Sweetpea anniversary celebration

Meet us for some small chit chat, celebrating our one year anniversay at SNR on Wednesday, April 28th at 10:00 PM Eastern time zone. Ask the design team questions, see some sneak peek designs and have a chance in some drawings for free stamps! See you there!

(I might not be there as it will be at least 4 am here, but I hope you'll have fun)

Pixie cottage easter jar.

A little bit late - or waaaay too early for easter gifts, but when I found out the theme of the week was "flower bonanza" at the pixie cottage I just had to go with these cute bunnies. All I know was I wanted to use them and some of my huge stash of flowers. I started feeling a bit guilty for buying so much and not using it so that was my starting point. I've been wanting to decorate a plain jar from jam or pickles or whatever it was it inhibited before :)

Here's the result. Seen from left to right. "Glad påsk" means "happy easter". Don't you just love that little bunny ribbon? I thoought of it while working on the flowers. Thought it was perfect. The little feathers was also one of the things laying around. Sometimes it pays off to work in a mess, lol. I got it years and years ago at a thriftstore and never used it until now. I'm so glad I'm using so much of my stash. Not only does it save me money, but it declutters so mcu and that's the best part!

Seen from above. I actually didn't notice until now that a flowerbundle is missing from the far right side. I found it on the floor when I went back inside (from photographing on the balcony) but didn't think about the fact that it was missing from the photos, lol.

Before I started I was wondering how to assemble the flowers as that is always the trickiest part I think. Here's how I solved it:
First I took bigger flowers and attached them with glue like this:

After that smaller ones in the spaces between. Attach them with 3D tape to make them stand up a bit.

Make the center flower by putting together 4-5 flowers in different sizes. Attach every one of them with 3D tape:

After that add different bling and pearls to the center of the flowers or do the budget one: add glitterglue/liquid pearls.

Add a ribbon around the lid's edge. I used glue because it allowed me to move the ribbon around a bit before drying, but you can use double sided tape if you prefer.

Cut a piece of patterned paper to fit the jar and attach with the same glue (that dries clear)

Embellish by adding text and coloured images and you have the prettiest gift in town. I'm planning to make a couple for my thriftstore and see if they sell. I'm sure they can get a little bit more than they would for that simple jar. This would be a great way to raise maney for your charity too.

We have a great sketch too on the blog so I hope you'll join us this week.

More candy

I've been so busy I haven't entered any blogcandies lately or updated my candylist for april. I'm sorry about that, I'll try to do better in may :) I still haven't sent out my candy that ended in march *blushing*, but I have put it together so now I just need to put addresses on them. Bare with me.

Meanwhile here is a candy from sweetpea. 5 stamps of your choice! Click the link to go straight to the post.

Sweetpea celebration sale

Sweetpea is one year today and to celebrate you can shop with a 10% discount on ALL stmps, even discounted ones! This is valid for today (sunday 25:th) ONLY.

You HAVE TO go through the link at the sweetpea blog. Just click the link and it will take you to the sweetpea's blog where you'll find the info and futher link to the shop.

Pearly necklace and earrings

A while back when I asked what you would like to see more on the blog most answers were: tutorials, jewelry and scrapbooking. I really took it to heart and I'm trying to make more tutorials. As for scrapbooking I treated myself with a colourprinter for my 30:th. When it comes to jewelry I've been quite busy too. So busy actually that I have a couple of things to show you and it's not just jewelry :) I'll prolong it though and post one project a day. I'm not so much on the net anymore as it takes all my time and energy. I try to be creative instead and now that it's such a wonderful weather I found myself knitting a while on the balcony today!

Anyhee. Here is a set I totally love. I usually wear silver, but this is one of the few gold-coloured items I have. I actually found the necklace pendant at a thrift store (love to shop at those!) It came with the pearls I think, but the necklace was broken. I added the little facetted golden pearls and the pearl clasp. Unfortunatelly it's not so easy finding good jewelry at those shops anymore. I think it has to do with the fact that it's become so trendy to shop at those stores and maybe even due to the econnomy. The only time I have a chance of finding something for what I want to pay is when it's broken and many places don't sell broken things.

When it comes to the earrings I got the beads at a sale (where else, lol) and they had the exact same nuance. It's actually a VERY easy construction, but the result is stunning, don't you agree? I'm working on a pair in purple/pink and silver at the moment. They do get a tiny bit heavy pulling at the earlobe holes which I think looks very unattractive so I'm thinking about fastening them to those stick earring thingies instead, you know those that go right through the hole, instead of the hook. (can't remember what they are called or maybe I don't even know?)

