artistic Etchings by SU!, a random birthday stamp (which I forget the maker of)
Card: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Whisper White
Ink: Perfect Plum
Assorted Inktense pencils and ribbon from my stash

This is quite a grungey card compared to my usual style. I hope you like it.

Now, why don't you take a look at what the other inspired ladies on the team have come up with?

Debbie
Debby
Keva
Peggy
Sara
Steph

Talk to you again soon.

Michelle
xxx

Happy Fathers Day, Hubby!

2011-09-01T14:22:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Fathers Day here in Australia is this coming Sunday. As usual, I have been fluffing around trying to work out what card I would give to my hubby. Masculine cards and I aren't the best of friends. I don't know why, but all the great "man" ideas I come up with seem to NOT translate to paper from my head. The sentiment I want to convey to my husband on Fathers Day is that I am thrilled to have him as my partner in this parenting business, and how much I love him. He isn't a fluffy-card type man. And as I've said before, he rarely gets excited about my cards. I've made about four cards so far. This one might be the one, but I still have a couple more days to go. . .

I decided to use the joint Clean & Simple and ColourQ challenge this week:

I was looking for a masculine colour scheme, and I liked this one:

The card I came up with was:

This card was so, so difficult to photograph and edit! The contrast of light and dark, the clear embossing, all conspired against me, LOL. I clear embossed the definitions to give the card some texture and interest, and to get those sentiments that I was trying to convey across. The sentiment definitions I used: Delight, Happy, XOXO.

I used (all SU!):
Stamps: Artistic Etchings, Life Definitions
Ink: Crumb Cake, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Card: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand

So what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

P.S. Come back later today for some exciting news from me.

Coco and a Blue Tongue

2011-09-01T09:42:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Not a card related post. Another of my musings on nature, and my doggy Coco.

I was waiting for the warmer weather to arrive before I took Coco in for her Spring grooming. I didn't want her to freeze to death at night time after losing her nice long coat. But things got a bit desperate, the dreadlocks were breeding despite my ongoing battle to brush them out. I'd brush at night and by morning they were starting again, argh! She was looking totally cute, but was impossible to groom, and her long fur was bringing in every possible piece of debris from the yard (and some impossibly large pieces of debris). This is pre-haircut:

After the haircut, things are better, she can see, she doesn't pick up sticks and stones in her fur, and when she covers herself from head to toe in mud during a thunder storm, she is easy to wash off. . .

Related to Coco, but not really. . . the other night we had a visitor. This visitor came in during the day through the doggy door. He wanted Coco's breakfast. He guarded that food all day long until we came home from work that night. Even then, he hung on desperately - hissing at us and making the fiercest faces. When we removed the food, he conceeded defeat and walked out the door again.

He's an Eastern Blue Tongue Lizard. A very large one. Blue Tongues are the largest of the skink family. They are omnivorous, eating plants and bugs and left-over dog food. They don't belong in laundry rooms.

But he's not leaving without a fight. His hiss sounds just like a cat hissing, it is very fierce.

I was told by the kids that Coco found him in the back yard again the next day and was harrassing him.

Yesterday, I heard Coco barking madly. She doesn't bark much, so I went to investigate. There was the poor Blue Tongue hissing away while Coco had a ball trying to get him to play with her. Her tail was wagging, she was jumping up and down, she was doing the "play bow", but he just wouldn't join in. I took her inside to give him a chance to go somewhere else. He didn't. He liked that spot in the sun at the bottom of the retaining wall. I decided that if he wouldn't cede his spot, he would just have to learn to share the backyard with a joyful puppy.

They seem to be getting on just fine.

I love the wildlife in my garden (except the Scrub Turkeys, but that story I'll hold for another day).

One last photo - Coco in her typical "Frog" pose.

Michelle
xxx

Last minute entries. . .

2011-08-30T20:49:00.000+10:00

Hello!

When I saw the Color Throwdown colours this week, I immediately knew I wanted to use them. BUT, I had a 4th birthday party to organise and NO time over the last week to do much card making. I also have Fathers Day coming next week-end, so had to find a little time to help my eldest daughter make a card for her Daddy. My card for him is yet to be created, eek. I also need to get a card sent off to my own Dad. It most definitely won't make it to him in time (he lives a long way away) but at least I made it before the day. . .

