Just us Girls #780

I was just blown away by the mood board/inspiration piece at Just us Girls #780 this week - take a look and you will be, too...

Vicki doesn't remember where she found this image, sadly.  But having recently remembered

those brave souls lost on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day this image

beautifully represented that to me.  Seems like the perfect time to search my stash for Poppies and I found a few that weren't that worked a treat.  I made two cards, but we'll see which one lands in their gallery.

First, I should explain that neither of the dies I've used today are actually poppies... but could so easily represent them IMHO... take these SB Anemones for instance...

When using Pimento card from Concord & 9th they sure look like Poppies to me!

Such fussy layers were cut twice - the aforementioned Pimento, and again from their Pistachio card stock.  

Do you see sky and sand?  Each was cut using one of SB's Four Petal Labels then

cut in half-ish - I used a cover die from Hero Arts to ripple the sand a bit.

 I wanted to represent those waves in the photo - this old Lil' Inker die that was sent to me by a friend in Bermuda years ago fit the bill! One of the many Betterpress-ed sentiments from my stash and my card was complete.

Sadly, this sympathy card will hit the mailbox today for someone who has lost her mum.  I know that pain and after 30 years it still hurts my heart.

Another non-poppy die is the star of card 2: 

Altenew's Sulfur Cosmos... and their Wave Panel die that HAD to live with me but has seldom been used.

Even the leaves seemed 'poppy-ish' to me - do you agree?  The layers were cut using Papaya card from The Stamp Market then 'kissed' with CP Tutti Frutti ink, the center from black and another Pistachio leaf.

This cornflower blue [also from TSM] seems more like the one in the inspiration.

It was easy to bring the beach sand using kraft cardstock cut with that old

MFT Wonky Rectangle. Sentiment from PTI's Ways to Say: With Sympathy.

Let me get this published then I'll decide which will be added to the JUGS gallery.  Until then I hope you're looking forward to something fun and crafty this weekend - thanks for spending some of your precious time with me this week!

=] Michele

Color Hues #112

Stef has a gorgeous color combo for us at Color Hues #112!  It offered me the chance to use a new-to-me set from Altenew: Oxeye Daisy.  Armed with its stencils and these inks, these colors came together beautifully - I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the blue leaves!

oopsie daisies - that's Sapphire I've placed upside down!

Backed with a partial panel of 'seersucker' and I think this a very

'summery' way to say hello to a friend!

I've embraced this blue just for you, Stef! and think it's just peachy!

=] Michele

The Paper Players - Fresh and Fruity

Claire has asked for a CAS, Fresh and Fruity card for The Paper Players #742 - I'm adding Funny to the list... who better to cause a spontaneous LOL than Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson... is miss her so!

Claire, I don't think it gets more CAS than this! IMHO

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #691

Hey you guys!!  It's my turn to create a sketch for Freshly Made Sketches - I sure hope you like it - I'm pretty excited as it is my very first!  

I often wondered 'which comes first?  The card or the Sketch?' 

In my own case, it was the card!  I knew if I liked the card, the sketch

could be drawn pretty easily - it is my first time, okay! lol

Ready for the card?

I had been 'savoring' this little Woodland Tales Floral die from Spellbinders' for some time- I cut the layers from the same watercolor card as my card panel and blended a bit of lilac ink on the petals, yellow for the center, and greens for the leaves.  I just love this soft lavender - don't you?  An old friend from Lil' Inkers

came to the party to provide that wonderful, debossed texture on my card panel and

I think the die-cut sentiment from Concord & 9th makes it seem fresh and new.

I know my teammates will have fun with it - after all, they always make our Sketches shine!  I just can't wait to see what YOU will create!  Are those ideas percolating that I hear?

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #103 Reminder

I'd bet if you looked at the cards you made this week, you'll find one that includes

flowers AND some form of heat or dry embossing.  No?  Well you still have plenty of time to make one or two for The Flower Challenge #103!

