Sorry it's been awhile

I have been so busy lately, I guess it's just that time of the year. I haven't made very many cards, I have been working on my Christmas cards as shown a couple of post ago.
In the past week I decided to sit down and pull put my Fishy Friends set from Stampin Up. I came up with these 2 cards.(They B-Day sentiment is from My Favorite Things)

I have used Bazzill Bling cardstock and the DP is from Kaiser Craft, the stripes are on one side, the dots on the other. I just love the colors. The paper gives a very whimsical feel to these cards. (So does the Pink fish). I have stamped the images on to SU confetti white cardstock with Black Brilliance ink. I have coloured all images with Prismacolor Pencils and Blended with odourless mineral spirits.

Until Next Time

Inking of you all

Michelle

My wish is for High Hopes

I just love this image from High Hopes Rubber Stamps It is called Oops Ellie. High Hopes Rubber Stamps are now available in Australia at Heavenscent Crafts and I have a wish list about a mile long. Unfortunately I do not yet own any of these wonderful stamps, This image of Ellie was lent to me by a lovely friend named Pam. (Thanks Pam). I spent the day with Pam and her friend Pat teaching them to colour in using Prismacolor pencils. When I coloured in this elephant Blue I had no idea what I was going to do with him. A couple of days later I walked into my local stamp store and found this terrific designer paper by Australian designer Rachel Greig. It is from her Darkroom Door Range of products.
On the same day as buying the paper I was looking at the High Hopes Blog and saw the challenge to create a card using both Brads and Buttons. And Viola my card came to life. I hope you enjoy this card as much as I do. I was really pleased with the final outcome. I hope to feature some High Hopes Images over the next couple of weeks.

Until Next Time
Inking of you All
Michelle

My Guide to making a great card- tutorial

Here is my first tutorial, I call it My Guide to making a great Card. It is the basics on helping co-ordinate the pieces need to make a simple elegant card.
I have decided to show you this years' Christmas card, but you can apply this to any card you make.Step #1 (above): Choose your Stamp and Designer Paper first

Step #2 & #3 (above): Choose co-ordinating plain cardstock.

Stamp and colour your image. I have chosen to stamp my image in Black and colour with co-ordinating pencils. Choose any other inkpad colours now. If not using a neutral colour like black, choose an inkpad shade the same or as close to possible as your cardstock
When mass producing cards like Christmas cards cut and prepare all necessary pieces at the one time. This makes your life so much easier.

Step #4 (above): Now assemble all the pieces to your card.

I have chosen to do a simple card with a folded front for a bit of interest. As I am making lots of Christmas cards I didn't want to do something to fussy with lots and lots of work (that takes hours per card). However at the same time I still wanted a card that looks nice and classy. I think this card captured the look I wanted.

Step #5: add any embellishments now. I accented my card with red Rhinestones and stickles on the 'ribbon'

Last but not least. Take several photos of your creation before you put them in the post. You might also like to stamp a co-ordinating envelope, just remember to leave enough clear space to address it.

Hope you enjoyed my guide to card making.

The pudding stamp I used is from Stamp It (Australia) and the sentiment is from Hero Arts. The Designer Paper is Kaiser Craft

Until Next Time

Inking of you All

Michelle

Gorgeous Cooktown Orchids and great prices for USA readers

Once again I pulled out one of my favourite stamps, This is the Cooktown Orchid stamp. However this time I've teamed it with the small single Orchid. These stamps are made by a wonderful Australia company called Amazing Creations. Their stamps can be found here .

The flowers were first stamped in black brilliance ink and then I have coloured the image in shades of violet with a touch of yellow as a contrasting colour. The whole image is shadowed in a light shade of blue to give a bit more depth . The single orchid was stamped in a plum coloured ink to match the cardstock.

My colouring medium of choice is Prismacolor pencils.

The cards stock I used was SU whisper white and the coloured cardstock is all Bazzill.

To see more cards with this image look here

All stamps from Amazing Creations. Checkout their website for this great deal, tell them Michelle sent you

USA Readers TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE EXCHANGE RATE AND NO GST
(for example a $20.00AUD stamp is approximately $12.50 USD plus postage and handling. Please note the exchange rate is volatile at the moment and this is for example purposes only - results also vary based on your bank)

Michelle's Hint #3 (for those who like to colour)

Always buy good quality colouring Supplies

I see so many people spend an absolute fortune on stamps only to buy cheap colouring materials like children's textas and pencils. Although great for kids they really are not designed to do great artwork on cards and cheapen your finished product.

