The Card Concept 69 - Hello Friend

Hello!

The inspiration over at The Card Concept challenge is so beautiful that I just had to join in the fun! I was inspired by the distressed chair and the gorgeous roses.

I used SU! Woodgrain background, PTI The Sweet Life, and Wplus9 sentiment stamps.

Isn't this a beautiful inspiration? So pretty!

Before you go, I thought I'd show you a quick photo I took yesterday afternoon. We had a storm come through and afterwards the cockatoos were all out with their wings held out from their bodies as they attempted to dry off (they don't usually sit like this). It was hilarious to watch them. It's not the best photo, given that I was taking the photo directly up into the sky so the lighting wasn't great, but I think you can see them.

For those of you who visit me on my Facebook Page - Amusing Michelle. Have you been seeing my posts? Recently it seems that the people who actually see my post has quartered (according to FB stats) and I wonder if the evil algorithms are at play? If you would like to continue to see my posts, please consider a visit to my page to interact in some way (like/comment) so that FB knows you want me in your feed. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 168

Hello!

I'm here with my card for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch. At first glance, I wasn't sure how to approach this sketch, so I left the idea to float around  in my brain for a while. When I came back to it, this card made itself! I'd been surfing blogland for a few days and admiring flowers galore, so flowers it was for me, too. :-) I haven't given these beautiful roses much love lately, and they definitely deserve to have a regular outing.

I used SU! Hardwood background, PTI The Sweet Life, and PTI Scripted stamps.

How are you inspired by this sketch? I can't wait to see what everyone makes with it.

Thanks for dropping by to visit.

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey April Blog Hop Challenge - navy and pink

Hello!

It's been a few months since I've joined in with the monthly PTI Blog Hop. This one happened to fall on a week-end, and I remembered in time, and I made a card! Yippee! I didn't want to miss this one. The colour inspiration is BEAUTIFUL and I fell in love with the inspiration photo the second I saw it.

A really simple CAS design using The Sweet Life and Boutique Borders: Birthday stamps. Roses are stamped using PTI Hibiscus Burst, PTI Berry Sorbet, and SU! Poppy Parade inks. Card base is PTI Soft Stone.

Thanks for coming by to visit me. I'm off to check out the gorgeous gallery!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 105

Hello!

At CAS(E) This Sketch this week, we are using one of my sketches. When I drew this sketch out, I was imagining a vellum front over a stamped background, so that is what I made with my card.

I used PTI The Sweet Life stamps. I really love these roses. So pretty! Colours are PTI Berry Sorbet, SU! Poppy Parade, Real Red, Certainly Celery, and Old Olive.

I am looking forward to checking out the gallery!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 98 - sweet yellow roses

Hello!

I've just returned from the BIG end of year All Strings Concert at school. They had string ensembles from Junior School through to Senior High School - nine ensembles in total. The theme was "A Night at the Movies" and the music played was all from movie scores and they had clips from the movies playing on the big screen at the back of the stage. It was AWESOME! Both my girls played violin - my little one (who's in Grade 1 at school) in the beginner Junior School ensemble and my big girl (Grade 6 at school) in the top Middle School ensemble. This concert is one of the highlights of our musical year. :-) It's always bittersweet because we say good-bye to our Grade 12 kids who are graduating, and we always think we'll never be able to live without them, and then the next year there are MORE awesome Grade 12 kids. ;-)

Anyway, the reason I am here is this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge! Another amazing sketch to work with, this one by Gayatri.

I used PTI The Sweet Life and Altenew Label Love stamps.

Thanks for coming by to visit me. I hope you can find some time to join in the fun this week! I'll be looking for you in the gallery!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion - beautiful flowers!

Hello!

I'm here today bringing you a card for Fusion Card Challenge. The inspiration photo is full of beautiful ranunculus. I love ranunculus! I don't have a ranunculus stamp. So I went for a bunch of roses instead. ;-) At first I wasn't planning on using the sketch, but something about it grabbed my attention and wouldn't let go.

I made this card with pigment ink, and I wondered what would happen if I used glitter while the last layer of ink was still wet. It turns out the glitter sticks, so I have glitter highlighted roses. Yay!

I used PTI The Sweet Life and wPlus9 Strictly Sentiments stamps. Don't look too closely at the papers, I glued one on upside down! Wah!

Yesterday I took my kids to the "Ekka" - the annual show/fair here in Brisbane. We had such a good time. We looked at animals, rode the ferris wheel, bought strawberry ice-creams, and just generally had a wonderful time. We were all exhausted at the end of the day, but very happy. My hubby missed out because he was traveling for work. I think he was secretly pleased about this (he's not a fan of the noise and crowds).

Today was back to reality - school for the kids, work for me. I think I would have rathered a second day at the show...

Thanks for coming by to visit. I hope you can also visit the rest of the design team, and then join us in Fusion Card Challenge. See you in the gallery!

