Virginia's View Challenge # 22 (Summer Challenge)

What's up?

I have made a card for the Summer Challenge over at Virginia's View. The theme is: All About Color.
I wanted to make a really colorful card. I stamped and masked some flower stamps to fill a whole background and them I added a little cat peeking up from the flowers. All colored with Copics. I love all the cards with the cute cats and dogs that I see nowadays and I wanted to create something similar.

Even more 'With love'...

With love

So, here is my final 'with love' card for a while! I'm entering the following challenges with it:

In the June challenge of En Liten Butik you are supposed to be inspired by a quote by H C Andersen. I couldn't agree more with the quote. ("Att bara leva är inte tillräckligt, sade fjärilen, man måste ha solsken, frihet och lite blommor.")

"Just living is not enough, said the butterfly, one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”  

Hans Christian Andersen

Allsorts challenge Blog is having a gorgeous photo to be inspired from. I love those summer colors!

The theme of Hobbygarasjen in June/July is: Alt er lov.

The theme of Hjerteboden är: Sommer.

The theme of Deep Ocean Challenge Blog is: Color of Summer.

My card is very simple. I have had these really pretty wood buttons shaped as butterflies for a while, just waiting for a project like this. When I tried the inlaid cutting technique a few weeks ago I ended up with this panel that I liked and didn't want to throw away. The ribbon is also from another project, I think it was white from the beginning. The die cut and white embossed sentiment is a left over from other projects in June. So in all, I already had all of these stuff just lying around so the card was quick to make, for a change! And that was really nice!

MATERIAL:
DIES:
Sizzix - Floral panel 661085
Waffle Flower - With love
INK:
Tsukineko - EMBOSS
REPRINT - White embossingpowder
OTHER:
Ribbon
Butterflies buttons

Paper Smooches June Challenge

What a wonderful world

Paper Smooches is having a challenge now in June and the theme is: Layers. That sounded like a lot of fun so I decided to play along.

When I was coloring the flowers for my previous projects in June I ended up with a lot of colored images that I wasn't pleased with. I really hate to throw stuff away so I sat looking at the pieces and turning them round wondering if I could use them in my art journal. All of a sudden I saw that the back of a image was really pretty. I started playing a bit with it and added a few layers and ended up with a really nice card after all!
The layers of the card are the actual card with some adhesive paper lace on the edges, two die cut panels, one chipboard frame painted with crackle accents and then filled with glossy accents and some micro beads, a chipboard butterfly painted with crackle accents and some Diamond Dust, adhesive letters and a die cut sentiment.

The front, which isn't very nice

The back, which is a lot nicer!

MATERIAL:
STAMP:
Unknown
DIES:
Crea-Nest-Lies - CLNestXXL 36
Paper Smooches - Kudos words J3D149
OTHER:
3D Crystal Glaze - YouDo
Crackle Accents - Ranger
Diamond Dust - Floracraft
Chipboard (unknown)
Adhesive paper lace (unknown)
Letters - Panduro

With love

With love

When I saw the photo inspiration in the June challenge at Waffle flower I just knew that I had to play along. I love that summery palette of colors. I even found Copics in the exactly right colors (later I changed to distress colors because I didn't get the look that I wanted).

Berry71bleu also have a mood board in their June challenge with lovely soft, summery colors. The photos in both challenges are exactly the style that I want in my home. The photos makes me happy and full of life, and sooo creative!

I'm also very much into flowers at the moment. It might be the season! We are having a lovely weather here in Sweden and everything is so beautiful right now. Sometimes I just go outside, sit down on the porch and just look at the garden and the greenery and just sigh with happiness! I love this season!
I have a stamp set with flowers which I just got and like very much, but I don't know the brand of it. I think it's of a cheaper brand, but it's very pretty anyway. I decided to use that one and I went for a soft look and a quite CAS card. As I mentioned, I started out with my Copics but I didn't get the look that I wanted, so after a lot of trial and error I moved on to my distress colors. I white embossed the image on watercolor paper and then I painted the flower with Distress Markers. I also gave the background a wash to make the flower pop out a bit. I painted with Wink of Stella around the flower and added some sequins. Finally I die cut the sentiment and white embossed that as well.