It doesn't matter which colouring medium you prefer whether it be watercolour pencils, markers, chalks/ pastels etc. Always chose a good quality brand. They are more than likely going to last you for years and years. There fore in the end, good value for money.

My tombow markers are now 8 years old and still going strong.

Until Next Time

inking of you all

Michelle

Rachel Anne Miller stamp

Here is a stamp sent to me from Deb at Heaven Scent Crafts. It is from Stampavie and is designed by Rachel Anne Miller. She has a whole range just like this adorable image. I have done it in 2 different colour themes and I think each one looks completely different. This first image (top) has been layered using Designer Papers from Euphoria by Basic Grey. I have coloured in both images using Prismacolor Pencils.
This card is embellished with flowers
that have been set with
eyelets, just to be a little different



This bottom card is done in Earthy tones and the designer paper is unknown. It's amazing how much different the card looks by accenting the image in a circle.

Until Next time
Inking of you All
Michelle

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Here is my first Christmas card. I made it for the Flourishes Tuesday Chat Challenge on SCS forum. The challenge was to create a Red, Green, Brown and White Christmas card.
Since I didn't have any Flourishes Chrissy stamps I quickly ordered this one. I can't tell you how happy I am to now get them in Australia. In 2 days no less.
I stamped this image in Black Brilliance and coloured with my Prismacolor Pencils. Then blended with Odourless Mineral Spirits.
I cut all the ovals out using my nestabilities classic ovals, I roughed the edges and then inked around the edge in brown.I added a couple of embellishments, The rhinestone for the nose and the bow around his neck. I layered it altogether with the Christmas papers from K & Company. All in all a very easy card to put together.

Flourishes stamps are some of my favourite stamps to use. In America they are available from Flourishes .Org and in Australia at Heavenscent Crafts

Until Next Time
Inking of you All
Michelle

Lots of Exciting News

HELLO everyone, where do I start?

Anyone who knows me knows just how much I LOVE the stamps from Flourishes and My Favorite Things.

Well guess what?? They are now available in Australia. In less than 24 hours (1st November 9am) the site will be launched. It is called Heavenscent Crafts. Now Debbie who owns the store is such a doll, she is also stocking lots of other unique stamps not found anywhere else in Australia, companies like High Hopes Stamps, Magnolia Stamps, Stampavie just to name a few.

The other great news is that Debbie has asked me to join her new design team. So you will see my cards on the website plus on the display boards at craft shows and in her Melbourne store.

Here are a couple of my cards that you will see in the gallery.

*The Siberian Iris card is from Flourishes, Designer Paper in this card is from KaiserCraft

**The Bath card is from My Favorite Things (MFT) Designer paper is Basic Grey "Euphoria"

***The Get well card is also MFT. Designer paper is CollagePress Doubletakes.

All images are stamped on to whisper white from SU, All plain cardstock is Bazzill.

All images are coloured using Prismacolor Pencils.

Michelle's Hint #2

Re-Ink your inkpads regularly, Most of my cards are stamped with Black Brilliance. I will re ink my pad approx every 2 weeks to keep the colour topped up and 'lush'. If I am making lots of cards sometimes I do it each week. There is nothing worse than an image that is 'wishy washy'. It really lowers the quality of your card.

Until Next time

Inking of you all

Michelle

Flourishes Featured Stamper #22

I was fortunate enough to be named Flourishes Stamper of the week last week. I shared the honour with a wonderful lady called Lois (aka Clownmom on SCS) for more information and to see Lois's card checkout Flourishes Newsletter.

My card was the one I featured on my 18th October post called 'All in the details'. Here is another photo just to refresh your memory

The stamps on my card are from the Flourishes set called "Summer on the Patio". This is such a great set, so versatile.I just love it. Keep reading down the page for the Original post.

Until Next Time
Inking of you All
Michelle

Adapt a stamp... part 2

Going back a few weeks, I did adapt a Stamp...Part 1. My local stamp group did a series of flower images and we all created very different cards. Here is another image for you to look at. This is an Australian Native flower called the Waratah, the stamp itself is from Stamp World.