Here's another way to add dry embossing to make those florals POP!

See what I did there?  I used the coordinating die to this Altenew Wild Geranium to

add embossed detail around my stamped images adding dimension without the need for additional postage!  Yes, I am frugal that way! lol

I love that the die set included one for the hello!

I also love that you stopped by for a visit today - have you entered one of 

your beautifully embossed floral cards to our gallery yet?  You have plenty

of time to make one or three!  My teammates made seconds for your viewing pleasure right HERE!

=] Michele

Concord & 9th Color Club: Plumberry

Concord & 9th started their Color Club as a way to introduce their new colors to those of us who love their inks and colored cardstock.  I love getting those emails which included an invitation for all of us to play along in their first color challenge.  

Plumberry is the challenge color and just one of the new colors for 2025:

#PLUMBERRYC9COLORCHALLENGE

As much as I loved the color palettes they've suggested, I loved combining

Plumberry with a few of my favorites of all their papers using their 

Friendly Florals die set and these papers starting from the top left flower:

Plumberry

Fig

Lemongrass - flower center and panel

Artichoke - stems and leaves

Cobblestone - for banner

Pebble - shadow layer of 'smile' [from C&9th's Potpourri die set]

You'll be seeing lots of these stitch lines in the future - made 

using Concord & 9th's Kristina's Finishing Touches dies.

[it's almost as wonderful as that old MFT stitching set I've had for years!]

If you feel like I haven't been around much lately you're right - I've re-embraced my 'chef-y' side and dove headfirst into the art of pasta making.  It was briefly touched during my training at culinary school but nothing like the lessons I'm learning from watching Pasta Grannies on YouTube!  If you want to get lost for an hour or twelve watch these wonderful Italian women - the youngest I've watched so far is 87!  Pasta Grammar and Helen Rennie are two others that have taken some of the mystery out of pasta making and shaping and introduced me to many I wasn't familiar with, too.  

If you're in the neighborhood I'm happy to make you a plate of Potato Gnocchi - to die for!  

Until next time - take care, enjoy life, and thanks so much for stopping by today!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #690

It's a very fun Sketch #690 from my teamie Karren J. today!  While the possibilities are endless for that circle or any shape at all, I have a sweet PB Birthday Bundles bear that a dear friend stamped and sent to me to color - he was very happy to be the star of Karren's Sketch!

I do have a fondness for big bears... let's start with his closeup...

He must have been a very good boy to get all those presents!

I remember a bear and his little buddy BooBoo who spent a good deal

of their time swiping pic-a-nic baskets from campers - this fun

Summer Camp collection of papers from PTI just seemed perfect -

[shhh I'll be saving this one for my in-house star gazer's birthday!]

My FMS teammates may think I'm a bit early when I add my cards to the team blog post - but it allows all of the fabulous cards THEY make to be a big surprise to me on Wednesday when they go live!  Let's go - I can't wait another moment!

=] Michele

A duo of cards for a trio of challenges!

I don't normally combine challenges in one post but one of today's cards is for two challenges and both challenges are color challenges!  Are you curious?  Read on!

Sheri's pretty coral and green challenge at Color Hues kept calling me back for a floral and I found just the stamp for it - inspired by these incredible Sweet Peas on the interweb:

... and a stamp set that a very sweet friend gifted me quite some time ago...

Stamped onto Canson wc paper and colored with Distress reinkers in

Abandoned Coral, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint. Cut with an old MFT Wonky Rectangle die.

That fun sentiment die is from Pinkfresh Studio: Take Care stand-alone die

but I simply used the outline portion - cut twice and layered for stability.

A sprinkle of PF gems and all layered on a card base.

Next up: a card for The Paper Players #741 and JUGS #778 -

Cover panel embossed with Simon Hurley's Bark EF

Another gift from a friend: The Stamp Market's Pencil Box cut from C&9th cardstock.

along with Spring Tulip - colored with Copics.

