Sweetpea 2:nd anniversary bloghop and candy

Hello and welcome to sweetpea's 2:nd anniversary bloghop. Can you believe it's already been two years? I've been on board from the start and I'm so proud to be on this team. You rock Lynette and thanks for having me.
If you have come from Ellen's blog, then you're on the right track, if not, go back to the sweetpea blog and start from there.

Today we have a trio of gorgeous images to share with you! These debut images include our newest artist Rebecca Sinz, ching-chou kuik and Nikki Burnette. Aren't they wonderful?

What better project than a calendar to celebrate sweetpea's anniversary? I have used my bind-it-all to make it, beautiful double sided papers from prima and a bunch of my favourite ching chou kuik images. The image I have used for the front is called exotic october and it's the top left seen above.
I am going to use this calendar to put down the excersise classes I've been taking so I know what and how often I've been doing it. At the back of the caledar I've added some white pages for notes like; which instructors I liked, measurements etc. With a pretty calendar like this who needs motivation!
As this is an excersise calendar I have written "take no prisoners" on the front page. I think it works beautifully with the image and the theme.

For your chance to win some free sweetpea stamps, leave a comment under this post (one per person please)  and I will draw a winner on sunday may 1:st.

Next on the hop is Lisa

Summer booklet

I have finally played with my bind-it-all for the first time. I've had it for about a year, but not played with it until today. I have been feeling like making other things that cards lately and this was the perfect project. As the weather is so beautiful here I jumped for joy when I found these papers in my stash.

The image I have used is radiant butterfly from sweetpea stamps and I have cut around it so you might have not recognized it at first. I coloured her with promarkers to match the papers. I like how I manged to align her to the background paper as it looks like there are flowers coming out of her hair. There is some glitter on the butterfly and flowers, but it doesn't show properly.

The booklet has 12 pages in these wonderful colours. I think the image is perfect as there are butterflies on some of the papers too. I thought the black would clash, but think it only accentuates the bright colours. I was thinking about decorating it more with flowers and such, but I think the front should be flat to be practical and I didn't want to overwhealm the beautiful image. I also left the top blank so whoever gets this album can add their own text.

Don't miss sweetpea's 2:nd anniversary bloghop. It's all happening on the blog and you can win some fabulous stamps. On wednesday I'll be showing you some more new releases so don't forget to stop by!

Modern happy easter

Spring is here to stay and with easter just around the corner it might be a good time to have at least one card done. Today I would like to show you a card with a slightly different layout. I have used a standard square sketch, but folded the card several times adding dimension. You can see the layout of the card better on the last picture. I have used a stamp called jeweled from sweetpea stamps from one of my favourite plates #86.

I really like the colours of this card. They are still the typical easter yellow and purple, but I think the hues gives the card a more contemporary feel. The patterned papers go so well together and it's funny because they are from two completely different lines. I just accidentally put them next to eachother while sortimg my papers and tadaa. With those colours I didn't feel like I needed bunnies or eggs, the card would look "eastery" enough. So I decided to go all in with the butterfly theme, using it on both papers, punches and the image.

The tools I have used are Martha Stewart punches for the corners and the butterfly border. The image is coloured with promarkers and then a sakura clear glitter pen. The image is mounted on a green panel with foam tape to add extra dimension and then taped to the front panel of the card. The little green scrolly nameplate is a spellbinder die. Doesn't it go just perfectly with the background paper? The sentiment is written by hand and on my first try! Practicing makes perfect, that's for sure. A wonderful card that could easily be used for any other occasion.
Here's the sketch I used from sketch saturday #150:

Challenges for this card:

Basic Grey - easter/spring (I used paper from the "green at heart" line on the backpanel)
Paper sundaes - texture
Papertake weekly - dimensional
Pile it on - rubber stamps
Stampin for the weekend - easter

Sleeping mask

I have finished a couple of project earlier that I haven't showed you yet. This one I made for my sweetheart when he was going to the US. I offered him to use my sleepingmask in purple and black silk/lace, but that was "too girly" :D
Although purple too, these fabrics were chosen by him a while back. I had actually started on this mask months ago, being about halfway through, then it disappeared in my big "to finish" pile. So I worked on it halfway through the night before he left and put it in his handluggage. Too bad he didn't find it until I told him about it when he was in the hotelroom. Attention to details, huh? At least he could use it on the flight back...

