Its been a while...

 Hi Guys,

I know its been a loooong time since Ive posted. Truth is I havent made a card in a couple of months. Just having a bit of a break for the winter. So thank all of you who decided to hang with me even while Ive been away from Blogland.

THis week's challenge at Mo's is to post your favorite Mo card of 2012. I couldn't miss that opportunity even though Im cutting it very close in getting this in.

THis was probably my fave card, the coloring came out just how I wanted and it was one of those rare cards youre pretty much 100%  happy with when its done. A rare occurance!!

OK, so its not crafty but in case youve been wondering what Ive been doing lately, Ive been doing some "house projects", nothing exciting per se but just things that have been a bit neglected lately.
Let me show you what I mean:
Here's my sideboard which has been scratched up for quite some time. Ive been meaning to refinish it but just havent got around to it:

 Well, I still havent refinished it but I decided to try out some "Old English" scratch remover to see if it would temporarily 'improve' it. Here's the result:

 

You gotta admit thats pretty awesome! Here's a close up:

 So I decided the refinishing could wait, thats pretty close to perfect!

So theeeen I got to thinking, hey my kitchen floor is pretty awful why not try it on that? So I bought some Old English Scratch Remover in LIGHT and I'll show you how that went.

First, here is the before:

You can see that the original finish is almost completely worn away. The floor really needs to be stripped but I cant do it in the winter so this is to "hold it over" til warm weather comes and I can do without my kitchen for a week or so. (not sure when that will be!).

 And below is the after picture:
Yes, still a little rough but the color is more uniform so at first glance it looks not too bad.

 

 OK, are you ready for a "Pinstrocity??" Me too!
Have any of you read about the super duper way to boil eggs in the oven? The claim is that the eggs come out tastier, are easier to peel etc etc etc. Well! What they neglected to mention was this: that the eggs also scorch in the muffin tin and end up with brown spots all over them!
Here's the Pinterest picture that inspired me:



And here's my reality:
Anyone for some ugly eggs?
And by the way, they do NOT peel easier and they do NOT taste tastier either.
So there.

Well thats what's been happening here, thanks for visiting!!

#154 Mo's Challenge "Dies and Punches"

Hi GUys!

I hope your week is going well. I'm still trying to get my "mojo" back but its not coming too readily.I just need to give it time. This has happened before and I know it will return eventually but there's no telling when...I'm not holding my breath, you know what I mean?

 Anyway! This week's challenge at Mo's is:

Dies and/or Punches 

and I decided to use Mo's image "Kite". Its been out for a few months now but this is my first time coloring it.

the papers are mostly MME and the dies are spellbinders. The sentiment is by Precious Rememberance.

I hope you can play along with us.

 Thanks so much for visiting. One of these days I'll wow you with something worth visiting for but in the meantime, I hope you'll bear with me. :)

Hugs all

ps) for my stamp clearout sale click here

#153 Mo's Challenge "Buttons"

 Hi Guys!

I hope everyone is doing well! This week our challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil is:

Buttons!

I am using a newer stamp by Mo called "Tiny Dancer Elements" and various papers, mainly from MME.

The coloring is of course lyras and prismas on kraft cardstock.

And a close up, its a bit blurry, sorry.

Thats it form me, I hope you have a great weekend!

#151 Anything Goes ~ Mo's Challenge

Hi Guys!

So its Thursday again! And you all know what that means, right? A new challenge at Mo's! Its the start of a new month and that means its "Anything Goes with a Mo's".

I just love this towering cake image called (appropriately) "Tall Cake", available here.

Ive colored my image with prismacolor and Lyra pencils on kraft. 

Paper: MME

Ticket Stamp: Whimsy

Image: Mo's "Tall Cake"

Card Candy

Twine and Ribbon: Lilly Belles

Buttons: from stash

And moving onto a new challenge at The Catered Crop...... this week's theme is...

Think Pink!

Our sponsor this fortnight is:

And here's what our fabulous DT creator and leader Linda has to say about Lilly Belles:

Shopping at Lilly Belle's Paperie and Textiles is like shopping in a up-town boutique, but with low-down prices. Laura Evangeline has curated some fabulous hard-to-find papers, textiles and embellishments in her Etsy shop and she's organized them all beautifully by color.  So, yes, you can pick up all the pink you need for our challenge right here. "Like" her on Facebook for updates and specials too.

One randomly chosen player will win a $25.00 gift certificate. And, EVERYONE (Yes, I'm Shouting) is a winner for this challenge.

Laura is offering you all a 15% discount in her shop, valid only until our challenge ends, September 15. Oh, be still my heart!

So Happy For You

So here I am practicing my ethnic skin on kraft again. I needed a celebration card for a black GF of mine and Ive always loved this image. I wasn't sure how she would work with dark skin but it actually turned out just fine so I am pleased.

OK! Down to business!

This week's challenge at Mo's DP2 is "Layers". Now at first glance you're gonna think this is a pretty CAS card but if you actually count the layers there are 8 of them. So see, I did get the memo afterall. :)

And a close up:

I'm using my usual Prismacolors and Lyra Rembrants on kraft cardstock.

Thanks so much for coming by!

Have an awesome weekend:)

Together

Hi!

I hope everyone's week has been going well!

Today's card is an anniversary card for someone (Stacey, don't look!) who likes purple and such. :)

This week's challenge at MO's is "Distressing" and as this is for an anniversary I didn't want to make the card look like it had been through the wringer, ya know? So I just distressed using distress inks instead.

