Great card with little effort

This is one of my favourite card layouts. It really took me only few minutes to make this card, but it looks like it could take longer.

Okay, the stamp set and the burlap ribbon are both retired, but I happened to have some leftover ribbon and I'm yet to receive my new flower stamp set :-) 
You can easily replace the ribbon with one of the new striped ribbons or even a banner made from paper.

The flowers are coloured with Blendabilities neutrals pink pens and the stem with Old Olive Blendabilities.

I'm currently working on couple new Zentangles flowers (I was not too happy about my first Zentangle card). This time I'm using some thinner markers. I'll post the new cards over the weekend.

Keep Crafting!

Petite Petals with new in-colours

Petite Petals and matching envelope

I really like the Petite Petals stamp set and the matching punch. And I really like the new in colours and how they have more "weight" to them than the previous ones.

I don't often decorate envelopes, mainly because I make the cards and send them later and I don't want to store the envelopes with the cards. And when I need to send a card, I usually don't have time to find the matching colours and stamps to decorate the envelope :-)

Some of the flowers are stamped directly on the card and some are stamped on a separate piece of Whisper White card stock and punched out with the matching punch.

I really like the new in colours. I think my favourite so far is the Lost Lagoon. It's more subtle than the Coastal Cabana, so you can use it in the fall and even in the winter time.

The green Mossy Meadow still has to do it's magic with me... I'm not fully convinced with this colour - I guess I haven't had the opportunity to compare it with Always Artichoke - based on the catalogue colours they look very much alike :-)

Hip Hip Hooray - summer is here

Card Base from Hip Hip Hooray card kit #134998, p.197 in the new catalogue

I know, this stamp set is not by Stampin'Up! but I just thought it to be so cute I had to use it.

The stamp actually has all the 5 bird houses in one stamp, but the birds are individual PHOTOPOLYMER stamps.

Why am I highlighting that they are photopolymer?? well.. once you peel the stamps off from their background (with the image), I had the darnest time to figure out which way is up and where are their legs :-)

so once I figured it out, I placed the birds on the stamped houses where I want them to stand, THEN pressed the acrylic blog on the stamps. 

The bird houses and the birds are coloured using various Blendabilities markers from Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Neutrals sets.

The ribbon is retired burlap ribbon, the embellishment is from Essentials Wooden Elements #132258, p. 209 in the catalogue and the sticker on top of the element is from Epic Day Designer Stickers #131271, p. 191

Zentangling Blended Bloom

I happened to run into a entangling sample by Lydia Fiedler, and I just had to try it. Unfortunately I didn't have a sharp enough marker (a fellow demonstrator suggested using the Project Life marker, mine was just your regular office version).



All the Zentangling samples I have seen, are beautiful. I think mine became a bit too busy and I'm not at all sure if I have the patience to sit still long enough to do all the zentanging :-)

My card's background is done with Work of Art stamp set.





Here is Lydia's Zentangling tutorial
Enjoy and have fun!

Super Heroes are here!!!

I gasped when I saw the latest posting from Stampin'Up!

They just came out with a new Photopolymer stamp set called "Calling All Heroes" and it has all the stamps needed to create REALLY cool cards and scrapbook pages for kids - and why not adults too!! At least I have a DESPERATE need to get this stamp set (and I just placed an order last week)  - oh well....


This stamp is so cool - you can use for kid's birthday cards and invites (boys and girls alike) and I'm thinking Halloween treats... 



here are some images from Stampin'Up! related to this stamp set - Let me know if you got as excited as I did :-)

Making Jewelry!

During this stay in Finland, I wanted to adventure into other kinds of crafts too.

sparkly black necklace almost ready

My mom has taken some courses in jewelry making, so I needed to pick her brain to learn this hobby too. And I have to say, it's easier than I thought - well... I've stuck to the more simple designs. 

Hardest part for me has been selecting the beads for the work. And sometimes I have a vision, but then I cannot find the kind of beads I want. I'm now at the point where I'm planning on entering the online store world of beading :-)

"key chain"

I guess my biggest problem with online orders is that I really don't know the lingo, so my searches bring zero results. But I'm learning - bead by bead

I still have a lot to learn, I'm not sure if I even dare to try necklaces, where you have to make the chain yourself. I think I'll just stick to wire, stretchy cords and leather. I have done one bracelet with memory wire (the one that keeps it's shape and you can wrap it around your wrist), but I haven't taken a picture of it.

My biggest project so far has been a bracelet, which I will reveal later :-)

Blended Bloom and blendabilities

This was my "first" stamp to use the new blendabilities pens

The polaroid frame is made with core'dinations paper, but you can easily use any natural tone card stock to achieve the same look. I rubbed some early espresso ink on it with a sponge to bring out the texture.

So far I only have the Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Naturals - colour choices. so I opted to use the naturals on this flower. I kind of like how it turned into this pale pink tone.

The subtle background on the card is made with "work of art" stamp set using pool party, crumb cake and early espresso inks (I stamped off the card several times before stamping the faded image on the card base.

I also coloured some of the Natural 5/8" Chevron ribbon with the natural blendabilities markers - I really LOVE how they turned out!

New Catalogue is HERE!

Annual Catalogue 2014-2015