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

Fusion - pastel feathers

Hello!

Fusion Card Challenge is so much fun this week! The inspiration photo is fun (I'm wishing I had bowties to use) and the sketch is awesome! I used both with a little bit of creative interpretation to create a fusion of sketch and photo inspiration. I've seen a few very cool bowtie cards in the past couple of weeks so I have high hopes for the cards I'll see in the gallery! :-)

I used Waltzingmouse Stamps Funky Feathers stamps. Sentiment is from WM Fine Feathers. Colours are SU! Cameo Coral, Pool Party, Pretty in Pink, and Poppy Parade.

It's been a while since I shared a photo of my dog, Coco. So here are a couple for your viewing pleasure. ;-)

Before her grooming on the week-end.

We always feel a little sad giving her a short clip when she's so cute and fluffy, but then she turns to velvet and we forget all about the fluff!

And just for fun, a close-up of her nose.

Thank-you for visiting! I hope you can join us at Fusion this week. If you wander over to the right side-bar, you'll find the links of all my team mates. They're definitely worth a visit. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Fusion - Orange, black, and grey

Hello!

At Fusion Challenge we have some great Halloween colours! I don't make Halloween cards, it's not really something we celebrate with cards here in Australia... although I do note more and more costumes appearing in the stores each year. And I will admit to enjoying a good Halloween dress-up party! ;-)

My card uses the colours from the inspiration photo. I was inspired by the pumpkin and the beautiful roses. I love how this turned out with the grey and orange flowers!

I used wPlus9 Pretty Peonies and Strictly Sentiments (sentiment). Card base is PTI Soft Stone.

Before you run away to make an awesome entry for this challenge, I'll share a new chicken photo. This is Daisy, one of our Light Sussex hens. I have two chickens who like having their photo taken (Daisy and Penny) and two that are very shy (Ozzie and Peggy). I need to get those shy girls to show off some more. :-)

I am predicting another amazing gallery this fortnight at Fusion! I can't wait to see what is created with this inspiration.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 4th Anniversary Celebrations - Week 1

Hello!

This month marks Case Study's 4th Anniversary. There is a month-long celebration happening with weekly blog hops and amazing prizes! I'm not hopping this week, it's my turn later in the month, but I still wanted to play along.

When I saw Laura's amazing card, inspiration struck. I didn't create exactly what was in my head, because I didn't quite have the supplies I needed... must be time to go shopping! :-)

This is my card, not a touch on Laura's original, of course!

This is Laura's card - rainbow CAS perfection. (If you want to Pin this, please go to Laura's page and pin from there.)

If you haven't already hopped along with the blog hop, I'd recommend you do. All of the cards are fantastic, with some super-spectacular ones thrown into the mix, and you get the chance to win awesome prizes!

Before I go, I have a couple of photos to share from the week-end. The first is a pheasant coucal who decided to visit yesterday. We have never seen one in our backyard before, so we were all out there watching until it decided to leave.

The other is a new photo of my chickens. Because I just know you love my chickens as much as I do. LOL!

Thank-you for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 199

Hello!

I have had a busy few weeks! The nice part of this past week is that part of the busy-ness was caused by a little trip to the Gold Coast. We were greeted with the most stunningly perfect Queensland Winter weather! I might whinge all Summer long about the heat, but a beautiful Winter day at 22 degrees with the sun shining on the beach can't be beaten. :-)

I'm here to share my card for Case Study #199. Our muse is still the amazing Shari Carroll. I took the overlapping circles from the inspiration and made a card using inlaid die cuts. I added a few sequins for sparkle, and I was done! Fitting those die cuts together was a little like a jigsaw puzzle at times, lol!

Last week I forgot to mention our two guest designers for this month. Yes, TWO! And they are two amazing ladies who I count among my bloggy friends - Amy Tsuruta and Tenia Nelson. If you haven't met them before, make sure you take a wander over to their blogs and check out their fabulous work!

Okay, now, back to the Gold Coast. I thought I'd share some of the fabulous week-end.

The beach. The water was clear and perfect. The sky was clear and perfect. Just wonderful!

That's my kids playing. There was a big rip, so I had to keep asking them to come back closer to the beach, but they couldn't resist and kept going out into the water. I had visions of me having to get out there to rescue them, lol!

And the reason for our trip - the marathon! My hubby ran it exactly as he predicted - 3 hours 45 minutes. This was about 4km into the race, right outside our hotel. They ran back this way, too, at about 27km point.

And finally, one of the beautiful sunsets. No editing. This is straight from the camera.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

xxx

Case Study 195

Hello!

I'm just in the honeymoon phase of my love affair with Altenew Hennah Elements. This means that you get to see lots and lots of these stamps in action! This card I made for Case Study Challenge, CASEing the marvellous Pamela Ho.

I first made this card on Smokey Slate cardstock, but the silver was almost invisible, despite the card being stunning (if you looked hard enough). So I changed to PTI Soft Stone with silver embossing. Oh, I love this card! I made it for a friend who is getting married this coming week-end. Don't worry, she doesn't follow my blog. She's one of those people who throws cards away (Gives me shivers just thinking of it!). I keep giving her beautiful cards, working to tempt her to keep one. I live in hope. ;-)

My design was directly inspired by Pamela's gorgeous card.

