To a koality friend

Hello everyone ;o)

I hope you had a great start to the year 2024! Today I would like to share my first DT card of the year with you. Over at Papercraft Challenges we thought you might all want to play with your new stamps and made it an "Anything Goes" theme. This is what I have created (even though the stamp I have used isn't new anymore I still love playing with it):

This card was super easy to make, but I love the way it looks. I started by creating the background with two different yellow shades and used a scalloped frame die to cut it out. I glued the background piece on a yellow card base and added this super cute koala. 

Also I added the three red hearts to have the colour in more than one place. Hope you are going to join us in this month's challenge! Have a fabulous day and happy crafting!!!

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

Herzlichen Glückwunsch - Wedding card

Heya everyone ;o)

I hope you are all doing well and that maybe life has returned to a somewhat-normal for you. I am so happy you found your way to my blog and would like to share this simple wedding card with you. It was made for the newest challenge over at Papercraft Challenges, so if you have any weddings coming up we would love it if you could share your creation with us in our gallery:

I chose to go with a square card base, because for some reason that is my preferred format for a wedding card. No idea why, but let's roll with it for now ;o) I die the heart frame and the heart from some pearl cardstock which gives just a tiny bit of shine when you tilt it in the light. I glued both to a die cut banner cut from vellum and added the sentiment with stickers and another die cut. By the way for all the intricate die cut pieces like the frame and the word I always use "Stick it" on the back to make life easier for myself and also so that it is completely adhered and won't lift in odd places. I adhered the banner on the decorated card front and my card was almost done.

Because it was rather plain on the outside, I decorated the inside a little bit as well. It is all stamped, but makes it a proper wedding card as the outside could be a birthday card as well. I would love it if you would join us in this month challenge and am looking forward to seeing you again soon - somewhere in Blogland ;o) Have a fantastic day and happy crafting! Yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Hochzeit Glückwunsch" by Klartext Stempel
Dies: "Heart Frame" by Avery Elle
         "Traditional Tag STAX" by My Favorite Things

         "Cool Cuts - Kleine Worte" by Create a Smile Stamps

Challenges:
Alphabet Challenge "E is for easy simple card"
Lil Red Wagon "Make it CAS"
Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes with Dies

Surprise - Birthday Cards

Hello everyone,

how are you all doing? I hope you all get to enjoy some sun, great food, a wide smile from someone and some happy time crafting today ;o) Doesn't that sound like a wonderful day?! Here it has been raining all day, but except for the sun I got all of the other things I mentioned above and consider myself blessed! With the pandemic still going on I feel it helps to really think about the things we enjoy. However, enough talking for mow and more sharing... This is the card I'd like to share with you today which I made for the current "Anything Goes" theme at Papercraft Challenges:

I love this "Critter Crew" stamp by Avery Elle. It has the perfect size for a card and there is no need to mask anything yet have an interesting image. Do you like using "pre-arranged" images? For the background I created a quick pattern with some Distress Ink and a stencil and also die cut the oval as a way to anchor the image on the background. 

If you have been on my blog before you might now that I love rainbow coloured images, so with this one I chose to colour the hats in rainbow colours. Because the yellow was the only colour that was only represented once on the card I decided to use a piece of yellow paper for the banner to stamp the sentiment on. That way it all looks balanced I think. I hope you are going to join us for our "Anything Goes" theme at Papercraft Challenges ;o) Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting everyone, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Critter Crew" by Avery Elle

Stencil: "Balloons" by Echo Park (right at the bottom of the page)

Challenges:

Seize the Birthday "Make it a Bouquet"

Simon Says Stamp "Stencil It"

AAA Birthday Card Challenge "Birthdays" (Happy 2nd birthday ;o))

Use Your Stuff "Use Stencils"

Happy Birthday, Gnomie!

Hello everyone ;o)

I'd quickly like to share my card for this month' theme over at Challenge Up Your Life with you. The theme is "Under a hat":

I love the "Next Door Gnomes" by Hello Bluebird, so this was a perfect opportunity to break it out. I used polaroid fames to make it look like you were looking through openings to this magical world of little gnowmes when holding the card. Also I liked the white space underneath the opening as the place for my sentiment. For the background I used a card base in purple and a wonderful design paper by Lawn fawn to match the colour and mood. I hope you like the card and I also hope that you will join us in May at Challenge Up Your Life! Have a wonderful day and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Next Door Gnomes" & "Party on The Farm" by Hello Bluebird Stamps

Dies: "Wonky Stitches Elle-Ments" by Avery Elle

         "Precious Polaroids" by My Favourite Things

Challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"

Seize the Birthday "Anything Birthday Goes"

Aud Sentiments Challenge "Use a Birthday Sentiment"

For A Loved One (Giraffe with heart)

Heya my dear crafty friends!

