My Favorite "Mo" Make of 2014

First off, to be fair, I only made a handful of cards early this year.  I think maybe 6 of them were with Mo's images.  It doesn't feel like I should be entering this challenge but I LOVE Mo's images and I've decided its time to start making my cards again because I love it so much and have been missing it.  I scrolled back through my blog (it truly only took a couple minutes) and picked this cute guy as my favorite.  I need to see if I still have this card because I don't remember if I gave him away or not.

 I made this card in January.  It's like seeing an old friend :)  He is called Dream.  I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils.  Gosh, I miss those things.  I'm going to dig through my boxes and pull them out. 

 Here's the front of the card.  I will save you from the whole description again.  If you are interested you can visit the original post here.

I will be trying my hand at coloring again.  If all goes well I will post a card in a few days.  If not, it might be a while longer.  If you have stopped by after all this time I thank you.  I am slowly making my rounds to all your blogs as well.

I am entering my card in the challenge at Mo's Challenge Blog.

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

It Has Been So Long!

I'm not quite sure I remember how to post on my blog!  Time has been flying for me this year.  In May we sold our house and in August we bought my dream home.  It is a 2200 square foot, 200 year old Civil War looking house.  We have 9 foot ceilings, old wood floors, even floor and ceiling "locks"on the library doors (yes, we have a small library).  It is my dream to have a my studio in a separate structure on our property and right now I do not have a sewing/craft room in the house.  I work part time for a friend's quilt shop and I bring lots and lots of sewing home.  I sew at the kitchen table and my stuff is tucked on the enclosed porch when I finish for the day.  After having a sewing room for 20 years I am missing my space.  However, I am so in love with my home that I don't mind the inconvenience.

I sat down to look at some paper crafting blogs today and decided I need to dig out my pencils and buy some new images to play with.  I really miss making my cards and even though I am extremely busy working, sewing and still home schooling my two boys I am determined to make some cards.  I keep saying I need to figure out how to get by on less sleep :) 

If you have stopped by wondering what happened to me….now you know.  I fell in love with a house and I have made it my home :)

I will be making my rounds to visit all of you in the next few weeks.  I miss seeing what you have been up to and what lovely things you are creating.

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #145

Happy April! Time for a new challenge at Shopping Our Stash!  This time we want you to break out your technique stash and make something "faux"….yeah, I was stumped too, but I found this great tutorial that saved my day!!

First off I used this adorable new image from Sylvia at Wee Stamps.  I printed her on kraft card stock and colored her with Prismacolor pencils.

I used papers from my stash from MME (probably my favorite company for paper).  My only embellishments are the pearls in the corners.

 Here's the inside with a generous writing panel.

And here is my faux technique.  I made faux patina on the "banner" behind the image.  Too bad my image was so big it covered up most of it because it really did turn out pretty good.  I followed the tutorial in the link above.  Her instructions were very good. (thankfully, cuz I am not a technique junkie and I was a bit stumped!)

So now its your turn to wow us with your faux abilities!

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #144

Hello, friends!  Time for another fun challenge at Shopping Our Stash!  This week we want you to use your oldest tree stamp.  Easy right?  I have to admit when I found out what our challenge was I couldn't immediately think of a tree stamp in my collection but I thought to myself there must surely be one in there somewhere….or not!  I finally stumbled upon one in a tiny set from the dollar section at Joanns that I had purchased for my daughter a few years back and she put in my stamp collection.  If you are familiar with my cards you know I use mostly images of sweet little children….not trees.  Thank goodness for that small set of stamps!

The tree stamp is very small so I decided to make a gift tag.  I used a Spellbinders die to cut the tag shape from solid CS and a scrap of DP.  Then I cut the same shape from cream and stamped my tree on there.  I added some buttons from my stash and there ya go!  Not one of my usual creations but I had limited supplies!  And now I have two gift tags for Christmas!

There you have it.  My post is short and sweet because, after all, what more can I really say about these simple tags?  I hope you have better luck in your stash and won't you share with us what you make this week?

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #143

Hello friends!  Happy Tuesday!  Time for another challenge at Shopping Our Stash.  This week our theme is "Buttons and Bows".  Sounds girlie huh?  I've been cuddling a tiny baby girl at our church and I think girlie stuff is too fun these days!

 I used a great collage sheet called Stitched with Love by iralamija.  It's a great shop, check out her beautiful images!  The DP is from MME.  The lace, buttons and teal seam binding are all from my stash.  I sewed the edges as I almost always do, only this time I used my birthday present.

Isn't it beautiful?  I've wanted one for a long time and when this was posted at my local quilt shop I had to check it out!  Someday I hope to have a studio for all my art that's not attached to my house.  This will have a special place for sure!

