Just us Girls #842 and Four Seasons

 

It's time to bring out our stencils this week at Just us Girls #842 or, as I have

done, break out a stencil set that you borrowed from a friend!

You may remember I recently entered Altenew's Inspiration Challenge

hosted by a gal from Michigan - after a bit of commenting back and forth,

we discovered we only live 17 minutes from each other!  Carrie invited me

over for an afternoon of playtime and I accepted her kind invitation to play.

[I have to say I felt like was cheating on Marcia - but with all my sweet friend

has on her shoulders this year we just haven't been able to get together since early Spring. We have a date in the making soon - thank goodness!]

Carrie sent me home with all kinds of goodies to play with - including the

wonderful Sweet Harvest collection from Altenew that she used for her

fabulous inspiration piece at the challenge.  You can see that one HERE. Take

note of the apples she photographed as they were the models for my

'simple stenciled' branch of Honeycrisps!

Accompanied by one of the fantastic sentiments in the set, and

Altenew's Organic linen embossing that I added a little splash of color to.

Starting with a layer of melon ice CP ink and allowing it to shine

through the reds helped give them the glow I was looking for.

After stenciling, I went back and added a bit of extra shading and

splatter to give them a little more interest.

Here are a few more of the cards that I've made using Carrie's supplies:

Second helpings can't hurt, right?

This set is Altenew's Winterberry Poinsettia set.

I've paired it with a sentiment from Honeybee's Peace, Love, Joy set.

Each of the berries was 'kissed' with Stickles!

One more... you know me and trees... and leaves!

All four of the layers in this Majestic Maple Tree set were cut from watercolor paper and

blended with the inks below.  I was sad that the colors seemed to dry-back a bit

but loved it mounted onto this SU! Timeworn Type embossed and distressed panel.

The sentiment is an oldie from PTI's Larger than Life: Fall sentiments set of stamps.

It seems like a perfect fit for The Four Seasons Challenge of September 2026!

Thanks so much for spending some of your time with me this week!

I always appreciate it so much!

And a BIG thank you to Carrie for sharing her home and Altenew supplies with me!

=] Michele

CAS Mix Up September 2026

Bobby is hosting the September 2026 challenge at CAS Mix Up and wants to see sunflowers [who doesn't?] and using water coloring!  

After putting my thinking cap on, I landed upon a wonderful embossing

folder from Stampin' Up called 3D Sunflower.  It's a beauty - I love it

so much I water colored TWO but you'll see the second in a few weeks as

it worked out beautifully for an upcoming FMS challenge!

After searching the interwebs for Sunflower Varieties I came upon

this wonderful photo from Little Yellow Wheelbarrow:

I settled on the bottom right corner and brought these inks to the table:

It took more time than I thought it might and I am not sure I've

done that beautiful bloom justice... maybe I created my own variety!  here it is!

Looking back, I think there needed to be a bit more yellow but

at the end of the day, I loved it anyway and didn't want to ruin

the monochromatic color by adding green to the leaves. Even the sentiment

[from Pinkfresh's With Sympathy] was stamped in Aged Mahogony ink.

Hope they like it! I might go back and try another!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #755

My dear friend Donna is our designer this week for Freshly Made Sketches #755... I couldn't wait to play, and we hope you will be just as excited about it! 

Are you hearing carols? Or maybe you're conjuring a mountain scene?

As of this moment, I haven't seen Donna's card, but I sure look forward to it!

Here's mine:

I couldn't help but use one of the many sentiments I had

already created, plus the trees, from Reverse Confetti's Triangle Tree set -

sorry, Donna - no circle!

More cute Christmas papers from Scrapbook.com's Noel collection.

And the STAR of my card: Li'l Gnome from SSS - guess what?  He was

a gift from Donna many years ago - seemed just about perfect!

Thanks, Donna, for the fun Sketch!

You all have until September 28th at 3pm EST to play, too!

=] Michele

The Paper Players #804

Christy is our host this week at The Paper Players!  Check out her prompt...

... and now guess WHO came out to play... go ahead guess, I've got time.  

Okay, time's up -

Ta DAAAA!

OH, my word have I missed this guy!! 

 Looks like he might need a hand

in the CAS department but as another loveable bear would calmly say:  oh, bother.

Is this better?

Maybe not? lol

The ladies have loads of fun bears for inspiration!  You'll do better than I did.

Come play!

=] Michele

A mouse [or three] in the house!!

Have you ever had a day that you just wanted to tuck in and make a few cards just for the fun of it?  That was my day today!  I came across this darling Penny Black Tiny Tinsel set had a full set of meeces already stamped and cut - that took all the work out of my play!  Hope you like them!

This first little guy isn't necessarily for Christmas, right?  

I left the mailbox white which felt less Christmas-y to me and will be

perfect for a Winter birthday!

I adore this little Santa Mouse and managed to build him a rooftop

and a starry night sky!  That sentiment is one from Colorado Craft's Christmas Tree Cat.

Are you seeing a theme with these frames?  SB Essential Four Petal Labels 

dies gave me a frame and the perfect sized aperture for these little cuties!

One more?  this one will join the gallery at CAS Christmas September 2026!

And if you think mice don't live in the woods, you should have seen

them scatter when we moved the pile of shredded trees from our build

back in 2006!  NONE were this cute, let me tell you!

Thanks for stopping by!

=] Michele 

Time Out Challenge #322

It's easy to be inspired by what I see outside my door this time of year, but I thank Time Out #322 for giving me a reason to craft about it! 

Soon enough we'll be surrounded by yellow, orange, and gold BUT I'm doing my best to keep a few flowers going for our little Monarch friends who are very grateful, I'm sure!

This lovely Altenew Flutter and Bloom EF was just part of a gift from

a friend.  I embossed a panel of Bristol card and went about turning

this butterfly into a Monarch with Copic markers... so even though

the shape isn't quite right the colors are taken quite seriously!

We even had a view of two mating that we never thought we'd see!

The real flower that keeps the Monarch's hanging around this year is a pot

of Ageratum - they are CRAZY about it, and I can often find 5-7 feeding there.

Tom has plans to have six or more pots next year! ha!

We still have around 40 yet to 'bloom' before our porch goes back to normal.

I'll be sad to see the butterflies and our hummingbirds go but know they'll be back!

Thank YOU all for stopping by - and thanks for leaving me such kindness!

=] Michele

Color Hues #141 + PBSC

Oh, Sheri!  I cannot thank you enough for choosing green in your beautiful duo colors for Color Hues #141!  Flowers are often my favorite, and it's tough to do flowers without green! lol

I had a birthday card to make for my daughter who is 49 tomorrow!  How did this happen???  Aren't I only 45??  Okay, maybe not... but this one will be appreciated when she gets home from a fabulous trip to NYC with her family!

Inside: make that CHEERS for many many more happy, healthy years!

I'm sure Penny Black won't mind my turning their 

Winter Berry Branch into 'grapes.'  SB Stylish Ovals for the aperture,

SU! Exposed Brick for the top embossing and the sentiment is from 

Penny Black's Joy and Warmth set. The background was stamped with

a set from W+9's Vintage Ephemera - no longer available...sorry!

The Stamp Market's MOSSY ink gave me the artichoke I was looking for along with Villainous Potion for my grapes!

I also borrowed Jill Foster's wonderful sketch from her recent Easy Christmas Card

series on Penny Black's YouTube channel!

I substituted some things from my stash but can see this working 

with so many things!  Thanks, Jill!

I'll be sharing this card with Penny Black on Saturday Challenge, too!

I used the optional use of a die!

It was so much fun to do a little water coloring today!

=] Michele