CAS(E) This Sketch 242 - Happy Birthday!

Hello!

Happy 15th Birthday to my big girl! 15! I cannot believe it! My cute little baby has turned into a beautiful young woman seemingly overnight.

For her card I used this week's CAS(E) This Sketch as inspiration.

I used Altenew Beautiful Day stamps. Sentiment is Wplus9.

 Such a great sketch and the design team have made some beauties with it. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 107

Hello!

It's the last few days of school holidays for my kids. School returns next week, Tuesday for the big girl and Thursday for the little one. I have next week off work to settle them into their new routines. I might even help them find their classrooms. ;-) The big girl starts high school. I'm pretty sure she wants to find her own classroom, lol! The little one MIGHT let me walk her to the classroom on the first day, but I'm pretty sure that will be the only time. Such independence!

So to the reason I'm here today - I bring you a literal interpretation of the sketch for CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge again this week. I had a set of dies from MFT that were just perfect for the sketch. I had ideas of inlaid die cuts but this version was my favourite. :-)

Thank-you for visiting! I hope I'll see your beautiful work in our gallery this week!

Michelle
xxx

The Card Concept - 1st Anniversary!

Hello!

It's the first anniversary of The Card Concept and I just had to play along! I love the team and I love the inspiration. :-)

I used wPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals, Strictly Sentiments, and PTI Postmarks stamps. Colours are SU! Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Daffodil Delight, Barely Banana, and PTI Hibiscus Burst.

I had originally made my card in a very pure CAS version, but added the little edge stripes after going back to look at the inspiration photo again. I ummed and ahhed about it for a while and couldn't decide which one I prefer. I'll show you the original, and you tell me what you think. :-) If you visit me regularly, you will know I lean towards the huge amount of white on the second, but those diagonal stripes seem to give a little something extra.

I think I'll add this version to Virginia's View Clean Slate Challenge.

Okay, back to housework for me!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

I'm being featured on CASEing Genius!

Hello!

I've made a new friend in blogland. I've admired her for quite a while, but over the past few months we started "talking". I have to say, I just love blogland for this - meeting amazing people and making friends. One day I am going to do a world tour and visit all my friends that I have not met in person yet. :-) My new friend is Kelly Latevola of You and Your Big Dreams. When I visit, I'm going to ask Kelly to give me some colouring lessons, her colouring is seriously AMAZING.

So, other than gushing over Kelly, the reason I am here is that Kelly is featuring me in her new series - CASEing Genius. I'm thinking that the title is a double-entendre (like Amusing Michelle, which was actually about things that amuse me, not me telling everyone that I'm amusing, although I can be a little funny sometimes, lol!). Kelly is the genius at CASEing, and sometimes it is a genius that she CASEs (maybe not this time). ;-)

To celebrate this occasion, I made a card. I made a CAS, heat-embossed, watercoloured card - showing off my eclectic tastes.

I used Wplus9 Pretty Peonies and Strictly Sentiments stamps. Colour is Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolours.

Thank-you, Kelly, for featuring me. I feel very honoured to be CASEd by someone who is so creative and artistic herself.

If you don't know Kelly yet, please take some time to visit her blog, you won't regret it!

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

CAS(E) This Sketch 96 - Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Hello!

For CAS(E) This Sketch this week, I played with creating some fun streamers and lanterns. I also practised my newly acquired Copic colouring skills. This was a fun card to make!

I used Mama Elephant Party Kit and Pandamonium as well as wPlus9 Strictly Sentiments 5 stamps.

I've had a busy week at work, again. The next two weeks are looking busier. I will admit that I'm looking forward to my Christmas holidays. ;-) There is a lot of action to get through before then, though, so I'd better brace myself and get on with it!

Thank-you so much for coming by to visit me!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 93 - Smile!

Hello!

