My Eight-Hour Card.....No, Really!

Hello there and thanks for stopping by!  I have a great post for you today!  First, I have a great card (and it truly did take me 8 hours to make this card.  I don't know why, but it did.  I had fun so that's all that matters right?) using an image from Krista Smith of Saturated Canary.  But I also have a great prop in my pictures that I made following this tutorial by Karin over at Creative Chaos.  I just discovered her blog and she is talented, funny, creative and AMAZING!  I have spent as much time on her blog as I have on Pinterest lately (and that's saying alot!).  Go check out her blog.  She has made me laugh many times.  Makes me wish I lived in the southwest so I had a better chance of meeting her!  OK, enough of me, check this out:

Karin makes the most amazing Crepe Paper Trees.  (This is my tree, not Karin's.  Her's have more embellishments and are soooo pretty!)  I've made one and can't wait to get more crepe paper, pink, turquoise and whatever else strikes my fancy!  Thankfully the crepe paper perfectly matched my cardstock for today!  I was trying to figure out how to work my tree into my post and it worked itself out!

So, my image is A Winter Ragamuffin.  I've used her before, I know, but she is so cute and I couldn't resist.  And I am so impressed that my husband and oldest son (Oren) both recognized that I had used her recently!  They earned some serious brownie points let me tell you!!  lol  I colored her with my Prismacolor pencils.  I added plenty of glitter to the snowman and snow.  I used glue and German Glass Glitter from Wild Orchid on the edges.  The metal filigree is from my local craft store.

The DP is MME (Deena's Penny Lane).  Now that the card is done it looks kind of like a circus!  It's so bright and fun!  The pink fabric on the left is a piece of needlework linen.  I used to do a lot of stitching and I could never throw away the small strips that I would cut off the piece when I was making an ornament.  After all, you pay for that stuff by the square inch!  So, I have a whole box of scraps.  I got the idea from Iulia at My Adored Adorables.  She has such beautiful cards!  She made this great box and put some brown fabric behind the image.  To me it looks like a piece of large count evenweave fabric.  I tucked that thought away and decided to use it on this card.  The beads are all in my daughter's stash which now abides permanently in my sewing room.)  It really should be called my studio but old habits are hard to break!

The beautiful flowers are all from Wild Orchid.  I added Stickles to bling them up a bit.  The large blue rose is so beautiful!  So glad I ordered them this time!

Here's the inside.  I used a small snowflake punch and added small pearls to the centers.  I isolated the snowman from the image and printed him on the writing panel.  He got a glitter treatment also.  :)

I'm entering my card in the following challenge:

Saturated Canary - Christmas/Winter

That's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

Mo's Challenge #114

Hello friends!  Thanks for stopping by today!  Its very humbling to know you would take the time to stop by and see what I have been up to.  Yesterday I made this card for Mo's http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/  (is anyone else having trouble with blogger today?!?  ggrr the frustration!)  Anyway, I chose to use this great image Maisie Caroling http://www.mosdigitalpencil.com/maisie-caroling/ (blogger is adding links this way today.  idk why, but it's still frustrating me!!)  She is so sweet and I can't wait to use her again.

I colored Maisie with my Prismacolors.  She is sort of a Victorian raggamuffin so I didn't add any glitter or bling.

I followed the sketch from Sketch & Stash.  The paper has been around for over a year and the ribbon for way longer than I care to admit.  The flowers are beautiful new (well, new to me) flowers from Wild Orchid (honestly, ladies, google it if you don't have them bookmarked, those stupid url's look awful in my post!!  lol)

The DP on the front and on the inside is from K & Co.  A great pad called Classic K McKenna.I made the sentiment on the computer.  I stitched all my panels.  They look naked without the stitching  :)  lol

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/ (Mo's Digital Challenge Blog) - punches and/or dies  (I used my circle and oval nesties)

http://citycrafter.blogspot.com/ (City Crafter) - Make the cut

http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/ (Top Tip Tuesday) - Anything Goes

http://reasonableribbon.blogspot.com/search/label/challenges (Really Reasonable Ribbon) - Anything Goes

http://sketchandstashchallenge.blogspot.com/ (Sketch & Stash) - Sketch

http://www.fairytale-challengeblog.blogspot.com/ (Fairytale Challenge Blog) - Something Easy (and this sketch was VERY easy!)

That's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

Merry Christmas

The big day is drawing near.  How relaxing to sit and make a fun card today!  I used another great image from Krista Smith at Saturated Canary called Winter Ragamuffin.  I think she is so cute, but then, I've decided all of Krista's images are really cute!  I'm so glad I found her!

