Challenge #7 @ Paper Craft Planet

Ok, well I missed a few days of the Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge at Paper Craft Planet. They were finally getting tired of birds ( you know, a partridge, calling birds, french hens, turtle doves...) so they decided that Swans are elegant, right? Create a card (or any paper craft) that is all black and white - think of "high formal" weddings. Feel free to toss in a dash of color. Phew, I can do that! I decided to try out a black flower using the Fabulous Flower set. I must say, that flower looks gorgeous in any color!

Challenge #3 @ Paper Craft Planet

This was my entry for third Christmas challenge over on Paper Craft Planet. Of course if you're following along you know that we should be at Three French Hens. Because french hens are not a commonly used stamp, owls could be used. I used the Owl Together set from Stampin' Up. Then dressed the owls up with some soft flock.


thanks for stopping by,
Michelle
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2nd Day of Christmas Contest

Here it is -- the Second Day of Christmas Contest!. (hum the tune to 12 Days...) On the second day of Christmas my Planet gave to me.... a card with bird or reptile". Stop laughing -- it's "two turtle doves", so they picked turtles or doves... or heck... any reptile.
I've had this Martha Stewart bird punch for quite awhile and have never used it. Today's contest challenged me to give it a shot and I love how cute it came out! I've mixed some SU paper along with some Lasting Impressions paper, ribbon from Target's dollar bin, some rhinestones and an SU sentiment...sooo cute!
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Challenge #12 Gift Card Holder

This week's challenge with the Late Night Stampers, is to create a gift card holder. They are very easy to make and so timely!


I used the Eastern Blooms stamp set and embossed the flowers with black powder and added some dots of white with a gel pen in their centers. I stamped the three flowers with versamark and embossed them as well with the black embossing powder. Then cut them out and popped them up on dimensionals. For the inside, I used the sentiment from Heritage Holiday set. I also used the scallop punch for the front edge. It's all tied together with black gingham ribbon.


Thanks for visiting, and have a fabulous day!

Rub-on Challenge #11

I finally had an excuse to use my SU rub-ons that were just sitting around gathering dust. I don't understand why we hoard all these goodies that we just have to have and then never use. My early New Year's resolution is to stop hoarding all my goodies .
This card is the result of the Late Night Stampers challenge #11 ~ to use your rub-ons. The base of the card is Riding Hood Red, then some Bella Designer Paper topped with Sahara Sand. The rub-ons are from the Hidden Garden set.


The three dots on the bottom are created by punching out three circles of DP using my crop-a-dile and putting a glob of Crystal Effects on it. Ya, I said a glob. Isn't it cool looking?
thanks for stopping in,
Michelle

Heritage Holiday

I've been working on some more Christmas cards. I don't know why, since I probably have more than I actually need. If I do, then I know exactly what I will do with my extras. I'll be sending them to a very special woman who will forward them on to the troops over seas. Her name is Martie Shea and you can pop over to her site here and find out all the details. She collects cards all year long and as the boxes fill up, she will send them to the Chaplains who will then distribute them among the troops. These are all cards that they can use to send back home to their loved ones. I hope that you'll be able to help Martie in her *mission* Stampin' From the Heart

So, on to the card....I love this new set of nesties called Labels Two and couldn't wait to use it. On this card I used the stamp set Heritage Holiday and using my blender pen with markers, I colored in the ornaments. I sponged all the edges of the Christmas designer paper, Riding Hood Red, Old Olive and Baja Breeze textured card stock using Old Olive. Popped the main image up with dimensionals and added the Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon.

I added some small half pearls on each ornament then stamped a single ornament on the inside of the card.
I hope you like it :-)

Digi-scrap book page

I have now plunged into the world of Digi-scrapping. Digital Scrap Booking is creating a Scrapbook page using just your computer. There are loads of freebies to be grabbed out there on the web. This set from Maria LaFrance is called Serene Felties. I changed a few colors so the flowers and buttons co-ordinate with our outfits. Weren't we so cute!?

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Challenge #10

Challenge #10 from Late Night Stampers was to create a card using this photo as our inspiration. What do you think? Does this card not mimic the feel of the photo?

