30th Birthday (rainbow colours and cats)

Hello everyone!

Today marks the day of the 100th challenge over at Papercraft Challenges, so the theme had to be "Happy Birthday"! I used the opportunity to create a card for a collegue's 30th birthday:

I love all the colour(s) and the vibrancy of this card. My cardbase was covered with this beautiful rainbow coloured paper and I created a tag with a blue sky (I splattered some drops on for more interest) and a grassy hill scene on it so that the cats would have a place to stand. 

I adhered the tag using foam tape and also added a lot of white glue dots across the card going from the top left to the bottom right to add more interest and to help guide the eye. I hope you like the card and that you consider joining us in our birthday celebrations. If you enter you might win a mystery prize, so what`s there to wait? ;o) Have an amazing day and all the very best, Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: Avery Elle (discontinued it seems)
Paper: "Really Rainbow Petite Paper Pack" by Lawn Fawn

Dies: "Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables" by Lawn Fawn

Cozy Christmas

Dear crafty friends,

I hope you are all doing well. Today I would like to share with you my newest DT work for the "Cozy Christmas" challenge over at Challenge Up Your Life:

For this card I used quite a few stamps by Purple Onion Designs. Their images are just so cute and I love colouring them, even though it takes a little longer than colouring other images because of the many little details. 

On the inside I stamped another image and the sentiment, because I felt like there was enough going on on the outside of this card. If you would like to join our challenge with your own "Cozy Christmas" creation we would love to see it in our gallery ;o) Have a fabulous day and happy crafting!

Stamps: "Christmas Tree", "Sugar Plum (bunny)", "Fireplace and Rug", "Buttons (cat)" & 
              "Sweets (mice)" by Purple Onion Designs
              "Background stamp Sweater?" by My Favourite Things

Spooktacular Halloween (Wizard & ghosts)

Hello everyone ;o)

I hope you are doing great today! I would like to share my most recent DT-work with you. This card:

was created for the newest "Halloween" themed challenge over at Papercraft Challenges. We were kindly sponsored by Dr. Digi and if you join you could win 2 digis from them. So why wait? ;o) I have used the image "Spells for beginners" and I really like this wizard holding his book. It was great to colour as well!

I started with a brick wall stencil on this turquoise cardstock that I have used as my card base. Using "Walnut Stain" Distress Ink I created the bricks and using dark blue to lighter blue shades I got the middle part kind of glowy - if you know what I mean. I wanted it to look like the orb was giving off a bluish light and would thereby tint the whole room kind of blue. 
Once everything was completely dry - I let it dry for over a day to be sure - I heat embossed the sentiment to the top of my card, added the wizard with some foam tape and also adhered the cute little ghosts around him. Did you know, that cute little ghosts really love glowing orbs? Well, I didn't, but here they are ;o) I heat embossed the images on vellum and put "Stick it" on them, so that it wouldn't show as much.

I hope you are going to join us over at Papercraft Challenges and I also hope that you'll have a fantastic day and happy crafting, yours Maike

Stamps: "Spells for Beginners" by Dr. Digi

              "Ghosts" by Lawn Fawn (discontinued)
Stencil: "Mauer" by Create A Smile (discontinued)

Happy Fall Fox

Happy fall to you all! :o)

Today is the first of the month of October so we have a new challenge for you over at Challenge Up Your Life. This time the theme is "Autumn Leaves" and this is the card I created for the challenge:

I love this 2 step stencil by Create A Smile and thoroughly enjoyed creating the background. What do you think about it? 

The background was supposed to be the star of the show, but I think this super adorable fox can hold its ground. I placed him on the polaroid die cut after adding a quick backdrop to that as well. The sentiment found a good place on the bottom of the polaroid and at first I thought I would add some glue dots around the fox but then I decided against it. I hope to see your project in our gallery over at Challenge Up Your Life featuring some Autumn Leaves, too ;o)

Supplies:
Stamps: "Fox - discontinued" & "Happy Fall"  by Gerda Steiner Design
Stencil: "Layered Leaves" by Create A Smile
Die: "Polaroid Stax - discontinued" by My Favourite Things

First Christmas Card of the year

 Hello everyone ;o)

This is for the newest Papercraft Challenge :o) The theme is "Ribbons" and I decided to get the first two Christmas cards ready for this year:

Just a simple background with a ribbon across it for something more to look at.

I hope you are going to join us over at Papercraft Challenges ;o) Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!!!

Make a splash - summer slim line card

Happy Sunday, dear crafty friends, 

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer time. Over at  Papercraft Challenges we have decided to let "Summer" be the theme of our newest challenge. This is the card I've created:

I used some of my favourite summer / beach type stamps by Purple Onion Designs for this card. First I created the background with the rocks and the little dock and added some "hills" to the top. Those hills are actually icebergs that I simply coloured in different shades of green to make them look like hills. The next step was to create the sea and for that I masked off the dock, the rocks and the hills and used three different shades of blue to be able to blend them together nicely and have some illusion of depth. 

