Hello Friend!

Hello!

You all know I can't resist a great CAS inspiration, so it won't be a surprise to see me joining in over at MUSE Card Club this week! I didn't get terribly creative, I basically just recreated the inspiration card, because I love it so much! :-)

I used PTI Birds & Blooms stamps.

This is the inspiration card from our Muse Joan.

Because I have used that little twine bow on my card, I am also entering into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Simon says to Tie it Up!

This week we have a public holiday on Wednesday. I will be celebrating my aunty's 80th birthday with our family. I'm so looking forward to a week where I am at home and where I get a bonus day with my family. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

A Country Quilt

Hello!

I'm back with a quick post before bedtime. I had another quilt idea for Make It Monday that was inspired by the sketch at Retro Sketches.

This card feels like a warm country-style quilt to me. :-)

I used Papertrey Ink Birds & Blooms and Doodlie-Do stamps. Card is PTI Vintage Cream. Patterned paper is SU!

Now I'm racing to bed. Back to work tomorrow and I need a good rest before then. Still not well and I need as much sleep as I can get.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study #161

Hello!

Today I'm bringing you my second contribution as Guest Designer over at CASE Study Challenge. Our muse is Elena from Just ME, who is super inspirational! I'm still pinching myself that I get to play along with this awesome team of card artists all month. :-)

Elena's muse card this week is a cutie - a matryoshka doll card with a smaller matryoshka inside! So sweet!

I don't own the stamps that I would like to have used for this inspiration... So I sat down and pondered matryoshka/babushka dolls and what their image conjured in my imagination. I decided it was folk art, so folk art is where I headed with my first card. I will admit that it took a few goes to get the stamping and positioning right on this one. I almost gave up, but I'm glad I persevered!

I used PTI stamps - Stylish Sentiments:Birthday, From Me to You, Rosie Posie, Birds & Blooms, Turning a New Leaf. Colours are SU! Poppy Parade, Gumball Green, Bashful Blue, Calypso Coral, PTI Berry Sorbet, Memento Tuxedo Black.

I was feeling all satisfied with that card when I thought that perhaps I should make a card inspired by my daughter's beautiful matryoshka set... and off I went back to my craft table and came up with the next card.

I used PTI stamps - Stylish Sentiments: Birthday, Rosie Posie, Turning a New Leaf. Colours are SU! Poppy Parade and Basic Black. Embossing is white and gold. I also used a gold paint pen for the dots along the edge, which I had punched using a scallop edge punch.

Thank-you for coming by! What does Elena's gorgeous card inspire you to create? I can't wait to see!

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch #36

Hello!

Today I'm bringing you my contribution to CAS(E) This Sketch #36. I followed the sketch in a super-CAS way, and I really love how it turned out.

Stamps used are PTI From Me To You, Boutique Borders:Birthday, Birds & Blooms. Colours are SU! Old Olive, Poppy Parade, and Daffodil Delight.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

I'm a MUSE!!

Hello!

I'm so excited! I'm a Guest Designer over at Muse Card Club!

In making my Muse card I wanted to use my own style, which is usually super-CAS, but also add some extra interest so that there was something for everyone to work with. My card is one-layer, but I'd love to see some layered versions of this one! I've been wanting to try this folk-art inspired style for a while, and this was my chance. :-)

I used PTI Birds & Blooms, and Sentiment Signs. Colours are PTI Berry Sorbet, Memento Pale Tomato and Tuxedo Black, SU! Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Blushing Bride.

I'd love to see you joining in with Muse this week! I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Thanks for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop - Take 1

Hello!

The Papertrey Ink Blog Hop snuck up on me this month. I know we get quite a bit of notice, but I lost track of time! When I sat down to create today, I had a definite lack of mojo. Sigh!

Here is my first card.

I used PTI Birds & Blooms stamps. Colours are PTI Fine Linen and SU! Bridal Blush, Wisteria Wonder, Pale Plum, Certainly Celery.

The inspiration came from this colour palette.

Today was a whirlwind of a day. We had the usual Saturday morning flurry of sporting activity, then a couple of hours at home before heading back out for String Ensemble concert and then the swim club end of season celebration. Now I'm home and thinking my bed is looking mighty attractive. ;-)

Thanks for visiting!

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

Runway Inspired #33

Hello!