Stuff I used ~
Card Stock - Riding Hood Red, Black, Very Vanilla
Ink - Riding Hood Red, Versamark (is that an ink?)
Stamp Sets - Boho Background, Say it with Scallops

Thanks for peaking in,
Michelle

Pointsetta Box

Two posts in one day! Aren't I the over achiever!


I've made another box and matching 3 x3 note cards. The box is made with Real Red card stock and embossed in white using the Baroque Motifs wheel. I also decorated the note cards with the same materials. The flowers are made from my world famous 'Fabulous Flowers' recipe. You can also learn how to make these simple flowers. The details can be found on my previous post here.


Thanks again for taking the time to read my blog,
Michelle

HAPPY day to you

Another week gone by. Can you believe how quickly these weeks are going by. Soon we will be entering a brand New Year and new changes. I'm looking forward to the next year, but I wish it wouldn't come so darn quick!


For this card I wanted to try out my new stencil Floral Frenzy which works with the Eastern Blooms set. The colors are Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip with some Whisper White. I put a bit of glitter in the center of the flowers and pierced the scallops, neither one you can see very clearly here.


The sentiment, HAPPY day to you, is from the Occasions Collection. Each word is a different stamp so I had to use my stamp-a-ma-jig. But I think I'm getting pretty good at using that silly contraption.

Thanks for checking in on me,
Michelle

Stair Step Card

Here's my submission for this week's challenge over on the Late Night Stampers group. I was a bit intimidated at first, but once the body of the card was made, it was all fun. The directions are very easy ~

• Cut your card stock to the size of 10.5 X 5.0 - if you want to stamp on this, now would be the time to do it.
• Score your card stock at 1.25" - 2.5" - 4.25", 6" and at 8.25" Now fold with hills and valleys (accordion style) making sure that the smallest (1.25" fold) is folded down, as this will be the front of your card)
  
• Now here's the fun part...decorate with ANYTHING...punches, cut-outs, stickers...whatever your theme is, run with it.

I used all the stamps that are included in the Heritage Holiday set, some ribbon, hodgepodge and some careful cutting.
Link a picture back to me so I can see what you create. I warn you, these are a little addicting.

Thanks for stopping by,
Michelle

Cutest card ever!!

Is this not the cutest card! I am so proud of how it turned out and can't wait to send them out to my 'special' people. First off, thank you Janice D. for sending me the cute, I mean scary, Halloween card. Her card sparked my interest in making smaller cards. This one is a cute 4" X 4 1/4" and doesn't the Oak leaf stamp work perfectly on the small size card?


The Happy Thanksgiving was stamped using the Occasion Collection stamp set. I was also able to incorporate some ribbon held on by my much neglected Hodgepodge Hardware. Let me know what you think. I am a bit biased.

Fall Fun

I haven't gotten into scrapbooking yet, but once I do, I'll be very prepared. These are title bars for a scrapbooking swap that I am involved in. I'll send these in and in return I'll receive back one of my title bars, some border strips, a journaling square, tags and several other goodies!

A shout out to Caroline Sharkas for dragging me into this great swap and for letting me borrow your stamps. Thank you so much for your friendship!

Challenge number seven or It's all Greek to me

Over at the Late Night Stampers group we have ongoing weekly challenges. This weeks challenge was to use this map as a starting off point. Well I'm sure you can see that my card is not the same as the example. Would you like my explanation? Of course you do, since you are still reading. Well, first I stamped the words from the Flores Suaves set. And if you have this set you know that the stamp is not as big as the back ground paper and so I pulled out my trusty stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped the card stock six times to get the whole back ground done. I then proceed to add all the other elements to the card. They were all glued on all nice and pretty when I realized the card was upside down! eeeek. Well maybe that's not exactly what I said. But anyway, I was not a happy camper. I was able to pull up everything except the back ground blue with the words from the Flores Suaves, did I mention that I stamped it six different times?! I put all the elements back on the card, facing the correct direction but I had to put them where the glue was still staring at me..and here you go....It meets the challenge, right? Just upside down, but the card is right side up, except that back part, but I don't know Spanish so it's all Greek to me anyway.
Thanks for popping in,
Michelle