Next I coloured the different images with Copic markers and cut them out with a tiny white boarder around them so that they would stand out against the background a little better. I added some shimmer to the water and also to the fish as well as covering the glasses of the bear and the bunny with Nuvo crystal clear to give them a more realistic look. The placement of the different elements kept me busy for quite some time - not only because I put them in a hundret different places on the card but also because I had four more images coloured in - but this is what looked the best I feel. Lastly I added the sentiment and glued everything in place. In hindsight I would have preferred it if I had given the rainbow letters a white edge or something as well. I hope you like the card and also that you will join us over at Papercraft Challenges. All the best to you, have a fabulous time and happy crafting,
yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Iceberg", "Shelly - bathing mouse" and all the other images are from the "Sunshine Lake Collection" by Purple Onion Designs. 

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamps Wednesday Challenge "Shimmer and Shine"
Unicorn Challenge Blog "No Design Paper"
My Time To Craft "Summertime Waterplay"

Gem Of A Challenge "Anything Goes"

Be merry - in July

Heya my dear crafty friends,

how are you doing? I hope you are having a fine summer so far. Now that I have mentioned summer you might wonder why, oh why is she showing us a Christmas card today?! Well, let`s just say I will always panic when December comes, because I don't have enough Christmas cards to send out, so I vowed to create some in the summer. Though to be completey honest, I usually just colour images over the summer, so that the creating part goes quicker once I get in the mood for Christmas cards. However this time the Challenge Up Your Life blog helped my by having a "Patterned Paper" challenge this month, so I thought, why not use this gorgeous wintery paper and get started:

I love this huge snow flake die cut and decided to have it be the focal point of my card. I die cut the patterned paper twice: once to give it the scallopped edge and another time to create the window. I put some pearlescent vellum by Lawn Fawn behind the snowflake, because I wanted be able to see the pattern behind it still. 

I used some really cute critters from Hello Bluebird to add some "life" to the card so to speak. I love how the bear looks at the recipient of the card. It is almost like it is wishing them to be merry. I also added the tiny blue bird to the top right to balance out the scene a bit more and also to have another pop of blue incorporated. 
Do you have any patterned paper sitting in your drawers that you have always wanted to use? Now is the time. Join us at Challenge Up Your life this month and share your talent in our gallery! Have a wonderful day and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Christmas Tree" by Hello Bluebird
              "Winter Big Scripty Words" by Lawn Fawn

Dies: "Alicia Snowflake Wafer Die" by Simon Says Stamps

          "Winter Big Scripty Words Lawn Cuts" by Lawn Fawn

Girl with saxophone (Happy happy birthday)

Hello and welcome to today's post ;o)

I would like to share my newest card with you which I have created for the new challenge over at Papercraft Challenges. It will be all about girls for the next four weeks and with this image by our kind sponsor Dr. Digi I have created this birthday card:

I really enjoyed colouring this cute girl with her puffy cheeks and after I had coloured her with Copic markers I fussy cut her out. in the stamp there is a dog standing next to her, but I only wanted this part of the image for what I had in mind. Next I prepared the cardbase and stamped a musical note stamp in all the colours of the rainbow because of the piece of background paper I wanted to place the gitl image on. 

The colourful background was created with alcohol inks and some felt pieces on my ink blending tool. It was quite a mess but loads of fun to create ;o) Lastly I added the sentinemt word strips I had heat embossed on black cardstock. I used black to get a really heavy contrast going and I really like the end result. I hope you like it, too and that you will share your "Girls" projects with us over at Papercraft Challenges! Don't forget, you could be the lucky winner and win 2 digis by our sponsor Dr. Digis!!! Have a fabulous day and happy crafting ;o) Yours Maike

Supplies:
Yupo paper by Ranger
Stamps: "Mood music" by Dr. Digi 

Sweet wishes, sweet friend - slimline card

Heya everyone ;o)

Today starts a new challenge theme over at Challenge Up Your Life. This time the theme is "Slimline Card" and this is the card I've created for it:

Magical birthday wishes from things with wings

Hello everyone ;o)

I'd like to share this card with you for the Papercraft Challenge "Things With Wings". I am a little late to the party, but wanted to share it with you nonetheless because I like how the card turned out:

Sunny Smiles - CAS card

Hello everyone,

I love clean and simple cards - when others create them. Whenever I want to make one I keep thinking to myself "Maybe I'll just add some dots / splatters / embellishments / other images / a piece of coloured or designer cardstock /...". The list goes on and on and on. But this time the theme over at Challenge Up Your Life is "Clean and Simple" so I had to withstand my thoughts and this is what came out of it: 

So what do you think? And is it the same for you when you create a CAS-project? For this card I started with a white card base and added some light blue colour to the background using Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. Once I was happy with how it looked I grabbed a piece of paper and Salvaged Patina Distress Ink to get a straight horizon  line while darkening up the colour towards the bottom to create the illusion of water. 

