Rainbow love

So I dug through my entire paper stash to find something rainbow-coloured, as requested. No luck. Lots of colours, but nothing that looked rainbow-ish! Nearly every DP contained only a couple of colours, that's just what I usually fall for. What to do, what to do... And then - aha! I had one of those lightbulb-moments we all crave now and then. :) Why not use flowers to make a rainbow of sorts? And I quite like the result. :) I chose a very light lilac cardstock for the base and pale lilac handmade paper to serve as a fairly neutral base for the multicoloured flower rainbow. The oval frame was made with my nesties, one scalloped for the outer edge and one smooth for the inner edge.
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Today I learned that there is such a thing as too much Glimmermist. Yes, it's actually possible! Who knew? That first set of glimmered flowers went to the inside of the card instead, while this second set was glimmered a little more carefully and glued to the outside. Bright brads and glass drops complete the colour scheme.

Berit 60 years

I've gone for a cleaner, simpler look with this card. The sun keeps shouthing at me to come outside whenever I sit down at my desk, so no time for fussy cards. Although I chose the light, bright colours this time, I'd love to see how this one looks in rich, darker colours. I've been heavily influenced by some of the cards found on the lovely blog Little Princess Cards - Sarita has the most amazing ability to make stylish cards with a bare minimum of embellishments! I'm very impressed - and, sadly, completely unable to copy her style... No harm in trying, though. ;)

Sunny friday

Limoncello in the making.

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My card making duties have been badly neglected lately.

There's just too much work and too much nice weather these days.

Summer vacation is still weeks away for my part,

but the bright sun is trying hard to remind me

that summer should be enjoyed even when there's no vacation.

Thank heavens for weekends.

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Wishing you all a warm, sunny, bright yellow weekend!

Soundtrack: "A little love" by Meaghan Smith
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Vintage baby card

Here's another one of those cards that keep changing throughout the entire time it sits on my desk. I add something and the rest has to be rearranged or removed to fit, and then the process is repeated for as long as I can be bothered to keep it up. ;) The end result isn't too bad this time. With this colour scheme and vintage style, it suits both baby girls and baby boys I think! The entire card has been lightly sprayed with Glimmermist Old Lace, so it's actually quite shiny despite its rough appearance.

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Other materials: Maja Design DP, Creative Inspirations Journaler's Notebook (heart shaped paper), Tim Holtz tickets and metal embellishment, Penny Black dove stamp, Hambly rub-on frame, Magic Mesh Linen Weave, image found online.

A little prince

This baby boy was announced as "our little prince" in the parents' text message, so I thought that this tiny little text stamp fitted perfectly. :) Usually I hold back until I've learned the baby's name before making these cards, but I had to get this one on its way soon and didn't wait this time.
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Ladybug and Friends papers, Prima bling swirls and chipboard, Magnolia(?) image coloured with Prismas, misc flowers/button/ribbon and a piece of an old book page. Creamy brown chalk ink, Walnut Stain Distress ink, silver ink pad, Glimmermist Old Lace.
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When the card was almost done I felt it looked a little too shabby and dark... So the Glimmermist Old Lace came out! Look at that sparkle... ;) I also went over some of the paper edges as well as the chipboard with a silver ink pad.

Card stash building project - take two

I had another go at making a wedding card for my card stash - and this one was claimed before it was even halfway done! This is going the wrong way, I really need to build up some steam to get ahead here... ;)
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Ok, so it's the same. layout. again. Different colours though! I'm back to the classic silver and white again. All design papers are from the Wedding stack by Making Memories. The flowers have been Glimmered and Stickled to within an inch of their life, and I added a tulle bow under them. It's almost invisible in this photo, next time I'll take an angled view for you as well. The letters are QK Eliza - I love their classic elegance!

Christening card for a baby boy

I was so sure I had a stamp suitable for a christening... Now I'll just have to get one I think. A simple "congratulations" will have to do this time. Fortunately the cute Magnolia stamp is obviously a child in a christening dress. I've coloured him with shimmering chalks and Prismas, and Stickled (that's a word, right?) his wings.
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The Hambly rub-on wings were the inspiration for the symmetrical layout. The papers are Ladybug and Friends, inked with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. The lace and giga ricrac are from Stoff og Stil. I had so much trouble making the flower clusters look good - I tried absolutely every flower I had in blue, white and brown! This solution seems ok - at least after the roses were drenched in Glimmermist Pearl and then coated with Stickles... ;) What can I say, bling is my friend.

Easy come, easy go

In an effort to build up a little stash of cards to sell and give when the need arises, I made close to an exact copy of Kirsti and René's wedding card. Oh come on, you've all done it. ;) The very next day, a wedding card was requested! So that was a stroke of luck - but now I have to start over on this stash-building thing. I wonder if my production will ever exceed the demand?

