CASE Study #82 and Clean and Simple #181

Hello!

The CASE Study muse this month is Laura Bassen. I wish I had had time to enter all of the challenges. I love Laura Bassen. For CASE Study #82, this is the inspiration.

My interpretation doesn't come close, but here it is:

I used PTI Tiny Tags and cut my stars from Stampin' Up! Ruby Red (retired), Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, and Old Olive. I strung them up on Twinery twine. The sentiment is Think Big Favorites #13. The card base is PTI basic white.

Edited to add: I just realised that this card also fits with the sketch over at Clean & Simple #181, so linking up now. :-)

Skip this paragraph if you don't want to listen to me whinge... I have spent most of the past few days in bed. I am aching all over, including a massive headache, I have a sore throat, and I am very tired. I was lying in bed (very bored) thinking "Maybe I feel worse because I am just laying around? Perhaps if I just got up and got moving around a bit, I'll feel better?".  I got up, made a sandwich, threw on a load of washing, and made this card. I can now report that I do not feel better, I feel worse, and I'm off to jump back into bed, sigh! I really don't like being sick. I am ready to get better now. :-)

Thanks for coming by to visit!

Michelle
xxx

Silhouette Thank-You

Hello!

I have an entry for three challenges today.

Less Is More, Week 42: Silhouettes. Thank-you Chrissie and Mandi, I have had this little silhouette idea in the back of my mind for months, and you've galvanised me to action.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #108, which has these beautiful, warm autumn colours:

Clean and Simple Stamping, Layout #167:

As soon as I saw this layout, I imagined cutting a circle out and placing my image inside the aperture, which is exactly what I did.

And my card is this one:

Forgive the wonky photo, I didn't realise I had put it on such a lean until making this post, and I only took one shot, oops!

I quite like this card. What do you think?

Now I'm off outside to play in the water with my kids. We have a water amnesty this week-end, which means we can use as much as we like, yippee! We usually live with very, very strict water restrictions due to the effects of drought, but the powers-that-be are preparing for another bumper wet season, so trying to reduce the water in the dams.  I hope it does end up being a big wet season, otherwise all this water wastage will feel very frivolous in hindsight. I washed my car yesterday for the first time in a long time. It's so shiny! I love using water guilt free sometimes...

Michelle
xxx

Pink & Grey Christmas

Hello!

It's been a while, I've been a little busy... making halloween costumes, the usual kiddy activities, music concerts and exams, housework...

Today I'm bringing you a quick little Christmas card that I whipped up yesterday just before transforming myself into a witch (dark purple eye shadow sure is difficult to budge when you're finished with it, LOL).

The colour combination I've chosen is from Just Add Ink Colour Challenge #91.

The layout is from Clean & Simple FTL#164

And my card is this one:

The stamp sets are PTI Snowflake Serenade and Christmas Friends. I heat embossed the bauble and the string. I also added some SU! Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The snowflakes were stamped in Versamark. I love grey snowflakes.

Before I go, I'll show you one of the costumes I created for yesterday's party. I have chopped my little girl's head off in the photo because I don't put my family photos in this blog, for their privacy (a real pity, because she looked SO cute). Her hair was yellow with ribbons made from the same material as the skirt all over her head.  She was Oscar the Grouch, and she loved her costume. The skirt can now be used by my eldest daughter, because the straps and Oscar's face were all just pinned on for the evening. My big girl is thrilled because this skirt is VERY twirly and floaty.

I hope you liked the card, and enjoyed the peek at my costume. :-)

Michelle
xxx

Happy Fathers Day, Hubby!

Hello!

Fathers Day here in Australia is this coming Sunday. As usual, I have been fluffing around trying to work out what card I would give to my hubby. Masculine cards and I aren't the best of friends. I don't know why, but all the great "man" ideas I come up with seem to NOT translate to paper from my head.  The sentiment I want to convey to my husband on Fathers Day is that I am thrilled to have him  as my partner in this parenting business, and how much I love him.  He isn't a fluffy-card type man. And as I've said before, he rarely gets excited about my cards. I've made about four cards so far. This one might be the one, but I still have a couple more days to go. . .

