Whiff of joy sketch challenge

Katharina at Whiff of joy has a little sketchchallenge on her blog. She's launching a new line of stamps tomorrow called "party animals" and are they cute or what. Make sure to join the launchparty tomorrow. I think it's at 11pm GMT+1 time. You can read about it on the blog.
She's actually offering one of the stamps as a prize for this sketchchallenge and I couldn't resist. Cute animals are my thing and I would love to play with this mouse. I think that if I don't win I will get it anyway (although the euro is so expensive now, yikes!). The sketch was really hard for me, but I'm glad I did it. Can't say I'm that satisfied with the card, but hey, you win some and you lose some. This one was definately on the "lose" part of the scales. What surprises me the most is that I don't feel like it was a waste of time or that I suck (like I might have thought only a couple of months ago. Is that what they mean when they say you're "growing"? LOL) I'm happy with the coloring though.

I love the image I used. It's from a pixiesheet from faeriesong - so glad I bought it when they just came out and the dollar was still low compared to the Swedish krona :)




I put up a better photo on the card I made yesterday - for the magnolia vs stampavie challenge if you want to take a look (the post below).

Magnolia vs stampavie sketchchallenge

EDIT I fixed a better photo of the card. Now it looks more like it really is.

I'm so glad that a lot of the challenges I like to join are still open. One of them is magnolia vs stampavie. I would've liked to try out for their designteam, but I only have one Magnolia so far and none of the other stamps they require you to have :(

Anyhow, here's a card I made for their sketchchallenge. I get really frustrated at the bad light though. I read somewhere that someone had gotten a lighttent for Christmas. I'm assuming that's how they get so wonderful images of their projects. Now I want one too, lol.

The scrolly patterned paper to the right is light petrol blue, not green like it looks on the photo, but the edges have a bit of lime green in them. That's why I used some limegreen on her socks and the flower to the left. Just a dash to make it more interesting. The text is quickutz "snowday" alphabet. I got it a long time ago, but used it for the first time now (shame on me for taking so long) Stamp from Magnolia, the scrolly details are from the extras that came with the qk "sophisticate" limited edition box in 2007. Love that alphabet!

The card really is more beautiful than it looks - I promise :)



Here's the sketch - taken from magnolia vs stampavie blog:


I think I will send this card to Francesca's parents. You can read all about this brave baby on Andrea's blog.

New blogcandy for 2009

My previous list got so long so I thought I'd start a new one for the candies I've found for the new year, lol. Hope you like my tips of the goodies you can get. I think in the future I will have one post every month with all the candies I've found and if I find some more I'll edit them to the list. So check back to see if there are any new candies you haven't seen on this post. Here goes:

spiral whisper will release 12 new stamps in january. Here's a chance for you to get the cutest little stamps ever. If you don't believe me - go see for yourself :)

Jaime is giving away two sets of clearstamps. They are in different styles so I'm sure everyone will find them useful.

Claire will be hitting the big 3-0 on january 5:th and is celebrating by giving us a chance to win her candy. Happy Birthday Claire! I hope you will celebrate big!

Millie is asking for your best or worst joke to enter her candy. Now that's a tough one. I suck at telling jokes, lol.


Sarah is giving away this wonderful camerabag that she has stiched herself. I actually have an old scruffy one and would love to exchange it for this one :)

Erin has a whimsy stamp skunk in her giveaway. I'm a huge fan, so I'm in!

Carlz is having a very generous candy to celebrate her bloghits (it closes when she hits 10,000) She will also have a new challengeblog that starts on the 8:th of january. I can't wait to see it! It's called charisma cardz challenge and you can find a link under "my challenges" to the right.

Irina celebrated her 35:th birthday (once again, lol) and has some awesome stuff to give away. I don't dare to look at the close-ups of her stuff. What if I love it too much and don't win? ;)

starvingartistamps are having a huge candy giveaway.

Heather is having her first blogoversary and is treating us with some candy. Congrats on blogging for a whole year Heather!