Vanilla extract gift set

I'm already on my second batch of vanilla extract, believe it or not. I've kind of made it this year's birthday gift theme! The recipe booklet is an important part of the gift, so I've made a few of those too. ;) The look of baker's twine against kraft paper is so classic. This bottle's style also suits it so well. It all feels really old-fashioned and homemade, like something from many years ago.
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You're probably sick and tired of hearing about my vanilla extract by now. ;) I just figured I could show you how I strain it! After a few months of vanilla pods steeping in vodka, there are the inevitable inpurities such as vanilla seeds and vanilla pod fibres floating around in there. While this is neither dangerous nor imparing the taste (rather the opposite in fact), it doesn't exactly look very delicate. This is what I came up with - a really simple DIY solution using stuff already in my cupboard. The coffee filter is the perfect strainer! Just force the dripstop valve open with tape or elastic (see my brown hair band in the picture?) and let the extract drip into a clean bottle.

Music at 60

The gift accompanying this card is a pair of concert tickets, so I've tried to incorporate that into the design. Click on the picture to see it bigger and you'll see the details. It's a bit bigger than usual - it fits in those envelopes you use for an A4 paper folded in half.
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I might have used the reverse side of this BG Origins paper for a less busy look, but I liked this side for its brightness. I've stamped a music sheet background stamp in Forest Green StazOn on some adhesive canvas and distressed it using brown chalk ink and by tearing away some fibres along the edge. Over that I've attatched a trimmed 7Gypsies overlay decorated with notes. The Prima chipboard numbers are painted with CracklePaint and mounted on a piece from an old book page. Some QK Moxie letters, a Tim Holtz medallion and a few other pieces of hardware and the whole thing was done!

Kirsti and René

A fresh, spring green card for Kirsti and René's wedding day. What is it about me and green wedding cards these days?? Am I green of envy or something? ;) Weird stuff. I had a look through my DCVW Old World stack, it's been a while. The green ones in there were light enough to work for this occation, and I teamed them with white as usual.
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The stamp is from one of Stempelglede's awesome grunge collections, expect to see them again soon... Misc Prima flowers with green gem brads from Papirloftet, QK Moxie letters, ribbon from Kort og Godt, lace from Stoff og Stil I think...? And look - the Liquid Pearls dots are perfect! I actually managed to keep my hands away from them until they were dry! For once... ;)

Hege 30 years

My BG Porcelain paper pad is getting thin... There are so many pretty images in it! This birdcage paper especially. I've paired it with a stamped image (thanks Krissie) and lots of Papirloftet flowers. I wanted the card to have a different feel than the vintage card I made earlier (given by someone else), so I chose this card with its modern image and clean lines.

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Although you can't see it, every flower has a light coat of Stickles Star Dust. The Stickles also covers the little white space around the stamp, just to give it some more interest.

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"Friends have a wonderful way of reminding us what really matters." The flowers (Penny Black Brushstroke) and the swirls (Stempelglede) are stamped in Distress Tattered Rose, and the Penny Black sentiment in StazOn Forest Green.

Biscornu pincushion (with tutorial)

Every aspiring seamstress needs a decent pincushion. Right? So in my desire to start sewing more, I decided that a pincushion was not only a necessity, but also a nice and small starting project. -

I first saw this kind of pincushion on the blog Bridges on the Body and was absolutely fascinated by this fairly complex shape that was created by just two square pieces of fabric. How could that be? On a side note: Yes, there are women out there who make corsets, in this day and age. And yes, there are other women who read their blogs with great interest. Yours truly included. ;) Take a look at Bridges on the Body and prepare to be amazed!
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This particular shape is called a biscornu, meaning "irregular, quirky, complicated, bizarre". And quirky it is... Originally, they were made with linen or other embroidered fabrics, but I decided to go a bit more modern and used two pieces of fabric from the Sunset range by Paintbrush Studio. The trick to this pincushion is that the two squares are sewn together, not directly on top of each other as usual, but with a relative 45 degrees rotation. That's it! Sounds easy enough, right?
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Materials needed:

Two squares of fabric in desired size

Matching thread

Sewing needle (and, if you like, a longer needle for attatching buttons)