On Sunday evening, we sat down to make some cards. The big girl and I had chosen the colour scheme, we had chosen the papers and card stock, we had chosen the images, but the layout was eluding me. We finally got the first card made, but I was still struggling. So last night I went looking for a sketch to use, because my own inspiration was sadly lacking. I found Dawny's Sketch at Simon Says Stamp, and I liked it.

So my card uses, Color Throwdown #156, which is these lovely colours:

and Simon Says Stamp, Dawny's sketch:

And my card looks like this:

I used:
Stamps - Garden Friends by Jane's Doodles
Card - Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum, Barely Banana
Patterned Paper - So Saffron pattern from Washington Apple
Ink: Perfect Plum, Crumb Cake, Barely Banana, Memento Tuxedo Black
Googly eyes came from my stash

My daughter's card is this one:

It took us ages to come up with this design. My girls take after their Mummy a little with their perfectionism, sigh! She wasn't happy with her colouring, but I think she did a great job. She's 8 (going on 18).

I hope you like the cards. You can see that my love affair with Garden Friends has not yet ended. It is such a lovely set of images, and the stamps work SO WELL. I'm really enjoying them.

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Dora Rainbow Cake

2011-08-27T20:51:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Every year I make each of my girls their birthday cakes. Sometimes I have to call on my hubby for the execution of the design (because he is awesome at presentation), but this year I did it ALL BY MYSELF. This year's challenge for me was to find a recipe for the actual cake part of the cake that was yummy to eat. Every time I make butter cake, it ends up crumbly and dry and definitely not fine and soft. But this year I was determined to make something yummy to eat to go inside the awesome outside decoration of the cake, LOL.

I went first to Bakerella, because she is just the BEST baking blog in the whole wide world. I didn't need to go any further, because she told me how to get moist butter cake, AND she gave me a recipe to follow. The recipe is in imperial measurements, but I managed to convert to metric okay. Bakerella calls this a Moist Yellow Cake.

For the icing I made a butter icing using 250g of butter and about 6 cups of icing sugar, eek! I only put a little bit between the layers and saved the smothering for the outside of the cake.

The final product is not the best Dora in the world, but my little girl was thrilled, the cake tasted delicious, and everyone was happy.

When I made the layers, I couldn't tell what their colour was going to end up, because the outside was a bit brown from cooking. So cutting into this cake today was a beautiful rainbow surprise for me as well as all the little kids.

For this cake, I followed the tip from Bakerella which said to wrap the cake in plastic wrap 5 minutes after it came out of the oven. I wrapped each layer separately. I also put all the layers in the freezer after they had totally cooled, because I made the cake last week-end. I defrosted them overnight last night. When I took them out of their plastic wrap today, they were so easy to handle, and they were moist as can be. Perfect outcome for me. I actually iced a cool cake this year, which means the icing stayed in place much more easily, LOL.

Would you like a slice?

Michelle
xxx

Happy 4th Birthday, my darling!

2011-08-26T08:15:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Today is my littlest girl's 4th birthday. I have been thinking about this card for weeks. My little girl is VERY particular, and I've been trying to figure out how to interpret her requests for her card so that she loves the outcome. Yesterday she added to the list of requests that she wanted a cake on her card and that she wanted to "see it from the bottom". With that unreasonable and impossible request in my mind, I decided to just go ahead and make a card with cupcakes, LOL!

The colour scheme today I have taken from The Play Date Cafe Challenge #96:

Mint...Ivory...Coral

Isn't this colour scheme so pretty?

I don't have that pale mint colour, so I had to dig deep into my card stash to find something similar; and because I had to dip into my stash for much of this card, I am entering it into the Just Add Ink Challenge #82 this week, which calls on us to "use something from our stash"! I had to dig so deep that I can't even remember what the coral patterned paper is - maybe from SU Raspberry Tart?

The card I made has four cupcakes for the fourth birthday. I used SU Cameo Coral, Very Vanilla, and Sage Shadow. I used the Build a Cupcake punch and the Create a Cupcake stamp set. The other patterned paper is Pebbles Happy Go Lucky Carefree.

The photo is terrible. It was taken very early this morning, and we have a very, very dull day outside. Even sitting right beside the window, there was barely any light.

The good news is that my little girl loves her cupcake card, even though it uses green and she doesn't like green because "green isn't in a real rainbow", LOL. I think the card passed muster because the big sister gave the little sister a rainbow skirt as a present, and she was distracted by how BEAUTIFUL her new skirt was.

