Life has been hectic, to say the least. We moved back to Sweden 2 weeks ago, and left our Italian adventure behind us. We’ve had some amazing experiences there and I will miss so many things. Still, I’m glad to be home.

The creative side of my life has definitely taken a backseat in this turbulent time, but I have something to share that I managed to find time to make over a month ago. It was my son’s birthday and here’s what he got from me.

Recipe:

Stamps: Panduro (boy and letters), Prima (background)

Inks: Distress inks, Versacolor

Papers: cardstock, Basic Grey (Marrakech)

Other: Koh-I-Noor pencils, Dove blender pen, Stickles.

Thanks for looking!

I made my first card for the fabulous Norwegian challenge blog Sukkersött. Their design team is enormously talented and I’ve been inspired by them for a long time, but this is the first time I’m actually entering a card.

Here’s this Friday’s sketch:

I made a Welcome To The World card for a friend’s newborn baby girl.

I used a lot of Distress inks (Antique Linen, Tattered Rose, Scattered Straw) to create the background and then I sprayed a generous amount of Glimmer mist in copper on top of that.  The patterned papers from 7 Gypsies  are distressed and inked with Walnut Stain Distress ink. The corner stamp from Prima is stamped with Versacolor in Onyx Black. The sentiment is computer generated and the image is downloaded from the Internet.

The heart is cut out using a template and inked using distress inks in Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord.

I made the back side of the card very simple. The stamp around the text is Prima and the patterned paper is the same as on the cardfront, from 7 Gypsies.

Recipe:

papers: 7 gypsies, bazzill

stamps: Prima, unknown alphabet stamp set

inks: Distress inks, Versacolor

other: Mini Mister, nestabilities, cuttlebug, edge distresser, metal heart from Stamperia, lace from stash.

Thanks for looking!

Minna

Saturday was World Cardmaking Day and I managed to get two cards done for challenges on the Splitcoast Stampers. For the first one I used this week’s sketch on the Midnight Madness blog.

The challenge on Splitcoast was to use a quote on the card. Here’s what I made.

Papers: Bazzill and Stamperia

Inks: Distress (Vintage Photo and Antique Linen), Versacolor (Onyx Black)

Stamp: Prima corner stamp

Other: Edge scraper, reprint brads, lace from stash, computer generated quote.

The second card I made was for the challenge called Gratitude, Chocolate and a sketch, in other words to use the sketch provided and use chocolate colour and make it a thank you card. As if I needed another one. Sigh.hre’s the card I made.

Papers: Bazzill cs

Inks: Distress  (Antique Linen and Vintage Photo), Versacolor (Onyx Black)

Stamps: freebie fairy stamp with a magazine (unknown brand), Reprint sentiment stamp

Other: prima flower, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nestabilities.

It was lots of fun to play along these challenges and I would have maybe done more except the time difference made it a little difficult.

Thanks for looking!

Minna

Two things to share today. First I made a card for the Just Magnolia challenge #24, which is a colour combo. Pink/grey and black is optional. I combined it with the sketch from Friday sketchers #71 and here’s the result.

recipe:

Paper: Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey pp

Stamps: Magnolia (edwin with roses), Prima and Stämpelgården (sentiment)

Ink: Distress inks, Versamark, Color Box

Other: Koh-I-Noor pencils, Dove blender, lace from stash, Fiskars border punch, half pearls, Nestabilities

The other thing is a toot. My card was featured on Scrapperlicious’ blog on Friday, how cool is that? Go check it out and leave a cooment!

Have a great week and pop back in soon again!

Minna

I was the incredibly lucky winner of Irene Tan’s (Scrapperlicious) blog candy a few weeks ago and I loved the stamp set I received in the mail. It is Irene’s own design and that girl is not only a seriously talented scrapper, but a very good stamp designer as well!

I sat down to play with my stamps almost immediately and this is what I came up with.

The background is made using Distress Inks in Weathered Wood and Faded Jeans and using Tim Holtz’ technique with Mini Misters (love those!) and a craft sheet. Then I stamped various images on it, a text stamp from Stamperia, postage stamp from Stamperia also, and a corner stamp from Panduro. Irene’s stamps are heat embossed on distressed and inked pieces of cardstock. The tag has an eyelet and raffia. The little rolled up piece of paper is also inked and distressed and tied with hemp for a nautical feel.

