Pink and Sage for Marcia!

I pulled out my favorite sage inks, then a pink or two and spent my day yesterday making cards with just those two colors.  

Have you guessed the challenge?  Color Hues, of course and 

my sweet friend Marcia is the hostess with the most-est!

I had another new stencil set from Waffle Flower to test drive - no time like the present!

Postage Collage: Wild Flowers with their original postage stencil as backup

singers... I'm thinking this is the first time I've ever added those 'airmail' stripes around the edge!

I found a lovely, patterned paper in such a wonderful sage and white:

This little bloom from The Stamp Market was the perfect specimen, and that die from PTI was just the shape to mount it on.  I cut

the bloom from white and used my blending brushes to add color.

This PTI Stormy Sky is in my opinion the most wonderful sage cardstock there is!

While shuffling through my papers I came upon this next one that has glazed roses - more 'antique' pink than Marcia's - but any hue will do they say!

I cut a panel with an old favorite from Winnie and Walter.

Here's her closeup so you can see the shine:

My die-cut 'rose' is actually a poppy - from Altenew: Craft a Flower: Poppy to be exact - but I think it makes a lovely rose.  A sprig of Boho Botanical from The Stamp Market and my card is complete! [we probably don't need to talk about those BP sentiments - do we?]

I might save this one for an upcoming wedding. 

Okay, that's quite enough from me today - now I need to decide which one will be sent to Marcia for her Color Hues gallery!  Decisions, decisions! lol  

Thanks for dropping by!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #641and JUGS #731

I had such fun making my card for last week's Freshly Made Sketches - bonus: a win!  These gulls just had to play again!

For FMS#641 here is Jen T's sketch:

Guess who got the Beach Days Postage Collage from Waffle Flower - did you guess me?  Yeppers: it's all MINE MINE MINE!!  and I managed to get a little 'salty' myself with a little help from my friendly Stickles... you'll notice a bit of it on 

the beak, of course.

Now, while I have you... here is my celebratory card for the gals at JUGS#731:

It's just been too long since these MFT cuties took flight!  Thanks, Carol, for

the perfect time to use them and this sentiment!

I have made lots and lots of cards the last few days... more soon!

=] Michele

Always room for second helpings ...

Second helping of cuteness, that is!  These cuties from Waffle Flower arrived just before my guest arrived - since she already had played with hers at home, I waited until today to play with them!  I couldn't help but see Judy's Sketch...

Of course there was a chorus of ...

WF Postage Collage Beach Days - sentiment; WF Inquisitive Gulls;

MFT Peek-a-boo Wonky Windows; Lil' Inkers Wood Grain [no longer available]

Altenew: Speech Bubbles dies; Spellbinders: Splish Splash embossing folder

The Stamp Market Sea Glass card stock

They just make me LOL!

And bonus: since I've used that embossing folder, this one follows Darnell's 

I.D.E.A.S. program for the day!  Woo hoo!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #640

Hello, my friends!  In case you're wondering where I've been - it hasn't been in my studio much!  But there is the very VERY best of reasons for that!!  My darling wonderful friend Stephanie [you know her from My Ink Well and all the teams she's on I'm sure] was here for three days and there was so much fun to fit into only three days!  We laughed, we shared, we had a little crafty time AND rolled sushi!  I've never enjoyed making lunch more let me tell you!  What a great thing it is to have an un-fussy eater in the house!

Now that she's left me [boo hoo], it is SO quiet around here - and I'm lonely!  So, into the studio I went this morning for a quick card for Freshly Made Sketches #640 and Judy's fun circles...

These guys from MFT are always fun:

Simply stamped and quickly Copic-colored - I couldn't help but

add a little shine to Mr. Bear's specs!  My front panel is another

of those sent from a friend - Altenew's Cross Stitch Canvas.

Lucky me, indeed:

Thank you, my sweet friend, for spending a little time with me in The Mitten State!  Come back any old time at all!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #92 - Reminder

I'm back to remind you that there is plenty of time to create with our Sketch this month!  I took it down a very colorful path today... hope you like it!  

Starting with a bright persimmon base, adding a geometric embossed

pattern from WeRMemoryKeepers on a deep purple, and topping it all off

with these gorgeous layer-stamped Peony Dreams from The Stamp Market!

I think my work here is done but wait until you see what my partners in crime have for you HERE!  We hope to see your take on the sketch in our gallery soon!

=] Michele

Ten cups should do!

One of the items I purchased during that aforementioned Sizzix sale had not been used yet - funny how that one slipped through the cracks as it was the one I had been looking forward to playing with the most!

