Freshly Made Sketches #687

Verena is the other 'new kid' on the team and I'm quite sure you all have fallen in love with her style already!  Today, she has given us a most wonderful Sketch:

I even borrowed it recently to make this card - I wonder if she recognized it.

Today, it's all about this Handpicked Bouquet that was rearranged to

fit her sketch.  A bouquet this pretty deserved a lovely linen panel that was cut

using a PFS Essential Stitched Rectangle.  That lovely sentiment was stamped

at Marcia's - from The Greetery: Opposites Attract.

I used a much-loved Leafy Garland die from Altenew for Verena's 'moon shape' 

cut from vellum for an extra feminine touch!  Here are the inks I've used

for that pretty bouquet:

Thanks, Verena, for this gorgeous Sketch #687 - I know it will be much loved

by our card makers!  So, what are you waiting for?  We cannot wait to see

our gallery full of your gorgeous cards!

=] Michele

Playtime with Marcia!

I had another fun day spent with Marcia!  This time I got to host - she requested a fish lunch, and I was happy to fry up a batch for her - as long as she brought her fabulous coleslaw!  Tom even came home eat lunch with us!  I also treated her to her very first bite of Sticky Toffee Pudding - I fell in love with it when I visited the UK ten years ago and finally aced a recipe that lived up to my memory!

But you came for the cards, and I'm happy to oblige:

I had a NBUS Pinkfresh Magnolias set in my 'save for playtime' stash.

The stamp, die, and stencils came together for some mindless craft-while-we-chatted 

time before I had to head to the kitchen.  I'm sure there is no such thing as

this color combo for Magnolias - but in craft land we can do anything we want!

I just knew Marcia would want to press a few of these Alex Syberia Charming Floral panels - 

I wanted to use it again, too. Remember I had only used it as an embossing plate

the first go-round.  Don't you love that pale Gina K Minty green Marcia shared?

Peaches and sage greens were a very pretty match for it!

I got really brave and tried a 'kraft' ink for this next one -

below are the inks I used for stenciling this panel.

[pssst there is another one but I'm using it for my DT card for TFC soon!]

I 'pinked' a vellum bellyband as a home for this bold die-cut word from

Concord & 9th's Friendly Florals

Marcia brought her newest Penny Black set for me to play with.

No way could I not share the card I made... if you think it looks familiar

Marcia made a card last week that was almost just like it - unplanned!!

I planted a few of the tiny tulips from the PB Tulips in Bloom set that

were water colored with Distress reinkers.  My 'tablecloth' is from the same set.

And that, my friends, is the perfect ending to my post today!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Now get on over to Marcia's blog if you haven't been there first - I'm heading there myself right this minute!  

Thanks for coming my way, Marcia - I'm always ready for the next time! xx

=] Michele

Pinkfresh Studio May 2025 Challenge

Hello, my friends - it has been a minute, hasn't it?  Well, I made it into my studio this morning after being inspired by Pinkfresh Studios' May Challenge...

They are asking us to 'frame it up' so I looked through my PFS stash

to find something a little 'out of the box' for my frame.

You may recognize their Rounded & Braided Rectangles -

this time I went without the braiding and used two of the rectangles

to create a frame from white cardstock - I kinda love the shape of that:

What better place to plant a garden of PFS Beautiful Blooms?

My card base was covered with a pretty aquamarine paper from Concord & 9th but first I treated it to a PFS Diagonal Stitched Plaid debossing.  

A dash of PFS Jewels and a sentiment from their Happy Dance set stamped in

PFS Aquamarine ink and my card was complete.

Off I go to plant these in their gallery and on with my LOADS of Monday fun!

=] Michele

The Flower Challege #102 Reminder

Have you added spots or stripes to your florals yet?  

I'm back to remind you that there is still plenty of time to make a few!  

Here's how I added spots to my reminder card...

I love the large size of my Sizzix Switch machine - today it allowed me to 

use TWO embossing folders at once to emboss different spots to the

negative piece left from cutting that gorgeous SSS Alstroemeria.

This time I water colored the die cut bloom before putting into the coordinating

embossing folder.

I found a lovely photo of the Summer Breeze Alstroemeria on the Burpee website as inspiration:

I had many sizes of spots or dots to choose from in my abundant 

supply of embossing folders and I'll bet YOU do TOO!

