1, 2, 3 - P*skarteluhaaste #10

Now, this definitely is not cool. Had such a busy week filled with action through and trough that I had practically no time to craft at all. If working's like this then I might as well give up... well, perhaps not, but I'm not happy with the current situation. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, either I'm neglecting crafting or I'm neglecting everything else (freetime, family, friends, housework (which I'm neglecting all the same...)). Not cool, not one bit. Where could I get some more hours to a day? Anyone?

Managed to squeeze in just a tiniest bit of crafting, though, my ever-so-patient better half had a birthday and I just needed to make a card for him. Bought him a Transformers robot (yes, we're both grown-ups, at least by the years...), so of course the card needed a robot, too. I was inspired by robots in Finnstamper's Sari's blog, but I tried not to copy (now, how many different ways can you make a robot?!). This is also my entry for P*skarteluhaaste #10, where the recipe was to use 1 patterned paper, 2 ribbons and 3 brads. Nobody said anything about using embossed metal or corrugated card, though. I used ball chain as my second ribbon and added screw-shaped brads for a bit of a tech/mech feeling.

Stamp: Finnstamper
Ribbon: Artemio
Brads: You Do

Whee!

Been smiling like a lunatic for the whole day, tomorrow I'll be starting work at postal service! Been wanting to go back there for these past 2,5 years I've been away and now it's happening! Whee! Yay! Haven't been so excited for... a long time. I think I might be a bit daft with my passion for sorting post, but just can't help myself. A bonus factor is that I don't have to finish an uninspiring training course I started and found out to be not for me after all... And won't be unemployed anymore and will get paid for a job that I love (at least for a while, the contract is temporary). And actually got some positive feedback (and a job!) on my application letter, which normally tend to be hideously unimaginative. So, all in all, it's been a good day :) Only downside is that I don't get to craft as much as I did when unemployed and that work starts at 6 am, but I can live with that :)

I think this little froggy is as happy as I am. The card was truly a quickie, conjured it up in 15 minutes before running off to meet friends, which is really unusual for me (I tend to ponder over my stash again and again).

Stickers: Penny Black 'Pondside celebration' / Upikit
Card blank: CMPC
Paper: DCWV

Lil' birdie - JCC #76

Been making lots of these children's cards lately, this one's for JCC #76. A nice sketch, which I modified a bit for a "normal" card blank instead of a square one. I also had a clear vision of a stamp design for the stamped image (now that sounds a bit awkward), so I changed the centre picture from circle to square. For the boyish look, I used punched stars and buttons, plus just one flower. The chipboard number was a spare from an earlier card, so again it paid off to save everything...

Stamp: Imaginisce
Colours: Derwent Watercolour
Papers: HOTP / Canson
Punch: Tiimari
Ribbon: The Paper Studio
Flower and brads: HOTP
Buttons: Artemio / Rayher

Hello, sailor! - Friday Sketchers #71

This week Friday Sketchers had a nice sketch from which to work. I really loved this one since it gives so many opprtunities, you can either make it really simple and graphic or ornate as you like, it suits both options well. I think my version is somewhere in between. The optional element was distressing, which was bit difficult in this card, but I sanded the edges of the paint sample ("frayed" nicely) and I guess you could count the number stamp as distressing (and as a sentiment!) as well...

Stamp: Inkadinkado
Colours: Derwent Inktense
Papers: Rayher/ Sadolin paint sample
Punch: Woodware
Ribbon, eyelets: Artemio

I used Inktense pencils for colouring in the image but they just don't seem to work for me, I usually don't get the results I'd want, so might actually be giving up with them. Since I found the perfect red button from my stash (actually just bought that morning), I went so far as to stitch it in place to echo the buttons in the image.

Little princess - Friday Sketchers #70

I'm not a big fan of Magnolia's stamps. It's the same as with Moomins, their lack of mouths and muzzle-like faces are bit creepy. Having said that, here's my card for the Friday Sketchers' challenge #70, with Magnolia's little princess (I was rude and clipped her wings, I think the picture works better without them and I have issues with angels). It's a really girly card, with lots pink and pastels, flowers and pearls, and thus probably perfect for the little princess who's gonna get it on Saturday.