This card is my effort in the challenge. I chose to do mine in a circle I cut the circles using nestabilitites Classic circles. The green cardstock is mellow moss, the red was bazzill, I am unsure where the designer paper came from, one of those pieces I've had put away for years.

Once again I chose to colour with my Prismacolor pencils, I just love the effect I get with them.You can almost achieve a 3D look just from your colouring.

Until next time

Inking of you all

Michelle

Believe in Beauty

Yet another new image that I have just fallen in love with. The bird and the sentiment are from an unmounted RUBBER set by Pink Poison Stamps.
I started off by stamping the bird in Black stazon, on SU naturals Ivory cardstock (CS). I then coloured it using Prismacolor pencils and blended with Odourless Mineral Spirits (OMS)or Gamsol. I cut around the tail with scissors and carefully cut with the classic oval nestabilities. NOTE: Pull tail outside of oval nesties frame so it doesn't get cut off.
Cut another oval out of Stampin UP (SU) River Rock CS and a scalloped oval from SU Cranberry Crisp. Layer together as shown.
The sentiment is stamped in SU Cranberry Crisp Ink on River Rock CS.
The designer paper is from We R Memories and co ordinates beautifully with these colours.
Michelle's Hint: #1
Choose your Patterned Papers and matching coloured cardstock first . Then colour your image to match. This way your project will be much better co- ordinated.
Too many people colour first than try to match papers and cardstock, this really is the hard way to do it. Nobody likes doing things the hard way.
Until Next Time
Inking of you all
Michelle

It's all in the details

Summer Fruits. This is the card I made for this weeks Flourishes Tuesday Chat Challenge on the Splitcoast forum. The Challenge this week was to make a card with a non- traditional fold. I still had the traditional fold in there but I added an an extra fold on the card front.
The fold is not so obvious front on so here is another angle for you to see it a little better.
The stamps are all from Flourishes
I have stamped the image (using the basic masking technique on the fruit and table see below) on whisper white cardstock and coloured with Prismacolor Pencils , I have blended the pencils using odourless mineral spirits.
The purple and green cardstock are all Bazzill and the designer papers are from the new Basic Grey pad "Eva".

In this 3rd photo you can see how I have mounted the sentiment in 3 layers. I have used the Nestabilities Petite Ovals. Top layer is the sentiment in contrasting green. The 2nd layer has a very small scalloped border. I have kept it the same colour as the 3rd layer, just to provide the card with a bit of detail without standing out to much.
The last of the small details is the dimensional magic on the fruit. This photo shows the masking at it's best. I stamped the bowl of fruit first, then the table. Without the use of masking the bowl of fruit would have the line of the table through it. You can also see the pencil shading I have used to give a flat stamped image more of a 3D appearance.

Until Next Time

Inking of you all

Michelle

Opulent Orchids and 15% discount

Aren't these Cooktown Orchids by Amazing Creations just beautiful? I love this stamp, It is amazing how different the one stamp looks just by changing the colours and the papers. This first card is coloured in shades of pink and mauve. I have layered the card using the new papers from Basic Grey called Eva. The plain coloured cardstock is all Bazzil, I have used 'Velvet', 'Heidi' and 'Pickle'. I have coloured in using my favourite medium, Prismacolor Pencils.
This second card is coloured in shades of pink and I have layered it using Amazing Creations own range of papers, They can be found here. I don't know if you'll agree but I think what really sets off this card is the black cardstock . I think it accents the hot pink very nicely. I would love to hear what you think. Dont forget Amazing Creations will give a 15% discount to anyone who mentions my blog.With the $US and $AUS exchange rate at the moment that means USA readers will get a very good deal indeed.


Until Next time
Inking of you all
Michelle

World Card Making Day/ Weekend

Saturday 4th October was world card making day. myself and some wonderful friends had a great weekend with 4days/ nights of making cards, calendars. etc. Lots and lots of stamping and colouring was going on. I was very proud of my effort I completed 20 cards and did the makings for another 5.
Here are some of my cards for you to see. All are coloured with Prismacolor Pencils.

This 1st one is made using the Siberian Iris from Flourishes. The Layout was designed by Faith Hofrichter for the Flourishes Tuesday Chat Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. Such a simple layout, but looks terrific .

