March comes in as a lion, goes out as a lamb

this proverb surely is true today!
The beginning of the month was SO cold and today we have clear blue skies and beautiful sunny day!

While the temperatures are still below +10C, I have my little seedlings growing in the dining room. Some are doing better than the others... we will see what happens to the ones that still show no sign of life. I have another batch to plant in jars - just waited a bit since they should not take that long to grow.

But, this proverb and my little seedlings prompted me to post this super easy card.

It is using the Sweet Sadie washi tape (annual catalogue p.190), 'Mixed Bunch' stamp set (annual catalogue p.151). The flower was stamped with Smoky Slate ink, which was punched out with the Blossom punch, (p.219). The greeting is from 'For You' stamp set (p.19).

I also embellished the centre of the flower with Pearl Basic Jewels (p.209), which I coloured with some pastel sharpies. You can also colour your Rhinestones with the sharpies.

Let's hope this beautiful weather continues. Although I would not mind some cold nights - still hoping to get some downhill skiing done during the easter break!

Feathers with trimmings

sounds like a Thanksgiving posting ;-)

This card is done using Four Feathers stamp set (Bermuda Bay ink) and cutting them out with the  matching framelits die. There is a Bermuda Bay button and linen thread bow on top of the feathers.

The background has a border stamp from Mosaic Madness stamp set (Crumb Cake ink)

The inspiration came from Toneale Williams. Her feathers were more elaborate and she had used heat embossing on them, but I needed to cut some corners with this. She also used different background border stamp

The ribbons are burlap and Venetian Crochet Trim. The base is Crumb Cake layered with Whisper White, which was spritzed with Bermuda Bay ink. 

TIP: I recommend using rubbing alcohol (available at drug stores near bandages and disinfecting solutions) rather than water. Alcohol dries faster than water on the paper, so you get less damage on your paper. I recommend also starting adding the ink in your liquid carefully and testing the colour step by step. You can always sprits multiple times and get more colour. My Bermuda Bay spritzer is very light.

You can never have too much happy

This card was cased from a fellow demonstrator, Laurie Krauss. It uses Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand & Early Espresso inks.

The background has some splatter stamps from Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. The ribbons are Burlap, Natural Chevron and the Calypso Coral Pompom trim from the spring Occasions catalogue.  There is also a small piece of Golden sequin trim and linen thread. 




The greeting is from Yippee-Skippee stamp set. I inked the edges of the two circles with Early Espresso ink and stamping spot.

The leafs behind the circles are from a hostess set Bloom with Hope, but you could easily use any stamp with leafs, flowers or just add more splatter!

I like how it is simple and elegant, but even though it looks simple, it took me some time to arrange all the pieces and adhering that pompom trim... nightmare!

TIP: if you can, add a glue dot behind some of the pompoms. If not, try looping the string part of the pompom trim behind the card stock or hiding it behind an embellishment and just add a piece of tape to hold it in place. You can try to trim one pompom flatter and tuck that behind an embellishment but be careful, you easily cut too much off and end up cutting the trim.

Oh and don't forget to check the clearance rack on Stampin'Up! store. They added some new items there this week!

Summer is almost here........ NOT!!

okay, this duo of cards perfectly suits today's weather!

Few days ago it seemed like the spring was here, and I could actually see patches of grass on our front yard. Then Saturday happened - and wet snow. So the ground was again covered. 

And not to stop there, last night it got really cold, so now we are at -18 C with wind chill making it feel like -24 C

cased from Peggy Outen

So, here to display the weather changes with two cards, both using 'work of art' stamp set.

The colours in the original were a bit different. I just went with different shades of blue.

I love this card with the snow man!! I got this idea from Pinterest.

The hat is with Wild Washabi, eyes and mouth with Smoky Slate, nose with Tangelo Twist and the scarf with Real Red.

The face should have been a bit higher, I feel like he is drowning in his scarf ;-)

March break madness

well... you know what I mean - right?
You travel, you return home, do laundry, stack the fridge and all of a sudden the whole week has gone by in a blink of an eye!

Well, that's how I feel.

I had created several cards the previous week with the intention of posting a project every day... oh well...

another thing I had planned, is to sort through my 'retired scrap' pile. You know the pile where you collect all your left over ribbons and small pieces of card stock and Designer Series paper. In this case, it was my retired product pile that I wanted to go through.

This pile would be used to create cards for my personal use, to give as gifts for my family etc. since I cannot use them in my classes or workshops.

But, the pile just got larger since I took this picture. Maybe it's time to sort through it with a rough hand and toss at least all the small bits and pieces

Now finally to a new card!

This one was created using 'Love is kindness' stamp set (single stamp) from the spring Occasions catalogue.

I stamped it with black Momento Ink and coloured the flowers using blender pen and ink pads (calypso Coral and Pear Pizzazz). I was planning on using the blendabilities on this, but on the same day I created this, they had pulled the markers out of the market due to faulty product :-(

There is no information or dates to give to you on when they will be back. The manufacturer was not able to fix the miniature holes in the pen tips, which caused the alcohol ink to dry. So I guess it is back to the drawing table for Stampin'Up! with regards to finding a new manufacturer for the pens. This must take some time and a lot of testing!

The paper behind this card is 'Typeset' Specialty Designer Series Paper. The base is Basic Black card stock. I also attached a piece of Whisper White card stock inside the card, since you cannot really write your greeting on a black card with any other colour than white, gold or silver (and I don't have good experience with those - they always get blogged and the ink does not run smoothly)

Tomorrow I have 2 cool cards created with Work of Art stamp set. See you then!

New Sale-A-Bration product added

Stampin'Up! has added some more new items on to their Sale-A-Bration selection.

This is due to the blendabilities product line being cancelled.

Also note, that all the sale-a-bration items are available as long as they last. No backorders are available for these.

Here are the latest additions to the FREE items

Craft room projects

I'm still working on my craft room .... I guess this means I have a lot (too much???) stuff to organize :-)

I was working today on some memory boards. I saw this idea about a year ago on Pinterst and was reminded of it when visiting my friend Patricia's house the other week. We both LOVE this retired Stampin'Up! designer series paper (I cannot recall the name but it has been retired for at least 4 years now). Anyways, Patricia had used this paper on her boards and I remembered that I still had several sheets in my private 'stash'

I had hard time figuring out where I would place my clip boards, but found a perfect place at the end of my book case. I had 3 large boards and one tiny one, and as you can see, I'm not organized enough yet to have anything really hanging there :-)

Well I did have a free coffee coupon for Stockmann's department store back home in Finland.... Maybe I remember to take it with me next summer.... :-)

I also have a bad habit to keep small scraps and extra bits and pieces in a bin.... Guess how often I go to that bin.... 

These bins are actually all retired products and papers... Maybe I should just be brutal and dump it all... Without looking into it too much...

Maybe one day my craft room will be organized enough to actually post some pictures of it... Right now it has a guest bed headboard in the middle of room. I'll post a separate post about this project when it's at its final stages :-)

Looking forward to this spring... And really getting things in order at the house!