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

CASEing Chupa in Yellow

2011-08-19T08:48:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Over at CASE Study this week, we have been challenged to CASE Chupa. Chupa invited us to look through her blog to choose something to CASE. I was wandering through her CAS-ify Me posts when my eldest daughter popped by to look over my shoulder. I happened to be on this week's post, and my daughter started "Ooh-ing" and "Ahh-ing" over Chupa's old card that she had CASEd herself this week. When I asked her what it was that she liked about the card, she told me it was the embossed dots, the repeated pattern, and the ribbon. So I had my CASE subject chosen for me by my gorgeous girl asking for "a card like that".

I decided that I would change the colours to those from this week's CR84FN challenge:

This would have to be one of my favourite colour combinations, probably because yellow is my favourite colour.

This is Chupa's card (and you can also see her CASE of this same card on her blog):

Even though my daughter just loves that embossing, I have a small limitation in my stamping equipment, I don't have a embossing/die cut machine. . . so I made my own texture by punching hearts, edging them in white and sticking them down. I moved my sentiment up onto the white panel (and I promise it is much more visible in real life), and I used small pearls instead of the big flower. Here is my version:

All products on this one are Stampin' Up! Colours are Crumb Cake (Kraft) and Daffodil Delight. The image is from Circle Circus (love that set). The sentiment is Curly Cute.

My daughter ran out the door at top speed at 6.30am this morning, racing to basketball practice, so she hasn't seen this yet. I think she'll like it.

What do you think?

Michelle

xxx

Girly & Gutsy, and maybe a little Sexy. . .

2011-08-19T07:58:00.001+10:00

Hello!

When I saw the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World this week, I had an idea almost immediately formed in my head in response. I worked away at it yesterday and came up with a card that when my husband saw it, he said, "Oh yes, that is one sexy card! Is it for me?" Now, to put this comment in context, usually when I show my hubby my cards he makes non-committal "Mmmm" sounds, or says something like, "That's nice." This time, it was a BIG reaction, LOL! I'm still giggling 12 hours later.

The trigger photo is this one:

In my card I have tried to set the scene with the swirly carpet, the black table, the sparkly light fittings, I even put candles on my table. Under my sentiment I have stamped a starburst to represent the chandelier at the same time as representing the framed mirror. Here it is:

What I used:
Candlesticks, starburst, and yellow paper are all Pink Paislee Soiree.
Pink card is Pretty in Pink.
Black Swirl is SU Jumbo Wheel "So Swirly"
Black Ink is Memento Tuxedo Black, Pink Ink is SU Pretty In Pink
Sentiment is SU "Best Yet"

This card is not really my usual style, but I'm enjoying it.

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Yellow flower for CTD 154

2011-08-14T17:00:00.000+10:00

Hello,

I have a couple of cards to share with you today.

One is an entry into Color Throwdown #154. The colours this week are lovely:

Here is my card, a nice CAS flower:

This flower was a bit tricky. I'm sure there is an easier way to create it than the way I did it, sigh!

What I used (all SU):
Card: Old Olive, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Basic Grey patterns, So Saffron (not sure which DSP these are)
Ink: Old Olive

The other card is another birthday card, using Garden Friends, and my hoppy friend from yesterday. Not a response to a challenge, I am just enjoying this stamp set. :-)

This froggy is so cute! I used Inktense pencils - Apple Green (ground), Fern (frog & leaves), Cadmium Yellow, Bright Blue, and Hot Red. I only have 6 pencils, LOL, I'll have to expand my collection. . . The cardstock is Whisper White and Old Olive. The patterned paper is "Chirpy" from Happy Go Lucky by Pebbles.

We have an afternoon thunder storm happening today. Very weird. We get these in Summer, all the time, but rarely in Winter. At this time of year we usually have the westerly winds bringing cold, dusty wind to us, but not today. Today it is pretending to be Summer (without the heat).

Michelle
xxx

Hoppy Birthday!

2011-08-13T12:19:00.000+10:00

Hello,

My little girl is off to a 5th birthday party today. I had an idea brewing for this card for a couple of weeks. When I described it to my daughter, she said, "No, that doesn't sound very good". When I showed her the card she said, "Well, it isn't very good. He'll play with it, that's what little kids do with cards that aren't very good." So I added a flower, and she said, "Yes, now it's perfect!" LOL My little girl cracks me up.

