WCMD - Pinspiration Focal Point

Hello!

Winnie & Walter are having the most fabulous celebration of World Card Making Day and they've invited us to join in the fun. The good news is that we don't need to use W&W products to take part. I have a wishlist as long as my arm of W&W products but have not yet made my first purchase. I must rectify this problem soon!

I am going to join in a few of the challenges because they're all fabulous. This one is in response to Heather's Pinspiration.

I used Altenew Hennah Elements and coloured with Copics.

This is the gorgeous pinspiration that reminded me that yellow, black, and white is one of my very favourite colour combinations.

While I was still full of this inspiration, I made a second card, and this one I'm also entering into Virginia's View Challenge 24 where the theme is "focal point".

I used SU! Celebrate Today stamps and dies. 

I'm also entering this into CAS-ual Friday's Shaker Card challenge. This is my second ever shaker card. When I made the first one for my nephew last week my eldest daughter requested one for her birthday, too. :-)  My daughter turns 14 on Wednesday. I can't believe she's 14 already!

Thank-you for visiting!

Michelle

xxx

VVC23 and LIM292 - Happy Father's Day!

Hello!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there today. I'm sneaking in a quick post as the hubby has a LONG Father's Day sleep in. I think a sleep in is the one thing all Mums and Dads love as their number one present on their special day, haha! Later on we'll go out for lunch and then do my hubby's second favourite thing - eat gelati!

I was stumped for a card this year. My darling has very peculiar taste in cards (according to me) and I always struggle to find just the right design. But then I saw two ideas out there in blogland that got me thinking - peacock colours and mist/spray/splatter. That was all I needed to get started and this is what I came up with.

I used Stampin' Up! Celebrate Today stamps and dies for the balloons. The background is Distress Inks in multiple colours, lots of gold Smooch spray, and bronze paint splatters. The gold cord is from Kikki-K.

I'm entering this into Virginia's View Challenge #23

I am also entering into Less Is More Challenge #292 where we are invited to use Peacock colours.

Thanks for visiting!

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

Happy 13th Birthday!!

Hello!

Today I celebrate my first-born daughter's 13th birthday! I can't believe 13 years have passed already. She's growing into such a lovely young lady with a very kind heart.

This is her birthday card.

I used Altenew Wild Hibiscus and Label Love stamps. The tiny sentiment is Wplus9. I did some subtle colouring using Copics.

I'm entering this into the current Virginia's View challenge.

My daughter spent the last 10 days on Flinders Island, way down south in Tasmania, with her aunt and uncle. What a wonderful holiday! If I can get some of her photos on my computer, I'll share with you. Flinders is all natural beauty.

Flying from Flinders back to Melbourne, she arrived at Essendon Airport and needed to transfer to Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine (a short 8km away). There was no easy transport option that I was comfortable with her taking by herself, at least not on this first solo trip, so I flew down to meet her and transfer her home. While I waited for her flight I had a couple of hours spare, so I went walking around Melbourne. What a beautiful day!

The view from Southgate across to the city.

The view from Princes Bridge with Southgate on the left and the city on the right.

Flinders Street Station, always so photogenic.

Art at Southgate.

And last, but not least, the birthday girl herself.

It's so good to have her home. :-)

Thanks for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Father's Day!

Hello!

Today is Father's Day here in Australia. It took me forever to think up a card for my hubby, but I thought over the cards that he's liked recently, and they tend to be bold colours and graphic. My hubby loves the colour orange. He also loves purple, but I didn't have the perfect purple for this design. ;-) Looking at this card makes me think of Penguin Books. What does it conjure in your imagination?

I used PTI Square Prints stamp set. Every time I pull out this stamp set I have a heap of fun creating patterns. I'm not fantastic at lining the squares up perfectly, but I actually like the roughly aligned squares. This card may drive some of you crazy though, with those wonky lines, haha! (I am also one of those people who straighten picture frames in other people's houses, so I completely understand...)

I am entering this card into Virginia's View Challenge #18 where the theme is GEOMETRIC patterns. I hope I can enter again. I love this theme!

For those of you who saw the card I made for my Dad for Father's Day, I can happily report that the Italian mail surprised me at just the right time. Dad told me his card arrived in the mail on Friday. Yay!

Now, I'm off to prepare for celebrating my gorgeous husband's awesome fathering of our children. We're going to find the best gelateria in Brisbane to eat gelati and other Italian goodies. As well as loving purple and orange, my darling is a gelati addict.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Birthday balloons!