Next is these gorgeous Penguins. These are 2 separate stamps but I just love to use them together. The matching Designer paper was a gift from a wonderful friend for my birthday.
Last card for today is another Flourishes stamp from their Coffee with Friends set. The designer paper is from Flair and co ordinated with Choc Chip from SU.
I will feature more cards over the next few days.
Until next time
Inking of you all
Michelle

My Big Annoucement

I am very proud to announce that I am now a Design Team Member for Amazing Creations Rubber Stamps. This is a fantastic range of mix and match stamps made right here in Australia. They are now available in mounted & UNmounted .
The company is now owned by a lovely couple, Robyn and Craig Potts and as a welcome special to all my bloggers they will offer an Amazing 15% discount off the price of their stamps. (For all my USA friends a stamp worth eg $15 will come down to less than $10 as other discounts apply, a really good deal with the current exchange rate.) To get this discount all you have to do is mention my BLOG and my name.
The website is still undergoing some construction but most images are there for you to look at so come along to the Amazing Creations website for a look and take advantage of this great offer.
Now I would like to show you one my favourite images.

This card is made using the Primitive Butterfly N101, Primitive Square Border L301, Primitive strip II309, Best Wishes GG240.
(the stamps are much bigger than shown on the website, eg the primitive strip is approx 6 1/2" long the length of a card, the sq frame 3")
This was stamped in Black and embossed with a Black sparkly powder, I then coloured the image in using Twinkling H2Os. I cut out the frame and the butterfly made some wire antennae and mounted as shown.The base card has 'best wishes embossed and coloured, I then stamped the primitive strip in the corner with Versamark ink. Here is a close up, the shimmer on the wings is from the Twinkling H2Os. I hope you like these new images I will be featuring more over the next few months. The Daisy bear featured on the 12th September post is also from Amazing Creations.
Until Next Time

Inking of you all

Michelle

Adapt a stamp part 1

Each Monday I meet with a wonderful group of Ladies and we simply call ourselves Monday Stamp Group or MSG for short.
For a project, a few of us stamped up different floral images (enough for each person to take home at least one) we then had to create a card with each image.Today I will feature the Fushcia. (i'm not sure where the image comes from.)
These are cards made by some of us. It is amazing to see how different each card looks. Not one card is the same.

This one is my card. I chose Stampin Up Designer Paper and Cardstock in Rose Red. The image was stamped on to cream card stock. I coloured with my favourite medium Prismacolor Pencils. I punched the corners and added some co-ordinating brads and some cream ribbon as accents. Iwas really pleased with the result. All the ladies did a great job.

Until Next time

Inking of you all

Michelle

Wild Wet Weather

This card is just perfect for today's weather. Here in Canberra we have had beautiful spring days for the last week. Today started off no different, but by lunchtime the clouds rolled in and by dinner time it was cold, wet, very windy and down right miserable. We do desperately need the rain, but boy oh boy, I can't stand the strong gusty winds.
Well enough about the weather, what do you think of my card?
This image is made from several different stamps out of the Singing in the Rain set by Hanna Stamps.
For all of you who know me I sing the praises of Hanna Stamps quite loudly. I just love their fun and funky range of images. This set being just one of several of my faves.
So how did I colour this I hear you ask. First it was stamped in Black Brilliance ink and heat set. I coloured Hanna with Prismacolor Pencils and blended with odourless mineral spirits. The background is made to look like dark gloomy weather, it was done with grey and black chalks/ pastels.
To do the background properly I stamped another image of Hanna on to a scrap of paper and cut out right along the stamped outline. This is what is called a mask.
I placed the mask over top of my coloured Hanna. I then sponged the chalk all around the edges of my image. The mask prevents the chalk from getting on your image and making it dirty.


Here is another card using the same set. This time I created a snow scene rather than rain.

I paper pieced her coat in
coordinating DP, her
umbrella and dress were coloured
using Prismacolor pencils.
DP is from Imagine That.

If you look very closely you can see that there is snow (stickles) on the white background and also on her jacket.

