CASE Study 210 - Christmas berries

Hello!

It's the last Thursday of the month which means it is our last week with Debby Hughes as muse at CASE Study. I've loved CASEing Debby this month! Most of the month I stayed pretty close to Debby's inspiration, but today's card took a flight of fancy all by itself, lol! I can see the love hearts and the "happily ever after" on the inspiration card, but all my brain was seeing was Christmas berries. :-)

This is Debby's gorgeous inspiration card.

Thanks for coming by to visit! I can't wait to see how everyone is inspired this week!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 209 - dreamy feathers

Hello!

Oops! I'm running a little late! The day got away with me. I have a day off work for the first day of school holidays (parent-teacher interviews at school, buying new Summer uniforms for next term, shopping for family presents) and I thought I would have PLENTY of time to whip up a post for CASE Study. It turns out that I got home, lay down on my bed with my book and didn't come up for air until that book was finished. You know how it is when you only have a couple of chapters left... lol!

So here is my card!

Our muse is Debby Hughes, who is awesome, and inspires me all the time. I loved Debby's colour scheme and the wreath and feathers! I white embossed Waltzingmouse Stamps Fine Feathers on Fine Linen card, added a few sequins, and mounted on white card base.

Please forgive me being so tardy! And thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 208 - An apple for the teacher

Hello!

This week at CASE Study I have taken a very literal approach to CASEing Debby Hughes' lovely CAS tags. It just so happens that the end of the school year is rapidly approaching, and I just love a simple CAS apple card for the teachers. ;-) We are about to start Spring holidays, and then only 7 or 8 weeks before school is finished for the year! Every single year I get surprised by this. Every. Single. Year!! I'll learn one day to prepare in July, lol!

I used PTI Teacher's Apple stamp set. I lightly stamped the apple, then watercoloured over the top. I hand painted the stem and leaf. The card base is stamped with Hero Arts Envelope Pattern background stamp (slightly mimicking the burlap bag). The die is Mama Elephant Femme Frames. A really simple card that satisfies my CAS leanings.

Tonight we have the Middle School Ensembles concert. My eldest daughter is playing violin in her strings ensemble and singing in the girls' choir. We also get to watch the boys' choir, the other strings ensemble (there are two in Middle School), the amazing band, and the percussion group. These concerts are just the best. Next week we attend the All School Choirs concert which has all of the choirs from the school from Grade 2 to Grade 12. Now THAT is always an amazing concert that gives me goosebumps all over. :-)

I hope you are inspired to join in with us at CASE Study this week. Last week's response to Debby's vellum beauty was amazing! Such a beautiful gallery!

Thank-you for visiting! See you soon!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 207

Hello!

Did you enjoy our month-long celebration of CASE Study's 4th Anniversary? I certainly did! We're back to normal programming in September, with a new muse. I have been a major fan of this month's muse for quite a few years now, since about the time she started blogging, lol! She's awesome. She has an amazing CAS style all of her own. It's Debby Hughes aka Lime Doodle!

My card used the vellum and white embossing with a grey card base from Debby's card. I changed the colours a little. ;-)

Stamps are Altenew Hennah Elements and PTI sentiment (can't remember the set, but it's the basic Congratulations mini set). I used Distress Markers to colour the back side of the vellum.

Debby's inspiration card is this one. Just beautiful, and I'm sure I haven't done it justice.

I hope you can find some time to join in the fun with us. I'll be checking the gallery for you. ;-)

Thank you for dropping by!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 4th Anniversary Celebration - Week 4 Blog Hop

Hello!

We are in the fourth and final week of the CASE Study Challenge 4th Anniversary Celebrations! What fun it has been this month! There are two ways to join in the fun. Firstly, join in the blog hop for a chance to win fabulous prizes. Secondly, CASE one of the blog hop participants and add your entry to CASE Study Challenge for this week.

I have been inspired every week this month. There is some remarkable talent joining us to celebrate, and this week is no exception!

All of the blog hop participants are to make a card based on an inspiration of their choice. I have a Pinterest Board named Pretty. When I went looking for inspiration for this Blog Hop, that's where I went. When I got there I found a common theme - aqua background with colourful flowers. I didn't even realise I was pinning the same inspiration over and over!

I chose one of my inspiration pins and created this card using wPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals and Lawn Fawn Milo's Alphabet. I stamped pigment ink onto vellum and adhered it over the aqua card base. The sentiment is white embossed, so it stands out beautifully.

