Special occasions - Christmas card

How is the summer going in your part of the world? 

If it's hot - you'll understand the theme for my card. 

If it's cold - you'll understand the theme for my card :D
Besides, you can never start Christmascards too soon, right?

This bi-weekly challenge on the Ilovepromarkers challenge blog is:

Special occasions

We are sponsored by fabrika fantasy and the winner of this challenge will win 3 images of their choice. 

All you need to do is create a card using any promarkers to color your image and follow the theme.

 I hope you'll join us.

I used the image "first flower" and had a hard time corperating the image into the theme. I thought it would be wonderful for an easter or "spring is here" kind of card. However - I wanted to challenge myself and came up with the idea to only use parts of the image. That's the great thing about big scenery images - you don't have to use them as they are.

Image taken from fabrika fantasy website.

 

Today's promarker tip:

If you don't have cardstock in the exact shade to match your patterned paper you can color it using your promarkers. 

Simply choose a color that's a lighter shade of the one you want. You can use several promarkers to get the perfect match. Here I used rose pink first and lavender on top to get my cardstock to match the purple patterned paper.

Challenges:
Crafty creations - Anything goes
Crazy 4 challenges - Some kind of water
Creative inspirations - Dots and/or stripes

I love promarkers - Special occasions
Little red wagon  - 3 of a kind (I used 3 circles and 3 patterned papers)
Simon says wednesday - Anything goes

Image: "First flower" from fabrika fantasy.

Promarkers: ice grey 1,3 and 5, cool grey 2 and 5, ivory, blush, oatmeal, rose pink, lavender, tea green, pastel green and soft green.
Papers: "Curiousity" be creative! by Pandurohobby, scraps from Christmas papers.

Others: Stickers (snowflake and sentiment), sakura gelly roll, stickles "star dust" and liquid pearls "white opal"

Until next time: Keep crafting!

Monochrome card with promarkers

Where do the days go? I can't keep up.

It is time for another "I love promarkers" challenge.

This time the theme is:

Monochrome

We are sponsored by:

 The paper shelter

I have used different shades of grey and a grey/beige color for the skin. I don't think I've ever tried making a black and white image before so it was quite a challenge (which is kind of the point). 

Please join us in the bi-weekly challenge. You can use any image you want. The only thing you need is to use any of the promarker types and follow the theme (monochromatic).

I hope you'll join us this time :)

Challenges:

Crafty creations - anything goes

Fab n funky - vintage

I love promarkers - monochrome

Moving along with the times - embossing wet/dry

Simon says - touchy feely

Stampavie and more - lace

Image: "The lady" from the paper shelter.

Promarkers: ice grey 1,3 and 5, cool grey 2 and 5, warm grey 2, putty and blender.
Papers: "Floral with definitions" Midnight kisses by heidigrace.
Dry embossing folder: Cuttlebug.

Others: Pearl flatstones, lace ribbon.

Until next time: Keep crafting! 

New DT member for the ilovepromarkers challenge blog!

Today will be all about bragging :D

I'm here to share the news with you that I'm officially the newest member of the 

i love promarkers challenge blog. 

I actually got an email asking me if I would like to join them.

I got headhunted, lol! 

I'm so excited!

Promarkers have been my favorite coloring medium through the years. I'm always curious about new ways to color and have tried most of them, but I keep going back to my beloved promarkers every time.

Promarker colors used for this card.

 I like that there are 148 colors. It's quite a few, but not so overwhelming that you don't know where to start.  I have around 120 of them.

You don't need that many to get a good range of colors. What I would recommend is to start with two colors in the same shade - one darker and one lighter. For example: you can have ice grey 1 and 3. This will let you build up the colors and blend them together.

So instead of buying one pen in each color family (eg. a yellow, a pink, a red etc) I would go for two reds (one darker one lighter that work together), two greys and so on depending on your budget.

This will let you be able to work up shades.

Text says "you are a star".

The first challenge on the ilovepromarkers blog that I am joining is up right now. I have used the digiimage called "Captain Colin".
The theme is:

Superheroes

We are sponsored by 
Digital delights 

Make sure you join us in the new bi-weekly challenge. 

Challenges:

Alphabet challenge - F for feathered friends (feathers on my hero's cap)

City crafter - out of this world (I used stars & a superhero)

Creatalicious - anything goes

Creative inspirations - favorite things (promarkers and diecuts)

Everybody art - anything goes

I love promarkers - superheroes/for a child

My time to craft - sketch

Penny's challenges - anything goes

Simon says - we're going around in circles

Southern girls - anything goes

Image: "Captain Colin" from digital delights.