One of my boys tinkered with it for several hours and got it to sew as well as wind a bobbin.  This thing is a tank!  I'm pretty sure it would sew easily through your finger….thankfully I don't have first hand proof of that.  I did have a hard time getting it going forward each time.  I also broke the thread many times and my stitching is crooked.  Also, on the panel in the picture above my DP is crooked.  Not terribly so, but it is and it bothers me a bit ;)

I skipped sewing the tags to the matting so they wouldn't be crooked.

 Here's the inside.  I used more of the images from the collection.  I simply couldn't make a decision of which to use so I decided to use them all!  The sentiment on the front and the inside are from Becca Feeken.

 See?  I used all the images!!

And here is my finished card in front of my prized machine!

Now it's your turn.  Find your buttons and bows and join us this week!

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #141

Hello again and welcome!  Time for another great challenge at Shopping Our Stash.  Are you ready to play along?  This week our theme is 3-2-1.  We want to see you use 3 of something, 2 of something else and 1 of another.

 I used another image from Sylvia Zet.  Its called "Fluffy hanging in there".  And she sure is isn't she?  I colored her with my Prismacolor pencils.

 All my paper is MME and it is all glittered.  My 3-2-1: 3 Design Papers, 2 different colored pearls, 1 charm.  The ribbon and lace have been in my stash for hundreds of years….true story!  The sentiment is from PTI.

 I used the same sketch inside for the writing panel.

So, put on your counting skills this week and play along, ok?

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Green and Purple Fairy

Hi friends!  Welcome to my little place on the world wide web.  Thanks for stopping by!  Today I have a card to play along with one of my favorite challenge blogs, Mo's Challenge Blog.  I am a huge fan of Mo's images and I have quite a collection of them!  This is one of my favorites:

 This is Winter Fairy Talva.  I have colored her with my Prismacolor pencils.  I added crackle medium to the frost on her wings, fine glitter to her snowball and tinsel glitter to her clothes.  I also sewed silver-lined beads to her skirt.

 My favorite color scheme would have to be purple and green so that is what I used.  I stamped small snowflakes around the image and on the edges of the white vellum which I sewed down because it is impossible to adhere that stuff without your adhesive being seen.  The green panels are embossed with a snowflake folder which I hope you can see in the photo below.  I also sewed some beads to the green panels but my very, very fluffy feathers are covering most of them.  I added the feathers to mimic the fluffy head-covering and leg warmers she is wearing.  I added the glittery berries to go along with her snowball.

 I use a Spellbinders die to make the snowflake.

 I also added some snowflakes to the back.

Here you can see the embossing a little bit on the green panels.  You can also see the beautiful pearl and rhinestone swirls I added.  I mounted the image on foam to sit above the elements in the background.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Mo's Challenge Blog - Favorite Color Combo

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #140

Hello friends and welcome again.  I'm so glad you are here!  It's time for another challenge at Shopping Our Stash.  Our theme this week is "Heavy Metal".  We want to see some metal on your card this week.  So, get creative!

I chose this adorable image from Sylvia Zet.  He is from the set called Naughty Puppies.  I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils.

 I chose to use the sketch from Sketch & Stash again.  The papers are from MME.  The bow is made with vintage seam binding I picked up at a flea market.  The bottle cap is my metal item that was in my stash for who-knows how long!  Serious!  I was looking for something metal to put on my card and saw a package of them in the drawer.  I thought to myself, that will be great if I have something to put on the outside and low and behold, it already has something!  I haven't looked at them in a really long time!!  I lucked out because the color of the sticker even matches my paper!  The 2 brads are also old stash and metal!!  Score!

 I used the sketch on the inside writing panel too.

I will be entering my card in the following challenge:

Sketch & Stash - Sketch

So now it's your turn to dig into your stash and join us.  Link up and tell us what you used from your stash this week!

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Tutu Cute!

Hello, hello and welcome!  I have a card today (tonight) that I made just for fun so I could join the challenge at Mo's Challenge Blog.  This week the challenge is Ribbon and/or Bows.  No problem!

 I chose this most adorable image, Odette.  Isn't she the cutest thing?  I colored her with my Prismacolor pencils and I added some tulle for her little tutu.  I gathered it by hand and hand sewed it to the paper.

 Here's my card.  I used DP from MME (my favorite) and the sketch from Sketch & Stash (I hope you can see the sketch, my cheesecloth is somewhat hiding the elements).  I embossed the pink panels with a Swiss dot folder and inked the edges of all layers.  I added lots of pearls including some really tiny ones on the corners of the image that my son gave me for Christmas.  The lace I used for the bow has been in my stash for a very long time.  I used beads from my daughter's stash to decorate the pins behind the feathers.

