Craft bag

I have been busy doing a lot of things today, but nothing that I can show yet. I bought a bunch of beautifuk pearls that I want to transform into a necklace, another bag I'm sewing and most importantly I have to wow Katharina from Whiff of joy so she offers me a DT spot in the future ;) I have been lucky enough to get randomly picked as the guest designer at the challenge blog. I only have until tuesday night due to spamfolders so I need to step on it.
But for now I want to show you a bag I made last week to hold my yarns, crochet hooks and some tools. I made it all from scratch so I'm thinking about making a tutorial for it. Would you be interested?
Here are some close-ups:

 

There are two pockets on one side and one big on the other.

 

 I saved the pretty fabric by sewing the inside of the pocket in cheaper one-coloured fabric.

 I made a fancy edge with the brown fabric and handles to match. Wasn't sure if I really needed the handles, but thought I might just as well sew them on in case I want to use the bag for something else. It's very useful, think I will have to sew another one :) It was quite easy to do to. Perfect for a beginner.

/Katarina

Double embossing technique

Hi, hope you are having a wonderful saturday and that you joined us for sweetpea's bloghop. Check the blog to see if you are the winner of a free sheet of stamps!

Yesterday I played with a new technique called double embossing that I saw on the cuttlebug spot. It gives such a wonderful effect! You get an embossed part around the image and a clean shape in the middle to stamp on. I actually made my own variation that I'm pretty proud of, but I ran out of thicker cardboard. I noticed it worked quite well with two of those cardboards you have on the backside of a notepad. I ran out of notepads though, lol.
I used a big circle and then a flowershape. The circle doesn't show that well, but I think it looks good anyway. I even picked it up a notch and masked the stam so the leaves of the flower wouldn't be outside of the frame. Not sure if it looks better. I made one with the leaves sticking outside and it looks quite good too.
I also used the backside of the card so the flowershape stands out instead of down. This folder from cuttlebug works from both sides, it's just a matter of preferance. I actually made one image with the reversed embossing. The image - a lili of the valley stamp I got from Linda as a b-day gift - is coloured with my beloved promarkers. The embossed part is coloured with shimmery chalks.
If you have a CB you should really give this technique a go. It's perfect for simple yet elegant cards. I think it would be lovely for weddinginvitations.

I'm entering this card (not sure if I should add a yellow border around it or leave as it is) for:
the cuttlebug spot that had this technique as the challenge and abc challenge where you needed to use one paper.

And a little sneak-peak of what I'm working on at the moment. I got some adorable fabrics the other day that are slowly transforming into a bag:

I'm also working on a bag tutorial since I got such a good feedback from my DVD/CD box at instructables.

Sweetpea bloghop

Hi and welcome to the sweetpea bloghop! Are you inpressed yet with the wonderful creations made from the new line?

If you have come from the talented Alex then you're on the right track, if not, please start at the sweet pea blog so you don't miss anything.
Today we are showing you projects made from Plate #36 ching-chou kuik sheet #10 and a new line drawn by Elaine Cox. The stamp I have used is from Plate #34 Elaine Cox's series. It's just as wonderful to colour as the rest and the details are stunning!

They will be released on Monday, but you can already order them today!

Since the sweetpea stamps are all so beautiful I want to keep the cards quite simple. I started out with a very simple design, but thought it didn't look like I had put in any effort, so I worked on it some more.
Here's how it looked first. I really wanted the image to pop:

I decided to work on it a little more, adding some more details:

And finally here's the finished one. I added some dimensional glaze to the butterfly in left corner and it made the paper curl a bit. I didn't add any edge around the card because it took away focus from it. Now isn't this a summery card. The image is coloured with promarkers and I've added some pink shimmerz to her dress and white twinkling h2os to the wings. You can see it best in the image above.

I'm entering this card for a couple of challenges:
lili of the valley - sketch
promarker challenge - baby pink and tulip yellow+stitching
cute daisy may - flowers
stamp with fun - stitch
flutter by wednesdays - open


Tip of the day:
I coloured in a white silk ribbon with the same promarkers I used for the image to make it match perfectly. This way you only need to buy white ribbons and you always have a ribbon to match. If you are talented you can even doodle on it to make it more personal. The colours on my ribbon were a bit strong, so I used the backside. I also made a bow where I added some glitterglue.
Here's how I made the bow:
Take two pieces of ribbon, the desired size of the bow x2 and a smaller piece 3 times as he ribbonwidth.

