Food for thought...

Today's post is mainly about this page I created about all the great food we had in Thailand on our last trip, anyways in case you are wondering what the big deal about the pop corn and the coke is, I will get back to that later;-)

First I wanted to talk about all the new releases at CHA.. I know you all have your favourites:-) Here's mine:

Hero Arts has a whole new catalog on Christmas!!! my favourite time of the year, perfect excuse to make cards all day.. I totally love their postage stamp trio, the one with the little snowman and the cling stamp with the ornaments.. So many possibilities:-)

http://www.stampingonline.com/home/hero-arts-winter-2010

I have been in love with all the new stuff that Pink Paislee came out with.. Have you seen the Resist paper? to die for!!! OMG .. You need to drop by at the PP blog!!

http://pinkpaislee.com/

Next is Maya Road.. Love their new Pennant chipboard album! too cute:-) I don't do mini albums but I want to get this one just to hoard it for a while..

http://mayaroad.typepad.com/mayaroad/2010/07/maya-r.html

Studio Calico also has a good collection.. Some very pretty Wood alphas that need to be checked out.

http://studiocalico.blogspot.com/2010/07/wood-veneer-notions-and-mistsoh-my.html

Jillibean soup also has some fancy alpha stickers.. really unique prints.. Think they even blend in well with some of the Pink Paisley papers from last seasons releases. And have you seen the Christmas themed journalling sprouts? Its at the top of my list.. they are a favourite, you could tell from today's layout that I love my sprouts:-)

http://jillibeansoup.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/07/cha-summer-10-sneak-peek-6christmas-chestnut-soup.html

So that's what caught my eye so far.. Let me know what's in your shopping cart this season:-) I'd love to check them out!!

Getting back to the page, the main focus was the lovely grill house at Esplanade in Thailand.. They have the best juiciest most amazing beef there... Never ever ever in my life have I tasted beef that good.. I have no idea what was in the marinade, but I would love to have one in Sri lanka, I would go there all the time!!

The best part is that you get to cook everything right at the table, I included a photograph of my husband getting some good old grill action:-) So fun!!

This little cup holds little ice-cream scoops that wrapped in a little case of Rice paper, it has the coolest texture, not something you would expect eating ice-cream.. They serve it with a tiny pick! how cute!! the best part is, it keeps the ice-cream from melting for longer.. I love the selection too, check out the freezer box in the background!!

So now finally to the Pop corn, I had to feature it simply because it was so huge!! Don't let the picture fool you, trust me, there's enough popcorn in there to FILL up four people. Or for two REALLY GREEDY people:-) ha ha

And the coke? I never even got to the quarter mark!

Supplies were:

Basic Grey Sugar Rush papers and one American crafts paper ( the cherry print)

Hero arts Stamps 'whats cooking?', Ledger cling stamp, Kanji Poem wood block stamp, tickets stamp set (for the enjoy enjoy enjoy caption under the popcorn)

Jillibean soup sprouts

Basic grey alpha stickers and brad

Happy stamping!!

Coffee date?

Hi, hope you guys are online frolicking among all the CHA peeks and competitions today:-) I was up until 1 a.m last night doing just that!! ( it's the time difference that's a killer!!)

So I woke up early morning to make this card just before I get to my other activities for the day..

I am submitting this card to the Hero Arts July challenge since its to do with food.. I used their 'Have a Donut' set, I love this set but never gets used as often as I would like.. Time to put an end to that right away!

So here goes..






Today I took the picture outside since my light which I photograph with is broken:-(

Here's the close-up of the window, I stamped the inside of the card with the donuts and the ledger stamp,

As you can see, my Cuttlebug makes a guest appearance on all my new projects these days, here I used it to create a little window and cut out the slightly larger acetate circle that I adhered inside with some glossy accents.. (nothing like a good smear of glossy accents to adhere transparencies and acetate since its hardly noticeable..)

Supplies:

Hero arts stamp: Have a Donut, Ledger Cling stamp

Stampendous sentiment stamp

Distress ink Mustard seed, Wild honey and Barn door also used a bit of Shabby shutters for the card base

Clear embossing powder

Memento Ink in London fog and Tuxedo black

Basic grey Lime rickey paper

Acetate sheet

Cuttlebug

Permanent marker in black

Thanks for dropping by today:-)

Thank you card with another Happy tree!!

