Ghosting

Tried my hand at the Ghosting technique... it's where you stamp the images in craft white, and then stamp over them a little offset with color. Stunning!!

That was the first one I made... and then I just kept on going!

Hugs,
Michele

For My Dad

I know it's not Father's Day yet... but I just wanted to send my Pop some love! Tried out my new Urban District stamp set that hadn't seen ink yet...

He received it over the weekend and said that it brought tears to his eyes... probably from the sentiment inside:

Such a beautiful stamp set!

Hugs,
Michele

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's another special Valentine I made... I have a dear friend who lost her husband on Valentine's Day last year, so I know that today is a very hard day for her. I sent this to her to lift her spirits:

 I love the all-pink balloon with the one red stripe. Here's the left part of the inside:

In what I wrote, I told her I know her husband is raining down hugs and kisses on her, so I punched out some tiny hearts from the heart border punch and put them in a little bag attached to the "note" explaining that the note tells her to toss them in the air so they'll rain down on her!

Now, here are the cards I made for my favorite Valentines... my husband and children!

First, my boys:

Next, my girls. Theirs have a solid balloon except for one stripe is darker:

And finally, Michael's. "You Are My Sunshine" is our quote, so I mixed things up a bit and pulled some stamps from different sets (Over the Rainbow):

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love!
Michele

Valentines

I used my Lift Me Up bundle to make lots of Valentines this year... and to make it less labor-intensive, I used a solid color for the balloon (I just made a template using the framelit and I keep it in the stamp box for when I want to use it). Here are the Valentines I sent to my nieces and nephews (and a few others):

You can't see it in that photo, but I "winked" up parts of the balloon - see here:

I also made one for a dear friend of mine who is a true prayer warrior and I needed her to know how much I appreciate her lifting me up (what a perfect set for that!):

Tomorrow, I'll show you the Valentines I made for my kids and my husband!

Have a great night!
Michele

Lift Me Up

A dear friend of mine lost her dad recently, which was a perfect opportunity for me to try out the beautiful new Lift Me Up bundle. This card is completely CASEd from the one in the Occasions catalog on page 10, but having that as my base gave me confidence to then go on and explore my own creations (which I'll be sharing with you in the coming days!).

I just LOVE how we can make the balloon's sections any color we want... or all one color if we choose to. Just so much fun! Here's the inside...

Needless to say, my friend loved the card, and there's nothing better than "Sending SMILES across the miles!"

Have an UPLIFTING weekend!
Michele

Happy Birthday, Gorgeous!

Several of my friends have had birthdays recently and I felt this was the perfect card for them to find in their mailbox:

Who wouldn't want to be called GORGEOUS on their birthday?! This was fun to make. I used Shimmery White and Brushed Silver cardstock along with the Beautiful You stamp set. I love how the "scribble" stamp perfectly colors in her Flirty Flamingo dress. For some soft bling, I added Wink of Stella to her dress (can't see it in the photo, but it really makes it pop) as well as some silver thread. I'm not usually one to adhere things crooked on a card, but for some reason, I liked it better on this one!

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Michele

Jar of Love

I'm having fun with this set... it brings back memories of chasing fireflies back in Missouri when I was a child. Don't see them up here in the mountains... I guess they don't like altitude. ;)

Here's a close-up of the little firefly... I used Wink of Stella on his wings, but it's hard to photograph:

(actually, after this photo was taken, I decided to Wink up his "light bulb" too!) Here's the inside of the card... I just drew on his swirly flight path with a Smoky Slate marker. So fun!

Have a great week!
Michele

Set of Cards

Lots to show you today! I wanted to make my pastor a set of cards because he sends notes on plain postcards made out of a 1/4-sheet of white cardstock, which is certainly no fun for anyone! Here are some that I gave to him:

Those first two use images from Remarkable You with the sentiment from Strength & Prayers. These next two are from Country Livin'... (but I did not give him the truck - that was a lot of watercoloring, so I kept it to give to someone special!)

Isn't that such a fun truck?! That thank you sentiment comes from One Big Meaning. And this last image comes from Wetlands: 

I think he liked them, but perhaps they could have overwhelmed him since he's not used to sending out anything quite so fancy. Ha! ...Eh, that's alright. I had fun makin' them!

Blessings,
Michele

Happy 48th Anniversary

Today is my mom & pop's 48th wedding anniversary and I wanted to make a fun card to celebrate! This is what I sent them:

My folks love to camp, and my mom's favorite color is red, so I was sure to add some red POP! Of course, this set is the super fun Glamper Greetings with the sentiment coming from Milestone Moments. Of course, I used the fabulous new Watercolor Pencils... LOVE them!! Here's the inside, which is so appropriate!

Enjoy the rest of your week!
Michele

Basket of Birthday Wishes

I made this card for a dear aunt of mine who's birthday is coming up. I used the Basket of Wishes stamp set along with some Stampin' Write markers.

 Here's a closeup of the adorable little basket full of fun flowers:

Enjoy your week!
Michele

Hey Chick!

I made this card for a team swap. I really just wanted an excuse to play with the new Watercolor Pencils and this crazy chicken was the perfect canvas for testing out the blending capabilities!

 Here's a close-up of the silly chicken:

So, needless to say, I was quite impressed with the Watercolor Pencils! If you haven't tried them yet, you really should.

Have a great weekend!

Michele

How About Ice Cream?

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream!! Here's the other card I made for one of my nieces using Cool Treats:

This one uses the coordinating Frozen Treats Framelits and it was so much fun to put this little cone together! I stamped some sprinkles on a couple of the scoops using some Whisper White Craft ink. I made the cherry out of Watermelon Wonder, but I colored the stem with a Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write Marker.

It's fun making birthday cards for nieces! ...well, heck, it's fun to make birthday cards for ANYone!

Hugs,
Michele

Dreamsicle, Anyone?

It may be getting quite cold around these parts, but I just couldn't wait to play with this new Cool Treats stamp set! I made this card for one of my nieces.

To make my dreamsicle, I used Peekaboo Peach full strength, and then did the stripes in the same color also at full strength. I didn't think they'd show up this well using them both at full strength, but as you can see, they did great! The stick is made with Crumb Cake.

I'll have another Cool Treats card to show you in a couple days!

Hugs,
Michele

Masculine Birthday

It's so great to be stamping again... I sure missed it. And I'm so excited to be playing with some new things that just came available, like the Watercolor Pencils that I used to color this guitar. I have always loved watercoloring, and these pencils certainly don't disappoint!

This card was made for my father-in-law using Country Livin' and Guy Greetings. The embossing folder on this one is long retired, but I found this piece of Crumb Cake in my scrap bin, and since it looked so great with this card, I hoped you'd all forgive me. :) Truly, it could be embossed with just about anything and still look great.

Hugs,
Michele

Happy New Year!

It has been a long, long time... but I'm happy to report that the construction on our house is finally complete, and since I now have a dedicated office again (yay!!), I can finally get back to doing what I love to do... STAMP!!

This card was made for a dear friend of mine using Fresh Fruit. Tip: to subdue the Designer Series Paper, I placed a piece of vellum over the top.

Happy New Year, everyone... and I sincerely hope to be publishing more often (I have already made 3 more cards that I'll be sharing over the next few days!)

Hugs,
Michele