A Card for the Blokes :)

Helloooooo again :)

I'm back with another card to share. Confessions upfront first. I made this card for a birthday way back in June!!

A dear friend was celebrating 60 wonderful years of life in late June and I knew I had to make him an extra spesh card to mark the occasion. He has had a few health scares over the years and so every year he is here with us and doing well is a reason to go wild!! :)

As an "approaching mid-life" treat for himself he bought a beautiful, burnt-orange coloured Holden Monaro (GM/Opal Motors for all my non-Aussie readers) with which to transport himself and his gorgeous gal about town in.

The card took me a few days to get all the pieces together and a frantic search for the "right" buttons with which to finish the card. I absolutely loved it once I was done and the reactions from all those gathered at the party was very favourable too. More importantly the birthday boy took it home to frame and it now hangs in his study!! :)

This card was definitely a labour of love.

All I knew at the start was that it had to be in browns/oranges/rust colours and that I wanted to use the yummy car from PTI's Enjoy Your Ride stamp set. I had a look through the blog-o's and also at the PTI gallery and came upon this card by Michelle Wooderson. I copied her idea for the woodgrain stamp on some of the body of the car. Since I'd still had my heat embossing tool out from other crafty moments I decided to add lots of embossing embellishments to this card (no wonder it took me ages to get the whole thing together). The woodgrain was stamped in Choc Chip ink on Kraft paper and then clear embossed. Then I pulled out my Versamark Pen and applied it to the side mirrors and the headlight rims and bumper bar and then embossed all of these in silver. Used my neglected Copics to colour the orange panels and then, to finish off the the car (and only the car mind you...I still had the rest of the card to work on) I applied Crystal Effects to the windscreen and number plate to replicate glass. Of course, I touched the windscreen before it was completely set and had to apply another layer of CE. But wait, there's more......I touched it or 'bumped' it again!! Ha!! Three coats of CE later and I think the windscreen finally works and I left it alone out of harm's way for a whole day before touching it again. Though the CE made some of the ink run a wee bit, I reckon it just adds to the "rustic nature" of the bugmobile, doesn't it??

Some Verve Bountiful Backgrounds to the Really Rust cardstock, embossed of course, and we were gettin there.

The rest sort of all came together relatively easily but I didn't have any buttons that were "right" to finish the card. I hunted high and low - my stash, Mum's stash, Spotlight, Big W, Kmart and NADA!! Drama, drama, drama. I really felt the card needed something more so I tried Spotlight one more time and they had some new stock in!! Yippee. I eyeballed the pearlised/metallic orange buttons to be an "exact" match and hoped they were close enough to not matter. Then saw these gorgeous coconut shell buttons and grabbed a couple of packs as well!! Got them home and they were exactly what I wanted and matched colour-wise like they were made for each other.

Some PTI twine and distressing around all the edges (can't remember which ink I used, sowwy). Matted onto cream cardstock and then choc chip and onto a final base of Kraft and Bob's your Uncle, we were done.

CARD DEETS:

Paper/Cardstock: SU Really Rust, Kraft, Chocolate Chip; Basic Gray Kraft 6x6 pad (label diecut underneath the car)

Stamps: PTI Enjoy The Ride, Verve Bountiful Backgrounds

Ink: SU Chocolate Chip; Memento Tuxedo Black (tyres); Versamark + Distress Ink

Others: Copics, Clear + Silver Embossing Powders, Buttons as described, PTI Rustic Jute Twine

And just in case you made it this far, here is a picture of the birthday boy's awesome cake with a replica of his Broom-broom on top. Plus a photo of the happy fella reading his card. :)

Did Ya Miss Me??

Hello my long-lost blog darlings!! Actually, I'm the long-lost one, aren't I? hehe

How are you all? I'm good, just been busier than you could ever have imagined and had my focus off of all things creative/crafty in the recent weeks/months. Forgive me??

The little fellas are doing well. I hope to pop over and have afternoon tea with the dudes and their mum tomorrow afternoon. Yay!! I haven't actually seen anywhere near enough of the family lately and can't believe wee Charlie is 10weeks old already!! What?? Where?? When?? How did that happen??