Photo inspiration of Waffle Flower

Mood board of Berry71bleu

Close-up

MATERIAL:
STAMP:
Unknown
DIE:
Waffle Flower - 310021 With Love
Crea-Nest-Lies - CLNestXXL 36
COLOR:
Tsukineko - Emboss
Embossing powder - Reprint - White
Distress Markers - Evergreen bough, Bundled Sage, Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Shabby Shutters
Distress Pad: Evergreen Bough, Shabby Shutters
Wink of Stella - Gl. Clear 999
OTHER:
Sequins

Craft Stamper Take It, Make It Challenge - June

 

 

I'm not sure if this is the inlaid die cutting technique or not but I've seen someting similar on the Internet when using dies with intricate patterns. Instead of removing all of the small pieces you leave them in the paper and then you color chosen parts.

I'm really bad at die cutting and I haven't got the patience to remove all of the itty bitty pieces so I thought this was the technique for me, but no! This was also difficult. I ended up with half of the panel really nice cut and half like I wanted it to be. I decided to have a go anyway and just see where it would end.

I started coloring my die cut panel with watered down Distress Inks before I glued the panel onto a cardbase. I wanted my card to shimmer a bit so I used an apricot mist. It was the wrong color, so I tried to wipe it off straight away and then I misted the card again with a more neutral color.

I really like white embossing on black, I see it everywhere now. I like the contrast it gave to the otherwise soft look. And finally, some sequins! I love sequins!

I'm using a few inks on this card so I'm joining the Craft Stamper June Take It, Make It Challenge where the theme for this month is: Let's Get Inky.

 

 

 

MATERIAL:

STAMP:

Paper Smooches - Word Salad

DIE:

Sizzix - Floral Panel 661085B

COLOR:

Distress Ink Pads -Twisted Citron, Seedless Preserves, Abandoned Coral, Peacock feathers, Worn Lipstick

Moon Glow's Glitz Spritz - Emerald Fire

Lindy's Stamp gang - Kissin' Kenickie Coral (but I tried to remove it!)

Tsukineko - EMBOSS

Reprint - White (embossing powder)

PAPER:

Card base

Watercolor paper

Paper Smooches: April challenge

I found this fun challenge over at Paper Smooches blog. The challenge was to create something black/white with a pop of color.
I knew straight away that I wanted a repeated pattern and flowers. Something CAS and something looking a bit like from the 50's.
This is a card I made for a collegue who retired yesterday. She indeed has colored my corridor at work!

I also wanted to incorporate micro beads with the embossing powder. However it was not very easy! I planned to cover the whole flower with micro beads, I think about 20 of them got stucked! I think I got a nice texture anyway.

I started by repeat stamping a  leaf from Paper Smooches in black, then I added the small flowers from the same stamp set.
I embossed a stamped flower multiple times and tried to add the micro beads. Even though my plan didn't succeed I'm quite pleased with the outcome. I cut the flower out and also some leaves. I also cut out the sentiment. I didn't know where to put it so I ended up tucking it inside the flower at one side, which got very nice!
I needed to frame the card with something so I decided to sew a frame. My sewing machine decided to mess with me so the nice frame I had in mind didn't get that nice and straight! And to add to the more wild and creative look that the card took, I added some Baker's Twine underneath the sentiment.

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Paper Smooches: botanicals 2, word salad (find them here!)
Simon Says Stamp: petal pieces
INK:
Emboss - Tsukineko
Distress Embossing Powder: shabby shutters
Stampendous: PEARLustre Rubellite
OTHER:
Micro Beads
Sewing machine
Baker's Twine

Take the Challenge with Mou - April

I really like Take the Challenge with Mou at Design Memory Craft, the blog of Faber-Castell. Playing with my Gelatos makes me so happy. It makes my cards more artsy and mixed media like. It is always so fun just to play and see what comes out. I was about to throw this card in the trash because what I tried to do (using a resist techniqe to achieve a soft watercolor feel) didn't work out. But when I started to add more gelatos and rubbing them in I kind of liked the result so I continued working on the card.

