29 dec. 2013

Two signs

 
My MIL's birthday is coming up so I decided to make a sign for her to hang on her front door. I made the flowers with a die and coffee filter and then I used Broken China Distress ink to color them in.

I also colored the ribbons with Broken China and used some Distress Paint in the same color + Black Soot on the charm. The bird house is made by hand.

It was so much fun to make signs so I made one more while I was at it.

The bird is a chipboard piece that I painted black and then poured Black Soot Distress Glitter over. I also added some Stardust Stickles on the flower.



Products I used:


Graphic 45 - Olde Curiosity Shoppe Collection


Lawn Fawn clear stamps Home sweet home

*Memory Box PETAL PARTY Craft DIE 98304
Memory Box Petal Party die

*s4-304 Spellbinders EYELET CIRCLES Nestabilities Dies
 Spellbinders EYELET CIRCLES Nestabilities Dies

*Simon Says Stamp * FLOWER FRIEND Craft Dies S181
Simon Says Stamp FLOWER FRIEND Craft Dies

*Graphic 45 FRENCH COUNTRY 8 x 8 Paper Pad 4500639
Graphic 45 FRENCH COUNTRY Paper Pad


 Cheery Lynn dies NAUTICAL WHEELER DOILY


Crafts Too Dies & Templates - Little Weed


Stempelglede - Just a note


La La land Crafts Scallop Bracket Die

28 dec. 2013

A little bird told me

This card is also part of my New Years resolution - to get out of my comfort zone. I usually don't combine a white background with embellishments in a totally different color. But I love the result. It's really effectfull. I cut out the birdcage from chipboard, then painted it with white gesso and sprinkled some Rock Candy Distress Glitter over it. The flowers where pink to start with so I sprayed them with a dark violett mist from Lindy's Stampgang to get the color I wanted. To finish them off I put some Star Dust Stickles on them.

Products I used:

*Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz Die TATTERED POINSETTIA 658261
Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz Die Tattered Poinsettia
 
 
*Tim Holtz Sizzix Die CAGED BIRD Bigz Alterations 656634
Tim Holtz Sizzix Die caged bird Bigz Alterations
 
 
Prima - Bel Canto Collection - Fabric Flower Embellishments - Pink
Prima - Bel Canto Collection
 
 
My Mind's Eye On the bright side
 
 Vilda Stamps
 


27 dec. 2013

New Years resolutions


My New Years resolution is to challenge myself in my paper crafting. Try to get out of my comfort zone more often. For example: I have some paper collections I find it hard to work with. Not that they're necessary hideous, but it can be that the colors or patterns just aren't in my comfort zone. I've also decided to dare myself to combine colors I usually shy away from.

For this card I used the Engraver collection from Prima. I've had it since they released it, but never used it before. It's something with these papers that makes me stay away from them. When I broke them out today I realised that they're all too similar in colors for my taste. They need some additional colors to pop out.

And that ment I got to use my second New Years resolution - combining colors I normally don't use together. Red is a color I only use for Christmas, but it made all the difference on this card. I'm very pleased with the result:).

The flowers are from Petaloo, my favorite flower company. Image found online.

Products I used:

    
Prima Engraver collection


Petaloo - Chantilly collection



Rox Stamps


Petaloo - Flora Doodles Collection - Velvet Hydrangeas - Green
Petaloo - Flora Doodles collection


27 nov. 2013

Reindeers in love

I started with embossing the reindeers with vintage gold UTEE. I love the thick, smooth surface this embossing powder gives. To make one of the deers female I just cut off the horn on one of them. Then I made the tag with different Distress Inks and a Tim Holtz mask. The heart is die cut and I used papers from Pion both for the heart and the card base. To finish the card off I embellished with flowers, bells, ribbon, sequins, pearls, gem stones and brads (the stars I used as flower centers).

14 nov. 2013

Lucia with Distress Markers

In Sweden we celebrate Lucia the 13th of December each year. It's a lovely Christmas tradition. Most of the celebrations take place in schools, hospitals and churches, but also on national television. Here is a performance in a Swedish church: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLycexat2xk
Please watch it, it's really breathtaking in all it's beauty.

13 nov. 2013

Christmas card in pale pink

I'm amazed over how easy it is to work with Distress Markers. I'm still learning, but even so, it's really not hard or requier any special skills to get a great result.

