Today is your day

Today a sketch tickled my fancy. I stocked up on supplies and new stuff in the sales, so there are some happy stamps, stencils and dies to be played with.

I worked according to the sketch using a new leaf stencil and a very cute - also new - bird stamp. I colored everything in with watercolors and drew around the stenciled leaves, which makes them look like they were stamped. I raised the folklore-inspired bird from the background with foam pads. The sentiment says: Today is Your day.

Entering this in:

Freshly Made Sketches: #618

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Cute critters

Paperminutes: #828 Birds/ Vögel

and since the bird stamp and leaf stencil are new, also in NBUS: #58 January

 

Thank you for visiting!

Pink and silver

 I was in need of a gift box. Earrings a small, so I figured the gift box should be much larger than the gift itself. I took my color cues from Color Hues current challnge - pink and silver just felt very apt for this gift.

I started with a pink gelli print. It was made with acrylics and TH fir tree stencil, it seemed very apt for a Christmas gift. 

I also used a mirrored silver card stock for the flower detail on the front and added a silver sparkle and a white die cut leaf to soften it up.

 I also adhered a piece of pink tissue paper to a rectangular piece of silver card stock which sits on the bottom of the box. The tissue is wrapped around the bottom part and so it stays always in place. The tissue is longer than the package itself, so it wraps over the gift.

Lastly I attached a length of silver twine as a closure.

Thank you for your visit!

Entering in these lovely challenges:

Color Hues: #77 Pink and Silver 

Crafters' Cafe: Feminine

Paperminutes: #826 Gescheckschachtel - Gift box 

Creative Artist Mixed media Challenge: #100 - my 2nd entry

DieCut Divas: Have a wonderful time of year - my 2nd entry

Colorful circles

 Do you prefer circles/dots or stripes in your card making projects? My big love are circles and dots, hands down. They create a lively atmosphere and can add an element of fun.

That element of fun was on my agenda today. I created it using dots and small circles, either punched or die-cut, on a background that also features circles. All papers have been gelliprinted. The fun factor is also created by the use of many colors.

The text was found in a book, the crow is a rub-on by TH.

Entering this in these inspiring challenges:

Paperminutes: #821 Bunt / Colorful

Double D Challenges: Stripes and/or dots - and why

Creative Artiste Challenge: #99 AG mixed media

Crafty Gals Corner: #249 Dots and/or stripes

Pearlescent stenciling

 Today's card takes inspiration from a few challenges: the bees, the layout, stenciling and colors combine nicely as prompts. It's summer after all.

I started with a stencil and a couple of colors. I used a shiny tissue paper (from a recent shoe purchase) on a Gelli plate and did a couple of layers with matte and shiny paints. Here you can see the shiny portion (Amsterdam Pearl White).

The suggested colors were so delicate that I didn't want to introduce a high contrast by using black ink. Everything is stamped with VersaFine Clair Morning Mist. The sentiment has been embossed with clear embossing powder for added shine.

I followed the suggested layout and added bees around the flower. The flower was first colored in very lightly with watercolor pencils, then overlaid generously with Glossy Accents. The same with the wings of the bees. The dots are punched from a glitter cardstock that matched the colors.

The text reads "Enjoy your life, be happy".

Entering this in the challenges that inspired me today:

Paperminutes: #806 Bienen / Bees

Tuesday Morning Sketches: #718

Stencil Fun: August AG / Butterflies optional  - I am entering the AG option

Just Add Ink: #664 Color Challenge

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Summer 

 

 Thank you for your visit and comments! 

Bokeh Congrats

 To make a bokeh background, I started with watercolors. Three or four shades, lighter and darker areas are ideal. When it is dry it's time to apply the circles. I use white chalk paint, a finger dauber and stencils.

I then stamped the focal point, which is the beautiful mum, embossed the outlines, colored it and cut out. I used orange and blue for the card, as inspired by yet another challenge.

I am entering this card in:

Kreativ-Tanten Challenge: #79 Bokeh Technik

We Love Stamping: Fabulous Florals

Stencil Fun Challenge: AG or Birthdays - mine is a birthday card 

Paperminutes: #802 Farbkombi blau-orange

Clean white

There is something so elegant and exquisite in all white cards. Usually the text is a color, but today I did white on white.

I recently succumbed to 3D embossing folders, they offer many possibilities. You might see more of them soon. But today I placed the embossed area on a diagonal to leave room for a sentiment.

Nothing is very fancy, or very difficult, but I think the results are more than just a sum of their parts. I used matte and pearlescent card stock, and vellum - and of course there are also different shades of white that interplay.

