CASology 191 - Washi

Hello!

I'm joining in with CASology where the theme is washi. I've seen some super cards made using this theme, and I was inspired!

I covered a rectangle of card in washi and then die-cut it. Then it was just a matter of assembling the card, no stamping required! Definitely clean and SIMPLE. :-)

I don't use my washi tape very often and this was a fabulous opportunity to bring it out as the star of the show.

Thanks for coming by to visit me!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 103

Hello!

I'm here with my card for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge! I still haven't finished writing and sending my Christmas cards. I'd say I'm about one third of the way through my list... at least I'm one third of the way through my list. Last year I think I sent about two cards! That's disgraceful for a card maker, lol!

Despite needing a few more Christmas cards, I couldn't resist making a birthday card with this sketch this week. I needed a masculine birthday card and I NEVER have those in my stash. So I made this one. It made my husband laugh. I call that success. :-)

I used PTI On The Farm. This set has been around for a long time. It's been on my wishlist just as long. I finally gave in and bought it because my love did not waver or wane. ;-)

This sketch is a classic design that works well in so many ways. I can't wait to see what everyone makes with it!

Thank-you for visiting me! I've been away this week for work, which means my blog visiting has been a bit lax. I hope to make up for that over the next few days.

Michelle
xxx

A boy card

Hello!

A quick post for a quick card tonight. I played with my new die Papertrey Ink Text Block: Birthday. This has to be the quickest way to make a birthday card! This card was made for a friend of my daughter's. He's an 11 year old boy, so no bling or flowers allowed. ;-)

The tricky part was figuring out how to stick down the little pieces. I have come to the conclusion that I need a Xyron. The patterned paper is Stampin' Up! It's current, but I forget it's name...

Tonight I baked banana and raspberry cupcakes for the kids' afternoon teas. I usually make banana cake, but I was short on bananas, so I added raspberries to bulk out the fruit content. Oh YUM! :-)

Thank-you for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Anne Marie!

Hello!

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

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

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

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

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Lynn!

Hello!

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

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

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

This is the inspiration picture.

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

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

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey Ink August Blog Hop - Take 1

Hello!

I've made a couple of cards for the August Blog Hop at Papertrey Ink. I'm hoping I'll figure out how to link them up while I am away from home. Right now, if all has gone to plan, I will be sleeping in a cosy cabin in Jindabyne, NSW, probably with a very sore body from a day of skiing!

This first card, I made for my daughter's 6th birthday, which is today! Happy Birthday to my littlest angel! She loves these colours, and she chose this colour combination when the sneak peak was released. :-)  She loves blueberries, which may have had something to do with the choice as well.

I used Ruby Rose, Harvest Berries (dots), and Stylish Sentiments: Birthday (sentiment) stamps. I debossed using a circle die. Colours are PTI Hawaiian Shores, SU! Perfect Plum, Pale Plum Night of Navy, Ballet Blue, Old Olive.

Thanks for visiting!  The next card will follow shortly! :-)

Michelle
xxx

Pastel Prettiness

Hello!

I made this card a few days ago for a young friend of ours who celebrated her 10th birthday this week. Happy Birthday, Sophie! I'm sorry the card hasn't made it into the mail early enough to arrive for your birthday!

I used PTI Hexagon Cover Plate die, PTI Strawberry Patch stamps and die, SU! patterned paper, ribbon, and brad.

My inspiration for the card came from Tuesday Trigger: A Pin Therein

and from Jay Gee's Nook Challenge #23 (the pretty pastels, especially those dots)

I'm also entering this card into the Moxie Fab World Asymmetry challenge.

Thanks for dropping by to visit!

Michelle
:-)

Sweet and Colourful!

Hello!

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

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

The sketch we chose was Sweet Sunday Sketch #156.

This sketch appealed to me the minute I saw it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey March Blog Hop Challenge

Hello!

I think this is the first time that I have managed to organise myself at the right time to participate in a Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. A bit of a miracle. All I need to do now is to remember to link it up in the morning (when it is past 10am US EST). :-)

The inspiration is this:

All of that happy yellow and a touch of aqua. Lovely!

Here is my card:

I used PTI Rosie Posie, Think Big Favorites #12, Mat Stack #1 and Layers Mat Stack #1. I used a Sizzix Stripes embossing folder and covered it in yellow ink before embossing to created the yellow stripes. Colours are SU! Daffodil Delight, Barely Banana (retired), Pool Party, and Soft Suede. I used PTI white card.

I really love those yellow stripes. :-)

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle

xxx

Butterfly birthday

Hello!

Today I am combining two challenges - Gayatri's Inspired by Pinterest and CASE Study #83.

I follow Gayatri on Pinterest (as well as here in blogland), and her pins are always inspiring. I don't know how she managed to choose just one image for this challenge, LOL! This is the image.

I love butterflies, don't you?

At CASE Study this week, the muse is still Laura Bassen (yay!), with this lovely card.

I love the layout. I love the simplicity.

By the time I finished my card, it wasn't as simple as I had planned, but I still like it. :-)

I used PTI Background Basics: Circles and Pretty Peonies. The colours are SU! poppy parade, pretty in pink, and soft suede. Card is PTI white (the card) and SU! white (the front panels).

Thanks for stopping by to visit. I hope you like the card. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Mum!

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

Reject Blog Hop ... again

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

ColourQ #106

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

Happy 9th Birthday!

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

Happy 40th Birthday

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

Birthday Peony for PDCC#100

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

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

Dora Rainbow Cake

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