Muse #16

Hello!

I received the most awesome little package in the mail today from one of my blog friends. It held chocolates, stamps, and a gorgeous card. The chocolates are ones that are not available here in Australia, and I was curious about how they would taste. Now, I'm not really a chocolate person, but I was wondering about these ones, and today I tasted Turtles for the first time... they are DELICIOUS! I gave one to my little girl and she announced, "I LOVE American food!"  For those of you who don't know, Turtles are pecans and caramel covered in chocolate, a perfect combination!  So to my friend, I say THANK YOU, your thoughtfulness really made my day.

I used PTI Sentiment Signs stamps, and Hero Arts Year Round Sentiments (stars). The star dies are WPlus9. Twine is Caribbean by The Twinery. The border is washi tape. Colours are SU! Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Memento Tuxedo Black, and PTI Hawaiian Shores (patterned paper).

My card was made for Muse Challenge #16, where the Muse is Laurie Willison. Laurie is an amazing card maker who truly is one of my muses every day. I adore her work. Laurie's card is this one. I kept the red card base, and the basic layout, making minimal changes in my own card.

And now, it is time to get some beauty sleep.

Thank-you for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Foxy Fusion

Hello!

A quick one. I'm due to grab some beauty sleep. I made a card for Fusion Challenge #5

I used PTI Hello, Foxy and Simon Says Stamp Flower Friend stamps. Colours are SU! Apricot Appeal, Barely Banana, Soft Sky, and Pool Party.

Can you tell that I fused the sketch and the inspiration photo? I took the colour scheme from the photo. I would have used a bird or birdcage image, if I'd had one, LOL! Since I didn't have a suitable bird, I thought another animal might just do. ;-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Retro Baby Shower

Hello!

Just a quick one tonight. I still have a million things to do to get the kids ready for school tomorrow and me ready for work!

I didn't want to miss Aga's baby shower over at Runway Inspired Challenge to welcome baby Helena! Aga is one of my card heroines, her style is just awesome! I tried to make a card that reflected Aga's style (although I will never come close to her skill, I'm sure!). Sorry for the lighting in the photo, that's my night time photography combined with shiny elements that didn't want to shine, wah!

I used PTI Fine Linen card and patterned paper, and SU! Soft Suede and Very Vanilla. I gold embossed Mama Elephant Nursery Deco bear and sentiment, and used Delicata Gold to stamp the background. (The golds match better in real life).

I took the layout from Retro Sketches #62

The inspiration for the card came from this gorgeous bub.

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Dynamic Duos #51

Hello!

It's my first post as part of the Dynamic Duos design team! Woo hoo! :-)  To say I'm excited is an understatement!

Dynamic Duos has been one of my favourite challenges for almost a year now (one year next week!). I have always treated Dynamic Duos challenge as an exercise in extreme-CAS stamping. This first card is not the best example of that style, LOL! But over the next six months, you'll most likely see several of my really basic CAS designs coming out. I love the limitations of using only the two colours, it forces me to really think about the design of the card. I know that other neutrals are allowed, but I do my best to just use the two colours (and usually white card base). As soon as I saw this week's colours, this card jumped into my head and wouldn't jump back out, so here it is:

I used PTI Rosie Posie and Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. Colours are Daffodil Delight and Baja Breeze.

The Dynamic Duos #51 colours are:

I am honoured to be working with this amazing team, and I would love it if you would pay them a visit, too!

Alison Barclay

Anne Marie Hile

Debbie Henderson

Hayley Kew

Janet Bagnall

Janet Zeppa

Lori Turner

Susie Wittwer

Tara Bourgoin

Tracey McNeely

Thank-you for visiting!

Michelle

xxx 

I'm celebrating!

Hello!

Some of you will have already seen me jumping up and down and screaming all over Facebook, and some of you may have missed the news. I'll shout it here, too! This morning I received my very first ever acceptance email for publication of one of my cards! Yippeeeee!!!

I'll calm down now, and show you the actual reason for this post. I made a card.

I used PTI The Sweet Life and Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. Colours are Black and SU! Raspberry Ripple. I used watercolour paper for the front panel.

There were three inspirations for this card. Firstly, I saw Marion's Vagg's cards this morning, and was totally in awe. My card is a little different from hers, but I was definitely inspired by the watercolouring.

Secondly, I've been pondering the CASE Study #139 inspiration for a couple of days. This month our muse is Maile Belles. I'm seriously swooning! I LOVE Maile!! From Maile's card I took the layout, although I changed the orientation) and the flower theme. I may give this particular CASE study challenge one more go, because I would actually like to do more of a COPY of this card (Shhhh! I'll call it CASEing, if I do it, LOL!).

My colours I took from The Play Date Cafe Challenge #180.

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

For Your Inspiration #45

Hello!

I'm here with my contribution to For Your Inspiration Challenge #45.

I used PTI patterned paper, Pretty Peonies stamp embossed in silver. Card is Soft Stone.

This is the gorgeous inspiration photo.

The photograph is a lighthouse in Gloucester, Massachusetts and is taken by Mike Buchholz. It is worth wandering over to his blog for more amazing photography. He's given me wanderlust! He's also inspired me to work harder at my photography.

I used the sketch from Retro Sketches #61

Why don't you pay the rest of the For Your Inspiration design team a visit and check out their awesome work, too? :-)

Debbie
Karen
Rochelle
Rudlis
Sara
Vicki


Thanks for coming to visit.

Michelle
xxx

Have you heard the news?

Hello!

I'm BURSTING with excitement!

I've been keeping a secret. :-)

Now I can finally tell you!

I've been invited to join the Dynamic Duos Design Team for the next six months! Yippee!!!

I am joining the most awesome team ever with these lovely ladies:

Alison Barclay

Debbie Henderson

Hayley Kew

Janet Bagnall

Janet Zeppa

Lori Turner

Susie Wittwer

Tara Bourgoin

Tracey McNeely

To celebrate, I made a card, using two colours. ;-)

I used PTI Birds and Blooms, stamped in SU! Primrose Petals and Memento Tuxedo Black.

I hope you join in with us on a weekly basis. It's going to be so much fun!

Michelle
xxx