A quick card

We’re back from a week in Geneva, Switzerland and although it’s been a fantastic vacation, I have missed my scrap stuff. It is such a big part of almost each and every day for me. Of course the kids have taken turns running really high fevers since we got back, just to make it a little harder for me to have some therapy time at my scrap table (well, dining room table, but whatever)…

I wanted to make a thank you card for our friends who put us up in Geneva and I also wanted to participate in the Thinking Inking classes held over at 2 Peas in a Bucket. So.

Here’s what I made.

I inked the cardstock with Dried Marigold (distress ink) then placed some punched flowers in the bottom and inked over the whole thing with Broken China ink. I then took some Perfect Pearls powder and water on a brus and flicked it over. I attached the flower, made the leaves, stamped the sentiment and that’s it. Easy and quick and I think it turned out kind of nice. A bit darker than I planned, but whatever.

Oh, the frame around the photo? Downloaded for free from the awesome Kristine from her blog where she also has some Photoshop tutorials that are fabulous! And her cards? Stunning. Check it out for yourself!

Thanks for stopping by!

Creative Scrappers sketch #56

Here’s another LO I made of my girl. It’s about how she’s learning to talk and the funny words she uses. She has a juice addiction, but she calls it “chi”.

I used last week’s sketch over on Creative Scrappers.

Papers: Diane’s Daughters, Crate paper, Basic Grey

Inks: Distress inks, Versacolor

Chipbord: Lil Davis Design that I painted over with acrylic paints

Other: cardboard, cuttlebug (Labels 1), lace from stash.

Thanks for looking!

Izabella

I took these pics of my girl back in March and thought I’d use them to write a little about our favourite park here in Grottaferrata. It’s so worn down, most things are broken, yet it’s the one closest to us, it’s sort of cozy and we spend many mornings there. As our time in Italy is nearing its end I feel the need to document more about our life here.

Anyway.

Paper:  Generic cardstock, Crate Paper
Stamps: Prima Build-a-Frame and Build-a-Swirl, Inque Boutique (title)
Inks: Versacolor Black, Distress inks (Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Spiced Marmelade, Fired Brick)
Other: Cuttlebug and swirl die, Photoshop Elements (photo strip), Prima flowers, brads

Thanks for looking!

The Age of Innocence

I just found this new sketch blog, called Twisted Sketches and I just had to play along with their first sketch. The twist to this sketch was that one had to use ribbon (or such, I used lace).

And here’s my interpretation of the sketch. I flipped it over to suit my photo.

I just love this paper from 29th Street Market. The green gingham paper is from my old stash (like really old, one of the first papers I ever bought, about 3-4 years ago) and since I am challenging myself to use up my old stash, so there you go. The book page is from an old book I bought at a market place in Rome. And of course there is a LOT of inking with Distress Inks, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain.

The title of the LO is The Age of Innoncence, because that is what I think of when I look at my two babies, so totally fascinated by the small things in life, such as these flowers. I am already feeling nostalgic about the day when they will no longer take the time to sit down on a field of flowers and study them, admire them, smell them and then bring me a handful of them, saying: these are for you mommy.

A bit of this, a bit of that

Here are a few cards that I made in May, but forgot to show here.

I had help with this first one. My son, Oliver (3.5 yo), wanted to make a card for his grandma who is recovering from a complicated knee surgery. He proceeded to punch out the hearts and flowers, paint them with acrylic paints and glue them to the panel that I had prepared for him. Isn’t that just amazing, considering his age? Maybe I’m biased, but I do think I might have a future crafter in him… He has so much fun doing crafty things and loves watching me do them too. It’s adorable.

The image on this one is a stamp from Stämpelboden. I’ve coloured it with Distress inks, which I’m still learning how to do, so obviously the result is such as it is. I’ve used an embossing folder on the base card and inked over it with distress inks to bring out the pattern more.

I liked how the embossed pattern looked on the inside of the card, so I didn’t cover it up when I decorated it.

The backside is very simple. The stamp around the text is from Prima. I have a love thing for Prima’s stamps.

The last card I have to show today was for my husband’s brand new niece. Unfortunately it seems to have gotten lost in the mail so they never received it. Very disappointing, obviously.

It’s another z-card, which I learned from SaSsa’s blog (link is in a post below). The teddybear is coloured with Koh-I-Noor pencils and a Dove blender pen.

The tag has a poem about babies written on it. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey. The stamped frame is from Prima, of course.

Now I need to figure out if I’ll make another similar card for the baby or something totally different. I really do want to make another card though, as having a new baby is such an important event and I want her to one day know how happy we were welcome her to the family. And I am dying to see her! We are going to visit them in Poland in August if everything works out as we plan.

Thanks for looking!

Ultimate Card Showdown at 2S4Y

One of my favourite sketch blogs, 2Sketches4You, is celebrating its 1st anniversary and how could I resist taking part in this most fabulous of showdowns?

