World Of Michael Trent

Hello all.  Well, Mother Nature is certainly pissed off at the world lately.  This has kept me up at night since I have friends and relatives in the Houston and Miami areas.  But everyone survived with minor damage.  I hope all my readers also got through this unscathed.   Today I am happy to announce that I am the guest designer with the amazing team over at the  Retro Rubber Challenge Blog  for their current Challenge No. 71 - Anything Goes . I had a hard time deciding which theme to go with - Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving...but I settled on Halloween.  I went through my stash and pulled out a few stamps to use - all over a year old.  Probably over 5 years old.  But hardly ever used.   I started by making a top folding A2 card base out of black cardstock.  I then cut 2 pieces of white cardstock using the large stitched rectangle die from the Bundle of Stitched Shapes set ( Simon Says Stamp ). ...

Hello everyone and Happy Thursday!  I hope everyone is well.  It's been a crazy week here.  Ruy and I had a photo exhibition last weekend at the Belle Epoque Cultural Center here in town, which we did as a benefit for a charity.  It was nicely received and was a great feeling to see everyone's reactions to our photos.  I will try to get a post done this weekend about the show.  Of course afterward, I got sick for a few days, but am finally back up and running.  Today is Brasil's Independence Day so everything is closed and I finally found some time to do a new blog post.   Yes, 2nd post about "back to school".  This time for the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog  -  I started with a piece of white cardstock.  Using some washi tape I taped down the "Numerals" stencil (TCW200S) by The Crafter's Workshop .  Next, using a mini blending tool (Ranger) with some inks from Reverse Confetti ( Piggy Bank, Salsa , an...

Good morning everyone!!  I want to wish a very Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends and family, in the USA and abroad.  Yes, Laurey, this means you in Canada also (LOL)!  I would also like to wish the U.S.A. a very Happy 241st Birthday! Although today is just regular day here we are going to try and make a BBQ for lunch.  I am also making chocolate chip cookies for a "July 4th" party we are going to tonight over at CNA, one of the English schools here. Can't get more American than chocolate chip cookies.   Before I get to today's card I just want to tell you guys that I was a winner on last week's sketch challenge on the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog !  Yay!  I'll be a guest designer on a future challenge.   If you wish to check out the winning card just click HERE !  This week they are having a wedding card challenge, which you can check out HERE ! Today I have a fun July 4th/Independence Day/Happy Birthday to...

Hello everyone.  Today is Tuesday which means a new challenge over at the Stamp Ink Paper Challenge blog.  Today is Challenge No. 58 and it's a sketch challenge -  And, since I made this as a "summertime" theme, I am also adding it to the Retro Rubber Challenge No. 43 - Summertime!   Although I personally love to eat ice cream ALL year round, it really is a "Summertime" treat!  And it's nice to be using stamps and dies I had sitting around for over a year now!!  Time to dust these babies off! Because the sketch shows two separate areas on the front of the card, I wanted to go with something a bit different - a different type of border.  So I grabbed an OLD set from QuicKutz called Nesting Scallop Paisley (you can try this with any of your nesting dies).  I cut a piece of fun foam, slipped it under the top of the die and positioned the scallop edge at the bottom of the fun foam and die cut it with my Big Shot.   Using you...

Hello everyone.  It seems my mojo is certainly flowing this week!  I think it's because it's so cold here this week!  Woke up to 40F (7C).  I'm not happy but it is supposed to get warmer this weekend.   Today I am sharing {what I think is a really adorable card}, that I made for the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog and their Challenge 40 - Kind of Sketchy challenge -    I've had a few sets from Reverse Confetti sitting around for over a year that I have been wanting to get dirty.  As soon as I saw this sketch, this card idea popped into my head.   I started with a top folding A2 white card base.  To the front of the card I adhered a piece of scrapbook paper, 4 1/4" x 5 1/2", from the Hootenanny Six By Six pad by My Mind's Eye .  I loved the reverse side and had enough left from the same sheet to cut the strip, 1 1/2" x 4 1/4", which I adhered across the card front.  Then I stamped the phrase from Later Alliga...

Hello everyone.  Well....it rained all night.  Sigh. And, as I expected, the sun came out strong and bright today - because the pool is closed on Mondays.  LOL. I cannot win.  I cannot believe that just one year ago  we were praying for rain because there was such a horrible water shortage going on here in Sao Paulo.  Well...more rain means more creativity!!   This past weekend I pulled out some Reverse Confetti goodies - Let It Snow Confetti Cuts and Shine Bright  - and made two quick snowflake cards.  You can make each of these cards in less than 10 minutes (or less).  Seriously.  I also think that these are great to use as a general "holiday" card or just to say hello to someone. The first card I made was this  -  I started with a top folding A2 white cardstock card base (5.5" x 8.5", scored at 4.25").  To this I adhered a piece of blue glitter cardstock.  Then I cut a pi...

A few weeks ago, my friend Justin showed me a stamp set he had bought on Simon Says Stamp called Naughty Nautical .  One of the phrases in the set said "Oh Ship!  I forgot your birthday".  I'm sorry but that just cracked me up!  At first I was completely blank on how I could ever work this phrase into a card.  So I filed it away for future use.  The future came faster than I expected!  I had just gotten an order from Reverse Confetti and one of the dies I ordered for the store is called "Doin The Wave". Not only does the die look like bacon but it also would work as ocean waves.  This was the point when that phrase popped back into my head and, remembering that I had forgotten to send a friend a birthday card, I was now going to get this idea out of my head.  Now, since I am in Brasil and did not order this set from Simon before I left NYC, I printed the phrase on cardstock to use on the inside of the card.  I think the whole thi...

Happy Saturday everyone.  I've been spending the last few days making Valentine's Day cards for the blog.  Today, I might even make a shaker card [insert a gasp here].  I am not a fan of shaker cards but, maybe, after I make two for my nieces, I will change my mind.  LOL The inspiration for today's card came from a card by Jen del Muro for Reverse Confetti .   I loved how the scalloped Love Note Confetti Cut worked with the embossed cardstock over it.  Click HERE to see their original blog post.   To make my card -   (1) make the card base.  Round two of the corners.   (2) using the scallop die cut, cut a piece of red cardstock and adhere to card front.  Trim left edge.  Die cut the next size down with white cardstock.  Emboss with your favorite heart embossing folder (I used Heart Blocks by Cuttlebug) and adhere to red cardstock. Trim left edge.   (3) using the Hearts Die, cut some of...