Michelle
xxx

Cutting Edge Roses

Hello!

For the longest time I have wanted The Sweet Life stamps from Papertrey Ink. Those roses are just so luscious and so beautiful! Well, the time has come, and I brought them home to me, AND I inked them up! As soon as I saw this week's inspiration at The Cutting Edge, I knew this was the moment to bring out the roses! I knew there was a reason to buy the dies when I bought the stamp set! :-)

For my card, I took the basic layout of the inspiration card, which I just love.

This week-end has been a bit busier than I anticipated. I started the week-end with a sick little girl. High fever, coughs, etc. I'm finishing the week-end with a sick little girl, and a sick husband. Both are coughing away and sweating out their fevers.

I did have some fun stamping with friends this afternoon. We were testing out the new Stampin' Up! Blendabilities. It was lots of fun, and I wish I could have stayed longer (instead I had to go grab some groceries before the shops shut).

I hope you've had a wonderful week-end! Thanks for coming by to visit me!

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop - Take 2

Hello!

This is my second card for the Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop. It's one of those cards that is "almost" right. I'm itching to remake it, but I'm so tired that I really need to get some sleep! There is certainly enough right about it to post it. In fact, of the cards I made today, this one is my hubby's favourite (even though he called my cards today "Mum cards", which translates to "Grandma cards"). If I was making this for a Mum or Grandma, I'd make it a LOT more flowery. ;-)

I used PTI The Sweet Life and Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. 

I was inspired by this colour palette.

I found a guide for how to line up The Sweet Life on Pinterest. The actual tutorial is somewhere in the PTI Forums, but I couldn't access the real link because I keep forgetting my username and password (why is it so hard??). Anyway, my pin is THIS ONE. If you can remember your own username and password on the PTI forums, you can follow my Pinterest link (otherwise just follow the pictures, like I did). These instructions have demystified the process for me. Now I can hand this set back to my friend (who owns it) with some instructions to make it easier! :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

I'm celebrating!

Hello!

Some of you will have already seen me jumping up and down and screaming all over Facebook, and some of you may have missed the news. I'll shout it here, too! This morning I received my very first ever acceptance email for publication of one of my cards! Yippeeeee!!!

I'll calm down now, and show you the actual reason for this post. I made a card.

I used PTI The Sweet Life and Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. Colours are Black and SU! Raspberry Ripple. I used watercolour paper for the front panel.

There were three inspirations for this card. Firstly, I saw Marion's Vagg's cards this morning, and was totally in awe. My card is a little different from hers, but I was definitely inspired by the watercolouring.

Secondly, I've been pondering the CASE Study #139 inspiration for a couple of days. This month our muse is Maile Belles. I'm seriously swooning! I LOVE Maile!! From Maile's card I took the layout, although I changed the orientation) and the flower theme. I may give this particular CASE study challenge one more go, because I would actually like to do more of a COPY of this card (Shhhh! I'll call it CASEing, if I do it, LOL!).

My colours I took from The Play Date Cafe Challenge #180.

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Muse #13

Hello!

Just a quick one tonight. I'm a bit tired, and ready for some sleep. I just didn't want to miss out on this week's Muse Challenge #13, and it will be closing soon.

I used PTI The Sweet Life. Inks are SU! Barely Banana, Daffodil Delight, Pretty in Pink, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, and PTI Fine Linen, Memento Tuxedo Black.

The inspiration comes from the always amazing Marion Vagg.

For my card, I stamped the central flower and then used masking to stamp the rest. This was a little tricky with the layered stamps in this set, maybe it's just me, but I found finding the correct position while masking almost impossible.

I'm also entering this into Addicted to CAS #11 where the code word is flower.

I hope you like the card. Thank-you for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Retro Sketches #59

Hello!

I had a wonderful time stamping with my friends on Friday. I only got one card made, but I loved the company. I'm probably more of a distraction than necessary to my friends, because I tend to chat non-stop (so excited to get some time with them...). I must learn to be a little quieter. ;-)

This morning I played with a set I borrowed from Cassandra, and I'm in love. Oh my goodness, this set is awesome (if you can line up the images correctly, which I found a little challenging).

I used PTI The Sweet Life and Stylish Sentiments: Birthday stamps. Colours are SU! Primrose Petals, Real Red, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, and PTI Berry Sorbet.

I was trying a little bit of stitching a la Leigh Penner, whose cards I just adore. My tension and stitch length were wrong, but other than that, I love the detail the stitching adds to the card. I stitched a layer of vellum over my background to soften it up.

The card is made using the sketch from Retro Sketches #59. I turned it upside down.

I'm also entering this card over at Simon Says Stamp Spring Flowers challenge.

I'm enjoying a sunny, warm day which is a huge contrast to the last two cold and rainy days. I'm happy to get the washing done before we go back to school and work tomorrow!

Thanks for coming by to visit me.

Michelle
xxx