This is Laura’s sketch # 27

And here’s my interpretation of it.

I made a cover for a minialbum that I will use to collect sketches, ideas, inspiration – well, whatever comes to mind that could come in handy when I am desperately looking for some mojo…

The patterned papers are Crate Paper. I’ve used a Fiskar’s border punch, a Prima stamp, Spellbinders label 1 and Cuttlebug’s Script embossing folder. And distress inks, of course!

I had so much fun making this and it came together unusually fast (but then I’m the world’s slowest crafter, so that doesn’t mean much) !

Thanks for looking!

A card and a LO

Wow, it’s been a long time since I updated this blog! It’s not that I haven’t been busy with several projects, it’s rather that I haven’t uploaded the photos from the camera. Slacker!

Here is a card and a LO I did for a friend’s birthday last week. The card was inspired by SasSa who makes the most amazing cards. She in turn links to another blog where there is a video tutorial for this card, but I have followed SasSa’s lead on this.

This is a stamp from Stämpelboden and I coloured it with distress inks. I don’t have photos of the inside or back of the card, but for the inside I’ve used stamps from Prima to make a frame for the text.

Here’s a LO I did for my friend. I took this pic of her with her daughter a few weeks ago and I loved it so much I thought it would make a great scrapbook page.

All stamps are from Prima, the paper is Crate paper and sheet music is a vintage find at a market place in Rome.  The background paper is made with distress inks.

Thanks so much for looking!

Cheers,
Minna

A card for the Friday Sketchers challenge

I needed a birthday card and I decided to play along the sketch challenge on the Friday Sketchers blog. The card is for a baby, but I have decided that I am utterly incapable of making a decent looking traditional card for a baby, so I am just going to stick with what I like.

The Tilda image is coloured with Koh-I-Noor pencils and a Dove blender pen. The flower stamp is coloured with distress inks. All edges are distressed with Antique Linen ink. There is stickles on the flowers, the bling on them is from Heidi Swapp.  The frame around the text on the back of the card is a stamp from Prima. Oh, by the way, I am having such a blast with my new Spellbinders Labels dies!

Thanks for looking!

Blog Candy

I have been blog-hopping some and come across these fabulous blog candies that I couldn’t resist entering…

Debbie’s blog candy runs until April 30th and the prize is jaw-droppingly awesome so be sure to pop in to her blog. And while you’re there do take a good look at her fabulous creations.

Kim has candy until May 2nd to celebrate her 1 year blogoversary! Congrats to Kim and go check out this talented gal’s blog right now!

Tracie celebrates her birthday on April 28th and offers blog candy until May 5th! Now this girl knows how to use the colour pink so head on over and check out her wonderful creations as well as signing up for her candy!

Donna offers candy until May 15th as a celebration of reaching 10,000 hits and also because of her newly launched crafting CDs. Check these out, I had a blast doing so! And congrats to Donna on the amount of visitors!

Lori has blog candy until April 29th  and besides enjoying looking at her beautiful cards, I fell in love with her dog. See for yourself, I dare you to resist that cutie!

Desire celebrates 20,000 hits on her fantastic blog and offers a yummilicious prize, whic runs untl June 8th. I have just spent way too much time on her blog, gawking at her photos and her amazing cards, what a unique style she has! Hop on over and leave her some blog love.

Now get busy and visit these blogs! I’ll be back tomorrow with photos of some new projects I’ve done lately.

Ciao!

Book Of Me

I started a Book of me a couple of years ago, but I deserted the project quickly, I guess making LOs about myself feels oddly narcissistic. I do think it’s important, though, to make such an album. I’m always the one taking photos – I’m rarely in them – and I do want to show my kids and future grandkids what I was like when I was younger.

So.

There is a challenge over on Creative Scrappers and, although I’m joining it late, I’m making an effort to catch up.

Here’s my first LO. The challenge was to describe myself in ten or so words and to use a photo no more than two months old. I made this in 8×8, hoping that it will be easier for me to actually finish these LOs quickly, but instead I find myself frustrated by the lack of space! The photo of me isn’t the best, but it is the most recent. Let’s face it, I don’t have many to choose from… It was taken by my friend Reilika when I was showing her around in Rome.

I made the LO using a sketch by the super talented Moma, check out her stuff, she is amazing!

The papers are from Crate paper (the one with circles) and from Basic Grey (Recess). Stamps I used are from Prima (the frame around the photo and the journaling spot). The chipboard is from We R memory Keepers. The border punch is from Fiskars. I also used lots of Distress inks here.

That’s it for today. I’m still hard at work on a mini album that I will share here as soon as it’s done, which might be a few more weeks, since we’re leaving for a vacation on Tuesday.

Ciao and thanks for stopping by!