So, what are you waiting for?  We'd be so happy to see your spots or stripes in our gallery at The Flower Challenge!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #686

Kim has such a wonderful Sketch for us this week - as usual the possibilities are endless for her center 'shape.'

 

I had a new floral die from a friend just itching to play - Nance, I only wish

I still had my wonderful Siberian Irises that sadly got left behind when we moved!

Papertrey Ink's Delightful Brackets was used to create the focal space where I 

planted my SB Layered Iris cut from papers from The Stamp Market.

A sentiment from who-knows-where stamped on a banner I found among my snippets!

But I'm betting you have your own little stash of snippets that would work just as well!

That gorgeous green panel was debossed with another of those wonderful

plates from Lil' Inkers - here's a closeup:

Are your creative juices flowing yet?  There's even more to be inspired by over at the FMS blog HERE!

=] Michele

I'm sneaking back in for a link to Darnell's I.D.E.A.S. Calendar!

Nearly ALL die-cut today!

A few challenges just for fun!

I have a very quick post - happy Mother's Day to all you moms!  Here's the card I made for my MIL using a new Diamond Ribbons die from The Greetery and some PFS washi flowers from a friend:

Next up, second helpings for Color Hues: blue and yellow!  Using that sweet, stamped PFS image from my last playdate at Marcia's house!

A Parklane ef from JoAnn's and a sentiment from my snippets!

Also perfect for JUGS #774 with those pretty lemons!

I'd better get these delivered!  Happy Sunday, friends!

=] Michele

Alex Syberia Designs for Spellbinder!

I was thrilled to be invited to play with the new products that Spellbinder and Alex Syberia Designs teamed up to make!  They sent me three of Alex's products - let me share the fun I had with them... first up her darling Kokeshi Dolls:

Having these photos was very helpful as there are LOTS of little pieces

to this set but each is integral for her!  I pulled out my colored card stock snippets

for many of those little pieces - they turned out so colorful and pretty!

This card combines another of Alex's SB products used as my background called

Parasols - it's a Betterpress plate!  Here I've used it to add glorious texture.

The detailed panel is SB S5-568: Scrolled Punch and Pierce Plate.

The branch is S3-459 Sealed Birds.

Sentiment: STP 183: Fill my Heart, cut with the smallest SB S5-562 Essential Ovals 

I love the combination of purples and peaches, do you?

Card base embossed using SB Four Petal Floral EF

Center panel: S5-563: Essential Four Petal Labels which also has that lovely 

Betterpress-ed BP-289 Parasol texture.

Another sentiment from STP-183 cut with the smallest SB S5-562 Essential Ovals

Now, for my last card that was created using all three of the products I received 

including these lovely fans:

Isn't she lovely?  I think this might make a wonderful wedding or anniversary card

with one of my favorite BP-026 A Little Message sentiments!

You will be seeing lots of cards made with these lovely Spring in Kyota from Alex Syberia for Spellbinder around blogland - thanks so much for stopping by to see mine today!  You'll find these products and more from the collection at Spellbinders and at Alex Syberia Designs, too!

=] Michele

Something old, something new!

Joanne and The Paper Players have a really fun theme this week:  something old, something new!  We've all got that covered right?

It just so happens that I had a collaborative set from Wplus9 and Simon Says Stamp on my desk for a little water coloring - no time like the present to use this one!

Something old: SSS Humble and Kind c. 2017 and a new Penny Black EF: Linked

My 'vase' is the window portion of Fresh Air Window Frame from The Greetery -

cut from wc paper.  I lopped off a bit from its bottom - wouldn't want those lovely tulips to spill - and embossed the upper 2/3 of it with SU! Subtle Texture and finally shaded with a little distress ink.

Hope they like it as I sure had fun making it!

=] Michele

Hey, they liked it!  Thanks, ladies, for this honor!

Freshly Made Sketches #685

I love each and every one of my new teammates at Freshly Made Sketches, but Linda has been making me LOL for years - me thinks she and I have a shared sense of humor.  How could I help but return the favor this week?  Here's her wonderful Sketch #685...

I promised you'd see these sea-worthy friends again...

I can't help but think about the time Tom took off in the canoe

leaving our anchor behind... thankfully this scene didn't ensue -

we never did find the anchor...  this will be his anniversary card!

After 30 years, he's still my anchor - but not in the 'ball and chain' way!

 I hope Linda's Sketch sparks a happy memory and a fun crafty time for each of you!

