Green grunge

Whoops, that G needs a bit of adjustment! An easy fix, fortunately. Lapse of concentration due to a late evening by the desk. Nice mix of grungy and geometrical papers. Quite the contrast to those all white cards I've done recently. :)

Birthday!

I regretted the exclamation marks the moment I added them. Too late, too late... The rest of the card is done after my standard go-to recipe these days. Little thinking required, that's nice too sometimes. :)

Butterfly

 

I like these scrappy, random cards. The ones that just fall together from cut-offs and tags and stuff that flows around on my desk. The ones that, although they aren't exiting and inventive, still hold their ground and find a nice balance almost on their own. The ones that are dark and earthy and yet has that little bit of glitter and spark that lifts my spirit.

The one that caught me by surprise

I've used nearly every sheet of my BG Wisteria paper pad, but there are a couple of them that I've found to be a colour that just doesn't match anything else in my stash. But look, here they are on a card! Imagine my surprise when this card just kind of fell together all on its own from paper scraps and other leftovers on my desk. I still don't know exactly how that happened...

Forty

Like the previous card, this one is also clean and simple, but I much prefer this one. It's strange how something looks good and something not, but not being able to fully explain why... Anyway, this layout took a while to balance out, but I think the result is ok.

More butterflies

This one came together really fast, from stuff that was lying on my desk already. Nice and simple, but not too boring. I like the layout and think I will repeat it some time. Also, how can you not love kraft and pink? :)

Shine on!

One of my colleagues has just left for a new job, and this card was made to wish her all the best on her new adventure. While this style is often my choice for men's cards, it also works well for a woman when the highly embellished flowery style seems too cute for her taste. I'd certainly love to receive a card like this, and I hope that goes for others too.

Celebrate

Another card for a man, I've had to do a few of these lately. Always challenging. This guy has more than a couple of cars in his garage, so the vintage car seemed like a nice choice for him. All paper except the kraft base and the green mat is Project Life supplies from various kits

Hooray!

Cards for men are always tricky, and I usually choose kraft for the card base. Then layering bold colours and patterns without too much fuss. Washi tape and a few accents are all that's needed. On my last scrapping fair I picked up a few Project Life supplies and I love using them on my cards!

Birthday hug

Again, a pink and kraft card. This one is softer in style and colours, and I like it very much! Some Tim Holtz tissue paper and Golden molding paste along with washi tape and Glimmer Mist are the main features here. The layering of elements like these is what I enjoy most about card making...

Someone turned 40 a while ago, apparently

I've made a couple of cards lately and haven't shared. Too busy looking at other people's work, I suppose? Here's a card I made one late evening, just in time as usual. I can't even remember who the recipient was - someone who turned 40, obviously. I think it was made for a guy? Oh well. Here it is, anyway. I like the rough, grunge-y style lately, but enjoy mixing it up with bold colours. Teal is awesome. :)

The greatest gift

See, didn't I tell you there would be more cards like this? :) I was in need of a baby card and wanted to see if I could translate the idea to something more soft and subtle. The recipe is the same: Base paper whitewashed with Gesso, washi tape strips on the diagonal, semi-random stamping and the oh-so-gorgeous molding paste. Love it! The text is a washi tape saying something like "So small, but the greatest on earth" - but it loses something in translation...

Playing with new materials!

Oh, the joy of brand new materials! That first attempt at a new technique! :) It brings a whole new excitement to the crafting of stuff, of all varieties. :) In this case, I've had a go at using Golden molding paste and a mask, and creating a slightly different style than usual. Fair warning: You're going to see more stuff like this. ;) It took a couple of tries to get it right, but the results, oh the results! Can you tell I'm excited about this one??
-
The base of this card is a pattern paper that I whitewashed with Gesso and water to lighten the colour. A few sprays of green GlimmerMist brought it to the right colour. I then went crazy with two kinds of washi tape, tearing strips and layering them roughly along the diagonal. Some stamping here and there adds to the detail. And then I added the molding paste, and the stars aligned. The hardened paste has absorbed some of the colour of whatever medium it rests on, so parts of it are faintly green from the GlimmerMist, and some are tan from the stamping ink. The parts that sits on the washi tape are still crisp white. It all adds to the drama!
-

Just look at the pop-up effect of that molding paste! So cool. :)
There are so many layers of mediums on those chipboard numbers that I can't really remember them all... What's visible now is white Crackle Paint that's tainted green and brown by the Distress Ink layer below. Pretty good in the end, but it took a few tries to get the right look.

Finally, some grunge!

Ah, it's been too long. I love grunge, but for some reason don't do it often enough! The 60th birthday of a man is a good reason to grunge it up though. He likes bicycles and I actually managed to find some bicycle related papers! Add some gears, baker's twine, Scrapper's Floss, chipboard numbers and some other leftovers, brighten it with splatters of white Crackle Paint, and you've got a detailed, layered look that works on a man's card. In fact, I wouldn't mind recieving this myself, even though I'm neither 60 years old or a man. ;) But that's me, and I realise I'm surely a minority in the card making community in that respect. There's room for all! :)

Another wedding card

In contrast to my previous wedding card, this one sports rough teared paper edges and a completely different colour scheme. The recipients of this card aren't the pink and frilly type, so it was a good match - but that happened entirely by accident! This was a commissioned card and I had no idea who I was making it for, so I took a chance and was very lucky. :) That cool blue and gold paper is by Panduro, and I swiped some blue StazOn ink over the Prima chipboard letters.

When you wish upon a star...

At times our own light goes out

and is rekindled by a spark from another person.

Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude

of those who have lighted the flame within us.

-Albert Schweitzer

For you, my friend (you know who you are). I wish you all the best, all the very best for the present and the future. You have been a constant spark of light to me. This time, I give mine to you.

Enjoy! (lost in translation)

I've failed to come up with a translation for this Norwegian phrase. Enjoy... Life? Living? Being? It is a way of saying enjoy your life, who you are and what you do and just... everything really. The card is for a colleague who is retiring, and "congratulations" just didn't seem right. Thanks to Krissie for the suggestion!
Mental note: When you know about a card three months in advance, try not to start making it at midnight the night before deadline... again.

Sugary sweet

This is probably the only time I can get away with such a sugary sweet pastel card! But hey, she's only one year old, so there's no problem this time. :) Simple stuff really, I've let the pattern paper do most of the talking. Some flowers, baker's twine, washi tape and flat-backed pearls create the pastel details.

It's the little things that make life big

...like little cards for example. ;) This is the last one for now, but I'm sure there will be more some time soon. Next up is some canvas crafting, and then some knitting. And then more cards. A sudden rise in activity here, I like it! :)

Know this

Oops, I used the same stamp again. I can't help it, it's just so lovely! And since this card was made spesifically for a certain person, I went with the one that spoke to me the most, and this was it. Oh how I love the Penny Black sentiment stamps... *swoon*

That vertical strip of blue paper was something neat I got as a gift from this person - it's a thin blue crumpled paper with a really shiny gold coating. I ran it through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder and sanded it. The brown papers was a nice contrast to that strong blue colour, and to lighten the card I tried to work in something white here and there.

-

And again, there's that gorgeous brown baker's twine! The tag was originally a dark steel/pewter colour, so I covered it with a thin layer of Gesso before distressing it with some ink, just to keep the card looking a little brighter. The cheese cloth also sneaks in again. Love that stuff!