Townhouse or Ritz?

Long time no see, right?  Sorry to say that we had a really powerful storm that knocked out power in our neighborhood and a large part of our area!  So what's a card maker to do?  Water coloring was just what I needed to keep me calm - and no electricity required!

I have two cards for you.  Both just for fun and what fun images they were to paint!  The first plays along with Penny Black's Permission to Play Series #3.  Here is Jill's sketch:

Jill's cards are just adorable - be sure to see them HERE on their PB&J channel.  There was a third little guy in the PB Little Guy set... here is that little foot-baller!

I dug deep to find these 'hinged alphas' from EH - it was fun to put the KICK 

into the PB sentiment!  I borrowed the hexagons from his soccer ball for

my embossed edge and here are the distress inks that I painted him with:

in Manchester City FB colors! [I think?]

While we can't foretell what the weather will do, one can usually count on the post - and happy mail from friends!  This darling arrived on Wednesday and made me forget all my troubles - I couldn't resist coloring him right away!  bet you've been wondering about the title of my post haven't you... 

Inside sentiment from Tom:

I hope your birthday is WHEY better than the last one!

I couldn't help but add:

Hope you have lots of chances to say CHEESE!

Though it wasn't named, I think it has to be one of Spellbinders House Mouse designs, right?

That's all folks!

=] Michele

Permission to Play #2

 While I was still painting for the first in the Penny Black Permission to Play series, #2 dropped HERE!  SO much more fun than laundry!

Once again, Jill is using a basic sketch - you'll find that in the video, too.  As much as I love their oval die, I've used what I had on hand - in fact all three of the 'shapes' were found in their respective packaging... bonus! 

Here are my cards - guess who went with a Christmas theme today. 

I'm sending this one over to the gals at Peace on Earth #66 - the colors in the bottom left photo were definitely on my radar:

These darling kids can both be found in PB's Cozy Cuteness set from 2019.

PB Triangles EF- WF Oval Nesting dies and Dashed Snowflake plate - Altenew Bells and Bows

Then I turned the sketch around and plunked these PB Arctic Friends in the middle!

EH Oyster grey cardstock - Spellbinders' Ski Lodge embossing folder - PFS Braided Oval

All three of the sentiments were ready for me in my stash - from The Greetery: Tearstrip Tags! 

Hope you're able to get some crafty time between loads today, too!

=] Michele

Color Throwdown and Time Out!

Hello everyone!  Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

I had such a good time water coloring those Penny Black images for their Permission to Play series!  I did a bit of shopping and within three days I received their Little Guy set of stamps - Jill highlighted a little fisherman who was calling my name!

I used a few distress ink cubes to come up with this fun color scheme from Color Throwdown #798:

Summer says lots of fishing to me - bringing a picnic along would be

the cherry on the top!

Red. Blue. Green. and brown as a neutral.

Time Out has a photo inspiration for challenge #266 ... something tells me one might just find the lighthouse keeper's son heading to one of those little coves...

Now, did you notice that there are two new embossing folders making

their debut today?  I think their Triangle Pattern was the perfect match for the sails! It took a great amount of restraint not to color their Encircle like a setting sun behind my little fisherman above - one for another day and card!

We've had lots of rain this weekend which kept us out of the canoe and inside doing the other things we love to do.  Perfectly OKAY by me!

=] Michele

Ending my week on a soft note!

While browsing my YouTube subscriptions I discovered Penny Black's Permission to Play series!  I can get lost in Jill's water coloring, can't you?  [After a little bit of shopping] I gathered a few supplies from my PB stash to join in the fun!

Here is Peaceful Time using Jill's #1 sketch and panel design...

I loved that Jill embossed her background... I have a few of my own! wink.

Parklane 1771-7463 embossing folder from JoAnn's

You know my rule... here's card two:

Spellbinders' Leafy 3D embossing folder - Canson cold press watercolor paper

Assorted Distress inks for coloring

I'm always pleased to get Debby Hughes' blog posts delivered to my inbox.  I couldn't resist CASEing her latest creation for SSS!  You can find it HERE.  I have quite a few SSS flower dies so I did a little digging and found one that could be layered as Debby did.  

It has been an AGE since I used embossing paste - lucky for me it 

hadn't completely dried up.  

I couldn't help but try to 'stage' my card 'Debby-style' too!  Her photography skills

mirror her card-making skills!  But I sure do miss her videos - maybe one day she'll

treat us to a little water coloring again!

SSS Cosmos Stem from 2019 - Memory Box Delicate Fern circa 2012!

Altenew Broken Chevrons Stencil - Dreamweaver pearlescent embossing paste.

It has been a creative week and I'm happy to end it on a soft note - note CARD, that is!

Have a great weekend my friends - 

=] Michele

Pink and Sage for Marcia!

I pulled out my favorite sage inks from Pigment Craft Co., 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