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #102

 

Hello friends and welcome!  The Flower Challenge has a tricky one this time - adding spots or stripes to flowers?  I think I'll put them in the background or foreground, myself!   Here's how I did it... my friend Therese made a great video on using heat embossing in several fun ways.  I've used one of her tricks to add stripes as a landing zone for a pot of Waffle Flower Craft's water-colored crocuses!  

Take a look at a little closeup of them ...  

Three strips of double-sided tape were added to my card front.  

Then I poured over WOW's A Girl's Best Friend glitter embossing powder over the strips of sticky tape, heat set it from the backside first, then completely set it from the front. I'll admit it worked far better than using Versamark ink for this glittery powder! That girl is so clever!

While 'working ahead' I forgot that by the time this posted crocuses would

be long gone... that's okay.  Paper ones are 'forever' and it is still Spring!

Okay.  Are you feeling inspired?  I hope so.  But if not, my teamies over on The Flower Challenge blog have all kinds of ways to add spots or stripes to a floral card!

Let's GO!

=] Michele

I was very happy to see the purple crocus at The Four Seasons Challenge: Spring!

May Day!

No! That's not a distress signal!!  [In fact, we've yet to lower the canoe from the rafters] It's raining kitties and puppies: a very gentle but steady rain which we needed so I'm not complaining one bit!

Marcia is the host with the most over at Color Hues #108 and while we did a little texting this morning, I pulled down my newest blues and got to work!  Hope she likes my blue and yellow creation!

I adore the 'seersucker' look of my Altenew Rustic Linen embossing folder, so it was easy to use it as a backdrop for these blue and yellow 'poppies' from Concord & 9th's Paper Posies set - the stamen from their Primrose Garden.  My 'cheers' comes from Altenew, too.  

I am normally not a fan of blue, but this blue makes me very happy.  So do Blue Poppies: they're real just google them!

How accommodating for Just us Girls to have their 'die week' premier today, too!  Since I have indeed used a flower or two, I will share this card with them happily!

Thanks for dropping by!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #684

As I was writing this post there wasn't a thing blooming in my yard... sigh.  But I'm so happy to see my neighbors Forsythias are!  But we card makers can always find flowers blooming in our happy places, right?  Jen Mitchell's Sketch #684 gives us the perfect spot to plant a few posies - or anything else your crafty heart desires!

 

I had a few new dies to take for a spin...

Concord & 9th: Paper Posy Dies with a side of PFS Lacey Edger

SU! Subtle Texture [retired]

I can hardly wait to see what you all plant in Jen's circle!  See you soon!

=] Michele

The Paper Players #735

Claire has a sketch for us at The Paper Players #735 and I couldn't resist it!  Digging into my stash I found this sweet little Altenew Coneflower that wanted to play cards, too!

Here's Claire's Sketch: 

I had that set out for another challenge but I'm trying to watercolor more using all of the wonderful line art images I have in my stash.  Jill Foster's influence, no doubt!  After stamping and water coloring, I used the coordinating die to cut the smaller bloom, and an MFT Elegant Rectangle die for the larger which will stand in for the circle on Claire's sketch... it's easier to show than to tell!

Though I really love the uncut/cut version stacked, that rectangle forced me

to make it a landscape version of Claire's sketch - I hope she doesn't mind!  

My vertical strip was a smooshed snippet, and of course I had another Betterpress sentiment to add.  Its cotton paper matches so well with the Canson watercolor paper I used for painting and the card base, too.  You'll be seeing the layering stamped version of these Coneflowers soon!

Hope you've had a wonderful start to your week - thanks for stopping by today!

=] Michele

An homage to Bob

If any of you have an Instagram account, you may have crossed paths with a few wonderful birders at some point.  I follow many who are absolutely phenomenal photographers and videographers.  @putman_and_robin is one of those!  His adorable videos of the most wonderful European Robin friends Bob, Bobette, and Pip are worth a watch or twenty!  

Here is my homage to 'Bob!'  Maybe his older, slightly 'more fancy' sister?

I'm a bit sad today as one of our darling Tree Swallows had a

window strike - she rallied but we couldn't get her to fly.

We handed her off to a licensed rehabilitator with prayers.

Her mate is still looking for her.  SO sad.

I needed the joy that Bob brings me!  Hope you stop by for a look-see!

=] Michele