Color Throwdown #810

I know I'm supposed to be sorting laundry - but a little fun first!  My Sunday afternoon was spent water coloring a few more Penny Black images and included this little darling in the colors from Color Throwdown #810!

All these images were stamped on Canson cold press watercolor paper

in Versa Clair Misti Morning ink.

Penny Black 'sharing a song' and an old sentiment from Reverse Confetti

I couldn't resist adding another Penny Black bear to my collection recently - this one is called Love and Magic. I've found two ways to feature him...

Here he is delivering his Christmas bouquet in that gorgeous PB Double Frame.

Next decorating a PB Jumbo Bauble!

Back to reality!  Have a great Monday!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #95 Reminder time!

Okay, how many flowers have YOU stamped since we last 'spoke?'  An entire bouquet's worth?  Why not share it with us at The Flower Challenge? #95 is waiting for you!

Here's my little reminder:

How about a few Anemones for my friends?  Altenew's Queen Anemones 

layering stamps to be exact - popped up on a rectangle cut with their Rounded Rectangles that were dry embossed with their Masonry Wall EF.  Hey, I forgot a sentiment!  I guess that makes it an all-occasion card!

There is SO much stamped beauty to inspire you over at The Flower Challenge Blog!

Hope we see you in our gallery soon!

=] Michele

Joy and Hope!

Happy weekend, my friends!  I spent a bit of time yesterday making Christmas cards using a few of those darling Penny Black stamps.  Hope you like them!

Sue at Just us Girls #744 is celebrating Word Week and HOPE is her chosen word ... years ago I saved a wonderful sentiment from Emily Dickinson:

Hope is the thing with feathers –

that perches in the soul –

and sings the tune without the words –

and never stops – at all.

Hope is surely included when I send those cards to the Seniors on my list - hope that they will find peace and joy during the holidays in some significant way.

You might remember this sweet bird - I've shared him in many colors.

The large snowflake behind him is from SSS and was a gift.

My glittery hope is an oldie from Wplus9 - no longer available - cut from

The Stamp Market's Diamond Glitter Paper.

Kim's big word sketch is still calling to me - several renditions later I cannot decide which one fits FMS#653 better... you'll have to stop by their blog to find out which made the Second Helpings cut.

My JOY comes from Altenew's Classic Alphabet die set.  I cut the letters

twice from bristol paper stacking them for weight before water coloring them as I did

that little caroler with distress inks.

SSS's Tall Pines embossed my card panel but I swiped the 'background' of the

folder with a few inks prior to pressing.  A hill of 'snow', a few snowflakes, and a

bit of Star Dust Stickles finished my card.  'from me to you' sentiment is

included in the PB Sing Joy set.

This little songstress from PB Sing Joy?  

Or perhaps this beautiful Betterpress-ed sentiment would do the trick?  

I popped it up over

a pressed pine panel and decorated it with a few sprigs of greenery

from that sweet little PB Merry Friends set I featured yesterday.

That's it for my Saturday - it is gorgeous today: 74F and clear blue skies!  Who could ask for a better?  See you tomorrow for a reminder from The Flower Challenge!

=] Michele

Merry Days with Friends!

Confession time: I shopped.  But in my defense, it was ALL Bonnie's fault!  LOL  On our drive to her house she mentioned a crafty shop in Lewisville, NC that is a favorite of hers - that's all the recommendation I needed to take a little bit of a detour on our route!

Tara the owner greeted us so warmly and The Enchanted Cottage was just that: enchanting!  I picked up a few of the many Penny Black goodies on my very long list - of course, I shared them with Bonnie, and Nance.  Which brings me to this post!

Here is my card using this sweet PB Merry Days stamp set and coordinating dies!  Their Double Frames add such a fun 'shadow box' effect without the bulk for mailing!

I tried so hard to do a little 'no line' Copic coloring but one look and I 

knew it would be so much better with the lines and all the detail I lost

when coloring... 

Soooo much better...

The shadow layer of the frame was blended with Blueprint Sketch ink, and

that little scrap of paper in the background was the last of it from PFS.

I snitched an idea of leaving a bit of the die cut outside the frame from Jill Foster's

recent Sketch School on YouTube!

I'm so looking forward to seeing Bonnie's, and Nance's cards!!  Let's go together, shall we?

Thanks ladies, for playing cards with me today - wish I could beam myself right back to Cary for another IRL playtime!

=] Michele

PS: Tara is having a yard sale in October, ladies!  Check out her Facebook page for all the details!

Here for the BOOs!

Kim has such a fun idea for Freshly Made Sketches #653... it's almost a non-sketch!  Take a look...

