Happy Birthday, Ardyth!

Hello!

Today is Ardyth's birthday! And I was invited to the party! If you would like to join in, you can too! The party is being hosted by my friend Darnell, who is one of the sweetest ladies in the card blogging world.

I am lucky enough to have made friends with Ardyth. We met here, in blogland. I think I was probably one of her first followers, and I still adore everything she creates. Recently she did some naughty enabling by sending me a recipe for Turtles (aka Sweet Georgia Browns). Oh, they are BAD!!! In case you want to make these super-sweet caramel chocolate pecan treats for yourself, here is the LINK.

Happy Birthday, Ardyth!!

The idea was that we were to CASE Ardyth. Well, I did, sort of. I went over to Ardth's Pinterest boards and decided on bright colours, repeated words, and super-CAS. I ended up with a mix of Ardyth and me, LOL!

I used the colour scheme from this week's ColourQ Challenge #191.

I also found, while visiting Ardyth, that she is hosting her own birthday party at One Layer Wednesday. And we are invited to make a card that we think she would like. How cool, I already made one!

Ardyth, I hope you have a fabulous day!

Michelle
xxx

Clean and Simple Card Making 2 - Day 2

Hello!

I had visions of stamping one-layer cards all day today. Instead I've been doing a very last minute job of covering books and ensuring my girls have everything they need for the start of the school year. They were supposed to start today, but due to the storm damage and flooding in Brisbane, school was delayed. My big girl starts Grade 5 tomorrow and my little girl starts Prep (first year of school) on Monday next week. I can't believe school holidays are over. It's been so nice not doing all those school lunches, chasing kids to brush teeth and hair, etc!

Anyway, back to the reason for this post. I did manage to make one card for Clean & Simple Card Making 2, where today's theme is one-layer cards. A couple of years ago, one-layer cards petrified me. These days I actually really love them.

This is what I made today. I used masking to add depth and interest.

I used PTI Rosie Posie and Think Big Favorites #12. Colours are SU! Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, PTI Berry Sorbet, and Memento Tuxedo Black. Card base is PTI white.

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Tuesday Trigger - Poppy

Hello!

I am going to go on record and say that this is one of my very favourite cards that I have ever made. I've been pondering the Tuesday Trigger photo for a few days now. I really wanted to make crepe paper poppies, but I don't have any red crepe paper, and I didn't get to the shops. :-)  So, I was making another card, inspired by something completely different when the idea for this card appeared in my head. I love it when that happens.

This is my card.

And this was the inspiration - A Plateful of Poppies.

I used the PTI Heart Prints die to cut out 8 hearts in Poppy Parade and folded them over to create the petals. The leaves are Sizzlets Little Leaves in Old Olive. The sentiment is Think Big Favorites #12. Card base is PTI White. The brad is SU! Everyday Enchantment.

Thanks for taking a look at this card.  :-)

Michelle
xxx

A couple of rejects

Hello!

I made a couple of birthday cards for the most recent Paper Crafts call for submissions. They weren't selected for publication. I also submitted some Christmas cards, but I'll save those rejects for later. :-)

These two cards I made using one of the sketches. I made them pretty much the same, but in different colours. I always struggle choosing colours "appropriate to the season" because in Australia, Christmas is in the middle of summer. And here in Brisbane our Winter isn't that cold, so I think I have creative block when trying to figure out colours for a Winter Christmas season, LOL!

Here they are. I really like them, so I guess rejection isn't so hard in this case. If they'd been picked, I wouldn't be able to use them. ;-)

The first one went with "red and green" for Christmas colours.

 The second one, I used "blue and purple" for cold winter colours.

Colours used are Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Real Red, Poppy Parade, Early Espresso; Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum. Stamps are PTI Rosie Posie and Think Big Favorites #12.

So, what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts on these ones.

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Debbie!

Hello!

My team mate from For Your Inspiration challenge, Debbie Standard, is having a BIG birthday today, she's turning 60!  So I have made a card especially for her.

Happy Birthday, Debbie!

I will admit, that I had to use some inspiration to get to this point, so this is being entered into CASE Study #90 and Dynamic Duos #2.

CASE Study 90 has this beautiful card by Aga as inspiration:

Yep, I used the entire layout. Why mess with something that is already so beautiful?

And I chose the colour scheme from Dynamic Duos, challenge 2:

I don't have So Saffron, so I had to choose between Barely Banana and Daffodil Delight. Because I was using an outline stamp, Daffodil Delight won the toss.

I used PTI Pretty Peonies, Thin Big Favorites #12, and Background Basics: Circles. Stampin' Up Pool Party and Daffodil Delight. Card base is PTI vintage cream.

If you pop over to the rest of the team blogs, you'll see some more birthday cards in honour of Debbie's birthday.

Debby
Rudlis
Karen

Rochelle

Sara

Steph
Sylvia

Vicki

Debbie, I hope you have a wonderful day of celebration filled with love, laughter and happiness.

Michelle
xxx

Vintage Vogue Birthday

Hello!

CAS-ual Fridays is celebrating their first birthday this week. So for CAS-ual Fridays Challenge 51 we have been asked to make a CAS birthday card.

To make this extra-special birthday card, I went looking for some additional inspiration and found it over at Tuesday Trigger with the Vintage Vogue photograph.

I can't tell you how much this photograph appeals to me. It's delicious!

There's not much colour there, but there are lovely textures, and that lace! I wanted to make a card that captured that feeling of old lace without being vintage or lacy... if you get what I mean... since I was trying to make a CAS card. So this is what I came up with.

