Coloring on Kraft with Distress Inks

This is the first time I use my Distress Ink pads to color an image. The image is stamped on kraft and I've used these inks to color with: Old Paper, Wild Honey, Fired Brick, Walnut Stain, Faded Jeans and Black Soot.

This Venetian stamp is from Penny Black - I think it makes a great holiday image- I love to travel to cities for short holiday breaks. I've never been to Venice, but I've been in Rome and Milan.

The sentiment is a sticker and the post card stamp came free with a magazine. I've used Spellbinders dies to make the kraft card base. I sprayed with some peach glimmer mist for a bit of sparkle.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Come and Get It Challenges - Let's Go on a Holiday
2) LEJ Designs - #68 Holiday & Travel
3) Make it Monday - Anything Goes 

Vintage Card with Flowers, Ribbon and a Brad

This week we want to see flowers, ribbon and brads over at the Outlawz Twisted Thursday. You can make whatever you want, in any style you like, as long as you include these 3 elements in your project. You might be the lucky winner of 5 images from MY BESTIES, our sponsor for the month of August.
For my card I've used a vintage image of two adorable girls having a tea party. The papers I've used are a mix of leftovers, all in beige color tones. I used a set of Marianne Craftables dies to make the tea cup and saucer. The set also includes a spoon, but I went with a metal one instead and attached it to my bow made of seam binding ribbon. I've also used a Memory Box dies for the corner swirl, and I've used flowers, a pearl brad and pearls. For the card base I've used dies from Go Kreate.

This card is also for these challenges:
1) Totally Gorjuss - #198 Bows
2) Digi Sketch Challenge - Sketch and/or Vintage
3) Pile It On - #34 Designer Paper (4 different DPs+the image)
4) Creative Craft Challenges - #17 Not A Square
5) Whimsical Designs - Something old (flowers), something new (Go Kreate dies)
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Vintage Christmas Card with Santa

I made this card using papers from Maja Designs and a Christmas sentiment tag stamp from LOTV. The layout is inspired by this month's sketch over at House of Cards, and they want to see vintage or shabby chic cards  this week. I went with a Christmas theme as I really need to get the pile of Christmas cards to grow! I mounted the Santa, circle cut from a DP, to a die cut of kraft, decorated with white gesso and pearls. I added a strip of burlap for texture - I gave it the gesso treatment as well - and some seam binding ribbon. I machine stitched around the edges with a glitter thread - I think this card needed just a little bit of sparkle.

This card is for these challenges:
1) House of Cards - August Sketch + Shabby & Vintage
2) Crafty Boots - Christmas
3) Paper Playtime - Use Pearls
4) Crafty Catz - #195 Real or Faux Stitching with option of Material
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes 

Shaker Card with a Background made of Ink and Mist

I've been playing with ink and mist for this card. I've made my own background paper using a stamp with scripture from Kort&Godt. I inked it up with Wild Honey Distress Ink, then I sprayed the paper with Peach Delight Glimmer Mist. The frame came from a paper set from IKEA, the sentiment is a Prima cling stamp. I added acetate so that I could make a shaker card with gold star sequins. The inside is also sprayed with glimmer mist. I added a glittery butterfly with pearls from Panduro and some golden star gems. The edges have been machine stitched with golden thread.
The layout is inspired by Marina's card for the CASE challenge over at Inkspirational. I replaced the doily shape with the frame, added a winged creature and used golden gems.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #34 CASE
2) 2 Sisters - #158 Square Cards
3) A Gem of a Challenge -#94 Anything with a B (Butterfly)
4) Allsorts - #221 Use Acetate
5) Top Tip Tuesday - #108 Initials (Peach color and Pearls for my first name, Shaker card and Stitching for my family name)
6) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

My Favorite Things

I'm so excited about sharing my first card as a DT member of the Outlawz "Twisted Thursday" team! For those of you who're not familiar with this challenge  there's an "Anything Goes with a Twist" challenge each week. Basically, make whatever you want, just follow the theme, or "twist". This week's twist is to "use your favorite things". It can't get easier than that, can it!

For my card I've used a digi from our August sponsor - MY BESTIES. You could win 5 images from Sherri’s fantastic collection. Christmas is my favorite time of year, so I decided to go with one of the Christmas images. I loved coloring this image! Normally I need to color up a new image several times before I'm satisfied, but this is actually my first attempt. I like how it turned out, using Promarkers in different shades of red, green and grey.
My favorite elements that I've used for this card are Maja Designs papers, my embossing folder with spots and my sewing machine for stitching. I've also used a dies from Marianne for the tree, postmark stamps from Kort&Godt and Frosted Lace Stickles for the ground.

I hope you'll take the time to join us in the fun!