Rach has some nature colored candy (browns, whites and such) Make sure to check out her blog while you're there. It's fab!

Kath has a looot of alphabets in her candy. Guee what she got for X-mas and they can be yours.

Jellybean is giving away a cutom made mini family tree for you. I have so many reasons to celebrate my family so I had to enter - besides - I will probably never quilt anything myself, so this is my chance :)

Nancy is giving away some wonderful sewn things like a sachet, kleenex holder, gifttag and some other surprises to celebrate her 100th posting. I really apreciate sewn things since I don't have the patience myself (but I have no problem with stringing tiny beads for half-an-hour, lol)

Sally is offering a huge candy that might be divided into 2 candies, depending on how people vote. She is doing this because she is celebrating 39 years with her hubby! And here I thought 10 years was a lot ;)

Scrapmurmur is giving away this wonderful Whiff of joy stamp as her candy, so hurry over and sign up!


Michelle is having a Valentine's candy. Would be great for me since I've given away a lot of my Valentine stuff in my own love candy, lol.

Queen Kat designs are offering some stamps to one lucky winner. What stamps? That's a surprise...

Joani is giving away some great stickers and other crafty things AND she will be adding more as time goes by, so what are you waiting for? Ends jan 15:th.

Shirley of Skellytonart has donated a wonderful handmade doll to kindredsisters blogcandy giveaway. Here is a picture of this wonderful doll named Hannah:

Now who wouldn't want to win her? If you live outside of the US you will need to pay for shipping yourself.

Karin is giving away some candy if you help her with some names of challenges. She often wastes time looking for challenges instead of making cards. So she has made a group on papercraft planet and asks you to join and help out.

Cindy has this great candy with a Whiff of joy stamp, together with some other yummy things. Ends jan 15:th.

Jaszmurka has decided to spread some of her wealth and offers some great candy. Not sure if she will ship internationally though. Her blog is in polish, but the rules for the candy are same as always: post about her candy on your blog and leave a comment on hers. Ends jan 15:th.

Eva has some "bee"witched candy for us. Ends soon, so hurry up!

Bev is celebrating passing 100,000 hits! Go and congratulate her and be in the draw for some fab candy.

Alex is offering a bit of everything for a cardmaker or scrapper. I love the purple papers she's offering.

Clare is celebrating her 50:th post and is giving away a paper/envelope set,ribbons and fabrics in pink. If you like to sew, then join in!

Cammie is giving away a scor-mat to one lucky winner. Ends jan 19:th so you'd better hurry.

Lauren has some great papers, stickers, ribbons and stamped images to offer in her candy. She will ship to Australia, New Zealand, US, Canada and UK. I can't enter, but maybe you can?

Kath is giving away a CD where you can print beautiful scrapbook papers. I don't have a colorprinter, but otherwise I'd love to join.

Mary has passed 10,000 hits and is giving away some great items for every crafter: ribbons, stamps, flowers and other odds and ends.

Kerry has some seriously yummy stuff in her candy. She's celebrating her 1:st blogoversary and she does it with a bang. And the best part of all? There will be three winners, but make sure you contact her within 48 hours if you win, otherwise the candy goes to someone else...

Jenny needs some help with choosing a papercutter. She will offer some candy to the most helpful comment, so go on and help her out.

Jessica has a CB die, chipboard alphabet, flowers and some other things in her candy. If you join Jen's challenge you'll earn extra entries.

Donna is offering some Forever friends candy so if you're a fan of these bears make sure to join.

Fat chick is giving away something totally different - a beautiful black bag. Answer a question as creatively as you can: what would you put in it? and you have a chance of winning.

Maria has her first blogcandy of the year. Some cute stamps, papers and ribbons are at stake :)

Ana also has her first candy of the year. She has some yummy craftgoodies too, so make sure to check her blog.

My creatice cafe are having a candy with $150 worth of Creative Cafe products. Check for details on their blog.

Petra is having a candy with papers, stamps and a bunch of flowers, powders, pads and so much more! Ends sunday 25:th.