Since I last posted I have made a total of 2 cards. Yep, count them......one.....two!! That's it. Seriously, two cards in three months - that's outrageous and way tooo sad. And only one of the cards I'm about to share is one of those two. The other I'll save for my next post. It was spesh enough to need its own write-up. :)

And, for the record, just because I haven't been creating doesn't mean I haven't been buying!! I've added an air compressor and attachment for my Copics so I can do airbrushing (thankfully, some lovely peeps in my world contributed too so its part b'day pressie - phew, it was a lot of $$$).....and lots of yummy new DSP's (I actually cannot physically walk past a new 6x6 pad without purchasing it.......and am NOT interested in any 12 step programs for this, lol). And have almost the entire range of Distress Ink pads now. Three more colours to go and I'll be there. And the new SU catalogue has just launched here in Aus - so there are a couple of new stamp sets and (FINALLY) Crumb Cake (aka Kraft) ink!! WooHoo!! And now I really need to get started on this year's Christmas cards. Someone kindly (or not) shared today that it is only 96 days til Christmas!!

Anyway...that's enough words from me for now, right?? Onto a couple of cards right?!!

This is a card I made for a dear friend, Pri, for her birthday. I whipped this up in about an hour (maybe two, including all the creative processes that go on in my head before I get started....layout, colours, papers, etc....). It came together reasonably well and quickly considering how little I've been playing recently.

She is expecting her first wee bubba in a couple of months and wanted pj's for her birthday, so my roomie and I went in together to get her some truly yummy pj's that she can wear in these next "growing months" and thereafter as well.

They were in pinks and blues and lilacs, so I kinda went with that for my colour choices. And I stamped the damasky-type flourishy thingy on the envelope too to tie it all in together as well as the wrapping paper, which of course I didn't photograph. :(

The photos of this card were taken on my new iPhone 4.0 and I'm so in love with it!! The camera is soooooo much better than on my ol' iPhone 3G......as you can see in the photos of my next card below. I promise to only use my phone camera when I 'forget' to take shots with my DSLR before giving my cards away though. I was recently given a white photography tent too and I can not wait to try it out. Yay. :)

My dear ol'd friend Les has had another birthday. I can't believe I've been blogging long enough to now be showing you birthday cards for friends for a new year. Last year's card was a CASE of one of Julee Tilman's Verve creations, but this year's was a card I made way ahead of time for her. I made her card before I made her husband's, though her birthday is two months after his. (Jeff's card will be in my next post as it was rather spesh.)

I wanted a go at resist embossing and went with my ol' favourite Upsy Daisy. I paired it with Kraft and PTI's Hawaiian Shores ink, paper & ribbon. This also came together well and I was so happy that an idea I had in my head actually turned out much the way I had planned.

And there you have it. Not gonna say sorry for being away so long as I also can't promise it won't happen again. We're heading into our busiest time of year at work in the Clinic and I have a couple of "events" between now and Christmas as well. More about those later.

Love to hear from you and I'm so happy I've managed to post for you, my faithful friends.

Much love,

Michey xxxx

Pri's Birthday Card:

Cardstock: SU Mellow Moss, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum; Basic Grey Kioshi

Ink: SU Perfect Plum, Pale Plum

Stamps: Kaisercraft Lilac Avenue, PTI Signature Greetings

Others: SU Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon (discontinued), Kaisercraft Rhinestones, SU Top Note Die

Lovely Les's B'day Card:

Cardstock: SU Kraft, PTI Dotty Biscotti

Ink: Versamark, PTI Hawaiian Shores

Stamps: SU Upsy Daisy, Hero Arts Friends (background)

Others: Clear Embossing Powder, PTI Hawaiian Shores Satin Ribbon & Twine, Random buttons from stash. SU Top Note Die.

I've just realised that I've used the Top Note Die on both cards. Totally random and not intentional. :)

And.....just a little whisper to you, my fave peeps, I've got some candy coming up too, to celebrate my first year of blogging (even though that was a month ago). Stay tuned. xxx

I haven't been around again...

...but I promise I have a really, really, really good (gorgeous) reason.

Well make that two really good and gorgeous reasons.

My baby sister (who's not really much of a baby anymore) had another gorgeous little fella on Wednesday night!!

