Inspired By #197 - a color challenge!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!

While we're all enjoying lots of yummy leftovers this week, the team at Inspired By is shaking things up a bit: a COLOR challenge!  Read all about it here, then pick and choose the colors you're inspired to use for your cards!

There is an abundance of beauty in this #IB197 photo!  I had an unused, brand spankin' new group of wonderful Wplus9 products that, in my humble opinion, were meant for this week!  You'll let me know if I'm wrong, right?

I was drawn to the dishes in delft blue, the gold in the table runner, and those gorgeous flowers [and wine] in Merlot!  The perfect colors to choose for this 

Wplus9 Flora & Fauna 3 set - I was lucky enough to grab a special bundle @dawnwplus9 offered when these products released!  OH do I love it when a company includes a die for their main sentiment, too.  You'll find the blue and gold repeated in the Scripted Backgrounds.

So!  Which colors will you be inspired by?  Believe me, if I [the color challenged one] can do it, anyone can!  My teamies have offered even more inspiration on our Inspired By blog!  Always a fun read - you know, over that second piece of pie! 

=] Michele

Playing Cards with Friends November 2021 - giving thanks!

Hello my friends!  It's time for me to Play Cards with another wonderful friend!  I'm so thankful my guest for November is Lindsey Larsen - perhaps you'll know her better by her blogging name Occasional Crafting.  Lindsey can be found guest designing for many companies, and challenges, and is also a member of the Pretty Pink Posh design team - but seriously, her cards are really gorgeous no matter whose supplies she puts her beautiful heart into!

Lindsey and I were on the 12 Kits of Occasions team together for years.  I was so happy to meet her on one of our wonderful road trips - my gosh, it's been years ago, but those hugs remain imbedded in my memory, my friend!  

Here are the parameters I chose for us... it is the month of giving thanks.  Lindsey and I share a love of leaves, so this was an easy assignment:

• Leaves in any color
• a thank you, or Thanksgiving card   

I have an abundance of leafy sets to choose from, but this one, called Grateful Autumn* from Memory Box, called my name - or maybe it was the sentiments?

This gorgeous image was stamped in WOW embossing ink, and heat embossed with Altenew's Rose Gold embossing powder.   I used just the slightest bit of water as it is stamped onto Neenah #110 card, and a few Altenew dye inks for water coloring.  I didn't want to lose a bit of the image so I used a double-stitched rectangle from Wplus9 for cutting, and the littlest of all the rounded rectangles from Altenew for my sentiment.

Please join me as I dash over to Lindsey's?  I cannot wait to see which of her leaves she used today!

I'm so thankful that you accepted my invitation, Lindsey!  and thankful to all of you fellow card makers for stopping by today!  BTW  I've already started on my 2022 calendar - hint, wink!

=]  Michele

*I know someone will be curious about this older stamp - here it is!  Grateful Autumn xx

Inspired By #196

I just couldn't resist the #IB196C inspiration at Inspired By this week!  Isn't that the sweetest Advent Calendar ever made?  I brought out lots of old sets this week, and though the name here is 'Neighbor Tag' I did resist making a tag!  But! I couldn't resist making TWO cards!  There is so much to be inspired by in this photo - see if you can find what caught my eye...

All of you seasoned card makers will recognize my old SSS Village Dies c. 2014 - today I paired them with a set from PTI's c. 2015  Warmest Wishes for the mountains, and trees.  Each was stamped in Versafine black, clear embossed, and simply water-colored.

Trying to keep my layers to a minimum for mailing.  You can see that the mountains, and glittery stars, have been inlaid - the rest are lifted just a bit with a scrap of card stock.

The same supplies were used for this next one...

Popping out those teensy window bits and swapping them between the white and kraft houses was a feat, but well worth the fiddling, don't you think?

November will bring you two Holiday themed inspirations, and a Sketch - we know you all have very long card lists - how about playing along while making?  We love having you!  Lots of lovely cards from our IB team this week - see you there!

=]  Michele 

Color Hues #30 Silver and Gold

Hello, my friends!  I was delighted by the happy news from a friend telling me I'd had a win over at Color Hues with my orange and brown card!  I couldn't have made that card without a little corny help from another friend - thank you, Michelle!

So with joy in my heart, I sat right down to make another entry!  Carol gave us the most Seasonally appropriate color scheme this time:  

I took those colors down a different path...

... armed with these Copics:

I gave this gorgeous Penny Black character a gold hat and scarf, 

and gloves with a silvery grey coat!  [which I'd totally wear!]

First, it was stamped in Copic friendly ink, of course, then I gave her a bit

of a gloomy snowy day - and added a bit of cross-hatching for interest with a grey Prismacolor pencil.  I'm getting quite daring adding those little bits of script, right?

All restamped with WOW embossing ink, and heat embossed with Ranger fine detail silver, and gold embossing powder.

Okay.  It was not complete without one silver, and one gold, snowflake!  This may be my favorite of all the Christmas cards I've made this year!  Thanks, Carol!