Promarkers: ivory, oatmeal, ice grey 1,3 and 5, burgundy, poppy, berry red, lipstick red and cocktail pink.
Papers: "Christmas dot" Art blanché by eksuccess, to the rescue by 2bugsinarug, "Floral with definitions" Midnight kisses by heidigrace.
Dies: Spellbinder's circle and quickutz star.

Others: tiny goldbeads and metal gold star.

Until next time: Keep crafting! 

A package full of love on your birthday

It was time for another birthdaycard this week and again I used a Penny Black image. This cute kitten was a delight to color. I used my favorite colorcombo pink/green and of course my beloved promarkers. 

 Just like last time I used patterned papers from my scrappile. I used a piece of string and it wasn't until I was done with the card that I realized I had colored the string on the cat's package the same color. Love when those kind of "accidents" happen, don't you?

This card could be used for any number of occasions. Since the image is so cute I didn't want to make the card too cute with pastel colors or heart shapes. Instead I used a darker pink/green colorcombo and instead of a heart charm I used a leaf - perfect for a fall-themed card. I think it looks kind of vintage-y and I'm very pleased it turned out so "grown up" as it's sometimes hard to achieve with cutesy stamps.
Finished card measures 12.5x18.5cm (about 5x7")

Challenges: 

Creatalicious - anything goes

Cute card thursday  - vintage

Fab 'n' funky - inspired by nature

Passion for promarkers - clean and simple

Penny Black saturday - nature

Pile it on - autumn colors/theme

Simon says wednesday - clean and simple

Tuesday morning sketchers - sketch

Stamp: Penny Black "Fragile" 1920K
Promarkers: ivory, blush, pastel pink, ice grey 1,3 and 5, blender, chestnut, walnut, moss, marsh green, apple and meadow green.
Papers: "Valentine stripes" by Chatterbox, "Discreet" Whisper collection by prima marketing.
Dies: Spellbinder's circle and scalloped circle

Celebrating your birthday with cats and butterflies

So many friends and family celebrating their birthday this and next month so time to make some birthday cards. Here is my latest one. The recipient's favorite color is orange and preferably with black or blue. I couldn't believe my luck when I found this patterned paper in my stash. The whole background is just from one sheet of patterned scrapbook paper. You gotta love those. 

The image is from Penny Black colored with my promarkers. The text is a cut-out from a sheet of scrapbook paper. I added some stickles glitterglue to the letters for some extra sparkle and 3D glaze to the middle of the flowers. The bigger butterflies are shapeabilities dies from spellbinders and the small one a Martha Stewart punch.

And of course the inside has got to be as pretty as the outside:

When assembling my cards I always try different options. Here's a photo of the different layouts I played around with before deciding on the last one:

Challenges:
Crafty cardmakers - layer it up 
Creative inspirations - anything goes
Cute card thursday - animals/creatures
Everybody art - anything goes
Fab 'n' funky - fall colors
I love promarkers - spots and stripes (stripes under the sentiment and spots on the yellowish swirly pattern)
Moving along with the times - anything from the first verse of Dana's song "all kinds of everything" (I used butterfly)
Ooh la la - anything goes

Passion for promarkers - beautiful butterflies
Penny Black and more - sentiment
Penny Black saturday - nature
Penny's challenges - anything goes
Simon says stamp wednesday - stamp it

 

Cricket - the sport, not the bug :)

 

 Has it been a week already? Sheesh time flies when you're having fun. Yesterday I went thriftshopping - found a lot of jewelry and accessories, but not much for crafting. 

 

However, I've been quite busy with other projects so stay tuned and make sure to check out my 

contest entry for the dog/cat contest at instructables. 

And don't forget to vote for me.

 

 

Let me show you my card for my last week as the guest designer for the 

I love promarkers challenge blog.

This week we've been playing with stamps from 

Dr digis house of stamps

who is also this week's sponsor.

 

 

I made the card using folds so it looks like he is standing at the top of the hill. I added "balls" by punching out circles and drawing lines on them. Together with the polkadot paper it turned out quite well. Sometimes you have bright ideas, but they don't translate too well when you realize them. This one I think was not one of them.

 

Hope you'll join us in our "sport" challenge at the I love promarker challenge blog. What's your take on it?

 

 

Supplies:

Image: Digi stamp "Cricket Derek"  from Dr digi's house of stamps

Paper: Wild asparagus "Pretty little girl" Dots/Blue paper

Color: promarkers

Other: Circle punch, Martha Stewart border punch

 

 Challenges: 

Bunny Zoe crafts  - Summer

Crafty creations  - Anything goes

Everybody art  - For a man/boy

My time to craft - Summertime

Penny's challenges - Anything goes

 

Naughty or nice Christmas card for GDT spot

 

Welcome to my blog. Today I'm showing you a card I've made as the guest designer for the 

I love promarkers challenge blog

This week we're asking you to make a project for a child and as always using any type of promarkers.