I used PTI Rosie Posie to clear emboss on vanilla cardstock a flowery background. I sponged with SU! Crumb Cake. The label is PTI Mat Stack #1 and Mat Stack #1 Layerz (in vanilla and barely banana). The sentiment is PTI Think Big Favorites #12 in Crumb Cake. I used PTI Filigree border die to make the vanilla border and finished off with some SU! vanilla grosgrain ribbon and pearls.

I quite like this card. It is different colours to what I usually work with, but I love them! And I always love that big daisy stamp from Rosie Posie. :-)

Thanks for coming by to visit.

Michelle
xxx

Watercolour Butterflies for Tuesday Trigger

Hello!

Before I begin, just a little advice: Not a good idea to have your glass of wine near your computer or keyboard. Keyboards don't work very well (or at all) after they've been doused in wine... just saying! 

I'm now using my husband's ancient, dusty, old keyboard that takes a 100kg of force to press the keys down... but at least I can type, LOL!

So back to regular programming. The Tuesday Trigger this week had me thrilled. This is the beautiful trigger:

Isn't it beautiful?

For my card, I had a play with a few different ideas, and then I decided that I would try to incorporate the dreamy watercolour effect into a more CAS style that is more "me". I'm really happy with this card. I feel like I reflected the trigger but maintained my own style.

The butterflies are watercoloured with Derwent Inktense pencils (Fuschia and Tangerine). I then sprayed them with champagne shimmer mist. I'm not sure you can see that well in these photos.  I used PTI Turning a New Leaf in SU! Certainly Celery to create a little background. The sentiment is a mixture of PTI Pretty Peonies and Think Big Favorites #12, stamped in SU! Soft Suede. The card base is PTI Vintage Cream.

This is a close up of those butterflies. I punched the butterflies (using SU! Butterfly punch) before colouring. I like the way the colour soaked into the edges of the cuts. I used watercolour paper for the butterflies.

Thanks for dropping by!

Michelle

xxx

Less is More 61

Hello!

First up, I want to confess... I have crafter's block. It may seem that someone who has crafter's block should NOT be posting two cards, but I'm working on the theory that if I just keep on making cards, eventually my mojo will return...maybe!

The worst thing is, this inspiration from Less Is More this week for Challenge 61 is a Design Seeds colour palette, and I was totally in love with it the minute I saw it. Here is the inspiration:

Yummo! Pale pink gerberas. I just love gerberas. And I love pale pink.

Well, onto my card.

I used Stampin'Up! Organic Grace and PTI Think Big Favorites #12. Colours are certainly celery, pretty in pink, pale plum, and old olive. Lots of masking, a little bit of bling and a little bit of twine to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by.

Michelle
xxx

Happy Tulips for Tuesday Trigger

Hello!

Bringing you a card to look at today... surprise! :-)

When I saw the Tuesday Trigger: Happy Happy Joy Joy, I was in love. I had an instant idea. I love it when that happens. Take a look at the inspiration photo.

I love it. The colours, the patterns, the NEATNESS of it. Yum!

Things were looking positive, I stamped out that tulip background and was VERY happy with how it looked. All those gorgeous earthy colours. Then I got stuck... and I sat and stared at it for a while... and I cut a couple of pieces of ribbon... and I die-cut and fussy cut the frames... and sat... and stared... and then I cut that mustard banner... and sat staring at it all... and then I sent up some prayers... because I seriously had crafters block!!!!  Can you tell this was a frustrating process? LOL! Each and every part of this card took long hard work.  When I finished I thought it looked too plain. Then I looked at the photo again and thought maybe it wasn't plain enough? And THEN I decided to just live with it the way it is and call it finished. Phew!

Here is the card again.

Despite the angst, I like it. :-)

I used PTI Think Big Favorites #12, Fillable Frames #10, Flower Fusion #11, SU! inks (daffodil delight, really rust, more mustard, soft suede, crumb cake, pumpkin pie, old olive), ribbon is SU! taffeta. Card is SU! early espresso, and the panel is white. That little button and bow is tied onto my ribbon with a piece of twine (this allowed me to fiddle with the placement before sticking everything down).

Before I go, I wanted to say a big thank-you to Lisa from I'm in Haven for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award.  I did receive and forward this award a little while ago, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to thank Lisa and to offer you the opportunity to go and check out her awesome work. In fact I am not sure why I didn't nominate Lisa myself, perhaps I thought she had over 200 followers? I'm surprised she doesn't! Lisa is one of my favourite card makers and she is a totally inspirational woman way beyond her cards. Please make a little time to pay her a visit and let her know I sent you. :-)

Thanks for coming to visit today.

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

CAS-ual Fridays #45 - pastels and black

Hello!

CAS-ual Fridays challenge #45 this week is to use pastels and black. I have to say, I don't think I've ever made a card using pastels and black, and yet all the DT cards were so gorgeous, I had to give it a go myself.

This is my card:

This card was claimed as soon as it was made. It's a hit here at home! That always makes me happy.

The stamps are PTI Think Big Favorites #12 and Tag-Its #10. I used PTI white card, SU! black, almost amethyst (retired), pretty in pink, barely banana (retired).

This card looks very simple, but for me it meant a little bit of maths to figure out just how wide those three stripes had to be, and how much border needed to go around the panel. I adhered the pastel stripes onto a piece of card, and then trimmed the edges to make sure they were all neat. THEN I stuck the whole panel down on the black panel. The black panel is up on foam to give it some depth.

Thank-you to everyone who left me lovely get-well wishes this past week. I had a shocker of a time with that headache and all the rest, and all of your good wishes went a long way to making me feel much better.

Thanks for stopping by!

Michelle
xxx