Today I would like to share my make for the newest challenge over at Papercraft Challenges with you. The theme is "For a loved one" and I love this cute giraffe by our kind sponsor Bugaboo:

I created a background using a stencil and a light pink Distress Ink and die cut the heart frame to help focus the eyes a bit. The giraffe was coloured with Copic markers and I coloured its hooves and the snout (?) twice so I could create something more 3D:

You can see it a bit better in this picture above. I only added two strips of paper to somehow center the image even more and stamped the greeting a bit below from where I wanted the image to be. I hope you are going to create something "For a loved one" and share it with us in our gallery! Remember you can win a lovely prize from our sponsor as well as making someone you love happy ;o))) Isn't that a win-win? Have a wonderful week everyone and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Giraffe Heart" by Bugaboo

              "tba" by Neat and Tangled

Dies: "Heart Frame" by Avery Elle

Stencil: "Polka Hearts" by Create A Smile

Squirrel having a pile of fun

Heya everyone,

so glad to see you here in my little part of Blogland ;o) Today we are starting a new challenge over at Papercraft Challenges. This time the theme is "Autumn Colours" and the winner will get a little surprise in addition to all the fun ;o) This is my take on the theme:

For this card I used the cute images by MFT stamps and started with stamping the pile of leaves on the already prepared background and quickly coloured in all the leaves in different colours and the "inside" of the pile in a dark green. It could either be that the inside of the pile is quite dark or that you can still see some grass underneath all the leaves. 

Next I stamped the squirrel and some extra leaves and coloured them in using my Copic markers again. This time I made sure I had a lot of contrast and depth to what I coloured. After that was done I die cut the frame and stamped the sentiment right next to the edge of the inside of the frame, placed the squirrel where I thought it looked best and then scattered some of the leaves around to make it look like the suirrel had just jumped into the pile of fun ;o) I hope you like the card and that you are going to join us in our "Autumn Colours" gallery. I would love to see what you create! Have a wonderful and cozy Autumn time, stay safe and happy crafting everyone, yours Maike ;o)

Supplies:

Stamps: "Piles of Fun" by My Favourite Things

              "Wonky Scalloped Frames" by Avery Elle

Challenges:

Sweet Stampers Challenge "Autum or Halloween"
Stamping Sensations "Autumn Glory"

Moving Along with the Times "Animals or Birds"

Shopping Our Stash "Happy Fall YÀll"
A Place to Start "Harvest Time - Use Red, Yellow and Green"
Aud Sentiments Challenge "Halloween / Fall Sentiment"

Urlaubsfeeling

Hello everyone!

Wow, this time it worked out so that I got to post three days in a row to inspire you for different challenges ;o) Today I would like to inspire you to play along with our newest theme "Vacation Mood" at Challenge Up Your Life. It made me so happy to create this vacation inspired card, because we won't be going on holiday anytime soon it seems. Anyhow, this is the card I made:

This really takes me to the beach and I hope you'll join me there, if only for a brief moment ;o) For this card I used a background stamp from Purple Onion Designs and also the cute, cute penguins by My Favorite Things ;o) First Istamped a palm tree, masked it and stamped it again. Next I stamped over it with the background stamp and coloured everything with Copics. Once I was happy with how it looked I die cut the scene using a stitched rectangle (nothing too crazy, because there was a lot going on already) and added the fussy cut and also Copic coloured penguins. 

Lastly I added the sentiment and also stamped another penhuin on the inside of the card just to make that look extra special as well ;o) I hope you are going to join us at Challenge Up Your Life with a vacation themed project. Have a great day and happy crafting! Thank you for stopping by, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Penguins in Paradise" by My Favorite Things
              "Sand Dunes" by Purple Onion Designs

Die: "Wonky Stitches Elle-Ments" von Avery Elle

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"
Stamps + Fun = Creativity "Ferien / Vacation"
Tuesday Throwdown "Anything Goes"
Paperminutes "Meer / Sea"
Basteltraum Challenge "Sommer /Summer"
The Crafting Challenge Blog "Bright Colours"

Super Duper Hero

Heya everyone!

"Hero" is the theme of our newest challenge at PINspirational Challenges or better this picture is:

I created a friendship card with the hero-theme, because I consider many of my friends heroes. Some are awesome mums or great, inspiring teachers others are brilliant with people or animals or plants... So I will have to choose carefully whom I will send this card to in the end ;o)

Wishing you all a wonderful week, hope you get to meet up with some of your own heroes and happy crafting everyone ;o) Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Tiny Heroes" by Mama Elephant

Dies: "Wonky Stitches Elle-Ments" by Avery Elle
Stencil: by MFTstamps, but discontinued. (Here is a similar one however.)

