Bonus cards using Marcia's stash!

I may have borrowed a few of Marcia's Christmas sets to bring home with me - I spent a wonderful afternoon creating cards using them!  I'll be brief - I know you are busy creating, too!

The Greetery: Heaven & Nature Sing:

On white with red and greens - and another stamped on natural with a silver Treble Clef!

 - one more natural with red, greens, and gold!  All have been cut with

a PTI Torn Edge die and embossed using my SU! Subtle Texture.

THEN! I stumbled across two sets from The Greetery in Marcia stash called Stencil Scapes... here's Autumn...

You may remember THIS card that I created for a sweet friend who inherited her parents farm?  Well, this one might make her smile, too!

That wonderful sentiment is from PTI's Fall Farmer's Market

I think The Greetery found a genius way to guide us through EIGHT layers!

Here's their Winter Stencil Scape...

hey, did you see who did a fly-by?  an oldie from EH [Santa's Flight] was the perfect 

size to bring a little ho, ho, ho to this scene! A dollop of enamel drops for their pom poms and bunny's tails, too - did you spot them?

Thanks, Marcia for sharing the bounty of goodness from your wonderful stash!

=] Michele

Christmas in July with Marcia!

Hello again!  I was so happy to spend a few fun-filled hours with Marcia last week for our Christmas in July gathering!  

It's always fun to see how the bits and pieces of the things we stamp, cut, and stencil come together after in our own studios.  Of course, we are happy to share them with you, too!

I brought my new 'snowdudes' so Marcia could play until her order arrives.  While she cut those, I cut one of the new Cottage Cuts dies she had just received!  What better place for them than within one of the stenciled pieces we inked after lunch?

I know Marcia will share the name of that fun stencil from Pinkfresh Studios - of course

I wrote it on the BACK of the panel and promptly glued it on my card!  Hey, he was excited!

This next one is Holiday Botanical Background from PFS - stenciled with a few

inks borrowed from Marcia's Catherine Pooler ink stash:

Flirty Fuchsia, Eucalyptus, and Juniper Mist

I used a craft knife to cut around the leaves so I could tuck the dudes among them!

"let it snow" lyric and snowflakes from EH - 

I always go with a little list of things I love that Marcia has used on her cards.  Here is Seasonal Sprig from Taylored Expressions... first in red...

Then again in Ripe Persimmon:

Last, but certainly not least, Marcia shared her new Altenew Festive Trees with me, too!  I quickly borrowed a few more inks and used the packaging as my inspiration for colors but added silver for the 'tree trunks.'  A few MFT silver stars were all they needed for a finishing touch.  

Then, I had 'my way' with the large PEACE and stamped a few of the trees over

the top in Delicata Silver ink!  It might be my favorite!

Lunch was wonderful with Marcia's fabulous chicken salad on croissants with fresh strawberries and pineapple on the side.  I brought dessert - and may I tell you that Marcia is quite wonderful about being my guinea pig taste-tester for new recipes!  I had seen a recipe for Atlantic Beach Pie and wanted to try it... I only wish I'd snapped a photo as it was beautiful AND delicious!  You can watch it come to life HERE and I'm happy to say the maker gives a link to the written recipe.

I can't wait for our bonus gathering this Summer, Marcia!  I feel very lucky to have you in my life!  Doubly lucky having all you friends stop by for a visit here - I only wish I had the room for ALL of you to come stay a while!

Now I really have to go see what Marcia did with her snowdudes!!!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #698

When I saw Kim's Freshly Made Sketch #698 I immediately thought of postage stamps and spent an entire afternoon cutting, piecing, and loved them all!  But the sizes and shapes of my postage dies caused a bit of trouble... let me share the Sketch:

By the end of my crafty time, I thought: why do they have to be stamps or boxes?  In fact, what might Kim have in mind?  You won't believe what I ended up with!

Three lovely leaves from a very old Lawn Fawn set that were cut from colored 

card and 'antiqued' a little.  Of course, I had a gazillion stamps cut so one

seemed the right choice for my sentiment from The Stamp Market's Fun & Flowery set.