When I saw the inspiration photo at Runway Inspired Challenge #33, I decided that I not only wanted to capture the outfit, but also the gorgeous watercoloured background. It took me a while to come up with something... part of my difficulty in responding to RIC, and why I'm always entering my card at the last minute, is that the DT tends to make such amazing creations that it takes me a while to come up with something suitably different, LOL! This is what I came up with.

I used Hero Arts Large Flower Background and PTI Birds and Blooms (sentiment) stamps. The background is stamped in PTI Soft Stone and watercoloured using a water pen and SU! Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, and Bashful blue. The yellow is SU! Daffodil Delight.

To be honest, I almost didn't want to put anything over that card base once I was through colouring it. It is so soft and pretty! I love that background stamp. That little black heart is a wink to the model's hair ribbon.

This was the inspiration.

I would love that outfit for myself if the skirt was a little longer (I've never figured out how women sit down modestly when their skirt is this short). I'd probably not wear the knee high stockings. ;-)

Thanks for coming to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Spread the Love...

Hello!

Over on Amber's Blog, Damask Love, you will find Clear & Simple Stamps' Spread The Love Campaign. The idea of it is that we reveal our "Blog Crush" and create a project using the colour schemes provided. We are encouraged to use Clear & Simple Stamps, but the sad truth is that, although my wishlist has a number of C&S stamps on it, I don't yet own any. :-(

I think it will be no surprise for people to find that I have several Blog Crushes, and they aren't all card makers. Amongst card makers, I have quite a few crushes... but today I've singled out one of my crushes. If you follow my Pinterest Board, you'll know that one of my biggest crushes is on Laura Bassen. I love Laura's clean style, I love her rainbows of colour, I love her plaid, I love her big flowers, in fact I don't think there are any cards of Laura's that I don't like. Along with that, I like Laura the person, too! If you've seen some of her recent videos, you'll know she's funny. She makes me smile!

Today I tried something new for me, but very classic Laura. I worked on Big Flowers. When Laura made a flower out of cloud dies, I was amazed, and I've wanted to try it ever since. This one isn't perfect, and I will have to go back to try this again. But I do like the feel of this card.

I used PTI Stylish Sentiments: Birthday stamps. The flower is made from Memory Box Puffy Clouds dies. The background panel was cut using PTI Mat Stack #6 and embossed with Woodgrain. Colours are PTI Soft Stone, SU! Daffodil Delight, and another yellow that I forget the name of. Ink is Memento Grey Flannel.

I used this colour scheme.

While I was channeling Laura, I CASEd another of her cards. Just quietly, I like this one I've made better than the first that I showed you. ;-)

I used PTI Lovely Layers and Birds & Blooms (sentiment). Colours are PTI Vintage Cream base, Fresh Linen, Berry Sorbet, Melon Berry, and SU! Red (retired, and I've forgotten the name, it must be too late at night for my brain to work). Ink is SU! Early Espresso, and PTI Berry Sorbet.

Now it is time for me to get some beauty sleep. Thanks for dropping by!

Michelle
xxx

MUSE #6

Hello!

At last!! MUSE Challenge is into it's 6th week and I finally managed to make a card before deadline! Yay!! :-)

Today is so rainy - dull grey, non-stop rain, water everywhere. I decided to make a card instead of the rest of my usual Saturday activities (other than taking the little one to her gymnastics training). I snuck off to my friend's place this morning to collect my latest Papertrey Ink order. Being Anniversary month, I didn't hold high hopes for speedy delivery (PTI usually takes 3-4 weeks to arrive to us in Brisbane) but this month they exceeded all expectations and the order arrived within two weeks - it's a miracle!!

Here is the first card from the new stamps. Bright and cheery to lighten up my day!

I used PTI Birds & Blooms and Stylish Sentiments: Birthday. Colours are PTI Berry Sorbet, SU! Poppy Parade, Pretty In Pink, Certainly Celery, and Memento Tuxedo Black. Card base is PTI white.

The MUSE card is this one by Deanna Jean (who I happen to admire hugely!). If you want to pin this photo, please follow the link to Deanna's post and pin from there.

 

I had intended to draw a box around my sentiment to the image, but I changed sentiments at the last minute and the line frame just didn't work, so I've used my rhinestones to frame the sentiment instead. I stayed close to Deanna's colour scheme and image/sentiment placement.

While I type this post I am being serenaded by fourth grade violin practice. :-)  It's beautiful to listen to some days.

That high chair is there for a baby doll and baby visitors, not for us! We only have a 10 year old and a 5 year old in this house. ;-)

Thanks for coming to visit.

Michelle
xxx