Challenges:
Simon Says Monday Challenge "Make Your Own Background"

2 Crafty Critter Crazies "Animals"

Sweet Stampers Challenge "Animals / Birds"

Crafty Animals "Include an animal"
Sweet Stampin Challenge "Cute"

Oh Happy Day (Cats in Frame)

Hello again ;o)

Today I am back with another inspiration card but this time it was made for the newest PINspirational Challenge. This is the current inspiration picture:

Obsiously I used the cat as an inspiration but also I went with "Oh happy day" as my sentiment because of the famous song ;o) For my card I started by colouring in all those cute cats with Copic markers and fussy cut them out. Next I made a card base from dark pink paper which I also die cut the frame from. I backed the frame with a yellow paper and adhered the cats on top of it.

In order to pay credit to the oevrall grey feel of thge inspiration picture I used a grey paper as my backdrop and adhered the frame over top. And because I had gone with the polka hearts I chose yellow hearts as embellishments on my card. I hope you like it and that you are going to play along with our challenge (maybe again?) this time around ;o) Each picture provides so much inspiration depending on what one focuses on - that is one thing I really love about picture inspirations ;o) have a fabulous week everyone and happy crafting,

yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "The Cat's Meow" & "Picnick with Friends" by Mama Elephant

Dies: "Wonky Scalloped Frames" by Avery Elle

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Animal Fun"
Aud Sentiment Challenge "Anything Goes"
Cardz 4 Galz "Birthday"
Cute Card Thursdays "Birthdays"
Cutie Pie Challenge "Pretty in Pink"
Creatalicious Challenge "Anything Goes with optional pink and purple"

Dog Gone Awesome Birthday

Hello there,

thank you for stopping by ;o) Today I would like to share with you the card I made for the newest PINspirational Challenge. This is our current inspration picture:

I do not own a lama stamp, so I thought I would use the striped from the background as inspiration plus use an animal and have it be mainly white. Many of my friend's are dog lovers so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to use this cute puppy which is one of my newest stamps. I gave it a present to give to the recipient and made it a birthday card. I love how the white dog looks against the colourful and bright stripes. What do you think?

I hope you are going to join us for this fun and happy challenge. I would love to see your project in our gallery! Please stay safe and happy crafting, everyone ;o) Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Puppy`s Favorite Things" by Neat and Tangled (it will be discontinued, but you can get it in the sale right now)

              "Party Pals Clear Stamps" by Avery Elle

              Sentiment by My Favorite Things (retired)

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"
Creative Fingers Challenge "Anything Goes"
Send A Smile 4 Kids "Anything Goes 4 Kids"
2 Crafty Critter Crazies "Anything Goes with a Critter"
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge "May Challenge"

Celebrate - Gnome

Hello everyone,

"Celebrations" is the theme for the newest Crafty Cardmakers challenge. I love the theme, because it is so versatile and so I created a card with the theme as my sentiment:

I  let the Scan N Cut do the cutting work for me and then coloured the image with Copics. The little bug at the top left makes me smile everytime I look at this image which I think is totally cute, don't you?

The sentiment was created using the letter stickers by Create a Smile, which I love as well. (I make sure never to be without them actually, because they have helped me out of tight spots cardmaking-wise very often in the past...) I hope you are going to create a "Celebrations" themed project as well and share it with us in our gallery! Until then, please stay safe and happy crafting ;o) Yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamp: "Gnome on a Swing" by Stamping Bella

Dies: "Wonky Stitches Elle-Ments" by Avery Elle

Challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"
Sweet Stampin "Bright and Beautiful"
Fairy and Unicorn Challenge "Anything Fantasy Goes"
Send A Smile 4 Kids "Anything Goes 4 Kids"
A Gem of A Challenge "Anything Goes"
A Perfect Time To Craft "May Challenge - Anything Goes"
A Bit More Time To Craft "Anything Goes"

Birthday cake in pastell colours

Hello my crafty friends!

It's the middle of the month so we do have a new challenge for you at Papercraft Challenges ;o) This time our theme for you ist "Pastell Colours" and this is my inspiration card for you:

You (might) know I love rainbows and so when I saw this cake digi stamp by our kind sponsor Dr. Digi I thought it would look wonderful in soft colours. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind a cirthday cake like this ;o))) I used Copics to colour the image that I had printed as a watermark version to get very light lines. That simply worked better for me when I thought about a soft look. 

