Winter mitts

It's nearly too late to post these kind of things now... The sun is finally managing to make an impact on the huge mounds of snow around here, and I have to drive in carefully placed zig-zags to avoid the huge water-filled gouges appearing in the 10 cm layer of ice on the road from my house. But it's still fairly cold at night and a good pair of winter mitts can still find their use, I hope.
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A little heart suddenly appeared when I shot these cuties... :) I've tweaked my recipe slightly from the first, improvised pair, but that's only in the little details. They're pretty much the same. This pair is comissioned for the girlfriend of the recipient of the first pair (the one with the lover's mitt) - the two colours work together nicely I think! Details on my Ravelry page as usual.
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The knitter's gift tag has to be included of course. :) I love making these and they lend a professional touch to gifted and sold items.

Gorgeous & sweet!

Gorgeous and sweet - great words to describe these wonderful papers from Maja Design! I've tried to make more cards that works with several occations lately. This one could be a card (birthday or other occation) for a young girl or a woman who's not afraid of girly pink - or it could be given for a newborn baby girl, or even as a christening card. Take your pick!
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White and silver

There's so much shine going on in this card... White and silver is such a luxurious combination! And I've used some really gorgeous papers - the left base is striped and the right has debossed butterflies and they are both fantastically shiny. Add to that some more shiny silvery paper, embossed silver cardstock from Panduro, Bazzill Bling, and top it all with an extravagant Prima bling swirl. Instant bliss! This card is actually made from the same sketch as my previous card, but that's about all they have in common... ;)
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The little stamp is heat embossed in silver and the feathery flower is from Prima.

34/52: Still going strong

There are the occational slip-ups.

I try not to panic and just get back on track.

Who knew this system would work so well.

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Friendship

This card was made after a sketch at a card making/scrapping day at my local paper crafting shop, HobbyHimmelen. The sketch was made for a 12x12 layout and had too many elements to fit onto a small card, but this is pretty close. I used Maja Design papers, Tim Holtz tickets, Stempelglede sentiment stamp on Stickyback Canvas and some random stuff from my stash.

Helge 60 years

So you've seen this layout before, you say? I know... Forgive the recycling, but it works and I needed something quick. Those dreaded man's cards, I'm sure you've all wrestled with them! This one doesn't have any particular theme either, so I just found some BG papers that worked together, added a few embellishments and rub-ons and called it a day!

Angelo 30 years

This card just kept on becoming too dark and dreary, despite my best efforts to keep it a little bright and cheerful. In the end it's not too bad, as I managed to squeeze in some brighter greens in the mix. Angelo has some musical talents, so I made that the theme. It's quite fun to look at my stuff with one particular thing in mind, because so many music related things, that I hadn't thought of at first, suddenly turn up...
Materials used include: BG papers, Tim Holtz tickets, QK Studio letters, 7 Gypsies overlay, numbers cut from Tim Holtz embossed grungeboard and coloured with Glimmermist and StazOn, some Prima packaging and other random stuff.

33/52: Ready, steady, snow

Everyday life indeed.

Absolutely every single picture I've taken this week

has snow in it!

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Baby toadstool rattle and hat

These two cute little things were a gift I made a long time ago, but I was recently made aware of the fact that they haven't made it into the blog! Well, we can't have any of that, can we? This baby rattle was one of those fun projects I do just to see if I can, and I had some yarn leftovers anyway. It's stuffed with flame retardant batting and a cat's toy for sound. Duplicate stitches create random spots on its cap. The recipe comes from the always excellent Purl Bee! Details on my Ravelry page.
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On the floor of my bedroom right now, is a stack of papers a mile high... Well, nearly a mile at least. And somewhere deep inside that stack is the recipe and source of this cute baby hat. I'll let you know when if I find it. The hat is knitted as a straight cylinder and then pulled together at the top. I kind of fell in love with the pattern at the top and felt really bad about hiding it. It's similar, but even cuter (at least to me), than the pattern on the brim. And just look at those ear flaps, how cute! Details on my Ravelry page.