Here's the second card I made with the same stamp, I used only the bark of the tree..Then filled the top with little punched butterflies:-) doesn't it look really spring and fun!!

I love this tree stamp! I added a small sentiment from the Thank you stamp set (CL341), and a little lady bird from the Adorable baby girl stamp set (CL265).

All papers are from American Crafts (Dear Lizzy) , grass is drawn in with Copics.

Hope you had fun seeing two very different options with the same tree stamp :-)

Hugs,

Michelle.

Take care, and a happy hello:-)

Hi!! Have a pretty little happy card to share today! I got this stamp last month and I left it in a drawer and completely forgot about it, once I 'discovered' it again;-) I decided to put it to use immediately!

I am planning to make another card with it today which I will post later.. have to find the perfect patterned paper for that:-) hmmm, keep you guessing what I am planning.. he he


All stamps are by Hero Arts! the tree is from a set called: Say Hello (CL378)
The sentiment is from a set called : Dot Flourish (CL285)

I drew a line right down the center of the card so that I could get the placement just right, and stamped the image with Memento ink, this is because I had to colour everything in Copics and Memento ink is great for that :-)

I stamped the sentiment and then added the decorative line in a silver gel pen!

Viola! Simple but pretty!

Thanks for dropping by, and Happy Stamping ;-)

In full bloom

Love Love Love scrap booking! Been making a series of pages with some pretty photographs to frame and hang on the wall of my craft room.. Here's one with lots of flowers and other small embellishments:-)
I love adding loads of embellishments because its plain fun looking at all the details!

This page is all about spring blooms in Nuwara-Eliya, its the hill countryside in Sri Lanka, April is the best time to go there since its not too cold.. (This is the only cold region in our country), so during April all of Colombo basically holidays there!

These pics are of me sitting in the Garden and enjoying the flowers, Happy day! :-)





I used loads of Basic Grey Papers for this, the flower die cut and the navy blue letters are also by Basic Grey...
Yellow foam alpha is by American Crafts Thickers.






I used some Washi tape to make the little brown lace border around the focus area.. the patterned paper was punched with the Fiskars edge punch.

The butterflies are by Hero arts (AR179), I added it to break down the flat colour of the back of my chair .. Also whats the point of flowers without butterflies? he he






Flowers are by Prima, I added a few Hero arts Jewels to the centers:-)
The little tag was made by stamping a Hero arts birthday sentiment ( CL139) on some BG paper and using glossy accents to adhere it to the back of a Tim Holtz Fragment.. loved how it turned out.
...

The scroll is by Bo Bunny, I used their sticker sheet..

Photo corner is part of the Basic Grey floral die cut.

I added some Navy May arts twine and some brown lace strips for added interest, I stitched a strip of orange paper over it and layered with another border I cut out from some patterned paper..

The little circle die cut is a journal sticker by Basic Grey for their Basics Kraft line..
The dotty rub on is by Bo Bunny.. it's called Bohemian Borders:-)





Thanks for dropping by today, I would love to hear your comments and suggestions:-)

Have a great day!
Michelle.

Merci

Hi Again, as promised here is my second post.. It's actually an idea I've had in mind for quite some time now:-)

Which was to use some old script strips that I got from Memriemare on Etsy while buying my ribbon.. these strips are actually part of the packaging, and I wanted to recycle them since they were so pretty:-)

I am not sure which language they are though.. hmmm






Firstly I used a page from my Basic Grey Manilla paper pad and die cut the base shape where I wanted the images to sit.. Then I randomly tore some of the strips of paper and adhered them as seen, I used the Dogwood flower wood stamp which I have never used so far and stamped on the script paper with Charcoal ink. After that I distressed the edges in Tattered rose Ranger ink.

I then used my Dusty Concord and Peeled Paint distress ink and coloured the flowers and leaves and made it quite shabby:-) I then added the sentiment and the extra bees and butterflies...

Finally I mounted it on some Basic Grey Cappella paper and Viola!!

Supplies:

Dogwood stamp and sentiment by Hero arts. (CL325, S5362)

Bees and butterflies stamp by Prima, not sure what its called but its a tiny stamp set (3x3)

Distress ink: Tattered Rose and Dusty Concord

Paper: Cappella, Basics Manilla by Basic Grey

Label Die 8 by Spellbinders

Hope you liked today second card!!

Hugs,

Michelle.