Happy Anniversary Honey

My husband and I just celebrated our seventh anniversary. To celebrate we went to Harry's restaurant here in Lakeland. We love going there for our 'dessert for supper' meal. No supper, just dessert. And not just any dessert, but their famous Chocolate Bread Pudding. Oh my goodness is it Delicious!!! It's a rich chocolate, custard style bread pudding drenched in a white chocolate bourbon sauce. Served with vanilla ice cream. It is made for sharing but we went crazy and ordered two.


I hope you enjoyed the card.
Michelle

Wonderful Things

I went to a class, at my local stamp store, held by Debby Schuh. What a fun teacher she is! We made this Wonderful Things book. It is so colorful and eclectic. I love it!!
Here is the cover of the book. Isn't it yummy!!??


Here are a few of the pages in the book that we created. This one has a hole cut out in the middle of the page for a picture.


This page shows a file folder to put goodies in. The page opposite is called a purse. It is sealed shut with velcro and there are quite a few pages inside.


This page is made using chalk board paper. Isn't that the coolest?


Now I need to figure out what my favorite things are and fill up the book.
Thanks for looking,
Michelle

Take out the garbage and the trash

This weeks challenge over at Late Nite Stampers was to take some trash and turn it into something usable. Good timing since I had just finished up some Crystal Lite.

I used some Bella Rose designer paper to cover the container. Then added some Bashful Blue 1" double stitched grosgrain ribbon to go around the top.

The flowers were made with 1 1/4" Pink Pirouette Grosgrain and more of the 1" Bashful Blue ribbon. The centers are made from rub-ons from the Hidden Garden rub-ons and some pretty rhinestone brads.


Thanks for stopping by,
Michelle

Fall Colors

I can't stop using this stamp set, Lovely as a Tree. I have so many ideas swimming around this brain of mine. This time I wanted to make a fall themed card. Fall is a bit different here in Florida than it is up in New England. There are no pretty leaves or crisp air to remind you of the new season. We are still using the air conditioner and lounging in the pool but the pool is starting to be a bit cooler. Not much cooler, but I am spoiled by the summer temperatures of the 87 degree water and now it's at 82 degrees. Woa is me huh?

o anyway, back to the tree. I sponged on Old Olive and Baja Breeze for the background. The tree is colored with Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Barely Banana then blended with the blender pen.

I'll be giving this card to my Dad on his birthday.


Thanks for stopping by :-)
Michelle

Loving Lovely as a Tree

I finally decided to mount up my Lovely as a Tree stamp set and wowsers am I ever glad I did!
What fun I have been having with the endless possibilities of this set.
On the first card, I gold embossed the trees, then whipped out my trusty brayer. I love the effect the brayer gives, but boy is it hard on the hand. I am still having thumb issues since August so it was a bit painful to create the back ground, but well worth the effort.


Here's a close up of the trees and you can really see how well the brayer blends in all the colors of the sky.


My card group wants to make some Christmas cards at our next meeting. So this is the card that started it all. I know it's not all Stampin' Up, but this paper went so well with the feel of the card.

I even went way out on a limb and used stickles for the few ornaments on the tree.


The girls are always wanting to make some masculine cards so we will be making this card as well.


And here's another that can be given to a man, woman or child. It's beautiful!! I am very proud of this one. Notice the fold of the card and the little pine cones on the inside.


I added quite a few layers


A close up for your viewing pleasure. I created the back ground using a sponge. Didn't it come out great! (tooting my own horn here)


I had seen a card similar to this one on one of the convention display boards and wanted to give it a try. So simple with such striking results.


Another close up. This technique is called reflection and you can find the tutorial on Splitcoasters. Isn't it the coolest!


I thought I'd let the Club Girls try this card out too. I wonder how many will want to purchase the set once we are done.


I used Iridescent Ice on the trees. Very pretty!



Have a glittery fun day and thanks for stopping by

Michelle