I've seen Tim Holtz's Papercut Cafe around for a while often used along with his signature 'distressed' look.  I've kept it CAS and spent an entire afternoon layering these darling cups! lol

First up: two cups for Color Hues #88 in Karen's chosen Blue and Yellow color combo, and second helpings for Freshly Made Sketches #639:

HoneyBee Gingham Galore paper; WF Hello Friend sentiment combo 

Then it was all about 'balance!'

More WF sentiment fun and gingham cut with their Nesting Postage dies!

Here is a little closeup so you can see all the fun layers that make up each cup!

Another WF sentiment; one of the layers from PF Slim Ornament Banners

Ten cups should do for now!  but you will undoubtedly see a few more soon!

=] Michele

Two florals for Friday!

I have two floral cards for you to round off my crafty week!  The first for Just us Girls #730 where they are having a color challenge!  There is something about aqua that my eyes struggle with.  I hope a little distress peacock feathers paired with picked raspberry will do Carol's lovely color choices justice... 

This gorgeous Wild Daisies image from Altenew is a gift from a friend - too beautiful to trim,

I left it large for a 5x7" card today!  Of course I had another little Spellbinders 

sentiment to add to it!

I used a sharp blade to cut around two of the leaves and popped them up

for a little subtle dimension.

Thanks so very much, Carol!!  I'm so very honored!

My second floral card is heading to Freshly Made Sketches - Amy, I was challenged by your Sketch!  But isn't that what makes it fun?  I hope it's okay - I had to flip it!

Let's start with that embossed panel - someone is bound to ask! lol

Spellbinders Stylized Calla Lily!

Followed by one Altenew Queen Anemone, a frame made with their

Rounded Rectangles Die set [the center is peeking out from behind].

A strip of C&9th Parsley card stock and a sentiment white heat-embossed from

MFT's Sweet Nothings - finished with a few PF Gems and my card is done!

And that's it for my week, folks - but don't worry, I have 10 cups of fun heading your way soon!

=] Michele

Two minute, ten second tidy!

 Remember this?

Here's how I tidied up and created FOUR cards!

After rewetting, here is the first pressing with Spellbinders' Four Petal Floral onto A2 panel.

Then a second panel.  It was clear to me that the ink was quite fond of that baby wipe.

My solution:  glue the whole thing to a half-sheet of cardstock!

After leaving it to dry overnight, I cut it into two smaller panels with

less than an inch of that baby wipe left over!

Ready to see my cards?

This sentiment [The Stamp Market- Kindness Matters] was the perfect size for one 

of the SB Essential Four Petal labels.

Two sentiment dies from one set: Concord & 9th Just Saying Dies

I love that one less baby wipe is in the landfill! lol  Seriously though, we need to rethink throwing those inky wipes away!

=] Michele

Waffle Flower Grip Mat 2024

 

Our friends at Waffle Flower Crafts have a re-release of their fabulous Grip Mats today!  They kindly asked me to test drive one of the bundles - there was no question what my answer would be!  YES, of course!

HERE is a video where Nina explains the re-release, what's new, what's changed, and the additional sizes in the collection.  I love it when she says something like 'if you have one of our original mats, you don't need to do anything!'  That's so true - I LOVE my original 8.5" square mat!

I received the Grip Mat Stampers Bundle that has two mats that fit into my original MISTI and my mini-MISTI.  But ended up using them for stenciling my cards today!

The larger of the two was used to hold my Hammermill panel in place while also holding the stencil without the use of tape [except when covering areas that you don't want to get inky!]  That is the best part for me!

Of course, I was happy to turn a 'garden' of daisies into butterflies!

happy b is for butterfly day! - sentiment from WF Happy Bee Day combo

I used my jellyroll sparkly pen to add some fun details.

All the questions you have will be answered by Waffle Flower Crafts today in their Release post!  BUT if I had to choose today - I'd choose the NEW 7.5 x 11-inch mat for sure!  All the room one would need for stencils and a place to 'stick' your ink pad, too!

Thanks, Waffle Flower Crafts!

=] Michele

Destination SUMMER time!

My star-spangled card has sparked another idea!  Harvest Home, meet Destination Summer... 

The leaf die from The Greetery's Harvest Home was used as the base for my beach/lake and 

Destination Summer is where I found all the other images.

A bit of stickles for sparkle and a fun debossed sunray from a friend, and a fun sentiment was from Destination Summer was the perfect finishing touch to my scene.

It sure reads summertime to me!  Hope the ladies at Four Seasons Summer like it!

=] Michele