Circle card

It's been forever since my last blog post, I promise to make my post a little bit more regular in future :-) So as a peace offering I thought I should do two posts today, here is the first!

Some of you may know, I got a Cuttlebug ; but silly me didn't order the dies to go with it and had to wait till they finally arrived after I ordered them a week after I purchased the Cuttlebug. I have also been really busy travelling and catching up with some designing and well you know how it goes... So finally its the weekend and I got time to make a card with my new Spellbinders circle dies! I love these circle cards, so much more fun than regular sized ones..

For this card I used the 'Mi Casa' stamp set by Hero Arts. I love the pretty sentiments that come with this set, they fit so beautifully on circle cards. Totally plan to make some more cards with it soon..

I started off by cutting a circle card with the biggest circle in the pack and cut another nesting smaller circle to do my stamping on. I used the Lime Rickey 6x6 pad (Basic Grey) to cut out a background paper for the card the same size as the card base to cover the front completely.

I used my Ranger distress inks and gave a small border to the nesting circle to add definition to the edge and stamped all the images on white card stock and coloured with Copics. I coloured them in cut them out and paper pieced the card and added my sentiment.

Finally I used a piece of yarn and made the hanging bit of the birdcage:-)





Here's a close up of the card, the little bird house stamp is by Penny Black goes so well with the birds from the Mi Casa set..

Hope you enjoyed this fun card, I had so much fun making it:-)

Also stay tuned for the next post later today...

Till then, Happy Stamping!

Happy birthday Collage card

Hi there, finally back with another post:-)
Today I was testing out a new product! And boy was it fun! I have just discovered alcohol inks:-) I love them, so many different possibilities..

This is the first set I broke out.. It's the Cottage Path Alcohol ink set by Ranger. I used two colours and created this fab background! not my usual style but I think its rather pretty.

I decided to make a Birthday card, it's for my Aunt. She is the sweetest, and I thought this gorgeous hydrangea stamp would help make a fab card for her.. I also tested out my new Friend Definition stamp for this, totally love the dictionary print. I filled out the background with the ledger stamp so that the hydrangea had a nice backdrop.

Here's a close up, The pin is one of my new fun stamps! super cool touch huh? works great with the Hero Arts Ledger stamp. (Everything but the Engraved circle, lace stamp and the pin is by Hero arts)

I used distress ink Milled Lavender mixed with a bit of Antique Linen to finish the edges to look aged. love the muted tones:-)

Butterfly from the Antique Engravings set

Sentiment from the Birthday Massages set

Cling stamps: Friend definition and Ledger stamp

and the Hydrangea Wood block stamp

Hope you liked todays card! and would love to hear your comments on the Alcohol ink background, and if you use them I'd like to know what your favourite colour/set is:-)

Happy stamping girls!

Tropical adventure

Hi!! Finally managed to create a layout this week; I tend to get so indecisive about all the elements and design; it takes me a decade to finish:-) I hate having something on my desk incomplete for so long.. however that said, I do enjoy layouts since they allow for a lot of mixing and matching..

Here is a layout done with a photograph of me on my way to kayak in Krabi Thailand.

The main background paper for this layout is by Art Warehouse from Two Peas.. Some of the embellishments for this line has already sold out, but I managed to snatch a few papers! Love the nautical theme:-) Other pattered papers are by Basic Grey and Websters Pages.

The journal spot is a page from the Fancy Pants Summer Soiree notebook journal, goes really well with the patterned paper and the pops of orange I added for colour..

I also added this funky little palm tree from my Hero arts set 'Lets Chill' ( my favourite these days!!)

Then added a few orange embossed butterflies from the Antique Engraving sets as well
for some extra colour..

The wood letters, Canvas tag and the Epoxy/metal clips are by Making Memories, an older line, but they had the whole collection available when I went to Made with Love in Singapore.. So I bought the embellishments since I already had some of the papers.




I used a little vintage compass from one of my old Making Memories ephemera packs (the little ticket and the 'wonderful memories' words and the arrow circle are also from the same pack).

The red scroll rub on is by My Minds Eye ..

Flowers are by Prima, I added them on top of a white embossed Starburst lace stamp by Hero arts.

I used a strip of green patterned paper ( Websters Pages) with the word happiness on it just below the photograph for some interest. I also added some Basic Grey brads to complete that strip.

Here is a close up of the compass and the little arrow circle,

Thanks for dropping by,

Hugs,

Michelle.