So, introducing the newest little man in my life .....

Charlie Maverick, born 7/7/10 at 1849hrs. Isn't he just yummy. *sigh*

I think it very safe to say my heart is in a puddle at his feet. He's almost identical to his big brother, which means we have two spunkalicious dudes on our hands.

Even though it was my sister doing all the hard work having a baby (and it was hard until the labour stage), I've been anxiously waiting for the call that she was going in to hospital for the past three weeks. Charlie was due around 24-27th June but the little monkey had his own opinion about when his birthday would be. I've had an overnight bag packed and rolling around in the boot of my car for weeks!! So glad I can wear my boots again, lol. :)

I was on call because Charlie has a big brother, Cameron Henry, aka Cam, who is 19months of gorgeous, little manliness.

Jo was finally admitted on Monday night to start inducement so I had a sleepover with Cam Monday night and then spent all day Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon/night over there too. He goes to day care a couple of days each week to hang with his friends, but I loved getting there to pick him up and coming home and playing and doing the nighttime routine with him.

He loves his shower (not bath, shower!!) and I think it very safe

to say that I love him more than I ever imagined I could. His poor mummy missed him sooooooo badly as she didn't get to see him until Thursday afternoon, a total of three days without her big boy!! And I also now know what IgglePiggle, UpsyDaisy and MakkaPakka means. :)

And here he is rocking the fluffy hair thing after his shower.

Anyways, this has been my focus for the past few days/weeks/months. I never thought poor Charlie was gonna arrive, but he did and is the picture of health. My amazing sister went home from hospital last night (would have been sooner but she waited until after we had visited). Less than 24hrs after giving birth and she wants to go home 'coz she's fine and well and is bored!! Ha!! Last time I think we'll hear her say that for a while.

So there you have it. Now I have three nieces and two nephews!! There is an abundance of spunky little peeps in my world and I LOVE IT!!

I promise I'll be back soon with a few cards to share.

Lots of sloppy Auntie hugs n kisses. Michey xxx

A Girly Card

Hey lovelies,

Thought I'd best keep up with some semi regular posts. I don't know how I manage to run out of hours every day....eek!! In the last 2 weeks I've made a total of 14 cards.....but then finding the time to photograph them in daylight and then edit and upload them with some text, that's what is getting away from me at the moment, I'm sorry. Forgive me?? ;)

Here's another card I made for my friend's birthday. Can you believe I still have not handed her gift over to her yet. We are both a wee bit too busy at the moment. I'm having problems firming up any plans right at this moment as my dear ol' baby sister is due to have bubs #2 any moment now (she's officially due on Thursday, 24th) and I'm on standby for looking after bubba #1 when she and her hubs go into labour. My goal whilst I have Cameron to myself, is to get his wee cute self to say Auntie!! He's almost 19mths old now and has mastered several other words, including Elmo, so I reckon being able to address is other most favourite person, ie Auntie Michey, by her title is next on the list. Wish me luck.

When I made these cards for my friend, I wanted them to all be different, some girly-girl, some more manly ones, some birthday, some thank you and some for whatever she wanted to use em for.

This is one of the more girly-girl ones and is probably suitable for just any ol' occasion, though I think it qualifies as a birthday card too.

I've grabbed a piece of my beloved BG Porcelain paper and simply matted it onto some SU Blush Blossom card. Used a PTI mat stack die to cut the sentiment panel and then stamped it with both SU Blush Blossom (floral pattern) and PTI Sweet Blush inks. Some reinker used to "re-dye" my white taffeta ribbon into Blush Blossom and a couple of Kaisercraft rhinestones and I was done.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. Mine's been great - though I've watched more sport on the telly these past few days than I have all year so far!! Watching the mighty Maroons stomp all over the Blues on Wednesday night (Yay!! 5 in a row for Qld), then the V8's were on yesterday, followed by the Wallabies in the early evening and then I just had to stay up and cheer for the Socceroos in their redeeming game against Ghana in the World Cup last night. Wowsers!! I'm not usually one who generally watches a lot of sport, especially on TV, but it seems that there's a fair bit on right now. And Wimbeldon is just around the corner, sheesh. I can see lots of crafting and colouring happening in front of the telly in my near future. :)

Catch ya again soon. xxxx Michey xxxx

CARD DEETS:

Stamps: SU Vintage Vogue, PTI Signature Greetings

Ink: SU Blush Blossom, PTI Sweet Blush

Cardstock/Paper: SU Blush Blossom, Whisper White, Basic Grey Porcelain 6x6 pad

Others: PTI Mat Stack 1 die, SU Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon dyed with Blush Blossom reinker, Kaisercraft Rhinestones

Wowsers....really....it's been a month??!!