The theme for this challenge was Spring has sprung. Nature is renewed and young again. So, how about creating something that relates to the new and young? Well, I read flowers! Spring really makes me think of flowers. After every winter I am flabbergasted that the nature (and I!) has survived another winter!
I started by stamping and embossing on a watercolor paper to create a resist. I rubbed some Gelatos in and to add some more interest to the cluster of flowers I stamped some more stamen around the embossed flowers. I finished the card off by adding a frame and the word 'hello'. Hello is so versatile, isn't it?

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Flora - BasicGrey
DIE:
Crea-Nest-Lies: CLNestXXL36
Lawn Fawn: Lawn Cuts - Scripty Hello
INK:
Embossing Stamp Pad - Tsukineko
Embossing Powder: clear - Hero Arts
Distress Ink Pad: worn lipstick
Gelatos: pistachio, watermelon, guava, tangerine, aqua dolce, metallic melon
OTHER:
Watercolour paper, Aquafine, 300 g/m², hot pressed- Daler Rowney

Waffle Flower Challenge - April



In the april challenge on the Waffle Flower blog there is a photo to be inspired from. I really liked the colors and the flowers and I knew straight away what I wanted to make. I absolutely love this doily die, but it's quite tricky to cut so I thought that I could fold it to look like paper to wrap flowers in. By doing that I would hide any mistakes. Since it's quite detailed I wanted the flowers to be more simple, so they are just circles and scalloped circles. Even the leaves are circles, folded in halves.

The patterned paper I cut the circles from is my absolute favorite paper. With this project I used up every little piece that was left of it. I'm actually a bit sad!

To finish the card off  I added some transparent sequins in the middle of the flowers (circles), blue sequins and some dew drops in the bouquet of flowers.
 

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Pink Paisley - Indigo Blue - 00623 Clear Stamps
DIES:
Waffle Flower - Doily Circle
Epiphany Crafts - scalloped circle, round 14, round 25
Lawn Fawn: Lawn Cuts - Scripty Hello
Crea-Nest-lies: CLNestXXL 36
INK:
Embossing Stamp Pad - Tsukineko
Embossing powder: Papermania - Seafoam White
Distress Ink Refills: worn lipstick
OTHER:
Vellum
Scrapbooking paper
Dew Drops - The Robin´s Nest

Words & Paintery: March 2016



I found a really nice and fun challenge at Words & Paintery where they celebrate the word of Marilyn Monroe. We were supposed to use pink and red colors and that color scheme really speaks to me at the moment. I wanted to create a soft, delicate, fragile and stunning card. Just like Marilyn Monroe! I really like the softness of my card.

I started by stamping and embossing the image on the backside of watercolor paper, since it was the smoothest side. Then I painted the image with distress inks to achieve a watercolor look. I cut some sentences from coffee filter sheets which I glued down with a texture gel with glass beads. I started to like the extra dimension that it gave so I added some crackle paint and some diamond dust as well. Finally, I dyed some flowers with the ink and attached them with brads in copper. I really love copper at the moment and think it gave the card that little extra.
The card looks frosty, it crackles and shines like a diamond. That reminds me of Marilyn Monroe as well! I wish the photos did do the card justice.

 

MATERIAL:
STAMP:
Hero Arts - S5262 Delicate Branches
INK:
Embossing Stamp Pad - Tsukineko
Embossing powder: Seafoam White - Papermania
Distress Ink Refill - spun sugar, worn lipstick, barn door
Distress Crackle paint - Rock candy
OTHER:
Coffee filter sheets - Christy Tomlinsson - Pink Paislee
Liquitex - Glass beads - texture Gel
Diamond Dust - Floracraft
Flower - YouDo
Brads - Reprint

AAA Cards: Game #61: Stencilling

Over at AAA Cards there is a fun challenge going on and the cards the AAA Card Team have made are just awesome! Check them out! I was so inspired and I decided to try the technique double stencilling out and this is what I came up with.

The double stencilling technique means you stencil, you ink, you put another stencil on top, you ink again in the same colour for a tone on tone pattern. Justine from the AAA Card Team made a video about it here.
I made a stencil/mask from my beloved bunny die and then I used a heart stencil. I used three different distress inks. I die-cutted three hearts from the top of the panel and then I glued the die cuts back at the bottom.