I used Garden Green designer paper lily pads (made from ovals with a notch cut out), Not Quite Navy pond, Bashful Blue card matte as sky, pale Green grass, whisper white clouds (build a cupcake punch), I coloured the froggy with Inktense Apple Green and SU Garden Green spots. The flower is Cameo Coral and Real Red punched with a flower punch. The stamp set is Garden Friends by Jane's Doodles.

I LOVE it, what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

A CASE Study with Luminous Layers

2011-08-11T20:53:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Sometimes I see an inspiration challenge and think straight away - oh, I just have to respond to that one! Well, with this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World, I first thought, "Oh, I want that dress!", and then thought, "I HAVE to respond to this challenge!" This is the inspiration photo (pretty, isn't it?):

I have a couple of ideas. Both the same sort of concept. This first idea is also responding to CASE Study #52 this week, where we have been asked to find an entry from a former challenge and CASE that person. Because I wanted to make a Christmas card, I went looking in December last year and came up with a card by Andrea Matthews over at Work in Progress. This is her card here:

It's beautiful, isn't it?

This is my card here:

And another photo:

And a bit of a close up to show you the sparkly, shimmery background and the layered tree:

To make this card, I used (almost all SU): A 1" circle punch and punched out lots of little circles from lots of pieces of patterned paper. I edged those with Chocolate Chip ink to mirror the chocolate brown stitching on the dress. I layered the circles to mimic the layers of the dress. The very vanilla cardstock I sponged with crumb cake ink around the outsides and then edged with chocolate chip. I matted on chocolate chip cardstock and the card base is old olive. The shimmer mist is champagne colour. The ribbon is old olive taffeta.

I'm really liking this card. I think it reflects both Andrea's card and the trigger dress in just the right ways. Of course, I think I'm going to have to go back and CASE Andrea's card again. It is a beauty and I love the techniques she used.

So what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Winter in Brisbane

2011-08-11T12:52:00.001+10:00

Hello,

No cards this time, I wanted to share some photos.

Looking over all the blogs out there, I was pondering the different look of the seasons around the world. Here in Brisbane, we don't get much of a winter. Brisbane winters are very mild, with only a few cold weeks. This means that we don't get that beautiful autumn blush that colder climates get leading into the cold, leafless winters. We get a reduction in rain, and not so much HEAT. Winter is our dry season, a relief for me after the muggy, humid summer. So everything goes a bit brown/dull green and dusty with lack of water.

Anyway, for the last week or so, in our late winter with spring peeking in every now and then, I have noticed that the jacarandas have turned beautiful golden colours. At the end of winter the jacaranda trees lose all their leaves in preparation for flowering in mid-Spring. They used to say (and probably still do), if you haven't started studying for end-of-year exams by the time the jacarandas bloom, it's too late. By the way, I proved that saying wrong plenty of times, LOL.

I love jacarandas in bloom, and I haven't ever really taken the time to appreciate jacarandas at this time of year. Well, I'm appreciating them at the moment. Here are a few photos. I haven't tweaked them in any editing programme other than to crop a couple of photos, so what you see is what my camera saw, without filters (in my amateur hands).

That's the Brisbane Winter sky peeking through behind my jacaranda tree.

Close up to show the beautiful red of the "twigs" (can't think of the correct name at present, they're not branches really).

I love these colours.

Can you see all those bits of yellow peeking through this scene? They're all jacarandas. This is what I see from my front veranda. Ooh, I can't wait to see this scene in a month or two! It's a bit smokey today, grass fires and burn offs are causing dull conditions.

For those of you who don't know, jacarandas in bloom look like this:

Their true beauty is when they are planted near other jacarandas, and Brisbane in mid-spring is a mass of jacaranda blue (which I would call purple). Jacaranda season makes me smile.
A couple more photos from my winter garden. Autumn colours in winter:

And my Spoodle, Coco, in desperate shaggy need of a haircut:

I hope you enjoyed my show and tell.

Michelle
xxx

An Aussie Christmas

2011-08-10T15:24:00.000+10:00

Hello!

It's a colour challenge this week at "Less Is More" and we have been asked to create a card using the colours from our nation's flag. You may or may not know that I am Australian. The Australian flag is:

Blue, Red, and White

The card I posted yesterday was my first effort at answering to this challenge, but as you can see, it became "More" rather than "Less" the more I worked on it, so I submitted it elsewhere, LOL. I really wanted to do the navy blue card base, but every attempt I made didn't quite work for a "Less is More" card.

