Baby x2

These two baby cards have been made for the same person, so I wanted to give them a fairly different feel even though she'll give them to two different families. That's just more fun, both for me, and the person giving them away! No names, since the babies haven't been born yet.

I just love these colours! It is a gorgeus cool green with elements of blue and white. To make the sentiment match in colour, I've mixed 10 parts black embossing powder with 1 part Perfect Pearls Blue Patina powder. I like the effect, but the PP powder can make it difficult to get the embossing powder to stick evenly to the stamped areas. It has a lovely blue-green glow when the light shines on it, even more than the picture is able to show. Oh those sunny days... It actually snowed just now - again.

Recycling some earlier ideas - and using the other half of the Prima Flowers packaging (the brown paper with punched-out swirls)! I completely messed up the placement of the top left flowers, so now it looks a bit weird... But still usable. A more distressed look to set it apart from the previous one.

This is Prismacolor pencil attempt nr. 3 and 4. I'm getting the hang of it now I think, but still need more practice.

Sunny days

Being home during the day, it's just wonderful. The sun flows through the big living room windows and puts a sparkle on everything. My felted robins are still on display, basking in the light. They will stay there until the last of the snow is gone! The blinds make shadow pinstripes on the white curtains. And there is nothing like a good cup of tea to soothe a soar throat...

Ahem... yet another blog candy... or four

As I have "a touch of the plague", as one of my colleagues put it (read: a runny nose), I've stayed inside today and done some blog surfing. And, well, just as I was saying how all my posts lately have been about cards and blog candys, I still managed to find even more candys... Couldn't resist linking to them though, the prizes are just so wonderful!

Elisabeth at Elzybells Art Stamps is spreading the word about her latest stamp release. She has the brilliant idea of making a kind of "build-your-own-cupcake stamp-set" where the various stamps go together to make an image to your own liking. Nifty! I love the tea and coffee cup sets too.
*Closed*

Art Pieces has a blog candy (and other stuff too, take a look) celebrating over 10 000 hits, amazing! Congratulations!
Closes March 17th.

Then there is Marlene who has an incredible four candys up for grab! Thank you Marlene!
*Closed*

Lastly, a give-away from iDiY. While not really aimed at card-makers, it still suits us perfect! A personalised stamp from Paperwink's gorgeous vintage inspired collection.
*Closed*

Revamped cork boards (with mini tutorial)

A little while back i gave my two old Ikea cork boards a little make-over! They were just way too dark and boring in my new white appartment. For a more detailed look at what I did, check out the how-to I posted at Cut Out +Keep. I just wanted to share a couple of pictures of it here too - it seems that all my recent posts have been about blog candys and cards. Variation is wonderful!

Of course, now it is so full of cards and pictures that the board is nearly completely hidden. As it should be!

Lay wadding and fabric on the cork board and hot glue them to the reverse side. Lay out the silk ribbon diagonally and hot glue to reverse side. Repeat in the other direction.

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Ready for sewing. The push pins keep the ribbon in place while working, I just removed one by one as I started to sew.
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Reverse side (sequin prevents the nylon thread from digging into the cork)

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The ugly reverse side. Wadding, fabric and silk ribbon hot glued to the cork, very messy but noone will see it, right? Oh, except everyone reading this... Oh well.

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The not-so-ugly front side. The nylon thread comes up in each intersection, passes through the sequin and a bead, and goes down through the sequin again and back to the reverse side.

I went with silver, grey and crisp white, but imagine it in a floral print and vintage buttons... Or a dramatic red and black? :)

Something old, something new

A birthday card for Krissie. My brand new QK butterfly was begging to be released and this was a nice opportunity. The ribbon was used in my brother's wedding, and the decorative pin is also made partly from wedding left-overs. I love being able to reuse this stuff!

linje

Pink and orange is a colour combination that doesn't immediately come to my mind, but I decided to go with the colours indicated in the pattern paper. And they are growing on me... And although it's nearly impossible to see in this picture, the lovely butterfly has Stickles glitter glue on all edges and shines beatifully!

Blog candys

More blog candys today! I have to admit that I've discovered many new, amazing blogs via blog candys. Haven't won anything yet, but let's see if I have more luck with these.


