Cleanup cards!

I'm trying to keep my studio neat and tidy - company coming next week and we will need all the crafty space I can offer!  All that to say I spent a little time putting together a few cards yesterday with the bits I'd created in the last week or so.

First up, another Gerbera daisy - this one 'white' and for Freshly Made Sketches #625 using Jen B's darling Sketch...

Uniko's Gerbera, tucked into a punched hole in a Reverse Confetti scalloped circle!

These darling papers are from Unity's Hello, Daisy collection.

MFT's Stitched Strip once again, and another of Honey Bee's My Favorite Flower sentiments.

Next, a few more Forget-me-nots ... lest I forget that they are actually blue! and I have to return this set from The Greetery to Marcia next week!

Another RC Scalloped circle over top of a WW Noelle cutaway.

finished up with a Betterpress sentiment from their Sentiments of Wonder set.

I had a mountain of Altenew Mini ink sets out the other day testing their colors over grey... here are the resulting roses on a fun shaped card I'm fondly calling 'for the love of grey':

Spellbinders Four Petal Labels, HoneyBee Burlap EF, and 

Altenew's Ethereal Roses and Zero-waste Hearts Aplenty cover plate used to emboss.

Last but not least was a new set from The Stamp Market: Peony Dreams ... a no-line layering set that is so aptly named!

I mentioned a trick with waxed paper that my friend LeAnne shared with me recently that has been a game changer for a few detailed dies that have given me fits in the past... like this oval with all of those tiny triangles!  

Here is the 'recipe' for those of you who have asked: 

paper, waxed paper, die on top, and cut using a precision plate in your die cutting machine.  The one I use is from Sizzix called the Precision Chrome Plate.

Thanks again, LeAnne!  

Okay, it's time I get back to cleaning up - and this was a LOT!  I appreciate it if you made it to the end!

=] Michele

Two cards, one quick post!

I'm nearly late for the party at Color Throwdown #781 - and it has been FAR too long since I've played along... sorry ladies!  I just could NOT resist your gorgeous inspiration this week!

I reached for this gorgeous Gentle Peonies layering stencil set from The Ton 

and just a few inks...

Here are the results:

And while I was at it ... second helpings for Just us Girls #715!

Really different aren't they??  Gotta run... 

=] Michele

Double D Challenge: Patterned Paper!

I have quite a collection of patterned papers that I just HAD to have - don't you?  I was really happy to see the gals at Double D embrace them in their Patterned Paper challenge!   Here are the few they shared in their mood board this month:

I recently rifled through my snippets and found a scalloped panel of the prettiest paper - don't ask who made it - I only wish I had MORE!  But I love the dusty colors and the fact that there is NO white in it.  That made me work a little harder to find matching card stock for my sentiment...

EH Oyster grey, and MFT's Steel Grey won me over... the dies [word and leaves] are

Altenew and 'love ya' is from HoneyBee.

Bonus:  that big sentiment die might be just the ticket for Word Power #2!

I love Sundays that involve Tom working on a project - it allows me to do what I love, too!  We'll come back together over a simple Sunday supper later!  

Hope you've had a little crafty time of your own this weekend!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #624 and Just us Girls #715

Happy to see you today!  I have two cards for two challenges!  But first I wanted to share a photo of that mural I mentioned recently:

It covers the entire side of the furniture store... here is a little closeup for

a look at the artists' detail:

Now on with my cards! 

First up, a 'mop-up' panel that I've saved since 2021 - oh you know you have them, too!  You'll see the original HERE from a card made for the CAS Mix Up Challenge - yes, I do still miss those CAS challenges so very much!  The assignment was to stamp through a stencil, and I loved the look so much and the inks I used together that I couldn't bear to waste the inks... here are my 'leftovers'...

And here is the card I made with one of them for Bobby's Just us Girls' #715 Stencil Challenge ... it might not be what Bobby had in mind, but a stencil WAS used!  

I couldn't bear to cover any of these gorgeous soft colors up so I did

a camouflaged sentiment with this big friend die from Altenew. 