You've all been soooooo patiently waiting there in the background whilst I go on an unannounced mini-break from blogging!!

Sorry bleeps, it wasn't my intention to ignore you for so long, I'm still in shock that its been a month since I've blogged, wow!!

Anyway, I have been creating quietly in the background. Part of my reason for not being here is that the boss is away at work so I am on go-slow....took a week off myself and rested and relaxed and it was good. We only have 1-2 clinics each week at the moment instead of the usual 9 I have to wade through. I also managed to get a bit of a shocker of a head cold there at the end of my time off and that left me feeling a wee bit blurgh!! Plus our internet was down for just over a week at home!! I didn't think I would survive it, but somehow I did.

Anyways, I do have a card to show. A dear friend has recently had a significant birthday and as part of her gift I made her a collection of cards to use. Sadly I was still a little under the weather and couldn't make it to her party, and haven't been able to organise a time to give her her pressie.....so I'll post a few pics of the cards I made as the gift but leave her birthday card until I know that she has it in her hands. :)

I was desperate to use a few of my new stamp sets, so what you'll find in the following posts are several cards that all use a different set and different papers. I tried not to repeat myself with any of them.

I love, love, love this new set by PTI. So easy to whip up gorgeous "more masculine" themed cards in next to no time.

I've stamped the clouds directly onto the Kraft die. There is a matching die for the balloons but I chose to cut this out by hand and used dimensionals to give it some 'lift'. Stamp the sentiment, add a bit of my favorite new embellie (PTI Twine) and a button and the card was virtually done.

I think that's it for now. Will try and make it back tomorrow with another card to share. :)

Hope you are all well.

Hugs, Michey xxx

CARD DEETS:

Images: PTI Up, Up and Away

Paper/Cardstock: SU Kraft, SU Whisper White, Textured Cream (Riot!)

Inks: SU Blue Bayou, SU Real Red, Memento Rich Cocoa

Other: SU Top Note Die, PTI Cream Twine; PTI Button Enchanted Evening

Happy Mothers Day & Mojo Monday 137

Hey lovelies,

I just wanted to pop by quickly and share the card I made for my Mama for Mother's Day this year. Will just be a quick post now so I can get the card uploaded and entered into this week's Mojo sketch challenge.

I'll come back some time tomorrow and add the details and share with you the gift I made for Mum this year.

Hoping you've all had a lovely weekend and those of you who are Mothers were honoured and blessed and loved on by your families today.

I've been feeling quite under par since last Thursday's Copic Certification day with Marianne Walker and Lori Craig......but I'm determined to not let it stop me or truly get a hold of me. :)

See ya tomorrow.

Hugs, Michey xxx

Mother's Day CARD DEETS:

Stamps: Verve Beautiful You

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper/Cardstock: SU Pink Pirouette Textured 12x12, Riding Hood Red; Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses 6x6 pad (background matt + pieced into vertical strip); Flourishes Classic White

Copics: 0 (Blender); R00, R37, R46, RV00, RV32

Others: SU Top Note Die, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Crystal Effects; Glue Dots

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Its tomorrow.....plus a few days, lol.

Sorry it took me a few days to get back here....work is busy and my mojo and motivation is visiting someone else at the moment. Heheh. Good news....whilst I'm not firing on all cylinders right now, I definitely haven't succumbed to the dreaded lurgies floating around. One of the downfalls of working in the hospital - there are innumerable nasties in the air I breathe all day long. Add to that the fact that the temp has taken a nosedive in the last day or two.....I'm actually feeling cold - didn't think it was ever gonna happen. Its forecast to get down to as low as 1C in some parts of Sydney tonight.....brrrr.

