**A couple of Happy Birthdays**

Both my son & nephew's birthdays are in May and only a couple of days apart. So I had fun making cards for each of them.

They both are into racing - my son cars, my nephew quads (4 wheelers). The 1st card was for my son and I thought AJ the Race Car driver from The Stamping Boutique http://www.thestampingboutique.com/ would be perfect for him.

For my nephew...I went a brick wall and graffiti look.

For both, I used the Sizzix folders from Tim Hotlz Alterations line. I really like these folders cuz they just pop on the card. I used the Checkerboard for the white card and distressed it with some black chalk ink. For the other, I used the Brick folder on some Color Core paper and then sanded it down to make the bricks come thru more. And then I used some Metal Gears from Little Yellow Bicycle on them.

I think they both enjoyed them!!

Michelle

Challenges:

Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central~Masculine

http://stampingscrappingchallengecentral.blogspot.com/

Scrappy Frogs Challenge~Birthday

http://scrappyfrogschallenge.blogspot.com/

Hello again!!

Boy, it feels like months since I last posted, but it really wasn't that long : ) Just so many little things to get done around here lately, busy at work training summer help, and of course the holiday weekend. Speaking of which~ I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I know we did!! We celebrated my son's "Golden" birthday which was actually the 25th, and the holiday as well. And we had wonderful weather too.

The card I am posting tonight is actually one that I made for the All White +One other color challenge over @ Card Ideas. I never got to post my card and they have since moved onto the next weekly challenge. I really like the way this card turned out, so I will just post it here on my blog anyway. I went classic black & white and, I didn't want to overpower the image, so I kept it very CAS.

I hope you like it!! Oh.....and I couldn't resist posting a pic of my beautiful granddaughters!! The oldest~Evyon~ came running out to me today when I got there yelling "Grandma, Grandma Grandma ....then gave me a HUGE hug!! She then told me she graduated Head Start and gets to go to Kindergarten in the fall. Seems like not that long ago I was taking my son to Kindergarten....where does the time go?

Well, goodnight for now. I will be back soon...I promise : )

Michelle

Skater Boy

Faith has really been busy with new images. And this latest one is AWESOME! It's called "Skater Boy" and will be fabulous for boy cards. I couldn't wait to get started on it. I was out the other day and bought some Tim Holtz embossing folders and, I thought the Bricked one would work great for this.

I didn't want to make it appear 'to dark and gloomy' so I added some bright green and blue to make it pop a little. I then used Color Core cardstock from the Flower Power pack in gray and ran it thru the Cuttlebug. I then distressed it by sanding it down some so the Bricked affect would come thru. I also distressed the edges too. Then, awhile back I had seen a tutotiral on things to use for boy/man card besides the bling and ribbons. One of the suggestions was using a washer. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!! Very inexpensive, but yet still looks very cool on the card. So, I took and stamped w/my Polka Dot Background stamp to make look as if the washer was 'used and greasy' looking. StazOn black ink works great for this!


I have a few other ideas yet that I would like to try. I plan on doing these for Father's Day and I am hoping they turn out in 'real life' as well as I have them pictured in my head : ) All I can say is my husband thought I was 'crazy' the other day when I told him what I wanted to use these 'things' for. SO.... keep watching as it gets closer to Father's Day!!

~ENJOY~

Michelle

Challenges:

Incy Wincy Designs ~ Clean & Simple http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.com/

Divas by Design ~ Anything Goes http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.com/

A Spoon Full of Sugar ~ Anything Goes http://aspoonfullofsugarchallenge.blogspot.com/

Stamping Scrapping Challenge Central ~ Birthdays http://stampingscrappingchallengecentral.blogspot.com/

Corrosive Challenge ~ Birthdays http://corrosivechallengesbyjanet.blogspot.com/

Paper and Such Design ~ Birthdays http://paperandsuchonline.blogspot.com/

One Stitch At A Time ~ Anything Goes http://onestitchatatimechallenge.blogspot.com/2011/05/challenge-62-anything-goes.html

Flowers!!