When that was dry I stamped the sentiment and added the image which I had coloured with Copic markers. For some reason the darkest marker I had used (E47) was kind of - I don't know - sticky (?!!) after I had cleaned the marker and it created the bubbly look in the dark places of the bear. So the poor thing now has a bit of a sunburn... because I wasn't able to smooth out the colour anymore. A real shame and I am not sure what is wrong with my beloved E47. I made sure the cleaning liquid (isopropanol I think it was) never even got near the tip, but nevermind.

I would love to see our CAS-project in our gallery over at Challenge Up Your Life and I hope you'll have a wonderful time creating it! Have a fabulous day and happy crafting everyone ;o)))

Stamps: "Come On In" by Hello Bluebird

Sending Smiles

 Heya everyone ;o)

Today I would like my "Spring" card for Papercraft Challenges. This time we have a wonderful new sponsor and you could be the winner of 2 digital stamps from Mirtillamente. If you like the fun "flower" on my card you should definately go and have a look ;o)

I printed the stamp on Copic friendly paper and coloured it with Copics, creating a little hill scene in the background. Once the ink had dried I die cut the scene and added the sentiment with white embossing powder. To finish the card I added a fairy from "The Greeting Farm" which made a perfect pair with this adorable flower house.

I also stamped another fairy and the sentiment "Have a fairy nice day", but I didn't catch it on camera yet. We would love to see your "Spring" inspired creations in our gallery. Until then have a fabulous day and happy crafting ;o)

Stamps: "Fairy Tale" Flower House Number 2" Mirtillamente

               "Little Fairies" The Greeting Farm

Dies: "Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables" Lawn Fawn

Its your day - go wild!

Heya my lovely crafty friends,

I hope you are all doing well! Today I'd like to share my newest make for the "Sweet Animals" challenge for Challenge Up Your Life with you:

First I die cut this wonderful background die and gave the little segments some colour using Distress Inks. I love this fun, bright backdrop.

Next I added the sweet animals. I chose the cute "Word Buddies" by Hello Bluebird and added some extra butterflies from another set called "Next Door Gnomes".

I hope you like the card and that you will take out some of your sweet animal stamps to play with and later share it in our gallery. Have a fabulous day and happy crafting:-)

Yours Maike

Supplies:

mentioned in the text, will add the links asap

Gruß vom Osterhasen

Hello everyone ;o)

I am back today with the card for this month Papercraft Challenges. We would love to see some "Easter" cards or projects this time. This is what I have created as an inspiration:

I tried a slim line card this time, because I wanted to use all three of these adorable bunnies and that way they all get their own space and it doesn't look crowded I think. The background die is from Hello Bluebird and I really enjoyed creating that scene. I have tried different colour combinations, so you might see this die a few times over the next months.

I hope you are going to join us for our "Easter" challenge. Remember you could be the lucky winner of a lovely surprise ;o) Have a great day and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Häschen Mini Clear Stamps" by Kulricke 

             "Ostergruß" Klartext Stempel

Dies: "Summer Woods Scene Die" by Hello Bluebird

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag (Monochrom)

Heya my dear crafty friends,

I am a day late again, but again, I hope you'll forgive me, since I have been feeling poorly for the last few days. However, I would still love to share my make for the newest Challenge Up Your Life challenge with you. The theme is "Monochrome" and this is what I came up with:

I love this cute image and it was perfect for this challenge, because the animal itself only needed black and white to look good and so I could give it a lovely pink sweater and pair it with a light pink background.

The pink letters were coloured with Copic markers and the rest was stamped in jet black ink. I'll admit I added a little bit of colour with this heart I placed in the hand of my critter, but as it is so tiny and kind of neutral coloured I think I'll get away with it or what do you think? 

I hope you are going to join us in this month' challenge. We would love to see what you come up with! Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting to you! Yours Maike

Supplies: tba

Sending love (Postman)

Hello everyone ;o)
Sorry for posting this late, but life just happened... This is the card I made for the newest Papercraft Challenges theme "Hearts". First I thought about having loads and loads of hearts in the background, but then I felt like I wanted one heart to shine. And this is what I came up with:

If you look closely you can see that I have added hearts to the tie of this fun postman image by our kind sponsor "Dr. Digi". Have you spotted them?

Here they are a little bigger ;o) The card was easy to make but I think the image just maked it shine! I hope you think so, too. I also hope that you'll join us for this lovely challenge. See you in the gallery and happy crafting everyone! Have a fabulous day, yours Maike

Supplies: tba