Happy Birthday, Mum!

Hello!

I have two cards to share today. They were both rejects from a recent submission call. That was actually okay, because I really created them for my Mum and my Mum-in-Law for their birthdays. I was a bit worried that if they got picked up in the call that I would have to recreate them for the Mums, LOL!

The first was for my mother-in-law. She likes purple and she likes flowers, especially roses. She is one of the most talented gardeners I know. She has a small garden which always has something pretty, something that smells nice, and it is always under control (unlike my garden). I love looking over it EVERY time I visit. Here is her card:

The second was for my Mum. My Mum is more into Spring colours, she also loves flowers, and she is also a great gardener. My Mum's garden is gigantic. She has a half acre block with very little lawn, it is pretty much ALL garden. It is full of shrubs, trees, and flowers galore. There are also many, many fruit trees and a couple of vege patches. There are also food plants growing all amongst the flowers. Mum likes the cottage garden style, and she does it well. She has a fairy garden built for my girls and when we visit, they disappear in there for ages. The fairy garden is full of fairy lights and at night it is magical. This is my Mum's card:

The photo is terrible. It is an easel card, but to get all of the card properly in the photo, I had to angle it weirdly. Trust me, it's pretty, LOL!

I'm loving the combination of PTI Rosie Posie and Filigrie Border, yum!

Happy Birthday to both my Mum-in-Law and my Mum. Lots of love to you both.

Thanks for visiting today, I hope you like my cards.

Michelle

xxx

CTD #171 & SSSC#147

Hello!

Just a quick one before I head out to work. I'm entering a card into the Color Throwdown Challenge #171 and the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #147.

The colours are:

The sketch is:

My card:

I used (mostly SU!)
Inks: Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Soft Suede, Old Olive, StayzOn Black
Stamps: Curly Cute, Circle Circus
Card: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Very Vanilla
Paper: Mocha Morning, something retired, vellum
Twine: Twinery capuccino
Button: Papertrey Ink

So what do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts. :-)

Michelle
xxx

New Challenge - Runway Inspired Challenge

Hello!

I am very excited about this new challenge. Runway Inspired Challenge has been started by Jennifer Rzasa, who has brought together some of my most favourite card designers in the whole wide world. Seriously, they are ALL my muses and I aspire to one day create something nearing their level of creativity!  If you haven't taken a look at this challenge yet, head on over and join in on this first one!

To cap off my excitement, the very first inspiration photo uses my very favourite colour, YELLOW. I love, love, love yellow.  Here is the photo:

As soon as I saw this photo, an idea formed in my head, and it has stayed there until I found a tiny slice of time available this morning to put it onto card.

This is my card:

I can't tell you how much I like this card (I might even have trouble giving it away, LOL). Yellow and cream together. YUM. It's raining here this morning, so the light isn't so great, so my yellow looks a bit golder and darker than it really is. It's close enough.

I used PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Daffodil Delight, Sentiment is Curly Cute stamped in SU! Early Espresso, Images are PTI Turning a New Leaf, Dies are PTI - Mat Stack #4 and Fillable Frames #10 (I think).

Thanks for coming by to look at my card. Please leave me a comment letting me know what you think of my card, and to let me know you were here, and I'll come and visit you back sometime soon.

Michelle
xxx

JAI75 meets LIM week 23

Hello!

First of all, WELCOME to my new followers, it is lovely to see you there.  Even though Blogger doesn't always let me see my list, I will eventually come visiting you all when it does.

Well, I'm having trouble today.  My ideas won't translate to card.  So many rejects sitting on the "what do I do with this?" pile. Argh!  I think it might have something to do with the fact that it is an absolutely beautiful day out there. You wouldn't know it is the middle of Winter - I'm in a t-shirt and feeling very warm! I spent so much time enjoying the outdoors, I'm having trouble sitting indoors for the moment, LOL! While I'm still coming up with some brilliant birthday card ideas to be made later (positive thinking), I thought I'd share what I've managed to produce so far today.

Just Add Ink 75 is a Colour Challenge with these lovely colours:

Less Is More week 23 is One Layer Week with the theme "Something With Legs".  My dragonflies have legs, you just can't see them, I promise.

Stamp Sets: Because I Care, Organic Grace, Curly Cute
Cardstock is Very Vanilla and I have drawn the frame with black pen

So what do you think?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Michelle
xxx

Triggering CAS Rainbows!

Hello!

Someone is turning 21. . . and I'm almost 100% sure he doesn't read my blog, so I'm safe to share with you here before I actually deliver the card. LOL!  You really start to notice time passing quickly when those cute little toddlers are suddenly huge young men and making their own way in the world. :-)  To be honest, my nephew has been towering over me for many, many years now, but each time I see him it takes me by surprise again.

I just can't resist a rainbow, can you?  I love rainbows!  So when I saw the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World this week, I already had my thinking cap on. THEN CAS-ual Fridays announced that this week for CFC#7 we are working on Colour Blocking and my idea came to life!