MATERIAL:
DIES:
Crea-Nest_lies: CLNestXXL 36
Wild Rose Studio: Love Bird Tree
Tim Holtz Alterations: Mini Bunny & Bow Set
INKS:
Distress Ink Pad: seedless preserves, worn lipstick, ripe persimon
OTHER:
Stencil: Hearts THS017
Dymo
Ribbon from flea market
Baker's Twine from Ordning&Reda

Fru Limegrön: Fredagsskiss #6

Yesterday, the Daylight Saving Time, or as we say in Sweden summer time (yeeeeey!) started. I really hate getting up one hour earlier in the mornings but I sure do love the longer evenings! It's 7 pm right now and the sun hasn't set yet. I begin to feel alive again! I love this time!

I found a sketch at the blog of Fru Limegrön and decided to have a go. The hanging labels in the sketch made me think of tea bags and I remembered I had some small labels in my stash. I've been wanting to use this cute freebie stamp from Craft Stamper and now was the time.

Tea for two?

MATERIAL:
STAMP:
Freebie from Craft Stamper
Roller stamp from Studio Calico
INK:
StazOn - Jet Black
DIE:
Crea-Nest-Lies XXL nr 24
Small labels
Scrapbooking paper

12 tags of 2016 - march

I haven't been very creative lately. My dad has been ill since the end of last year and had a relapse one month ago. My cat has also been ill, we have to give her medicine (pills) twice a day for the rest of her life and it is a struggle. It. Is. A. Struggle. Many, many, MANY other small, annoying things have also happened. It seems like my life is a downward spiral at the moment. I am exhausted. I am really, really tired. But the only way is up!
Today I felt the urge to make something pretty and came across Tim's 12 tags of 2016 on Instagram. What could be a better way to get the creative juices flowing than trying out his techniques?? It was good therapy spending the afternoon with him!

I used the bunny die that I bought after I fell in love with it after Tim used it on 12 tags of 2013 - march. It is the first time I use it actually! Still haven't made that tag from 2013!
I haven't bought the Distress Crayons yet, they are sold out everywhere here in Sweden. I want them so badly! I chose between using my Gelatos or my Neocolors II, and  chose the Gelatos since you were supposed to smudge the color to blend it. It worked fine. Still going to get the Distress Crayons, though! ;-)




Love these bright colors and the book pages!



My finished tag!

Got a little help (?) from my cat! ;-)

Close up



MATERIAL:
DIES:
Tim Holtz: Mini Bunny & Bow Set (657486)
Waffle Flower: Doily Circle
INK & PAINT
Distress Ink: ground espresso
Distress Ink Spray: ground espresso, tarnished brass, picket fence
Gelatos: grape, tangerine, bubble gum, pistaccio, cotton candy
OTHER:
Gel medium
Gesso
Sepia Accents - Ranger
Linen Robbin - Artemio
Metal charms from PY Hobby
Yarn from Panduro
Rhinestones from Dollarstore
Copper foil

Waffle Flower Challenge - Oktober, 2015

Over at Waffle Flower there is a challenge going on and the technique of the month is embossing. There is also a sketch and a photo inspiration.




 

I needed to make a card for a friend of mine who lost a friend in cancer last week. I wanted to make a card in white and in bright colors. I find it so hard to deal with death. It feels like someone has been erased from a movie. It's like watching Pretty Woman and instead of Julia Roberts there's a white silhouette where she was supposed to be. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.
This technique illustrates that feeling a bit too. I stamped and embossed the pot with flowers two times and painted one image with watercolors. I cut the watercolored image slightly smaller and attached it to the uncolored image before I attached it all to the card. The die cut sentiment is also embossed.
I wanted to use this stamp of potted flowers from Waffle flower because I've seen it used in a similar way and also because this friend and I ordered these stamps together a while ago.

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Waffle Flowers - Potted
INK & COLOR:
Versamark
Papermania - Embossing powder - Seafoam White
Winsor & Newton - Watercolors
DIES:
Waffle Flower - With Love

Cardabilities - Final Sketch Reveal #132

Celebrate the wonder
(74 Days until Christmas!)

I found a really, really pretty sketch at Cardabilities: Final Sketch Reveal #132. It seems like it is the last? Such a shame, I just found the blog. I am in love with this sketch though and I will use it again. I love when the main image isn't in the middle of the page. I really, really liked creating after this sketch.

