The biggest thing in the world

The request for two warm friendship cards came in just days after I recieved a huge amount of yellow flowers from Papirloftet, and I dug right into my new supplies with joy and delight! Usually the yellow is paired with orange, red and green, but I wanted to create something different for once. The browns are fairly dark, but the lighter shades turned out to be really boring and pale next to the yellows. The sentiment stamp is by Penny Black again, no surprise there... They are just perfect.
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These are Appelsin Gardenias (and Appelsin rose buds) from Papirloftet and I love them to bits. They won't last long, I fear... The roses are from Kort og Godt, the lovely glass pebbles came from some craft fair long ago. They were a great deal, but that's the only thing I can remember about them! ;)

Warm friendship card

I've let the DP do most of the talking in this card. How could I possibly hide that gorgeous flower behind other embellishments? Now, there's only one quarter left... Use it, Eva, use it now! No point in hiding it away in the stash, even if that's the end of it. Ah, who knew card making would cause such heart ache. ;) If you're curious of what I did with the first half of this lovely MME paper, you can find those cards here and here.
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The wonderful, tall text stamp by Penny Black (my favourite line!) was originally intended for a different card, but made its way over here when I realised it fit perfectly next to the large flower on the DP. I wanted to include something with wings to complement the sentiment, and found this felt-like butterfly from HobbyHimmelen. A couple of leaves, a flower and some bling was all that was needed to complete the card.

15/52: Changing wardrobes diptych

The first snowfall ended as suddenly as it began.

A change in wardrobe was urgently needed, both for myself and the car.

At least my wardrobe is pretty!

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Are 28 years

For a while now, card making has been more obligation than enjoyment. Long (and personal) story. But when making this card I rediscovered some of the pleasure it brings! Aah, it's been a while since making a card was this much fun. :) My brother Are has turned 28 and needed a card from me as well. Masculine cards are always challenging, but I got an idea, ran with it and feel quite pleased with the result.
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I have a thing about using flowers on men's cards... Ok, there are some times you can get away with it, but I avoid it whenever possible. But that leaves the question of what on earth can be used for embellishments?? This time I deconstructed the zipper in a pair of my worn-out denim trousers. A few stitches secure the folded zipper halves in the shape of a rosette and ordinary craft glue holds them to the card. I would have tidied up the center a bit - but hey, these are rough, masculine rosettes - I take this seriously, mind you. ;) The cool silver stuff underneath is Panduro Punchinella.
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Even the zipper pull made it onto the card! I simply tied some Scrapper's Floss around it , pulled the floss through a hole in the DP and secured it there with some glue. The stamp has been embossed in white and the inverted scallop mat matches the shape of the Punchinella perfectly.

Pondus

(click on image for larger view)

For the non-Norwegian speaking readers around here, here is my crude amateur translation of what's going on in this cartoon:
Påsan: Do you think he'll come?
Pondus: Yes Påsan, he'll come back to us. And then we'll recieve the judgement.
Påsan: It's been so long... Maybe he'll never come?
Pondus: We mustn't lose faith, Påsan! He will come back and save us. And when he does, we'll fall on our knees, kiss his feet and wish him welcome!
Påsan: And then he'll bring the computer back to life?
Pondus: Let's hope so. Those computer guys can do miracles.
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My brother Are loves Pondus! And for good reason, it's really funny. This one fits him perfectly - his work involves setting up and fixing computers and networks and although I don't think anyone has ever fallen on their knees in front of him, I'm sure he is very welcome... ;) The card is very simple, as requested. My parents gave him this one, and later this week I'll share my own card, which has a few more embellishments - made by a zipper amongst other things... So stay tuned!

14/52: Transition

I left late, but just in time.

The battery ran out, but I had another.

I stepped in an icy puddle, but was nearly home.

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The frost covered every surface, but was melting by the minute.

-Autumn still hangs on, but winter is coming fast.

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

New on my needles - Alpaca slippers

DROPS Alpaca yarn in black and greys, ready to be made into slippers. I learned a few things from the test pair I've just finished, and have adjusted my recipe accordingly. In fact, the only thing I've kept from the original recipe is the yarn and needle spesifications! One pair is almost done already and I think they're looking good so far.

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Hilde 30 years

The year of all the 30th birthdays continues... It's my good friend Hilde's turn this time, congratulations!
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The card I made for Hilde is small, only 10x10 cm, designed to fit inside the decorated box. I quite like working in this format! It keeps everything concentrated and I think asymmetrical designs work well.

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I dug into my MME Wild Asparagus pad and found this cute polkadot paper. The dots are actually slightly embossed, giving it some extra dimension. I added some ribbon and Scrapper's Floss, and clustered together some roses, bling and a metal tag by Tim Holtz, and the gorgeous butterfly of course. Glimmermist Old Lace made it sparkle!
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The box started its life containing fudge, which seems to have mysteriously disappeared... It must have fallen into my mouth somehow? Anyway, it now holds a gift card to out local craft shop along with some decorational elements. I covered the inside of the box and lid with more of the MME paper, and added a few elements to the outside.

