HB to my Roomie

Hey lovelies,

Hope you are having a great day. Its Tuesday evening over here and I'm just about to pack up and head home from a big day in the Clinic. I know some of you have had snow recently (I wish) and are so over it and looking forward to spring/summer finally arriving, but here, our days have just started to get a little cooler and the nights a bit fresher and I'M TOTALLY LOVING IT!

I actually had to hunt out my favourite, comfy, 'home' cardigan and a pair of socks on Sunday evening. :)

Here's a card I created for my dear Roomie's birthday. She's a massive fan of GREEN and so each year I've used that as a starting place for ideas.

She's the person who introduced me to this crazy ol' cardmaking world more than 2 years ago. She's also getting married in 13 sleeps (11th April) and is moving out - so I'm gonna miss her big time, but at the same time am so mega excited for this next chapter in her life. Her husband to be is a darling and they are sooooo cute together.

I'm also entering this into Joy's current challenge. Again I've used Lucy as my inspiration and person to honour. I find myself drawn to her BLOG all the time and have used THIS as my card to focus on.

I"m also entering this into Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge #8 - Blending Technique!! My blending on the PTI doily is appalling!! I'm definitely going to give this another go this week and hopefully do better. I was pushed for time to get this card done and ready to give with my gift, otherwise I'd have binned that doily and started over. I also sponged around the edge of the dress form die and all over the stand to give it a little definition.

Anywho, that's enough from me for now. I hope to be back a little later this week with another post. I'm off to see Cyndi Lauper with one of my besties on Thursday night!! That should be fun - not that I actually know any of her latest music, I'm hoping she cracks out the good ol' classics - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and True Colours - then I'll make sure to sing as loudly and crazily as I can. Heeeeeee.

Big hugs lovelies.

Michey xxx

CARD DEETS:

Cardstock/Paper: SU Kiwi Kiss, SU Whisper White, MME Stella & Rose

Stamps: PTI Signature Series: Dress Form (Sentiment)

Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Inks Old Paper

Other: PTI Parisian Lace Die; PTI Signature Series: Dress Form Die, PTI Chartreuse Button, PTI Twine

Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday Challenge #3 & Jay Gees Nook Challenge #5

Yes....It's me again!! Two posts in one day.

I managed to grab a few moments this week to create. I'm almost done creating my new studio/cave and my mojo is bubbling on hold until I can really let loose in there. :)

I whipped up another card on Monday using Chupa's sketch for this week which can be found here.

And I used Jay Gee's Nooks Current Challenge #5 here for my colour inspiration. (Plus I was absolutely busting to use some of my new MME paper!!)

I'm not sure yet if this is the birthday card for my sister....or one for the stash.

I'll pop back here soon and add the card deets.

Now it's time for la-la land for me. I'm supposed to be up at 7am to head to a conference and it's already 12:30am!! Eeek.

Michey xxxx

CARD DEETS:

Joy's Honouring Challenge

Hey folks,

A quick post today as I'm uber busy.

The sweet Joy of Less Is More blog-o had a week of honouring some of her favourite inspiring bloggers last week. Did you stop by.

I loved it and I loved the idea.

Anyway, at the end of her week she set up a challenge for us to participate in as well.

All of the blogs that Joy highlighted last week are in my Top 10 of faves to pop on by as well. So I picked another, sweet Lucy, to honour with my creation. I love Lucy's blog and every card/creation she posts is fabulous.

This card of hers caught my eye and I used it as the inspiration behind this card I have made (because I've needed a stash of sympathy/thinking of you cards just recently, sadly).

Thanks Lucy for the inspiration....and thanks Joy for the challenge and the motivation to get creating.

See y'all again real soon.

Michey xxx

Card Deets:

Cardstock/Paper: SU Crumb Cake, PTI Vintage Cream

Stamps: PTI YOTF: Lily of The Valley (May)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black (Image & Sentiment), SU Basic Grey (Sponging)

Others: SU Kraft Taffeta Ribbon (Retired), Button from stash, PTI Rustic Cream Twine

Copic Candy!!

The lovely Lisa is about to open a brand new online store!! Heeee!! So exciting for her.

And to celebrate she is giving away a few (ie: LOTS) of Copics to a lucky candy winner.

Check out her new store blog for more details and to sign up to maybe win. xx

YAY! for Birthdays

Hello again,

Thank you for all the lovely comments left on my previous post, they mean so much. The rebuilding process for Qld (both in SE and Nth Qld) following the floods and cyclone as well as the fires in the Perth area will take quite some time, given the vast area of destruction and devastation. And some fairly significant storms/showers/rain patterns continue to roll through the SE area as well. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Also, for our neighbours in NZ following last week's earthquake. There are still some significant aftershocks hitting the Christchurch area, hampering recovery efforts and adding to the fear and distress of those in the area.

Now...onto happier things. Here's another card I made recently for a birthday.

I purchased this Penny Black stamp from my "new" LSS and couldn't wait to get it inky.

And, I remembered to stamp this one on watercolour paper as I was planning to colour with my Distress Inks and blender pens.

I used this super cute paper from Prima's Jack'n'Jill collection as my inspiration for colours and it all came together from there. The 6x6 page already has the cream distressing printed around its borders, however, as this was cut to fit the Australian A6 card size (1/2 of an A5) I had to add to the distressing by swipping my PTI Vintage Cream around the "new" edge.

I've been guilty of hoarding several packs of Thickers for some time now....and here I have actually used them for the first time!! I likey....and need to accept that when you buy these lovely things, you need to use them and if they run out or you don't have the right letters left....you need to buy more!! Heeeee...my note to self for the day.

The only thing I'm not keen on with this card is the shadowing I added under the stool on the image. I really need to practice getting that right. I also purchased a new circle cutter, but need to start driving it a bit better. I don't tend to waste to much paper/ribbon/DSP etc, when I'm creating so I stamped this wee fellow in the corner of my watercolour sheet, however, the circle cutter really needs the paper to be 'grounded' on every side whilst cutting. The image moved a bit and ended up not being cut perfectly along the lower left of the circle. Out came the distress tool (actually I just use an old craft knife for this) and a few swipes to roughen up the edge around the entire image and voila! no evidence of crooked cutting left to be seen. Really going to have to work to overcome my reluctance to stamp in the middle of a sheet of paper!!

I'm awaiting some new stamps/papers/dies from PTI, Hero Arts, MFT and Sweet November Stamps to arrive any day now!! Eeeee.......might need to go home and clear away the items I've been using during the past week or two so I can get inky with the new things when they arrive.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Michey xxxx

CARD DEETS:

Stamp: Penny Black (I'll come back and add this stamp's name once I get home)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (image), Tim Holtz Distress Inks (various - watercolouring)

Cardstock/Paper: SU Kraft (base); Prima Jack'n'Jill 6x6 DSP; SU Blush Blossom (Retired - matted underneath image); Watercolour Paper (A5 pad purchased from art store)

Miscellaneous: American Craft Thickers; SU Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon; PTI Vintage Cream Ink; Circle Cutter