Reindeer greetings

Wow, I'm really on a roll here. I don't think I've made this many cards for at least a year if not more. One or two a day? Whoa, lol. Maybe I'll get it all done on time without getting totally sick. Keep your fingers crossed...

I have used one of the reindeers from stämpelgården again. I really like this stamp. Because he is mostly covered you can match the colours on him to any patterned paper you might have. I sometimes find it hard to colourmatch when there are animals because they often need to be brown and that ruins the whole impression.

Most of the papers I have used are from imaginisce although I used some small pieces from other companies too. I used a sketch, but removed one of the panels as it got way too cluttered for my taste. I think many of the papers are too covered, so I'm not sure how I feel about this card. I must say I was much happier with it when I finished it. Right now it seems a little bit iffy to me. Maybe it's just because I want to send a superwonderful card to my cousin and knock his socks off, lol.

The challenges I've used are:

Cooking it up with katie - red, layers and Christmas
My time to craft - reindeer greetings
Peartree designs - Christmas
Pink elephant - winter wonderland
Promarker  - anything goes
Sketch saturday - sketch (I turned it upside down)
Stamptacular - winter scene
Stamp with fun - X-mas

French horn Christmas wishes

I'm stuggling on to get all my Christmascads ready on time and make my first card as guest designer for papertake weekly and getting the secret bloghop ready for tomorrow....I'm sure you have more things to do, but this is quite enough for me especially since I'm also fighting a cold on top of everything else.

Today's card is one I'm especially proud of. I made it for a friend that plays the french horn in a symphony orchestra. We just recently started talking again after finding eachother on facebook after 10 years. I've had this little charm for years and when I decided to send my friend a Christmascard I knew I had to include the charm.

Finding the right stamp wasn't that hard as I remembered some of the house-mouse stamps had instruments in them. I thought this one was perfect!

The image is coloured using my promarkers and because I'm not used to using dark colours I nearly gave up colouring it. I actually started on a new one using a different colouring medium, but got so BORED having to colour the same image twice, lol. So I got back and worked some more on the original one. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Not my best work, but still something I can be proud of. Except the image that took ages to colour I had huuuge issues with the bow (or the other way around ;) I think it took me an hour to get it right, because I also wanted to include the charm in some nice way. I started with a wider bow, but it got too big and tieing it around the green one was too bulky - it was a nightmare as I was so close to finishing the card. In the end this is how I made it and I think it looks so good. Just don't ask me how much glue I used or how many pieces the bow is made of, lol.

The papers I have used are all from Basic Grey's Wisteria line. The gold music panel is a stamp that I embossed with gold powder. The edges are inked with a gold pen. And that's it :)


I used a couple of challenges while making this card:

All sorts - last minute Christmas
Creative card crew - anything goes
Creative inspirations - anything Christmas
Friday sketchers - sketch
I love promarkers - Christmas carol/song
Simon says stamp and show - A holiday greeting

Let it snow...

Two post is one day? That hasn't happened in...ever I think ;)

This was one of the first cards I started colouring, but it didn't want to get finished. I had the papers, but couldn't really put it together until today. I really like the colourcombo although it's not something I usually use. Kind of the point - to challenge yourself and I really did here. I think it's a great card for a guy so I will be sending it to one of my male friends that lives in Germany (good timing as cards to Europe needs to be sent sunday at the latest, yey!)

The stamp is one of the older ones from Whiff of joy called Charlie building snowman. I'm superpleased with the colouring on this one. I kept adding and adding until I almost ruined it. The last thing I did was to add that darkbrown shade around Charlie and right side of the snowman. After adding it to the pants I realised I had to add it on the jacket and sleeves, and...good thing I didn't manage to ruin it totally.

The challenges I've used for this card are:

ABC challenge - J is for jewels
Everybody art - sketch
Papertake weekly - red and green can not be seen
Simon says stamp - Christmas, but NO red or green
Whiff of joy - no red or green

Merry kissmas

For the last couple of days I've been making (or at least trying to) Christmascards like crazy. I need 20 cards and had about 2,5. Some are supposed to be sent today, some sunday and most of them thursday at the latest. Where did the time go?! As I hate to make the same card twice, or a batch of cards - yuck! - I'm in a bit of a pickle. I'm trying to be smart about it though, colouring several images to match the same line of patterned paper. That way I only have to find the matching promarkers once and colour several images at once. Now I just need time to put them together...Having a secret bloghop on monday and accepting a GDT spot isn't helping, lol.

This card was so much fun to make, using one of my newest Kraftin' Kimmie stamp called Raychel. I don't have any Christmas-themed ones so I had to improvise. With the right sentiment, papers and embellishments you can do anything. If you would like to get your own Raychel (or any other crafting item) stop by stamp and create. It's one of my fav internet shops, especially for stamps. Lacey - the owner always has a product spotlight which means that itemss in that category are 25% off. Sometimes she has a whole line of stamps in the category, sometimes a theme ("food" for instance). The prices are already low and the service is superb!

I have used a patterned paper from keisercraft as the background. With a paper like this I didn't feel like I needed many embellishments. Raychel is coloured with promarkers and I stamped different snowflake stamps around her with distress ink (weathered wood and old paper). The sentiment is printed out from the computer. I think the font is called kings and queens and can be found at dafont.com. And as all my Christmascards this year I'm making them look like postcards both to save the environment and my economy. Here's the backside:

The challenges I've used for this card are:

7 kids challenge blog - winter wonderland
A spon full of sugar - Christmas card
Daring cardmakers - snow much fun
Kraftin' Kimmies - let it snow
Promarker challenge - anything goes
Secret crafter - Christmas
Sketch and stash - sketch

No peaking!