Now I promised I'd readdress that fun Freshly Made Sketches card ... I'm laughing at myself as even the second card ended up LESS CAS than I'd like!  BUT I knew that I wanted to revisit this collection of Anna Griffin papers... so there! lol

I had just the right sized scraps of this particular design to puzzle-piece them back into a slightly smaller than A2 panel for Kim's Sketch #624.  The pieces were 'stitched' together using a few stitching dies from an old EH set... wish you could see them better.  Maybe this helps:

I'll share this pretty pattern-paper-covered card with Double D too!  I love that they are

embracing patterned paper this month!

These sweet flowers are oldies but goodies from SSS this time cut from a creamy card. and look! another Betterpress-ed sentiment... I may need to press more as they sure were handy to have this week.

I have nudged my way into your space quite a bit this week - and I appreciate every moment you've spent with me in my crafty space.  Thanks so much!

=] Michele

Two cards, three challenges!

Hello again, my friends!  I have two cards for you today - one of them fits two challenges!  LOve when that happens!  Another is just for fun using the current Sketch from FMS - sadly, I think it is a little too 'distressed' for a clean and simple challenge... but I love it anyway and thought you might, too.

Peace on Earth Christmas #58 has a wonderful mood board filled with fun red and black plaid - which I totally didn't use!  I zoomed right into one of the pillows in the upper right-hand corner and found a Nativity Scene which reminded me that I hadn't used this set from Unity: Reason for the Season in a very long time.  I just loved the simplicity of it... so the simplicity of my water coloring seemed just the ticket...

The 'star of wonder' was stamped with gold Delicata ink, the

figures in Versafine then they were colored using a few of my CP inks and a water brush.

Thank you, POE!

Since it is a very CAS card, I'm sharing it with my friends at 

Simply Clean and Simple too!

I'll share the FMS Sketch that inspired my card panel below - but I went a little crazy after watching Dawn Woleslagle do her magic HERE.  Nobody does it better!  I used a different floral from HoneyBee: Cherry Blossoms.  Then a few of my favorites from Wplus9 to 'age' things.  Here is a closeup...

My cover panel was inked, stamped, aged, and cut into pieces based on this Sketch:

Then I stitched the pieces all back together again!

These are the inks I used for the Cherry Blossoms.  

Pumice Stone, and Ground Espresso inks were used for stamping.

Since I've included blooms and butterflies, it seems a perfect fit for 

second helpings in the Triple B gallery!

These two cards could NOT be any different and I'll go back to the drawing board for FMS - but I have to wonder why I don't challenge myself to this style more often!  What do you think? Do you like it?  Or should I stick to CAS?  Let me know!

Thanks for stopping by!

=] Michele

A Color Challenge from Therese!

I do love a challenge!  So, when my friend Therese Calvird suggested a color challenge I jumped right in!  

But, before I share my card, I'd like to invite you all to join me as I watch Therese go LIVE to make her card!  Are you in??  Just jump over to her Lost in Paper YouTube channel and click on the link for her LIVE - for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere it is TODAY Wednesday, Feb. 21st at 5 EST!  When you arrive click on the 'Live Chat' so you can join in the fun!  I will be there as her moderator - we do have so much fun chatting away while Therese does all the work! lol 

Even though I have made many cards [see my favorite here] using her suggested Red & Orange color challenge, I was happy to make one [or two] more!  Here's my first:

This lovely stamp is from the Altenew Build-a-Garden collection and is

called: Pristine Peonies.  I've used one of Therese's favored color-blocking design techniques for my cover panel using orange and rose red card stock and taping it together from the back side before giving it this gorgeous texture with 

Altenew's Geo Steps EF.

This little sentiment is from the Pristine Peonies set - cut with one of Therese's 

favorite sentiment dies set: Featured Sentiments Die Set also Altenew.

Featured inks

Do you know my rule?  If you are making one card - why not TWO?  So, here is card two and those lovely, embossed Tulips from Altenew again:

Water coloring these embossed images is so fun and easy.  Here, I've used

Distress Inks for coloring - less water is more here and it gives you the opportunity to add a second layer of color.  I decided this bouquet needed

to brighten someone's rainy day - a splatter of water, and some white gold metallic Gansai Tambi watercolors did the trick...

Sentiment: Honey Bee - Label die: Altenew - PTI: Torn Edges die

Therese, YOU are one of the sweetest flowers in my life's garden!  Thanks for the challenge!  I can't wait to see what you make using these gorgeous colors!

