Fusion #6

Hello!

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!

Oops! I forgot to schedule my post for this week's Fusion Challenge. So here I am, finally!

I used PTI Rosie Posie (both sides of the stamps) and Simon Says Stamps Sketchy Banners. Inks are SU! Certainly Celery, Daffodil Delight, Mama Elephant Mojito, and Memento Tuxedo Black.

I took my inspiration directly from the picture. It reminded me of the kitchen in the house I grew up in, which was apple green and yellow, very 70s. :-)

I hope you can find some time to join in with us this time! The rest of the design team have made some wonderful creations, and are well worth a visit, too. :-)

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti
Geri Freeman
Julia Aston
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Williams

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

Thanks for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion #3 - Hearts Galore!

Hello!

Are you starting to feel the LOVE flowing through our blogging world? There has been pink and red and flowers and hearts and chocolates in every nook and cranny! I think Valentine's Day may be just around the corner! ;-) Our inspiration this week at Fusion Card Challenge allows us to enjoy our "inner Valentine" if we choose, or if you aren't inspired by hearts, there is plenty of other inspiration to be had.

The first card I made is a Fusion of the sketch and the inspiration photo. I took the hearts from the photo.

Stamps are PTI Wonderful Words: Hello (sentiment) and Heart Prints. Dies are PTI Hearts. Colours are SU! Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Very Vanilla. The paper is SU! but I forget it's name.

The second card I made was directly inspired by the photograph, with a washi background and a washi heart. My heart was made by lining up a few rows of washi and die-cutting the heart. The "Hello There" sentiment makes me smile. I like the idea of sending a card with a bright red heart and just saying an offhand "Oh, hello there!". :-)

This card uses all washi tape (and I can't tell you what the brands are) except that one little sentiment, which comes from SSS Sketchy Banners.

The Fusion DT has come up with some amazing work this week. Why don't you pay them a visit too?

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti
Geri Freeman
Julia Aston
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

Thanks for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Runway Inspired Watercolour

Hello!

As promised, I'm back with some new cards. I have made two cards for Runway Inspired Challenge #52 where the inspiration is a gorgeous dress by Dennis Basso.

The dress made me think of watercolours. The first card I made was directly inspired by the splashes of pastels. This was a bit of an experiment. I quite like the effect of the black and white with splashes of colour.

Stamps are Janes Doodles Pretty Peonies and Simon Says Stamp Sketchy Banners. Colours are Distress Ink Worn Lipstick, Mustard Seed, Tumbled Glass, and Memento Tuxedo Black.

The inspiration is this gorgeous floaty dress. I would defnitely wear this dress myself, so pretty!

I then moved away from the direct inspiration to make my next card, which uses the same colours, but on watercolour paper and with much more saturation. The stamp set is PTI Meadow Greens.

This card was made for the rescuers of Coco. On that note, here is my Coco, with an extra 1.3kg added over the past 9 days. I think we can slow down the feeding now and work on building her muscle back up again. ;-)  Her back legs are half the size they were, but they'll come back with some exercise.

 Thanks for visiting.

Michelle
xxx

Fusion #2

Hello!

I'm here with the new Fusion Card Challenge! I just adore the inspiration this time. I'll probably say that every week, lol! But I really mean it! :-)

Last challenge, our first for the "new" Fusion and the first for 2014 had so many AWESOME entries! Woo hoo! It was so exciting to visit so many fabulous designers.

Onto my card. This time I did not use the sketch. I had intended to, but this card had other ideas when it was creating itself. I think that the inspiration photo was just so lovely, that I had enough inspiration right there! The fact that it has my favourite colour (yellow) and mixes it with grey, black, and woodgrain... oh, yum! Irresistible!

I used Simon Says Stamp Flower Friend and Sketchy Banners stamps and dies. I also used PTI woodgrain impression plate for that kraft panel, and Mama Elephant Femme Frames for the top panel.

The Fusion inspiration is this:

The rest of the team have done some beautiful work also. Please take a moment to visit them as well.

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti
Geri Freeman
Julia Aston
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

For those of you who visit regularly, you may have noticed my absence over the past couple of weeks. I am still searching for my dog Coco. I have discovered that a broken heart is not conducive to crafting, not for me anyway. All of my energy has gone into searching for Coco, thinking of new ideas for how to find Coco, and then making a superhuman effort to be as "normal" as possible for my kids (and also to try to function at work). My husband has been my rock. He's an amazing man. I'm truly blessed to have my gorgeous family, and extra-blessed that they understand how I feel about Coco's absence. I hope that sometime soon she will be home. Edit with news:  Coco was returned home. A good samaritan family found her 9km from where she went missing, 19 days after she went missing. She came home on the week-end, very skinny, but happy to be home. Vet checks show that she is okay, other than some infection. She has an infected eye, slightly torn pad on her paw, and a broken lower canine tooth. You can see some updated photos on her Facebook page.

On a happy note, we got chickens. Four little chicks that are now 1 1/2 weeks old. Two black australorp hybrids and two light sussex. They are very cute. They were ordered before Christmas (they are my Christmas present). They are growing up very quickly.

 

I hope I'll be back again soon to say hello! Thank-you for coming by to visit me! I hope you join us for the newest Fusion Card Challenge. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Feather crazy!

