Just us Girls #770 Word Week

It's WORD WEEK at Just us Girls #770 and they have chosen YOU as their word.  It's a good one - I always love creating cards for you, and you and I'd never leave YOU out! lol

I thought about those fun dies from SSS that become the focal point - and I had just the sweet little stenciled background at hand!  I love it when Marcia and I stencil together - this one is hers from PTI called Wild Blooms.  It just makes me smile... hope it makes you smile, too...

A quick little card just for YOU!

=] Michele

Save it for a rainy day?

I have been waiting for a challenge that would allow me to sing this little ditty... thanks Amy!  Freshly Made Sketches #681 is just what I needed:  

Sing along if you know it...

A wonderful friend from Denmark that I met in Canada brought me this darling pocket die... I'm not sure I ever found a source for it here in the US.  I used my fave SU! EF to add 'denim' texture to my cardstock before cutting.  The pocket has a wonderful double-top-stitch detail that I added to the seam using my old faithful EH Stitching Lines.  And finally, the star of the card: that gold star!  It was cut using one die from a nesting set from Ellentina Classic Collection and Scrapbookusaca.com.

This week is flying by and with the weather we've managed to get one good walk in and a few 'I didn't have to cook' meals - that's a vacation, right?

=] Michele

Penny Black Tuesday!

My husband is on Spring Break - the weather is barely Spring-like, so we'll be sticking around home this year and I'll sneak into my studio when I can! 

I had a little inky fun with a few more of those Penny Black cling stamps Marcia kindly gave me.  If I don't play with them more, I can't imagine how I'll get better at using them!  Jill's new PB&J videos have helped spur me on!

This one is called 'Peony' and is a cling/brushstroke stamp where water-based ink markers 

and mini-ink cubes are used to apply color directly to the red rubber - spritzed with a fine mist

and stamped using a stamp positioner in case a second round will be needed.

I did add more, then a final stamping without water to get the awesome texture/print of the stamp to transfer to my paper.   I trimmed my piece down with my MFT Wonky Stitched rectangle die and mounted it onto a card base made with Curry paper from The Stamp Market.

Then came PB's Light Touch - a beautiful 'geranium' in my view with a sweet 

little visitor stopping by for a visit.  The sentiment from Altenew's Wild Geranium stamped

on one those PFS Essential Labels.  The oval is from two Spellbinders' die sets.

My last card was inspired by my friend Bonnie - these little critters wanted

to color eggs, too!  Their 'dip-dyed' look comes from cutting MFT's Dip Dyed Ombre dsp [it also became the background panel debossed with that Lil' Inkers Woodgrain die] then these little PB Special Friends went to work with decorating with stamps from their set.  

The Easter greeting is an oldie from Waffle Flower Crafts - stamped in chocolate ink naturally. 

One of these will find their way to the Penny Black on Saturday Challenge where they are looking for Easter cards as their special sauce but it isn't necessary to play along.

Hope to see you again soon!

=] Michele

Just us Girls #769 - dies, no flowers!

My card for Just us Girls #769 is ready to hang in their gallery.  The dies 'no flowers' was a tricky move on Sue's part - you know I do love those layered-die-cut-flowers!  

My friend Lisa used a sweet little Purple Onion Owl and frame - so I followed her lead and found myself reaching for these fun Happy Birds from Wplus9 from yesteryear!  

These guys continue to put a big fat smile on my face - that little dude on the left

must be a Brown Creeper as they are the only bird I know of that go upside down and 

backwards when foraging for bugs on the bark of trees!

I just love these Charley Harper-like birds!

That Penny Black frame continues to please - and a new PF stencil [from that most generous friend] found its way into the background!  SO fun!

Read the sentiment again - I mean that sincerely!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #101

Does it feel April-y where you live?  Spring often takes its own sweet time in Michigan!  But I have some really pretty springlike flowers for you - thanks to my friend, TK who sent me the most wonderful birthday gift last November!   Don't you think for a minute that I didn't play with it immediately - but I really wanted to feature these Altenew: Flutter and Bloom florals here for The Flower Challenge #101:

I pulled some lovely purple Copics for today's florals - but watch

out for the water-colored and stenciled versions later this year!