Papers: Tilda Crafts / Paper Adventures 'Baby Checks' / Tiimari
Stamps: Magnolia / Inkadinkado 'Artstamp Large'
Ink: Colorbox Cat's Eye 'Orchid'
Flowers: Prima / Tiimari
Pearls: BG Opaline
Flower brad: Sinelli
Liquid Pearls 'Pastel Raspberry', 'White Opal'
Glossy Accents

I need a job!

Oh dear, I've been a naughty, naughty girl for the past week. First, I splurged (yup, that's the word to describe it to a tee) ginormous amount of money onto stash when in Helsinki, then I've been steadily spending on second-hand stamps and other stuff for the past week. It seems that even my ever-so-patient better half is getting frustrated with me spending away... So I need to get a job to better justify why I need to get this or that supply. So far, my excuse has been my birthday, but I think people will start to wonder it at some point (luckily it's soon Christmas time...). For my defense I have to say I was a good girl today, too, and didn't order a lovely dress from Collectif... so that I could use the money on new stash. Sad, little me...

Here's another birthday cake card, I just love this cake stamp by Savvy Stamps. I meant the folded corner to extend a little further, but estimated it wrong. It's not too bad as it is, it's just that I had a different vision in my mind. The lovely cake paper was a freebie from a mag, and I finally got to use cut-out Tilda borders I'd bought ages ago, the patchwork had all the colours I needed. The doodled frame didn't come out at all like I wanted it to (now when do I learn to sketch with pencil first?!), but adding several layers of chalk to tone down the background in the "text box" saved the day.

Stamps: Savvy Stamps / PSX / Doodlebug 'Birthday'
Ink: Colorbox 'Cocoa' and 'Lime'
Scissors: Fiskars
Letter stickers: Upikit
Border: Tilda Crafts
Flower: Prima
Acrylic sticker: Accessorize

Pink & Brown - P*skarteluhaaste #5

I missed last week's P*skarteluhaaste, and was determined to make it this week. The challenge #5 was to use pink and brown, so I followed it to the letter.

Stamps: Savvy Stamps / Finnstamper
Inks: Distress Ink 'Walnut stain' / Fluid chalk
Paper: Basic Grey 'Blush' / Tilda 'Seaside'
Ribbon: Tilda
Punches: EK Success / Woodware
Die cut: Cricut Expression 'Plantin Schoolbook'
Brads: HOTP

I cut the big flower shape with my Cricut, nice to put that one into good use, usually it just collects dust on its shelf. I wanted rounded corners for the dotted paper, but that was a bit problematic, since it's actually the card blank. So I made a template from a square piece of card by rounding its corners with a corner punch, traced around it onto the reverse of the dark brown paper and cut the centre out. I used the edge here to frame my card and give the central panel the corners I wanted, the cut-out centre I can use in a future project. I was going to use more silk flowers on this card but couldn't fit them into design (they are from a cherry branch I bought on sale and have gorgeous shades of pink), but I only managed to use one and even that was difficult, should've glued the central flower more to the side... Another hard decision was how to add the greeting. In the end, I just cut a leaf shape freehand and stamped the greeting there.

Quilty kitty

I stopped my friend from buying a birthday card for her friends girl, just innocently offering to make one. After bit of prying I'd learned that the birthday girl liked cats, so I knew just which the card to make. I found this cat from CMPC # 51.

Although the model cards used the template in 100% and 200% copies, they didn't work with this card (100% being too small and 200% too large), so I copied it in 150%. I cut the sections of the kitty from different patterned papers, inked the edges and pieced them together onto white paper. I drew in the details, used a circle cutter to make the ball and added a puffy sticker (I drew around with a black fineliner to make it pop out better). Panels of green patterned papers and fake stitching make the background.

Papers: Dovecraft Pheobe and Lilykate/ DCWV Floral Prints/Tiimari/Digital Scrapbook
Ink: Colorboc Cat Eyes (cocoa)

Lace 'em up!

Ever since I saw this card design by Enfys Cashmore in PI #53, I knew it would be a perfect card for my friend, since one of our best times together involved dancing Scottish folk dances in corsets (yes, you can survive dancing through a ceilidh without loosening your lacing, I'm a living proof of that). Unfortunately it was almost a year to her birthday at the time, so nothing else for me to do but wait...