The Challenge: http://designed2delight.com/blog/2011/05/may-flowers-saturdays-dt-challenge/

This week’s Saturday Challenge is hosted by Design Team member, Kathy Curry.
We all have heard the saying “April showers bring May flowers”. We want to see some of those pretty May flowers used on your card or project this week. It’s easy to buy all sorts of flowers at the craft store, but using those wouldn't be too challenging, so we have got a twist for you. We would like to see handmade flowers this week. You can make them anyway you like, as long as they are made by you (not store bought). Some examples of easy ways to create flowers are punching, rolling, die cutting, crocheting and crumpling tissue (the possibilities are endless). Check out what the design team has created for some inspiration. Hope you will join the fun and make some lovely flowers this week.

Here's my card with my homemade flower. VERY simple ~ I just layered a scalloped 1-7/8" circle, then 1", then a 3/4" circle together after crumpling them and then 'distressing' them w/ink. I added a gem to the center and made my own leaves from regular Green cardstock. I free hand cut the leaves, then coated w/Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze Icicle. Hope you like it!!

Michelle

Pail of Flowers

Hello there.....

Glad to see everyone back here after all the Blogger issues : ) This post is a little late due to those issues , so here we go! This weeks image from Faith is "Pail of Flowers". This image is wonderful because there are so many ways you can go with it. I choose to make mine a "Thinking of You" card, as I was just thinking of a special friend the other day that I hadn't talk to in quite some time. I really think she will like it!

I actually started out with pink flowers and a grey pail, but then quickly changed my mind. Spring....although it is very late this year here, is finally starting to bloom. All the yellows of the daffodils, tulips and other flowers made me go with the yellow and a brown pail.

It's a little hard to see, but in the center of my flowers I added a tiny bit of my atyou Spica Glitter Orange pen. For just a little shimmer as to not overwhelm the flower.

~ENJOY~

Michelle

Challenges:

Pear Tree Designs ~ Spring http://peartreedesigns.blogspot.com/

Divas by Design ~ Anything Goes http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.com/

2 Sisters ~ How Does your Garden Grow? http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.com/

Better late then never...

I really wanted to get this card posted on Mother's Day, but as you can see that didn't happen : ( Just a crazy weekend and this week has been just about the same so far, and it's only Tuesday!

The image is from Wee Stamps called Wee Suzi, and she was offered as a freebie awhile back. She was just so adorable I had to get her. In a funny way, she kinda reminds me of myself as a young girl. So I thought it would be cute to make a mothers day card using the image.

I am getting alot better w/my ProMarkers, but still have a ways to go yet. Some of the shading and things still kinda 'throw me for a loop'. But I am gradually learning which colors I can be 'heavy handed' with and which ones require a lighter touch. So....here's Wee Suzi!!





I tried to get a couple views of the card so you can see the different dimension, shimmer, etc. I really hope you like it and I will give you the link below to check out the site. She has some cute images! Well off to finish up some more cards that I need to get posted soon : ) Til then...........

Michelle

Wee Stamps ~ http://weestamps.weebly.com/

Challenges:

Incy Wincy Designs ~ Mother's Day or Girlie
http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.com/

Claudia & Company ~ Butterflies
http://claudiaandcompany.blogspot.com/

DYSU-Do You Stack Up ~ Purple
http://doyoustackup.blogspot.com/

Flutterby Fairy

Hi everyone!

If you haven't been to Faith's site over at Delightful Inspiration lately you really need to check it out!! She has created a new blog and it's AWESOME! She has combined her Designed 2 Delight and Card Ideas blogs into one great place. http://designed2delight.com/blog/

This weeks image is Flutterby Fairy. I decided to go a little different route and create a 'friend' for her. So I just 'flopped' the image and now she has Fairy Best Friend to share the card with : )

I colored them w/my ProMarkers, and added a lil sparkle to the girls wings with my CI Paints (Creative Inspirations). Then some more sparkle with the help of my atyou Spica markers. Cut a few 'scroll' designs on the Criciut and spritzed them w/some shimmer. Hard to see in the pic, but they do shimmer.
I hope you like what I did with this weeks image. Join us for the fun and keep coming back for more.

Til next time -

Michelle

Challenges:

Lexi's Creations ~ Friendship http:/lexiscreations.blogspot.com/

Pear Tree Designs ~ Challenge 47 "Free for All' http://peartreedesigns.blogspot.com/

Craft Your Passion ~ Anything Goes http://www.craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com/

Flutter by Wednesday's ~ Use a butterfly, angel or fairy http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/

Pollycraft ~ Anythign Goes http://www.pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/