Go jump in the Lake!

Sorry to barge into your space again - but it's heating up nicely and I just had to get out my favorite Waffle Flower Craft set again... gotta hurry that JUGS #727 is about to take off!

I blended over the top of a Betterpress'ed Gilded Marble press plate from Altenew for my Lake!

There's my handy Dymo Xpress label maker at work again!

Let's just assume he's taken a big dive in that bottom left photo, shall we?

Okay.  As you were! lol and I hope that means you're getting crafty, too!

=] Michele

Playing Cards at Marcia's - In a purple phase!

Hello, my friends!  Marcia and I had a wonderful day together last week ... crafting back-to-back, sharing our stash and lots of laughs!  Top that all off with a wonderful lunch - all combined we DO make a very good team in the culinary department, too! 

My little travel bag was packed with goodies for Marcia to use while I helped myself to a few of her fabulous stencil sets from The Ton ... I'd have them all, if I could afford them.  Marcia saves me so much money!  LOL  

I brought along my blending brushes and a few purple inks - must be I was in a purple mood?  The yellows and greens came from Marcia's stash of inks.

SO!  Are you ready to join me in my purple haze?  Here you go...

I had my way with The Ton's: Calming Cosmos adding a bit of Copic color when I got it home + Concord & 9th Friendly Florals die set + Subtle Texture embossing from SU.

In case you're wondering... here's the starting point:

So pretty - I don't know what I was thinking, but after the first stroke, there was

no turning back!

The Ton: Climbing Peonies + Altenew Organic Linen embossing + 

The Greetery: Opposites Attract + SU Butterfly die cuts: a gift from Marcia

The Ton: Precious Poppies + PTI: Into the Blooms Dahlia fern die

that I cut from black cardstock and glued onto a panel of black for my background...

here's a little closeup...

One more purple... this time Marcia had done all of the work by

having a whole bunch of these wonderful Botani-cuts: Lilacs from The Greetery all cut and ready for a little purple ink and a Crimped Circle from PFS!

Hey, it's [almost] perfect for Four Seasons Spring!

That sentiment says it all: YOU are a great friend, Marcia!

Thanks for another wonderful, crafty day!

[did Chris ever get a bite of that last piece of cheesecake? bwaahaha!]

Of course, you know you ALL were there in our hearts, right?  Right where you are always!

OH! before I go... Marcia and I share a love of MFT's Pure Innocence kids.  She reminded me we had not played with them in a long time.  Sadly, there are only a few of them left in the MFT store, but this little cutie is going to The Color Hues Challenge, and to celebrate my granddaughter's birthday and opening day at their pool tomorrow ... hope it warms up quickly!

Now let's go see what Marcia was making 'behind my back' shall we?  It

is always a treat!  and so are your visits!

=] Michele

The MOST colorful cards of the year 'round here!

That quick delivery from Alex Syberia Designs added a new floral layering die set to my stash.  I was channeling brightness today while it rained!

Meet ASD's Elegant Peony:

After cutting all the layers in white I proceeded to add lots of bright color 

using these inks:

You surely agree that such a gorgeous flower deserves a brightly inked background?  

This one was created by smooshing ink onto my glass mat, spritzing with water and picking up the ink with a scrap of acetate from packaging.  Then it's a matter of laying it down randomly onto TH watercolor paper.  After it dried, I ran it through my Empress with ASD's Mermaid's Melody cover die.

Now you had to know one was never going to be enough, right?  Let me start

with her closeup... this time cut from linen vellum and inked with Citrine with just a kiss of dragonfruit... it got a little 'mixed media' with ASD's Pureland Fan stencil

and some of that leftover ink.

Both of my sentiments are from another ASD set called Tulips Treasure -

you've certainly seen that one here before.

I had stamped an extra Heartfelt Bloom - no time like the present to color it

up in some 'moody' hues ...

My Spellbinders Four Petal Floral embossing folder got a workout with some curry cardstock from The Stamp Market.

THAT was a most colorful Monday I've had in a while!  What rain?  What clouds? Hope you like them!

=] Michele

Good Gull-y!

With all the new things we have to reach for, it's good to remember a few of those oldies but goodies, too... thanks to Carol Mc. at Just us Girls #727 for bringing this EH Stay Salty set to mind.

Oh, even if you can't see them

in that moodboard, by gull-y you can believe they are there!

Not sure about the message in a bottle but where there's a beach there

is a gull stealing a chip!

[yes, Bobby, I added an action wobbler, too!]

Scene created on an ASD tag... Spellbinders' Splish Splash embossing in the background.

Have a great weekend, my friends!

=] Michele

Color Throwdown #793

Choices can be hard, but after my mail arrived there was no disputing what I was going to do with that stack of inks I'd chosen for Color Throwdown #793!  First, let me tell you about fabulous service...

Alex Syberia Design has been on a hiatus while sorting out moving her distribution center.  I'm very happy to report that it now resides in the USA - more importantly: in Michigan!  So yesterday when I placed an order at 11:02:57 AM I never could have imagined that the order would be filled and shipped at 12:03:54 AM the same day NOR did I ever in million years think my shipment would arrive at approximately 10AM the NEXT DAY!!  Friends - THAT is what I call exemplary service!

So it is with extreme gratitude that I'm happy to introduce my latest from ASD:  Heartfelt Blooms!  I bought the stencils and stamp set [and a few more].

ASD Meadow Magic cover plate, and a sentiment from 

A New Dream [a collaboration with SSS].

and just a few inks...

I'm sure you are all SHOCKED that I didn't use tulips!

I have not been asked to promote Alex's products, but I'm happy to do so! 

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #636

Cecile has a really fun Sketch #636 for us at Freshly Made Sketches!  I've had this idea in my brain for ages - it might work with her Sketch!  We'll soon find out!  I took Cecile's arrows and Kim's use of fish to bring it together!  I can almost hear my non-fish-loving friend Linda groaning!

Inside: Dad, you always had a fun way of keeping us IN LINE!

Yes, ANOTHER bit of fishing folly for Father's Day!  I wish my dad were still around - he might get a kick out of this one.

That 'reel' is actually one of the Hands of Time die set from PTI.  The arrows are AGES old from a Dynamics/MFT die set called Lead the Way!  Now.  If you look REALLY closely, you'll find a fly on the end of my line - cut from that sweet SU paper that my friend sent me - the square of 'ticking', too!  The trickiest part was actually loading the 'line' on my fly-reel!  

There, I can put that design to rest!  Thanks, Cecile!  and thanks to all of you, too - have a crafty weekend!

=] Michele

Oh, for the love of neutrals!

There has been a fair amount of color around this blog lately - it's time I got back to my love of neutrals ... hope you like them, too!

I find my inspiration in some of the darnedest places - this one comes from a grainy camera shot of a commercial for I-don't-know what!! 

Those are my favorite colors of all ... and here is how I brought them to my cards today using those wonderful Fresh Picked Anemones from Spellbinders!

A much-loved debossing plate, a simple frame, and love - what more could it need?

OH!  That gorgeous sage-y paper is an older 12x12" pad from Craft Smith at Michael's.

Color blocking anyone?  After debossing two A2 panels of cardstock with 

Altenew's Dotted Starburst die, I split them in two and put them back together

in a two-tone color blocked way.  

You MAY have noticed that I managed to insert a little grey into my card, too?  I'm sneaky that way!  Don't you love how those stems are intertwine-able?

I had a lovely day with Marcia yesterday!  We'll share soon, promise!

=] Michele