Doodlebugs - Magnolia Ballerina!

Hello and happy weekend eve, my friends!  

Here's peek at the card I'll be featuring over at the 

Doodlebugs Blog today!  Hope you have a moment to hop over!

=] Michele

Fusion Flutterby!

It's not often I jump right in to play at challenges these days, but this one at Fusion today immediately gave me all the feels today! 

You might know I couldn't resist those butterflies, right?  Here are the inks I've used today, along with a 'banner' made from a dome die from Waffle Flower!  I couldn't bear to clip a bit of that knitted embossing for a fish tail - sorry!  

My friend Marcia allowed me to borrow her Pinkfresh Jumbo Butterflies home with me for a bit - thanks, sweet friend!  this sentiment is from Altenew's Paint-a-Flower Tulips set! and my embossing folder is a Richard Garay that normally is used in the Winter - the string art in the Fusion photo brought it out of hybernation!  

All I did was swipe the inks across the raised bits!

 Just three little PF gems, and it was a done deal!

Hope you've had a great week!  I'll see you again tomorrow!

=] Michele

p.s  THANK YOU, FUSION!!

A Colorful Life Designs - two more for the road!

 

I'm back today with my final projects as a guest designer for A Colorful Life Designs!  I have had such fun - and shared a few ways we can use these wonderful ACLD stencils on our cards!

My last card features that little teaser I mentioned last week: Sea Foam

Here is how I made it the perfect environment for a sleepy seafaring sailor - although how he could sleep through those waves is beyond me:

MFT You Keep me Afloat stamps and dies; 

starburst sentiment strip dies, plus Stitched Scallops - no longer available.

This time, I purposely inked up the stencil on my glass mat, spritzed it with

water and flipped it over on an A2 panel of Neenah 110# cardstock.

Okay, yes, it did warp - but I knew I would be sending it through my die-cutting 

machine after it dried to cut the waves - flattened it out nicely!

ONE more!

Oh Happy Day is a sentiment from The Stamp Market.

A sprinkle of Martha S. punched butterflies, and the centers of my 

groovy flowers are leftovers from an old Dotted die from MFT.

This Groovy Flower Mask brought me right back to the 70's!

Who remembers avocado green? My panel was stenciled in a traditional way,

using Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks - keeping the center a little less intense.  Then my micron pen went to work, again, to bring out the groovy-ness! 

A splash of black splats, and die-cut with a stitched rectangle, and

it was a happy card completed!

Thank you, A Colorful Life Designs! and my friend Amy for inviting me 

to delve more deeply into the wonderful world of stencils!

I had a blast!

=] Michele 

Second Helpings for Color Hues #39 Purple and Green!

A new little Spellbinder die arrived, so I had time to play again at

Color Hues #39 YAY!

Spellbinder's little Bouquet of Flowers dies

a beautiful Pinkfresh Floral Grid cover panel from a friend [thanks, Stef!] cut with the outer die from SSS Shimmer Oval that cuts the oval and leaves this pretty stitching.  A second cut from this lovely purple that I embossed before popping it in place.  The sentiment is one from Waffle Flower's Rejoice Rabbit. 

It's always a good day when I can sneak in Second Helpings!

=] Michele

Doodlebugs - tulip time!

 

Happy weekend eve, my friends!  It's Friday and time for me to invite you to see what I've created using some goodies from the Doodlebugs shop!  

Today it's all about this gorgeous new-t0-my-stash tulip from Honey Bee Stamps, and a new addition to my Altenew cover plate collection!!

Yes, I did need another - and you will, too!

 I'd love it if you dropped by the Doodlebugs Blog today!

=] Michele

Color Hues #39 - Purple and Green

I had all the best intentions of playing cards with Color Hues #38... don't believe me?  Here's the card I made... 

Altenew Mega Succulent + Apothcary Label dies + EH Everyday Punnies  

My day did kind of 'succ' after I realized I was too late!

That's okay - I just kept the idea and used another embossing folder -

not at all a hardship to bring Color Hues of purple and green to the party!

I love painting with distress inks even more now that I can squish them right onto

my new Glass Mat I recently won on IG!  Just LOVE this thing!

I embossed these gorgeous Lisa Horton Foxgloves into a panel of Bristol cardstock for that creamy white and tucked in simple hugs from PF.

Would you believe this is the first card I've made in weeks?  I'm happy to say it truly was like riding a bicycle!

=] Michele

Dive into A Colorful Life!

 

Hello again!  Are you ready for my next dive into the ocean of stencils from A Colorful Life Designs?  Did you see what I did there?  

ACLD's School of Fish 3x6" stencil jumped right into my boat cart!

Here's my first play - with a quartet of Catherine Pooler inks... and a bit of debossing for some ocean current ...

I'm very sad to say I didn't write down the colors - but please see these

inked up with the colors you love most - fish of any color of the rainbow 

can be found under the sea!  This old cover plate isn't available any longer - but

if I told you it was wood-grain, you might have just the thing in your own stash.