Entering in:

Paperminutes: #797 White/Weiss - this was my initial inspiration

Freshly Made Sketches: #588 - I used this layout

CAS on Friday: #258 Embossing - this made me go with embossing

also entering in:

SimonSays Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes

 

Thank you for looking!

Christmas moods

 There are so many ways to do Christmas cards. This year I am going with critters, non-traditional at that. I am not a dog person, but this stamp set was too cute to pass by. (there are three different ones in this.) This dog seems a bit rowdy and a bit messy and I know just the person who will love to receive this card for Christmas.

I splattered a blue background paper with some bleach to create a messy mood suitable for this rowdy dog who also sports a red Christmas hat. A large die-cut snowflake and a hand stamped sentiment reading Merry Christmas complete the card.

The color inspiration came from Hand Stamped sentiments #304 challenge mood board. I am linking it even though I was too late to enter.

I am entering my card into these challenges:

The idea of creating a mood to suit the recipient came from here:

Paperminutes: #772 Winter, Weihnachten, Stimmungen

And the use of a non-traditional animal on a Christmas card was inspired by As You Like It

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: AG

Dragonfly Dreams: Christmas

Through the Craft Room Door: AG November 22nd

 

Thanks so much for visiting!

Easter Wishes

A restricted palette in creams and whites featuring a stamped image and die cuts.

 

The hen was stamped with Fossilized Amber distress ink, the berries using an old ink cartridge that produced a suitably small circle. I then colored the berries and the cheek and the bill of the hen in with Picked Raspberry distress ink.

 

 I'd like to enter this in:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Easter / Spring

Paperminutes: #738 Ostern / Easter

Perfectly CAS : #25 Die Cuts 

Addicted to CAS: #217 Animals

Cut it Up Challenge: #249 Easter / or create your own background

This little happy hen says 'hello' to you

 My most recent purchase is this adorable hen stamp by Perlenfischer (here - change the language to English). Hen come to the focus of attention just about now, spring is all about new everything: new grass, new little chicks, new leaves, blooms...

I attempted two color stamping and fussy cut the image. Previously I had pulled a doily through cold coffee and let it dry. I also die cut a delicate piece of lace and some letters.

Yes! The hen is speaking Finnish - I have no idea what they would say in English. I might make another with hens speaking in several languages - that would be fun. Please let me know in comments what they say in your language.

Entering this in:

Allsorts Challenge: #670 Any "real" animals

Paperminutes: #737 Buchstaben / Letters 

Addicted to Stamps: #426 Make your mark - I hope coffee-dyed doily and two tone stamping count!

Country View: Spring is coming

AAA Challenge: #211 Anything CAS + Spring animal 

Pink is a strong color

 A simple card where the text is in the foreground was needed. 

I started by making the background. It used a lace stencil and a soft pink ink spray, then added some haphazard stamping with soft brown.

 The text was die cut from charcoal grey paper and assembled onto die cut vellum.

Lastly I stamped, painted and fuzzy cut two butterflies and adhered them on.

The text says: Together we are strong.

 

I am entering this in the challenges that inspired me:

Paperminutes: #712 Sprüche

Cut it Up Challenge: #236 Pink 

Sisterhood of Crafters: Stencils

Happy Little Stampers: Anything goes with dies 

Was sagt der Glückkeks?

This ATC was made to reflect the colors in the current ATC challenge. I used a gelli printed paper for the background and selected suitably colored images from my stash, but keeping in mind that it had to make at least some sense. I hope it does!

Click for a larger view

Entering in:

Paperminutes: #710 Alles nur keine Karten / Anything but a card 

ATC around the World: # 81 Farbchallenge

This is my lemonade

 How does that wonderful saying go: if life deals you lemons, make lemonade?  Tag Tuesday is asking to re-use something in your art work, and it really felt like making something new and bright out of old stuff.

The things one keeps, though!

I took out a carefully preserved wrapping paper from a gift three years ago. Also a blotched background with butterflies. And a tea wrapper (Chinese mini tea brick) that went with the colors.

The background was slightly dulled by gueing down a white tissue paper on top. After that came the tea wrap tissue that was sewn on, a fussy cut flower from the wrapping paper and some silver thread  (which can't be seen here) - this is curled under the plant.

Lastly came the TH Remnant rub words and a length of pink linen twine.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Lots of layers

Tag Tuesday: Recycle and re-use

Paperminutes: #709 Nähen / Sewing

eine weise Eule

This smart owl survived a meeting. Hooray to that!

Entering her in:

Paperminutes: #706 Eulen / Owls

ATC around the world: #80 Alles geht / Anything goes

Fernweh / Wanderlust

 The animal that embodies this must be the swallow - flying here there and everywhere (even in its sleep I hear), and as soon as it decides it's not warm enough it moves on.