=]  Michele

Penny Black: Christmas Wishes c. 2018; Wplus9 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles; The Greetery Pretty Postmarks

The Paper Players

The Paper Players, and my friend Joanne, have the most beautiful color challenge this week - once again, I ask you: how could I resist?

 

I received a few wonderful little Alexandra Renke die cuts tucked inside a pretty birthday card - perfect time to use them!

Goodness, between the gloomy day, and that elusive silver, this was a photo nightmare!  Here are a few closeups.  I added a bit of Gansai Tambi white gold water color pigment to my wreath, and splattered it onto my patterned paper, too. 

Another fun sentiment from The Stamp Market - and a VERY old bow die from MFT?

Thanks, Joanne, for choosing all my favorite colors, and to your entire team for the gorgeous inspiration!

=]  Michele

The Flower Challenge #62 - reminder!

 

Yes, you read that correctly - and I'm here to remind you to play along with us at The Flower Challenge, as we must add leaves to our mandatory flowers this month!  Often the easiest thing for me - the leaves are so beautiful to me!  

I am honoring the lovely Poinsettia this month - also easy for me as it is a favorite at Christmas!  Here is that lovely layered one from Uniko again - in varying  shades of red, and pink:

A bit of masking magic allowed me to keep it nice and flat for mailing!

Bonus leaves from this set were added today, too.  A few favorite dies from PinkFresh helped me with the panel, and sentiment label.

I've loved how creative and gorgeous you have been so far - you have a few more weeks to use those lovely leaves AND flowers before the door closes on our challenge!

=]  Michele

A weekend with Waffle Flower and friends!

It is the most wonderful time when three of my favorite people Challenge you to make a non-traditional-colored Christmas card!  there's nothing I could do but grab a few cherished, and one new, Waffle Flower products, my favorite Copics and get to it!!

Why, yes, I did buy another Poinsettia... how could I resist this one???  This time I masked, and layered them up into a pretty bouquet, and Copic colored them in shades of purplish-blue-grey!

Hope they like it!  I know a couple of my favorite guys will!

=]  Michele

Waffle Flower Crafts Poinsettia Blooms and dies combo; Nested Domes; and Wonderful Christmas sentiments combo.  PinkFresh Studio gems

A day of play with Pigment Craft Co.

Hello my friends!  Glad you stopped by today - I had a few wonderful play days with some new inks from Pigment Craft Co. and some lovely additions to my PCC stash!

I'll keep the chat to a minimum... if you have any questions, please contact me directly, as your comments sometimes turn up as 'no reply blogger' - so sad when I can't respond!

Ready. set. scroll!

A very old Neat & Tangled tag - but such a pretty place to hang this

PCC beautiful berry sprig!  I found the prettiest glittery sentiments in my snippets!

A new addition to my ever growing collection: Modern Poinsettia!  I did a little clipping,

after this was stamped - it's a big one!  Backed it with PCC quatrefoil cover die,

and topped it off with a glittery sentiment from The Stamp Market's 'tis the season.

I found this pack of Stormy Sea PTI paper and thought it was so lovely with these ink colors!

PCC Merry Christmas split sentiments, and ribbons and wreaths - 

a little dollop of stickles, can never hurt at Christmas time!

This next combo might be my favorite of all... there's that Modern Poinsettia in all

its glory, on a 5x7 card!

After die cutting the bouquet, I rescued the bottom half of the negative cut, added embossed stripes, and gave the whole bit a splattering of ink, before adding it to my card base.

PCC Winter Sprig was enough to fill this card with joy of the Season. The coordinating die set

includes the bare stem for layering - or to add a little sparkle to your swag!

I used Pigment's Sage, with a few CP inks for this one, and the next ...

There's that cherished PTI plaid, along with another The Stamp Market's sentiment 

and cherry kissed ink

One more!  I had to share that panel of embossed vellum!!

I used my SU tasteful textile folder, and PTI stamper's select vellum - a fine mist

 of water kept it from cracking - it did warp a little but I don't mind it!

Okay. that might have been over sharing - but since I can't send each and every one of you a Christmas card [hope you know I would hand-deliver one if I could] you at least get to see what keeps me busy 'round here!  

Happy crafting, sweet friends!   OH!  Thanks for each and every birthday wish sent my way!  My day was very special because of them!

=]  Michele

Inspired By #195 White Christmas

 

Inspired By - White Christmas?  Oh yes, but there was a bit of green added to my card today!  One couldn't run a very successful tree market without it, right?

Marcia to the rescue again!  I had this little stamped piece [PTI Farm Fresh Trees] left from our play-date!  Paired with my Waffle Flower Domed dies, and plaid maker set, it was pretty easy to bring the things that inspired me from our prompt to my card - can you spot them?  

At this point I wondered why I hadn't stamped a few more of those PTI trees! Would you believe this is the only single Christmas tree stamp I own?   Another oldie but goodie from PTI's In the Meadow.   Undecorated, and trimmed down to make various sizes, it may be the only one I'll ever need!   A few Wplus9 snowflakes, a splatter of snow, and a few Stickles twinkle lights, and done!

