Doodlebug Friday!

 

I'm saying hello to a new die set today ... hope you love it!  

You know the drill by now - you'll find the whole shebang over at

Doodlebugs!  Happy weekend!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #546

 

I love a good sale... and I love a good Sketch!  Amy has a fun one for FMS546 so I grabbed my latest buy from MFT and had a fun play! 

First up that card for Freshly Made Sketches - what to do, what to do... this is how I solved those circles: with one piece of patterned paper to represent a night sky!   Not sure my little Copic-colored friends meant to venture this far...

They might need those wishes...

MFT Sky-high Friends + Craft Consortium Grunge - Dark Tones DSP

Lots of JellyRoll platinum sparkly stars - and a silver heat-embossed sentiment.

I'm attending the Card Maker Success Summit this morning - oops I'm late!!!  Thanks for the darling Sketch, Amy!

=] Michele

What an honor to be crowned Queen of Clean!

Thank you, Amy!

Another Coneflower!

 A quick little post with another Honey Bee Coneflower where I've used patterned paper for a few of the layers... first a closeup of that little Colorado Craft Co. bee:

A tip: always test your inks to see if they can accept even the smallest amount of water...

you'll easily notice how I learned this lesson on his wings! 

I don't think it ruined my card one bit... 

These papers are so wonderful - from HoneyBee's Bee Bliss - also used on my Doodlebugs Friday card last week.  A very old Cuttlebug EF came out to play today, as did another sentiment from My Favorite Flower sentiments.

I got through Monday unscathed - bring on the rest of the week!  [oh that might have been tempting fate, eep!]

=] Michele

Doodlebugs Friday!

 

Only a few more weeks of July to enjoy - but lots more flowers to come in our gardens, and on the Doodlebugs Blog!   Here's a little peek...

Tell me you're not intrigued!  Thanks for always being so kind!

=] Michele

Is it CAS enough? CAS Mix Up July 2022

 

I am my own worst critic when it comes to judging my own use of CAS design!  I sat down today to make another card for CAS Mix Up because I really hadn't given much in the line of water-coloring on my first card.   But then this happened:

Even I know that there isn't enough white space.  I went overboard with

the layers.  Even though I love the card, it just isn't CAS enough to enter.

Back to the drawing board! 

Another pretty painting - but WHY can't I leave well enough [and in this

case leave the white space] alone????  

It's better, and I won't be one bit mad if it doesn't make the CAS cut - I always say I'm here to play, have fun and most of all support my favorite challenges!  Besides that, this beautiful Scarlet Tanager is winging his way to a friend who needs him!

=] Michele

Wplus9 Flora and Fauna vol. 3, and 4.  Water colored with distress inks -  with color guidance found on the internet at All About Birds.

CAS Mix Up July 2022

I have so many things with wings that I love.  You all might be expecting a butterfly here?  But we had a successful brood of five new little Tree Swallows in our nesting box so they won the spotlight today!

This Spring Post stamp from Wplus9 is from 2011 [obvious by the cost of that stamp!] as is the Postmarked set ... both were perfect for my plan today!  A new Postage Layers die from Wplus9 provided the canvas.

Thanks CAS Mix Up for allowing me to bring them out to play again 11 years later!  I nearly forgot the watercoloring!  Thank goodness I didn't forget completely!  Thank Linda for allowing the background to suffice!  I swooped in with a barely wet brush and a little broken china.

My first use of the newest Distress colors - uncharted mariner. meh.

Time to get ready for those August birthdays - you'll remind me if your birthday is in August, right?

Thanks for stopping by!  It's butterfly blooming season at the Ferguson's!

=] Michele

Thanks, Linda!

Color Hues #45 Peach and GRAY! Hooray!

 

Some may think my love of gray has waned, but never fear!  Beneath all of the color I've used lately lies an undying love - thanks Color Hues for giving me an opportunity to highlight it again! 

I had a few new goodies to test out today... here are the inks used for layering my little roses:

• For the love of leaves, would you look at this gorgeous new cover die from The Stamp Market??  You'll be seeing a lot of it!
• A little add-on set to the Painted Flowers set from Altenew - the bundle of stamps and die was recently added at Doodlebugs.
• To finish it off, a silver foiled sentiment from Waffle Flower Crafts' Hey There!

Now back to my regularly scheduled loads of Monday fun!  Thanks for stopping by!

=] Michele

CAS Christmas July 2022

 

How can we have July without at least one Christmas card in July??  Thanks to 

CAS Christmas July 2022, we get to see Santa, too!

I finally purchased this Spellbinder Santa set after years of admiring

him at my friend's blogs!

I have another rule about Christmas - there must be PINK!

So, I chose to paint these big stripes with a watered-down CP It's a Girl ink!

[also sponged on his little nose and cheeks!]

Sentiment from The Stamp Market's Tis the Season stamps/dies

Happy weekend, everyone!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #70 Reminder

 

Can you believe it's mid-July already??  But that doesn't mean you don't have time to make a CAS card [or two] for our current assignment at The Flower Challenge #70!