For Mother's Day this year I did two things, I took my dear Mama out for dinner and to see one of our favourites perform, Alfio. He's a youngish, classically trained Aussie/Italian singer with the most incredible voice!! I've seen him live 4 or 5 times now (and again next week before he heads to the US for 3 months) and each time its been a beautiful experience. Anyways, sorry for the tangent, I also decided to make Mum a pack of cards for her to use for the birthdays, etc that she has coming up. Usually she just tells me what she wants a week or two before she needs it and I have a bit of a panic in getting something ready. Now she has ten cards at her disposal to pick and choose and send out at her leisure.

And the good news is that SHE LOVED THEM ALL!!

Here they are (in no particular order....)

Card Deets:

I've used an A5 white card folded in half and kept the layout the same for to make it a little easier for me. I then picked the paper from each of the 6x6 pads that I wanted to use and stamped the image/sentiment in matching colours and added matching ribbon & embellies.

I'll list the 6x6 paper pads and inks I used below - if there is a particular card that you'd like to know the actual breakdown for .....just leave a comment asking or send me an email (the link is just under my bio.....up there, near the top). :)

Basic Grey: Kioshi, Eva, Ambrosia, Granola, Porcelain, Offbeat

KaiserCraft: Gypsy Sisters, Peachy Keen, Devonshire, Pack Your Bags

SU: Sage Shadow, Not Quite Navy, Tangerine Tango, Basic Grey, Bashful Blue, Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Perfect Plum, Regal Rose, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Wild Wasabi, Taken With Teal

Memento Tuxedo Black

Thanks for staying with me to the end. :) xxxxx

Mad For Markers & The Stamp Spot Combined Candy Giveaway!!

The lovely Sammi and Marcia are having a joint candy between their two online stores. Wowsers!! There's over $150 worth of booty in this lovely little pot!!

Here's a list of just what's included:

• 8x8 Paper Pack from Making Memories Flutterby Range
• Three Packs of Kaisercraft Rhinestones (Hot Pink, Turquoise, Silver)
• Inky Impressions Stamp - Lili’s Chicks
• Sarah Kay Stamp – Adele Enjoying Fresh Apples
• Pot of Flowersoft, Fushia
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Textile
• Prima Say it in Pearls, Style 535650
• Prima Dynasty Crystal Flower Centres
• A Memento Black Ink Pad
• And a $60 voucher to go towards your Copic Collection!!

And to get your name on the list to win takes a couple of easy steps and is really simple, but hurry, the candy closes on 15th May. It's also open to bloggers around the world, not just good ol' Australia.

Have a look at their blogs for more information. Mad For Markers and The Stamp Spot.

Hope the start of your week has been a good one (though I personally dislike Monday....blurgh). :)

Michey xxx

WMS 1st Anniversary & New Release

HAPPY 1st ANNIVERSARY TO WALTZING MOUSE STAMPS

(Congrats Claire)

Heya lovelies,

I made another card!! Yay!! After last week's extravaganza where I made 9 cards my mojo disappeared for a wee while this week. Claire posted the sketch for the challenge two days ago and I was keen to play but was absolutely stumped for ideas. Partly because I have two of her label stamps, two christmas sets and the earth angel (which I've already used in a WMS blog hop) and others which make great backgrounds yet I couldn't come up with anything. Then I thought, why don't I get a start on my Christmas cards for 2010!! Duh!! So I did. I played around a little bit with colours and layout.....and ended up with this little beauty.

I actually pulled out my heat gun and embossed, can you believe it??!! I haven't embossed since before Christmas (and funny that I was also making Christmas cards at that time too, lol).

Anyways, hope you like my little creation. I've used Claire's sketch for my layout and this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge for the colours.

Can't wait for the release tonight (Ireland time) Claire. It looks to be your bestest ever!! Check it out on her blog peeps.

Thanks for peeking.

Michey xxx

CARD DEETS:

Stamps: MWS "Secret" Set

Ink: SU Sage Shadow, Bashful Blue, River Rock; Versamark

Paper/CardStock: Random Textured Off-White Card (from art shop); SU River Rock

Others: Iridescent Embossing Powder, Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch, Stickles "Stardust"

Monday Mania with TGF

I'm totally honoured to be playing hostess this week for The Greeting Farm's Monday Mania challenge.

As my country stopped to honour our brave ANZACS yesterday, I decided to set the challenge based on the colour of the Army uniform, since its something I've been surrounded by since birth. My paternal grandfather, father and brother have all served in the Australian Army, with my brother currently still serving our great country.

I had created two cards for this challenge using other images, keeping with the colour scheme I had set but I wasn't entirely happy with them. I woke Friday morning knowing that the deadline for submission of my creation was close and had a card in mind. I spent the next 24hrs planning and strategising how to make it happen. I set to it Saturday afternoon and worked on the card base for hours!! The "forest" actually comprises about 5 different stamp sets using 8 different ink colours!! Stamping and blending the forest left the Kraft base really wet so I needed to let it dry a bit before I cut out the frame. I coloured Courage Ian during this time with Copics (of course) and then smudged him with choc chip ink for effect. I paper pieced his helmet with a camouflage print design I found via Google. I changed the colours with my Copics to better fit my colour scheme and then, after carefully cutting out the "forest window", I set about putting it all together. When finished, I applied Crystal Effects to the goggles to make them shiny. Not sure if I've managed to get this in the photo.

Fussed and played until 11pm Sat night then tried - oh tried so hard - to fall asleep as I was rising at 3am to head out to a Dawn Service with my brother and the rest of the family, then back to take my Mum to hospital for an appointment and then onto church afterwards!! I was totally whacked when I got home and needed a nanna nap. Awoke refreshed and "knew" just what I needed to finish of the card. I used a mini label that I altered with an ink (who's name I can't quite recall atm, will come back to add this) to create a "dogtag" label and handwrote the inscription. The ball chain is aactually what the pricetag was attached to a couple of hairclips I recently purchased. Just shows that you should never, ever throw away anything - it was a perfect addition.

Anyway, I hope you can join me and my dear TGF friends this week in the Monday Mania challenge.

I'm also entering this card into the current Cards for Men challenge - Monochrome

Thanks for stopping by.

Michey xxx

CARD DEETS:

Image: TGF Courage Ian; Hero Arts Dandelion Frame; Verve Abundant Blessings, Forever in our Hearts, Leaves; KaiserCraft Lilac Avenue

Ink: Memento: Tuxedo Black; SU: Choc Chip, Old Olive, Wild Wasabi, River Rock; Distress Ink: Frayed Burlap, Old Paper; Versacolor: Olive, Cement,

Paper/Cardstock: SU Kraft, PTI White

Others: SU Crystal Effects, Cuttlebug Labels, Mimco Chain (used for the dogtag detail), Spica Glitter Pen - Silver,

Copics: See picture for Copics used

Inkspirations Sketch Challenge #21

In the lead up to my hosting the Monday Mania challenge over at The Greeting Farm, I had a couple of practice runs making cards for my entry. This is one that I created that I just wasn't all that happy with.

However, it did mean I managed to participate in Keesh's Inkspiration Challenge last week for my very first time!! Yay!!

Hope you like it.

Hugs, Michey xxx

CARD DEETS:

Image: TGF Cute Troop

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Fresh Snow

Paper/Cardstock: PTI White, KaiserCraft Millitary collection

Others: Copics (sorry I forgot to take a piccie), Edge distresser, PTI Twine

Lest We Forget - ANZAC Day 2010

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

LEST WE FORGET.

Verve, Cupcakes & a Mojo Sketch

Wow.....what a week it has been......and now the weekend is here (for us Aussies anyways). ;)

I set myself a challenge at the beginning of the year to participate in some challenges, hopefully every week. I smashed that this week. I've made 9 cards!! I'm stunned myself - and I did four of those tonight, but I'm not gonna show you until tomorrow as its already 3am and I wanna go to bed.

Sadly, I lost one of the cards on Tuesday....I took the three I had made Monday to work with me on Tuesday to get some photos done during daylight hours and somehow when I checked at the other end, I only had two. :( The card I lost had some of my new MOST FAVOURITE paper on it and I used this weeks SSSC for the layout. It was lovely, but you'll just have to take my word for it. ;)

Anyhow, here is the one of the cards I've made this week. Was for the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge and Verve's Release Challenge # 1. I used this week's Mojo Sketch as the layout guide and cracked open my pack of KaiserCraft Devonshire 6x6 DP.