You can find the image "Date"  here.

Happy Crafting!

Keeping In Touch

Hi Guys!

So I'm back. :)

It was a bit of a struggle making myself sit down to make a few cards but once I got the paper together they came together surprisingly easy and I enjoyed it. So here we have "Danielle With Laptop" by Mo Manning. Love this image, especially the cat on the top of the chair. :)

This week's challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge  is and easy one 'Friends".

My papers are varied. I used several packs of several brands (and Ive put them away now so I can't tell you what they were.)

The sentiment is by Precious Remembrance and the die is a nestie.

I hope you enjoy today's project. :) 

Be sure to go to the challenge site and check out the other girl's cards, they're amazing!

See you next week!

Things Can Only Go Up

Hi Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by :)

This is my last post for The Kraft Journal. It has been an awesome 5 months working with them. I would have been with them another month there if it weren't for a bad case of "Blogging Burnout". Ever catch it? Its scary. You wonder if you'll ever be in the groove again. *sigh*

In the past month or so I have come off some really wonderful teams and I  hope that someday they'll have me back.  For now I need a break to get my swing again. I have no intention of stopping blogging I just need to lighten the load a bit.

So back to this week's challenge:

Use Any Sketch

Here's mine:

Recipe:

Paper: Cosmo Cricket and Kraft

Image: Mo Manning "Going Up"

Chipboard Button

Bakers Twine

Thats it from me!

 I'm taking a blogging break for a week or two so bear with me and I'll be back soon.

Happy Crafting!

A Boy's Best Friend

Hi Everyone!

This week our challenge at Mo's is:

In The Dog House

(interpret that how you will. In this country we have the expression someone is "in the doghouse" if they're in trouble and being punished. You could use an image like that. Or you can go the doggie route. Either way!)

*remember, you stil have some time to make up a card and join in our GD call. Just put GD after your name.

Recipe:

 IMage: Mo Manning, prismas and Lyras on kraft

Papers: MME

Ribbon: Crafty Ribbon

Button: Home Sew

Can't wait to see your projects!

Some Things Just Stink

Hi Guys!

This week at The Kraft Journal we want to see cards that make us smile.

I'll admit that this isn't your typical "happy" card but rather a commiseration card. The sentiment fits and hopefully that will grab a smile from the recipient. 

 If not, my efforts have gone down the toilet. ;)

Recipe:

IMage: Mo Manning

Papers: MME, buff cardstock

Colors: Prismacolors on Kraft

Twine: The Kraft OUtlet

Hope to see you all around Blogland! My blogger dashboard is finally working normally so its easier for me to blog hop. Thanks for bearing with me. :)

Bedtime Story

Hi Everyone!

Well we are on week two of our GD call at Mo's Digital Pencil! For all you hopefuls out there you have til the end of the month to enter in our challenges and put GD after your name to be considered.

Exciting times!

So this week's challenge is:

Hugs and Kisses

I decided to use Mo's "Bedtime Story" for my card. Its an older image and is not listed in the new shop yet but if you put a flea in Mo's ear she will definitely add it, no problem.

I've used prismacolors and Lyras on kraft cardstock and various scraps of designer paper. The burlap, twine, vintage ticket stub and cardboard button are from The Kraft Outlet and ticket sentiments are Whimsy. I used distress inks and white craft paint to add age and interest.

Thats it from me! I can't wait to see all your projects and have a wonderful weekend!

For my latest sewing project , click here.

Coloring Steel on Kraft Cardstock

Hi Everyone!  

 I thought you might enjoy playing around with achieving a "metal effect" on kraft cardstcock,so to get started find an image with a chunk of metal you can work on and get some kraft paper to print it out .

I am here using prismacolor pencils in this demonstration but you could use other brands just keep in mind that the names on the pencils will be different. And just a FYI : for metal we would generally use cool grays as opposed to warm (or brownish) grays.

OK! So I've written the steps on the photos below. Have fun!

When you go onto step 2, blend the 70% onto the 90% .You will go over the first layer somewhat and outwards. Just try not to "drown out" the first, darkest layer.

Really we're just taking one full color range of grays and working our way from darkest to lightest. 

I just love how the colors start merging now. Its really starting to look like shiny stainless steel.

Ah! I love this! Can you see it coming together? I can almost hear the clang!

OK, so now we're going to grab some of our previously used pencils to blend it out a bit. We don't want any "color transition" streaking.

And reinforcing the darker colors (below)...

Add a few punches of detail....

And the hardest part: knowing when to stop!

I hope you had fun! 

Cutting The Rug

So here's a happy card for you!

 What's not to love about this image! Isn't it great? I tried something a little different here. I used my trusty pencils, as usual,  but I colored on pastel paper (as in for pastel pencils, not pastel colored paper). It has more tooth to it which can be good and bad. You can get a lot of pigment down but it does still leave a texture as pencils don't fill in the tooth as much as powdery pastels would do.

Anyway! It's good to experiment!

So this week's challenge at Mo's is

Singing/ Dancing

Recipe:

Image: Mo Manning "Cutting The Rug"

Circle sentiment: Whimsy Stamps

Die: Sizzex

Twine: The Twinery

Pencils: Lyras and Prismacolors

Hope you enjoy the challenge this week. :)

Have a great weekend!
ps) For the rest of July we will be having a Guest Designer Call at Mo's so be sure to play along with the challenges and put GD after your name to be considered!! The GD position will last 3 months. So its kind of a big deal ;)

All the best!