Tuesday Trigger is this beautiful Rainbow Bright picture:

My idea was very simple, but it actually turned out to be a little tricky in the execution.  This is the first time I've tried colour blocking with diagonal stripes of cardstock.  I have done quilting before, but I expect quilting to be a little tricky with card.  I didn't think stripes would be tricky!  And then lining everything up on the card with diagonal stripes was challenging, the diagonals create an optical illusion of everything else being off square (I had to pull the ruler out!).  Also, I wanted to use wooden/chipboard numbering, but the only ones I could find were pale pastels.  I had a very messy night dyeing these numbers black and then glossing them up, but the end result was definitely worth it.

Here is my entry:

Aren't those colours wonderful?

I used Stampin' Up! Cardstock: Night of Navy, Real Red, Only Orange, Yoyo Yellow, Green Galore, Tempting Turquoise, Lovely Lilac, Whisper White
The sentiment is black embossed Curly Cute
The 21 is dyed with Basic Black and the glossed up with Crystal Effects

So what do you think? 

Michelle
xxx

P.S. I want to send out a very big THANK YOU to all of you who have been regularly visiting and leaving comments lately.  You really make my day, and I appreciate all of your feedback.  Part of the joy of card-making is the sharing of the end result, and sharing with my fellow card-makers is the icing on the cake!

One Layer Butterflies for PDCC#86

Hello!

My experimentation with one-layer cards continues. . .

I have a few team members at work who are moving on to new teams, so I am working on cards to thank them as they move ahead to their new challenges.  I did the cutest little card with cupcakes (well, it was pretty big, at A5 like these other two I've done tonight, but it was cute), but I forgot to photograph it before it went out the door!  Argh!  It was chocolate and pinks, and sparkly, and it made me smile.  It was similar to this butterfly card in layout, but portrait rather than landscape. I'm teasing myself now, as well as you.  I'll have to make another and show you. :-)

So on to tonight's work.  This first post is in response to The Play Date Cafe Challege which caught my eye this week.   The colours are so bright and cheerful!  Take a look:

I already had an idea in mind for this card layout, which I picked up from Susan at Simplicity last week-end.  Because my card is A5, I felt I needed the extra butterflies, and I think it works quite well.  The photography leaves a bit to be desired because I was too impatient to wait for the morning  and natural light.

I've used all Stampin' Up:
Stamps: Flight of the Butterfly, Butterfly Prints, Curly Cute
Colours: Only Orange, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White cardstock
Other: Shimmer Mist (on the orange butterflies), Rhinestones

For so long I resisted using pencil lines and the stamp positioner when making my cards (probably because I'm a bit lazy about pulling it out of the drawer), but using these simple tools really makes such a difference to the finished product. So neat and tidy!

So what do you think?  Tell me your thoughts.  I love hearing from you.

Michelle
xxx

Framed One Layer

Hello!

I'm so excited to be back stamping!  I've had a few weeks off as a result of getting a cough that turned into bronchitis.  You'd think all those sick days at home would be a blessing in disguise (more stamping time), but the tyranny of illness is that I just didn't have the energy for much other than being still in between coughing fits.  So frustrating!

Today I wandered off to the craft show, where I didn't buy much other than tape and spritzer bottles, but I did pick up some fresh inspiration.  I returned home hoping that my family would bless me with another hour or two to myself, and they did ... without my even asking!!

The challenge I chose to work on this afternoon was the new Less Is More challenge.  Week 19 is One Layer Week and the theme is In The Frame.  You saw my first efforts at one layer cards a few weeks ago, and today I gave them another go.  I made three cards: One I quite like, one I'm still thinking about, and one that didn't work.  I'll show you them all.

The first is my challenge entry:

With this card I got a bit adventurous (for me) and made an embossed frame around my sponged image. Surprisingly, first go and I managed to get the lines to meet correctly at the corners. :-)   What I used here was White cardstock, ink colours were More Mustard, Really Rust, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, the stampset is one of my favourites, Trendy Trees.  I like the simplicity of this card, it soothes me.

The second card was the first I made, and I do like it, but I feel like it is missing something.

What I used here was White cardstock, ink colours were More Mustard, Really Rust, Old Olive.  Stampsets were Curly Cute and Organic Grace.  Curly Cute is brand new for me, and I predict I'll be using these sentiments regularly for a while!  Organic Grace I have had for a while and I have made some lovely cards with it, but it seems that I never shared those on this blog.  What an oversight, I'll have to make some more and show you!

The third card didn't work at all.  This card is for one of my little girl's friends at kindy.  She thinks it's lovely and she thinks her friend will like it too, so that is all that matters really . . . but I'm going to have to have another go at the idea in my head to see if I can make the necessary improvements to make it work as it should!

Cardstock is Very Vanilla. Ink colours are Summer Sun, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Garden Green, Not Quite Navy, and Chocolate Chip.  The stampset is Fox and Friends (which always makes me smile).

So there you have it. After a card drought of a few weeks, I have managed to put together three in one go.

So what do you think? Which is your favourite?

Michelle
xxx