Thank you so much, Irene, for this beautiful stamp set! I know I am going to have so much fun with it!

Here’s a birthday card I made using a vintage photo downloaded from the internet.

The border stamp is made using two different Prima stamps from the Build-A-Frame set. I saw this on SasSa’s blog some time ago and adored the idea (and it is also on StampArtic’s site), so I tried it for myself and really like the look of it. Now I need to experiment with them to come up with variations! The background is made with Distress inks in tattered Rose and Milled Lavender and tons of copper Glimmer Mist (and oh boy, does it ever glimmer! LOL). The image sits on a panel embossed with Cuttlebug’s script folder, which is distressed and inked with Brushed Corduroy. The blue border is created with Fiskar’s Sunburst punch. The flowers are from a local craft shop, where they make their own flowers (aren’t they pretty?) and I have also used hemp around the image and lace underneath it. The sentiment stamp is from Stämpelboden.

That’s all I have to show today. Thanks for stopping by and all comments are hugely appreciated!

Minna

I found this new challenge blog, called Let’s Get Shabby, last month and loved the concept and the LOs I saw there, but just didn’t have time to make a page for the challenge what with vacations and everything. This month I wanted to take part but, oh my, I know now why it’s called a challenge! This month’s task was to make a white LO with only a hint of another colour. WHITE! I don’t do white. Like ever.

So here I am, 20 minutes late, computer problems (and not just procrastination…). Bummer.

I will post my LO anyway as I’m kind of pleased with how it turned out, finally. The “hint” of another colour turned out to be more like a “splash”, but oh well…

I’ve used a lot of Perfect Pearls, white acrylic paint, light green chalk and Antique Linen distress ink.

And a close up of one corner.

Thanks for looking!

Minna

I found this neat blog with lots of inspiration for using the Cuttlebug. What’s also cool is that Sonia is offering a really cool collection of stuff for one lucky winner. So hop on over and take a look! The candy ends on September 30th!

Oh, and through her blog I also found a really nice sketch challenge blog that I think I may have to whip up a card for! As if the day has enough hours for everything I need to do, much less stuff I want to do…

My sister-in-law had a new baby girl in May and I made a card to welcome the little one, but unfortunately the card got lost in the mail. Here is the new card I made for her.

Here’s a close-up of the flowers and the image. The heart is stamped with watermark and then heat embossed with clear powder. It is then inked with Milled Lavender Distress ink.

Here is the inside of the card.

A close-up of the tag. It is an image transfer I made quite some time ago, using a printed image and then transferred with Mod Podge onto the tag for a shabby distressed look. The tag is then inked with Walnut Stain Distress ink and heat embossedwith clear powder.

The back of the card

Recipe:

Papers: Cardstock and Prima paper

Stamps: Panduro and Prima

Inks: Distress Inks, Versamark

Other: Fiskars border punch, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, flowers from stash, clear embossing powder.

Thank you for looking!

The challenge on the Just Magnolia blog is distressing this week, so how could I resist entering? It is my first time joining in this challenge, but I’m sure it won’t be my last! I used this week’s gorgeous sketch on the Truly Scrumptious blog.

This photo doesn’t show it but the snow flake (a Nestie die) has a coat of Crackle Accent on the Broken China distress ink and it looks really cool IRL. The image is coloured with Distress Inks.

There is a lot of distressing, all papers are inked and scraped for a worn look.

Recipe:

papers -  unknown cardstock and Basic Grey’s Figgy Pudding patterned paper

stamps – Magnolia, Reprint (sentiment), Prima (frame around the text on the back of the card)

Inks – Distress inks (Broken China, Old Paper, Brushed Corduroy, Scattered Straw, Tea Dye, Weathered Wood), Versafine (Black) and Versamark embossing pad

Other – Nestabilities (Snowflake die, Labels 1), Cuttlebug, Crackle Accent, lace from stash, half pearl, clear embossing powder.

Thanks so much for looking.

Ciao tutti!

I am so happy! The Basic Grey challenge blog is back in business after a super long break. And they offer candy! Hop on over to check it out.