I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and

popped them up on top of a gorgeous, embossed panel I found in my stash.

Isn't it a perfect match?  I'm sure the wonderful person who 

sent it to me carefully wrote its name on the BACK before

I stuck it on my card. 

We are looking forward to a gallery FULL of gorgeous Spring-colored flowers - will you be playing along?  Come see all the lovely colors of Spring from my teammates!

=] Michele

SSS Wednesday - happy birthday!

I have a favorite stamp from Simon Says Stamp and you've seen me use this Black-eyed Susan before.  But when the DT at their Wednesday Challenge asked for a birthday card, it was the first stamp I thought of to celebrate their birthday!

I reached for my palette of Distress re-inkers today.  I'm getting

more comfortable all the time with their brilliant pigmentation.

A bit of splatter with the leftover ink and a run through

my die-cutting machine with that old favorite MFT Wonky Rectangle

and it was ready for my card!

I can count on one hand the times I've added a button to a card -

this little ivory button seemed like the perfect thing to attach my birthday wish!  What do you think - too much?

I hope you find too much fun over the weekend and that some of that time is spent getting your craft on!

I'll be back with my April card for The Flower Challenge so stick around - and PLAY!

=] Michele

Two-fer Thursday!

Sorry about intruding into your day again, but I was on a Christmas card making roll yesterday and one was designed with the current Freshly Made Sketches #680 in mind...

Narelle used some lovely, patterned paper for her DT card.  You KNOW I have a bit of it to use up myself...  here is my first play:

This one features some lovely paper from HoneyBee's Log Cabin collection.  I attempted

to capture its colors with ink though I wasn't completely happy with my inking, this cute little bird from the Spellbinders' Christmas Bird Poinsettia was fun to arrange!

In the end, my CAS-loving-heart was just not convinced!  When in doubt, don't throw it out - start again!  [Besides, one of my seniors will love it just as is!]

The base was cut using Waffle Flower Crafts Micro Grid Panel 2 coverplate.

This green panel was the leftover, inner panel of PB's Double Frames - embossed

with Simon Hurley for Spellbinders' Bark EF.

That's more like it!  Just like that I have a second card for the 

Christmas Kickstart Challenge #97  Don't you love this pink Poinsettia?

Have a great day, my friends!

=] Michele

What's a few challenges between friends?

I was very happy to see my friend Bobby is the 'guest elf' over at Christmas Kickstart #97 - she chose Poinsettias as her theme!  It couldn't come at a more perfect time!  Another dear friend sent a whole collection of Pinkfresh Studio products from one of their Create and Connect sessions.  I fell in love with this one called Joy of the Season that included a press plate with POINSETTIAS!  Having said all that, here is my first playtime:

It's a little homage to a photo that Bobby sent me of ORANGE Poinsettias that she

found at her grocery store - ever since, I remember to include orange Poinsettias to the Season!

Here's another more CAS take on that set:

It wasn't one bit hard to use the colors from Jo's challenge logo:

Speaking of orange flowers - I did mention there would be more tulips, right?  Here are a few more orange tulips for Jules over at Color Hues #107  I loved using another new die from Penny Black called Curvature:

My second time using this set.  This time I die cut the tulips, then stenciled,

and finally embossed with the 3D EF.  It did make using the stencil layers

a little easier.

That's all folks - for now!  I hope you made it over the hump without injury or bother!

=] Michele

Color Hues #107

It's the first of the month and I'm always ready and waiting for the Color Hues combo of the month to show up - Jules does NOT disappoint!  Have you seen this?

 

The entire team did a fabulous job of representing Jules' colors, but it was her very own card that inspired my playtime today.  Check it out HERE it is so beautiful!  All of her die cut flowers brought my Concord & 9th Spring Print set to mind.  You might remember that I cut [almost] a million colors:

Although I only found one shade of orange among these cuts, it was nothing that a little ink-blending couldn't remedy.  No teal?  No problem - I found three A2 panels from C&9th in my stash and cut them using the die - then it was just a matter of piecing them to eye-pleasing perfection using my handy embossed jig.  

By golly, I think I did it!

Once I get started using specific colors, I find it hard to stop at one... you might be treated to a few more tulips soon!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you'll play along, too!

=] Michele