So, I reverted back to the first idea that came to me, and I am so, so happy that I did. I'm not sure the photo does this card justice. In real life it is a beautiful card (and you don't hear me say that very often about my own cards).

Here it is:

What I used (all SU):

Ink: Real Red, Night of Navy

Card: Whisper White

Stamps: Snow Swirled, Four the Holidays

I'm loving this card so much, I might make some more. What do you think?

Michelle

xxx

CAS Christmas

2011-08-09T20:42:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Quick one tonight. With this one I started with one idea and finished with an entirely different one. I quite like how it turned out.

I'm entering this into CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #14 where they are asking that we use adhesive dots or strips to add glitter to our project.

I used glue strips with two techniques. For my glittery red strips, I heat embossed sparkly embossing powder. For my glittery white strips, I just dunked the strips into glitter (and got glitter EVERYWHERE, lucky I like to sparkle, LOL). It was slightly tricky lining the glue strip up on my card strips because I cut the card the exact size of the glue strip before I started. . . but I got there. I used weaving for my background. I got the idea from Cristina's card. The weaving in my card is snuggled into a window cut in my navy coloured card.

I am also entering this card into Simon Says Stamp "Christmas In August" challenge.

Here is my card:

It is so hard to photograph white glittery bits on cards! You can see the glitter clearer in my top section photo. And you can see the texture of the weaving a bit better here:

Colours used were Whisper White, Real Red, Night of Navy. Sentiment is SU Four the Holidays. I hand cut the star (don't look too close).

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Another CASE Study!

2011-08-07T10:34:00.000+10:00

Hello!

I'm loving this week's CASE Study Challenge, I wish I had more time to make cards, I think I could go on forever!

This time I am using the colours from this week's ColourQ Challenge:

My second CASE muse is Cristina, with this card:

Unfortunately, I didn't come anywhere close to the elegance of Cristina's original, so I think I might need to practice and make some more, because I just LOVE this card, and it is actually fairly easy to make. For me, I need to either shrink the size of my card, or increase the size of my butterfly, I think. . . what do you think? I thought of adding extra butterflies (since I don't have a bigger butterfly right now), but couldn't work out how to keep the simplicity and do that. You should have seen me physically holding myself back from adding "extra bits" to this card, LOL!

This card uses all Stampin' Up! products. Basic Grey designer paper, Bashful Blue card and spongeing around sentiment, Tempting Turquoise card, Old Olive ink. Stamps are from: Organic Grace, All a Flutter, Sweet Little Sentiments. I also used 2 2/8" and 1 3/4" scallop circle punches.

I actually really like how these two scallop circles work together, they make a really pretty aperture in the paper. I don't think the photo shows so well that the grey and turquoise is popped up, but in real life it looks lovely.

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

CASEing Lime Doodle

2011-08-05T13:11:00.000+10:00

Hello!

I have had a fun morning! Apart from the usual "Mum" duties and housework, I have spent some time playing with colour and design while responding to CASE Study #51, using The Play Date Cafe colours.

This week at CASE Study, it is their anniversary blog hop. I'm halfway through hopping, and so far it is well worth the ride. There is some awesome work to check out. This week's challenge is to choose one of the DT to CASE. Lucky for me, one of the people who totally inspires me every time she posts her work is on this team - Debby at Lime Doodle.

The colours over at The Play Date Cafe for Challenge 93 are delicious this week. Some of my favourite colours in the whole wide world!

The card I am CASEing is this one here:

With my card, I really tried to keep the same clean and simple feel, but I think I've managed to load it up a bit more than Debby does. I'm going to keep on casing Debby, because there is a lot to learn for me in her work! Here is my effort:

Now this looks really easy, but it is essentially a one-layer card with a little bit of decoration, so when you make a boo-boo, you have to start again. . . I'll show you later. What I used: SU patterned papers (retired), PTI sentiment (Botanical Silhouettes), Jane's Doodles image stamps (Garden Friends), Build a Cupcake punch (clouds), Derwent Inktense pencils (my new LOVE), Memento Tuxedo black ink (my other new love).

