Back after a loooong break

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!

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A birthday card and a toot

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

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Message in a bottle

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

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Lord of the Rings and my beautiful girl

We’re having wonderful summer weather and it makes it hard to get much done, but I have managed to make a few things.

I turned these photos into sepia for a more vintage look and used sketch # 57 on Creative Scrappers for the design. The papers areBasic Grey and Cosmo Cricket. Stamps are from Prima, Making Memories and Stamperia. There is a coat of white acrylic paint and then Distress Crackle Paint in Aged Mahogany on the cardboard hearts. The lace is from my stash and I have hand stitched around the edges.

Here is a closer view of my hearts.

My husband’s nephew had a birthday yesterday and with him being a HUGE Lord of the Rings fan (something I totally have in common with him…) I thought he’d enjoy a themed card. So I spent some time on the Internet (as if I don’t do that enough as it is!) looking for images to print.

I have also used a frame from Kristine on all the images. The sentiment tag says Happy Birthday in Elvish (yes, I’m also terribly geeky…)  and it can be liftet up for an English version.

On the inside I’ve printed a map of Middle Earth and distressed it a lot. For the greeting spot I’ve used Nestabilities Labels One.

The back of the card.

Well, that’s what I had to show today. Thank you for stopping by. Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Minna

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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

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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!

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Mojo Monday #73

I needed a birthday card and decided to do the sketch on Mojo Monday blog. Love their sketches and this was no different. I coloured the stamped flower from Reprint with Distress inks, the paper is from Italian Stamperia, the button is from a sewing shop in Grottaferrata, Italy, that sells all kinds of vintage buttons, lace etc. The sentiments stamp is from Reprint, I think. The flower is cut out and popped up on dimensionals and all edges are distressed.

Thanks so much for looking!

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Birthday card for a football fan

My husband’s nephew is a huge football (soccer) fan and I tried to come up with something a little different for him. I find it really hard to think of something fun for 9-year old boys. Well, since we live in Rome it felt only natural to pay tribute to AS Roma and their star player, Totti.

Here’s the back of the card

And the inside as well

I used the new papers from Stamperia I bought recently and the book page is a vintage find in a market place in Rome.

Thanks for looking and ciao for now!

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Back from a blogging break

I’ve had a bit of a break, although it turned out longer than I planned or wanted. Just life getting in the way, I guess. Anyway, yesterday I sat down and made a card that hubby needed to send. I used some new papers I bought the other day, by an Italian company called Stamperia. I have come across their stamps before, but this was the first time I saw any of their papers and I like them a lot.

The sentiment is heat embossed using Egyptian black embossing powder (it shimmers in many colours, it’s kind of cool!), all layers are distressed and inked with Distress inks. The Magnolia stamp is coloured with Distress inks as well. This was my first time trying to colour images with them and I love how it turned out, although I obviously still need a lot of practice! The ribbon matches the green of Tildas dress very well, but it doesn’t show well here.

The inside of the card is decorated as well. I used a stamp from Prima’s Crenee Paris set.

The back of the card is decorated with the same patterned paper as the front and the inside, but I don’t have a photo of it.

Thanks for visiting!

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Magnolia birthday card

Here’s a new card I made with one of the new Tildas I got before Christmas. I have been busy practicing colouring with the Koh-I-Noor pencils and I think I see improvement. Last week I got some blending stumps and OMS from a local artists’ supply store as there are no scrap stores to be found around here. I have read that the stumps from China are way inferior to the ones from Taiwan and of course the only stumps they had were from China. Sigh. Anyway, either due to the stumps or my lack of talent I have not been able to get the stumps to blend as well as the Dove pen I have, so I guess I’ll just stick to the pen for now. 🙂

The background paper is from 29th Street Market, the matting behind the image panel is from Basic Grey and the number 9 is cut out from Crate paper. Oh, and there’s diamond stickles on Tilda’s wings.

I just ordered a bunch of new Magnolia stamps and I can’t WAIT to get my hands on them! My husband is going to be pleased as punch when time comes to tell him that I spent one month’s grocery money on this stuff. 😀

Thanks for looking!

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