Add glue to the edges of the longer piece and fold it so the edges meet in the middle:

 Then take the smaller piece and fold it around the middle. Don't glue on the front, only the edges in the back.

Ta daa, you're done. You can use the same ribbon or different widths and colours or even types. Why not an organza ribbon with a silk middle? Here is the fantstic glue I use for everything. It dries clear and is perfect to add metal, plastic or just about anything.

How would you like to win a free sheet of stamps from sweetpea? We will pick one winner for one free sheet of stamps. You must post a comment on each blog posting to be entered in the drawing. We will announce the winner on Saturday, February 27th.
These sheets will begin shipping on March 1st.


Now continue the hop to Jennifer's wonderful creations.

Orange autumn

I have made a quick card for the sugarbowl blog. They had a great sketch + you had to use 3 flowers, 2 brads and 1 button. I have a button on the big flower and the two other ones have brads looking like buttons. Thought it was quite clever.
I used a basic grey paperpad and some of my new primas (that I have way too many orange ones of)

The stamp is from a set - autumn kit 2009. I just fell for the wonderful girls and animals. I don't think I've made any cards with the girls yet. This is my first one made from the set. I'm quite happy with it concidering it took me about 10 minutes to put it together (not counting the colouring that I did yesterday)

 

I coloured him with my promarkers and used chalks around. The orange panel is embossed with one of my cuttlebug folders. Ta daa :)

More happy news

I just looked over at the whiff of joy challenge blog and saw that  
I'm the winner!!!

The prize was being a guest designer for march. Getting on the DT or being a guest designer for woj was one of my new year resolutions. Can hardly believe it! I'm so happy I'm jumping up and down. Wooohooooo!
Already mym resolution done. Now I have to come up with a new one, lol.

Now I'm off to be bubbly and happy...YEY!

Happy mail

I got some very nice things in the mail the last couple of days. First I want to show you a card I got from Linda in the UK. She also enclosed one of lily of the valley's stamps which I LOVE. It was so right because those stamps were on my wishlist. I only had Kraftin Kimmie and those left on my list and I just made an order for KK. Naturally I want more of all sorts of stamps, but these were most "urgent". Thank you sooo much Linda. Don't you just love her card? I love purple and I really like what she's done with the card. Her colouring is awesome too. It looks like pastell.

I also want to show you two candies I won. First one is from Jeanette. I won the top three stamps as first prize. The other two were for second prize winner, but since they never got back to her I got them both! I was so happy because Alison Acton is one of my fav illustrators. It evened itself out pretty well because I had won a candy too at another blog, but hadn't gotten back to her on time so she drew another winner. I'm  just so happy it was this candy that I won!

And finally I won the candy at hobbyhärvan. As a part of the candy there was a guest DT spot. So I will be a guest designer there with the items I've gotten. I feel a little bit stressed though because I feel like I've lost my cardmaking mojo and lust. I feel more like sewing at the moment and I don't want them to have to wait forever. I need to make 2 different things and I want them to knock their socks off as Tim Gunn would say :)
So now I have some things to play with...

Remember to come back tomorrow for sweetpea's release bloghop. I'm off to make something with the new image now. See you tomorrow.

Happy b-day Kåre and featured on frontpage

Today I finally finished a card for a couple of challenges. I started out with a general birthday card, but I was really struggling with the text so in the end it turned out better with putting a name on instead. Made it more personal and looks quite good I think. The guy I made it for is an aquaintence that lives in Oslo, Norway. We met almost 6 years ago when I was working as a guide on bustravels to Russia. The tourists on the bus were 50-60+ years old and he was the only one under 40. We ended up exchanging addresses because I asked him to send me a CD of the photos he had taken. Then we started sending eachother Christmascards and added eachother on facebook. This Christmas I think I forgot to send him a card (due to the sickness) so I'm sending him a b-day card instead. I think he will be really surprised.

I used:
a sketch from sketch saturday
Pearls and swirls from whiff of joy
recepie (3 types of embellies, 2 pp and 1 img) from Simon says stamp. I used ribbons, flowers and pearls.