This was this inspiration. I might try a brown version next. :-)

source

Our Blog Hop order this week is as per the following list:
Anja Curvers
Eva Dobilas
Danielle Flanders
Jill Foster
Silke Ledlow
Agnieszka Małyszek
Iwona Palamountain
Torico
Julie Smith
Amy Wanford
Michelle Williams <---You are here, with me! 
Teneale Williams
Dawn Woleslagle

If you hop along and comment at each stop along the way, you go in the draw for prizes from our fabulous sponsors.
Clearly Besotted Stamps
Ellen Hutson

Verve Stamps
Waltzingmouse Stamps

Thank you so much for visiting me! I hope you're enjoying the hop and I also hope that you find inspiration to join in the fun!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 4th Anniversary - Week 3

Hello!

Have you been playing along with the CASE Study 4th Anniversary fun? Oh, there are fabulous blog hops each week with such fabulous talented bloggers and LOTS of wonderful prizes! I'm not in the hop this week, but I couldn't resist playing along when I saw Julie Ebersole CASEing one of my favourite cards by Aga. I just had to CASE them both!

My card doesn't come close to Julie and Aga's cards. I will have to try again. My Smooch spritz took on a life of it's own and exploded! I'm sharing anyway, because "exploded Smooch" is a technique, right? ;-)

I used Altenew Hennah Elements stamps because I'm still in love with them and can't put them away.

This was Julie's card (please visit Julie if you want to pin, and pin from there).

My card was also loosely based on last week's CAS(E) This Sketch (closing in a few minutes).

It's past bedtime, again! I'll need to rush to catch that sleep train! I hope you join in the fun with us at CASE Study this week.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 4th Anniversary Celebrations - Week 1

Hello!

This month marks Case Study's 4th Anniversary. There is a month-long celebration happening with weekly blog hops and amazing prizes! I'm not hopping this week, it's my turn later in the month, but I still wanted to play along.

When I saw Laura's amazing card, inspiration struck. I didn't create exactly what was in my head, because I didn't quite have the supplies I needed... must be time to go shopping! :-)

This is my card, not a touch on Laura's original, of course!

This is Laura's card - rainbow CAS perfection. (If you want to Pin this, please go to Laura's page and pin from there.)

If you haven't already hopped along with the blog hop, I'd recommend you do. All of the cards are fantastic, with some super-spectacular ones thrown into the mix, and you get the chance to win awesome prizes!

Before I go, I have a couple of photos to share from the week-end. The first is a pheasant coucal who decided to visit yesterday. We have never seen one in our backyard before, so we were all out there watching until it decided to leave.

The other is a new photo of my chickens. Because I just know you love my chickens as much as I do. LOL!

Thank-you for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 202 - big, bold flower!

Hello!

It's our last week with Shari Carroll as our muse at CASE Study Challenge. I've really enjoyed this month. Shari has such a fabulous style! This week is no exception with a big bold flower on a kraft background. Irresistible!

I didn't venture far from the inspiration with my CASE of Shari's card. I even tried out a square card, which is highly unusual for me (I have an enduring love for 5.5" x 4.25" cards).

I used SU! Regarding Dahlias and PTI Turning a New Leaf stamps.

You can check out the rest of the team by clicking on the links over on the sidebar. We also have our guest designers, Amy Tsuruta and Tenia Nelson, who are definitely worth a visit! :-)

I cannot wait to see the gallery this week. That big flower just makes me smile, and I look forward to seeing more big flowers on display.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 201

Hello!

I've been away for work. I flew home late last night. I was in Canberra. It was a little cold. My ears and nose just about dropped off from icing up in the mornings, lol! Along with the cold we had lovely fine days, lovely! I've rushed home just in time for this week's CASE Study Challenge #201 where we have our muse Shari Carroll's inspiration once again.

Shari's card this week had me scratching my head about how I would approach the CASE process. It is so clever and really gorgeous! I've taken elements of the outline sentiment, black and white and pale blue, and worked from there. I left behind the awesome layering (but will revisit that idea another time!). I created a one-layer card that I think radiates just a little of the original card. ;-)

I used Mama Elephant So Breezy stamps. The photography took me about three days to find the right light that would capture the contrast between bold sentiment and pale images without loosing either. :-)

The whole team have made some amazing cards this week. They are all listed in the sidebar --->  Why don't you pay them a visit, too?

Just a quick hello today. I'm squeezing this post into my morning routine of getting kids ready for school and getting off to work. I hope you are all well and happy! Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 200

Hello!