I colored this cutie with my Prismacolors and added some glitter and Stickles to bling things up a bit!  :)  lol

The DP is from my stash and I don't know where it came from.  I only less than 1 sheet left.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid.  I just recently got in a new order and I had fun using lots of different flowers!  I added glue and glitter to the large blue rose.  These flowers are beautiful!  I think they are the best out there!  The feathers and beads are from my stash.

I used 2 embossing folders on the left panel, Swiss Dots and Snowflakes from Cuttlebug.  I made the sentiments on my computer.

I embellished the right panel with a die cut from Memory Box.  Its called Winterland Tree.  I know I've said this before, but I love these dies.

The back is embellished with another Memory Box die.  Its called Snowflake Corner.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:

Saturated Canary - Favorite Christmas Card

Cooking It Up With Katie - Anything

Pixie Cottage - Sketch & Anything Goes

Thanks for taking a peek today.  I appreciate you stopping by!

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

Sweet Cocoa Boys

Hello again!  Today I have a card that I made for my son.  I don't make as many "boy" cards, so this one was alot of fun to make.  I used an image from Saturated Canary called Hot Cocoa.  He is so cute  :)

I colored him with my Prismacolor pencils.  I refrained from using stickles or any other glitter this time around.  I really don't think my boy is a glitter kind of guy  :)  lol

The card has a very clean and simple look.  Well, clean and simple for me.  No flowers.  No ribbon.  No sewing.  No inking the edges.  And I love it.  I did add a few beads from my stash.  I think they work well.  The papers have been in my stash for a few years I think.  I don't know who they are by.  I actually found them at Walmart, of all places, on the clearance rack.  I think they look great!  The 2 snowflakes are from The Paper Studio.

I used alot of paper inside as well.  The right side has the writing panel.  I used the same sketch for this side as well.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Saturated Canary - One For the Boys

Mojo Monday - Sketch

Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

Peace on Earth

Isn't that a great wish?  Peace on earth?  I've been listening to a great song by Casting Crowns for the last couple of weeks.   Listen to I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day!  It touches my heart in a way I can't explain.  (Casting Crowns does an amazing job with a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Great song!  Anyway, that is what inspired this card.  Mo's has this great image Ragged Angel.  She is so sweet.

I colored this beauty with my Prismacolor pencils.  I'm pleased with her skin again and the colors.  I've used some colors I haven't used before and I like the vintage feel of them.

The papers are from MME.  I love their papers.  This collection is called Lost and Found.  I found mine at Hobby Lobby.  I used mine up, I'll be going back for more very soon, like this week!!  The back right panel is embossed with my Cuttlebug embossing folder "Snowflake".  I distressed all the edges by running them over my brown ink pad.  I added some twine, it has a rustic feel that I thought went well with this image and the papers.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid.  I just received a new order and I can't wait to play with them more.

I printed the words from the original poem and made a tag.  I think its a great size to be used as a bookmark. 

Here's the inside.

The top panel shows off the gorgeous design papers.  I printed all the sentiments from my computer.  I don't know what color I ended up using, but its somewhere between a brown and grey.  A little softer than black.  It goes with the image, the song and the feel I was going for.

Here's the writing panel.  I had to show off the companion for the design paper.

The back shows off the design paper and my custom stamp.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge Blog - Banners or Tags

Cute Card Thursday - Anything

Cooking It Up With Katie - Anything

ABC Christmas - Anything

Pixie Cottage - Sketch

Papertake - Favorite Color

Ribbon Carousel - Twine
Digi Tuesday - Winter Wonderland

I guess that's about it.  Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

Baby's 1st Christmas

Hello and thanks for stopping by today!  I have a cutie-patootie card to show you today!  Of course its going to be cute since I use an image from Mo's Digital Pencil.  This cute little one is called Kai in the Snow.  He is so happy to be playing in the snow!

I colored Kai with my Prismacolor pencils and I added sooooooo much glitter and sparkles!  hehe  I used glitter on his pom-poms and the snow.  There's Stickles around most of the panels and on the snowflakes.

The DP is from my stash and I don't know where its from.  The red panel is embossed with my Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder.  I love that folder....so cute.  The 2 snowflakes are from The Paper Studio and I got them from Hobby Lobby.

The left inside panel is plain but I followed the same sketch (simplified) for the right side and used white for a writing panel.

The back has my custom stamp as always  :)

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Mo's Challenge Blog - The Great Outdoors

Mojo Monday - Sketch

Top Tip Tuesday - Let it Snow

Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday - Put a Number on Your Card
Delightful Challenges - Let it Snow

That's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek.