My cover panel is a piece of HoneyBee's Holiday Wishes pad, and was debossed

using TSM's Pierced Plaid - what would Fall be without a little plaid?

Are you curious about those postage stamps? Here's my Christmas

version of Kim's Sketch!

ALL the bits and pieces on my stamps were die-cut or fussy-cut from 

Scrapbook.com's Winter pattern paper!  This is a 5x7" card cut from Wplus9's postage set

debossed with one of C&9th's Kristina's Finishing Touches dies.

Oh, there are at least four iterations of this one!  But, for now, I hope I've given you an idea or two for your own cards using Kim's Sketch!

I can't wait another second to see Kim's card... let's GO!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #105

Our challenge this month at The Flower Challenge is adding embellishments to our floral cards!  With the many gems, dots, and sequins in our stash this should not be a challenge at all! 

But there is another way - and one I must admit that may be less 'trendy'

but I continue to use and that is: Stickles!

Stickles are especially wonderful when used to bring life to our

flower stamens and centers.  They are a bit elusive with the camera but

here is a closeup ...

You can see that I've added a few PFS gems as well and gave the

simple die-cut sentiment [SSS Painted Congrats] a lift with foam squares.

 This gorgeous Betterpress-ed image is Charming Floral Background

from Alex Syberia Designs pressed in grey and stencil-colored with these inks:

I am not one for a lot of glitz and glamour, but a little twinkle is fine by me!  I hope you will be sharing a few new-to-me embellishments on your cards!  Now let's go see what the rest of the team have used... btw don't forget the flowers!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #697

Linda is our host this week at Freshly Made Sketches #697 and I know you are going to have as much fun as I did with her wide-open sketch! 

It really sets the stage for just about any characters, doesn't it?

Here's how I was inspired... one more Christmas in July card for this team couldn't hurt, right?  It has been just the thing to light a fire under me!  Or was that the heat?

This cool cocoa-drinking dude is from that Recollections 12x12 paper pad

that my cousin Tracy gifted me last year.  I fussy cut him from one of

the many tags included, and a fun paper from the collection became my

cover.  The 'overhang' and pine needles and snowy hills represent Linda's 

Sketch borders.  I'm very happy with this card - and it was the first of six cards I made that day using this paper pad!

Thanks, Linda for the fun Sketch!  I'm on my way to see your card and I'm bringing all my friends with me!

=] Michele

Even more Christmas critters!

With plenty more of that darling Merry paper from Scrapbook.com in hand, I went in search of other Christmas critters from my stash - these Winter Hamsters from Waffle Flower Crafts fit the bill and are always loads of fun.  I do love a set whose dies cut multiple images at once, don't you?  Such a time saver especially for Christmas cards!

With easy stamping, cutting, and coloring out of the way I

brought together some very simple designs that pack plenty of cute!

I brought out the Diamond Stickles for a little Christmas glisten...

Then it was time to bring the 'gang' together for a group hug...

I wasn't going to let one little scrap of that paper go to waste - time

to build some stripe-y Christmas trees that were then simply cut

into 'triangle trees' with my paper trimmer.

You have all been so patient and kind during my Christmas in July!  There are plenty more cards to be made - and if I keep up this 4-per-daily-session, I MIGHT just make that pre-set goal!

I have another new pad of paper from Scrapbook.com to come ... here's a sneak peek!

I'm spending my last day of July with Marcia - and yes, I'll be sharing this paper with her!  and a few of those fun Snow dudes!  I can't wait!

=] Michele

Snowman Solos!

I spent a good amount of time in my studio over the weekend - I just couldn't say no to those darling Snow Dudes!  My order included two packs of Scrapbook.com's Christmas papers - I can't resist a great sale - and the quality of this paper just blew me away!  And HOW could I pass on an orange/pink/red color collection??

I am giving each of the Spellbinders' The Snow Notes their own solo appearance so I could triple my output of Christmas cards!