Thanks for stopping by for a lookie.

Mwah!! Michey xxx

.

(I'm all bleary eyed now so I'll come back and add the deets a little later...)

CARD DEETS:

Stamps: Verve......

Ink:.....

Paper/Cardstock:......

Other:.....

Copics: ....

Mad For Markers Challenge 1 (Entry 2) + Copic Creations Challenge 26 + Anya Ink 2 + Cupcake Inspiration Challenge 54

Just a quick post for now as I want to get this card in before the 5pm deadline with the MFM challenge and its now 4;51pm!!

Nothing like a wee bit of pressure!!

I'll be back in a second to add all the blah, blah, blah. :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Okay.....I'm back (I made the deadline and can breathe again!!). :)

I have been wanting to make an Easel card ever since they first started appearing on blogs, but couldn't quite work up the courage to step out and do it until this week. I started this card on Monday night with a clear vision in mind and went about creating the base and the matted layers.....then my mojo up and left home. Its not back yet, but has popped in for a moment here or two and I've made the most of those moments. (In reality, I just stamped/printed several images and coloured them in using the three colours from the Mad For Markers challenge and was not happy with any of them. They're actually coloured in quite lovely, but I wanted to make this card for one of my BFF's who's having a birthday this coming week and I just wasn't all that ok with the images I'd coloured. They were either tooo young/girlish or in the end didn't match the DP I'd already started with.) I came home after a truly frustrating day yesterday (Friday) determined to get the card finished. Looking through my out-of-control collection of stamps, I happened upon one of the very first sets of TGF stamps I ever purchased, The Anya Collection. They were perfect because my BFF is well-known for her handbag/shoe collection and her love of all things related to SHOPPING!! My roomie and I were watching the brand new BBC version of Sense and Sensibility last night as well and I think this encouraged my mojo to come home!! :)

For this card I've blended a few different challenges. Copic Creations challenge for this week is "black hair", which is perfect as my BFF has lots of gorgeous, long, black hair. I'm also entering this into the Anya Ink challenge, which is Pink and Sparkly as there is some of that going on here, plus the current Cupcake Inspiration Challenge - I was inspired to use the lace on this card because of the beautiful lacy icing pieces on these cupcakes.

Anyway, there are a couple of firsts for me here too: my first easel card; and, my first time using flowers (not entirely sure they work for me tho). Once I was done colouring last night, I pulled out my Crystal Effects and coated Anya's shoes and handbag to give them the appearance of patent leather (see the piccie above left). Then it was off to bed so they could dry. I was off to my BFF's birthday brunch this morning and had a lovely "high tea" with some other darling girlies. Thanksfully, I hadn't planned on taking the gift or card with me today, which was just as well since the card was still in a gazillion pieces. I got home (via a stop at my local scrapping store) at 3:20pm and raced to pull it all together before the 5pm deadline at the MFM challenge!! Phew....my mojo definitely likes a challenge!!

That's it for me atm. I'm off to swallow some pain meds, have had an annoying headache all day (probably related to the fact that I didn't get my coffee in yesterday - remember I did mention it was a frustrating day - plus I was a little down on my H2O intake the past few days too).

Have another project on the go as well that I want to spend some time playing with tonight.

Hope your weekend is shaping up to be all kinds of lovely. :) Hugs, Michey xxx

CARD DEETS:

Images/Stamps: TGF The Anya Collection; Verve Birthday Surprise (Sentiment)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Choc Chip, Distress Ink Old Paper and Frayed Burlap

Copics: (See picture below - sorry for quality - used my iPhone)

Paper/Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Flourishes Classic White, Crate Paper Lillian Collection "Gathering"

Others: Fiskars Upper Crest Punch, KaiserCraft Rhinestones, Nestabilities (Label Eleven and Large Scallop Oval), Prima + Hero Arts + KaiserCraft Flowers (coloured with Copics to match), SU Crystal Effects, Glue Dots, Maya Arts Lace