It's CASE Study #200! I love these nice round numbers! I also love our muse this month, Shari Carroll! Did you see her CASE of herself last week? Amazing! I can't wait to see what she does this week.

What I did was take Shari's design, and pretty much copy it. I really loved the layout (and all that white space)! I really didn't want to change it much at all.

I used Waltzingmouse Stamps Funky Feathers and SSS Sketchy Banners stamps.

I would love to see how you interpret this gorgeous card!

The design team are all listed over there on the side bar. Why don't you pay them a visit? Our guest designers this month are Amy Tsuruta and Tenia Nelson.

Thank-you for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 199

Hello!

I have had a busy few weeks! The nice part of this past week is that part of the busy-ness was caused by a little trip to the Gold Coast. We were greeted with the most stunningly perfect Queensland Winter weather! I might whinge all Summer long about the heat, but a beautiful Winter day at 22 degrees with the sun shining on the beach can't be beaten. :-)

I'm here to share my card for Case Study #199. Our muse is still the amazing Shari Carroll. I took the overlapping circles from the inspiration and made a card using inlaid die cuts. I added a few sequins for sparkle, and I was done! Fitting those die cuts together was a little like a jigsaw puzzle at times, lol!

Last week I forgot to mention our two guest designers for this month. Yes, TWO! And they are two amazing ladies who I count among my bloggy friends - Amy Tsuruta and Tenia Nelson. If you haven't met them before, make sure you take a wander over to their blogs and check out their fabulous work!

Okay, now, back to the Gold Coast. I thought I'd share some of the fabulous week-end.

The beach. The water was clear and perfect. The sky was clear and perfect. Just wonderful!

That's my kids playing. There was a big rip, so I had to keep asking them to come back closer to the beach, but they couldn't resist and kept going out into the water. I had visions of me having to get out there to rescue them, lol!

And the reason for our trip - the marathon! My hubby ran it exactly as he predicted - 3 hours 45 minutes. This was about 4km into the race, right outside our hotel. They ran back this way, too, at about 27km point.

And finally, one of the beautiful sunsets. No editing. This is straight from the camera.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

xxx

Case Study 198

Hello!

It's a new month and we have a new muse at Case Study Challenge. Our muse in July is the one and only Shari Carroll! This is exciting, but also a little daunting... for me. Shari's style is really different to my own, and is a style that I have not really experimented with. But, that is why I love Case Study so much. It really stretches me creatively.

The card that I made for this week has actually been under construction for months. I was halfway through and was not sure how to finish, so it has sat on my desk waiting... Along comes Shari's inspiration and I suddenly knew what I needed to do! I completely changed the elements around, added a pile of sequins, followed Shari's basic design, and my card was done. My version is a little brighter, busier, and crazier than Shari's, but I think you can probably still see where I was inspired, if you look closely, lol!

My card is made using Studio Calico Snippets paper and Teresa Collins sequins. No stamps!

This month is going to be awesome, I can already see it! I can't wait to see how you are all inspired by Shari. I am betting most of you won't go quite as bright as I did. ;-)

Onto local news, Winter finally arrived. Thank goodness! The Southern Alps received about 2 metres of snow last week. They had grass and dirt before the blizzard(s) arrived. The Australian ski season opened with no snow! And then the snow came, two weeks after opening, and it's fabulous!!! And I'm stuck about 1500km north of the snow, feeling the cold winds, and WISHING I could afford to spend several weeks skiing. It happens every year - the snow arrives, and I wish I could be there. Many years ago (in the early '90s) I worked in Jindabyne for a ski season. It has stayed with me, the joy, the fun, the relaxed lifestyle. I think I infected my husband when I took him skiing in New Zealand. The thrill of skiing is truly addictive! In a very good way. ;-) We took our girls last year. They're addicted now, too. Now, to win the lottery...

Thank-you for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 197

Hello!

Do you sometimes start making a card with one idea in your head and then end up in a completely different place? This is what happened with my card for this week's Case Study Challenge. The inspiration provided by Pamela Ho's awesome card definitely spoke of circles and vellum to me, but I picked up rectangles and kept going with that theme. :-) I did keep with the colour scheme. ;-)

This is my card.

I used Altenew Label Love stamps. Inks are Memento Luxe in Tuxedo Black and Morocco.

My kids have started school holidays. They are enjoying vacation care this week. Their smiles make me feel better about the fact that I can't take holidays with them. :-)

Thank-you for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 196

Hello!