Okay, it's time to pass the baton to you makers - which will you choose to be inspired by this week?  that pretty White Christmas, or these brown paper packages, tied up with string?  We won't care either way - your darling cards continue to be some of our favorite things!!!

=]  Michele

No laundry today! Peace on Earth Challenge 3

 Okay, not because there isn't any laundry - I've just given myself the day off!  It's my [birthday] party and I'll play if I want to!!  lol  Here's what inspired me today...

... and all the lovely inspiration from the Peace on Earth team, too!

I had a little piece of black/white gingham just big enough to cut three little Reverse Confetti trees - two outside my window [Mama Elephant] cut from Craft Consortium Wood Textures papers - and one inside with a little gold star topper.

That starry paper is another oldie from Crate Paper.

Simple, yet still joyous, I think!  

O' Christmas trees, how lovely are your gingham branches!

=]  Michele

A few cards - two CAS Challenges! and Take 2 for Altenew!

Hello my friends - happy weekend-eve!  I've delivered my Christmas card contribution to my friends at Bring Smiles to Seniors - though I fell far short of a very lofty goal, it was nice to know my little stack of 160 will join the 20,000 cards collected this year just in Michigan!!  That surely brings ME a smile!

Now I have a few spare moments to just PLAY!!  The CAS Challenges always spark my creative juices, so yesterday my thinking cap was donned, and I got busy!  First up, for CAS Christmas - a sweet little Penny Black hedgy joy ... host Barb really has chosen a sweet theme for their 2021 finale: Critters!  

Tom snuck in while I was adding the finishing touches - he thinks this one's for him!

Have I mentioned that he has taken on Astrophotography as a hobby?  Amazing!

Of course, the sentiment is tucked inside - which I didn't share with him, either!

Looks like Mr. Hedgy is about to make someone's Christmas wish come true!

Edited to add this wonderful news:

Thank you, to the entire CAS Christmas team!

Ms. Loll has us Monoprinting again for CAS Mix Up!  OH it's my favorite of all the wonderful techniques she's taught us over the life of her CAS challenges!  my little 'hitchhikers' [Meadow and Willow Dragonflies -Memory Box c. 2012] had so much fun taking part in this challenge...

A wee little Hi from Pinkfresh Studios

The stencil I used is Altenew's Feathery stencil - and if I've learned anything from these CAS ladies it's NEVER waste ink... so I did a bit of creative mopping up...

more words from Pinkfresh, a gorgeous new stamp from Wplus9 Vintage Ephemera

gold heat embossed.  a bit of subtle texture from SU subtle texture, of course!

Last but not least - here is that Take 2 I mentioned for Altenew's Inspiration Challenge November 2021... water color paint from Altenew - loved the colors so much I repeated them on my CAS monoprint.  

Bird of Paradise and my well-loved Swirling dots coverplate.

Happy weekend, everyone!  Thanks for stopping by!

=]  Michele

The Flower Challenge #62 Add Leaves

I will admit to being a bit flummoxed by our prompt/theme at The Flower Challenge this month - don't all flowers have leaves??  AHHHH then I remembered that lovely tropical wonder that we've all adopted as quintessential Christmas plant:  the Poinsettia!  whose petals are not the flower, but their leaves!  If you doubt me, just read all about it here  then take a look at the leaves I stamped with a lovely Poinsettia from Uniko - a lovely gift from an even lovelier friend! and, yes, a favorite of mine at Christmas!

For those of you who own this Season of Beauty from Uniko, you'll notice I gave them a little of my own touches with a Copic marker, after layering up those leaves with Red Cosmos collection of inks from Altenew!  Now is the perfect time to add this gorgeous embossing from Altenew, too!  

I'm off to see how The Flower Challenge team has interpreted this theme... join me, won't you?  

=]  Michele

Inspired By #194c

 

I could hardly resist the urge to press 'publish' after making my card for IB194C - our Christmas version of Inspired By this week.  I had a chance to get my hands on my friend's The Greetery's Winterberry Bouquet set a few weeks ago - I have a special place in my heart for Winterberry bushes, and all the birds they bring to my studio window!

Papertrey Ink - Winterberry Bouquet stamp & stencils set - of course Marcia had the dies, as well!

this lovely embossed background was a generous gift [Cuttlebug Distressed stripes]from another friend, and you may recognize the Spellbinders' Hemstitch Circle dies by now?

Here's a little closeup for you...

I have tucked a few pearls in - it's such a feminine set for them!  that little bow comes 

from a CP set called Woodland Wreath; my sentiment is a Waffle Flower Crafts Wonderful Christmas combo set of sentiments - it's quickly becoming a favorite!

Thank you Marcia for sharing your bounty with me!

You may have your eye on the other photo inspiration this week - that wreath is also really gorgeous, and Thanksgiving is around the corner!  We love to see what inspires you each week - so play 'til your hearts are happy!  I know my heart is always happy seeing the lovely cards my teamies have made - check them out!  

=]  Michele