I hope you'll all give these colors a go!  I'd better get this post published and head to YouTube now - will I see you there?  Say hello if you go! [edited to add a link to Therese' cards HERE]

=] Michele

OH! Before I go - if you are interested in any of the products I've used today, please purchase using Therese's affiliate link to Altenew - thank you!  I know she appreciates it!

Just us Girls #714

 I know I've shared a lot today, but I had time for one more card - this one is just for Just us Girls - Ina has a gorgeous Mood Board this week for challenge #714 ... 

I have used this Gerbera Daisy from Uniko so many times and it continues to be among my favorite sets.  It has been tucked into some fun places before but today I found a new place:

This sweet little pocket was a gift all the way from Denmark! It's a long story but an adventure we enjoyed so much! You can read about it HERE.

After delivering this one to JUGS, I'm going to take the rest of the day off ... maybe.  

Thanks for dropping by!

=] Michele 

A Gal-entines Day of Play with Marcia!

A day of play in the middle of February was a wonderful Valentine gift especially when I had clear roads and sunshine for my drive to Marcia's house - yay!  

Neither of us had a whole lot of new stuff to share, but I did reach for a few favorites from her stash - like that sweet Forget-me-Not set I used last Saturday!  We love to chat away while stenciling back-to-back with different inks and the VOILA moment when our panels are complete.  This time I got to use a set from Altenew that somehow got by me: Playful Watercolor Flowers - so pretty we did TWO!

This first panel was inked with some of Marcia's wonderful Gina K inks.  I cut it down using a rectangle die, gave it the 'feel' of fabric using SU's Subtle Texture EF, and topped it with a die gifted to me by my darling friend Coni years ago - but I MUST give all the credit for the perfect cutting to LeAnne Pugliese who told me the trick to perfect intricate cuts using WAXED PAPER!  Look how well this worked:

Thanks, LeAnne!

I LOve that I can share this one with my friends at the Word Power Challenge #2

without completely covering up those gorgeous roses!

The second panel was inked in shades of pinks from Party Dress to Flirty Fuchsia -

thanks, my friend for introducing me to my next Catherine Pooler ink!

This one was treated to an oval die set from Spellbinder that has layers - you'll notice perhaps that I used the subtle texture embossing on the innermost section before adding another of those favored Betterpress-ed sentiments.

A simple little slice off of the bottom of the back panel helps to get my oval card

to stand at attention!  

A beautiful bloom meant to be shared 

with Triple B! February 2024

And THEN I spotted another darling stencil in Marcia's stash - it might have been included in one of the classes she's taken from Pinkfresh Studio but it is now available in their shop:  Kaleidescope!  One of my favorite toys as a child and they continue to delight the child in me!

I used it as a backdrop for a pretty floral from Pinkfresh: Grow Wild - also stenciled - using close colors to the inks I used at Marcia's.  Sadly, it almost covers up that pretty panel.  Looks like I'll just have to meet up with Marcia again soon - ha!  Like THAT is a sacrifice! 

This sentiment is from Alex Syberia Design's Tulips Treasure set.

I'm sharing this card with the Stencil Fun Challenge February 2024!

Last but not least, Marcia had a new embossing folder - Daisy from Altenew - that I couldn't wait to watercolor when I got home ... this time I definitely used the Color Hues #81 colors!  Don't they just sing Spring?

Also sending this one to those fab ladies at Can you Handle the Pressure!

While searching for the right 'mint' ink, I stumbled across the perfect Mint-y tape from Scrapbook.com!  I simply adhered a piece onto some Hammermill paper and cut it using an old thanks die from MFT!  I could not bear to add another thing to it!

If you made it to the end, I thank you!   And since I promised a few deets about our eats:  Marcia made her wonderful cold veggie pizza - gosh I think anything with cream cheese is the best!  I completed the meal with a DESSERT pizza - half blueberry, half cherry with a crumble topping and sweet almond drizzle!  Now THAT's a pizza meal I can wrap my heart around!  Marcia also reminded me that there are NO calories in special meals shared with gal-entines!  Cheers to that!

The moral of this happy story is how much better my crafty life is with friends - thanks, Marcia for another lovely day!  I can't wait to do it again soon!  In the meantime, I'm coming right over to see all the gorgeousness I'm sure you created! xx

=] Michele