 

I have to say that this is my absolute favorite way to color images. I've tried copics, watercolor- and oilcolor pencils, twinkling H2Os, distressinks and probably a bunch of other coloring techniques too, but promarkers are by far my favorite.

Would you like a tutorial or tips on how I color my images? Comment down below and let me know.

 

 

The image I have used is from Kenny K stamps and it's called "Xmas tree".

 

  

I made the card resembling a package so it's more fun for a child to open. Inside I sprinkled some stars to give more of a surprise moment. 

One less card to make for Christmas - I know I'll be greatful for this one right around the end of november :)

 

 

Supplies: 

Papers: scrappieces from my Christmasstash

Image: digistamp from Kenny K called Xmas tree 

Color: promarkers

Others: sakura gelly roll (to add sparkle to tag and details on Christmastree)

 

 

Challenges: 

ABC challenge  - J for Just as you like

Allsorts  - fancy bows and ribbons

Alphabet challenge - H for hand colored image

Crafty creations - tic tac toe (sentiment, image, tag)

Fab 'n' funky  - shaped cards

Kraftin' Kimmie  - anything goes

Penny's challenges - anything goes

Southern girls - the kids are all right

Winter wonderland - ribbon and bow 

 

  

Find joy in the little things...Guest designer

Finally june and that means my guest designer spot at the 

I love promarkers challenge blog! 

This week I have been given this cute image to play with. 

It's by digital delights by Louby Loo and it's called 

"Say cheese Polly".

I wanted to make a bright and happy card to match this image. I was thinking about summer and taking vacationphotos. I found these brightly colored papers in my stash and thought they worked wonderfully with the theme in mind.

I used three different patterned papers, but only used the sentiment and butterfly cutouts from one of them (middle). I actually colored the image to match it and in the end only used those tiny pieces. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.

I used two different punches and a die to get all these butterflies. The border punch is very versatile as you can cut out the different butterflies and get lots of different ones.

The image is colored using promarkers. I usually use 2-3 shades of the same color. For instance, the camera is colored using three different ones: soft green, pastel green and tea green.

Detail of all the shimmer and bling that doesn't show as well in daylight.

 

Tip of the day:

Instead of matting you can use tiny slices of paper to add to the edges. This gives a similar look to matting, but saves cardstock and makes your card lighter.

Supplies:

Stamp: digistamp by Digital delights "Say cheese Polly" 

Papers: making memories - Flutter - "paper stripe flutter", heidi grace designs - it's my party - "tall flower", imaginisce - lucy bird - "tweet talk"

Color: promarkers, sakura gelly roll (glitter pen)

Dies: spellbinders shapeabilities "butterflies two", Martha Stewart punch monarch butterfly and butterfly border

Other: blingstones, dimensional glaze 

Challenges:

All sorts - in the pink

Alphabet challenge - G is for girlie

C.R.A.F.T. challenge - recipe (1 image, rhinestones, 1 ribbon, 3 papers, 1 sentiment)

Crafty catz - add a butterfly

Creative inspirations - anything goes + sketch

Kraftin' Kimmie - anything goes

Penny's challenge  - anything goes

Stampavie and more - pink 

Happy mother's day card

This sunday we celebrated mother's day here in Sweden.

I made a very cute "safari" card for my mother-in-law.

She loves watching real-life safari so I thought these stamps from Whiff of joy would be perfect for her.

The text says: "On mother's day to the world's greatest, greatest mom, (and mother-in-law" on the inside)."

I wanted to make a card that you could pull out and that would contain the words "world's greatest, greatest" on each panel.

I didn't follow any specific measurements, just made a template in copypaper and transferred it to cardstock. The paper is scored at 7,7,8,8cm and is about 15cm high. The lion and monkey are on the smaller panels.

I glued on a diecut tab and drew an arrow so it would be more clear that you needed to pull out the inside.

The words I wrote with my dymo labelmaker. Love the look it gave together with these papers.

The patterned papers are scrappieces I had that I combined together myself. Love the kind of African vibe they have.

Supplies:

Stamps: Whiff of joy

Colors: oilpencils (animals) and promarkers (details like bouquet, balloons and branch), gold marker

Papers: Mixed scrappieces

Die: quickutz nameplate RS 0801 

Other: dymo labelmaker

Challenges:
Aud sentiments - anything goes + sentiment
Creative inspirations - anything goes

Cute card thursday - holidays/vacation

Ooh-la-la - 4 legs, not 2
Passion for promarkers - furry friends 
Penny's challenges - anything goes 
Simon says wednesday - anything goes 

A Can-Can happy birthday easel card

Welcome back to my blog. Hope you had a great weekend.