 

I'm taking a break from Christmas cards as I just cannot let a Halloween go by without using this fun sentiment from SSS... or Waffle Flowers Halloween bear and friends ...

 WF's Nesting Circle Frames to cut my moon and a Gelli-roll Platinum 

pen for adding stars to my spooky sky!

Hope Kim likes it!

=] Michele

Just us Girls #743

My friend Bobby is the host with the most fabulous color combination for us and the Just us Girls #743 Color Week!  Okay, I won't lie - it was a little bit challenging, Bobby - but fun! 

I found some beautiful inks and one big, beautiful stencil from Altenew and got to work... I LOve how it turned out - hope you do, too!

Altenew's Golden Days stencil - Ornate Nesting die set- inks and Featured Sentiments die set

and a sentiment from Meadow Reflections

The Stamp Market - Boho Botanical die

Have a great weekend everyone!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #652

I'm pleased as punch to play along with Linda's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches #652!  It's a doozie and I brought just the guy home from NC for it!

I found Mr. Snowy in Bonnie's stash WITH the coordinating die, so I jumped right into stamping/cutting a few!   

I kept my water coloring quite simple today to best match the PFS patterned paper I found in my stash.  The 'hill' was cut using the Drifting Die from The Greetery once from on the patterned paper and another custom cut for the snow in his Tall Snow Globe which is an oldie from MFT.

Finally, I topped it with a stamped/die cut sentiment from ASD's Angel Bells set and a bit of Stickles for a bit of snow.

I'm very happy with how this one turned out - bonus: another Christmas card for the seniors!

=] Michele

There's nothing like a road trip to meet a crafty friend!

Tom and I hit the road again and had a wonderful 2,080 mile drive all the way to Cary, North Carolina and back!  Why Cary you might ask?  I have had this visit on my bucket list for a while now!

You will no doubt recognize that sweetie in the middle is none other than our friend Bonnie Klass!  Yes, that's me on the left [with all that gray hair smiling so big that my eyes disappeared!] and on the right is another friend Nance Salkeld of Soul Stampin'!  [thanks, Nance for this photo!] Bonnie and I had a few hours on Friday to share tons of hugs and have a tour of her fabulous studio - I've never seen a bigger, more well-organized space!  Bonnie teaches classes there and I think there was seating for at least 14!  

On Saturday, Tom and Bruce headed out to a flea market - Tom's first experience and he really enjoyed it - Bonnie and I shared a few stamps and press plates and just did lots of visiting while doing so.  Nance came for lunch and some more stamping after.  It was so wonderful to meet these gals in real life!  Oh, and I delivered all those hugs as promised from a few of you, too!

Okay, home again on Monday, and I had a little time between travel-laundry loads on Tuesday to get my craft on - it's amazing how rusty one feels after just a few days, isn't it?  Speaking of rust...

I had just the right floral die set for those colors from Carol at Color Hues #94 - yes, it's those Spellbinders' Anemones again!  Hope you don't mind...

So gorgeous cut with Rust and two greens from The Stamp Market - and be still my heart with that dark, steely grey from MFT that I debossed with an old favorite, out of business, debossed woodgrain cover-die from Lil' Inkers.

Now why did I make this so dark?  I was inspired by the fabulous BLACK base of Elizabeth's card over at Just us Girls #742 - it's CASE the Designer time!  Thanks for the Spellbinders inspiration, Elizabeth!

I'm going in for seconds on those gorgeous colors ... can you blame me?

3 1/2 x 6 3/4-inch midi card with a small panel debossed 

with Altenew's Dotted Geo Cover plate.

I'll be back soon now that I have my laundry done, my rhythm back and TONS of fun things to color that I stamped at Bonnie's!

Bonnie, you and Bruce were such wonderful hosts - great fun, food, and all topped with lots of love! xo

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #95

Have you stamped a flower lately?  Well, you're right on time as we are looking for cards that include a stamped flower at The Flower Challenge #95!  

I brought out lots of inks and my Altenew Stamp Wheel to get the job done well, 

and efficiently, too!

That little journal card [Elizabeth Crafts] slides out - a perfect place to write a special note or stick a gift card!  

Creating that secret hiding place was easy by popping these Altenew Nature's Blossoms up on a diagonal piece that was cut using my MFT Stitched Scalloped Edging die [no longer available] and given a bit of texture with my favorite SU Subtle Texture folder.

Isn't this color combo a lovely surprise?  I think so, and I hope the recipient will think so, too!

SO, will you stamp a few flowers for us and our challenge this month?  We sure hope to see your stamped flowers in our gallery soon!  There is lots of beautiful inspiration from the team waiting for you at The Flower Challenge!

=] Michele