Linda is celebrating 5000 hits with this amazing candy! I just love the colours here.
*Closed*

Jenny {Deleelsia} has this cute candy - for no special reason. Got to love that! ;)
*Closed*

I've been following Bev's blog for a while now and she has not one, but two great candys up for grab! Oh, how I'm crossing my fingers...
*Closed*

Steph is celebrating 10 000 hits with this lovely candy full of beutiful paper - and more.
*Closed*

x

Rach is having one of the most popular blog candys I've ever entered, and for good reason. It is amazing!
*Closed*

And then there is Jaqui with her two wonderful candys. Happy birthday and congratulations with your 50 000+ hits!

*Closed*

A huge thanks to all of you for being so generous

and for inspiring us with your amazing blogs!

Kari and Are

The wedding is over and everything was wonderful! Like a winter fairy tale. The snow was piled high everywhere and the sun was shining... Just perfect.

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

My parents asked me to make a card they could give together with the bride's parents. I picked the image first and had a vintage card in mind. But then this came out of my fingers! Go figure. I didn't actually realise it until it was all glued down... Not that I mind too much - except that this kind of card really doesn't come through well in a picture. It's the real life card that counts!

"Life is made up of moments. Enjoy them!"

For my own card to the happy couple, I found it nescessary to choose a different style. It felt a bit like a rush job, and I feel a little bit guilty about that. It is similar to another recent card - when time is of the essence, recycle! This time I got to use my copper brads and the bonus copper charms I got with my last order from Unik Hobby! Soo cute. The inside is only slightly distressed along the edges, and it looks mostly like frayed fabric. The Magnolia stamp is coloured with my brand new Prismacolor Pencils!

B&W

I suspect the only reason I'm uploading this right now is to avoid packing for the weekend. I'm going away for a very good reason - my little brother is getting married - but that also means having to gather stuff from all over the appartment and cramming it into as small a space as possible. Amazing what a girl can need for only two and a half days! Of course, having to dress for a wedding does complicate things a bit.

So when coming home from work at half past ten this evening, I had a half-finished list of things I had to do before I go to bed. Writing this was definitely not on that list. Funny how your priorities can get mixed up... Like when you should be cramming for that important exam and suddenly decide that this would be an excellent time to clean the fridge.

Finishing this card was on my list! I'm giving it to my brother's (very soon to be) in-laws as a thank-you for opening their home for me and my parents this weekend. They don't know of this blog yet - I think - so I'm taking the chance on posting it now.

When making black and white cards I always fear the funeral-feeling... My solution today was to use lots of structure with all the ribbons, and glam it up with a silver thread and shiny buttons. It looks better in real life!

Update: Who knew the card would match the black/white/grey colour scheme of their newly renovated kitchen so well! :)

Making a new aquaintance

Look at what came home with me the other day! A brand new set of Prismacolor pencils! Some of you may have noticed that many (well, most) of my latest cards have a distinct lack of painted stamped images... It's just so insanely boring to paint them. I've tried water markers, alcohol markers, distress ink pads and even wondered about trying the distress ink refills my friends use these days. Still boring. But then I explored MCP. Magic Coloured Pencils - such a non-informative name! But so simple. Just draw a little and rub it out. I think that the one half of my stamp collection that's been collecting dust for a while, will finally see some ink again!

Ok, I admit it. I just had to sharpen them all right away and sort them in a wonderful pallette of colours. Ooh, so pretty! ;)

Winter wonderland

Yesterday I went to the location where our new cabin will be built, along with my parents. We waded through snow to our knees! It was truly beautiful. I wonder how it will be in the summer?

If at first you don't succeed

...try, try, try again. I'm determined to get the hang of the vintage-style!

Ok then, this card is not as much a vintage card as it is inspired by vintage cards. I can't help it, I'm just addicted to colour!

But now we're talking. My most successful attempt so far! A little messy perhaps? I'm not used to this amount of embellishment... The pearls and vintage buttons work so much better with this style than most of my brads.

Trying something new

After all the blog surfing often I feel like trying something new with my cards. I've seen many beautiful vintage cards and decided to try it. But it is so difficult! Old habits die hard I guess. How do people do it? When I stamp swirls along the edge it just looks like a real mess. I wonder if there is a course on this nearby...?
So there it is, for all to see. I've been slaving over it for several days now, so it is a victory just to have it done! Maybe next time will be easier?

