An invitation to Play Cards FROM a Friend!!

I was delighted by an invitation from a friend to Play Cards - yes, it can work this way, too!  

Shirley Bampton a.k.a. Shirley B's Stamping Stuff,  and The Bee's Knees, designs sets for Stamplorations.  I once used her fun Poinsettia set for a split-four technique, in a much different, non-Christmas way - perhaps you'll remember it?  If not you can see it here.  Shirley loved it so much that she made her own - it caused quite a bit of shopping I hear!  Yay!

Shirley invited me to play with another of her sets - yes, please!  We only wish we could do it in the same place!  

We're using The Bee's Knees: Carved Flowers today - totally reminds me of 'potato stamping' in elementary school.   Stamplorations, and Shirley have done all the work for us!

Shirley - at your suggestion:  using slimline style -  I've made four slimline minis - this is my 6.5 x 11 inch panel - you'll see that I've scored it to indicate my sections:

 Split, and mounted:

And a closer look at each, with the inks used:

I masked the edge of this panel so I could use these large petals without carry over to its neighbor.

Most of these sentiments are in the set!  So fun!

This sentiment above comes from another Stamplorations' set called 

Bloomfully: thankful.  

You might remember it from my IB Mother's Day card?

Shirley I had such a wonderful time with your wonderful Carved Flowers!  All the petals, and leaves are perfect for making all the custom blooms a girl could ever want!  Thank you so much for inviting me to play cards with you!

I'm coming over  - and bringing all my friends with me - right ladies?!  OH btw, Shirley is highlighting her makes at Stamplorations, too - you'll find them here.

Thanks for stopping by today - and for leaving a comment!  It means the world!

=]  Michele

The Stamp Market - Fintastic Sardines!

What's that??  You don't like sardines??  I love them - and these paper ones don't stink up the joint, like the real ones do! lol

I could hardly wait to get my hands on this Fintastic stamp set, and Sardines dies from The Stamp Market.   I was determined to make that little turn-key work!!  Well, it looks like it did anyway...

The Sardines die set had everything I needed to cut 'lid' that 

I wound up on this fun key!

and ... the perfect finish to that sentiment, on the inside of my card!

When I get something new, I always try to use it in several ways - and combine some of their other products in my stash.  My first card uses their Happy Hearts cover die to emboss - and here's one with no stamping, using the Sardines dies, and some 'scaly' paper cut with the same die!  [You know those little hearts won't go to waste!]

Inside, a few words of my own:

Just flying by to say hi!  Now there's nothing fishy about that!!

[that's just for you Linda C.!  wink!]

I plan on joining my honey in the canoe for a bit of fishing over the weekend!  Hope your holiday plans include something you love to do!!

See you on the flip side...

=]  Michele

Inspired By #176 - love the way you lilac

 

I cannot be the only girl in the world who would love an armful of lilacs? Throw in a bunch of peonies, and imagine the aroma!!  

Now imagine that you just happen to have the perfect set of stamps for that!!  So perfect, that I have two cards for you today!!

Enter a very old, discontinued set - PTI's Botanical Blocks II - first up: Lilacs!

I've done a little 'bokeh' background, and found a place for the adding

a bit of that violet pink - see if you can find it on the unopened buds.

Here are the Copics I've used for my Lilacs:

Ready for the Peony?

... and their Copics:

No, you are not required to make two cards in order to play along... but we wouldn't be mad about it - wink!  I can't wait to see what my IB teammates have created - 

join me, won't you?  Right here at IB176.

=]  Michele

Pinkfresh Studio May 2021 Challenge - take two!

 

Hello my friends!  I'm seeing some wonderful cards in the Pinkfresh Studio May 2021 Challenge gallery!  One more attempt on my part couldn't hurt - my wish-list is very long!

I've used the fabulous Miss Your Smile stamps, and layering stencils once again - honestly I've used them MANY times since they arrived - this one combines the lovely colors from the PF Challenge combination again ... hope they like it!

I wanted to share a discovery - one that you may already have learned - about Distress Oxide inks.  Using an ink like Versa Clair for the outline stamping can be affected by the oxide inks, leaving them rather chalky looking ... here's a look at how I conquered the chalky look:

Before look:  after stamping with Versa Clair, and layering oxide inks:

Do you see the 'chalky' look of the outlines?  After applying TH Distress Micro Glaze ...  there's a visible difference to me!

I was then happy enough to complete my card... highlighting another of the Perfect Sentiments and that genius one-piece die, as I did with my first card, with one of the Braided Tags dies!  

OH have you heard the fabulous news???  Pinkfresh now sells their fabulous jewels in refill packs so you can pick your favorites, or refill those little jars!!  Now the next trick is finding them in stock!  Here's a link to those among my favorites!  I love the kraft stamping and layering with these colors - do you?

Thanks for dropping by - I'd love to know if you already knew about that glaze!

=]  Michele

CAS Christmas May 2021

 Have you ever made a card in your head so many times, you thought 

you'd actually made it??  

That's exactly what happened to me this month!  

Christine, I LOve your theme!  and this Winter Greenery set from Wplus9 is perfect, in my humble opinion!  

I'd better make this a quick post - I'm just going to make that 

CAS Christmas Foliage & Berries deadline!  EEK!

My card measures 8.5 x 3.75"

Back to the regularly scheduled Monday duties!  Thanks for stopping by!

=]  Michele

Wplus9 Winter Greenery stamps and dies

Catherine Pooler inks 

PinkFresh Studio Braided Circles dies and edges

It's easy to SEA...

Simon is bound to become a favorite ocean-faring friend!  Thanks, Jane for inviting me to play with him!!

Tom insisted on the little 'gift' from his friend! 

The inks I've used for Simon's waves:

While I was at it, I brought out another favorite from Jane's Doodles called St. Nick for my second card for Christmas Kickstart: Santa and friends! It was fun to hang out with my friend Bonnie - she's an incredibly sweet, and talented Elf!

Looks like Rudolph may have had one too many spins 

around the rink, Santa! swirls complements of a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and my dad's hammer!

Thanks for stopping in!  Hope your week is filled with happiness!

=]  Michele

Also played:

MFT Cloud stencils, for Simon

Spellbinder's Candlewick ovals dies

 Thank you Christmas Kickstart! 

Christmas Kickstart #50 - Santa and friends!

I have fallen WAY behind on my goals for my Christmas cards - thank goodness that I have the Christmas Kickstart Challenge to help me out!  I really find it hard to believe it's their 50th challenge - another reason to get a card made [or two].

Before I share my card, I want to give a shoutout to all the Scrapbookers out there - I jumped right into card making and really didn't know about the scrap-booking industry before that.  Very Big rock, and I was under it, I guess.  The reason I mention it, is that I hopped along at Instagram with Pinkfresh Studio yesterday and ogled all the gorgeous pages/layouts their team members, and guests made!  WOWZERS!  Scrapbooking has come a very long way!

I got out a few older sets of Pinkfresh design papers to push myself away from CAS design today - it is HARD!  But here is my card...  Santa has a new ride...

I'm quite sure these sets are no longer available, which is a shame because they are so fun!  In the original set, Santa is sitting on a bar stool - which I stamped and then promptly snipped it off, which left Santa in the perfect side-saddle position!  lol

A few layers of papers [December Days, and Felicity] cut with my stand-by PF Braided Tags dies - one snipped short - and it sits side-saddle, too!

I'd better get this over to Christmas Kickstart - and you should play, too!  We have 10 more days to get a card made and in the gallery here.   Plenty of time!

=]  Michele

Pinkfresh:  

Simple Joy stamps and dies  [I did find a few on ebay]

Festive Llama stamps and dies 

Braided Tags

Altenew Speech Bubble dies

Waffle Flower Weekly Challenge - theme Travel around the World!

What a pleasure to be invited to play along with Jeanne, and Crystal, at Waffle Flower's weekly challenge!  During Week 3 of this month of May, we are traveling around the world, with the darling sets designed by Waffle Flower's wonderful llustrator Kamo.   Of course, we hope you'll join us!

Every one of Kamo's sets makes me smile - I love to travel, and hope one day to visit France!  Until then, here is my paper-journey to France, using Kamo's Bonjour combo set ...

WF's Brick Wall stencil was just the perfect tool to create a cobbled street, where Mademoiselle has had a little Bordeaux, and shopped for her baguette, and blooms!

Because I had just gotten the fun Stitched Diamond panel die, 

I couldn't resist using it to create my own Eiffel Tower - 

you'll have to use your imagination, as I have done ...

JJ's Rainbow Thank You die set was used for my cloud - 

cut from a debossed piece of vellum today.

