CAS(E) This Sketch 117

Hello!

It has been raining here. The volume of water coming from the sky makes me wonder if there is any left in the ocean. My backyard is a big puddle. The poor chickens have nowhere dry to stand. My dog keeps bringing the mud into the house after a wander in the rain... she just loves the water! Our tank is overflowing. All that water just running down the hill. I'm pretty sure the last time it rained like this in April was around 1996 when we were building our first house. Somehow Summer has forgotten to leave properly. The temperature is now bearable, no longer super hot, but the rain remains. Oh well, I think this Easter week-end will be spent mostly snuggling with the family inside. :-)

I'm bringing you my card for CAS(E) This Sketch. The sketch is a super CAS design so I made a super-CAS card.

I just love this giraffe from Mama Elephant's Nursery Deco stamp set. Such a cutie!

We recently had a new great-niece arrive in the family. She looks just like her big sister, and just as beautiful! We are yet to meet her, and I'm looking forward to the day we do. :-)

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have the time to visit the rest of the CTS team and then to join in on the fun! Have a wonderful Easter.

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

CAS(E) This Sketch 116

Hello!

I was away in Canberra last week. I usually spend my time in Belconnen (to the North of the city). This time I was in the South in Woden. On the street was a massive lemon squeezer - the ones with a handle that you press into the lemon. Only it's name is Droplet. I didn't get to see it at night, but in the day it was pretty awesome sitting there on the street corner. It's the work of artist Stuart Green. You can see it HERE or you might have already seen it on my Instagram account.. Brisbane has some amazing artwork on the streets too, but I think I've become a little immune to them! I should probably start photographing them and sharing here. :-)

This week I've been home. And I like it. I'm away again next week, but for the moment, I'm enjoying being home with my family. :-)

This is my contribution to CAS(E) This Sketch this week. I am using my new Altenew stamps, Striped Florals. I cannot wait to fully explore this set! It's beautiful!

I managed to fairly closely follow the sketch this week, although not exactly. ;-)

I'm going to add this to Darnell's NBUS Challenge #4 (when I wake up). This Altenew stamp set is brand new and this is the first card I've made with it.

I have a Facebook page where I also share my cards and links to my posts. Sometimes I share something not from the blog, but it is pretty much an alternative access to my blog (with much fewer words to get through). Would you like to check out the page and follow me if you like what you see? If you already follow me, but haven't seen my posts for a while... that's the way FB works, you just need to like or comment or visit every now and then to get the feed working again. ;-)

Now I'm off to bed for my beauty sleep! Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion - Yellow Cupcakes!

Hello!

It's another sweltering day here in Brisbane. Autumn was supposed to start four weeks ago. It hasn't arrived yet... I did hear on the radio that we will have "lovely Autumn weather" over the next week with average temps sitting at 28 degrees celcius (82.5F). Average of 28???? That's not COOL in any sense of the word! So we'll hit Easter break and jump into the pool to cool off, lol!

Here I am, ignoring the hot and humid evening, to bring you my contribution to the latest Fusion Challenge, where we have the most irresistible yellow cupcake on offer. :-) I turned the sketch upside down to create a fusion card.

I used SU! Create a Cupcake stamps and punch. I used PTI spiral notebook die and MFT paperclip die. Papers are SU!

Mmmm! Yellow, grey, and white! A beautiful colour combination with a cupcake inspiration added into the mix. So much fun!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 115

Hello!

Sometimes (often) when I'm making a card from an inspiration, I look at the inspiration photo or sketch, and then make something without referring back to it. I find it lets my mind work creatively. But... sometimes... my mind takes a flight of fancy and creates something that may (or may not) resemble the original inspiration. That may be the case with this week's contribution to CAS(E) This Sketch, lol! The good news is that I got part of the sketch into my card. ;-) The bad news is that some of the sketch missed out this time around. I might have to revisit the sketch at some stage, because it's a great one.

I used wPlus9 Pretty Peonies and Strictly Sentiments 5. Inks are Distress Ink Worn Lipstick and Crushed Olive, SU! Pretty in Pink, and Memento Tuxedo Black.

As you read this, I should be returning home from spending most of the week in Canberra. I have to say, the best part of travelling for work is coming home again. I miss my family when I'm away.

I hope you are inspired by the sketch, and that you join in the fun with us this week!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 114

Hello!

Summer continues here in Queensland, Australia, despite the calender telling me it should be cooler. The heat and humidity is ridiculous. And the forecast tells me it is set to continue. Sigh! Brisbane is an awesome place to live between Autumn and Spring, except for the lack of truly cold weather, but Summer is just. too. hot. Of course, it's Autumn. And it's still hot. Wah! One day I'm moving to Ottawa or Toronto or maybe somewhere in the North East US. I'm pretty sure it isn't hot there. ;-) At least not for months and months and months on end...

Whinging about the weather is not why I'm here. I'm actually here with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch card.

This week I moved away from my usual one-layer, white, CAS style to a little tiny bit of layering with a big punch of colour. I turned Gayatri's lovely sketch on its side.

Now, I'm off to sleep. My bed is calling! I can't wait to see what you make with this sketch, the possibilities are endless!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion - Purple Flowers

Hello!

Time disappeared this past fortnight! Somehow we've come two weeks to the next Fusion Challenge, and those two weeks are a complete blur! A combination of being really busy at work, including travelling to Sydney, a very busy week-end, and completely losing track of what day it is resulted in me essentially skipping a week in my brain! Oh dear! I'm hoping to re-set over Easter. My schedule is chock-a-block full until then, and I imagine I'll be playing catch up for the next few weeks. ;-)

I'm here with my card for the new Fusion Card Challenge. I've used the inspiraton photo, which has a beautiful group of purple flowers. I've used one flower to create a simple birthday card.

I used PTI Botanical Blocks and various Copics (I need some bright purple Copics).

That photo is just so gorgeous! And I can see all sorts of possibilities with the sketch too!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx