Peace on Earth Easel Card

Hello!  Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday.  It's rainy here, so the perfect day for a crafty afternoon.  I've gotten my fingers a little inky, but am hoping to do a little more . . . first, though, have a quick blog post for you!  

Today's card is an easel card made with the Carols of Christmas Bundle and a bit of watercoloring.  The focal panel is watercolor paper, and I attempted to use the dies for the trees as "stamps" by dropping Tranquil Tide ink into them, spritzing with water, and then carefully turning the dies over onto the watercolor paper.  The trees spread a bit more than I would have liked, so I ended up going ahead and die cutting them, and adding more Tranquil Tide to them before popping them up (I had the Eclipse Technique in mind, but with trees instead of letters . . . ).  I watercolored the sky in the background as well, and when that was dry, die cut with the star and moon so that more of the Glimmer Paper underneath would shine through.  I also die cut and watercolored a deer for my scene.

Here's the easel popped up:

And, here's the inside of the card:

With the Silver Foil, Glimmer Paper and Rhinestones, this is a very sparkly card in real life!

Hope you like it!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

- Michelle

P.S. This is the last day of the Online Extravaganza!  Click here to check out the great deals in my online store.  On Monday, Nov. 27th, those Online Extravaganza deals will be over, but you can get free shipping on all orders!

"Tie Dye" Card CASE

Hi!  Hope your weekend is off to a great start!  Quick post to share a couple of cards today that I made after seeing this beautiful card on Elizabeth Price's blog.  I love the "Tie Dye" background she created, and the layout of her card.  I used the same colors, but changed the layout, sentiment, flowers, and embellishments just a little bit:

Here's how I finished the inside:

And, here's another version I created with a Pink Pirouette card base instead:

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Beautiful Bouquet Bundle

Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Flirty Flamingo, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party, and Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper:  Watercolor Paper, Pink Pirouette, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party, and Whisper White Card Stock

Embellishments:   Beautiful Bouquet Bundle; Layering Ovals Framelits

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

P.S.  There are only a couple days left of the Online Extravaganza!  Click here to check out the great deals in my online store.  Also, on Monday, Nov. 27th, those Online Extravaganza deals will be over, but you can get free shipping on all orders!

Fabulous Friends Friday: Birthday Cards!

It's a long overdue Fabulous Friends Friday!  Today, I'm sharing some beautiful handmade cards I received from some awesome and talented friends for my birthday last month!

Connie M. created this fabulous card using the Painted Harvest Stamp Set and coordinating Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper. 

I love the perfectly coordinating inside, too:

Marlene sent me this wonderful birthday card with a fall and Halloween combo theme:

Marlene created the envelope with a combination of the Spooky Cat Stamp Set and Punch, Graveyard Gate Stamp Set, and Spooky Night Designer Series Paper.   For the card, Marlene used the Colorful Seasons Photopolymer Bundle and Happy Birthday Thinlits.

There was a fun surprise garland inside as well:

Joyce created this adorable and festive card using the Pick a Pumpkin bundle:

Judy-Ann's sweet card features a cupcake made with the Coffee Cafe Photopolymer Bundle

And, Lea created this beauty with the Pocketful of Cheer Paper Pumpkin Kit (hurry, don't miss out on the refills for this, which are on special for another day or so as part of the Online Extravaganza!):

There was a cute little pocket hidden in the envelope with, too:

How fun is that?!

Hope you enjoyed these fabulous cards!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!  One of the things that I'm so thankful for is my amazing stamping friends -- one of my favorite parts of being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator is the opportunity it has given me to meet and share creative ideas and fun times crafting with some really fantastic people!!!  

I do have some cards to share today, too!   First are a couple cards I made using the Eclipse Letter Technique and the Large Letters Framelits Dies.  The background is stamped with the Painted Harvest Stamp Set along with Kim Jolley's Not Your Mother's Shaving Cream Technique:

The "Thanks" and "Sending You" are from the Lovely Inside and Out Bundle.

I also wanted to share this gorgeous card from my amazingly talented friend Marlene Caravello, made with the Gourd Goodness stamp set and a beautiful watercolor technique:

The frame is from the Card Front Builder Dies (also available in the Carols of Christmas Bundle).  Here's the card with the perfectly coordinating envelope, featuring a design from the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper (apologies about the blurry photo):

Here's the inside of the card, and front of the envelope:

And, this card is actually an easel card:

Hope you enjoyed these!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!!!

- Michelle

A Few Fall Projects

Hello!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!  We're having a pretty relaxed day, though I should be getting started on some cooking for Thanksgiving tomorrow!  While I had a few minutes, wanted to pop in here and share a few favorite fall projects.

First is a gift item -- a pumpkin planter, which I filled with fall-flavored teas, and decorated with some orchids created with the Climbing Orchid bundle and colored with Stampin' Blends Markers (mostly Light and Dark Calypso Coral, with a bit of Pumpkin Pie in the center).  The leaves are Champagne Foil Sheets cropped with the Leaf Punch.  The ribbon around it is the 7/8" Striped Ribbon from the Holiday Catalog:

 

Next, is a sweet little 3x3 card, created using the Merry Cafe Stamp Set, Coffee Cup Framelits Dies (available at 20% off, as part of the Online Extravaganza from now until Nov. 26), and lovely Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper:

And, last but not least, are some card I created with the Duoprinting with Chlorophyl Technique (here is a link to an earlier post with my first experiments with this technique and a link to Lydia Fiedler's fabulous tutorial) and some beautifully colored fall leaves:

To get the best print, I discovered that still-juicy red maple leaves work best.  Leaves that are yellow or a bit dry, don't seem to print as well.

For the inside of these cards and the envelopes, I used the leaf stamps from the Gourd Goodness Stamp Set and did some rock and roll technique with Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze and Perfect Plum inks to create multi-colored leaves:

Hope you enjoyed these creations!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Dream Piggy

Happy Tuesday!  Today's card started with a stamping time at my friend Judy-Ann's house this summer -- she shared the borderless watercolor technique with the adorable This Little Piggy stamp set (which, incidentally, would also be really fun to use with the new Stampin' Blends Markers).  I then turned the piece I created at her house into this finished card, using the Petal Garden Memories and More pack and mini ceramic flowers from my stash of random embellishments.  

This card kind of makes me think of Wilbur from Charlotte's Web.  How about you?

Hope you are having a great dreamy day!

Thanks for visiting my blog!
- Michelle

P.S.  Don't forget to check out the specials in the Online Extravaganza!

Online Extravaganza!!!

Online Extravaganza has arrived!!!  For the first 24-hours (which is until Nov 20 at 11:59 MST, which is 10:59 for those of you on PST, like me!), select stamp sets are 20% off!  There are also other great deals -- dies, Paper Pumpkin kits, accessories, and more from 10-40% off!!!  You can check out these exclusive deals in my online store by clicking here. 

Happy shopping!!!

- Michelle

Vintage Gourd Goodness

Happy Monday!   I hope your week is off to a great start!  Wanted to pop in and share a fun technique that I used both on my piece for our recent SUper Friends fall sampler swap (you can see the rest of the creations from that in this blog post), as well as a full sized card. 

Here is my piece for the sampler, with the pumpkins from Gourd Goodness, and actually a little hard to see, but also the leaves from Gourd Goodness are stamped on the Crumb Cake base.  The leaf accent peaking out from behind the pumpkin is cut with one of the Paisley Framelits Dies from Copper Foil, and two types of Year of Cheer Specialty Washi Tape add a bit more interest and sparkle along the bottom of the piece.

Here's a photo of the swaps in progress, so you can see the background a bit better:

The background was created by decoupaging a piece of waxed paper onto my stamped Crumb Cake background and when the glue was dry, embossing it with the Layered Leaves Embossing Folder in the Big Shot.  Then, I sponged it with Soft Suede ink.  The inspiration for this background came from a beautiful vintage card and technique tutorial by MelStampz, which you can see here: http://melstampz.blogspot.com/2009/01/sweet-new-lps-set-and-wax-paper-fresco.html.