For those of you following my chicken stories... Penny laid an egg! In fact, she has laid one egg a day since Saturday! Here are the first couple of eggs (with a store-bought egg to the right for comparison). The first one was tiny, like a bantam egg, lol!

Thank-you for visiting! I hope you join us at Case Study this week!

Michelle
xxx

Inspired by Nichole

Hello,

I'm attempting to make a few sets of cards for a charity sale that my friend is running. It's for Alzheimer's Australia. I don't usually make sets, but making sets is a really wonderful way to explore a stamp set, or a colour scheme, or an idea.

Back in February, I pinned a card by Nichole Heady when she was introducing Building Blocks, thinking that one day I would use the inspiration. It turns out that I pretty much copied the design, but I loved the design so much, I didn't want to change it. The only change I made was to make it one layer and remove the twine.

Nichole's card is this one:

I love the mix of the uncoloured Doodlie-Do with the colourful Building Blocks.

I also made a set of envelopes to match.

Now for a closer look at those cards.

These last two are my favourites from the set.

Thank-you for visiting. I'll leave you with a picture of what I found in my laundry yesterday when I wandered downstairs.

Yes, the chickens were being harassed by the magpies again and they decided to come inside the house instead of heading to their coop. They were quite cranky when I shooed them back outside. ;-)  See that feather on the ground? It's amazing. I couldn't capture it's light, airy, fluffiness in a photo, but I tried.

See ya later!

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey Ink April Blog Hop

Hello!

I thought I wasn't going to have time to enter the PTI Blog Hop this month, but then I found myself with an hour "spare" in between swimming lessons, vet visits, and ballet lessons... yippee!! I quickly did a google search on "embroidery" and found a lovely piece that inspired me immediately. Actually, I found two, but I only have time to make one card. ;-)

This is my card.

I used PTI Doodlie-Do stamps. Colours are SU! Night of Navy, Real Red, Daffodil Delight. That strip on the side is actually navy, not black.

The inspiration I used was this lovely handbag, which I found at Harujion Design.

This is the PTI inspiration board.

And just before I go, here is a photo of my Penny in all her colourful glory.

Thanks for visiting... now, back to the crazy Saturday kid-taxi schedule... ;-)

Michelle
xxx

Some cozy quilts

Hello!

I'm bringing you two cards this post. I was sitting pondering two challenges last night and ended up using the same sketch for both cards. It must be a great sketch!

My first card is for CAS(E) This Sketch #72.

I used wPlus9 Whole Lotta Happy stamp and Happy Trio die. The card is SU! Tangerine Tango, Soft Slate, and Daffodil Delight. Paper is SU! Watercolour Wonder. Black ink is Memento Luxe.

At first I wasn't sure how this card would turn out. It was feeling VERY bright to me. Once it was finished, I found that the softer colours in the patterned paper gave me enough breathing space from the bright orange that I really liked it. I love that die! I cut the happy twice - once in tangerine and once in daffodil and offset them to create a shadow effect.

My second card is for Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #159. I used the same sketch, but a different technique. The technique is no-sew quilted cards. I decided to make a quilt to place on top of my card (and I embossed the card base in the same pattern).

I used Hibiscus Burst card and paper. I embossed using the Hexagon cover plate. The stamp is from Meadow Greens.

Before I go, I have a couple of photos for you. First is my chicken Penny. She has the most amazing colours. For a while I was worried she was a rooster, because her colouring is so fabulous! Her black feathers glow green as well. She's 14 weeks old now and I'm happy to say I'm confident she is a hen. :-)  She was feeling a bit hot yesterday, so she had her mouth open and her wings spread out for most of the day. My black chickens feel the heat just as badly as my black dog. The white chickens don't seem to have the same problem.

My other photo is what I found when I went to turn the light off for my 6 year old daughter last night.

Because we all know that to be completely cool we have to wear our sunglasses while reading our book...lol! I don't know how she was reading, the light in her room isn't the brightest in the first place.

Thank you for coming to visit me! Have a great week-end!

Michelle
xxx

Thank-You Berry Much

Hello!

I found a little time this week-end to play at my craft table. It seems that everyone is on a watercolour theme this week! I made a card that mixed the watercolour background of Make It Monday with the inspiration photo over at Taheerah's blog for Cure For The Monday Blues. I used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.

I created my little watercolour panel by washing watercolour paper with water and then brushing over PTI Melon Berry and Berry Sorbet Inks. Then I white embossed the strawberries (PTI Strawberry Patch). I added the sequins to pick up some of the sparkle from the inspiration photo.

I also found some time to go out into my back yard and let my chickens have some free range time. I had my dog on the leash, because she seems to think that the chickens look like fun playmates. I'm pretty sure the chickens aren't keen on playing with a bouncy dog. ;-) The chickens are now 8 weeks old and they have grown!

This is Daisy and Peggy, our light sussex hens.

And this is Ozzie. Ozzie is our shyest chicken and I don't usually capture her in photos. This one was a bit of a miracle!  Ozzie is a Black Australorp hybrid (mixed with Isa Brown).

Thanks for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx