Fabulous Florets and Beyond the Garden

Hi

Wow, posting three days in a row!! I better be careful I don't do myself an injury hey,lol!

Even more incredible is that I have a set of three cards to share with you today!!

My wonderful sponsor

STAMPING SHANNI

recently provided me with a little goodie bag of Stampin' Up! products to review.

OOOh I felt like a kid on Christmas morning!!

No sooner did I get my little package home and I had that plastic wrap off the delicious paper and I was lost in that blissful feeling that comes from flipping through a new paper pack and the feel of the smooth stamp blocks in the palm of  your hand, dreaming of all the fabulous creations to come.

You know, you've been there................. standing there eyes closed, paper pack clutched to your chest, vague sensation of something pulling on your shirt tails and the distant voice calling.........Mum........Mum.

Oh snap! Back to reality...........lol!

With the combination of the versatile Fabulous Florets stamp set and pretty Beyond The Garden Designer Paper this trio of cards were created in quick succession.

The colour combination of Melon Mambo and Wild Wasabi is fresh and vibrant.

I stamped the flowers and leaves with Wild Wasabi ink and fussy cut them and popped them up with dimentionals.

I love the pretty Wild Wasabi Grosgrain Ribbon and I chose to use it to help tie in the three card layouts.

If you, like me, are a big fan of the beautiful Stampin' Up! stamps and papers and you would like to purchase this lovely set  or view the full range of products available then you can visit 

Shanni's Stampin' Up! Blog

Shanni will be doing a guest post here on Friday to tell you all about a fantastic 
PAPER PARTY
promotion running for the month of May.

* the promotion excludes Specialty Designer Series Papers and Patterns Designer Series Paper Stacks and is only open to Australian residents

If you are just too impatient to wait for Shanni's guest post,  (lol,that's so me!) then just swing by and say hello to Shanni and she will give you all the details.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

MIM #82 with Di's Digi Downloads

Hi

Oh I'm excited now, only five sleeps to the start of two weeks school holidays! Yay!

It's not that I don't like my job because I love it and it's not like I don't enjoy the time I get to myself on the days I don't work and the kids are at school because I do.  It's just that time is going so fast and my boys are growing up before my eyes and I just want more time with them. I'm looking forward to just hanging out with them while they still think it's fun to spend time with Mum and Dad.

But, before I wish away another week I want to tell you all about this week's Make It Monday linky party.

It was another fabulously inspiring linky party last week. It is so much fun discovering new blogs each week and meeting some really lovely people.

I was fairly organised again this week with my card made ahead of time.

 I was inspired to make this card after seeing my friend Shannean's creation here. 

I really loved her card and thought I would have a try at heat embossing some flowers and then colouring them with ink with my water brush. I also really liked the way Shannean did the sentiment in the distressed oval.

Recipe:

Stamp Set - Friends 24-7 by Stampin' Up!

Flower stamp -              by Stampin' Up!

Papers - Prima Melody collection 6"x 6"

Newspaper print from Stampin' Up!

I am entering my card in the following challenges

Get Hippity with Ippity - Things With Wings

Lawnscaping - Be Inspired By Someone Else

Ok, now you've seen what I've been working on this week. Let's see what you've been up to!! 

Come on over to Make It Monday and share you latest creation. Or if you haven't found time to get crafty this week but you'd still like to play along how about reviving an old post. No need to create a whole new post just link back to the old one and blow the dust off that creation you were so proud of back then.  Lots of new faces joining us each week that will be seeing it for the first time.

This week's Make It Monday linky party is now open!!

 

http://disdigidownloads.blogspot.com/

They are generously offering a $10 gift voucher

To be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize all you need to do is leave a comment on an entry in this week's linky party. Be sure to mention you saw them on MIM. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning.  

The wonderful Design Team ladies have created some positively gorgeous card to get your mojo in gear this week. Please head over to MIM and check them out. Don't forget to visit their blogs to see who they have featured as their favourite entry this week.

Speaking of favourite entries I need to show you the one I thought really stood out to me this week.

I have been featuring a few entries this week on the Pink Paper Paradise facebook page that have caught my eye. It is lovely to see a few familiar faces turning up over there. We are so close now to our magic "100 Likes" and the give away will be starting soon.

But for today I would like to share this particular entry from

Alyce

 

I just couldn't go past this absolutely amazing colouring!

Thank you for sharing with us at MIM Alyce.

Make It Monday linky #82 is now open.

Come on over and join in the fun, we'd love to see you there!

Thank you for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

MIM #78 with Di's Digi Downloads

Hi 

Wow, that's another week down!

It was a busy weekend for us with lots to do the yard and a birthday celebration for our youngest son (turning 6 on Tuesday)

I got the results back from my previous CT scan and now have to head off this morning for a MRI on my lower back. Can't say I'm looking forward to it. But on the advice of a good friend I'm just going to enjoy the fact that there is no house work or children to look after for a fabulous 20 minutes while I am stuck in the tube and I plan to take a wee little Nanna nap while I'm in there, lol.

I didn't really get much opportunity to do a lot of crafting this week but I did manage to finish off a little project I started at my friend Shannean's house last week when we met up with another lady  for a day of guilt free crafting.

I thought I would share it for this week's Make It Monday linky party.

 I have made a few of these drawers before that you can see here and here.

The papers are from Stampin' Up! as is the sentiment.

Shannean just happened to have the perfect brads for me to use on the drawers.

Flower was made using a spellbinder die

Pin It

Ok, now you have seen what I am sharing this week at Make It Monday.

Let's see what you've been creating!

Make It Monday #78 is now open.

We are sponsered by 

http://disdigidownloads.blogspot.com/

and they are offering a $10 gift voucher.

To be in with a chance to win this fabulous prize all you need to do is leave a comment on an entry in this week's linky party. Be sure to mention you saw them on MIM. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning.

How easy is that?!

The talented Design team and come up with some beautiful cards to start the linky party off this week. Please be sure to stop by their blogs to say Hi too.

Now, here's the tough part of the job, lol picking just one entry  to  feature here as my pick from last week.

Oh boy , with 256 entries to choose from it really is a difficult choice.

This week I would like to feature

Birgit with this amazing, beautiful, stunning card

apart from the fact that this card is just so amazingly beautiful I thought it was special too because she has incorporated some crochet lace that was made by her late Grandmother.

Can you see how she has threaded the thread through the buttons, wow, great detail!

Please head on over to Birgits blog to see this in more detail.

Thank you so much for sharing this special card with us Birgit.

And thank you for stopping by today. I hope I see you and your creation over at Make It Monday soon!

Michelle :o)

Another request

Hi

Here we are end of the first week of February already!! Never mind Valentines, the shops are full of Easter already!! What is with that? Mind you, I don't mind too much as I'm a bit partial to the odd hot cross bun and secretly wish they would sell them all year long.

I have been busy this week, with a request for some cards from a lady I work with. She was after some cards without any sentiment so that they could be used for any occassion.

It's funny really, maybe it's just me, but I always struggle with where to put the sentiment on a card, I find it tricky to place it just right. So I thought that making cards without a sentiment would be a breeze! Well, I think it is even harder! 

That said, I am pretty happy with this card.

Image is "Friends 24-7" from Stampin' Up! inked using Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip.

Cardstock is also Chocolate Chip.

I embossed the whole image panel with the "Square Lattice" embossing folder also from SU.

Papers are from My Minds Eye

Flowers were created using the same papers and Spellbinders "Rose Creations" die.

I gave the whole card a spritz of glimmer mist.

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:

I hope you are all having a great week!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

Pin It

A special request

Hi!

Well, here I am, back for the third time this week! Now I'm just being an over achiever, lol!

I had special request from a friend this week to make a 60th birthday card for her Mum. So here I am today to share what I came up with for her.

I used one of my new favourite stamp sets that I got from my Mum recently called Notably Ornate from Stampin' Up! 

The papers are from the Prima 6x6 paper stack called  Melody Collection. I used Chocolate Chip ink (SU) to distress the edges.

I used Chocolate Chip cardstock (SU) for the the card base and also for the numbers and swirls.

The numbers are from a Sizzlits Die called Timeless Type and Alphabet Jr and the swirls are from a Sizzix Die called Scribbles Swirls that my friend Shannean gave me as she had two of them. Thanks Shannean!!

Faux stitching is drawn with a Chocolate Chip Stampin' Up! Marker.

I gave the whole card a spritz of glimmer mist just to snaz it up a bit.

I would like to enter my card in to the following challenges:

Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes

Don't forget that the Make It Monday linky party is currently open. Come on over and check out all the amazing entries linked up so far and share with us what you have been creating.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

Summer By The Sea

Hi!

Here I am posting again this week, doesn't happen often (certainly not as often as I would like).

I had a great day today catching up with some wonderful crafting friends that I haven't seen for a couple of months due to the recent school holidays.

I usually pack a tub full of papers and images to work on but today I forgot my images and had to think on the spot and come up with something using a stamp set I borrowed from my friend. There is something about getting together as a group to craft that really does get the creative ideas flowing.

My friend Shannean is a SU demonstator and has a fabulous collection of stamps sets that I set about pawing through till I found one that inspired me.

It's an old stamp set called "Summer By The Sea" from way back in 2004.

Papers (which I think are retired now) are also from Stampin' Up! called Elegant Soiree.

Cardstock is Soft Suede from Stampin' Up!

Image and sentiment have been stamped with Stampin' Up! Soft Suede ink on to Very Vanilla carstock and distressed with the Soft Suede ink.

(sentiment reads "Joy is not in things, it is in us.")

 I created the flower using the same paper and distressing the edges of the petals with the Soft Suede ink too.

I'm not sure if you can pick it up in the photo but the whole card has been spritzed with a homemade shimmer mix made by Shannean.

I would like to enter my card in to the following challenges:

The Cheerful Stamp Pad - Romance is in the Air
Card Makin Mamas - Something Old
Simply Create Too - Love Is In The Air
Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps - Valentiens/Love 
Paper Creations Ink - Love/Romance

Thank you for stopping by today!!

Michelle :o)

MIM #74 with Di's Digi Downloads

(Photo Heavy Post)

Hi, nice to have you stop by today.

I hope your weather is either warming up or cooling down depending on where you live.

Here in Australia it has been a real scorcher this week. I reckon there were quite a few unfortunate souls doing their best lobster impersonations at BBQ's around the country on Australia Day.

It's been a very busy week for me with my return to work and my boys back at school  after our summer school holidays. A couple of days spent preparing our house for inspection, but sadly no offer to buy it.

I had hoped to get crafty in the evenings but just felt too exhausted with all that and the heat too.

But I did at least get my card made for this weeks

MAKE IT MONDAY LINKY PARTY #74

I've been getting in to the romantic spirit with Valentines Day fast approaching and I have to say I am pretty pleased with the card that I made.

The card is made using two stamps sets from Stampin' Up! called A Rose Is A Rose and Notably Ornate.

Papers are also from Stampin' Up!

I inked around the edges of the flourished frame with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

The roses and leaves are created using a two step process. For the roses I stamped first in Riding Hood Red and then in Memento Tuxedo Black and for the leaves I used Old Olive and Memento Tuxedo Black.

For the inside of  the card I created the frame by stamping just the edge of  the Notably Ornate flourish frame  around the edges and also the bud of the roses. Again I used a dauber to just very lightly ink around the edges with the Tuxedo Black ink.

I have to be honest and say I am really happy with how this card ended up. I had no idea in the beginning what I was going to create and this just sort of evolved. I did end up getting a bit carried away in the end and even stamped the envelope.

Ok that's enough of my card, lol!!

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Simply Create Too - Love Is In the Air

Wags 'n Whiskers - Valentines/Love

Paper Creations Ink - Love/Romance

Did you happen to get the chance to check out last week's Make It Monday linky party? Wow, there were so many amazing entries linked up, 236 to be exact. That is some serious inspiration, let me tell you!

This week's Make It Monday linky party #74 is now open.

Our sponsor this week is the wonderful 

Store

They are offering a fabulous prize this week of a $10 gift voucher.