Disappearing fabric marker

Stuffing

Two buttons (not pictured)
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First, mark the middle point of each side, on the wrong side of both squares of fabric. You can just about make out my lines on the light fabric in my picture. Layer them, right sides together, in the following manner: The middle point of the light fabric should line up, not with the edge of the of the dark fabric, but a little bit to the side of it (refer to picture). This little distance is your seam allowance! You'll see that the middle point of your dark fabric matches up with the seam allowance distance on your light fabric in the same way (refer to picture).
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This is what it should look like before you start your first seam!
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For the very first seam, start just right of the middle point of the light fabric, and sew to the middle point (right arrow). This means that you are stopping the correct distance from the edge of the dark fabric (left arrow). The reason for making just this little seam to start with is to secure the first corner of the biscornu while leaving a gap in the side for turning inside out and stuffing.
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Then comes the tricky part. To keep sewing along the light fabric without going past the edge of the dark fabric means that you'll have to turn the fabric 90 degrees and align the last half of the light edge to the first half of the next dark edge. Not making any sense, am I? ;) It makes a lot more sense when you're sitting there, trust me. There's really only one way to turn in order to continue. I've added two white arrows in the picture to try to clarify it: each corner meets the side of the opposite fabric. Corner meets middle, middle meets corner and so it goes.
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So, continue to sew along the side until you reach the middle point of the dark fabric (arrow), that means you should stop just short of reaching the edge of the light fabric (refer to picture). Again, this is your seam allowance at work.
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Turn 90 degrees again, and line up the middle point of the light fabric to the seam allowance point of the dark fabric. Is it starting to make more sense?
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Sew until you meet the middle point of the light fabric. Do you see? On the last seam you stopped at the middle point of the dark fabric and near the edge of the light one - now it's the opposite.
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OK, now it's getting funky. All this turning is making the fabrics fold and curl in surprising ways and it's not always easy to align the fabrics. Go on, you can do it!
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Just keep sewing and turning, and the shape of the finished pincushion will start to reveal itself.
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When you turn the last corner, don't sew all the way over to your starting point. You'll want to keep an opening for turning your pincushion the right way out and stuffing it, while still securing that last corner with a few stitches. I went back over my original seam once more at this point to strengthen it.
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Look at that! Turned the right way out and stuffed, we're nearly done! See how both corners next to the opening are sewn and secured, so all that remains is to close the opening in a straight line using a ladder stitch. I learned a little trick a while back - don't use big wads of stuffing, it distributes unevenly and creates lumps. Instead, tear little tufts of stuffing and put in a little at a time. I've stuffed mine quite full, but make sure not to overstuff it, because you want your buttons to be able to make that signature "dent" in the middle.
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So for the buttons: I just tied four strands of thread to the black button, pushed the needle through to the other side, went through the white button and back down to the other side again. Tighten the thread and bring the thread between the two buttons a few more times. To secure the thread I simply tied the two ends together under the button using a few tailor's knots, and squirted a drop of glue on the knot for good measure.
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Ta-daa! One finished biscornu pincushion! I'm fairly pleased with this one, especially considering my lack of experience in this area. Now, on to sewing bigger things! I have so many projects lined up that I don't know where to start...

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If you made it all the way to the end of this looong post, thanks for reading! :)

See you tomorrow!

.: N is for Noah :.

I just love brown and blue... Honestly, if I could choose only one colour combo to bring to a desert island, this would be it. Very likely scenario, I know. ;) The layout is clean and simple (and used lots of times before), and I've used two of my precious Bazzill flowers, some lace and a baby bear charm. Easy peasy. The letter "n" in the middle of the flowers is a Prima chipboard letter. I stripped off its top layer to get down to the paper pulp, and dyed it with blue and silver ink pads. The papers are by Maja Design and Ladybug and Friends.

From the heart

"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing."
-Marc Chagall
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Such a simple card, and it came together so quickly. I love it when everything just fits together so easily! No significant brain activity went into the making of this card. ;) Despite that, or perhaps because of that, this is my favourite of the six cards I made at the gathering at HobbyHimmelen in May. These warm and bright colours are my go-to colours these days! The Prima flower and gorgeous leaves are the focus of the card, with the simple rub-on sentiment "Warm hugs" underneath. BG Green at Heart papers, EK Sucess border punch and two gold/orange flat-backed glass beads.
-Wow, look at those leaves! The detail of that fine web-like cover of veins makes them so realistic. The feel really nice as well, and add lots of structure. Definitely my absolute favourite leaves! Thank you Prima!
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And as with nearly every other card I made that day, I've left a space inside for a suitable sentiment I can add when I know who's getting each particular card.

Recycling a layout

Recognize the layout? Not the most inventive one, I know, but it does the trick. I struggled with the card for a while and played it safe in the end, using a simple and familiar layout. Sometimes you just have to get a card done so you can move on to bigger and better things. ;)
BG Kioshi papers, Bazzill and North Star Stamps flowers, MS border punch, white Scrapper's Floss and various charms from stash.