Let me show you a joyful birthdaycard today. 

It is so simple to make and makes such a statement. Looks quite advanced, don't you think?

The way you make it is that you take a piece of "normal" card with the folding on top and fold the top part once more in half. This is your cardbase.

Then you do your imagepanel and attach it by using adhesive on the bottom half as seen on picture. Am I making any sense?  

If not, search for "easelcard".

You can see another easel card I made HERE.
 

  

You will however need something that stands up a bit on the bottom part, that will hinder the card from sliding and help it stand up. Here I used a strip of patterned paper I glued on a piece of heavier card and attached it with 3D-tape (dimensional tape). This works as a "stopper".

On the pink panel where the card is signed I made a "shadoweffect". I did this by cutting out the same shape, but in black cardstock and adhering it a bit to the side. This gives the panel this shadow-effect.

Detail of the hairdecoration. I've used dimensional glaze for the heart and the lipstick (drawn out with a toothpick) and liquid pearls applied with a toothpick for the "pearls" around the heart. The feather gets some glitter from a glittery gel roller.

When I make a card I usually start with the image. Then I think about the person I'm making the card for or what feel I want to convey. To this image and for the recipient I wanted to make a kind of explosive card with bright colors and some pizzazz.

After choosing the image I needed some papers to match. I do it either by taking a whole paperline or matching myself by looking through my scrappile. For this I went through my scrappile. Would you be interested to see how I sort my scrappieces?

When I've chosen the image and papers I look through my promarkers and choose the colors to match the papers. I have most of the colors and keep a chart where I draw a line with the marker and next to it write up the name of the color. I keep them colorsorted and have them drawn near an edge so I can keep the edge against the papers and compare which color works best. Right now the colors have faded so I need a new one. Let me know if you'd be interested in seeing it here.

I was a bit hesitant on just using a simple layout with the round image on a square panel, but with the papers being so busy and the image so explosive I decided it didn't need that much more. The last thing I did was the feathers that I arranged so it looked like fireworks and a panel to the right with a handwritten "GRATTIS" (which means "congrats" in swedish).

I found it a bit boring applying such a fun panel to a plain folded piece of cardstock and remembered the idea of the easel card. This makes the card more interesting, adds a fabulous inside and if you don't want to write more than just who it's from - it is perfect for you. 

Supplies:

Stamp: Kraftin' Kimmie "Suzette"

Papers: Main background paper: Glitz design, sei - lovebirds - "love note" (the shimmery stripe on the inside)

Dies: Spellbinders circle, tags and feathers

Coloring: promarkers and watercolor pencils (aquarells)

Others: dimensional glaze, 3D-tape, liquid pearls, pearls on a string, glitterpen 

Challenges: 

All sorts (celebrating 7 years of challenges. Yey!) - happy birthday

Crafty catz - Anything goes

Crazy challenge  - your favorite color (fushia/pinks)

Everybody art  - For girls

Fussy and fancy - Dies and/or punches

I love promarkers - Anything goes

Simon says stamp monday  - make a wish

Try it on tuesday  - I can hear music

 

Snail mail Christmas and exciting news

Welcome back to my blog and to another cardtuesday.

I've noticed that tuedays work pretty good with showing you cards and fridays for other projects. Do you agree?

So today I want to show you a Christmascard using a sweet Penny Black image. Let's be honest - it feels like Christmas is lightyears away, but each year it sneaks up on us cardmakers. Am I right or am I right? In my book you can never be too early for making Christmascards. Heck, I even start making them before the year has ended :D

This is a quite simple card, but using glittery paper and a nicely colored image it gives the card a lift. When I color my images I like letting them do the talking.

As for the news...

For the month of june you will be able to see my cards on the 

I love promarkers challenge blog

I've been invited to be the guest designer for june! 

I'm so excited!

Supplies:

Stamp: Penny Black (don't have the stamp anymore. If you know the name of it, let me know)
Papers: Free papers that came with an english craft magazine
Tools: Image colored with promarkers, snowflakes stamped with distress ink


Challenges:
Aud sentiments - Anything goes + sentiment
Bunny Zoe's - Lovely layers
Creative inspirations  - Shape it up (no square cards)
Creative moments - Anything goes
I love promarkers - Lace and/or ribbon
Passion for promarkers - Spots and/or stripes
Penny's challenges - Anything goes 
Sketch saturday - sketch
The crazy challenge - 3 layers or more
The ribbon girl - Any image