And after all the frustration with the previous card I just had to make a colourful card along the usual lines... ;) What a relief.

Last minute blog candy

Maren has taken the plunge and opened a web shop at http://www.silisium.org/ and is having a blog candy to spread the good news! I wish her the best of luck with her new shop. We can never have enough scrapping supplies and places to get them... :)

*drawn*

Tanken / The thought

Mamma: -Hva er virkelighet?
Sønn: -Jeg vet ikke.
-Jamen hva tenker du på når jeg sier virkelig?
-Jeg tenker på... at jeg tenker... at det jeg tenker kanskje er virkelig.
-Hva tenker du på da?
-At jeg tenker, skjønner du vel.

(Hentet fra boken "Vi er alle opp ned" av Trine-Line B. Biong - samtaler mellom mor og sønn)

Mom: -What is reality?
Son: -I don't know.
-Well, what do you think of when I say real?
-I think of... that I'm thinking... that what I'm thinking maybe is real.
-What are you thinking about then?
-That I'm thinking, of course.

(From the book "We are all upside-down" by Trine-Line B. Biong - conversations between a mother and her son)

*insert imaginative title here*

Green and brown, what an unusual colour combination for me - or maybe not. And a huge flower as the focal point? Never seen that before! Oh, who am I kidding...

I can no longer remember which of these two cards is the original and which is the copy. The brown paper with the punched-out swirls is actually from the wrapping of some Prima Flowers I recently bought... Recycling is in!

"Live every minute every hour you exist, keep joy in your heart and let it show in your smile, much is lost and changes with time, life is now, not later." (Much more poetic in the original language of course!)

Sometimes I crave something easy and fresh! Crisp white and deep red is another favourite colour combination of mine. Just classic.

Blog candys

I did some more blog surfing... And what did I find? More blog candys!

Scrapbook Express has a red/pink candy for their "Share the love-month".
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And Ingvild has a wonderful candy to thank everyone who stopped by her blog in 2008.
*drawn*

Then there is Camilla, and just look at all the lovelyness here!
*drawn*

Lena Kathrine also has a great candy, oh how I love those rub-ons...
*drawn*

How about orange?

I took my cue from Jessica Jones' lovely crafting blog How About Orange? and decided to see if I could make two orange cards today. Same basic Bazzill orange paper, same orange pattern paper, but I tried to do two different styles.

"Magic is to believe in yourself. If you can do that, you can make anything happen." One of my rare attempts on a more distressed style.

"A large flower for you!" Stickles glitter glue on the flower and Spellbinder swirls - doesn't show too well on the picture. I soo want to buy some Glimmermist... The pattern paper really is orange - terrible light today.

Batwing or angel?

I've been working so intensively on this crochet shawl that my shoulder hurts. The recipe was called a batwing shawl, but some colleagues of mine called it an angel shawl. I wonder which I prefer...? Whatever the name, this shape is perfect, and I will never make a shawl in any other shape! At least I'll try. The forward-swept shape makes it fit perfectly around the neck and shoulders, and fall very nicely in front. I love it!

It's made from one strand brown mohair, and one strand thin gold thread to give it a bit of sparkle. Once I got the hang of the system it was very easy to make, and very addictive - actually I made this in only a week. No wonder my shoulder is complaining.

Happy birthday mom and dad!

Yesterday we celebrated the birthdays of both my parents. It was a really lovely evening! Lots of people and good food. Amazingly enough, I managed to sleep in and be late - for dinner. I blame my busy night shift and my fantastic bed for not getting up until after four o'clock...

Finally I've managed to use my Magnolia tie stamp! And every chance to use the left over bits of pattern paper is great. A simple but striking effect.

I lifted the idea of using the QK Goozebumpz on the edges of the paper from these cards Nina made. Wow those are amazing cards, and I clearly need a lot of practice to reach her level of expertice! But for a first try, mine are OK. The large green flower, as well as the embossed paper, have been treated with a white and a creamy brown stamp pad to enhance the 3D-effect. The corner flowers are there only to cover up a mistake I made... Oops!