Origami shirt - P*skarteluhaaste #11

A superquick post since I already should be somewhere else, here's my entry for P*skarteluhaaste #11. This weeks challenge was to make a card for man/father, and since I had 5 cards to make for Father's Day, I chose somenthing quick: origami shirt with embossed greeting.

Papers: Tiimari / DCWV
Ribbon: Reprint
Stamp: Finnstamper

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

Red and green - P*skarteluhaaste #9

My crafting and blogging has been suffering from working, even though I knew this would happen I'm still a bit surprised that I have diifficulties of finding time to do everything I'd like to do. A pity, but on the other hand, I have at least some form of income and I do like my work (I'm a bit daft) :) I think part time job might suit me best, then I'd had more time for my hobbies than with a regular job... But I definitely shouldn't complain... let's see what happens next year...

Here's a card for P*skarteluhaaste #9, this week's recipe was to use red and green, but there's a catch: even though the time of the year and the colour scheme scream "Christmas!", the card may not be a Christmas card. I decided to make a general congratulations card. The ladybug stamp has been sitting in my stash for ages and never been used, so I made a conscious effort to use it now.

Stamps: Tiimari
Colours: Promarkers
Paper: Canson
Ribbon: Tilda Crafts
Punches: Woodware / Craftime / EK Success
Stickers: PI
Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dots'

Gothmetal - P*skarteluhaaste #8

This week's challenge at P*skarteluhaaste was to use metal, and preferably be clever with it. This was a fine excuse to have a trial run with my latest gadget, Cuttlebug. My earlier goth boy was still missing his date so I made another "attitude card" by putting together the goth girl (these two might be the best 3D sheet ever) and backing her up with embossed metal sheet (dabbed a bit Stazon to tone it down). I used scraps to make the label for the text, don't know yet what to put there. Didn't have right pink paper for it, though, but luckily I found what I needed from the back cover of an ad! The metal skull is the "clever" part, it's actually a button from a pair of trousers I didn't like (the button, I mean, loved the trousers). I'd snipped them off and saved for a later date (never throw anything away!), glad that it found its place here.

3D picture: Craft Deco
Embossing folder: 'Spots and dots'
Ribbons: Artemio / CMPC

Cherry on top - P*skarteluhaaste #7

This week the challenge at P*skarteluhaaste #7 was to use both stripes and checks. I'm counting tartan as checks, and if you look close enough you'll see striped ribbon tabs. Don't like my handwriting a bit, need to somehow rescue the greeting. This was the first time I used Distress Inks to colour in the picture and I have to say I loved it (although the cardstock wasn't good, need to use watercolour paper from now on). The muted shades are gorgeous and a welcome change to my watercolour pencils. Still missing some shades, though...

Paper: Paperblock
Stamps: Penny Black / Fiskars
Inks: VersaFine / Distress Inks
Chalks: Pebbles Inc.
Ribbon: Tilda Crafts
Staples: Rapid
Rub-ons: Creative Imaginations

Bingo nostalgia - P*skarteluhaaste #6

Another challenge card, again for P*skarteluhaaste. This was a fun challenge. In P*skarteluhaaste #6, first you had to make a bingo by choosing a row from a bingo grid. I tried to decide whether to choose an easy row or a hard one, but then my supplies took over and decided it for me. I wanted to try a new stamp plus I'd yet to make a vintage card so, with these as my starting points, my row was ribbon - blue - flower.

Stamps: Inkadinkado 'Garden Delight', 'Letter'
Inks: VersaMark / VersaColor 'Atlantic' / Anna Griffin 'Nina'
Chalks: Pebbles Inc.
Card blank: Folia
Paper and brad: Tiimari
Flowers: Prima
Ricrac: EK Success
Pearls: Artoz

I stamped the sprig first with the turqoise and then with the darker blue to achieve the shadow effect, then dabbed and buffed blue chalk on the edges. The paper was a bit too light and plain, so I dabbed different shades of blue chalk (plus a bit of taupe) onto it and stamped text onto it with VersaMark. The card blank had the embossing around the aperture, so I cut the paper to fit it and sanded the edges. I guess you can count lace and ricrac both as ribbons. Three pearls balance the design and add to the vintage feeling.

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.

Peek-a-boo - P*skarteluhaaste #3

This week's challenge in P*skarteluhaaste #3 was animals. I first thought of making a card especially for the challenge, but I've been suffering from a serious lack of initiative for the past month, so I'm bit pressed for time right now and decided to use a card I'd already made.

Stamps: Penny Black Tulip Jungle/Woodware Tiny Phrases
Ink: Versamark
Colours: Derwent Inktense/Pebbles Inc.
Vellum: Studiolight

I first thought of trimming the image into an oval, but it would have been too big for the card blank. No harm done, since I realised that this is a stamp that can be cut out without leaving the white edges, nice! Which also means that this probably would work perfectly when layered, have to try that sometime... I fixed the image with a foam pad and used Glossy Accents as glue under the image (have to use that more often, love how the paper doesn't buckle!), otherwise the vellum is loose (well, of course I folded it around the spine and fixed it there with double-sided tape, but...).

I've been wanting to cut windows into vellum to show the card blank underneath ever since I read a couple of Julie Hickey's books, so I finally did it here. Would probably be easier to cut the window before attaching the vellum onto the card blank, but hey, I make these as I go, so these things happen (more often than not). As it was, the window was bit too much on the right, so I had to snip a bit from the left edge, the result is A-OK. I added a dash of pink chalk behind the greeting to make it pop better.

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.