I started by playing around with some distress inks on a piece of watercolor paper. I find it really hard to get that beautiful watercolored look that everybody else is getting. I stamped with a text stamp, made some splashes with the distress ink stains and added circles by coloring in an old lid.
Since Christmas is coming up (74 Days left!) I had that in mind and decided only to use greens. I also found some nice mistletoe dies I wanted to use.
I sew the border die onto the card. Since I dont have a stiched die yet I sew on my sewing machine without a thread around the borders.
The frame is made out of Marta Stewarts Crafter's clay and I have had it lying around for ages. It's really fun to make them out of the clay - it has such a nice texture! - but I don't know what to do with the frames after I've made them. I think they really looked nice on this card! Finally I stamped a sentiment in the frame and filled it with 3D glaze and some glitter.

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Penny Black - Wonder Collection
Hero Arts - G2679 Thanks
INK:
Distress Ink Stain . peeled paper, crushed olive
Distressed Ink Pad - Peeled Paint
StazOn - Jet Black
DIES:
Magnolia Doohickeys - Mistletoe Lace, Snowflake & Mistletoe
OTHER:
Martha Stewart - Crafter's Clay and mould (start set)
YouDo - 3D Crystal Glaze
Sewing machine

Gummiapan - Challenge #5

Skål ta me fan!

I was thrilled last Friday when the goodie bag I won from challenge #1 at Gummiapan finally arrived. I thought it had been lost in the mail and it really made my day.! The new challenge is 'Something to eat/drink' and some stamps in the goodie bag fitted perfect for that theme! Lucky me!




I won a challenge!!

Happy mail day!

So, I wanted to use the stamp of the glass and the sentiment 'SKÅÅÅL!' ('cheers!'). I decided to make a background with the sentiment since it was kind of small. I stamped the glass in black and masked it. Then I stamped the sentiment in different distress ink colors. I mounted this card on another piece of card which I embossed with dots. I was thinking that the dots could symbolize bubbles. I tied some baker's twine on the card and attached another sentiment made with my dymo. That sentiment says 'skål ta me fan' (cheers damn it') and I think it makes a few Swedes smile! In the '80 there was a show on tv called Jacob's Ladder and the host ended all shows with uncorking a bottle of champagne and said 'Skål ta me fan!'. Those were the days!

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Gummiapan - cocktail glass, SKÅÅÅL!
INK:
Distress Ink Pad: peacock feathers, seedless preserves, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, squeezed lemonade
StazOn - Jet Black
OTHER:
Embossing folder from Cuttlebug
Baker's twine from Ordning & Reda
Dymo

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple Christmas

When I went through my sequins for the card I made this morning I found some really nice sequins in Christmas colors so I decided to make another card by using them. At Simon Says Stamp I found this challenge - Clean and Simple Christmas. Lucky me!
I wanted to use a stamp from the stamp set but I also wanted it to say something with Christmas. A friend of mine uses the expression 'Sweet' (even though she is Swedish) so I came up with 'Sweet - it's Christmas'. Maybe I'll sent it to her? I masked off the 'You're so' on the stamp and then I stamped the rest of the sentiment with some alphabet stamps I had.

 

 

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Studio Calico Sandlot Card Kit
Studio G - alphabet stamps WM0174
INK:
StazOn - Jet Black
OTHER:
Washi tape - Little B
Sequins
Baker's Twine from Leila's General Store
Overhead transparency sheet



Sparkle and Shine Challenge 15

I love these gumball machine stamps!

Sparkle and Shine Challenge has a challenge which looked like a lot of fun. The colorful dots made me think of sequins and the sequins made me think of a shaker card!

 

The challenge was to be inspired by the photo and to use sequins. I didn't have any sequins from Pretty Pink Posh, who is sponsoring the challenge, so I used the ones I had.

I wanted to keep my card quite clean so I just used black ink to stamp with and the sequins stood for the color. I cut a hole in the front of the card and used a overhead transparency sheet to both the front and the back of the shaker piece. On the inside of the card I stamped 'You're so sweet'.



The inside of the card says 'You're so sweet'.

MATERIAL:
STAMPS:
Studio Calico Sandlot Card Kit
INK:
StazOn - Jet Black
OTHER:
Sequins from Dollarstore
Baker's Twine from Ordning & Reda
Overhead transparency sheet