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Misc flowers from stash, metal decor from Kort&Godt (I think), lace and Scrapper's Floss. A light spray of Glimmermist Old Lace on top gave it some shine.

13/52: Turnaround

What started out as a dreaded chore spurred a whole day's worth of inspiration.

Let it last!

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Radiation warning

So what do you think - boy card or girl card? The card was designed to work for both, as the parents didn't want to know the gender before the little one's arrival and the card had to be made long before that. It turned out to be a baby boy, congratulations!
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I originally had a different DP in mind, but when it didn't work after all and I went looking for a replacement, this one turned up. It fits nicely into the colour scheme (with its one-hundred-and-ninety-four-and-a-half different colours), and best of all: the pattern looks like a radiation hazard warning sign! You might wonder why that's a good thing for a baby card? I understand your concern. Well, both the giver, the reciever, and myself included, works with ionizing radiation... It's a bit of an inside joke I guess. ;) I just couldn't resist.
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So the radiating (haha) DP is from the Kioshi stack by BG. Love that stack, you'll definitely see more of it. The embellishments have been plucked from here, there and everywhere... Prisma and chalk colouring. The paper doily behind the stamped image is actually a doily that came under the espresso cup at a restaurant I went to in Oslo this spring! Keep your eyes peeled and crafting supplies will pop up out of nowhere! *lol*

Tor-Magne 15 years

Isn't this the perfect DP for a 15 year old band-playing guitarist? :) It was a last-minute card, so I had originally imagined doing a near copy of something I did earlier, but then thought of this paper and decided to revise the plan. I teamed it with grey cardstock and some pieces of cool green Core'dinations Black Magic. All edges are scraped with my craft knife and lightly touched with a silver brush pen. The cool perforated metallic stuff is from Panduro if I remember correctly, as is the chain. Prima chipboard numbers, Creative Imaginations rub-ons, inverted scallops Spellbinders and QK Frankie skinnimini letters. The guitar charm is from Kort&Godt, and it's actually in copper! I painted it with the silver brush pen and it's sticking just well enough to be usable. I had a violin in silver, but couldn't pass it off as a guitar...

12/52: Hello October

Life in Technicolor!

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Autumn cooking: Banana muffins

Like so many others of you out there, I crave comfort food these chilly days. When I found two bananas I had all but forgotten in my cupboard, I got the excuse to make something I've been thinking about for a while now: banana muffins!

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Amazing how something so ugly can be made into something so tasty... Overripe bananas are perfect for baking.-

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Living dangerously perhaps? Or are you all fully able to keep flour and melted butter away from your precious electronics without problems? I managed to stay clean this time, but usually prefer to keep my computer a safe distance away. A quick Google search for "banana muffins recipe" yielded 313 000 hits - maybe I don't really need to make this post after all... *lol*
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Anyway, I started with a recipe from Cat Can Cook that's supposedly 100% fool-proof, and then proceeded to make a total mess of it. And the muffins still tasted great! I added an element from a recipe at Allrecipes - a yummy brown sugar crumb. Oh MY. It was sooo good! Crisp, crunchy, rich, sweet... Absolute bliss. Because of the sugar crumb there's no need for any frosting on these, so they can go swiftly from the freezer to the microwave to the table if you have unexpected guests. Or a sudden, irresistible craving for a snack, which happens much more frequently in my world.
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So here's my take on the good old-fashioned banana muffins, adapted from Cat Can Cook and Allrecipes:

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Batter:

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup melted butter

3 ts vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 ts salt

1 ts baking soda

1 ts baking powder

1 ts cinnamon

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Mix together mashed bananas, sugar, egg, butter and vanilla in one bowl and set aside. Mix remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Combine wet and dry ingredients and pour into silicone muffin tins with paper liner (or greased muffin tin if you prefer). This recipe made 16 small muffins.

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Crumb:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 ts flour

1/4 ts cinnamon

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Mix together all ingredients and distribute over muffins.

Bake at 175 degrees Celcius in ca 20 minutes.
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They taste amazing straight out of the oven... Just as good the next day (except for the lack of crunch), and freezes well for future muffin cravings. Lessons learned: One, next time I'll try piling the brown sugar crumb in the middle instead of spreading it evenly over the top, to see if that's more visually appealing. Two, that crumb is going on every single batch of muffins from now on! YUM. Muffin heaven.

(ETA: I tried the sugar crumb in a pile thing, and it didn't quite work out. The moisture of the melting sugar made the muffin soggy in the middle and it didn't rise well there, but rather ballooned out near the edges, overrunning into the muffin tins. An even spread is definitely the way to go.)

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