Fusion - Interlocking Hearts

Hello!

I can't believe we're into February already. Time flies so quickly! Valentine's Day is fast approaching our latest Fusion Card Challenge is celebrating LOVE. For my card this time I have used a fusion of both sketch and photo inspiration.

I used PTI Heart Prints stamps and dies.

Isn't that sketch and inspiration just awesome?! I just know our gallery will be filled with fabulousness this time around, as always!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion - Heartful

Hello!

What a busy week I'm having! I'm off work so that I can settle my kids back into school after the Summer holidays. My 12 year old started Grade 7, the first year of high school, on Tuesday (Monday was Australia Day holiday). After several challenging years, this year is starting well. She's coming home bursting with excitement and stories of new friends and fun classes. This makes me so happy. My 7 year old started Grade 2 today. She wasn't quite as excited to be back at school, and wasn't quite as enthusiastic when telling me about her day... lol! My little girl is the introvert and she really, really likes her quiet time to herself. She gets overwhelmed with all those people all day long! The good news is that they are both really happy with their teachers and they like their classmates. :-)

It's only a couple of weeks until Valentine's Day and the Fusion Challenge is the perfect inspiration for those last minute cards! I have created a Fusion card, using the sketch and taking the hearts from the inspiration photo.

I used PTI Heart Prints stamps. Inks are SU! Poppy Parade and Early Espresso.

I hope that someone makes a card using that stripey card in the middle of the photo as their inspiration. I really love that one! :-)

Thanks for dropping by to visit me!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion - Wooden Hearts

Hello!

It's been such a hot day here in Brisbane! This morning was 88% humidity with zero rain forecast. That makes for an extremely uncomfortable day, and the temperature reached 37C (99F), ugh!

Looking at the inspiration for Fusion this week, I'm thinking there is a little hint there for us to start preparing for Valentine's Day.  ;-)  I love the wooden hearts in the inspiration, and I decided to replicate them on my card.

I took the inspiration photo and sketch and created a Fusion card. The hearts are PTI heart dies and they've been run through the woodgrain impression plate. The sentiment is SSS Sketchy Banners.

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone creates with this inspiration!

Thank-you for coming by my blog!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion 11 - You are so beautiful

If you are here for my Case Study card, scroll down, or click HERE.

Hello!

The Fusion Card Challenge inspiration this week just sings out "love songs" to me. I probably should have found a sentiment that says "to me" for the inside of this card to finish off the song line... and now I have Jo Cocker singing in my head... Anyway, how are you inspired? I didn't use the sketch this week, just the inspiration photo.

I used a mix of washi tape, patterned paper, dies and stamping. The stamps are PTI Heart Prints and MFT Compimentary Greetings.

Unusually for me, I added a sentiment inside the card. I very much feel that beauty is much more related to what is inside a person than what they look like. When someone is beautiful inside, it glows on the outside.

Looking at this inspiration I was wishing I had some cutlery stamps, or little cutlery embellishments!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a little time to visit the other ladies on the team, too!

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti  
Jeanne Jachna
Julia Aston
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

Michelle
xxx

Fusion #3 - Hearts Galore!

Hello!

Are you starting to feel the LOVE flowing through our blogging world? There has been pink and red and flowers and hearts and chocolates in every nook and cranny! I think Valentine's Day may be just around the corner! ;-) Our inspiration this week at Fusion Card Challenge allows us to enjoy our "inner Valentine" if we choose, or if you aren't inspired by hearts, there is plenty of other inspiration to be had.

The first card I made is a Fusion of the sketch and the inspiration photo. I took the hearts from the photo.

Stamps are PTI Wonderful Words: Hello (sentiment) and Heart Prints. Dies are PTI Hearts. Colours are SU! Primrose Petals, Pool Party, Very Vanilla. The paper is SU! but I forget it's name.

The second card I made was directly inspired by the photograph, with a washi background and a washi heart. My heart was made by lining up a few rows of washi and die-cutting the heart. The "Hello There" sentiment makes me smile. I like the idea of sending a card with a bright red heart and just saying an offhand "Oh, hello there!". :-)

This card uses all washi tape (and I can't tell you what the brands are) except that one little sentiment, which comes from SSS Sketchy Banners.