So back to the boo-boo, which I am showing you, because I've sparked more ideas for even CLEANER cards, and I thought you might like a look at the card pre- paper-piecing. The mistake is the up hill sentiment, LOL. In my eyes, this card is almost perfect all nude like this. A tiny tweak here and there (and a straight sentiment), and this would be ready to give away.

So what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Put on your sunglasses for Mojo Monday 202

2011-08-04T18:16:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Today's cards are so, so different to what I usually do, but I have a couple of young girl birthdays this week-end, and I thought I would try something fun. So put on your sunglasses, they're BRIGHT.

When I saw the Mojo Monday sketch this week, I had so many ideas, not quite as bright as what I've ended up with, but lots of ideas anyway, LOL! It is a great sketch. This is my first ever entry into Mojo Monday. I look every week, but until now haven't made it to making my entry in time.

Here is my entry:

Bright, isn't it?

Here is the sketch:

Several weeks ago I won a set of papers and other bits and bobs from the Moxie Fab World blog. The set was pretty much everything from the Pink Paislee "Soiree" collection. The papers are bright and fun. Some of the bits are more angled towards scrapbooking, but that hasn't stopped me using them!

Here is the second card, almost the same as the first, but slightly different:

No stamping on these cards. That's a first for me! The pink card base is SU Pretty In Pink. The colourful ribbon on the first card is SU. The ribbons on the second card and the bling on both are from my stash. Every other thing is Pink Paislee Soiree.

My daughter has given the stamp of approval, so they're definitely being given out this week-end.

What do you think?

Michelle
xxx

CAS-ual Fridays #13 and Tuesday Trigger

2011-07-31T12:30:00.001+10:00

Hello!

Well today I bring you more of Jane's Doodles stamps, using the Garden Friends set today. So many cute images, it is hard to decide where to start! By the way, Jane is giving away a free digi-stamp at the moment, a gorgeous ice-cream cone, so go and take a look. :-)

The challenges I'm responding to with this card are CAS-ual Fridays and Tuesday Trigger.

For CAS-ual Fridays we are challenged to use a 4 x 9 card, but to not fill up all that space and to keep it CAS:

At first I thought 4 x 9 would be impossible, that is one BIG card. But, then I started thinking about it, and I got all excited. 4 x 9 is a great format! Give it a go yourself and see if you like it too.

The Tuesday Trigger is this lovely photo (Squares to Cherish):

My grandma used to make these crochet rugs. One of her last ever ones made was made for me, and I still have it. Just recently my aunt also made me a more modern knitted one, which I certainly do cherish. When someone takes all that time and thought to make something so beautiful, you feel the love, and the love keeps on coming every time you look at it and use it.

So when I look at this photo, the inspiration is the crochet squares and the colours. I was looking through Pinterest recently and I found a tip to use twine around a wooden block to stamp, so I thought I'd give this a go to get that "fabric" feel.

Here is my card:

I had troubles editing this photo, the white was either too bright (overexposed) or too dull. I hope you get the idea anyway. I paper-pieced the birds and stamped the two little "quilts" using my improvised stamps. Here are my stamps:

Here is a close up of the card:

Colours used: Pale Plum, Sage Shadow, Bashful Blue, Basic Black

So what do you think? I love these little birdies.

Michelle
xxx

Noahs' Ark - CAS#150 and JAI#78

2011-07-29T14:00:00.002+10:00

Hello!

Well, news since I last blogged: I received an Honorable Mention (Cream in Our Coffee) over at the Playdate Cafe Challenge for this card. I was so excited. The entries were all beautiful. It amazes me sometimes, the depth of the talent out there, and I'm so grateful for all that inspiration that comes with looking at other people's work in these challenges.

This week I got some new stamps. . . and you know what that means. . . I had to get working straight away to test them out! Back in June I came across a Blog Hop for Jane's Doodles which demonstrated Noah's Ark and Garden Friends stamp sets. Of course, I at once fell in love with both sets, and after a month of thinking about it, I couldn't hold out any longer. I have a new baby nephew arriving in the next six weeks or so, so I want to get the card prepared. . . I might have a few prototypes along the way, LOL! One of the great things about Jane's Doodles (apart from the fabulous stamps) is that they ship from Australia, so postage for me is reasonable, yippee! Oh, and the order arrived within two working days, and I love great service.