Each one of those teensy colored pencils has 5 pieces that come together

so realistically! 

Thanks, Ina, for the shoutout!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!  I appreciate your visit!

=] Michele

Color Hues #111

It's seldom we get green from the gals at Color Hues, but Sheri has gifted us with it for challenge duo #111: Coral and Green!  Now, wouldn't you think I'd reach for a floral?  It has been my wish for a long time for CH to add green to their list of neutrals after all!  But not today - I had a little fun in mind with those cute little canoes! 

This Catherine Pooler Oar-some Dad set has several pun-y sentiments - I had my way with one of them...  if you aren't familiar with river canoeing there are no waves but watch out for the whirlpools and eddys...

Inside:

Fun, right?  This is definitely the card for my Girl-Dad SIL =]

My 'eddy' was created with a fun set of dies from Waffle Flower I picked

up from their Flash Sale a few weeks ago called: Nesting Dotted Circles.

Now before that set gets stowed away, I had to have a little CASE

from Nance's card that made me fall in love with this set in the first place.

I thought it would be fun to add a 'water feature' so I stamped

the waves over top of the canoes and clear heat embossed them!

A fun background was created with the fun paddles - CP 

cleverly called them 'oars' to enable her fun sentiment...

Not quite as CAS as Nance's but I like it!

Sheri, don't think for a minute I won't be using your gorgeous colors for a floral card, too!  

=] Michele

The Flower Challenge #103

 

Welcome to the June edition of The Flower Challenge!  This month we are asking you to add heat or dry embossing to your floral cards - that should be really easy, right?

Here's one way you may not think of using dry embossing: using an embossing folder to emboss an 'all-over' texture to your floral stamping or like I did here to my stenciled floral pattern!  I LOve the look of fabric this Burlap EF from HoneyBee adds to my Garden of Blooms stencil set from Alex Syberia Designs: 

I think it adds so much to this nearly one-layer card!

I'll bet you'll be even more clever than I... speaking of clever - let's go see what my TFC teammates have created, shall we?

Thanks so much for stopping in!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #689

I'll be honest, even when I wasn't on the FMS team, when Cécile's Sketches came up I always worried that I could not do them justice!  She is such a wonderful card designer! Her Sketch this week is wonderful, too...

So, I pulled on my 'big girl panties' and went to work using a new to me die from PTI - my friends Bobby and Bonnie had me shopping AGAIN!  What better time for a floral than for Cecile's FMS Sketch #689?

These Siberian Irises are in homage to those we planted along the pond

at our former home in the two-acre wood.  I wonder if they are still growing.

These made from paper will live on until they reach the recycle bin I suppose!

Here are the inks I've used to color the pieces of this gorgeous, 

Into the Blooms: Iris layered die set from PTI.  My grey panel

is an oldie from Paper Smooches.

As I added my card before Cécile had added hers, I now cannot wait to see her card!  Let's go shall we... I also look forward to seeing what YOU will make using this fantastic sketch!

=] Michele

The Paper Players #740 with Jan

Dear Jan,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to use this wonderful mailer from our West Michigan Symphony!  I've had it tucked away in a safe space for just such an occasion!

 

We received this mailer at least 4 years ago and honestly, I kept it as inspiration

for a card made with some of my 'seafaring' supplies - but I think it was

the perfect time to fussy cut and use it for Jan's challenge at The Paper Players:

First, I cut it at the center fold... then fussy cut the horizon and sailboats

from the front panel to layer over the back panel.

I used that old MFT banner die to cut the 'SAIL AWAY.'

After trimming and adding foam tape for a bit of 3D action, it all came together:

You had to know I wouldn't let that helm and anchor go to waste, right?

I'm thrilled with the results - hope you like it, too!  Off it sails to PP#740!

I couldn't be happier to have my recycled card become Jan's Headliner!!

Thanks so much, Jan!

=] Michele