The Fusion DT has come up with some amazing work this week. Why don't you pay them a visit too?

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti
Geri Freeman
Julia Aston
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

Thanks for visiting me!

Michelle
xxx

Dynamic Duos #46

Hello!

Sometimes in the middle of making a card, I lose my way. So I walk away from the craft desk, leaving what I was working on just sitting there. Often I'll come back and start in a new direction. Other times, as with this card, I'll come back and take a look with fresh eyes and decide I actually like it. While this card isn't exactly what I was envisioning when I started making it, I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Somehow the night photography has made the pink a deeper colour than in real life, but you get the idea. ;-)

I used PTI Heart Prints, stamped in SU! Primrose Petals and Pool Party. The patterned paper is SU! More Amore. I also added a little bit of washi tape.

This week's Dynamic Duos Challenge #46 calls for us to use Primrose Petals and a colour of our choice. I chose Pool Party. I usually play Dynamic Duos as an extreme cardmaking challenge, using only the two colours listed and no neutrals (other than the card base). That is one of the things I really love about this challenge, the limit on colour adds to the creativity. This time, I decided to add some neutrals by way of the grey and cream on the paper, and I'm okay with that decision so far. :-)

I'm also popping this card into the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

I'm back to work today. I wish I was on holidays with my kids. They have another two weeks before returning to school for second term. I do have another couple of days off work at the end of next week, so it isn't all bad, LOL!

Thanks for coming to visit me!

Michelle
xxx

The ridiculous ways of a perfectionist crafter...

Hello!

I am a perfectionist. BUT, I make big attempts to crush my perfectionism down to a manageable level, because (as it turns out) it is very difficult to actually ACHIEVE perfection. It also makes it difficult on those I live with when I let my inner-perfectionist have full-reign. I have made a discovery over the years - people still like my creations in which I can see multiple flaws.

Today, the perfectionist came out to play! Argh!

Here is the card that I THINK is the one I want to put forward (and I'll show you the others anyway, so you can have a giggle at my craziness).

The flowers are Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies. The colours are SU! Real Red and Memento Tuxedo Black. The card base is PTI Basic White. The black line is made using a Copic Multiliner.

This card (and the others) was made for Retro Sketches #47 and Dynamic Duos #36.

I was determined to respond to this Retro Sketches challenge, because the last time I attempted the "framed sentiment" technique I couldn't quite get it.

Dynamic Duos has the dessert option of a Valentine Theme. Here was my attempt that included the theme. This one was actually my most technically perfect for the stamping and masking, but I felt I had misplaced the flowers at the top of the frame, they were too even, sigh! And now I'm getting the urge to go and make another to get it REALLY perfect, LOL!

This was my other version, which was almost right, but didn't quite do it for me. Maybe if I'd used the outline flower on the bottom frame?

Thanks for coming to visit. You now know me a little better!

Michelle
xxx

Happy Anniversary, my darling!

Hello!

This week was my wedding anniversary. Unfortunately for the hubby, I was nursing my sick daughter leading up to the day, and then I was dying on the couch on the day itself after catching the bug my daughter had. This meant that no card was made for the occasion. Four days late isn't too late, is it? :-)  We've been married 13 wonderful years this year. We've been together for 19 years. Time passes by so quickly!

Here is the card.

Card is PTI Vintage Cream, SU! Soft Suede, and Crumb Cake. Ink is Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake. Stamps are PTI Heart Prints and Think Big Favorites #16. Button is PTI. Twine is Twinery.

I really like how it turned out. I am responding to the CR84FN colour challenge #63, and it calls for the colour "denim". My blue collection is severely limited, so I made "denim" by mixing SU! Bashful Blue and a dab of Night of Navy. I actually love the colour result, I may use it again. :-)  I'm also throwing my hat into the ring for the DT call at CR84FN.

I used a sketch from Retro Sketches #30. I turned the sketch upside down.

Thanks for dropping by.

Michelle
xxx