I meant to enter a contest with this set. The contest was to design a necklace and a pair of earrings for Victoria - the swedish crownprincess that is getting married this summer. Well, she wouldn't actually be wearing the winner's design - it was just the theme of the contest. Unfortunatelly I found the contest too late because it said in the rules that about 50% of the items had to come from the shop that organized it. I didn't have enough time to get my things, design something and send in my entry. So instead I designed a set with similar pearls I knew she had in her shop. I mean round pearly beads don't differ that much. So after I sent in my entry she contacted me saying she couldn't find me as one of her customers. I then explained my thought behind it that I did it due to lack of time and said I would be happy to order the similar beads from her shop (so I wouldn't miss the deadline) She answered quite "angryly" and said that it's not how it works and cited the rules to me. I thought it was a bit silly. I mean I understand the idea behind it. It should be fair to everyone, but at the same time she said no to a new customer that would spend at least $20-30. I was a bit perplexed because I thought the whole idea with the contest was to get people to buy more from her shop. I'm slightly annoyed and will take away the link to her shop from my blog. And I'll definately won't buy from her. She didn't have that much to start with anyway. I'm regretting sending it in and giving her the idea. Maybe it's a bit pety, but I can't help feeling this way.

Oh, if you're reading this far and you'd like to see a tutorial of the earrings just leave a comment and I'll see what I can do :)

Jubilee card and some candy I got

Ok, so now the big reveal to show you the card I made for my aunt in law's 70:th birthday. As you might have read my mother-in-law asked for a card for everyone to "ooh and aaah" over so I felt a bit of pressure...You might think it should've been 5 times better than my usual cards as it took 5 times longer to make it. I think it's very pretty and one of my best yet, but maybe not 5 times better ;) I love the slightly vintage look and I made her hair grey to suit a 70-year old. The stamps are sooo wonderful. I couldn't resist getting them and they are one of my favs for sure. I got mine at stamp and create.

I wish I would've taken closer pictures and not so much from above. The right hand photo is when the sun was shining, hence the yellow shade. I'm really proud of how I used the image since I almost always have it as a focal point and white paper around. Here I cut her out and mounted with 3D tape and made the oval rose in the middle the main point.

Grattis - meaning "congrats":

Her name cut out with a qk 4x8" alphabet called Rollerskate. It's cut out in green cardstock and then I added glitterglue "stardust".

 Top right corner has some tags with her age made the same way as her name:

 Flowers from prima's tubes. Got like 20 of them a couple of months ago and haven't used them much. I originally wanted to add more flowers but they either overshadowed her name or the butterfly so I went with one big instead. I wanted it to be even bigger, but didn't have any bigger flowers. For someone that has silly dies like a pitchfork I don't even have any good flower ones...Punches are so expensive here and to ship from the US and qk don't have any pretty ones.

I struggled with the card for a few days and while I left it to think about what it had done (when it was being naughty and messing with me) I made two bookmarks since she loves to read. The ladies come from a 12x12" sheet with different bathing beauties. I just cut them out and laminated them with that plastic you get at bookstores. So easy and they make a great gift. The tassels I had for ages. I've actually been using up a lot of my own stash because as much fun as it is shopping new things I don't have THAT much space (or money for that matter) After a while when you've hamstered a while you tend to forget things you have and when you find them again it's like shopping again, only better, because this time it's free, lol.

 I also want to show you some candy I got from cuddly buddly's  weekly draw. Aren't they too cute? I really won the right week I must say.

Hope you've enjjoyed my project and you're not too disappointed. Before I leave you I want to show you what my place looked after a frantic cardmaking session for 48 hours. It's not like it was supertidy before, but it was definately: "have-people-over-esque". I judge how tidy it is on if I would invite people over. If the answer is yes, then it's tidy enough, if no, then it's time to procrestinate some more :D
So before you feel all guilty for not doing neccessary things, aka BORING, take a look at this and take comfort in the fact that it could be worse (or if your place looks the same: you're not alone!)

 Here's the floor where I use my cuttlebug. All other tables are full...

 And finally here is the "huge" space I worked on after covering all tables. It barely fits a 6x6" card. It's a wonder I pulled it off without any glue or glitterstains on the card.

Sneak peak...

It's already 3.05 am here so it's too late for a proper post. It usually takes me a while to get them done :) Instead I'll just show you a sneak peak of the birthday card I finished today with litteraly minutes to spare. Talk about cutting it short! I'll be back later to show you the whole card. Nighty night.

