Super fun birthday (snowfight)

Hello everyone ;o)

It is the middle of the month and therefore I'd like to invite you to have a look at our newest challenge at Papercraft Challenges. The theme this time is "Anything Goes" so you can share with us your favourite project - no matter what theme it is. I decided to create a wintery birthday card and here it is:

I made the background using Distress Inks and a stencil I cut from thick cardstock in a curvy shape to create the illusion of hills in the background. The images are from My Favourite Things and I love that you can use some of the set for Christmas cards as well as wintery themed ones. Once the background was dry and I knew which images would go where I heat embossed the sentiment which always looks really nice I think ;o)

Colouring the images was really a lot of fun and quicker than I first thought. I added a few trees and snowflakes to the back to make it look more interesting and also put glitter on the snow and the snowballs. To finish the card I stamped loads of snowballs and the girl inside the card in a light blue shade, hoping this will surprise the recipient. 

It would be lovely having you join our challenge this time! Have a fabulous day and happy crafting, yours Maike

Stamps: "Snow much fun" by My Favourite Things

Dies: "Wonky Rectangle Die" by Avery Elle
         "Mini Snowflakes" by Lawn Fawn 

Merry Christmas from Henry - the ice-skating bear

Hello everyone and a very happy new year ;o)

I hope you all had a very good start to a happy, healthy and crafty new year! Today I'd like to share with you the card I made for the "Ice, ice baby" challenge over at Challenge Up Your Life. It was my turn to chosse a topic and I thought you could all share your wintery cards with us. Here is what I have created:

One of my new year resolutions is to create at least one Christmas card a month, so that I won't be too short on cards when the next Christmas rolls along... (I know, it may seem like a long time now, but when October comes around I usually get a little panicky and I would like to save myself from that this year.) For this card I coloured one of the cute Purple Onion images and created a shimmery and frosty looking background for the bear. It is ice-skating after all, so I thought it would fit perfectly. 

I hope you like this frosty Christmas card and that you are going to join us for this first challenge in 2023! Have a great day and happy crafting everyone ;o)

Supplies:
Stamp: "Henry - skating bear" by Purple Onion Designs
             "Winter Big Scripty Words" by Lawn Fawn
Dies: "Rectangle Peek-A-Boo window" by My Favorite Things
          "Mini Snowflakes" & "Winter Big Scripty Words" by Lawn Fawn
         

Merry Christmas Penguin (Slim line card)

Hello everyone,

I am a little late in sharing this card for the newest Papercraft Challenge, but I hope you'll forgive me. Right before Christmas it seems to me at least like there are never enough hours in a day - how about you,  do you feel the same? Anyways, here is the card:

The theme of our newest challenge is "Decking the Halls" and this cute critter by Gerda Steiner Designs is doing just that - just not very successfully at the moment. However I bet his little igloo will look very festive once he has finished decorating it. For the card I cut a piece of white cardstock to the right size and used a stencil to create the dot background. Once the ink was completely dry (I let it sit over night) I heat embossed the sentiment right over the dots with Ranger Platinum Embossing Powder. I love that colour. In the picture above it looks silvers, but when you tilt it in the light...

you get a golden look from it. I love it. I coloured the cute digi stamp with Copic markers and cut it out with a tiny white border. I placed it to the side and really like the look of the card! I hope you do, too. Have you ever made a slim line card? 

I hope to see your festive project in our gallery over at Papercraft challenges ;o) Have a great day and happy crafting, everyone!!! Yours Maike

Stamps: "Decorating Penguin" by Gerda Steiner Designs 
              "Merry Christmas" by My Favorite Things (discontinued)
Stencil: tba

Hohoho Easel Card

Hello my dear crafty friends,
today I'd like to share my DT card for the current challenge at Challenge Up Your Life with you.

This time it is a  color combo:

For this card I stamped the cute reindeer, masked it and then stamped Santa over it. After colouring everything I cut the image out. I die cut the rectangle die from this fun snowy paper by Lawn Fawn and also from white paper which I then die cut two snowy hills from. That way I could have the stitching go around completely. 

Next I glued the snowy background to the cardbase and scored both pieced at once. I also adhered Santa to the snowy hills, making sure no adhesive went higher than the edge of the hill in the back and glued that piece to the bottom part of the snowy background. 