This card is also for these challenges:
1) Crafty Boots - Christmas
2) That Craft Place - Stitch Real or Faux
3) Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - #29 Christmas Stitches
4) 613 Avenue Create - #33: Anything Goes incl. twist: Use Stitching
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Gold, sparkle and shine

Another card using my new LOTV sentiment stamp set! I'm so glad I got these stamps, I think they're great for sentiment only cards, which I'm quite hooked on at the moment. The embossing is not uneven - the stamps actually have that distressed look.
I wanted to make a card that really sparkles, so I chose to heat emboss with gold glitter embossing powder. I've used a Spellbinder M-bossabilities folder for the gold paper I've used as background. The paper has a nice shimmer. The gold metallic stars were cut using Sizzix dies, and I also added some gold gems.

This card is for these challenges: 
1) House of Cards - August Sketch + Classic & Elegant
2) Dream Valley Challenges - #63 Monochrome
3) Pile It On - #33 No Designer Paper.
4) Craft Room Challenge - Something New
5) Lexi's Creations - Sparkle & Shine
6) Stamp and Create - Glitter
7) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Sentiment and Silhouette

I just came home from a trip to the west coast of Norway and I was so happy to see that my package from LOTV had arrived. I just couldn't wait to try one of my new stamps, so I stamped the sentiment with black ink on kraft and added clear embossing powder. I just love the vintage look of this sentiment. I also love silhouette images, and this one is from a stamp set from Kort&Godt. I gave the image the same treatment as the sentiment.
My choice of background DP, a leftover with letters and numbers, was actually my starting point for this card design - I immediately thought of using it when I spotted the Inkspirational photo. I mounted the DP on a panel of beige paper and distressed the edges. I used letter stickers to complete the sentiment. The letters stickers and image have been mounted on foam. And voilà - a rather quick and easy male card!

This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #33 Photo
2) Aud Sentiments Challenge - #8 Anything but a birthday card with a sentiment
3) Paper Crafting Journey -Distressed/Vintage
4) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

CAS Chihuahua

This little chihuahua called Spike lives over at Mo's Digital Pencil. My sister's got a chihuahua, and that  was my primary motivation for getting this digi. But her dog's name is Emma, so I needed to make Spike look a bit more feminine, hence the pink background and the bling on the collar. I colored the image with Promarkers and fussy cut it.
If you're not familiar with chihuahuas just take a look at the program "Dog Whisperer". As Cesar Millan says: "And we're changing the world, one chihuahua at the time". Emma is totally adorable but sometimes quite a little monster too, and that's why I chose this sentiment, from a set of Whimsy stamps. I stamped with black ink on kraft paper, which I tore.
I used  a black pen to make the doodle lines - it's a technique I haven't used much myself, but I like the effect of it on others cards, so wanted to give it a go. I also used kraft paper for the card base and the panel for the circle - I think kraft and pink is a lovely color combination, but I rarely use pink, so I had to seize this opportunity! The pink paper for the circle is heat embossed with white embossing powder, using a brick wall stamp from Magnolia. It doesn't serve any other purpose than for me trying to reduce my scrap pile a bit, I made it for another card but ended up not using it then...


This card is for these challenges:
1) House of Cards - August Sketch, CAS
2) Sweet Stampin - Going Krafty
3) SweetStamps - #130 Bling
4) LEJ Designs - #66 Furry Friends
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Wedding card with lots of white and a little touch of pink and green

Sometimes things take a totally different direction. For this card I had planned to make it girly card, using paper with green spots and lots of die cut dresses. But I got distracted....
I started out making the card base using Spellbinder dies. Seeing my new stamp with text laying on the table, I wondered how it would look embossed with white embossing powder on white background. So I just wanted to check it out there and then. I liked how it turned out, so I cut it to size. Seeing all my white pearls I thought they would make a nice edge around the embossed paper. Pearls in place, but then I didn't feel my original plan would work with this new design  So I used one of the die cut dresses I had prepared (MB dies). Next I needed something masculine. Found a tutorial in a magazine on how to fold a shirt. Folded it and sprayed it with pearl Glimmer Mist. Needed something to place the dress and shirt onto, so I used my MB heart dies. It also got a round of glimmer mist. For the sentiment I used a banner stamp from Kaisercraft, also heat embossed with white, and I added a rub on sentiment to it. I admit there's not much pink and green on this card, but the dress has both colors. I also added pink metallic rub-on to the edges of the card base, but I was gentle with the amount, so it doesn't show in the picture, but I think it looks nice in real life.