 Here you can see I used the same sketch for the writing panel.

 Here you can see the layers which is what the lovely people at Papertake would like to see this week.  That is, of course, very easy for me.  How often do my cards not have layers….?

And here you can see the tutu she is wearing!

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Mo's - Ribbon and/or Bows

Papertake Weekly - Lovely Layers

Sketch & Stash - Sketch

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #139

Good morning, dear friends!  Are you ready for another fun challenge at Shopping Our Stash?  I had so much fun (and actually spent several hours on) this challenge!  This week our theme is "Embellish Me" and we want to see you make your own embellishments!  There are so many great things you can do.  I decided to revisit one of my first loves, sewing.

 First off, I used this adorable image from Sylvia Zet at Wee Stamps called Sympathy Bugs.  I colored them with my prismacolor pencils.  They look like they need a hug don't they?

 I chose papers from the MME collection, Laundry Line.  The papers are all glittered and just beautiful!  I picked a sketch from Papertake Weekly (#67).  I love having a sketch to work from and they have so many that seem to fit for me.  My embellishments are the leaves and berries down the side.  I used vintage seam binding for the berries and leaves.  I made my "stem" from twisted cording.  I sewed everything to the card and added a button at the top.  It's deceiving but those little things took me over an hour!  I did have fun but I don't think I'll be giving this card away any time soon!

 I added a sentiment from an old SU set: May you find comfort in God's word and in the knowledge that others care and sympathize with you.  I used the same sketch for the writing panel as I used on the front.

Here you can see the my embellishment.

I can't wait to see what embellishment you make for your card this week!

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #138

Hello friends!  It's Tuesday and that means it's time for another fun challenge at Shopping our Stash.  This week we have a fun one!  Our theme is "Oh Shiny!"  To my daughter that says "glitter"!!!! lol So that's the way I went.

 I love DP from MME!  This sheet had the word LOVE all glittered and set off with the scroll work which is also glittered.  I added some tulle, pearls and one brown rose.  I added stitching to the background papers like I almost always do.

If you look at the portion of the scroll in the top right of the picture you'll see a little "blip" of red glitter.  This motif was actually near the edge of a 12x12 sheet and the right side of the scroll work was cut off.  After I fussy cut the whole thing I laid it on a scrap portion of the script paper and drew in the missing red glitter.  It's not perfect but until you really look you don't notice it :)  I never make my cards with elements extending beyond the edges but this one just had to be.  And I like it!

Now it's your turn.  Dig into your shiny stash and play along this week!

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Joy

Hello friends.  I have made another card just because I wanted to enter a few challenges.  

I love the images from Mo Manning and this one is called Georgia.  I colored her with my Prismacolor pencils.  The challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog was a photo inspiration.  The photo was black and white with a splash of red.  I thought I would give it a try.  My coloring could be better, its been so long since I've colored very much!

 I really loved the black and white with a splash of red in the inspiration photo so I stayed with that idea.  The flowers are all from Wild Orchid.  Joy was the word that I thought of for Mo's challenge and Georgia is very joyful to me!  She looks so happy!

 I added some paisley images and a fun sentiment to the inside.

I think you can see the embossing on the black background panels.  The left panel has a paisley pattern and the right panel has Swiss dots.  Here you can also see the black flowers.  They really blended in in the above picture.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Mo's Challenge Blog - J is for…

City Crafter Challenge Blog - Color Splash

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle

Shopping Our Stash #137

Welcome friends!  I'm glad you are here today.  It's Tuesday so that means it's time for another challenge at Shopping Our Stash.  This week our theme is Love Me Tender.  We want to see your projects that show off love or Valentine's Day.

Our emphasis at SOS is to use your stash and that is exactly what I did with this card.

 First off, I had 3 full sheets and lots of strips left from a 6x6 MME pad.  I used several of the strips and a portion of one sheet for the front.  The lace you see is vintage.  I used a border punch that I bought years ago.  The flowers and seam binding are all from Wild Orchid but I have had for over a year, maybe two.  The rhinestone swirl is about a year old.  The sewing is a bit hard to see because the thread blends so well with my papers but it was an old Styrofoam spool (does anyone else still have any of those??) and I literally used the last few inches on my card.

 On the inside left (and on the back, below) I used the last half sheet of this great paper.  The right side has another sheet from the MME pad.  I also used two scraps and Spellbinders Labels 14 to make my writing panel.

Here's another look at the front.

I hope you are inspired to play along with us this week!

I think that's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs,

Michelle