I also made a full size card with this technique :

Here are some close ups so you can see more of the subtle color in the background (and a bit of the fun texture of the Copper Trim, spread out a bit before adhering to give it a different look, peeking out in the corner as well):

Here's how I finished the inside of the card:

And, here's a coordinating envelope.

The leaves on the inside of the card and envelope are from Gourd Goodness, and the copper strip on each is a piece of the Year of Cheer Specialty Washi Tape.  

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

SUper Friends Saturday: Fall 3x3 Sampler Swap and More!

 Happy Saturday!   It's been awhile since I've blogged, and I have some amazing projects to share with you today from the most recent gathering of my SUper Friends demonstrator group!  For our swap this time, we decided to make a sampler of fall-themed 3x3s, using the colors from the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper. 

Here's Agnes's fabulous creation, with a background that shows off a leaf design from the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper, flower from Touches of Nature Elements, leaves punched with the Leaf Punch, and a Soft Sky 3/8" Classic Weave Ribbon bow:

Judy-Ann combined images and dies from the Merry Cafe set, Coffee Cups Framelits, and the leaf from the Seasonal Layers Thinlits to create this beauty:

Judy-Ann also created this adorable bonus 3x3 card for everyone, using the Spooky Cat Photopolymer Bundle and Spooky Night Designer Series Paper:

For the first of her fall masterpieces, Margery stamped and fussy cut pumpkins from the Gourd Goodness stamp set and layered them onto a background from the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper.  She stretched and shaped a piece of the Copper Trim for the accent under the pumpkins.

For her second piece, Margery beautifully layered pieces from the October Paper Pumpkin kit onto a background embossed with the Layered Leaves Dynamic Embossing Folder:

Connie S.'s gorgeous artwork sparkles with an on-trend combination of Gold and Copper Foil die cut pieces, heat embossing, and Metallic Thread.  She created the multicolored leaves using the baby wipe technique and stamps from the Colorful Seasons Bundle:

Jana also created two stunning designs.  Her first features a beautifully colored image created with the At Home with You Bundle.  She expertly combines that with Crumb Cake Classic Weave Ribbon and Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper:

Jana's second piece has this adorable fox created with the Foxy Friends set and coordinating Fox Builder Punch, layered onto another design from the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper:

Connie M. created her stunning fall masterpiece using the Pick a Pumpkin Bundle, Layered Leaves Dynamic Embossing Folder, and  Metallic Thread. 

Nancy used text from the Colorful Seasons Bundle as the focal point for her fabulous piece, and added some sparkle with Silver Glimmer Paper and a perfect leaf from the Colorful Seasons Bundle:

For my piece, I decided to try a new technique for the background, using stamping and embossed waxed paper (I found inspiration and directions here on Melstampz blog).  I used the Gourd Goodness stamp set for the pumpkins and stamping on the Crumb Cake base.  I embossed the wax paper and base with the Layered Leaves Dynamic Embossing Folder.  The leaf accent peaking out from behind the pumpkin is cut with one of the Paisley Framelits Dies from Copper Foil, and two types of Year of Cheer Specialty Washi Tape add a bit more interest and sparkle along the bottom of the piece.

Here's how I combined all of these pieces into a display (thanks, Connie M., for the idea of using that paper from the Painted Autumn Designer Series Paper for the background!):

Judy-Ann also shared this magnificent card, which she created using the Eclipse Letters Technique, done with the Large Letters Framelits dies, and Ribbon of Courage stamp set:

We tried out the new Stampin' Blends markers during our gathering, coloring pieces cut from the Just Add Color Specialty Designer Series Paper:

And, I used the Something Good to Eat (September 2016) Paper Pumpkin kit to create some goodies for everyone:

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!  Hope you enjoyed these projects!

- Michelle