Depending on how you place the card you can either see the background but have Santa be lifted off it visually oder you can just have the hills with Santa on it visible. Really fun to play around with! 

To add a sentiment I die cut the "ho ho ho" from red and glitter cardstock and placed them over Santa`s head. The "real" sentiment was playced inside the card heat embossed on a small die cut which I backed with the same paper that I made the card base from. That way, when you use the sentiment to placethe card behind it, the bottom  part doesn't go all the way to the white paper (if you know what I mean). 

That was my card for today. I hope you are going to join us with a sentiment of your choice, only keeping in mind the beautiful color combo ;o) Have a fabulous day and happy crafting, Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Santa" & "Laurel - reindeer" by Purple OnionDesigns

               "Sweet Holiday Penguins" by My Favorite Things 

Dies: "Cool Cuts Cherry Lower Case" by Create A Smile 
          "Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables" & "Stitched Hillside Boarders" by Lawn Fawn

Polka Dot Birthday Party

Hello my dear crafty friends!

Today I'd like to show you the card I made as an inspiration for the "Polka Dot" challenge over at Papercraft Challenges.

I created it for a young lady who turned 16 not too long ago. It was once mentioned, that she enjoys having her name on cards and such, because it is a rather unusual name and you can't easily buy individualised mugs or key chains for her. So I make an effort to add her name to the cards I make, because that is one wish I can fulfill for her. 

I used polka dots as the "wallpaper" and as decoration at the sides and for an envelope I created that was adhered to the back. The decorations and the cute critters are all, except for the tiny mouse, from one set by My Favorite Things which I totally adore and which is, in my opinion, perfect for birthday cards. 

The base for my box card was created without any dies. I just cut two pieces of cardstock to the same size and scored at 0,5 inches and 1,5 inches each. Than I chose one of the pieces to die cut the window from and added two "floor boards". For this I die cut two strips of paper that was 1 inch longer than my card is wide and scored each side at 0,5 inches and glued them to the sides, as you can see a bit better in this picture:

I hope you are going to join us with at Papercraft Challenges, I'd love to see you using polka dot patterns ;o) Have a wonderful day and happy crafting, Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "SY Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes" by My Favorite Things

Doodle Christmas

Hello everyone!

How are you all doing? I hope you get to enjoy some lovely fall days. Have you already started your Christmas card production? Well, for today's card I have done just that. (I always feel like it is too early to make Christmas cards when it is still warm outside, but then I notice it is November already and panic sinks in...) Anyways, this is my card for the new theme "Doodle" over at the Challenge Up Your Life blog:

I started this card by stamping stars in two different sizes, making sure they would overlap in some areas. Next I watched this fabulous video (click here) to find out more about doodle-ing. I filled in most of the stars, leaving the overlapping bits blank though, because I felt my design was busy enough as it was.

Next I die cut the letters I needed and the word die "merry" twice - once in red and another tim from gold cardstock. All that was left now was to glue everything in place and to give the word "Christmas" a little shadow so that it would stand out more from the busy background. Have you ever tried doodle-ing? Maybe you would like to give it a go? I found it very relaxing and fun. If you do, please consider joining our challenge. You have until November 27th to link your project to our gallery. Good luck to you if you do! Happy crafting to all of you and have a wonderful day! Yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Lots of stars" by Simon Says Stamp (discontinued it seems)
Dies: "Tall Alpha Die Set" by Altenew
          "Merry Scripts" by Mama Elephant

Have a relaxing day (Upcycling)

Hello everyone ;o)
I hope you are all doing well! Today I'd like to share my project for the newest Challenge up your life challenge with you. The theme is "Upcycling" and I have used a brochure that I recently got at a health day in school. I liked the cover right away and thought it would be perfect as a birthday card. So here is what I made from it:

With one of my basic rectangle dies by Lawn Fawn I die cut the part I like best and also a decorative frame from red cardstock which I also used as the inner part of the letters I used for the sentiment. The rest was just a tiny bit of stamping and adhering the different layers together. I hope you like my idea of turning beautiful covers or pictures into cards. If you like the idea of upcycling you should definately visit the blog of my design team friends and get some inspiration from there as well!

Supplies:
Stamps: "Have a sweet birthday" by Lawn Fawn
Dies "Small Stitched Rectangle Dies" & "Scalloped Frame"
         by Lawn Fawn
         "Cool Cuts Cherry Lower Case" by Create A Smile