Hello!

I may have fallen totally in love with Waltzingmouse Stamps Fine Feathers... I can't get enough of them!  Today I made a little bouquet for a birthday card - yes, out of feathers! :-)

I just love how well these feathers layer over each other! And they're so elegant! The top (dark blue) feather, I stamped in pigment ink so that it sat properly on top of the other two feathers. The other two are in dye ink.

As well as Fine Feathers, I used Simon Says Stamp Sketchy Banners. I stamped the "Wishing You" in Delicata Golden Glitz, which was hard to photograph. Here is a closer shot.

The problem was that if I showed you the full intense shine, you couldn't see the sentiment. You may just have to trust me that that little banner is SUPER glitzy! :-)

My kids are off on adventures tomorrow. Vacation care is taking the little kids to Lone Pine Sanctuary, where they get to feed kangaroos and emus, pet koalas, and hold snakes, amongst other things. The big kids are going to Dreamworld (a theme park). We are lucky to live within a reasonable distance (about one to one and a half hour drive) from a number of theme parks. My eldest daughter isn't so keen on rollercoasters and other rides, so I'm not sure how her day will go.  I hope she tries some of the rides out. ;-)

Now I'm off to bed for a little beauty sleep!

Thank-you for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Birthday, Tracey!

Hello!

Two posts in one day? Well, this one couldn't wait, because it is my friend Tracey's birthday!

Happy Birthday, Tracey!!!  

The queen of party-planning, that would be Joyce, has done it again, and organised a super party to celebrate!

I used Simon Says Stamp Flower Friend and Sketchy Banners. Colours are PTI Hibiscus Burst and Memento Tuxedo Black.

I used the sketch from Seize the Sketch for inspiration. I turned it on its side.

I'm also linking up to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

Tracey, I hope you have a fabulous day! I'll be thinking of you!

Michelle
xxx

Dynamic Duos #76

Hello!

Well, the day has arrived, my last day on the Design Team at Dynamic Duos Challenge <sob!>. I am going to miss being on this team so, SO much. Lesley and Anne Marie are so easy work work for, and the rest of the ladies on the team are so fabulous! It's been fun and I've loved every single minute. Meeting my weekly commitments has been a huge pleasure. I've made friends that I hope to keep. I'm going to feel lost for a little while, I think. I may need to join in at the challenges (since Dynamic Duos was always one of my favourite challenges anyway!)

This week's challenge happens to fall on my hubby's birthday, so my card was made for him. His favourite colour happens to be purple, so it was wonderful that this week's colours are Perfect Plum and Wisteria Wonder. The story of how I came up with the card's design is - I found a card over on Jen Rzasa's blog that she used a sketch by Maile Belles from a Studio Calico challenge. I loved the sketch, and wanted to use it straight away, so I did. ;-)

I used PTI Sending My Love stamp. Colours are SU! Perfect Plum and Pale Plum.

I also made a second card, still CAS, but a different style.

I used PTI Pretty Peonies and Simon Says Stamp Sketchy Banners. As well as Perfect Plum and Pale Plum, I used PTI Soft Stone.

The Dynamic Duos team celebrating our last week are:

Alison Barclay

Anne Marie Hile

Debbie Henderson

Hayley Kew

Janet Bagnall

Janet Zeppa

Lori Turner

Susie Wittwer

Tara Bourgoin

Tracey McNeely

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Dynamic Duos Challenge #74

Hello!

It's Dynamic Duos time! This week we have So Saffron and Calypso Coral. I immediately thought FLOWERS.

Here is my card.

I used Janes Doodles Pretty Peonies, and Simon Says Stamp Sketchy Banners (sentiment & die). 

The team have rocked the colours this week.

Alison Barclay

Anne Marie Hile

Debbie Henderson

Hayley Kew

Janet Bagnall

Janet Zeppa

Lori Turner

Susie Wittwer

Tara Bourgoin

Tracey McNeely

My 11 year old daughter is doing a project at school as a part of their "acts of service". The project is to make possum pouches for orphaned possums. My daughter needed to learn how to cast on her knitting, and after we did that yesterday, we have both been knitting together today. It is a simple knitting project - garter stitch 17cm x 48cm - and perfect for learning and practising knitting. :-) What I learned is this - knitting is the perfect pastime for a mother and daughter. The quiet concentration aids quiet conversation. I'm happy! And I think she is too.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Runway Inspired #45

Hello!

I'm sneaking in with a last minute entry to Runway Inspired Challenge #45. I have some new Memento Luxe inks, and I wanted to try them out for their colour, and I remembered the colourful stripes on the Tanya Taylor dress at RIC. So here I am!

I used Mama Elephant Basic Borders and Simon Says Stamp Sketchy Banners (sentiment). Colours are Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Luxe - Nautical Blue, Lilac Posies, Rose Bud, Morocco, Dandelion.

The stripes are a bit hard on the eyes if you look at them too long, LOL!

The inspiration was this dress.

I've been busy at work this week, and I am about exhausted, so my chatter is a bit limited... maybe on the week-end I'll chirp up again. ;-)

Thanks for coming to visit me!

Michelle
xxx