Yay! Candy won! ...and I still want more.

I suddenly stumbled upon the Basic Grey Challenge blog today - they've just reopened their challenge and is celebrating with a whopping blog candy!

Stephanie is also back in blogging land and is celebrating her new and stylish blog with a wonderful candy. I'm signing up for it even though I was lucky enough to be early enough to get a slice of her fantastic pink and brown cake filled with lots of crafting goodies!! I franticly typed a comment and came in at number four - and there were eight slices for the taking. Lucky me! And happy me! :) I'll start stalking my mail man soon. ;) Take a look at her blog - not only is she giving away what seems like her entire stash of scrapping supplies these days, her creations are amazing.

Wisteria Krilla

The moment I saw the colours specified in this week's Papertake Weekly challenge, my mind immediately screamed "Wisteria"! Not that I need any excuse to dig into that gorgeous BG paper stack... *lol* So the colours used here are lilac, green, white and yellow. The sketch is of course from Inspirational Card Sketches, a challenge blog I've quickly grown fond of. I managed to qualify for the Everybody Art Challenge as well. The dots are easy enough to see, but the stripes are less obvious, in the form of an embossed piece of white cardstock where Krilla from Scrapmagasinet (thanks Krissie) is standing. Finally there's the eyelets that were the task given from the Cute Card Thursday Challenge Blog. Wow, another quadruple!

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Krilla suits the format of this sketch well - she's so tall it's almost a bit tricky using her on most cards. I've made a few cards lately with no sentiment on them, so they can be used freely for any occation - or perhaps just for fun? I'd certainly love to get a card for no reason at all, wouldn't you? ;)

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ETA: I totally forgot to add this card to the Crafty Goings On Copics Candy! *slaps forehead* That was half the point of using a stamped image right now... Thankfully I discovered my mistake just in time! Phew!

Blue and white vintage quadruple

Finally, I think I've broken my two-day-curse! I'll never keep up with demand if I use two days on every card - but I seem to have gained some tempo again. *phew* This card was made after the excellent sketch on Simon Says. Colour Create asks for blue and white creations, vintage style optional. The distressing qualifies me for this weeks Creative Inspirations. To top it off I used Secret Crafter's recipe (3 buttons, 2 design papers, 1 ribbon). The charms were a last minute addition, does that count as not following the recipe? I see flowers and brads have been added in the DT cards, so I assume it's ok. Might as well enter it and see. ;)
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I've been wanting to do some lighter, brighter vintage cards lately and the colour challenge was just the kick in the rear I needed. ;) Lay off the brown cardstock. The Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock was embossed and sanded to reveal the dark blue core colour. The crisp white Bazzill cardstock was just a little bit too sharp against the rest and was therefore sprayed very lightly with Glimmermist Frost.

For Elin and Tor Arvid

This is my own card for Elin and Tor Arvids wedding. I've been longing to use those red roses for a wedding card! Especially the dark red ones... They've been heavily Glimmermisted, the red pattern paper as well (that's why the paper looks a bit pale - it's really as red as the roses). This kind of card just doesn't photograph well, they have to be seen in real life. No time for a new and exciting layout - sorry, Elin.
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I always personalise the cards I give, but to use their full names would ruin the minimalistic background in this card. The compromise was to use just their initials. And although the card looks very simplistic, it still gives a luxurious impression because of the rich rose cluster. Trust me. In fact, it almost didn't fit in the envelope because of all the flowers! *lol*

Automagical!

I can't believe I'm sitting here on the second day of June writing a post I can't publish until late July!! That's just weird... I'll bet anything that when July comes and this post pops up out of nowhere I'll have forgotten all about it and wonder who stole my password.
The reason for this unprecedented foresight is that this is for a collegue and everyone at work needs to sign the card! And since we're rapidly approaching everyone's vacations, I had to get it done now before people start leaving.

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, and with that in mind I want to show you my inspiration for this card. There are only two blogs on my blogroll (at the moment, that means June 2nd!) that deals mainly with proper scrapping, not card making: Camillas lilla sida and My Paper Art by Ingvild Bolme. As I don't scrap full layouts with photos I dont't read too many of those blogs, but these two makes me want to start! Wow, there are so many beautiful creations there.
One of the things I like about these two artists is their ability to scrap in a corner of the page and still make it look great. It took all my strength of will to leave that upper right corner empty... ;) Fortunately I had the gorgeous DCWV Silver Swirl Luxury pattern paper to shine right there.

I decided that this couple needed some bling on their card! And trust me, they've got it. I used the last of my bling swirls, and doused all the flowers with Glimmermist Pearl. There's Bazzill Bling cardstock, the shiny PP, gems in the flowers, sparkly silver thread and I inked all the sides with silver. I wonder if it's at all possible to add more bling now... *lol*

So as I finish this post I can't help but wonder if it will simply disappear into the unknown. But I hope it will appear in July. Automagically.

Milestones

First time using an overlay! I did it the easy way today, just cut a square almost as big as the card and used it like a pattern paper. Folded it down in one corner and attached all the corners with either an eylet, a safety pin or brads.

Overlay from Hambly, pattern paper from Kaiser Craft and Creative Imaginations. Tim Holtz embossing powder, assorted metal embellishments from stash. Glimmermist Old Lace and my own home-made stuff (Perfect Pearls powder and water) - it was impossible to show that in the picture as the overlay reflected the light as well when I got the angle right.