I'm very proud of how I managed to fold the bias around the mask. Not bad for 2-3 in the morning :D

More deals at sweetpea stamps

Has it already been a week?! Oh my, where has the time gone? I'm preparing a bigger sweetpea project, but want to finish it off nicely before I show you. I also worked on a card yesterday so hopefully I will show it to you soon. I have a couple of sewn things I want to show you too so stay tuned. Maybe even a tutorial if there will be any interest.

Meanwhile I'd like to let you know there are tons of new things happening at sweetpea. I hope you haven't missed our latest stamps and newest artists. Below you can see a few of the new sheets. I'm definately ordering some of these.

New artist Ann Marine:

Katerina Koukioti:

Meredith Dillman:

Place at least a $20 order (before shipping) and you can buy sheet #18 (seen below) for only $1.00 (reg $8.25). This offer is good through Wednesday. Limit one per order

Go to sweetpea webshop

Happy birdday

I think I dare to say that spring has finally arrived to my part of the world. With the sun out and the birds singing I got inspired to make a card with one of my newest (and soon to be favourite) sweetpea stamp. I just LOVE the birdtheme. The image I have here is called Peony and it's one of the newer ones by ching chou kuik. It's from plate 97.

The papers I have are from die cuts with a view Mariposa line. I got them from my sweetheart after his trip to the US :) Unfortunately the pics don't do the papers justice. They are very glittery and the birdcage background is in gold foil. As the papers were so beautiful I wanted to keep the layout simple and make them work with the image. After choosing the papers I coloured the image with promarkers to match. The text is handwritten. Oh, and I added some gold glitterglue to her flower to make it match the papers and stand out a bit.

Challenges:
Simon says stamp - sketch

If you'd like to get your inky hands on some sweetpea stamps you can get them at 20% off through april 3:rd. Enter code: 

springsprung 

during checkout

This coupon expires approx 12:00 am eastern time on April 4th. More details on the 

sweetpea blog

20% off coupon at sweetpea stamps

Save 20% on your order, simply enter:

springsprung

at the time of check to receive your discount

(please enter it in the 'discount coupon' NOT the 'Gift Voucher' section)

Let's go shopping at sweetpea stamps

Butterfly dreams

I'm finally back with a card and this time I have used come softly from sweetpea stamps. I've been utterly exhausted these last two days after having my exam on friday morning. Had to get up at six! Yuck. Don't think I've done that in at least a year and next week I need to do the same for four days. Let's just say I'm not a morning person...

It's a very recycled card as I have used small parts of plain paper and embellished them as much as I could instead of digging through my scrapbook papers.

I really like the soft shades, but how the image stands out more. It's like the papers are faded and the image is as clear as ever. Almost like those old photos - but reversed :D

Challenges for this card:

Papertake weekly - It's a mom's thing/girlie
Simon says stamp - mother's day/girlie
Stamp challenges - spring
Stampin for the weekend - mother's day
Totally gorjuss - spring

Crochet hook cosy

I've been a little quiet lately due to an upcoming exam. I miscalculated and missed one extra chapter AND thought the exam was one week later so I've been studying hard (kind of surprised myself since I always do it last minute. This time I did not want to have the exam-anxiety though)

So I realized I have a few things that I haven't showed you yet that I made a while back.

Today I want to show you my custom made, selfdesigned and self-sewn crochet hook cosy. It's the same type I used for the pencilholders I made for my fiancées niece and nephew. I'm thinking about making a tutorial for it so if there is any interest let me know (or if you would like to buy a custom made one by me)

It holds up to 14 crochethooks ranging from size 8 I think to very small (you can have multiple smaller hooks/pocket) It has a flap on top so the hooks don't fall out and you keep it closed by rolling the cosy and tieing it with a strap that's attached to the edge.

I'm superproud of this one as it's totally customdesigned for my hooks. I used a thinner batting which I quilted following the circle-pattern of the fabric. I made a bias-tape using a matching smallprinted fabric. Did you notice how I matched the circular pattern on the flap and front fabric? I think it looks soooo good. Too bad I don't crochet that much, but at least my hooks are resting in style :)

Winners of my birthday candy

Thanks everyone for participating. The winners of my candy are:

1:st prize: Edel (claimed)

2:nd prize: Andreja (claimed)

3:rd prize: Andi (claimed)


Please contact me by e-mail and I'll get your prizes out to you.