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

Sending Loving Wishes

Hello again!  I'm so glad you have taken the time to stop by my blog today.  I hope you enjoy the cutie I have for you this time.  The challenge at Saturated Canary is Anything.  I needed to make a special card and this seemed like the perfect time.  The granddaughter of a co-worker of my daughter's boyfriend (can ya follow that??  lol) has cancer.  She is only 13.  I've never met her but when I heard her story I knew I wanted to send her a card.  I've been thinking about what to do for a while.  You probably know how it is.  Your creative fairy has to get everything worked out before you can start the project.  Sometimes I have to let her work it over for a while.  I know if I start without her the project will be a flop.  Finally she had all the details worked out and the card came together with ease  :)

This cutie is called Let It Rain.  If you haven't checked out Krista Smith's sweet illustrations you need to!!  She has some new images in her shop and I know I need a couple  ;)  I colored her with my Prismacolor pencils and have to say that this is the first time that I am really happy with her skin color.  I've been really working on the colors and the technique and maybe I have made a breakthrough!  WAHOO!! 

The challenge at Creative Inspirations is Turquoise, Purple and White.  I struggled a little with that because I wasn't quite sure what turquoise was  :)  lol  But I pulled out my Stampin Up Tempting Turquoise stamp pad and found some cardstock to match.  Phew!  The DP is from my stash and had no identification on it.  All I know is its pretty old!  Sorry!  I found a great new challenge blog this week (not sure how I stumbled upon it, but I'm so glad I did!) called Sketch N Stash.  I followed their great sketch (although my circle is a little over-sized) and dug some great stuff out of my stash.  What did I find?  The DP.  The lace.  The ribbons.  The beads.  The feathers.  And the flowers.  (If its been around for over a year its considered "stash", right?)  The only thing completely new is the image.  The rhinestones are fairly new as well.  Everything else is well aged.  lol

I decided to use the same sketch (or most of it) for the inside top panel.  I added the rest of my sentiment there.

The writing panel is pretty simple with just a small background stamp and some stitching.

The back is a little more dressed up this time around  :)

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Saturated Canary - Anything

Sketch N Stash - Sketch and Use Your Stash

Creative Inspirations - Turquoise, Purple and White

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

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

My Green Angel

Hello and thanks for stopping by again.  Today I have a card with an adorable angel from Sugar Nellie called Heavenly Angel. 

I think she has the sweetest face.  She was so much fun to color with my Prismacolor pencils.

I added lots of sparkles to this card  :)  I used a very fine glitter on her wings, a MS chunky glitter on the cloud, silver Stickles on the stars and green stickles around the edge of the image.  It really is very sparkly!

The DP is from Basic Grey.  The white panel is embossed with my Snowflake folder from Cuttlebug.  It is getting alot of use since I bought it!

I used my Frosty Border die to embellish the the front.  The ribbon and pearls are from my stash.

The top panel inside is embellished with my Winterland Tree die (both dies are from Memory Box).

The writing panel is embellished with an old, old, old snowflake stamp which I embossed with silver embossing powder.

The back is simple again.  I should work on dressing them up a bit more.

One last view.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Top Tip Tuesday - silver, white, and a touch of color (I chose green)

Papertake - Sketch

Digi Tuesday - Go Green

Cooking It Up With Katie - Anything

That's about it.  Thanks for taking a peek!

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle

A Sepia Christmas

Well.... sort of.  This was my first attempt at coloring an image using only one color in many shades.  I really wanted to enter the LOTV challenge this week which was "Anything" but I have a limited number of their stamps.  I figured if I was going to re-use a stamp I better make my card look very different from the last one.  I started thinking I would color it like I have seen several other cards colored lately... all in browns and absolutely gorgeous!!  Then the Shabby Tea Room challenge fit perfectly with this idea so I went for it.

I used my Prismacolor pencils (on Kraft paper) to color this adorable image from Lili of the Valley called Woodland Christmas.  Its one of my favorites  :)  I added silver Stickles to the lights on the tree.  I love Stickles  :)

I didn't use any DP this time.  I used Coordinations CS and used embossing folders to add interest.  The lighter panel on the left is the Swiss Dot folder from Sizzix and the dark panel on the right is Snowflake from Cuttlebug.  I added some pearls to some of the snowflakes.  The flowers are from Wild Orchid.  The ribbon is from my stash and since I know it is at least 15 years old, it certainly is vintage!

The inside panels are pretty simple with the addition of a Christmas tree die cut from Memory Box.  I bought mine at Simon Says Stamp.  These dies are wonderful!  I added a "shim" of cardstock under this one and it cut beautifully!  Can't wait to order more!

The back is simple also, but I do love this color combination!

One last picture, this time without the flash.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley - Anything Goes

Mojo Monday - I used their great sketch!!

The Shabby Tea Room - Winter Picnic (for a great color scheme!)

Cupcake Challenge Blog - Color on Craft

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

Blessings & Hugs

Michelle