I changed the colour scale to suit my supplies. This was the first time I actually bothered to get my sewing machine out and use it in a card, mainly because it's from 50's or 60's and thus not of plastic but iron and weighs a ton (I need one of those little plastic minimachines that are no good in real sewing but ideal for card making). The card blank follows the curve of the corset, although for some reason I had to leave the front cover a bit shorter than the back (probably just me being a miser). I've tried to look for more of that turqoise dotty paper, but to no avail, seems it's out of stock everywhere...

Papers: Rayher, CMPC
Ribbon, eyelets: Paprus

Have a goth day

I've been saying over and over again that I'm not too keen on 3D decoupage, but when I saw this one at my local craft shops's window I took it all back (at least for these designs). This time I even took the trouble of hiding cut edges with a black marker and even bending the pieces a little (normally I don't bother, but with people it's useful).

As a proper goth should, I went for a monochrome look. I wanted something bit rugged for the card, so I used a piece of bubble wrap to stamp a background for the boy and tore and chalked the edges (I used grey). Since straight edges would have looked dull on the stripy paper, I took the liberty to cut them with scalloped scissors (although it's not especially goth) and inked them with a white Cat Eye (like I did to the black card blank as well. Dymo was ideal for the greeting but I needed to make it pop from the card, so I backed it with white scraps from the decoupage sheet (a bit of recycling here as well :) ). Since a goth needs his studs, I fixed a piece of ribbon with silver brads.

3D sheet: Card Deco(?)
Paper: DCWV Black & White Prints paper stack
Scissors: Fiskars
Chalks: Pebbles Inc.
Inks: ColorBox Cat Eyes, Versamark
Ribbon: Reprint
Brads: Tiimari

Gecko greetings

I experimented with multiple inking here. I use Distress Inks for the background lizards and then dabbed different ColorBox Cat Eyes on the lizard. I think it would have been if I had started with random pink dabs and continued with different shades of green. As it is, the pink doesn't really show. I was surprised how little I managed to smudge the inkpads, good for me. To add some tecxture, I embossed the lizard with clear embossing powder and mounted it with a large foam pad.

Stamps: Finnstamper
Inks: Distress Inks, ColorBox, Fluid Chalk

21 again

I know women usually start turning the same age year after year at 29, but my friend obviously felt that to be a bit too much, hence the 21 again.

I chose gingham card blank to go with the party's garden party/picnic theme. I used cheery and summery colours with a hint of black to accent. I'd have wanted to use puffy and shiny letters, like thickers, but didn't have those, so I tried to make my own again. I cut them with Cricut from chipboard and coloured them black. I tried to achieve the puffiness with Glossy Accents, but one coat wasnt thick enough. Two coats didn't dry, the first coat just turned whitish, so I just had to peel Glossy away, re-colour th letters and start again. This time I used clear embossing powder, but since it wasn't UTEE, the result wasn't too puffy (although it was shiny). I used a black mini brad above the "i" to tie with the stars in the stamp

Paper: BoBunny Ella Butter Blossom
Stamp: PaperArtsy MN 28
Flowers: Prima

Mum's favourite

My mum loves lilacs, so this die-cut lilac was perfect for a mother's day/birthday card (and it even has some gold for extra bling). I wanted to try something new, so I decided to fix the die-cut inside the card blank and cut out an aperture for it. The window on the card blank is a bit smaller than the one on the lilac paper, so the white crad blank makes a nice fram for the window. The paper flower has agreeting sticker as its centre.

Die-cut: Eno Craft
Paper: Tiimari
Flower: Prima
Sticker: Papercraft Inspirations

Present pocket

My friend had her birthday coming up and I had no idea what to get for her. I didn't want to buy something "useless", so instead I opted for a home made gift token (in the end she got a new pair of shoes). The patterned paper is from DCWV Pocketful of Posies collection and has just the right kind of hippy feeling and lively colours she loves. I even managed to find an assortment of different coloured fibres for the tag to match the pocket. I added some fake stitching (I obviously can't even fake a straight stitch, never mind sew one...) and eyelets to mimic a jeans pocket. I made the tag with HOTP tag template, instead of a real eyelet I used a fake peel-off eyelet.