Entering in:

 Paperminutes: #702 Wanderlust / Fernweh

 

Ja koska TJK-haasteessa pyydetään Lintusia, niin yhdistän tämän siihenkin haasteeseen. Pohja on gelliplatella tehdyistä paperinsuikaleista, jämistä siis, ja pääsky on leimattu.

The Peony says: Be true

I confess, I am a hoarder. Today I am using everything that I have kept for years. And I get parting anxiety - - - yet what have I to lose? The shops are full of lovely new items, I don't need to hang onto my stash. I have everything to gain by putting them to good use!

I was challenged by Simon Says Wednesday challenge to use the old and combine it with some new crafty stuff, by Paperminutes to make a bookmark and by Beyond the Blue to use a stencil. (links are below)

 

I stamped the black background with white, then applied ink through a stencil on one side, apllied sticky embossing powder on it which allowed me to pound in some of my (rarely used) sheet metal, adhered the image and and a sentiment.

The old: stamps by 49 Market (Pascale's Form stamp), hero Arts (lace), flower image, stencil, sheet metal flakes (gold&silver), sticky embossing powder, TH remnant rubs sentiment.

The new: white permanent ink, stamp by Finnabair (astronomic calculations), black cardstock.

entering this in:

Paperminutes: #701 Bookmark/ tag 

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Out with the old in with the new 

 Beyond the Blue: BB24 Stencil time

Congrats

 I needed another greeting card so I played my private challenge tic-tac-toe again. That is to say I picked three themes that combine nicely:

anything airborne - wreaths - for a lady

The giant circle in the background is newsprint that I printed with pastel colored acrylics on a Gelli plate. The plants and leaves were cut out of magazine pages in nicely matching colors. The butterfly was stamped with Distress Oxide and lightly painted. I arranged the floral elements in a wreath-like manner.

Entering in:

Stamping Sensations: # 152 For a lady

Allsorts Challenge: #633/4 Feminine / For a lady

Paperminutes: #700 Kränze / Wreaths

Make my Monday: Anything airborne

Through the Craft Room Door: Anything goes

The Explorer or the Explored?

 With insects you never know. These guys look like they would be specimens from a collectors exhibition.

When really, they are live insects just happening to wander and explore some empty pages. I bet they are having the adventure of their lives.

The backgrounds are a complex medley that involved stamping, heat embossing, watercolors and some sewing around the edges.

The frame and number sign were stamped. The number is a piece of tape measure, the text a TH rub-on and the insect that is busy exploring is a clear sticker by Panduro, bought on a visit to Stockholm two summers ago when traveling was still allowed.

Entering in:

Try it on Tuesday: Travel and adventure

Paperminutes: Small animals / kleine Tiere

Simon Says Monday challenge: Fun and quirky

Impressed

I love using book paper, it gives such nice character to backgrounds. Even if it is totally unrelated, like here.

I went with the book theme and selected 'short story' as my title. You can make up your own story - it is fall, she looks determined, there's a shiny bough in her arm - enough said.

The leaves are die-cut and embossed. I highlighted the veins with some Distress ink.

entering in:
Paperminutes: #562 Buchseiten / Book pages
Frilly and Funkie: Impress us!
SimonSays Wednesday: Anything goes

How can you resist?

The title refers to resist technique. I wanted to find out a new way - new to me anyway - to use resist technique, so I thought of crackle medium. I put a thin layer of gesso on brown cardstock. After it was dry I brushed crackle paste through a stencil. I was going for a historical look, so the new TH stencil with the Maltese cross was just perfect.
After it was dry came the fun part.

I treated the background with Oxide ink (lavender), waited till it was dry and sprayed with a sapphire blue mist. The result was nice but too busy as I wanted the crackle to stand out. So I wiped it down, then sprayed with olive. Once it was all dry I enhanced the crackle with some turq highlights.
I am sorry I did not take any photos of the process, mist on distress was a lovely look.

The mixed media atc's are all about food. I found suitable phrases from Zola's Germinal. The guy above sees fields of beets.

Everyone suffered of hunger.

"I get thirsty when I eat."

Entering in following challenges:
A Vintage Journey: August challenge ' Resist'
Moo-mania: Geschirr/Besteck / Cutlery & crockery
Paperminutes: #551 Mixed media ATC or tag

Witch children

These little witches-in-training have clearly a mind of their own.

- Why do I need to play? I want sedatives instead.

Really, child? What about your sister?

She has the bad habit that she sleeps in the night.
Well, we can see how this can be adverse to being a witch.

- Truth is pure imagination, says this little one.

entering the trio into:
Dream in Darkness: September challenge
KK-haaste: #187 rouhea- ristiriita - ruoste(eenruskea)
Paperminutes: #453 Mit Hut / With hat