Today I want to show you a hilarious stamp from stämpelgården. I've been wanting it for years, but since it's a Christmasstamp I was too cheap to buy one. Always got stamps that were more versatile and for the whole year. But this year when the shop had their annual anniversary sale I just had to pick it up. Isn't it the cutest and funniest thing you've seen?! I didn't know what sentiment to add on the tag, but while searching my stash I came across this one from SeeD's - isn't it just PERFECT?

I'm very proud of this card. It took a quite a while to "ripen". I'm so proud of the colouring that is made with promarkers and I love the snowflake decorations that I made using different dies and punches. The colours give the card a modern feel and I think it's perfect as a male card. The little snowflakes around the reindeer are stamped with distress ink and it's one of those things I've only done once or twice.

I also want to show you the backside of the card. We use up a lot of paper which is neither enviromental nor economical. It also costs more to send, so my Christmascards for this year will look like post cards. To make them look better, not just like I have cut off a vital part I decided to decorate the back a little. I had a perfect textstamp which I embossed and stamped some snowflakes and distressed the edges.

I apologize for the poor quality of my photos lately. My camera is still broken (not showing anything in the display) so I have to photograph in the dark only to see how they turned out in the computer. I am wishing for a new camera under the Christmastree though...

The challenges I've used for this card are:


Dutch dare - Christmas
Paper romance - winter theme
Pile it on - it's all in the wrapping (thought it was funny, although not sure it qualifies)
Promarker challenge - old & new (I used a new stamp and old papers)
Simon says stamp - sketch
Totally papercrafts - X-mas punches
Wags n whiskers - snowflakes

Believe - a sympathy card

Recently a blogfriend of mine lost her mother and I made this card for her. There is nothing really that can be said in a time like this. Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words.

The image I have used is called shining on from sweetpea stamps. It's one of the few stamps that are only sold as a single stamp. I knew I had to have it when I first saw it when sweetpea donated money to Haiti when selling it. I think it's quite appropriate to use for a sympathy card.

I started colouring the image with my promarkers in muted colours: skintone and greys. The image got a bit too boring so I used a hint of pink on the wings and butterflies. I'm quite happy with how I managed to make it look like the light from the candle shines on her face.

I used a white twinkling h2o to add that shimmer to the wings and a black sparkle gelly pen on the leaves in her hair and as an "eyeliner". I found the little chain with freshwater pearls and the key laying around in my to-do jewelry pile. I started making an earring out of it and didn't like it. I added the charm "believe" (which it took a while of persistent searching to find). The charm is attached to two hydrangea flowers with a brad. The papers and piece of ribbon is something I've had in my stash for years, but never used. I love the elegant and muted feeling of this card. It doesn't have to be a sympathy card. You could use it as a little different Christmas card too.

I used a sketch from papertake weekly because of its simplicity which I thought was perfect for this type of card. Other challenges I've used:

Flutterby wednesday - your favs.
Moving along with the times - for someone special
Paperplay challenges - monochromatic

December blogcandy/giveaways

'Bente 2:nd

'Michelle 2:nd

Elaine 3:rd

'Wendy 3:rd

'Tone 5:th

Mandy 7:th

Ushii 9:th

Dazie 10:th (UK only)

Jan 10:th

Janne 10:th

Ellinore 11:th

Gemm 11:th

Jude 11:th

Maria 11:th

'Mina 12:th

'Cabio 13:th

'Ida 13:th

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'Jennifer 14:th

'Kari 14:th

'Lynne 14:th. Please say that kamadesign sent you when you leave a comment on Lynne's candy.

'Paola 14:th

'Wenche 15:th

Ellen 17:th

Maria 19:th

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Kylie 23:rd

Prairie fairy 23:rd

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Nina 27:th

Sharon 29:th

Betty Anne 30:th

Christine 30:th

Cuddly buddly 30:th

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Lynne 30:th

Prima 30:th

Stacy 30:th

Claudia 31:st

Jacilynn 31:st

Lin 31:st

Stacy 31:st

Melissa - 500 followers

Christmas in flowers

Here's one of my new favourite images - poinsetta fairy from plate 60 from sweetpea stamps. It's such a wonderful image and a delight to colour. I love how happy she looks, like a kid on Christmas morning :)

I've been a little bit bored with my promarkers lately so I coloured her with oilpencils and then smeared it out with some thinner and a stompf (you know those pen looking things made out of paper that artists use for pastels) I used three different papers from different lines, but I thought they worked beautifully together. The right panel is made out of two of them, strips I cut and glued on. They are both from basic grey - fusion and fruitcake. The paper to the left is from the photo collection from karenmerieklip. I think I've had it for 6-7 years, lol.
I found a prima flower pack that I had won last year, but never got around using. The golden swirls on it matched my image perfectly, something I didn't realize until later. The gold sentiment is from a SeeD's pack and it's embossed with gold embossing powder

I LOVE the red/green/gold colourscheme for Christmascards. It looks so rich and gives them such a decadent feel. Like chocolatecake with chocolatesauce and truffles. YUM!

The challenges I've used are:

ABC Chrstimas challenge - X is for Christmas
Alphabet challenge  - E for embossing
Basic Grey - recipe (4 embellishments, 3 papers, 1 and/or 2 image/sentiment) I used 2 papers from BG
Card patterns - sketch
Daring cardmakers  - spotty and stripey Christmas
Everybody art - shapes
One stop craft  - Christmas cuties
Paper cutz - anything goes
Papersundaes  - adorn those corners
Pile it on - winter
Really resonable ribbon  - Christmas
Sew many challenges - red and green
Stamp and create - 'tis the season