Christmas card #5, A star is shining this night

This line from a Norwegian christmas song (one of our modern classics), "A star is shining this night", seems to be the perfect match to this cute image. I've coloured the girls using Prismas as usual. The blue dress is easy, but I have precious few red colours in my kit, and had to use some white and 20% Frech Grey for the highlights. No more red dresses. ;) Some shimmering chalks create the soft background.

Rainforest green

One of my friends, Kristine, just moved into a new appartment, and that deserves a celebratory card. A wallpaper with a lush rainforest photo print decorated one of the walls in the appartment - a statement design element indeed! I liked the idea of bringing that into the card, and this BoBunny paper does the job. I know she wanted to make some changes before moving in, so let's hope she hasn't replaced that wallpaper by now... If the rainforest is gone, this card will just have to serve as a reminder of what she bought in the first place. ;) I let the paper do most of the talking on the front page. The Stempelglede stamp ("You are fantastic!"), ribbon, a glimmermisted flower with leaves and some dots of Liquid Pearls, was more than enough. Oh, and at the last minute I remembered to add a "new home" sentiment in the corner... That is, after all, the occation! :P

-

I chose these two corners of the DP to decorate the inside, they fit together so well and leave a nice space for writing. I couldn't resist adding some flowers although they strictly speaking weren't necessary. The last corner decorates the back of the card and that means that I've actually spent an entire 12"x12" DP on one card! Phew... That doesn't happen often and feels a little scary but quite nice at the same time. Stashbusting in action!

20/52: Advent

After weeks of passionately ignoring any and all things even remotely christmas related,
I can finally allow myself to start letting in the christmas spirit.
Welcome, advent!

Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Encourage your hopes

The retro/vintage/distressed style doesn't come out of my fingers as easily as I wish, but this attempt isn't all that bad, I think. I felt inspired by other bloggers out there and wanted to incorporate as many details as possible without crowding the small space. The two pairs of wings fit nicely with the theme of the Tim Holtz stamp. Other embellishments are a bit of ric rac, some Scrapper's Floss, a rub-on border, white Crackle Paint and some Magic Mesh. I was so thrilled when I found that little film strip (altso Tim Holtz) at Bikuben, and despite that I've actually never used it until now... Shame on me. Is that a sign that my stash needs slimming?? Oh my... What a thought. :P The papers are BG Pyrus by the way, love them!

Christmas card #4, Willow with candle

"We light our lanterns when darkness falls." It's a line from a beautiful Norwegian christmas song, and it suits this image so well. And oh, how I love to colour these lovely dresses! Lots of flowing fabric that brings out the three-dimentional effect really well. They take a lot of time to colour though! I've used no less than four shades of blue Prismas for each of the elements in the dress... It takes a lot more work to get the highlights out when working on kraft, but it's definitely worth it. I love the contrast of the bright, strong image against the natural, muted kraft cardstock. The shimmering chalks bring a glow around the image, slightly helped by some yellow Prisma colour right next to the candle.

19/52: Time heals all wounds

They say, time heals every wound
- but I'm still waiting -

-

Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Christmas card #3, Henry and wreath

I tried to get some depth into this mainly green wreath, but I still feel like I should go back and add something... Maybe. There's my issue with Henry being tricky to colour on kraft again, but I think he'll have to do like this. I think I'll make more of these cards using Willow instead, I'm usually much more pleased with her flowing dresses! More to come! ;)

New on my needles - two slippers at once!

