A shabby and chic birthday card

 Hello my dear crafty friends,

today I am sharing a very unusual card for me. I needed to create a "Shabby Chic" card as an inspiration for the Crafty Cardmakers blog and it took me several attempts and a few hours to come up with this design:

And to be completely hinest with you, I am still not 100% sure it matches the theme, but I wouldn't have known what to do differently :o) Is there a style of card that doesn't seem to find its way onto your craft table try as you might? In the end I really like what I came up with. It is very different from the cards I ordinarily create, but there are also some stages I went through that might find a way onto my craft table in the future. Like the matted elements for example. 

The two cute critters made the difference for me in the end. They gave the card a more up-beat feeling I thought and the eye something to focus on. As sentiment I used the bingo-card I had adhered and both the chick and the goat stand around it to make sure it gets noticed ;o) I would truly love to see all your glorious takes on the theme "Shabby Chic" and am going to check out our gallery at the Crafty Cardmakers frequently ;o) Until next time, please stay safe and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Party On The Farm" by Hello Bluebird 

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Animal Antics" (Vintage Look)
Dragonfly Dreams "Happy Birthday"
Crafty Gals Corner "Autumn Colours"
Crafty Catz "Anything Goes"
Crafty Friends "Autumn Colours"
Send a Smile 4 Kids "Fall Card 4 Kids"

Happy Birthday Monster

Hello everyone,

above you can see my take on the newest inspiration for the PINspirational Challenge. This is the inspiration:

The inspiration is fairly obvious I'd daresay ;o) I liked the fluffy monster in this picture and decided to go with that look for my monster as well. 

The monster needed some colourful horns so I added colours that would create a rainbow monster as a whole. I also added some colourful hearts to the background and die cut the word happy from a rainbow coloured paper I had created with Distress Inks. After stamping the rest of the sentiment and adhering it all together my card was done! I hope you are going to join us at PINspirational Challenges! I am looking forward to your wonderful entries! Have a wonderful week and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies: tba

Thanks - You're an A+ kind of friend

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all doing well and that you find some time to play and be creative ;o) I am glad I did for the newest PINspirational challenge. Even though this card doesn't feel like "my style" I really, really like it. Without this challenge I don't think I would have ever created it... This is the inspiration picture for you to pick a colour (combo), theme, saying, or whatever you like really ;o)

I decided to go with the theme of pens and also used the pink as inspiration for the wrapping paper around the crayons. First I was tempted to go for the donut, but then I would have only wanted some pastry - that way I only wanted new pens ;o) 

For my cardbase I picked a kraft coloured cardstock and stamped a repeated pattern on it with the ruler- image and only left a gap for the (heat embossed) sentiment. Next I added the crayons which I had stamped and fussy cut. 

Lastly I added the die cut word which I had cut twice: once from black paper and another time from a rainbow patterned paper. I layered them together and glued it directly to the card base. I hope you are getting inspired by the fun inspiration picture and that you are going to join us at PINspirational challenges! Have a wonderful week and happy crafting everyone ;o)

Challenges:
Bitten by the Bug Challenge "Speaking of School"
Snarky Stampers "F is for Friend"
Sweet Stampers "Anything BUT a birthday card"

Allsorts "Use a handcoloured image"
Crafter's Cafe "Anything Goes"
Crafts Galore Encore Challenge "Anything Goes"
Chocolate Baroque Challenge "Anything Goes"

Autumnal Congrats

Hello everyone,

this is my card for the September challenge at Challenge Up Your Life. The theme this time is "Autumn mood" and this is my take on it:

I love this little bear by Neat and Tangled and Simon Says Stamp - it is from a Stamptember stamp set. This cute scarf around his neck just speaks Autumn to me. 

The background was created with Distress Inks and then covered up with this fun die by Altenew. Those huge leaves just look amazin I think. I would love to see your take on the "Autumn Mood" theme! Have afabulous week, stay safe and happy crafting my friends! Hugs, Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Hello Pumpkin" by Simon Says Stamp and Neat and Tangled
Dies "Striped Leaves Cover Die" by Altenew

And here two more cards I made with the same stamp set:

Challenges:

A Fairy Nice Day

Hello my dear crafty friends!

I hope you are all doing fine and that you get to enjoy some sun outside or some light over your craft desk ;o) I happen to have an idea for the latter: How about joining us at the Crafty Cardmakers with a "Things With Wings" themed project this fortnight??! I had so much fun pairing this cute fairy with the beautiful "Bloom" stencil by Create A Smile Stamps:

It is a rather simple card but I do love it for the vibrant colours. Also when you look at it for some time and focus on the fairy's feet the card gets a more dimensional look. At least it is that way for me. 

For the "Blossom" itself I used three different Distress Inks (Mustard Seeds, Pink Raspberry and Peacock Feathers) and made sure they overlapped quite a bit, to get all the other blended shades too. I didn't want the sentiment to take anything away from the background so I decided to just stamp it there using the MISTI tool to get a really deep black line. I hope you are going to join us for some fun with "Things With Wings" and would love to see your project in our gallery ;o)

Supplies:

Stamps: "Little Fairies" The Greeting Farm

Stencil "Blossom" by Create A Smile Stamps

And if you like fairies, here is another card I made using the same stamp set:

And a whole bunch of fairy goodies for my dearest "Klosterschwestern" in 2018. The tree log contained a special rubber to help when one made a little booboo ;o)

Challenges:

tba

Hay Chick

Hay everyone ;o)

Every second Tuesday is very PINspirational - or so I find ;o) We have a new challenge for you over at PINspirational Challenges today and this is the inspiration picture:

I love the chicken images I have by Purple Onions Design, so I immediatly thought of them when I saw this picture. I started my card with the die cutting part (rectangle and next the peek-a-boo windows) to have an inkling on where I would have to place the images I wanted to use. I had cut a piece of Copic friendly paper to size and made sure you could still see what I wanted to be visible when I placed the window piece back on top - I hope that makes sense ;o)

When I had the scene stamped and coloured I added the sentiment "HAY CHICK" with letter stickers by Create A Smile Stamps in yellow and light green and also that cute little chick and then used foam tape to pop the panel up. Lastly I added the speech bubble, just to add another fun element to the card.In order to really draw the eye towards the chicks I decided to use a yellow panel under the blue one as well and that finished my card. I hope you like it and that the chickens or anything elso in the picture inspires you to create a card or other crafty project. If so I would love to see it in our gallery at PINspirational Challenges. 

Supplies:

Stamps: "Flo, Mo & Bo - 3 chicks" & "Eloise- hen"

Dies: "Peek-A-Boo Windows" by My Favorite Things (discontinued)

If you like the images, maybe you like this card as well:

Challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Oh so cute"

Send A Smile 4 Kids "Anything Goes 4 Kids"

Ike's World "Three of a kind" (windows and chicks)

Sweet Stampers "Outside Fun"

Digi Doodle Studio "Things with Wings"

The Crafter's Cafe "Dots and or Stripes"

Crafters Castle "Anything Goes"

Congratulations - Bear with Cake

Hello everyone!

Today I am back with a new card for the "Animals" challenge at Papercraft Challenge. We are happy to say that our very kind sponsor Gerda Steiner Designs is offering a $15 prize for their shop ;o) So what are you waiting for... ahhh, yes of course ;o) inspiration ;o) And here is comes:

I started with creating a super fun and vibrant background for this cute bear, die cut it with a hexagon frame die (it seems I have been thinking of bees and honey...) and glued the frame right back into place but upside down ;o) I stamped some confetti splatters on the inside of the frame and adhered the bear on top.