Here's mine ... yes, I did use the same Spellbinder Magnolia, but I changed up the foil and added a bit of Copic coloring, too - all perfectly okay while keeping it CAS!

Our wonderful Guest Designer, my good friend Marcia Hill, brought so many goodies to share during our last play day.  This cover plate for instance - another gem from Pinkfresh Studios called Sparkling Diamonds.  I made it into a frame for my Magnolias by die-cutting an oval [SSS Shimmer Oval - S679] from the middle and popping up another fun foiled sentiment from Waffle Flower Crafts foil/die duo: Hey There!  

See how simple Clean and Simple can be??  So little effort with all the right amount of white space.  What are you waiting for?  Come play with us - we love it when you do!

=] Michele

Doodlebugs Friday!

 

It's FRIDAY!  YAY!  I have an extra fun card to share over on the Doodlebugs Blog today!

Here's my sneaky peek... wouldn't you flip for a pair like this??

=] Michele

More Honeysuckles!

Life is back to normal this week - but I do miss my sidekick being home!  I drowned my loneliness with a bit more playtime with those wonderful Honeysuckles from The Greetery!

I brought out 'grownup loving' colors today - a bit of curry is so pleasing to my eyes [and taste buds]!

Remember the brickwork I did on my first Honeysuckle card?

This darling Honeycomb Corners Die added the same charm to my tag - IMHO.

All the better to see more of my favorite Altenew debossing die, right?

First a closeup so you can see my little buzzy friend, and where I've used those 'leftover' bits of honeycomb AND another favorite debossing plate from Wplus9!

Those sweet little sentiments come from The Greetery's Market Basket Sentiments set.  That little bee is Colorado Craft Co.'s Bee You.  The wonderful linen twine is from my sweet friend LeAnne!

Those of you with the eyes of an eagle will notice my card is left a little off-balanced by that stem - I just couldn't bear to snip it off!  lol

That's it for me today!  Hope you find a little extra time to spend in your playrooms!

=] Michele

Doodlebugs Friday!

 

Hello, my friends - happy weekend eve!  I have a little more no-line coloring for you this week and brought out an old friend from Pretty Pink Posh today ... hope you'll hop over to the Doodlebugs Blog to check it out!

=] Michele

Honeysuckle note!

Hello, my friends!  I've been hanging out with my best guy while he's on vacation!  But today, while he mowed the lawn, I snuck into my studio for a first play with my recent buy from The Greetery!  

Their sweet Honeysuckle Stems were too cute to resist - love their size, and the trio of stems is the perfect number for good design.   I was able to incorporate this darling Brick Layer die onto a panel I found in my snippets that has a curvy die cut edge... perfect time to add a little lift, and a sweet sentiment from Pretty Postmarks, too.

I have to tell you the layering/inking guide in this set was extremely helpful!

Hope you're having a wonderful week!

=] Michele

Inks:  Catherine Pooler - Orange peel, tutti frutti, sangria, and lemongrass for blooms

           The Stamp Market - Leafy and Mossy for stems and leaves.

The Flower Challenge #70

 

So many of my very favorite card makers have adopted the Clean and Simple style of cardmaking - it's my favorite, too!   I'm very happy to invite you to join us this month at The Flower Challenge as we celebrate the CAS style while incorporating our favorite florals, too!

I have a new foiling set from Spellbinder called Magnolia Glimmer Blooms that includes the die to cut those florals out.  Perfect for a CAS card.  I used silver foil for the floral and added a bit of interest to my white space with a die I borrowed from my friend, Marcia.  HEY, did I mention she is our Guest Designer this month??  Yay!

Plenty of texture and dimension but still managed to keep it clean! 

Join me over at The Flower Challenge to see how the team, and guest represented their own CAS style right HERE.  

=] Michele

Pinkfresh Studio: Geo Tiles

Waffleflower Crafts: Hey there! foil plate, and dies

Doodlebugs Friday!

I've set my mind to do a bit of no-line coloring for July - I hope you enjoy it!  For this week I've chosen a favorite that I only WISH I could get blooming in my own yard!

Here's that peek - hope you'll head over to the Doodlebugs Blog for the full reveal!

=] Michele

Playing Cards with my Color Hues Friends!

I have the best fun to share:  I invited the entire Color Hues team to Play Cards with me this month!!  They said YES!!  Truly something to celebrate!!

But the fun continues, because I get to invite ALL of YOU to Play Cards, too!!  Can you dig it??  So here is our assignment, and yours:       

• Red [white] and Blue
• Stars or Stripes [can be from patterned papers!]
• Embellishments of any kind i.e. alphas, numbers, bling, etc.

Here is how I brought the assignment together:

I've used patterned paper to die-cut my stars whose patterns are laid out in rows [or stripes], embellished with lots of little die-cut stars from the same papers, and even got the ol' sewing machine out!

I hope you'll join us!  Right now, I can't wait another moment to see the teams' cards at Color Hues - they always blow me away with their creativity!  Let's go!!

=] Michele

Authentique:  Seaside Collection 6x6 paper pad

SSS: Shoot for the Stars stamps

MFT Blueprints #18

PTI Star dies