Ready... oh!  These sentiments are all from Waffle Flower Crafts' Wonderful Christmas combo set... all my favorite lines from the best carols!  Let the singing begin:

The snowbanks were made with EH Landscapes dies.

You'll see MFT's Wonky Stiches a few times.

Now it's time to bring the trio together again - this time, for 

The Paper Players and Jan's wonderful Sketch:

Jan, I can guarantee that I've never used this many layers or 

patterned papers on a card! But I loved it!

Thanks ever so much, Jan!

And now, back to my regularly scheduled Monday... thanks for stopping by!

=] Michele

Just us Girls #785

I'm interrupting my Christmas-card-making session to do a little stenciling for Just us Girls!

I brought out a favorite from Altenew called Blooming Delight and changed up my color combo from THIS card.  I do love orange and pinks together - and love that they've thought to leave some 'white space' with this design.

You'll no doubt spot Altenew's Geo Steps embossing in the background, but

I've snipped the very large floral piece to fit the front of my A2 card and tucked in

the snipped bits - waste not, want not!

Here are my chosen inks today:

Thanks, Bobby!

I woke to the most wonderful rain this morning and found Tom on the front porch filming his first Monarch changing to a chrysalis - you can watch it HERE!  It never gets old - it takes a bit of time, but he has sped up the video 4x!

Your kind words and visits here never get old either - or do I take them for granted!  Thanks so much, my friends!

=] Michele

New Snowdudes arrived!

There was a new die set in my mailbox yesterday - and it hardly had a chance to cool off before it was put to use!  Introducing my first playtime with Spellbinders' The Snow Notes - there was no doubt they were singing my tune!

I do love an all-die-cut card - even the sentiment - and a bit of

embossed snow!  Someone might like to know that the musical notes

come from that darling PB Sing Joy die set!

Of course, I couldn't stop at just one... here they are sporting yellow, pink, and grey which is the trio from Color Throwdown #837...

Trimmed to fit onto postage stamps they still sing loud and clear!

Stars from MFT Blueprint #18 die set, sentiment from 

The Greetery: Tear Strip Tags.  Waffle Flower Crafts Postage Collage die for

my postage stamp shapes.

Hope my Christmas cards cool you off a bit - it is miserably hot and humid here in Michigan!  The AC helps and there is rain in the forecast which should knock that humidity down a notch - fingers crossed!  

I better get these dudes posted before they melt!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #696

Hello, my friends!  It's time for another Freshly Made Sketches challenge - this time from Jen Mitchell - I really went off the grid this time... this is what happens when you have your Christmas supplies out and find one that just wants to play!  Here is Jen's fun FMS#696...

Let me explain what I mean about going off the grid:

I'm seeing Jen's back panel in the front and the front got pushed back - OY!

These Funky Trees from TH and Sizzix are so fun - and work so well

for 'masculine' Christmas cards which I make sure to add to those delivered

to my area senior centers.

The papers I used are from HoneyBee's Log Cabin collection and

my gold stars were cut using a die from one of the old MFT Blueprints sets.

A simple sentiment - also from MFT - and my card is done!

I'm having so much fun working with the wonderful FMS team -

they don't ever seem to be upset when I 'have my way' with their Sketches.

We want YOU to have your way, too - as long as we can see the Sketch, that is! LOL

Speaking of!  I can't wait to see Jen's card!

Let's go!

=] Michele

The Paper Players #747 - wheels!

all together... the wheels on the truck go round and round... wait!  well, it is Christmas in July after all, and everyone knows it takes a truck and a village of snow people to haul a load of Christmas presents! 

Thank you, LeAnne, and The Paper Players for this fun CAS challenge!

It was SO hard to attach the sentiment strip...

I know full well that there shouldn't be any extra dimension on a CAS card,

but I had a little die-cutting boo-boo to cover up!  It happens...

This little 'postage stamp' was cut from a pad of DSP and stamped

with a few of the WF Postage Collage stamps.

Thanks, LeAnne!

I had an appointment at the eye doctor this morning... let me tell you

all this white is brutal while my eyes are dilated!

I'm going to get this posted and go take a nap!

=] Michele