I decided to use the joint Clean & Simple and ColourQ challenge this week:

I was looking for a masculine colour scheme, and I liked this one:

The card I came up with was:

This card was so, so difficult to photograph and edit! The contrast of light and dark, the clear embossing, all conspired against me, LOL.  I clear embossed the definitions to give the card some texture and interest, and to get those sentiments that I was trying to convey across. The sentiment definitions I used: Delight, Happy, XOXO.

I used (all SU!):
Stamps: Artistic Etchings, Life Definitions
Ink: Crumb Cake, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Night of Navy
Card: Whisper White, Certainly Celery, Night of Navy, Bashful Blue, Sahara Sand

So what do you think?

Michelle
xxx

P.S. Come back later today for some exciting news from me.

Noahs' Ark - CAS#150 and JAI#78

Hello!

Well, news since I last blogged: I received an Honorable Mention (Cream in Our Coffee) over at the Playdate Cafe Challenge for this card. I was so excited. The entries were all beautiful. It amazes me sometimes, the depth of the talent out there, and I'm so grateful for all that inspiration that comes with looking at other people's work in these challenges.

This week I got some new stamps. . . and you know what that means. . . I had to get working straight away to test them out!  Back in June I came across a Blog Hop for Jane's Doodles which demonstrated Noah's Ark and Garden Friends stamp sets. Of course, I at once fell in love with both sets, and after a month of thinking about it, I couldn't hold out any longer. I have a new baby nephew arriving in the next six weeks or so, so I want to get the card prepared. . .  I might have a few prototypes along the way, LOL!  One of the great things about Jane's Doodles (apart from the fabulous stamps) is that they ship from Australia, so postage for me is reasonable, yippee! Oh, and the order arrived within two working days, and I love great service.

Today's inspiration for colour came from Just Add Ink #78:

Today's layout inspiration came from Clean & Simple FTL#150:

Unusually for me, I added some extra colours in.  I had to.  My animals needed them. LOL.  But the basic colours used stuck to the formula.  Also unusually for me, I got a bit creative with the layout.  I think it is still recognisable as FTL#150, though, don't you?

Here is my card:

Lots of paper-piecing here. Looking at my cards, you'd think I like cutting out, but I don't really.  Sometimes though, it is needed.  This stamp works beautifully with colouring, but I don't have any colouring pens, so paper-piecing it was.  I did use a blender pen to colour my monkey's nose, LOL!

What I used: Not Quite Navy sentiment, waves, and circles in the water. Sahara Sand card base, elephant and monkey's patches. Chocolate Chip monkey, giraffe spots, and all of the outlines. Certainly Celery Ark.  (I also added Pale Plum hippo, Apricot giraffe and lion face, and Pumpkin lion mane, and the Bashful Blue background because I needed sea and sky).



I actually did another card before this one, outside of any challenges, but when it was finished, I decided that I'd used too strong a blue for the sea compared to the rest of the colours, so my sea stands out and the rest of the muted papers disappear, including my animals!  I'll show you anyway, because it is still cute, and I will probably use the layout again, just with different colours. I do love my elephant's ears and my spotty giraffe on this one.  Oh, and the bird fits on this layout, I had to cut him off for the other one.

So what do you think? Isn't this image just the cutest?

Oh, I forgot to mention, I have noticed my follower count rising again. You ladies make me feel wonderful, adding me to your blog list, I feel very honoured, thank-you!

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

CAS #122 and Color Throwdown #123

Well, here I go, entering my first challenge!  In fact, I am entering two at the same time, just to give myself an extra-special challenge.  For a while now I have been watching my friend Cassie  create some absolutely stunning work in response to challenges, and every time I see a new card that she has made she inspires me to give it a go too.  After months of thinking about it, here I am actually doing it.

So the two challenges are Clean and Simple #122 layout:

And Color Throwdown #123 colour palette:

I have to admit, these colours did not excite me, particularly because I don't have Always Artichoke or Baja Breeze in my stock of colours, and also I wasn't sure how they would turn out together.  Luckily for me, I do have cameo coral, and also the Color Throwdown people were kind enough to share some digital coloured paper for me to use for the green and blue.

So here is my effort, I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.  What do you think?

What I used (all SU other than the designer paper from Color Throwdown):
Stamps - Butterfly Prints, Flight of the Butterfly, Vintage Labels
Cardstock - whisper white, cameo coral
Ink - cameo coral, mellow moss (the closest match to always artichoke that I have)
Clear embossing on small butterfly and Dazzling Diamonds on large butterfly

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx