Happy Birthday and a Wedding...

Hello!

I have two reasons for this post. One is a card, which is this one.

I used PTI Strawberry Patch stamps. Colours are PTI Fresh Linen, SU! Barely Banana & Pool Party. Card base is PTI Basic White.

I made this card for Retro Sketches #46. I just LOVE this sketch, but then, I love most of the Retro Sketches!

And I used the colours from CR84FN #70. I wanted to join in before they go on holidays until March!

And the other reason for this post is a bit of fun which is happening over on Ardyth's Blog to celebrate Darnell's wedding anniversary. I like Ardyth and Darnell a lot, and I thought I'd join in. I'm sorry, Darnell, that I didn't make an anniversary card, but today inspiration on this front eluded me! I hope your day was fabulous! We have been invited to share our wedding photos, and I have two here to share today.

This was us back in 1999.  One day I might show you some photos from our early days. We met early in 1993, became friends, and started dating in September that year. And the rest, as they say, is history! :-)

Thanks for dropping by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Christmas is coming!

Hello!

I am not organised for Christmas, at all. But I want to send out a few cards this year, unlike last year where very few actually ended up being sent! Crazy! I make cards, for goodness sake! I should send a few, LOL!

Here is one of my Christmas cards for this year.

Stamps are PTI Happiest of Holidays and Fillable Frames #10. I used SU! embossing folder Northern Flurries. Colours are PTI Vintage Cream, Fresh Linen, and Memento London Fog. Ribbon is SU! Soft Suede taffeta. Patterned Paper is My Minds Eye All Is Bright.  

The light is a bit dodgy this afternoon and has a very blue cast. I probably should have used the OTT light instead of sunlight.

I used CR84FN #66 colours.

The sketch was from Retro Sketches #36.

I will admit to having another inspiration this afternoon. I saw THIS CARD by Jen Rzasa and decided to immediately CASE it. The card above is the second version. This next one was the first.

Stamps are PTI Happiest of Holidays and Snowflake Serenade. Embossing folder is SU! Northern Flurries. Colours are SU! Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Whisper White.

Thanks for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Hello!

Hello,

Third card for today. This will probably be it... I do have to make some dinner at some stage. :-)

Made in response to CASE Study #113 where Julia Stainton is the muse with this lovely card:

and CR84FN #65 with one of my favourite colour combinations:

I used PTI Heart-2-Heart #4 and #7. Colours are SU! Pretty in Pink, Very Vanilla, and Soft Suede (sentiment), and PTI Fresh Linen, and Fresh Snow.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

CR84FN64 - blue, green, and yellow

Hello!

I just received the Papertrey Ink Teach & Inspire set, so I had to ink it up! I'm loving this set already, and I've only made two cards!  This is one of them:

Just a simple one to start with. Colours are SU! Daffodil Delight, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue, with a little Early Espresso and Crumb Cake for the sentiment and pencil.

The colour inspiration came from CR84FN #64

I'm starting early on getting the end-of-year teacher cards made. I always run late, and we only have about 7 weeks left of school before Summer holidays. Fourth term starts tomorrow.

Thanks for popping in!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Anniversary, my darling!

Hello!

This week was my wedding anniversary. Unfortunately for the hubby, I was nursing my sick daughter leading up to the day, and then I was dying on the couch on the day itself after catching the bug my daughter had. This meant that no card was made for the occasion. Four days late isn't too late, is it? :-)  We've been married 13 wonderful years this year. We've been together for 19 years. Time passes by so quickly!

Here is the card.

Card is PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake. Ink is Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake. Stamps are PTI Heart Prints and Think Big Favorites #16. Button is PTI. Twine is Twinery.

I really like how it turned out. I am responding to the CR84FN colour challenge #63, and it calls for the colour "denim". My blue collection is severely limited, so I made "denim" by mixing SU! Bashful Blue and a dab of Night of Navy. I actually love the colour result, I may use it again. :-)  I'm also throwing my hat into the ring for the DT call at CR84FN.

I used a sketch from Retro Sketches #30. I turned the sketch upside down.

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx

Pretty Pastel Birthday

Hello!