 I used my brand new bear from Alison Acton's party animals line. I got it a while back and hadn't had the chance to use it yet. Can you spot something different with it? I used a new colouring medium - oilbased pens and something similar to rubbing alcohol. It gives a totally different look than my usual promarkers. I think it's perfect for colouring animals since it's hard to colour fur. I really like the look of this.

A little tip when it comes to ribbons: I have a cream/white ribbon that I colour in with the right promarkers to match the card. Here I had a white ribbon that I coloured with "caramel". Very economical and you always have the exact colour to match!

I also got a mail from instructables saying my CD/DVD tutorial is on the frontpage! And I even got a comment. Woohooo! Makes me want to make more tutorials, just don't know what that could be...

Hope you liked my card today. I have many other things to show you that I've been up to. I finished my bag yesterday and forgot to show you a pair of earrings I made. So check back and remember to come back on thursday for the new sweetpea stamps release party! You don't want to miss this. (Check sneak peak of the beauty in top right corner to see what I mean)

Valentine's gifts

I've been quiet for a couple of days because I've been sewing and knitting. I'm almost done with both projects so I will be able to show it to you soon. Meanwhile I thought I would show you some Valentine's gifts.

I made myself a gift - a long necklace (hanging by my belly button) It's longer than any necklaces I've seen, but I like the new length. I can't have anything dangling around my solar plexus since that's where I''m in pain. I'm convinced that in 6 months you will see necklaces that are that long. I'm usually before fashion, so remember where you heard it first :D

I've had a couple of comments saying that they would like to see more tutorials on my blog. I'm not quite sure what you would like to see. I think my stuff are pretty easy. Let me know what you mean.

Here I have taken different beads in white, pink and silver and put it on a chain and some on the big ring. That's it! Tutorial done :)
I'm very happy with how this turned out since I don't have any long necklaces. This is my first and I thought it was very appropriate as a gift to myself.

Angel charm

Here's what I got from my sweetheart - someone to hug that doesn't snore  (his words, not mine :) This bear is sooo soft and cuddly and quite big - the biggest I've ever had. (about 35cm)

 My sweetie got a scarf that I knitted for him. He has been wearing one I knitted for him years ago that looked quite shabby. He refused to wear any storebought though so if I wanted him to change it I had to knit him a new one...It's supersoft and perfect length to wrap around his neck. I like the shades.

Candy at Kellie's

Just a quick little post letting you know about a candy I came across over at Kellie's blog.You can win  9 Sugarplum kids, 2 accessory stamps, and one set of Spring Sentiments. Ends thursday 18:th.

If you want to enter other candies, make sure to click the "february" link under "blogcandy" in my sidebar. And don't forget to enter my candy too...

 

My 30:th birthday cards

Thought I would showcase all the beautiful cards I get for my birthday on this post. If you have sent me a card - check back here as I will edit this post with new pics. I will also add a link in the sidebar so you can find this post easier and enjoy the cards I get.

I'm so happy for all the nice comments and birthday wishes I get from you. As I said before - I don't have much contact with my family and don't have any friends in the town I live in. I always imagined getting a surprise party with lots of friends on my 30:th b-day...It's a little sad so I'm very greatful for all of you, even if I don't "know" you.

I've been thinking about how to celebrate my day. Originally me and my fiancée were supposed to go to Thailand and dive, just like we did on his 30:th b-day, but since I've been ill I don't dare to go anywhere yet. I haven't had a totally painfree day yet and don't want to sit on a plane for 10 hours. It's quite boring to have your b-day in march since it's so darn cold here. Other things I've been thinking about is to go on some kind of spa treatment nearby or check in to a hotel or about getting make-up and hair done, but it all seems quite boring. Especially if I compare to how we celebrated my fiancées b-day. He had his b-day in august and we went to Malta. It all begin in spring when I surprised him with a plan where we both took a diving certificate. We did it all spring and summer and when we finally got it we went to Malta for 2 weeks. They have some amazing diving and on the day of his b-day we went diving 30 meters under water. The guide and I applauded under water as the depth meter turned exactly 30! It was such a brilliant way to spend it and it makes me so sad that I can't have something spectacular just like that. If we went somewhere (as I love to travel) I wouldn't feel so alone either I think. I'm so mad at this illness, but at the same time I'm thankful that I will get fully recovered. We have already decided that we will celebrate big when I turn 30,5 on september 13:th. I've always wanted to have my b-day in september as I love the beginning of autumn.