Ewonne is offering this yummy candy. Ends sunday 25:th.


Suzanne will choose two winners in her candy. She wants to know which is your favorite blog where you get your inspiration from.

Katy is offering some awesome candy. Unfortunately it's only open to UK bloggers.

Steph is celebrating her new blog by offering 4 sets of stamps! yes you read it right, that's a total of 21 stamps, so hurry and join her candy.

Marsza is a polish challenge blog. They are celebrating their one year blogoversary and are offering some great papers and embellishments.

Mina is having a double celebration: her 21:st birthday again ;) and making 5000 hits. There are so many yummy things in her candy for scrap and cardmakers. Check out for yourself and keep your fingers crossed (for me of course ;)

New year's dinner for two

Yesterday we enjoyed a wonderful three course dinner and some fireworks at midnight. Usually when we make a dinner that big we slave all day in the kitchen, stuff ourselves with everything at once and then feel bad all night, lol. So this time we decided to spread the meals out throughout the day. It worked great!

We had the first course around 5pm. My sweetie made an amazing salad that was my favourite of everything we had that night (yes, even desserts, lol) It was salad, tomato, avocado, smoked turkey, feta cheese and a very sweet carrot. He made his own dressing with lemon, oil and balsamic vineagar. The sweetness of the carrot with the salty cheese and slightly sour vineagar was so perfect together!


Around eight we had a little "drink" - a smoothie made of blueberries and strawberries.


Main course consisted of potato gratain with garlic and onions, soya beef and tomato.


The dessert: berries and exotic fruit with whipped cream and marengue.


I also made some chocolate crackle cookies with real dark chocolate...The white thing surrounding the cookies is powdered sugar. Gives a nice sweetness to the bitter cookie.


It was a very nice evening and I've been soooo slow today. I have a lot of challenges to enter, a card to send out and I actually got an invite to a DT call! Wooohooo, don't want to mess up this one, so I'd better get going. I got some nice new crafty things at a sale the other day. Can't wait to use them!

Happy New Year!!!

It's a little over one hour left until our new year here in Sweden. I have been celebrating with my fiancée by making a three course dinner. Since I was in charge of the dessert (I love baking, but dislike cooking) I made a little extra treat for the hours after midnight. I made chocolate crackle cookies with real chocolate in them, yum! The whole apartment smells delicious, probably drives the neighbours crazy, lol. As the "real" dessert we're having diffrent fruits with whipped cream and marengue - one of my favs.

I want to thank all of you that have been visiting my blog for the past few months. I have only been blogging for about three months, but have already made "friends" out there. I hope you will continue visiting me in the next year aswell since I plan on making just as many cards as I have so far. I don't make new year resolutions, but this year I'm making an exception:
This year I will strive to get published in a stampmagazine and get on a designteam. If you want to see if I manage, make sure to come back :)

Now there is not much left to say at the end of 2008, but

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

and for all my american friends: I will be waiting for you in 2009, bubbly water in hand, while you still linger on in 2008.
I wish you all the best for the new year and hopefully I'll see you around!

Last Christmas gift

Here's a little set I sent to my good friend in the US. The bag is filled with a couple of catstamps, a pair of fancy earrings, a Christmas CD and some other small stuff.
I found a great crown stamp in a grabbag I bought a while ago. It works perfectly with the Magnolia stamps, or what do you think?

I also managed to do a funny thing with the sign as you can see on the last picture. The oval I made worked great with the qk frame. It's great how those things turn out sometimes.

Whimsy stamps DT call

I really really wanted to join this DT call at Whimsy stamps but since I'm not home I don't have access to my stuff :(
I wrote and hoped that she would like some of my other cards I've made, but initially I wanted to use the turtle I won in her candy.
I'm going home soon and will make a card with the turtle. Hopefully she will be so blown away with my talent that she will forget I missed the deadline, lol.

Keep your fingers crossed since my new year's resolution is to get on a DT and get published in a magazine this year...