No, I'm not knitting a giant bra. ;) Or an old-fashioned-shaped bonnet. This is my first attempt at knitting two slippers at once! I have leftover Alpaca in five shades of gray, and knitting two at once is a way of ensuring that I don't use so much of each colour on the first slipper that I haven't got enough to make the second slipper look the same.
-
Challenge #1: One of the two circular needles needed for knitting this way, is only 40 cm long, so the stitches just barely stay on, and it curls unpredictably when knitting.
Challenge #2: I knit each slipper using two strands at once, so I have to keep track of four strands of yarn at all times.
Challenge #3: As all my yarn is leftover from previous projects, I only have one skein of each colour, so I have to draw yarn from both the inside and the outside of the skeins at once!
Challenge #4 (and this is the kicker): I've never knit two slippers at once, and my only guide to how, is a picture I saw somewhere, ages ago. So I don't really know how!
-
A recipe for disaster? Maybe. But that just usually makes me more determined to get it right. :)

Christmas card #2, Henry and cocoa

The kraft cards continue! This stamp is called "Henry with large teacup", but who puts marshmallows in their tea? :P Nope, it's definitely a cup of cocoa in my mind. Oh, but he's so cute no matter what he's drinking. I think Henry is difficult to colour, at least on kraft... Other colours blend and cover the kraft fairly easily, but the white and greys are tricky to get right. Practice, practice. I've used my Prismas of course, and shaded around the image with shimmering chalks. The sentiment says something like "Christmas - a time for thought, caring and warmth".

New home for Helle

Getting new supplies is always a great inspiration for card making! Right? ;) My new BG 6x6 Wander paper pad had all these great images of skylines and metro maps and I figured they were perfect for a "new home card". The tag is K&Co, and you can glimpse a 7 Gypsies overlay underneath it. I also slapped on some script tape by Tim Holtz and a rub-on from my ever present (and never-running-out-of-rub-ons) Creative Inspirations Memories rub-on pad.
-

The Tim Holtz clock hands serve more as direction pointers in this setting, indicating the move from one location to another. They had a layer of dark paint or something, that made them more black than metallic. I used a very coarse sandpaper to bring out some shine and colour while still keeping them very rustic and distressed. Loved the look so much I attacked all the other metal embellishments with the same sandpaper! :)
-

18/52: Procrastinating

Is it time for another Project 52 photo already?
Ugh. I think I'll just stay in bed, thank you.

Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Easy winter mitts

A while back I made these and I suddenly realised that I haven't blogged them yet. This was a simple little project from an easily memorised Pickles recipe, made with some leftover yarn. They have been slightly felted - I actually made another pair first, that came out absolutely tiny! They are seriously warm, so we'd better get a winter like last year's if I'm ever going to use them... ;) Details are, as usual, on my Ravelry page.

Pink and grey Fairy Flora

The Prima Fairy Flora 6x6 paper pad found its way to my shopping cart the other day... I've been eyeing it for long time online and just couldn't fight it anymore. ;) It's been a while since my last pink card I think? Usually I use browns or greens with pink, but the pink-grey combo is actually really awesome. Once the ribbons got stuck on the card I struggled a little to make the layout work, but this is ok enough I guess.
-

The only thing I knew I wanted to do when I started this card, was to use those two satin ribbons from Stoff og Stil. Gorgeous colours! The grey one was put on as is, but the greyed pink one got some special treatment. I did a simple running stitch with three strands of thin silver thread and pulled it to create the wrinkly look, and then just glued it down along the midline.

Basic toe-up socks

I've knitted more baby socks than I'm able to keep track of, but this is my first pair of socks for adults. You can say I'm bitten by the bug by now! There are already a few more recipes on my list. Please visit my Ravelry project page for recipe link and details.
-
I started with a very simple recipe, and still learned a lot doing these. The next pair will have to have some more detail though. Got to keep it interesting! ;) Oh, and the last thing I learned was that it's nearly impossible to take decent photos of my own sock-wearing feet! ;)
-

This short-row toe is so fascinating! There's this magic moment when something flat becomes something round and the cast-on edge disappears. There's no apparent start or finish to this toe, and everyone who sees it is equally puzzled by this phenomenon.
-

The heel is knitted in exactly the same way as the toe, making this a very easily memorized recipe.

17/52: Dressed to kill

Or, more accurately, dressed to heal.

-

Click here for more info on my Project 52.