Hello!

I really love stamping balloons! They make me happy!

I masked and stamped SU! Celebrate Today stamps. I used silver embossing powder to create a little bling.

I'm entering this into One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #18 - sparkle and shine!

and Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Celebrate!

and also Virginia's View Challenge #16 - 100% Stamped!

Thank-you for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Celebrate!

Hello!

I found a little time this week-end (by ignoring the vacuuming) to make some cards. :-)

This card I made for Runway Inspired Challenge #87, which inspired me the second I saw it!

I sponged SU! Almost Amethyst along the side of my card and then stamped Altenew Modern Beadwork against this. The sentiment is Altenew Label Love. Super clean and simple, just the way I like it!

I'm also entering this card into Virginia's View Challenge #16 - 100% stamped.

We're enjoying the most beautiful Winter's day here. We were promised the coldest day of the year. It didn't arrive. I was looking forward to that cold snap, but this beautiful blue-sky day is a wonderful consolation. 

Thank-you for dropping by to visit me!

Michelle

xxx

Exploring Striped Florals

Hello!

I had a couple of days off this week leading into the Easter week-end. My kids started school holidays on Wednesday and I decided to take a couple of days off and have a couple of my girls' friends over. We don't get many play dates because life is usually a bit too busy, so this was special. My littlest (7 years old) had her first friend sleeping over last night. They did pretty well, considering the excitement level. They remembered their manners, went to bed at 9pm (a late bedtime as a treat), and finally went to sleep at 11pm when I roused at them for too much activity and giggling. ;-)  My eldest had her friend over today and I didn't see them except when they emerged for food, and when I decided I wanted to make a card and they had taken over the rumpus room (where all my crafting gear is kept). It was a lovely couple of days and I think my girls really enjoyed themselves. A good start to the holidays.

When I did finally get allowed back near my craft desk, I made a couple of cards using Altenew Striped Florals. I'm still not finished experimenting with this set. I really love it!

The first card I made for The Card Concept. It is a clean and simple card that I stamped and coloured using Copics.

Stamps are from Altenew Striped Florals and the sentiment is from Altenew Label Love.

I'm also entering this card into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the inspiration is "Happy Birthday".

I also made a card for The Challenge #28 which happens to be the one year anniversary challenge. I can't believe The Challenge has been going for a whole year and I haven't joined in yet! It's not that I haven't been inspired, I have, but I've never made the deadlines. :-(  Since it is a special occasion, I made a special effort and made a card to join in, in time. ;-)

Stamps are again Altenew Striped Florals and Label Love. I added a bit of gold twine for some extra texture and interest.

I'm also entering this card into Virginia's View Challenge #14. My card is a CAS version of layers and dimension. ;-)

Thank-you for visiting! I hope that I find some more time for stamping over this Easter long week-end. I'll definitely be back in a few hours with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch card. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Hippo Birdie!

Hello!

My crafty secret santa this year sent me a lovely selection of stamps, including this cute hippo and birdie set. I have been itching to put these cuties onto a card, and I finally found some time to actually do so! Yay! I have been admiring this pair in blogland for a while now. I'm so happy they've come to live with me. :-)

This card uses Lawn Fawn Hippo Birdie stamps and is coloured using a mix of Copics and SU! Blendabilities.

I'm made this card for a few challenges. Firstly was Darnell's NBUS challenge.

Also, One Layer Simplicity where the theme this month is Attractive Opposites - I used a big hippo and a small bird, and coloured them in complementary colours, yellow and purple.

And finally, this is my second entry to Virginia's View Challenge 11 - clean slate. 

I'm also entering this into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Anything Goes.

This card didn't even make it into my stash. It seems it made the cut to be used for one of my husband's friends. I might need to make another. It makes me smile. :-)

Thank-you for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

P.S. My 12 year old daughter has started blogging (all sorts of 12-year-old interests) and yesterday she made a lovely watercolour painting that she shared. I'd love you to take a look and leave some love if you have a little time. :-) Liv Chronicles 

Winter beadwork

Hello!

Virginia's View Challenge this month has the theme "Clean Slate". That sounds right up my alley! I love a good  expanse of white on my cards. :-) I was also inspired by the photo at Curtain Call Challenge which is all white and ivory and beige, yum! The sponsor at Curtain Call is Altenew, so I couldn't resist pulling out my Altenew stamps. I settled on using Modern Beadwork with Label Love for the sentiment.