To be in with a chance to win this prize all you need to do is comment on one of the entries in this week's Make it Monday linky party. Be sure to mention you saw them on MIM. The more entries you comment on the more chances you have of winning.

Head on over now and check out the amazing cards the talented Design Team have created to share with you this week.

Now, here's the hard part..........

Choosing just one entry from last week to feature as my favourite.

Well  I know this lady was chosen as our featured blogger over at MIM this week too but I really just couldn't go past her amazing layout.

Celeste from Gerogirl The Paper Princess

created this absolute stunner

I mean seriously, look at those beautiful hand made flowers!

Head on over to Celeste's blog to see them in more detail.

Thank you for sharing with us Celeste.

Come on, join us this week for another fun linky party. Take a tour around the amazing blogs that link up and share you latest creation with us too. You can even share an older post with us if you like. Maybe you have an all time favourite you would like to shed some light on once again.

See you there!

Michelle :o)

Make It Monday #73 with Cupcake Cards and Craft

Hi

Well, that last six weeks certainly zipped past pretty quick!!

My boys are back at school today after six weeks school holidays. We had a wonderful time just doing nothing in particular. That is just the best part isn't it? Just taking each day as it comes, no rush to be anywhere or do anything. And truth be told not having to wash drink bottles and make packed lunches is a pretty good holiday to me, lol.

I didn't get to craft much with the boys home but I did manage to make this card for this week's Make It Monday linky party which is open now.



It uses an old SU stamp set and papers.

The rose is coloured with Copics

R20, R22, R24, R27, R29 and R46 (if I remember correctly)


Our sponsor this week over at Make It Monday is the lovely Mandy at

 Cupcake Cards &Crafts

http://www.cupcakecardcraft.co.uk/

The wonderful prize this week is £5 worth of paper collections in downloadable form!

If your mojo has taken some extended leave you really should stop by and check out the weekly Make It Monday linky parties. There is a huge variety of creations and styles that are shared each week and the inspiration is just endless!

Of course the tough part for me is having to choose just one entry from last week to feature on my blog today.  Again I was having loads of trouble viewing many of the entries because of the blogger issues (I really should just bite the bullet and try Google Chrome as some say that seems to fix the problem) but from the fabulous entries I was able to visit this one really stood out for me.

Created by

Sharon at Colouring For Pleasure



Thank you for sharing this with us at Make It Monday Sharon, it is just gorgeous. Such a sweet image and I love her pretty little outfit too.

Make It Monday #73 is now open.

Head on over and check out what the fabulously talented design team have created for you this week.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

Making good on New Year's resolutions

Hi

Happy Wednesday to you, hope you are all well.

Today was my first day back at work after having five weeks at home with my boys during school holidays (BLISS!). It was nice though being back at work, catching up with everyone and hearing about what the got up to over the holidays.

I have been going really well on my New Year's resolutions, how about you?

I decided to focus this year on losing weight, eating healthy, posting more often on my blog, creating more masculine cards and to start using some of the fabulous stamp sets I have gathering dust in my craft room.

So far so good!! I'm down almost 4kg in the last five weeks and I am posting for the third time this week and with a masculine card too!! So all in all I reckon I'm doing pretty good, lol.

My card tonight uses an old Stampin' Up! set that my Mum sent me ages ago called "For Father" pretty sure it is retired now.

Papers are also from Stampin' Up! called "Well Worn".

I don't know about you, but I find creating masculine cards really difficult. They never seem finished to me and always look terribly plain. I guess its the lack of pearls and flowers, lol.

Hopefully I will be back again soon with another card to share with you this week.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :o)

Mad For Markers New Challenge

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Copic Coloured Embellishments

That's what we want to see for the current challenge over at Mad For Markers challenge blog.

The challenges are fortnightly now and the Design Team have been posting their fabulous creations daily to give you some inspiration.

I found some time today to whip up a quick card for you, to show you just how versatile these fabulous markers can be.

I have used R81 Copic marker to colour the white satin ribbon and E30 to colour the white lace.

Card details

Stamp - Friends 24-7 Stampin' Up!

Papers - Stella Rose from My Minds Eye

Ink - Close to Cocoa Stampin' Up!