Now I have two girls "helping" me with my stamping. The good news is that the big girl has taken the job of supervising the little girl with my precious stamps and inks. She is doing a good job of letting me stamp without having a heart attack every three minutes about mixing colours on ink pads or ruined stamps.

I have managed to make another card, despite my helpers. :-) This one is for Just Add Ink 115, which is a sketch challenge. I saw this sketch, and I immediately decided I was going to make a card using my Filigrie Border.

And I have used the colours from the new CR84FN Challenge #53.

Ooh, pretty colours!  I was so disappointed to miss the last challenge, so I was excited to find another pretty colour palette this week. :-)

This is my card.

I have used PTI Rosie Posie and Think Big Favorites #13. Colours are Stampin'Up! Soft Suede (sentiment), Pretty in Pink, Pool Party, and a little Cameo Coral for rock'n'rolling the roses. The patterned paper is SU! Everyday Enchantment. PTI Filigree Border die. Twinery twine in Blossom. SU! grosgrain ribbon.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Happy 1st Birthday!

Hello!

Today I attended my niece's 1st birthday party. The card was made using the sketch from Pals Paper Arts Challenge #131 and the colours from CR84FN Challenge #50. I also made it with the guidelines from CAS-ual Fridays #44 which dictates that we use 1. A pattern 2. An image and 3. A sentiment.

It actually looks better in real life. It is very pretty. :-)  I used the new PTI Anniversary Set Pretty Peonies (image and sentiment) and Hero Arts Zig Zag (my pattern). Colours are Pretty in Pink, Pumpkin Pie, Apricot Appeal, Daffodil Delight. The dies are PTI.

And just before I go, I will give you a peek at my niece's very gorgeous cake.

Thanks for coming to visit! It is always lovely to see your comments.

Michelle
xxx

Christening Day

Hello!

Yesterday was Christening Day for one of my nieces. I looked everywhere for inspiration for a Christening card and sentiment, but it seems they are rare in blogland, or I was looking in the wrong places!  So I decided to just make a card I liked and to write my own sentiment inside.

The card:

You might guess her name is Elena.  The photo is a bit fuzzy, sorry!

I used the colours from CR84FN #40 again.

I SERIOUSLY love these colours.

I used SU! Card stock Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
Ink was Real Red, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake
Ribbon is Soft Suede Taffeta
I also used Shimmer Mist all over the vanilla panel, and it sparkles so softly.
Stamps: PTI Outlines Alphabet, I have no idea what these babushka stamps are - I was given them without a name. They are clear stamps.


The Christening was wonderful. Elena was beautifully behaved right through the ceremony, and didn't flinch when she was baptised. She did give a little wipe of her forehead, but that was it. The party afterwards was superb. My step-family are Italian, and my sister's husband is Croatian, so we had the very best of Italian and Croatian food and hospitality. I seriously LOVE these family celebrations with the big extended family and our special friends.

Now I'm off to enjoy this beautiful blue-sky day (and perhaps squeeze in another card-making session later).

Michelle
xxx

OLW#68 and CR84FN#40

Hello!

I'm rushing out the door, so creative blog titles elude me! LOL.  I whipped up a couple of cards this morning to share with you.  The first is a response to One Layer Wednesday #68 and CR84FN Color Challenge #40.

Susan's challenge for OLW this week is to use triangles.  I think you can actually SEE the triangle in this one-layer card, yippee.  This time I created the stamping on a scrap piece of paper BEFORE stamping the card, just to make sure I could create the triangle that I had in my imagination.  I'm thinking of adding a couple of blingy bits to this card later. I like it as it is, but I also like a little bling.

The colours came from CR84FN:

I couldn't resist. I might come back and make some more cards in response to this colour challenge. I love them!

I used SU! Real Red, Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake. The stamp set is PTI Botanical Silhouettes.

My other card I made in response to a beautiful card I found on Pinterest and tracked down to Ingrid Danvers' blog.  Ingrid's card is this one:
                               
I wanted to make a one-layer card pretty much the same.  BUT I had a masking accident and my beautiful white space I had created was RUINED, so I added a green strip instead of the twine and white I'd planned.  Here is my card:

I still like it, but I'll try again to make what I have imagined.