In my imagination the Tower is cloud covered on rainy days!

Thank you, Jeanne, for inviting me to join your challenge team this week!  Merci, mon amies for stopping by!  I do hope you'll join us this week!  There is a $25 prize for one winning card maker on the challenge blog, and another for a card posted on IG!  BTW you don't have to have a blog to play along!  Just tag your card with #WFC2105W3 on Instagram, or add it on their Waffle Flower Garden Facebook Fan page!

=]  Michele

Inspired By #175 - hello baby flowers

No babies in our future, so I took liberties with the punctuation to read:

Hello, baby flowers!  Who doesn't love Spring and the baby flowers that are blooming?

Who wouldn't love them cascading like this:

Another PinkFresh Studio stencil borrowed from Marcia!

Hanging Garden layering stencils

And who wouldn't love to read these words?
SSS You are Loved die

I'll tell you what else we'd love - to see YOU playing along!

Let's go see all the inspiration from the IB team, shall we?

Thanks for stopping by!

=]  Michele

Oxides used today:

So I could join in the fun at Pinkfresh Studio's May 2021 Challenge!

Friday fun on Tuesday!

No challenge, no pressure, just a little stencil fun I had last Friday that I wanted to share with you today!

This card involves layered stenciling, and outline stamping with sets from Pinkfresh Studio!  A gorgeous creation designed by Emily Midgett, called Miss Your Smile!  

I stamped the slimline-sized image first, then layered lots of Distress Oxide inks with the four stencils that create just gorgeous shadows, and highlights to these blooms, and leaves... hope you like it:

I wanted to draw attention to this fun sentiment - from the Perfect Sentiments set of stamps, and coordinating dies that stamps, and cuts all 

ELEVEN of the sentiments at once!

so I used just one of the dies from PF Braided Tags set to highlight it!  Fun, right?

I also tucked a snippet of blended card behind it - it was destined for this panel!

So that's about it for today - thanks for stopping by!  In other news, I'll be meeting IN PERSON one of my longest long-distance blogging friends on Thursday!!  You'll have to wait for the reveal!  OH I am being a tease today!

=]  Michele

Stamps and dies linked to EH as they are completely sold out at Pinkfresh!

Sadly those Pinkfresh jewels are still not available - sorry to tease you again!

Distress Oxides used: Worn Lipstick + Coral Cabana for the pinks.  Dried Marigold + Carved Pumpkin for the oranges, Peeled Paint + Mowed Lawn for the leaves!

The Flower Challenge - # 56 Favorite Flower Reminder!

Just a little reminder that you still have lots of time to share your favorite flower with us at The Flower Challenge #56!

Here's another of my favorites,  which I was reminded of while playing cards with a friend yesterday - a flower that causes us to remember those we've lost: Poppies!

Another set borrowed from my friend - a beauty from Penny Black.

I simply stamped it onto water color card, and added lots of doodling with a Copic fine liner pen.

It's quite alright to have more than one favorite flower - and to play along more than once!  Be sure to follow the rules given at The Flower Challenge blog, of course.  Hope to see you there!

=]  Michele

CAS Mix Up Challenge - May 2021 - a reminder!

My hopes to make a reminder card as their May guest designer for the CAS Mix Up May 2021 Rainbow challenge materialized!  Thanks, Jenny!  My reminder card evolved, as cards often do.  

What started with a girl, a gorgeous stencil, her blending brushes, some rainbow colored distress oxides inks, and a simple piece of Bristol card stock - quickly turned sour!  But guess what happened?  I took a wonderful technique Loll* introduced me to and spritzed my inky stencil, flipped it over, and placed it over top of a second piece of Bristol!  Leave it for a few seconds, lift, and this is the gorgeous CAS result...

 

[Sorry to tease you with those PFS jewels again - still out of stock!]

I do hope you've enjoyed stenciling a rainbow of your own - maybe you'll take a second look through your stencils, and play again?  You have time!

Thanks again, to the CAS Mix Up team for inviting me to be their guest this month!

=]  Michele

The Crafter's Workshop - Mini Joyful Sunflower [thanks again my friend!]

MFT Wonky rectangle die

SSS - Big You die

Pinkfresh Studios Essential Jewels 

* Stencil Monoprint - though I will always call it Loll's Stencil Magic!  thanks, Loll!