Spellbinders - Lacey Circles, Standard Circles Large, Rose Creations

Head on over to the Mad For Markers Challenge blog to see what the rest of the Design Team have been busy creating and get your own Copic coloured embellishments linked up for us to see.

This card is going to be added to the gallery of cards for sale over at

AUSSIE CARDS FOR SALE

I know a lot of my followers are clever little crafters and make their own cards but for those of you who are looking to buy some handcrafted cards to give someone special then you should definitely take a look at this fabulous site.

The selections of cards for sale is just incredible. So many breathtakingly beautiful creations at very reasonable prices.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :-)

Here for you

Hi

Wow, time sure is flying. My boys are almost half way through their first term at school.

I'm not one for wishing time away but I am certainly grateful at the moment that it is whizzing by so fast as I am just hanging out for the end of our wet season. It sure seems to have been a much wetter season.

But on the upside, I have managed to do a bit more crafting which is always a good thing.

I made this card to add to my stash.

I'm trying to make use of the ever growing stash of DP scraps that I have and to also use a few stamps that have been neglected for a while now.

DP is from Stampin Up and the image is from an SU set called Asian Artistry.

Thanks for stopping by today

Michelle :-)

A little Petal Pizzaz

Hi there!

Gee, I don't think I have posted this many days in a row............ever!

My mojo must be running hot, lol.

For my card today I have used the Stampin' Up! set Petal Pizzaz to create this pretty 3D flower.

I really love how this flower turned out. I can see me making more of these for sure.

I gave the flower a spritz of glimmer mist and nearly ruined it as the ink started to bleed a little.

Thanks for stopping by today to take a look.

Michelle :-)

A quick thank you card

.

Hi

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far.

I have been trying to get ahead on my blog posts at the moment in preparation for my little trip to Adelaide to see my parents at the end of the month, YAY!!

DH is staying home to look after the oldest and youngest boys while our middle son is coming with me for his first plane trip. I took our eldest to Sydney a couple of years ago and he had a ball so I thought it might be nice to have a little one on one time with our middle son this time.

I had some scraps left over on my desk this afternoon from a card I had made for an upcoming challenge ( come back on Sunday to see it :-D) so I decided to whip up a quick thank you card (cause that is so much more fun than tidying up). With the end of the school year fast approaching I'm going to be needing a few thank you cards and gifts.

Sorry the photo is really bad, I don't know what is up with my camera at the moment. I must have accidently changed some setting on it.

For this card I have used the following:

Cardstock - Close to Cocoa, Brocade Blue and Very Vanilla from Stampin Up

Designer Paper - Retired Stampin Up

Stamp - Pocket Silhouettes from Stampin Up

Ribbon - Brocade Blue and Very Vanilla from Stampin Up

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle :-)

50th Birthday

Hi

I've been a bad blogger again, it's been a while since I've had time to visit all my favourite blogs. So many things taking priority over my crafting time. But I will pop by soon to check out what you have all been up to.

I received an email from a friend late last night with a request for a large 50th birthday card for a lady asap. So I grabbed the Stampin Up - Cottage Wall - designer paper that was still on my desk from a card  I created a week or so ago. and came up with this A5 size top fold card.

Because the card was to be signed by a group of people I decorated the top and bottom of the inside of the card too.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope to be visiting your blog soon.

Michelle

Super Card

.
Hi

Hey Ho, another boys card, will wonders never cease!

This one is for my boy, Luke, his birthday is next month and I thought this image "Super Duper Boy" from Mo's Digital Pencil Too would be perfect as he is right in to the super/action heroes at the moment.

Layout was pretty much determined by the big boo boo I made in the shading around the image. I stuffed it up so bad I nearly put a hole in the cardstock trying to fix it. So I put the sentiment there to try and cover most of it up.

I stamped the star background paper using the Stampin Up! Starring You stamp set. The sentiment also comes from this set.

Striped paper was created using Copics B97 and B91 on Whisper White cardstock.