Mini card for Bjørg

This is a small card, just 10cm x10cm. I've made a few of them before (these, these and these) and really enjoy the format! They're like tiny little pieces of art, that usually come together quickly and fit almost anyone. They're very handy to have lying around for times where a hand-made card is a nice touch, but you want to save the bigger projects for a more significant occation. I made this one to send along with two cards commissioned by a friend of mine.
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The K&Co tag on the front is folded back to the other side, and connected to another with some white Scrapper's Floss. I used this second tag for a brief greeting and wrote more on the opposite, undecorated side.

White wedding

Most of my wedding cards are white with one accent colour - but I've been wanting to do an all-white wedding card for a while. Now, that's a bit tricky, especially when there are supposed to be readable names on it, but I just couldn't resist. I was a bit apprehensive with my first result, added glitter and still didn't quite like it, so I added another layer - and more glitter... Too much of a good thing is wonderful - right?
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Since there's no colour variation here, I made the card all about texture, structure and glitter. I embossed some white cardstock and layered it with white Magic Mesh and two intertwined QK hearts and splurged on a huge Prima flower complete with pearl center and feathers. Matting the Bazzil Bling with another layer of white cardstock was a simple trick to create a frame without using colour. White on white on white! ...on white on white on white on - well you get the point. :P The letters and corner swirl got a liberal coating of Glossy Accents to give them more dimension and help them stand out from the background.
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When in doubt, add glitter. Does glitter count as a colour? Because in that case, this is no longer just a white card. There's enough glitter on this thing to warrant the use of strong sunglasses for sure. Not only does Stickles Star Dust cover the embossed cardstock, the flower, the corner swirl and the edges of the cardstock, but there's also the dominant use of Bazzil Bling, and if that's not enough, I doused the whole thing with heaps of Glimmermist Pearl!

32/52: Resistance is useless

I'll probably get a fist in my face if I say this out loud in public,

but I really think that all this snow is mostly just a lot of fun!

Go with what you've got, right?

(Completely unrelated: a fish eye lens is definitely on my wish list.)

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Click here for more info on my Project 52.

Testing, testing... One! Two!

I'm still at it with my new aquarel pencils! Another three mini cards, this time with stamps in three very different styles.
The easiest to colour by far is the first one. Just lay in two colours in each letter and blend with a moist brush. Easy, but I get the exact same appearence with my Prismas.
The middle stamp has large, open spaces and I really worked hard to get a soft, pale look while still having some depth in the shading. It looks better than my first attempt, but still leaves a lot to be desired. This is also the look that's most difficult to achieve when using Prismas and what I hoped I could use the aquarel pencils for.
The last one is a detailed stamp, but what still gives me headaches are those pesky flowers... Leaves are easy, petals tricky. Again, it's the shading and blending that gets to me.
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Ok, I see some improvement, and I've found that some techniques work better than others. I still prefer my Prismas, without question!

Testing, testing... One!

These three cards each measure 10cm x 10cm, and have been made mostly for training purposes. I was lucky enough to spot a set of aquarel pencils and paper at 50% off and just couldn't resist, even though I rarely use these kind of stamps. My hope is that they can be a suppliment to my much beloved Prismacolour pencils, and be used in those conditions where the Prismas are a little tricky.

I decided to colour the same stamp in a couple of varieties, testing techniques and hopefully gain some skills. I have to say, it's difficult! I miss the control I have with my Prismas, and the possibilities of layering and highlighting are very limited with the aquarels. Once a layer is down it's difficult to blend darker shades into it, and it's imperative to start with the lighest colours, as it is impossible to use those later on. Some of these limitations are probably a result of my lack of skills, so I'm determined to stay with them for a while longer before I give up. Ahem... I mean, until I have mastered the technique! Yup.

Felted slippers for Kristin

There's one thing I know Kristin needs, and that's felted slippers! So with all the slippers I've felted lately I figured it was only natural to continue the trend for her birthday. The colour choice was mostly decided by the fact that I need more leftovers to complete the wrist warmers currently occupying my dpns... (Here's to full disclosure!) But I had a feeling she'd like them, so that's a win win. :) Details on my Ravelry page as per usual.
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ETA: I forgot to show you the knitter's gift tag/washing label I made to go with the slippers! I've made some of these before too. Love them!