Freshly Made Sketches 700th Challenge!!

14 years!!  Now THAT is cause for a celebration!  Congratulations to Freshly Made Sketches - I haven't played along since the beginning, but you've surely been a regular in my roundup of challenges for at least 10 years!  AND I cannot even tell you how honored I am to be on your design team now!  YIPPEE!!

Are you ready for our Sketch?  We're playing with FMS#14! This one is from December 7, 2011!  Jen has made it even more fresh... thanks, Jen!

SURPRISE!!!  not the card you were expecting??  This is the first Freshly Made Sketch card I ever made, and it was for their 200th Celebration!

I couldn't have a 700th party without bringing the girls home...

And here is that card you were expecting ... how can there be a party without boos?

I've stretched Jen's square into a rectangle this time and found some

really fun Halloween papers in a new set from Scrapbook.com's Spooky collection!

That little BOO is from EH and the die-cut sentiment is from Cathy Z at SSS.

I sure do hope you all join us in celebrating our 700th Sketch!  We can't wait to see what fun you bring to the party!

=] Michele

Color Throwdown #838

Marcia and I celebrated Christmas a tad bit early this year - and she even gave me my birthday present in July, too!  I couldn't wait another moment to share my first card using this wonderful SU! Sunflowers EF - thanks, so very much, my sweet friend!

a simple sentiment was all it needed!

I couldn't believe my luck when I saw the challenge at 

Color Throwdown #838...

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge - Reminder #105

Besides the usual stickles, sequins, enamel dots, and an occasional button, I seldom 'embellish' my cards much.  But THIS card made in 2015 kept coming to mind and I couldn't help but remake it for my reminder at The Flower Challenge #105.

I've used the same background stamp from MFT: Roses All Over which was white heat-embossed onto clear heat-resistant acetate.

But here are the differences: I added lots of glamour with the glitter card panel which you are able to see through the acetate cover, and the ribbon found in 

my stash - a very old collection from Dear Lizzy:

You'll look beyond my reflection - there is nothing but creamy white and glitter here.

Okay, okay - there is one of those Betterpress-ed sentiments using Altenew Sicilian Amber ink.

Of course, we've been loving how you have embellished your floral cards - you have time to make another!  There is plenty more inspiration from our TFC team HERE!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #699

Hello my friends!  May I ask: if it's okay for Christmas cards in July, can it also be okay to make Halloween cards in August?  Verena gave me all the Halloween vibes I needed with her fun Freshly Made Sketch #699 ...

Are you feelin' the vibes??  How about now...

Clean. Simple. boo-ti-ful.  Maybe too cute to spook?  How about this...

But don't think that YOU have to go all spooky with it!  No!

You can make that circle into anything your heart desires!

Let's go see what Verena had in mind when she designed FMS699!

=] Michele

Color Hues #115

Now how could I pass on a challenge that includes grey??  no WAY!  I just so happened to have made a Christmas card recently and it conveniently uses the current Color Hues Challenge, colors!

Looking at my card, you'll see that even my pink has grey 

undertones... I hope that's okay!

A few more papers from Scrapbook.com's Winter pattern collection

combined with an older EH set and Wplus9's Postage die set.

Whadayaknow!  It's die day at D's place!

=] Michele

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