My wonderful die-cut sentiment is from Waffle Flower - called Sentiment Additions combo.

Let's dive in to my next card...

Sentiment from PTI - Ways to Say with Sympathy c. 2017

This beauty was once again the result of rescuing that leftover ink on my stencil[s]... isn't that water-y-broken-china-ink gorgeous??  I'm giving you a little teaser here for the next time... those ocean waves?  More A Colorful Life Designs soon...

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #67 Reminder

There's still plenty of time to 'add a heart' to any of your floral cards for

this month's The Flower Challenge!

I found another way to add a heart, and color these wonderful 

Waffle Flower Tulips using my favorite greys...

This darling stitched heart was cut from a panel made using 

Pinkfresh Studio Essentials: Stitches cover plate
[The sentiment comes from that set I borrowed from Marcia a few weeks ago.]

Subtle heart, but sweet, right?  Who says hearts should be saved for 

Valentine's Day??

Hope to see your sweet heart in The Flower Challenge gallery!

=] Michele

Doodlebugs - Pinkfresh & Mama Elephant

Another Friday Fun-day at Doodlebugs!  I've brought back the remaining three Pinkfresh Beautiful Blooms from last week - attempting to be better at using those beautiful leftovers ya know!  The top row of blooms in this set reminds me of Forget-me-nots, lavender, and periwinkles - they all call for blue!

Here's a sneaky peek - hope you drop by our Doodlebugs blog for the full reveal!

I know what you're thinking: Me, and blue??  turns out we can be friends!

=] Michele

What to do when you can't 'have it all' - yet!

Hello my friends!  Don't we all wish we could have every speck of every release that we admire most?  When Pinkfresh Studios has a release, I try very hard to 'do well with' what I allow myself to indulge in.  

I resisted buying the stamp set from the Rainbow Floral Suite - but HAD TO have the washi tape and dies AND stencils.  Here are a few ways I used that tape - just one of the many blooms - from the left on white paper, middle on gingham* paper, and right on kraft plaid* paper... 

A subtle difference, right?  Here are the gingham and plaid cards... but you'll have to wait for my Play Date in May for those on white - I'm such a tease, aren't I?

The little bird, and this sentiment, is an oldie from Altenew Wild Hibiscus set 

Now.  About that stamp set I neglected to buy ... here's my way around it for now.  But don't think I won't want it some day!  

As much as I like them - I didn't LOVE them.  

A little multi-liner pen work to the rescue!

Here's a closeup:

I thought about trying to outline the stencil, but following the graphic

on the back of the packaging, the addition of line art was pretty simple.  

Not perfect, but they sure add something extra.

This sentiment comes from PF Cosmos Bunch.  The panel die is PF Mini Slimline Essential bundle.  The dots are Altenew

These are my inks: 

That's it for me today - we're having lots of rain today, and it has warmed just enough to have my perennials peeking!  Beware of the forecast, little friends!

=] Michele

* both of these are from PTI

A Colorful Life - more stencils to love!

Hello friends!  I have another fun day of play with stencils from A Colorful Life Designs to share - so happy to be their guest designer this month.  Today I present one of their newest releases: Butterfly Flight!  paired with their Groovy Flower Mask!

For their maiden flight, I used the mask as it was intended using my blending brushes and distress oxide inks.  Then after drying, I went back in with a sparkly jelly roll pen to outline the butterflies - tough to see but I think you get the idea.

Sentiment from Altenew.

The perfect image for a full sized slimline card!

Don't they appear to be taking flight from my groovy garden?

BUT WAIT!!  

Before you clean the ink off of that stencil, spritz it with a fine mist of water, and flip it over onto a piece of clean paper - Neenah Solar white 110# card again for me.

Sentiment and die from Altenew

While I still had the inks out, I treated another A2 piece to the reverse inking of the 

Groovy Flower mask:

 

The sentiment and die comes from Altenew.

I used my micro pen to outline the butterflies in black, then cut a stitched

panel from the center after it had all dried.

Adding a few Marty Stewart punched butterflies brought a little more drama, don't you agree?

Let me tell you, it was really tough choosing which stencils to work with from all those offered at A Colorful Life Designs - they ALL are groovy from my view!  I know you'll find the perfect match for your own personality!

Thanks for stopping by!

=] Michele

Doodlebugs Friday!

More of my loose, messy water coloring today over at the Doodlebugs Blog!  This time using a lovely new to me set from Pinkfresh Studio:  Beautiful Blooms - and a wonderful place to plant frame them... hope you'll stop over!  thank you!

=] Michele

Playing Cards with Friends - April 2022

Here we are, the first week of April and YAY I'm Playing Cards with Friends, again!  

I met this month's friend while hanging out on a YouTube LIVE with a mutual friend of ours [Therese in case you're wondering] she became a regular in the Inspired By gallery - loved that!  and shares her beautiful creations at Perry Papercrafts.  After getting to know her better, I asked for her address and we realized that she lives less than 10 minutes from a childhood friend of mine from Michigan in Idaho!!  The world gets smaller every day!