Black celebration

Finally I got to use Depeche Mode (one of my favourites) as a title :) Made this card about 20 minutes before heading for the birthday, so, again, a quickie. No idea where the papers are from, the tag and ribbon again from Tiimari. The greeting is from a patterned paper full of birthday greetings.

Neon Knights

I think that the present that accompanied this card was tickets to Heaven and Hell's gig, so matching the card with the present was a good starting point for the design. I'm not 100% sure that the present actually was the ticket, but I know I matched the card with it somehow...

I tried to match the colours with this 70's photo (from the internet), so ended up using this stripy paper and used a photo corner punch to a) help with the retro feeling and b) fix the photo easily. I wiped brown ink on the edges of the photo to distress it a bit and slotted it in the panel. To break the straight lines and to add some interest, I fixed a couple of flowers onto the card (and the brads echo the stripes really nicely). I think any metal-loving birthday boy would approve them :)

Paper: Dovecraft Blush
Punch: Fiskars
Flowers: Prima Esprit
Brads: Lakeland

Lilac pressie

This was a quickie as the design is minimalistic and the focal point is a ready-made embellishment. It really didn't take much else than pretty paper, self-adhesive ribbon and stamped greeting to finish this card.

Paper: HOTP Icy rainbow
Stamp: Woodware Tiny Phrases
Embellishment, ribbon: Tiimari

The easy way out

Another birthday card made to order for a person I don't know, so I opted the easy way out and went with 3D decoupage roses. I used to like this picture because of the sketched rose background, but as my interest to 3D decoupage has dwindled, so has my liking of these pictures. Anyhow, it works, since it's showy, so I occasionally still use it. I used Glossy Accents for dew drops, added peel-off numbers and borders, deckled the edge of the red panel and chose a card blank with light sheen and speckling to add interest.

'Cause age doesn't come alone

This card/tag accompanied a Hangover survival kit, which included a Hangover pack and other bits and pieces that help to make the morning after bearable (my friends complain that the older you get, the worse your hangovers will be, alhtough mine have always been rather incapacitating...). I think the theme is very fitting :)

I haven't done much (if any) paper piecing but it was nice and surprisingly easy (now why did I think it might be hard in the first place, silly me) and I'm really pleased with the result. I used HOTP tag templates to help cut out the tags as well as the shapes for the plaster (I took a banner as a starting point and stretched or shrunk it as needed. The white dots I scavenged from my ordinary office hole punch. Again, some ink on the edges for definition. I used my trusty Dymo for the greeting, but there was a catch: it does not include an aposthrope. After a bit of pondering I took a piercing tool and use it to press the marks like Dymo would. This was my first time with staples as well and I found them actually quite nice. Must make a mental note to use them more often.

Two flowers, a stamp and patterned papers - P*skarteluhaaste #2

Ok, so the title is a bad imitation of a title of a TV series, but couldn't really help myself there... I've never taken part in any challenges before, but as I was making this card for my sister's birthday (she's not gonna read this, so I wont be spoiling anything... I hope) I realised that I could actually fit it into this P*skarteluhaaste #2. The challenge was to use 3 flowers, 2 patterned papers and 1 stamp. Here's my take of these ingredients:

Ok, maybe I am interpreting the rules a bit my way... Both of the patterned papers are actually cardstock weight, but I think the pattern was the crucial point here. I also used only total of 3 Prima flowers and layered two of them, since had I layered the one in the upper corner also, I'd had to find a place for a third flower and that was bit too much to ask. The sheep stamp is by High Hopes, and I coloured it in with Inktense pens (and actually managed to make shadowings, go me :) ). A bit of colour to the edge with Distress ink, 3 red brads, a piece of ribbon and a greetings tag to finish, since nobody said anything about using additional stuff in the card.

I've been having mixed feelings about Inktense pencils. I wanted them, but now that I have them , I haven't be able to use them the I'd would have wanted. There are no light shades included in the set, which is a bit of a bother, and I don't get the shades I want. With this card, I've seemed to found a way of working with them: instead of colouring the picture and applying water, I take little colour straight from the pencils and apply it with a waterbrush and if there's some extra, I dab it away with a tissue. I find it easier to control the intensity of the colour and shade this way.