You know how sometimes you sit down with one idea in your head and the card that appears in front of you has absolutely no relationship to that original idea? Yeah, well that happened with this card, lol! The sketch for CAS(E) This Sketch this week has a diagonal square. I quite like that square. I don't know how it got so lost in the translation... I'll just blame it on my brand new Fresh Cut Containers stamps from Wplus9. I got carried away with creating my little pot of plants and completely forgot what I was doing! The sentiment is wPlus9 Strictly Sentiments 5.

And this is the fabulous sketch.

I am also joining in with Darnell's NBUS Challenge #2 with this card. I'll link it up in the morning. ;-)

Today is my wedding anniversary. My hubby and I have been married 15 years. :-)  We have been together for 21 years. It doesn't feel that long. I still think he's pretty cute. In fact, I think he's cuter now than when we first met. ;-) He's also the best hubby in the entire universe. I can't wait to see him later on today when he returns from his week of work travel. I might make a special dinner. I might make a card, too! ;-)

Thanks for visiting!

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

Two simple CAS one-layer cards

Hello!

I'm bringing you two cards tonight. Both are made using the Retro Sketches #126 sketch. I've used colour schemes from One Layer Simplicity #8 and from The Card Concept #15. Both cards are Clean and Simple one-layer cards. The cards I've seen so far using this week's Retro Sketch have been layered and absolutely gorgeous, but I was attracted to the opportunities for CAS that I could see.

The first card is a simple birthday card.

I used the colour scheme from One Layer Simplicity. There are quite a few to choose from. I will try to go back and use another before the month is finished!

The second card is also a birthday card, made for a little boy. I shadow-stamped the sentiment, which my little girl thinks is totally cool. She swears it looks like the words are popping right off the page. :-)

I used the colour scheme from The Card Concept.

And this is the superb sketch used for both cards.

Thank-you for visiting me. I'm off to seek some beauty sleep.

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 83

Hello!

Sometimes a sketch comes along that I like so much that I just want to recreate it on my card. The sketch this week at CAS(E) This Sketch is one of those! As soon as I saw it, this card was fully formed in my head. :-)

In actual fact, it wasn't quite as simple in execution as it was in my imagination. Do you know how many variations on a theme you can create using one little pile of flowers and leaves? Ack! I played and played and played and then I left the pile on my desk for a day before coming back and looking at it and thinking, "Oh, I think that works!" LOL! I just needed a little distance to see what was right before my eyes.

I used wPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals and Strictly Sentiments stamps. The banner is a Mama Elephant die.

This week-end our family is heading to the Gold Coast. My husband is running in the Gold Coast Marathon on Sunday. Last year he ran his 10th year in the Gold Coast Half Marathon (and got that special 10 year shirt) and so this year he's starting his series of Marathons... maybe. This will be his second ever marathon. The last one was really difficult. I think this time he'll breeze through, as far as you CAN breeze through a marathon... breezing through in the way that still running at the end is a major triumph, lol! He's aiming at 3 hours 45 minutes. Just quietly, I can't run 5km at that pace, and I'm pretty sure I can't walk 42km in one go, so I'm super proud! I'll let you know how he goes.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Graphic and Flowers

Hello!

I love the mix of a graphic pattern with flowers. I love the contrast of the sharp lines against the curves of nature. This week's collaboration between Runway Inspired Challenge and CAS(E) This Sketch provides me the opportunity to play in this way.

I used PTI Square Prints and Pretty Peonies. The sentiment is wPlus9 Strictly Sentiments II.

It took me a while to work out how I was going to reflect this inspiration. All the design team members have done such beautiful work already and I didn't want to just make a card "just like theirs". I think I've managed to make something a little different, but still close enough to the inspiration. What do you think?

We have the most beautiful Easter week-end here. The sun is shining. It is still a bit too hot during the days, but we are finally getting some lovely Autumn nights. I look forward to the night temperatures dropping just a bit more so that I can really enjoy my doona without having to leave a foot or leg outside. ;-)

Thanks for coming by to visit!  Happy Easter everyone!

Michelle
xxx