Until next time
Inking of you all
Michelle

Chalkboard Technique

Who hasn't used their solid flower images in a while???? If this is you go pull out one right now and try this technique. It is so EASY. I love it. This is my first attempt and it's called Chalkboard. There are 2 ways to do this technique . (I did technique 1)
Technique 1:
First you need dark cardstock, I used black. A solid image like a flower (this is one of my new images from Flourishes). A white inkpad. A good set of artist's pencils, I used Prismacolor and last but not least Odourless mineral spirits (OMS) or gamsol.
Simply stamp your image on to the black cardstock. DIP your pencil into the OMS and color over top of the stamped image. How easy is that!!!!. You do not need to seal it when finished.

Technique 2:
Basically this is the same as chalk popping. Stamp your image with the white ink on to black card. Instead of using pencils grab out your chalks, stampin pastels, etc. Sponge (finger) daubers are also useful. Using your dauber, pick up the chalk colour
and apply to white stamped image. I wipe the card over with a cottonball when I'm finished. then I spray sealer on it so the chalk doesn't wipe off.
Splitcoast has a tutorial showing technique 2

Until Next time
Inking of you all
Michelle

Inspiration in Nature

It is Spring time here in Australia, and this is the most beautiful time of the year. Every year Canberra (my town) holds a flower fesival called Floriade. People from all over Australia even the world come to look at this gorgeous display of flowers .This festival only lasts for 4 weeks.
I spent the day with 2 lovely friends just wandering around in the sunshine basically enjoying the scenery. The weather is still a little chilly, but after all, we have just had winter.
I am not sure which flowers like the most. As Canberra is cold climate in winter the gardens are usually bulb flowers like Tulips, Hyacinths and Daffodils. There were also Poppies and they too were beautiful, I took the photo of them for a colour guide when colouring in my stamped images.
On display are also Floral Arrangements. This one above is done with a lot Native Australian Plants.They are most unusual to those of you who have never seen them before.This one has Waratahs and Banksias .
Last but not least, a beautiful Tulip, How stunning is this? Nature truly is magnificent. I can't wait for the next visit to Floriade, I have only 3 weeks left to enjoy.
Until Next time
Inking of you all
Michelle

Amazing Creation....

Isn't this bear just gorgeous, she was created by a lovely friend called Jenny McNulty. Jenny designed a wonderful range of mix and match images including bears, flowers, Australiana, some of the most gorgeous butterflies you have ever seen and adorable frogs. Her company was called Amazing Creations. Jenny has since 'retired' but the great news is the images and the company 'Amazing Creations' are back out there for you to enjoy. Don't be afraid to contact them, tell them Michelle sent you.
Here is Daisy bear, she is stamped in Black Brilliance and coloured using prismacolor pencils. I have highlighted the flowers with a white gel pen.The teal background paper is also from a range that Jenny created.
The friendship flower is also Australian, it's from Stamp World. I will feature more of Jenny's designs in the upcoming weeks.

Until Next time
Inking of you all
Michelle

Holy Hanna ...

Hanna Stamps that is. This is the first stamp set Hanna Stamps brought out. It's called 'But I need it...' When I ordered this set it was the only stamp set on the website. Well it's about one year on (give or take) and you should see the stamps now. My collection is not quite as extensive but it's getting there.
Here are 2 cards for you to look at today using this set.

Both cards are colored in using Prismacolor Pencils and blended with odourless mineral spirits. I have just used the the colours on my Designer Papers as a guide. I also love using my nestabilities, the top card uses the scalloped rectangle, The bottom one uses the circle set.

Until next time

Inking of you all

Michelle

Pamper Yourself

Pamper yourself.... Have a bath with a glass of wine. YES!!! one of 'My Favorite Things' to do. This stamp set .. I just love it. It's called Time for the Bubbly and it's from you guessed it ...My Favorite Things.

This was the first set I ever bought and it is still one I keep pulling out and using over and over again .The card above was made using Blue Bayou and Soft Sky cardstock. The designer papers are from Basic Grey's 2 scoops 6"x6" pad. The Bath is stamped onto Whisper white card and colored using Prismacolor pencils. Last but not least I have added stickles to enhance the bubbles and make them sparkle

This second card is also colored with Prismacolor pencils and I have used Bazzill criss cross cardstock .These Designer Papers are from Making Memories.
If you want to take a look at a third card of mine using this set have a look HERE

This one is all pinks and greens and is probably one of my all time favorite cards.

Let me know what you think.

Until Next Time

Inking of you all

Michelle