Stef Perry, I'm hoping you had fun with our assignment - though I do know it gave you pause, and me too, if I'm being honest!!

• April, according to my research, is the NATIONAL MONTH OF HOPE -April 2022 - so our cards will have a theme of HOPE! [my word of the year!]
• You’re welcome to think Easter, if you’d like, or April showers.  Flowers are not quite blooming in Michigan, so NO FLOWERS!
• Dies, stencils, embossing are all approved!

Wait!! It's April!!! NO FLOWERS??? Yep. Them's the rules! lol  You may already know this, but Stef and I are teamies at THE FLOWER CHALLENGE,  so we share a love of everything floral - but not today!

Okay.  Enough chit chat - you're here for the card, right??  Here you go...

My chosen inks:

Pinkfresh Studio - Small Butterflies hot foil plate, stencils, and dies are

the main players here.  But I managed to tuck in a die-cut leafy branch from The Stamp Market, a wonky-stitched square for this HOPE-FILLED sentiment from PTI Just Sentiments - Spring Blessings - another one borrowed from Marcia! 

Dry embossing compliments of SU tasteful texture.

I'm very happy to have these darling butterflies - they are a beautiful stand-in for flowers!  

Thank you so very much, Stef, for joining me today - I look forward to SEEING you one day on our next stop in Idaho!

Now I do hope you'll join me as I dash over to Stef's blog - it's SO HARD to wait to see what my friends make!

=] Michele

A Colorful Life - Guest Designer

My friend Amy Schrock, of Amy's Wares, invited me to have a play with a few gorgeous stencils gifted to me from A Colorful Life Designs - thank you, Mary Kay!  I don't have, or often use 'stand-alone' stencils as the star of my cards.  There are so many mixed media artists I am in awe of!  Amy is one of them!

During the month of April, I will be popping in with cards using these incredible ACLD stencils - my way!  I hope you enjoy them!

First up - Flower Overlay stencil!  From my time spent with the fantastic gals at the CAS Mix Up challenge, I remembered a technique in which we used a micro pen to outline the open spaces of a stencil - it worked a charm on these oh so groovy flowers!  

So simple:  after using primary colors of distress inks through the stencil on a 6x9" piece of watercolor card stock, splashing them with water, I kept the stencil in place I used micro pens to outline the flowers and added a few dots of interest.  Then I found a stamp set to add the floral centers...

Then it was just a matter of finding a fun way of finishing off the cards!

These Mama Elephant word dies, a little tag, and a bit of quilting thread 

did the trick.

Wow, kinda bright for me, right??  Even though I love them - and the fact that I got two cards from each stenciled panel - I thought of another way to add ink... sponged water-coloring!!  This time on regular old Neenah Solor White 110# cardstock!

• It's as simple as smooshing inks, 
• having a little dish of water on hand - not too much water!
• grab a few blending sponges, 
• and dab away until your heart's content!

After allowing it to dry, I used the outline trick again... here's how they turned out...

I know - the sentiment is pretty special, right?  SO true!  

From The Stamp Market Kindness Matters

Oh yeah - those are more my colors! A pen and damp brush and a bit of grey ink were used to

add a bit more interest to the centers of the flowers.

Oldie but goodie Paper Smooches word die!

Thank you ACLD for your generosity - and Amy for the invitation to play!  You can find this 6x9" Flower Overlay stencil HERE at A Colorful Life Designs!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #67 Add a Heart

 

Hello again my friends!  So glad you've stopped by today!

It's time for The Flower Challenge #67 and we're asking you to add a Heart to your cards!

A few weeks ago, I had a wonderful day of playing cards with my friend Marcia... she has loads of flowers in her stash that I don't have so I had such fun choosing which one to borrow!   In fact, you might even recognize this beauty as I shared the orange/grey version here.  Check her out in shades of purple...

I found a beautiful way to 'add a heart' by tucking in a postage stamp from The Greetery's Pretty Postmarks - a bit of scripty goodness from that same set on my old favorite Audrey panel from W&W for another punch of purple.  I also snitched Marcia's use of those gorgeous black ferns - so incredible.  this one is from PTI's Into the Blooms: Dahlia die set.  

A birthday card for someone that will surely appreciate it, I think!

Do you have a heart you can add to a card in some special way?  We'll be watching for the most ingenious, and creative uses!  Our guest Esther Ashbury was VERY creative - check out her card, and those incredible teammates of mine for lots of inspiration over at The Flower Challenge blog!

=] Michele

A new Design Team!

 

I am so happy to finally share a bit of good news:

I've joined the Doodle Bugs design team!

Each Friday I'll be sharing a sneaky peek of my card here, then invite you to join me at the Doodle Bugs blog to see and hear all about it then head over to the shop to get great prices on our favorite companies' products - fabulous customer service AND free shipping at $30! 

 

Hope to see you there!  and thank you in advance!

=] Michele