Image is coloured using Lyra water colour crayons and Copics B97, B93 and B91 for the Jeans and E11, E00, E000 and R20 for the skin.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle

Blue Medallion

.
Hi

I hope you are all feeling better than me today (that would not be hard). The flu I had on my birthday weekend last week is back with a vengence. I am aching all over and my head feels stuffed full of cotton wool and everything that I can hear sounds like I have my head under the bath water.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why I'm not overly fond of today's card but there are a few. Firstly I don't often make cards with out a coloured image as the focal pioint and the fact that I smudged the white lines I created with the gel pen really bugs me and lastly, I'm not sure this is really a very masculine card.

First I stamped the Medallion image from Stampin Up! on to a square of  Brocade Blue cardstock and then after re-inking I stamped again on Whisper White cardstock.

I used some of the Medallion on white to create two corners and with a circle punch I cut the centre of the medallion to place on top of the blue on blue medalion (even though that sounds like gyberish, it should be clear enough in the photo).

I then placed two white brads in the other corners and using a white gel pen (tip - don't do this when you are not well and your hands are shaky) I drew some smaller circles on either sides of the brads and then some white lines to frame.

Sentiment (from Kaszazz) is stamped using Whisper White Craft ink.

Recipe

Cardstock - Brocade Blue & Whisper White - Stampin Up!

Ink - Not Quite Navy & Whisper White - Stampin Up!

Stamp - Medallion - Stampin Up!

Accessories - White Brads & White Gel Pen

Thanks for stopping by today.

Michelle

Vintage Vogue for a friend

Hi

Well, it's winter here now but you wouldn't know it. The weather is gorgeous. The humidity of the wet season is already a distant memory. Every year I wonder why I choose to live in the tropics when the rain pours down continuously for weeks on end and the mould blooms on shoes, belts and bags in the wardrobe. But now, this time of year, I wouldn't live anywhere else. The skies are blue, the breeze is soft and the sun feels so good on my skin.

Of course the down side is that it really isn't conducive to getting much housework done, it's just way too nice to be inside. So that means that I am later to get in to my craft room at night as the work I should have done during the day needs to be done first.

But with that done, I have managed a card for tonight.

I chose the Vintage Vogue stamp set from Stampin Up! for this card tonight. I have had the set for a while but have not used it except perhaps the flowers on a previous card.

I originally wanted to make this a monochromatic scheme but found that hard so added the So Safron for the flowers.

Recipe:

Cardstock - Old Olive and Whisper White from Stampin Up!

Designer paper  from the Rock Star card elements set from Stampin Up!

Stamp Set - Vintage Vogue from Stampin Up!

Ink - Old Olive and So Safron from Stampin Up!

Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look today.

Michelle

Asian Artistry

Hi

I know that some of you are enjoying a long weekend this weekend and I hope that the weather is perfect for you.

I got all my jobs done early this evening having spent most of the morning cleaning house in readiness for yet another house inspection, so I managed to make it in to my craft room early tonight.

But unfortunately I was lacking inspiration. I decided in the end to set myself a little challenge to use something I have had sitting around for a while and never touched. This ended up being some free papers from a magazine that my lovely Mum sent up to me a while back and a new stamp set that has sat for quite a while just waiting to be inked up.

And although you can't see much of it I used my Stampin Up! Scollop border punch so I decided to enter this card in to the challenge #17 - Border Punch over at Your Next Stamp.

Recipe

DP free from magazine

Cardstock - Riding Hood Red and Whisper White from Stampin Up!

Ink - Riding Hood Red and Old Olive from Stampin Up!

Stamp set - Asian Artistry from Stampin Up!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

Michelle

Not how I had pictured it

.
Hi

I had a idea in mind when I started this card how I wanted it to look but it didn't quite get there.

It was going ok until the end when I decided it needed something. I thought I would use some crystal effects on the flowers but in hindsight I'm thinking that wasn't such a great idea.

The chalk around the edges of the image panel is actually a really good match for the DP but for some reason in the photo it looks a completely different colour.

Recipe:

Designer Paper - Washington Apple from Stamin Up!

Cardstock - Whisper White and Close to Cocoa from Stampin Up!

Stamp - Friends 24-7 from Stampin Up!

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

Michelle