Blog candy

Debby4000 at A Scrapjourney has a candy going on right now! I added it to my side bar some time ago and just realised that I haven't written a proper post about it... Shame on me.

Daniel's blog is a year old and he's celebrating with this candy. Visit him for some great vintage/shabby chic projects!

And then there's Camilla with her gorgeous Magnolia cards. She's giving away some excess stuff from her DT package!

Go fish!

For a friend's dad, who likes fishing. Getting some kind of theme is always a great advantage when making a card - especially a man's card. I just love that I got to use that fish charm! :) This card is all about texture - there's heat embossing, pressure embossed paper, two kinds of rough structured paper, buttons, paper leaves... As a consequence, I stubbornly ignored my growing pile of pattern paper - it would just be a complete chaos. What looks like a scribble behind the "60'"-stickers, is in fact a stamp! Not quite sure what I think about it yet.
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I used a nice sketch from Friday Sketchers and the whole thing came together fairly quickly, unlike my latest vintage cards... :)

Finally on time!

Finally - I've managed to finish a card in time to add it to the challenge it was made for! *lol* I found this sketch on 2 Sketches 4 You. It was very simple and not too different from a card I just made, and I thought this was an excellent chance to just make a new version of the previous one and save some time! I should have known better. Make a quick card? Neeever going to happen. ;) Certainly not with these vintage cards.
My labels nesties and BossKut swirl qualifies me to enter the Dutch Dare Challenges as well! A Spoon Full of Sugar asks for swirls, and i have (of course) used some of my brilliant bling swirls. I wonder if I can enter that one several times...? ;)
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The materials used in one corner mirrors the materials in the opposite one. The embossed squares have been sanded to reveal the white core. I made some of my own "Glimmermist" for this card using some Perfect Pearl powder (Perfect Bronze) and water in a MiniMister. Worked like a charm!
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I can see that the rubbish lighting conditions here today has washed out some of the details - especially in the letter stickers and their lovely shades of brown... Oh well. And now I have to tidy that desk before I start the next card! My beautiful cardstock leftovers from last week's cards are getting scratched and curled and Glimmermisted all over the place. Can't have that! Into their folders they must go. I dream of a hobby room with lots and lots of storage...

Imagination

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Imagination

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is more important than knowledge,

for while knowledge defines all we currently

know and understand,

imagination leads us to all we might yet

discover and create.

Carbon copy

I have a box with cards for sale in a beauty salon in town, and I'm sad to say I've neglected it this spring... Waaay too many orders from friends, family and colleagues - I'll soon have to take time off from work to make cards! ;) Wouldn't that be a dream...
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I'm trying to get ahead with my card making while the salon is closed for the summer and covering most of the big events in life, so I can fill up the box for the fall. Today it's a card for a christening or new baby - a carbon copy of this one, only the girl version. Having done a busy vintage card with lots of stash, I'm often compelled to do the exact opposite, and I do love these simple, white cards as well...

Distracted

Well, it happened again. I found a sketch for a challenge and started, only to be distracted by the warm sun and good friends. I let challenge be challenge and went outside to have fun! And now the challenge is over... The sketch was found on Lily of the Valley - giving credit where it's due - and it made for a nice card, which is the important thing.

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All edges have been distressed with a craft knife and chalk ink pads (rose coral and creamy brown). I tried to do it carefully as there are sooo many edges and the card has become quite busy. Prima bling and Glimmermist (old lace) to give the card a bit of shine. Vintage photo found online, papers from DCWV The Old World Stack. Large metal flower and all paper flowers from Kort & Godt - I'm so happy my strength failed and the brown flowers made their way into my basket moments before closing time... :)

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I keep trying to get a grip on this vintage style, and this feels fairly right! I'm convinced it has something to do with the oval picture... ;)

A quick fix

There are those cards that leave my desk as soon as they are made. And then there are those that just sit around, going nowhere. Sometimes I cannibalise them and find other uses for whatever bits and pieces I can salvage. Or in other cases, like this one, I give them a revamp and they become usable again! This card was just lying around without much hope of ever finding a home - but some swirl stamps along the edges (inside and outside), a name instead of the original sentiment and a little tweaking here and there gave it a new lease on life. I love my little Triceratops... ;)
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This is baby Theodor number three in just a few months - clearly a popular name right now. His mother can take these strong colours, I think. She also ordered some very green baby socks for her little boy!

Butterflies

I've finally had a day making cards with a new member of my family. I was missing my mojo and barely got this card half-way done when she was here. It was time well spent though - I think I just might have hooked her completely on this card/scrapping thing! *evil cackle* Now, if she'll come to the next scrapping fair with us there's no going back. Oh how I love to spread my addiction. Maybe soon (read: years from now) her drawers will be as full of stuff as mine...?

This card started as an entry to Dutch Dare, but it has deviated so far from the original sketch that I feel I can't really enter it there anymore. Luckily, it was made for another couple of challenges as well! Colour Create has this fresh colour combo right now, and Cute Card Thursday asks for stitching (faux or real). It's there, really, the neon green pen just doesn't exactly pop in the picture...

White and blue

The temperatures have finally dropped to an endurable level here and I've managed to get a card done! I've just bought a ton of stuff for vintage cards, but this is what I do instead. *lol* The silver ribbon is new though, so it's not all old stuff. This card was made for a christening, but could be a stylish baby card as well I guess... I have to admit I like white cards. There's some Stickles Diamond along the scalloped edge and a little more highlighting the embossed center. Mulberry flowers from Papirloftet, ribbons and baby feet from stash.