When the image was coloured I chose a patterned paper to match the image and cut it to the size of my card front. I then die cut the frame from it which I have raised with three additional frames in white beneath it. Next I added some Nuvo drops to the card and the sentiment which I had die cut from black paper to make it stand out. For me it didn't look finished only having the black sentiment so I also added the three black stars to tie it all together. Do you like soft colours on a card? I would love for you to try it and share your result in our gallery ;o) Have a wonderful rest of March with lots of sunshine, cake and crafting time! Take care and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamp: "Cake and Candles" by Dr. Digi 

Dies: "Wonky Scalloped Frames Elle-Ments" by Avery Elle

          "Handlettered Happy Birthday Wafer Die" by Simon Says Stamp

Challenges:

Soaring by to say (bird)

 Heya everybody,

so glad to see you on the blog! Today I would like to share my card with you that I have made as an inspiration for the newest PINspirational challenge. This is the current inspiration picture:

I decided to have a look through my stamps and find a bird-stamp I would like to use and I have always liked this rather large image by Your Next Stamp, so I went with that cute parrot. I die cut the frame and used a stencil by My Favorite Things to add some light pink clouds to the inside piece to give it a bit more interest and also added some fine sprinkles. 

I stamped the sentiment twice, once on the white paper and a second time on the pink, because I wanted to layer them. Unfortunately it is not as noticable as I had hope - but it is still always worth it trying something new, don't you think? Is there a technique or anything you have tried in card making lately that has surprised you? I would love to see one of your projects in our gallery as well, so why not snoop through your stamps as I have done? It really was fun ;o))) Have a lovely day and happy crafting everyone, yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Soaring by" by Your Next Stamp

Die: "Wonky Squares Elle-Ments" Avery Elle
Stencil: "Clouds" by MY Favorite Things (retired)
Paper: Lawn Fawn

Frohe Weihnachten (Bunny in the Snow)

Hello everyone

and welcome to our first Papercraft Challenge of the year. We have decided to run the challenge monthly now to give you even more time to create a project and share your talent with us. The new theme is "Use at Least 2 Designer Papers", which is always a real challenge for me, but also perfect, because (after tidying up my craft room over the Christmas break and realizing just how much paper I really own - way too much let me tell you-) I vowed to start using more patterned paper on my cards and this was my first attempt of that:

Yes, okay, they are very subtle patterns, but a girl has to start somewhere, doesn't she??? ;o) I love this little bunny by Hello Bluebird having fun in the snow. I used the white frame to put a focus on the little scene and also to have enough space between the scene and the pattern if that makes sense... The lovely red die cut which means Christmas in German is by Create a Smile and was just perfect for this card.

I hope you are going to join us for our "Use at Least 2 Designer Papers" challenge and maybe I find new ways to combine papers to be able to use more of the lovely papers I have neatly stashed away in my craft room ;o) Have a lovely week everyone and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Skating Party" by Hello Bluebird

              "Yeti for Christmas" by Mama Elephant

Dies: "Weihnachten x3" by Create A Smile (also available in English: "Christmas x3")

          "Wonky Stitches Elle-Ments" & "Wonky Scalloped Frame Elle-Ments" by Avery Elle

Papers: "Sparkle Cardstock Pixie Dust" & "" by Lawn Fawn

Challenges
Sweet Stampers Challenge "Winter / Snow"
Use Your Stuff "Anything Goes"
Try it on Tuesdays "What a Cutie"

Through the Craftroom Door "Anything Goes"

Stamps and Fun = Creativity "Anything Goes"

Happy New Year 2020

Heya everyone!

Today I would like to share a "Happy New Year" card with you as my contribution and inspiration to the newest PINspirational challenge. This is our inspiration picture for you:

Please remember, you can go with anything from the picture that inspires you to create a card ;o) For mine I went with the obvious inspiration here and used the cute snowmen by Mama Elephant to send out some New Year's greetings. I love the look of so many of them to cramp into the circle frame to be able to wish the recipient all the best for 2020.

For my card I created a blue background with Distress Oxide Inks and splattered it with Opaque White droplets. Next I stamped a whole bunch of snowflakes in Simon Says Stamp "Fog" ink on to a white cardstock and die cut my panel from it. I wanted a very subtle and non distracting background, but plain white just was too white ;o) The snowman are all shaded with a BG10 and a BG000 marker which doesn't show very much in the picture, but really gives just enough shading in real life to give them a rounded appearance.  Before assembling everything I stamped the greeting on the circle frame and heat embossed it in white to make it stand out and to help the eye by guiding it from the upper left to the lower right of the card. I hope you like the card and that you will take another look at our inspiration picture and see what grabs hold of your attention ;o) Have a wonderful week and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "So Many Snowmen" by Mama Elephant

               "Snowflake Splendor" by My Favorite Things

Dies: "Wonky Stitches Elle-Ments" by Avery Elle

Challenges:
Crafty Friends Challenge "A Very Happy New Year"
Crazy for Challenges "Winter or Summer"

Through the Purple Haze "Anything Goes"
Daisy Chain Challenge "Wintertime"
A Perfect Time To Craft "Anything Goes"