CAS(E) This Sketch 195

Hello!

For this week's CAS(E) This Sketch I am working on my Christmas stash! :-) The sketch looks like paint splotches and I'm thinking snowflakes, and we don't even get snowflakes here. ;-) One of my favourite Christmas colour themes is blue. I don't know why, I just like it. Here Christmas is all HEAT and BLUE SKIES and sometimes, if we're lucky, BLUE OCEANS (if we're at the beach). I dream of a cold and snowy Christmas. I've done that once (just north of Vancouver)  and I hope to do it again (maybe in Scotland, happily in Canada).

I used PTI Snowflake Serenade stamps (an oldie but a goodie).

This sketch is so cool! I really want to go back and give these paint splotches a good go. I think acrylics would be best. I might need some new paints...

Thanks for visiting! I hope you're inspired to join us in the fun!

Michelle
xxx

Glittering Christmas Peace

Hello!

I was so inspired this week by the dimensional stars I've seen around blogland. I was curious how these stars worked, so I created one for myself. It turns out that it is just a matter of careful scoring and folding to get the star to sit up nicely like that!

Once I had that star, I just had to use it, and I had a few challenges in mind. Here is my card.

I used Wplus9 Star Stackers die and PTI Snowflake Serenade stamps. Sentiment is silver embossed. The star is made from SU! glitter paper.

I'm entering into three  challenges.

Muse Christmas Visions with this gorgeous inspiration. I love a black background Christmas card, so dramatic!

My layout was inspired by the December Sketch Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

And last, but not least, Virgina's View Challenge where it's All About Glitter! This is Virginia's last challenge. I'm crossing my fingers that she'll be back after a little rest. This is one of my very favourite challenges, probably because Virginia is the sweetest person out there. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Dynamic Duos #72

Hello!

What an amazingly quick week this last one was! We're back to another week of Dynamic Duos inspiration! This week we have Primrose Petals and Blushing Bride as our colours - pink, pink, pink!

So... of course... automatically... my mind turned to Christmas! Doesn't yours when faced with pink? LOL!

Stamps are PTI Snowflake Serenade. Colours are SU! Primrose Petals, Pretty in Pink, Memento London Fog.

I made two cards this week. I had made the card above when I was struck by additional inspiration while looking at the CASE Study Challenge #159 inspiration for this week. I saw the repeated circle pattern and thought of my Guidelines II stamps, and this card was born.

Stamps are Guidelines II and Botanical Silhouettes (sentiment). Colours are Primrose Petals and Pretty in Pink. The sentiment is white embossed. The tiny pearls are SU! 

Thank-you for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Christmas Baubles

Hello!

It's Christmas card season. I have to get some of these posted this week. I do want some of my overseas friends and family to actually receive cards from me this year, and BEFORE Christmas would be great!

I made this card for three challenges.

I used PTI Peace, Love, Joy, and Snowflake Serenade, as well as SU! Ornament Keepsakes. Colours are SU! Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla. I embossed the sentiments in gold. Twine is Twinery Cappuccino. 

I can't tell you how long I have been watching Papertrey Ink's Make-It-Monday, and I don't think I've ever entered, despite being endlessly inspired! This is challenge #93, and it is all about splitting die cuts. For these baubles, I stamped the baubles, then I cut top and bottom of the centre strip, and then I die-cut (and the centre fell out). By doing this, I wasn't trying to hold that little bauble in my paper-trimmer and keep a straight line.

Over at Addicted to CAS, for their challenge #2, the code word is BAUBLE. I don't think further explanation is necessary on this one. :-)

And just before I made this card today, the new inspiration board was published at Jay Gee's Nook. This is challenge #26. I loved those coppery-gold baubles, and the creams, and hot chocolate. I couldn't resist!

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

A simple Christmas card

Hello!

Long time, no see! I've had such an overwhelming few weeks. The last six weeks of school always involves several concerts (solo violin, solo piano, string ensemble, choir showcase, choir carols... and it goes on), lots of activities (swim carnival, junior school graduation, chapel), and add on top of this a couple of swim meets and three music exams (piano, violin, theory) - and that is all just for one child... Luckily for me, the smaller child only has a few things - ballet concert and Christmas concert at Kindy. That will change when she starts school next year, I'm sure. Anyway, that is my long explanation for why it has been a little quiet around here lately.

This week-end we will put the tree up and the kids and I will trim it while my hubby climbs all over the house putting lights up (weather permitting, crossing my fingers right now). That is the start of our relaxation for the holidays. Even though I am still working, there are no more school lunches to make, no more concerts, and we can spend lots of time in the pool soaking up that Summer sunshine. :-)

Anyway, onto the reason for my post. I made this card for three challenges.

I used PTI Snowflake Serenade and Happiest of Holidays, SU! Christmas Deer, and Hero Arts Collage Music Background. Colours are SU! Pool Party, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, and Pretty in Pink. Die is PTI Fillable Frames #10. 

Addicted to CAS is a new challenge blog, and this is their challenge #1 - SNOW. I have made a snow white card, added snowflakes to the stamping, and have stamped snowflake ornaments on the sentiment panel.

I used a sketch from Retro Sketches #39. I had to swap the sketch to the opposite direction due to a stamping error...  As soon as I saw this sketch, I had my idea in mind. I'm amazed how well the idea translated to reality. :-)

The colour scheme comes from Just Add Ink #146. I couldn't resist, they are so soft and pretty!

Thanks for coming by and brightening my day!

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop - Part 2

Hello,

The second card I made for the Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop is this one.

I used PTI Happiest of Holidays and Snowflake Serenade stamps. Colours are SU! Certainly Celery, Pool Party, Bashful Blue, and Gable Green. Die is PTI Mat Stack #1.

Inspiration came from:

I feel that I went a bit bluer than the inspiration picture, but I still love the outcome!

Thanks for dropping by. I'm off to sleep and I'll link these in the morning when the hop will be well and truly underway!

Michelle

xxx

Runway Inspired CAS-ual Christmas!

Hello!

I have been playing with my stamping this afternoon. I really should have been in the swimming pool, it's rather HOT! But I wanted to kick-start my mojo, and a good stamping session was required for that.

First I have created a card for Runway Inspired Challenge #22 and CAS-ual Fridays #75.

It's a tricky card to see in a photograph. The white bauble is glittered up around the edges and it is hanging "over the edge".

Inspiration came from:

and

I used Stampin' Up! Ornament Keepsakes, PTI Snowflake Serenade and Happiest of Holidays. Colours are PTI Fresh Linen, SU! Real Red, and Whisper White.

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

Bright Christmas

Hello!

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

This is Laurie's card.

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

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

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

Here is my card.

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


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

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

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #18

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

Pink & Grey Christmas

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

For Your Inspiration #14

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