Once I had finished this card, it gave me the feeling of marble mosaic tiles and I was whooshed off to Italy in my imagination! :-) Colours are PTI Soft Stone, Fine Linen, and Hero Arts Wet Cement.

I'm also entering this into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is Anything Goes.

Today I had a mole excised from my face. It was only a little mole, but it appeared right where I had previously had mole removed through a shave biopsy and found pre-cancerous cells. The fact that a shave biopsy had already been done meant they had to do the excision this time. I really don't like local anaesthetics. I don't like the numb feeling, I don't like the tingling and itching as the feeling comes back, and then I don't like the pain that arrives later on. :-(  I'm such a sook! I have two friends this week with their gallbladders removed, and I'm sooking over a little mole removal, lol! You can check my Instagram account if you'd like to check my sooky face. ;-)

I will be back with more entries to Virginia's View challenge. I just love Virginia's challenges and I am off work this week, so I plan to make good use of my time and make multiple entries.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

P.S. I have started updating my other blog again. I'm putting some of my daily life photos (not professional, just snapshots) and some of my art practice over there. Feel welcome to take a look.

Virginia's View 8 - clean and simple!

Hello!

When I saw that Virginia had selected "clean and simple" as her theme for the current Virginia's View challenge, I was thrilled! You all know that I love CAS. I struggle to move away from CAS, actually, and as I evolve as a stamper, I think I'm moving further towards the minimalist end of the spectrum, lol!

It's taken me a while to make my card. Life has been a little busy! This card took me about four days to create because I stamped it a little tiny piece at a time, in my spare 5 minutes each day. ;-)

I used wPlus9 Pretty Peonies (this is my third set with that name) and Hand Lettered Hello stamps. These two stamp sets work so well together! And that Peony set is just amazing! I'm so glad I gave in to temptation and bought it. :-)

It's the end of the Labour Day long week-end. We had a big week-end celebrating my daughter's 12th birthday. She had a couple of friends come for a sleepover on Saturday night. They had so much fun, and were so well-behaved. I managed a full night's sleep, yay!

We also managed to squeeze in a barbeque yesterday with a couple of friends we haven't seen for too long. Our kids had a great time playing together, and my hubby hooked up the old tv so that the fellas could watch the football grand final (rugby league), which turned out to be a history making match, so I'm glad they weren't deprived of watching the action live, lol!

Now, I'm off to bed. First day of the last term of school tomorrow. I think I forget how to get everyone ready for school after two weeks off from packing school lunches and ballet gear...

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Die cutting at its simplest

Hello!

I had grand visions of joining in at Virginia's View Challenge this month with a card made with all sorts of die-cutting magic. It hasn't happened yet and, looking at my schedule over the next few days, the magic is not going to happen, lol! I've run out of time! So, I thought I'd join in anyway with a simple card using a die-cut sentiment block.

Despite its simplicity, I quite like this card. Golden smooch spritzed background with a little stamping for interest, patterned paper behind the black sentiment block. That patterned paper looks like there just might be a party going on back there!

Today was my youngest daughter's first ballet exam. She went off confidently and came out smiling. She thinks taking a morning off school to do an exam is an excellent way to spend her time! She danced for RAD Primary Grade today. Now she progresses to Grade 1 ballet. I thought that getting her into the exams while she's still little may demystify the process before she hits bigger, more important exams later on. The way she was today, I have the feeling that she will never find exams a problem. ;-)

Thank-you for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Sunshine and Happiness

Hello!

I have a card for One Layer Simplicity, Virginia's View, and for Curtain Call.

This card was quite tricky! I usually do my watercolouring on watercolour paper. This time I just painted directly onto my regular cardstock (PTI Basic White). My card ended up a little warped, and the solution was to run it through my Big Shot (no dies, no impression plates, just the card with a rubber mat and the regular plates). It worked! My card was ironed flat. :-)  Stamps used were Mama Elephant Party Kit and So Breezy. Inks were PTI Melon Berry and Berry Sorbet. Sentiment was white embossed.

I have wanted to use these sentiments in this way since I first got So Breezy. I can't believe it's taken me this long to find a way to do it!

One Layer Simplicity calls for us to Just Add Water.
Curtain Call is Perfectly Peach.

And Virginia's inaugural challenge gives us lots of watercolour inspiration. Virginia tells us she misses Tuesday Triggers. I do too, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what inspiration she brings us as the challenge grows. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

xxx