Don't you just love these stamps? I got mine at stamp and create which I can really recommend. Let Lacey know I sent you :)

Flowers have the sun...pixie cottage challenge #15

I've been struggling all day with a card for my finacée's aunt. She's turning 70 and his mom wanted us to let know so I could "make a card for everyone to ooh and aahh at". (her words, not mine) Do I need to say I totally freaked out and been postponing it for days? I tried starting on it yesterday evening, but noticed I didn't have enough papers. Or inspiration for that matter. So I decided to postpone it for one more day (can't be done with things on time, that would be uncharacteristic of me - shocking!) I went to town looking for some items and inspiration. I struggled for a couple of more hours when I got home until I gave up and asked my fiancée for help. Unfortunately he wasn't too extatic about the colours (red/black) because he thought the black reminded him about funerals...Shouldn't have asked him, lol.

I tried to take the criticism constructively and since I had a hard time with my idea anyway I changed it. It was a good idea, but I will have to work on it some other time. I meant to use Babette from Kraftin' Kimmies and make a whole burlesque look with feathers, net and lace.I think it will be fab if I can pull it off.
Instead I re-saddled and went with another Kraftin' Kimmie stamp and a pink/green theme. As that is my fav colour combo I hope it will be easier. I still struggled so I decided to call it a night. Still have a few hours tomorrow. I'm trying to find a good sketch, but don't like any of the ones I've found.
To be continued...

Instead I will show you my card I made for this week's challenge at the pixie cottage blog which is a sketch and the theme: mother's day/for a special lady. Hope to see your entry there this week. Remember, you don't have to use a pixie image to join.

Sweetpea anniversary bloghop and candy!

Wooohooo! Sweetpea is 1 year!!!

Hello everyone and thank you for joining us in our big celebration. Sweetpea stamps is celebrating 1 year and we have all sorts of festivities planned. Today is a customer bloghop and you should be arriving from Jennifer's blog. If you haven't and want to join the fun from the beginning, start at the sweetpea blog.

I'm so happy to have been on board as a design team member from the start. I remember how it was before Lynette found ching-chou kuik's wonderful world of seafairies and how the blogs exploaded with these images a while after they were released. Thank you for picking me last summer Lynette. It was my first blog DT assignment and I'm very proud to design for you.

To honour the anniversary, sweetpea has released a new special edition stamp called New Year celebration. It will be on sale through saturday 24:th together with some sentiments to match. Here's what I made with the image:

It's a step card which I kind of improvised. I took a sheet of about 30x15cm and folded it in half (the same size I use for standard square cards) Then I measured a bit in from all edges, 3,5cm from the long edge and 2 from the short (front) and 5,5 from the other end (which is the back). Draw a rectangle where you made the measurements. Cut along the long edge where you've made the lines. ONLY along those two lines, don't cut along the short ones. Then you use a bonefolder on the middlepanel to make mountain and valleyfolds to match your needs. I used 2cm (where the sentiment is) then 2cm, 3,5 (where the image is attached) 4,5 and the last one 7cm (the last panel with the birds on it) Hope that makes sense, if not let me know and I'll try to explain with more pics.

Now for the candy:

Lynette (the owner of sweetpea stamps) has generously given me some stamps to give as blogcandy.I will pick three winners that will get a sweetpea stamp and maybe some other goodies that I'll put together. The rules are simple. You can get up to 5 entries: Leave a comment for every entry please.

* leave a comment (must do this)
* sign up as a follower (comment again)
* sign up as a follower at the sweetpea blog (come back here and comment)
* join the customer blog hop by making a birthday/anniversary card (See link above for details. )(come back and leave a link to your post)
* spread the word about sweetpea's celebration.(comment with a link to your post)
* let me know which is your favourite sweetpea stamp.

That's it! I will leave this open until april 30:th and will draw a winner may 1:st. Make sure to come back and see if you won. Have fun!

Your next stop is Micki's blog.

Sweetpea anniversary celebration soon

Don't forget to stop by the sweetpea blog tomorrow, tuesday (well actually it's today here, but you know what I mean) There are festivities going on and beside the candy that you can read about below I will be having one of my own, and I'm not the only DT member that will be giving out rubba... So if you love sweetpea stamps, but can't afford to get any, here's your chance! See you tomorrow.

Customer Blog Hop!
During our one year celebration, I would like to have a customer blog hop. This hop will take place on April 20th. You must make a birthday or anniversary card using one of Sweet Pea Stamp images as your main focus point. You may use other companies sentiments or print up a sentiment using your computer. You will be able to post a link to Mister Linky on the 20th linking it to your blog. I will pick three random winners to receive a free 4" x 5" inch quarter sheet of an image of ching-chou kuik with a couple of birthday/ anniversary sentiments that will be released in the next couple weeks. So spread the word, let's make this hop a big celebration!