I used Pion papers, different Spellbinder dies and Rock Candy Distress Glitter. Love the subtle sparkle it gives. The stamp is from Reprint, a Scandinavian company.


12 nov. 2013

Christmas card with surprise flap

It's easy to stay in you comfort zone when you make lot of cards as I do, especially around the holidays, but after a while I get tired of using the same concept over and over. So I try to come up with new creative ways to use my supplies and try new techniques, no matter how uncomfortable it feels sometimes ;).

So for this card I decided to put a flap in the center with a hidden massage. I used a die for this and a rubber pad that I stuck between the cutting plate and the paper in the area where I didn't want the die to cut. I haven't tried it but I think you can use any material that would be hard for the die to cut through.

11 nov. 2013

Puzzle inlay card

I'm always looking for new ways to use the supplies I already have. I don't know if this technique has a name but I call it puzzle inlay after a computer game I used to play (google pictures and you'll see the similarity). Normally I'm building my cards in layers and strive for dimension. One way of doing that is to pop up die cuts with foam adhesive. This technique however is about making the card as flat as possible, although many different papers and die cuts are involved. It's more of a challange than you might think.

I did a test run first with some papers I don't like very much to learn from my mistakes and this is what I learned: 1. Strong colors works better than pale colors because you need the contrast. 2.  Plan the card carefully and don't adhere anything down before you're absolutely certain where everything should go, otherwise you risk ruin the hole card. 3. Save every little piece, no matter how small, when you die cut the negative space. I found out the hard way that you'll need most of them. 4. Outline everything, either with distress inks or a marker (I used a marker). Thanks for stopping by!

10 nov. 2013

Elegant Christmas card

I bought this gorgeous wooden deer from Kaisercraft and wanted to make a really elegant card with it. I painted the deer white with gesso and pour Distress Rock Candy Glitter over it. While it was drying I made the background. I used Salty Ocean Distress Stain and Chipped Saphire Distress Ink to create the night sky. I also stamped stars and snowflakes on the sky using white pigment ink. The trees are from a Tim Holtz die and the gray glitter paper is something I had in my stash forever. To finish it off I added some clear gemstones.

8 nov. 2013

Christmas angel with Distress Markers

This is the first time I used Distress Markers to watercolor an image. It was so fun and easy!

A tip is to use watercolor paper and not regular cardstock. It makes a big difference.

I put some rock candy Distress glitter on the tree, the wings and the heart. To highlight the eyes and the buttons I added small dots of Enamel Accent. I didn't want to steal focus from the image so I kept the rest of the card fairly simple, just added small droplets of Glossy Accent here and there. The flower is actually 3 equal flowers. I cut 2 of them in half and tucked them behind the third flower to make the flower look richer and a little bit bigger. For the center I used a large pearl and smaller ones around it.

7 nov. 2013

Christmas card with window

I used Maja Design's gorgeous It's Christmas time papers for this card.

I made a window in the center of the card where Santa Claus is looking in (or out).

The flower cluster is built upon layers of die cut leaves, branches and fiber. I also tucked a couple of metal snowflakes behind the flowers. The white dots are Enamel Accents.

This card involved a lot of die cutting, one of my favorite things to use when I'm paper crafting.

The inside of the card.

6 nov. 2013

Window card

 
I love making window cards. It adds that extra something for the recipient to enjoy.

The inkwell and the feather pen are dies from Tim Holtz.

The papers are from My Minds Eye. The center of the flowers is Enamel Accent.

The inside. I embossed the die cut piece behind the feather pen with an embossing folder.

5 nov. 2013

Have a sweet Christmas

This card was so much fun to do. I used Christmas papers from Maja Design and a stamp set from Lawn Fawn. This set has many small details you can add to the larger images and that's perfect if you are like me and love paper piecing. I started with stamping all the images on different papers, then cut them out and finally pieced everything together. As a final touch I added Glossy Accent and white gel pen to bring the details to life.

4 nov. 2013

Pumkin + Happy belated birthday



This is a pumpkin and a birthday card I made for a friend. I used the new gorgeous Vintage Autumn collection from Maja Design.
 
Here's a close-up of the pumpkin.

And here's the card. The flowers are stamped on different pattern papers and then cut out.