I'm back from a work trip to Sydney! The days were long, and I didn't get to go very far other than the distance I flew: I went from home - airport - train - central station - work - hotel - work - central station - train - airport - home. Flying into Sydney I am reminded anew each time just how beautiful the city is. The walk from work to my hotel wasn't so pretty, it was the backstreets of the city, but it was interesting. In my old job (10 years ago) my Sydney office (and my regular hotel) overlooked the harbour. The view was spectacular. It made it difficult to concentrate on work, lol! It was lucky I was usually in Brisbane, otherwise I would have daydreamed all day of sailing on that beautiful blue harbour.

Anyway... what a long introduction to what is my contribution to the CASE Study Challenge this week. This month's muse is the wonderful Pamelo Ho. This week's inspiration card is super cute and super fun! It made me wish I had some sort of cityscape stamp or die. I was able to find inspiration in the dog and the balloons, and followed this inspiration to my balloon dogs. :-)

I used Avery Elle Party Animal and Mama Elephant Party Kit stamps. Colours are SU! Night of Navy, Old Olive, Barely Banana, and PTI Fine Linen.

I hope you are inspired to join in the fun! Thanks for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 195

Hello!

I'm just in the honeymoon phase of my love affair with Altenew Hennah Elements. This means that you get to see lots and lots of these stamps in action! This card I made for Case Study Challenge, CASEing the marvellous Pamela Ho.

I first made this card on Smokey Slate cardstock, but the silver was almost invisible, despite the card being stunning (if you looked hard enough). So I changed to PTI Soft Stone with silver embossing. Oh, I love this card! I made it for a friend who is getting married this coming week-end. Don't worry, she doesn't follow my blog. She's one of those people who throws cards away (Gives me shivers just thinking of it!). I keep giving her beautiful cards, working to tempt her to keep one. I live in hope. ;-)

My design was directly inspired by Pamela's gorgeous card.

For those of you following my chicken stories... Penny laid an egg! In fact, she has laid one egg a day since Saturday! Here are the first couple of eggs (with a store-bought egg to the right for comparison). The first one was tiny, like a bantam egg, lol!

Thank-you for visiting! I hope you join us at Case Study this week!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 194

Hello!

It's the start of a brand new month and that means we have a brand new muse at Case Study! June's muse is the super-amazing Pamela Ho! I have been a fan of Pamela's for a long time, probably from when she first started up her blog. This first card is one of my all-time favourite Pamela cards. I pinned it when she first made it and I've wanted to CASE it forever. To be honest, I've just wanted to straight out copy it, it's so awesome!!

This is my card. Nowhere near as creative as Pamela's but I'm pretty sure you can see the inspiration. ;-)

Thank-you for coming by. I hope you can join in with us at Case Study this week.

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 193

Hello!

It's our last week with Wida Miller as our muse at CASE Study Challenge. I took the angled panel, the pale colours, and the sequins from Wida's card. I wanted to take more, but my stamping supplies didn't quite support what was in my head! Must be time to go shopping again... ;-)

I used Waltzingmouse Fine Feathers stamps.

This has been one of those challenging weeks. Work is crazy, life is crazy, and I'd really like a little bit of quiet time, lol!

Catch you later!

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 192

Hello!

This week is flying by. I have a million things to do, my list is getting longer as each day passes! But, here we are at Thursday again, almost to the end of the week. The good news is that it is time for another Case Study Challenge! We still have Wida Miller as our fabulous muse. Wida is so versatile! And every new thing she tries just seems to work, amazing talent!

This week the muse card uses a collage style that I'm not experienced with, and that I wasn't sure I could pull off. So I looked carefully at the elements, the vertical sentiments, the colours, the arrangement, and made my own CAS, one-layer(ish), version.

I used PTI Building Blocks stamps and dies. This set is amazingly versatile for a bunch of words and rectangles!

Wida's card is this one.

I would love to see what you would make following Wida's inspiration card! I'll keep my eye on the gallery to check you all out. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 191

Hello!

Today I bring you my first card as a member of the CASE Study Design Team! I still can't believe that I'm in this fabulous team! Wida is our muse this month. I think you can clearly see in my card where I've drawn from Wida's inspiration - the colours, the general layout, the die cuts, a little white-on-white.

I used wPlus9 Whole Lotta Happy stamps and dies. Colours are SU! Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, and Memento Tuxedo Black.

To layer up my die cuts, I cut two white layers to sit under the top layer. I used my brand new Xyron sticker maker to glue them up. That tool makes sticking little things down a little easier!

I hope you can join us this week. Wida's beautiful card is full of inspiration, she makes it easy for us!

Michelle
xxx