The Paper Players #807

It's a color challenge this week from Jan, and I couldn't help but paint these gorgeous apples as Granny Smith's!  Can you blame me??

I'll admit it - it is a total CASE of Jaydee's wonderful card for The Paper Players #807!  I had stamped an extra image from Carrie's Sweet Harvest set and was saving it for a day like today to turn them into green apples.  Thanks, Jaydee, for the inspiration!

I've been participating in the Altenew Fan Group's Crafting Bingo and was 

looking for a way to complete the Mixed Media square.  I'm a complete failure

when it comes to mixed media... back to the drawing board!  

But I still love my apples!  

This is the card I've entered instead ... woodgrain card, a bit of gilding, some packing material and layered blossoms on the Altenew Ornate Frame.  Which do you think is more 'mixed media?'  My CAS loving crafty heart just doesn't allow for grunge.

I'm really making progress on the October Crafting Bingo card!  I'm sure they'd love to have you join their Altenew Fan Group and the fun!

=] Michele

Unity Mice & Cozy

I love it when I'm inspired by a crafty friend to shop!  TK used this adorable little Mice & Cozy set from Unity, and I couldn't get it into a cart quickly enough... however I did get a really nice sale notice from Unity which I appreciated so much.

These are red rubber stamps and came with a few sentiments, too.  I stamped them onto little squares of Canson cold-press watercolor card and water colored them using my trusty Distress re-inkers.  Ready?

SSS Fall Foliage EF and PTI twine

Honeybee Falling Leaves 3D EF and more twine!

SSS Vine Canopy and yes, twine.

I can't imagine getting tired of coloring these cuties anytime soon!  Until next time... thanks for stopping by!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #757

Jen Mitchell is our sketch designer this week at Freshly Made Sketches #757!  Oh, were the crafty wheels turning...

... but you won't believe where the wheel stopped...

Will it pass the 'smell test?'  Are you team sardine?  Mine are in mustard today! lol

The Stamp Market: Sardines and Sardine Greetings.

There are endless ideas for that cute little rectangle - hope you join us!

=] Michele

The Paper Players #806

Ann has a glorious theme for us at The Paper Players #806!  Take a looky loo at this:

 

Between LeAnne, Christy, and Stef I found all the inspiration I needed

to pull out a stencil and that little set from The Greetery that gets at

least one playtime each year since it was gifted to me!

Sing along if you can hear America the Beautiful in my card today!

Purple 'mountains' and amber waves of grain make up my farmland scene.

The stencil I used is from MFT an oldie called Drifts and Hills.

The farmhouse and barn were ready-stamped from a past session -

I just blended some grey ink over to make them look silhouetted in my bright scene.

Perfect timing as I'm hearing the dryer calling my name!  Hope you've had a beautiful start to your week!

=] Michele

Happy World Card Making Day!!

Oh, happy daaaaay, my card-making friends!!  My love of pie and cards came together today!  Time Out #323 made it happen with a LOT of help from Carrie and the additional dies from her Altenew Sweet Harvest set of dies and embossing folder!

My Pick 2 turned into 3: Gingham, Baking, and Apple!

Who are YOU playing cards with this WCMD?

=] Michele

One card - three challenges!

This never happens!  I started to make a card for The Paper Players #805 using Jaydee's fun sketch when I spied with my little eye the 'leftover' panel from that fabulous Maple tree trunk that I cut at Carrie's house.  If you know me at all, I really try to use the negatives from die cuts and will specifically arrange a die thinking ahead to how I might use it later... later happened today!

I first cut the panel down using my old faithful Wonky Rectangle die from MFT.

Then, I masked my tree using one of my Penny Black essential masks and added a moon in Fossilized Amber ink blended Black Soot over the rest of the panel and backed it to make the tree trunk black!

I reached for a favorite Halloween die set from SSS: Big Bat - but just used the

sentiment - using the second color in Color Hues #142: burnt red.

Just us Girls #843 is asking for Halloween dies! This Bat Trio from SSS spooks me-

and the 'hey, boo' is my go-to for my granddaughter, Lola.

Nothing left to do but give it all a spooky spritz of TH Mica spray and voila!

ONE card - THREE challenges done and dusted!

                                                            

Thanks, Carol!

I have spent a great deal of time in my studio playing cards with all of those wonderful Altenew sets Carrie sent me home with... I'll be sharing those soon, I promise.  

Until then, we're still blooming butterflies but the weather is making it pretty hard on these delicate little friends of ours.  The sun is shining today, and I hope it warms up enough for their wings to strengthen for that long flight to Mexico!

Have a great weekend my friends!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #756

Kim has a fabulous design for Freshly Made Sketches #756!  Tell me, does this get your creative juices flowing?

When it comes to choosing what goes into that main box, I wanted

to pay homage to the one flower in my porch pot that never lets me down:

the Geranium!  Oh, the Coleus are still going strong, too - hey, why haven't I

ever seen a stamp featuring those?  I digress... here's my card:

Another SB Betterpress-ed sentiment from Yana pressed in brown

along with lots of Fall-ish colors bring those deep reds to life, right?

HoneyBee's Burlap EF always does the trick for texture.

Okay, that's all folks except to invite you to COME PLAY! And if you want 

even better inspiration, go see what Kim and the DT have to offer - they

always knock my socks off!

=] Michele