Must rush off - it is gymnastics day for the little one.

What do you think of my cards today?   I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback.

Michelle
xxx

Fancy Folding in Red, Pink, and White

Hello!

Ever since the Just Add Ink challenge was released this week, I've been impatient to begin work on one of my own Fancy Fold cards. The blog hop was just one inspiration after the other. Already the entries are gorgeous. It is going to be a whizz-bang week at JAI this week with all the beautiful card folding going on!  My entry for JAI Challenge 74 is using the irresistable colours from CR84FN colour challenge , take a look at these:

Aren't they yummy?



I decided to start with the Diamond Fold card demonstrated by Mae. I'm still not sure how practical this card is (and it is very tricky to photograph), but it is so pretty, I had to give it a go. My apologies for the photography. That is me taking photos at night time again.

I used SU Real Red, Pretty in Pink, and Whisper White. The patterned paper is also SU, but I forget its name. The stamp set is Bliss.

I'll show you a couple more photos to give you the different perspectives.  First is what it looks like closed for mailing.

And lastly is just a different angle.

So what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

Plum Butterflies

Hello!

This is my second post for the week-end and, as some of you will know I am not a prolific blogger, this is a bit unusual for me.

I have had ideas floating through my head all week-end for this new card.  When I finally decided on layout, theme, and colours, my original ideas were dramatically changed. That seems to be my usual way of creating! I might still make the original idea up, if I can figure out how to make it work.

This card is for three challenges:
Clean and Simple FTL#141 - Layout
CR84FN29 - Colours: Light Plum, Plum, Kraft
Less is More - Theme: Butterfly/Butterflies  (I had already made a butterfly card this week-end, but I thought my design was probably a bit "More" than "Less", so decided to try again)

Here is the CAS FTL141 Layout:

These are the gorgeous colours at CR84FN:



Here is my card:

I reversed the layout to suit the direction of the sentiment.  It's been a while since I used my wheel to stamp, and probably a bit longer since I've done any heat embossing, so I am really enjoying that border along the bottom of the card.  I also clear embossed the flowers on the butterfly to give it a little shine.

What I used (all Stampin' Up!):

Card: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, and Sahara Sand (?) I ran out of Kraft!

Ink: Perfect Plum, Versamark watermark

Ribbon: Elegant Eggplant grosgrain

Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, It's Beautiful (wheel)

It is certainly Clean and Simple, but is it too CAS? Is that possible? I feel like something's missing.

What do you think?

Michelle

xxx

One layer home sweet home

Welcome!

Oh my goodness!  What an afternoon.  I have been playing around with one-layer cards because I really like the CAS (clean and simple) style.  I knew that one-layer cards and the CAS style were  challenging, but it challenged me more than I can say this afternoon!  First of all - Clean has a few meanings, and one of them would involve my NOT dropping the inked stamp back onto the card! Or placing my inky fingers on the card.  Ugh!  When I finally managed to do that, I could not seem to line up my images, argh!  So the picture I am putting on here has a smudge, I picked that over uneven rooflines, LOL!

Today's efforts are for three challenges and a blog hop.  This is my first blog hop, and I'm looking forward to it.

The challenges are Stamp Something (theme - Anything Goes) One Layer Wednesday (OLW53 - Home Sweet Home) and I chose to use the CR84FN colours this week

I'm also taking part in the Stamp Something 3 Year Celebration Blog Hop.

So, without any more ado, here is my entry:

I used (all Stampin' Up!):
Whisper White Cardstock
Ink Colours: Real Red, Daffodil Delight, and Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Good Neighbors, Congrats


Before I created the challenge card, I also whipped up another little card.  I was going to add a sentiment, and then I decided that I would just leave it as it is.  I like it, and I know a person who will like it too so it will be winging its way to a new home very soon.

Unfortunately I couldn't photograph the colours true to life.  The three little owls (from Punch Bunch stampset) are Chocolate Chip on each side and Elegant Eggplant in the middle.  The cardstock is Very Vanilla.

Please do leave me a message and let me know what you think of my first attempts at one-layer cards.  I really enjoy hearing from my visitors, new and old. :-)

Michelle
xxx