Inspired By #197 - a color challenge!

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!

While we're all enjoying lots of yummy leftovers this week, the team at Inspired By is shaking things up a bit: a COLOR challenge!  Read all about it here, then pick and choose the colors you're inspired to use for your cards!

There is an abundance of beauty in this #IB197 photo!  I had an unused, brand spankin' new group of wonderful Wplus9 products that, in my humble opinion, were meant for this week!  You'll let me know if I'm wrong, right?

I was drawn to the dishes in delft blue, the gold in the table runner, and those gorgeous flowers [and wine] in Merlot!  The perfect colors to choose for this 

Wplus9 Flora & Fauna 3 set - I was lucky enough to grab a special bundle @dawnwplus9 offered when these products released!  OH do I love it when a company includes a die for their main sentiment, too.  You'll find the blue and gold repeated in the Scripted Backgrounds.

So!  Which colors will you be inspired by?  Believe me, if I [the color challenged one] can do it, anyone can!  My teamies have offered even more inspiration on our Inspired By blog!  Always a fun read - you know, over that second piece of pie! 

=] Michele

Playing Cards with Friends November 2021 - giving thanks!

Hello my friends!  It's time for me to Play Cards with another wonderful friend!  I'm so thankful my guest for November is Lindsey Larsen - perhaps you'll know her better by her blogging name Occasional Crafting.  Lindsey can be found guest designing for many companies, and challenges, and is also a member of the Pretty Pink Posh design team - but seriously, her cards are really gorgeous no matter whose supplies she puts her beautiful heart into!

Lindsey and I were on the 12 Kits of Occasions team together for years.  I was so happy to meet her on one of our wonderful road trips - my gosh, it's been years ago, but those hugs remain imbedded in my memory, my friend!  

Here are the parameters I chose for us... it is the month of giving thanks.  Lindsey and I share a love of leaves, so this was an easy assignment:

• Leaves in any color
• a thank you, or Thanksgiving card   

I have an abundance of leafy sets to choose from, but this one, called Grateful Autumn* from Memory Box, called my name - or maybe it was the sentiments?

This gorgeous image was stamped in WOW embossing ink, and heat embossed with Altenew's Rose Gold embossing powder.   I used just the slightest bit of water as it is stamped onto Neenah #110 card, and a few Altenew dye inks for water coloring.  I didn't want to lose a bit of the image so I used a double-stitched rectangle from Wplus9 for cutting, and the littlest of all the rounded rectangles from Altenew for my sentiment.

Please join me as I dash over to Lindsey's?  I cannot wait to see which of her leaves she used today!

I'm so thankful that you accepted my invitation, Lindsey!  and thankful to all of you fellow card makers for stopping by today!  BTW  I've already started on my 2022 calendar - hint, wink!

=]  Michele

*I know someone will be curious about this older stamp - here it is!  Grateful Autumn xx

Inspired By #196

I just couldn't resist the #IB196C inspiration at Inspired By this week!  Isn't that the sweetest Advent Calendar ever made?  I brought out lots of old sets this week, and though the name here is 'Neighbor Tag' I did resist making a tag!  But! I couldn't resist making TWO cards!  There is so much to be inspired by in this photo - see if you can find what caught my eye...

All of you seasoned card makers will recognize my old SSS Village Dies c. 2014 - today I paired them with a set from PTI's c. 2015  Warmest Wishes for the mountains, and trees.  Each was stamped in Versafine black, clear embossed, and simply water-colored.

Trying to keep my layers to a minimum for mailing.  You can see that the mountains, and glittery stars, have been inlaid - the rest are lifted just a bit with a scrap of card stock.

The same supplies were used for this next one...

Popping out those teensy window bits and swapping them between the white and kraft houses was a feat, but well worth the fiddling, don't you think?

November will bring you two Holiday themed inspirations, and a Sketch - we know you all have very long card lists - how about playing along while making?  We love having you!  Lots of lovely cards from our IB team this week - see you there!

=]  Michele 

Color Hues #30 Silver and Gold

Hello, my friends!  I was delighted by the happy news from a friend telling me I'd had a win over at Color Hues with my orange and brown card!  I couldn't have made that card without a little corny help from another friend - thank you, Michelle!

So with joy in my heart, I sat right down to make another entry!  Carol gave us the most Seasonally appropriate color scheme this time:  

I took those colors down a different path...

... armed with these Copics:

I gave this gorgeous Penny Black character a gold hat and scarf, 

and gloves with a silvery grey coat!  [which I'd totally wear!]

First, it was stamped in Copic friendly ink, of course, then I gave her a bit

of a gloomy snowy day - and added a bit of cross-hatching for interest with a grey Prismacolor pencil.  I'm getting quite daring adding those little bits of script, right?

All restamped with WOW embossing ink, and heat embossed with Ranger fine detail silver, and gold embossing powder.

Okay.  It was not complete without one silver, and one gold, snowflake!  This may be my favorite of all the Christmas cards I've made this year!  Thanks, Carol!

=]  Michele

Penny Black: Christmas Wishes c. 2018; Wplus9 4 Bar Stitched Rectangles; The Greetery Pretty Postmarks

The Paper Players

The Paper Players, and my friend Joanne, have the most beautiful color challenge this week - once again, I ask you: how could I resist?

 

I received a few wonderful little Alexandra Renke die cuts tucked inside a pretty birthday card - perfect time to use them!

Goodness, between the gloomy day, and that elusive silver, this was a photo nightmare!  Here are a few closeups.  I added a bit of Gansai Tambi white gold water color pigment to my wreath, and splattered it onto my patterned paper, too. 

Another fun sentiment from The Stamp Market - and a VERY old bow die from MFT?

Thanks, Joanne, for choosing all my favorite colors, and to your entire team for the gorgeous inspiration!

=]  Michele

The Flower Challenge #62 - reminder!

 

Yes, you read that correctly - and I'm here to remind you to play along with us at The Flower Challenge, as we must add leaves to our mandatory flowers this month!  Often the easiest thing for me - the leaves are so beautiful to me!  

I am honoring the lovely Poinsettia this month - also easy for me as it is a favorite at Christmas!  Here is that lovely layered one from Uniko again - in varying  shades of red, and pink:

A bit of masking magic allowed me to keep it nice and flat for mailing!

Bonus leaves from this set were added today, too.  A few favorite dies from PinkFresh helped me with the panel, and sentiment label.

I've loved how creative and gorgeous you have been so far - you have a few more weeks to use those lovely leaves AND flowers before the door closes on our challenge!

=]  Michele

A weekend with Waffle Flower and friends!

It is the most wonderful time when three of my favorite people Challenge you to make a non-traditional-colored Christmas card!  there's nothing I could do but grab a few cherished, and one new, Waffle Flower products, my favorite Copics and get to it!!

Why, yes, I did buy another Poinsettia... how could I resist this one???  This time I masked, and layered them up into a pretty bouquet, and Copic colored them in shades of purplish-blue-grey!

Hope they like it!  I know a couple of my favorite guys will!

=]  Michele

Waffle Flower Crafts Poinsettia Blooms and dies combo; Nested Domes; and Wonderful Christmas sentiments combo.  PinkFresh Studio gems