This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #32 Colors
2) Tuesday Throwdown - #159 Don't be square
3) Crafty Boots - Die Cuts
4) Make it Monday - Anything Goes
 

Mermaid Thank You Card

This mermaid is from ADFD - isn't she gorgeous! She's currently available as a freebie here. I colored the image with Promakers and added some light blue pearls and baby blue Stickles around the edges. Afterwards I realized I had made a mistake. What I though was her fin is actually her hair. I don't think it matters and hope you'll agree with me... I attached the image to a background of blue Coredination paper. I used a Darice chevron embossing folder. I used sandpaper to make the pattern show better. I added a piece of cheesecloth for texture - it's been sprayed it with turquoise Perfect Pearls mist. The seashell is made with a Marianne die, I sprayed the kraft paper with pearl Glimmer Mist, the sparkle doesn't show in the photo, but it's really nice in real life. The sentiment ("thank you" in Norwegian) is made with letter stickers from Storyteller.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Great Impressions - Square card
2) Pattie's Creations - #73 Embossing
3) MilkCoffee Challenge - Show us your coloring skills
4) Crafty Creations - #234 Texture
5) Creative Moments - #23 Sea/shore
6) Penny's Paper-Crafty - #139 Dry embossing
7) Top Tip Tuesday - #107 Embossing
8) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

School Boy

One of my newphews is starting school on August, 19 and this card is for him. I can't believe he's already a school boy - how time flies! In Norway children start school the year they turn 6. His younger brother will start school next year, but he's so proud about being in the "purple class" of kindergarten - now he's among the eldest, and that's apparently a huge thing for him. I will make him a card too later on.

I used a digi from Teddy Bo for this card, it's called Bo's first day at school. I've colored the image with Promarkers in different shades of grey. The chalkboard paper is a digital one from Grepic. The sentiment translates "school boy" and is computer generated - I used Jokerman font.

The layout is inspired by the sketch over at "House of Cards". I cut out a circle and made this a shaker card - my very first! I added grey beads to make the pebbly ground, but they kind of went all over the place... I used a Marianne die to make the fence- cut it in the middle and used one section on each side of the circle.




This card is for these challenges:
1) House of Cards - August Sketch, Cute & Fun
2) Bearly Mine Challenges - #98 Tic Tac Toe (digi paper+circle+sentiment)
3) Addicted to Stamps and More - #57 Coloring (Promarkers)
4) ABC Challenges - Monochromatic (shades of grey)
5) Pile It On - #31 School Time
6) One Stop Craft - #237 Keep it Simple
7) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Birthday Cake

For this card I've used a digi from Mo's Digital Pencil called "Tall Cake". I've colored it with Promarkers in pastel colors.
The sentiment is from a Forever Friends stamp set, and I've heat embossed with pink embossing powder on kraft.
I've used kraft paper for the  card base and for the panels as well. The patterned papers are from Graphic45 "Little darlings".
The 3 buttons are from my stash.
The layout is inspired by the sketch over at "Sketch Saturday".

I enter this card into these challenges:
1) Sketch Saturday - #270 Sketch
2) Crafty Cardmakers - 1 image, 2 patterned papers, 3 embellishments
3) Artistic Inspirations - Bingo (Buttons+Digi+Layers)
4) Make it Monday with Kraft Outlet - Layers
5) Digi Galore - Birthday Blog Hop
6) Crafty Catz - #194 Pastel Colors
7) Make it Monday - Anything Goes 

CAS Feathers

There's not much to say about this card as it's a really simple design. Apart from the card base, this card has been entirely made of different paper scraps, all in different shades of grey. Even the embroidery thread is a leftover, from a cross-stitching set.
I chose to tear two of the paper panels - I like the simple effect of torn paper - and the feathers have been made with a set of dies from Magnolia. I also added 3 pearls.
I haven't added a sentiment though, and I'm not sure that I will. At least for now I'd like to keep my options open, as I think it can be used as a birthday card for a man or a woman, a thank you card, a thinking of you card, or even perhaps a with sympathy card...

This card is for these challenges:
1) Inkspirational - #31 Anything Goes
2) That Craft Place - Monochrome
3) LEJ Designs - #64 Distressing Or Paper Tearing
4) ABC Challenges - Use Scraps
5) Make it Monday - Anything Goes

CAS Just Keep Flying

Over at Clearly iStamp the challenge is to lift a card of the person who left a comment before you on their blog. I've never lifted before, so I thought this would be a great new challenge for me. I was to lift one of Suze's cards, and I could really chose from a large variety of designs! I decided to lift her "Just Keep Swimming" card - you can see her card at the bottom of this post. I chose it because I found it a really fun card  and it has such a great clean design.
I haven't had Word installed in my laptop until yesterday, and changing to Word gives so many more opportunities with digis! So I decided to give it a go with my silhouette butterflies from Digital Delights - I tried to vary their sizes and placing the sentiment like Suze did. I added shadows, colors and flipped them - so fun and so many possibilities I haven't had until now! I added 3 pearls and a white flower that I spritzed with peach glimmer mist. The colors are inspired by the photo challenge over at House of Cards.

This card is for these challenges:
1) Clearly iStamp - Lift The Person Before You
2) House of Cards - Photo Inspiration + Any Style (2nd entry: CAS)
3) One Stop Craft Challenge - #237 Keep it Simple
4) Addicted to CAS - #19 Summer
5) Seemacrafts - Butterfly

And this is the card I lifted, Suze's card - "Just Keep Swimming":