Today's inspiration for colour came from Just Add Ink #78:

Today's layout inspiration came from Clean & Simple FTL#150:

Unusually for me, I added some extra colours in. I had to. My animals needed them. LOL. But the basic colours used stuck to the formula. Also unusually for me, I got a bit creative with the layout. I think it is still recognisable as FTL#150, though, don't you?

Here is my card:

Lots of paper-piecing here. Looking at my cards, you'd think I like cutting out, but I don't really. Sometimes though, it is needed. This stamp works beautifully with colouring, but I don't have any colouring pens, so paper-piecing it was. I did use a blender pen to colour my monkey's nose, LOL!

What I used: Not Quite Navy sentiment, waves, and circles in the water. Sahara Sand card base, elephant and monkey's patches. Chocolate Chip monkey, giraffe spots, and all of the outlines. Certainly Celery Ark. (I also added Pale Plum hippo, Apricot giraffe and lion face, and Pumpkin lion mane, and the Bashful Blue background because I needed sea and sky).

I actually did another card before this one, outside of any challenges, but when it was finished, I decided that I'd used too strong a blue for the sea compared to the rest of the colours, so my sea stands out and the rest of the muted papers disappear, including my animals! I'll show you anyway, because it is still cute, and I will probably use the layout again, just with different colours. I do love my elephant's ears and my spotty giraffe on this one. Oh, and the bird fits on this layout, I had to cut him off for the other one.

So what do you think? Isn't this image just the cutest?

Oh, I forgot to mention, I have noticed my follower count rising again. You ladies make me feel wonderful, adding me to your blog list, I feel very honoured, thank-you!

Michelle

xxx

Fanatical about Botanical

2011-07-24T14:29:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Well, the title is the theme of the challenge over at Moxie Fab World - Fanatical About Botanical, but it is true of me also! I love botanical images. I am also known to take photographs of random things in nature when I'm out supposedly taking photos of my family at play. . . grass, flowers, leaves, clouds, Oh, and there's a kid!

I've been mulling over this challenge for a while, wondering how I would construct it. Then last night I was sitting staring aimlessly into space when I realised that my half-formed concept actually worked well with this week's Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge. The sketch for Just Add Ink #77 is:

So this morning I set to work, and this is what I came up with:

Should I admit that there a couple of design errors that I'm unhappy about??? Probably not. . . so I won't tell you specifically what I'm unhappy about, LOL. There are also plenty of elements in this card that I'm super happy with.

What I used (all Stampin' Up! except sentiment):
Stamps: Organic Grace, Because I Care, All A Flutter; PTI - Botanical Silhouettes sentiment
Ink: Pretty In Pink, Cameo Coral, Ruby Red, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Barely Banana, Crumb Cake
Card: Crumb Cake, Certainly Celery, Whisper White
Ribbon: Certainly Celery Grosgrain

So what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by, I love having visitors.

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study #49 and PDCC #91

2011-07-23T18:52:00.000+10:00

Hello!

Well, the housework won out to start this week-end. I am hoping to get some more time to stamp tomorrow, but for today it is just one project. On the topic of housework, if anyone out there invents a "doggy vacuum cleaner" let me know. Here is the concept - my shaggy Spoodle (aka a Cockerpoo outside of Australia) "Coco" walks in the door from outside into a chamber which sucks all the dirt, dust, leaves, grass, and sticks off her before she can exit the chamber and enter the house. Do you know, I actually vacuumed the downstairs hallway twice today! Now that's ridiculous, especially since it already looks like it did before the first vacuum, argh!

Today I was working on The Playdate Cafe Challenge #91, which is Black, White, and a splash of ONE other colour.

At the same time, I was working on CASE Study #49. I have so many ideas for this CASE Study, but I may not get to them all. What I've created today isn't exactly what I initially had in mind, so I might give it another go! This is the muse card (gorgeous, isn't it?):

With this card, I was struck by the geometric pattern and did a dig through my box of stamps to try to find something that could work in the same way. I discovered I am short on symmetrical stamps, so I decided to go Christmas and use my snowflakes.

Here is my card:

I originally did a more colourful version, but then I decided the amount of red I'd used didn't really qualify as a "splash" of red. I'll show it to you anyway, and let me know which one you prefer.

This is the other card:

What I used (all SU):
Ink: Basic Black
Card: Real Red, Whisper White, Basic Black
Stamps: Snow Swirled

For those of you curious about what my shaggy doggy looks like, here's Coco:

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

Michelle
xxx