If you have any suggestions on how to celebrate - let me know.
I've been looking a bit on the net, but all they suggest is to celebrate with family and friends...
I'm thinking about doing a movie-marathon and see 2-3 movies after eachother. I really want to see the new Alice in wonderland. It just doesn't seem spectacular enough. I want to have a good story to tell when I'm old of how I celebrated my 30:th b-day (concidering my 20:th wasn't anything  special)

Ok, enough of my sobstory, here are the cards.

First card I got is from Esther in Netherlands. Love the colourcombo of this card and glitter. It's very "me". The butterflies are so beautiful and I love the blings on the text. Gorgeous Esther, thank you so much!

Next card on the list is from Linda in the UK. She also enclosed a lily of the valley stamp that is sooo cute! Thank you LInda. I love your colouring and choice of colours.

 

 

This one is from Lynn in the US. Love the dekadent look of it and glitter! Don't you just love glitter?

This card is from Maria in Norway. I really like the dryembossed and inked sentiment. The flower really makes the card stand out.

The inside is just as nice as the outside:

Third card came all the way from Australia. There were some really cute kangaroo postage stamps on the envelope. I've always wanted to go to Australia, it's my dreamplace no1. Maybe for my 40:th b-day? Love how different this card is. The sentiment is on vellum, the butterfly is embossed as is the background card. Just brilliant.

 

There was also a little giftie in there:

A card from Yara in the US. We belong to the same house mouse yahoo group and have "known" eachother for years. I think I'm on some kind of birthday list of hers because every now and then I get a card out of the blue. Love the colours and the embossed panel. Think I have to "lift" (aka steal, lol) this layout. Really like how it's put together from different panels.

This one is from my friend Sharon. I'm sooo glad I bought this stamp and it arrived a week earlier, otherwise I would've been so jealous. I just love this stamp! Don't know how to use it, but I already have bought a frog-die and saved some ribbon with frogfeet on it. I love her fab colouring and the colourchoice. I never would've thought to mix lime with brown, but it looks so good, don't you think? Oh, the inside says:"then hop on over to this side of 29!" I thought it was so sweet since I've been feeling a bit old *blush* The inside is fab decorated too in the same style.

This one is from Irina in Russia. It got to me in time Irina. That was fast! Love the cheery colour and the different size of her card. I also love how she used mulberry paper for the background. It really looks like a bouquet in wrapping paper seen from above, don't you agree? The flowers are made in 3D, some stand out more than others. Fab card, although I can't read what it says. I will figure it out although I'm a bit rusty. Just learned the russian alphabet on my own.

Last card - a very surprising one - is from another woman I know from one of my house mouse yahoo groups. I must be on her birthday list as I have not been active on that list for years. Just love the bright cheery colours. You can really see how the mice are basking in the sun. Love the usage of stickers. I have way too many that I never use as I'm sure you have to.

This one is from Andrea in Germany. She also included a magnolia stamp that I've been wanting to have, but was too cheap to buy, lol. Thank you so much Andrea! Love the colours on this card and the beads on a string are brilliant! Love the little embossed hearts too.

Next, a card from Linda, Sweden. I love that it looks like the kitty is holding the same flower she has put in the right lower corner. Almost like a real memorbilia. Fab colouring too. Love the ribbons and flowers.

Last but not least - the card that dropped in today was from Elsina in Israel.I really like the motif and the smaller sized card. Fab colours too. Did you notice that the girl's dress is the same pattern (but smaller) than the background paper? Just gorgeous.

Last a card I got last week or even earlier, but it hid on the side of my bookshelf. Naughty naughty. I got some great images with it too. It's from Monika in Germany. I love the elegant look of this and the style of the saying. A bit of bling doesn't hurt ;)

Thanks a lot ladies. I'm really happy for the cards. It brightens my day to get up and see envelopes on the floor in the hallway (we get our mail through a slot in the door)