Happy Easter (and lots of no line colouring)

Hello everyone!
Hope you are all doing great and looking forward to spring with better and warmer weather and flowers and Easter ;o) Over at the Papercraft Challenges blog we chose the theme "Easter" as our new theme for the coming month. This is the card I created for it:

I stamped the image with Ink on 3 Fadout ink and coloured this cute bunny by Gerda Steiner in immediately afterwards. Because, as the name suggests, this ink fades out over time and you won't be able to see the lines any more after a while. 

Next I got started on the background. It was time consuming but a lot of fun. I worked along a course by Sandy Allnock which was very entertaining easy to follow and I must say I really quite like the outcome. I hope you do, too!
After painting the scene for the background all I did was die cut a sentiment (which means Happy Easter in English) and coloured another egg before assembling it all. 
I hope you will join us this month and share your Easter projects with our fantastic community! There is also a surpise prize to win, so what are you waiting for?! ;o) Wishing you all a lovely spring time, happy crafting and all the best,
                                                                                                 

                                                                                                    yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Easter Bunnies" by Gerda Steiner Designs 
Dies: "Small Stitched Rectangle Dies" by Lawn Fawn
          "Frohe Ostern" by Crealies 

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

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

Easter Bunny with flowers

Hello all!!!
Today I am back with sharing my card for the newest Challenge Up Your Life mood board:

And this is the card I have created for this challenge:

I have used yellowish-(golden)-green hues for the background to create the mood for this card. Going from there I decided to make it an Easter card and used one of the cute bunnies from Gerda Steiner Designs. 

I used some fun flower dies from Paper Smooches and a frame by Honey Bee Stamps to set the scene for the Easter bunny and added the sentiment and my card was done. It came together rather quickly, even through those flowers had so many little parts. A bit of "Stick it" behind the paper is a very good way to save on time - and maybe frustration ;o)

I'd love to see one of your creations in our gallery at Challenge Up Your Life. Have a fabulous day! Happy crafting, Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Easter Bunnies" by Gerda Steiner Designs
Dies: "Dainty Flowers" by Paper Smooches (retired)
          "Happy Christmas" (frame die) by Honey Bee Stamps
           "Frohe Ostern" by tba

Happy Flipping Birthday (penguins)

Hello everyone,
I hope you are all happy and doing well. For some reason time always flies around this time of year, so I have to admit it flew by a little and I completely forgot to post this card for Papercraft Challenges. My apologies for those of you who wanted to take a closer look!!!

The card was made for the "Color on Kraft" challenge and I love the effect just of this stencil on the darker paper. It looks great I think:

I used Distress Oxide Inks in three different shades of pink and red and just added those lovely penguins to the front above and below the sentiment.

I hope you still got time to play along with our challenge this month! Our generous sponsor is Gerda Steiner Designs and you might just be the lucky winner and get a gift certificate to their store. Who knows? ;o) Have a lovely day and happy crafting my friends!

                                                    Yours Maike

Supplies:
tba

Happy Birthday from the penguins

Hello everyone ;o)

Today I am back with a new card for Papercraft Challenges. This time we want to see the sentiment as the focus piece of your card. I chose to use this huge die from Honey Bee Stamps and love the result:

I started by creating this fun background in pink, red and a very pale pink as well and placed the birthday sentiment on top right in the center. 

Because of all the die cut pieces I feel like the card has a lot of dimension without being bulky though. After adhering the sentiment I placed the two cute penguins around it and stuck the "Happy"-piece to one of the penguin's wings, so that it looks like it is holding it while flying by holding a balloon. 

I decorated the inside as well and added some star sequins to the front and my card was done. I really love the look of this huge sentiment on the front. I hope I could inspire you to create a card with the sentiment as your focus as well and hope you are going to share it with us in our gallery! Have a fabulous day and happy crafting ;o) Yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Valentine Penguins" by Gerda Steiner Designs

Dies: "Birthday Honey Cuts" by Honey Bee Stamps

         "Sweet Stacks Rectangles Honey Cuts" by Honey Bee Stamps

Sending Birthday Sunshine & Rainbows.... (Bunny and chick)

Heya everyone ;o)))
Has spring arrived where you live already? It has over here and I am so grateful for it. I hear the birds sing in the morning and it is already light when I leave the house for work. So, when we were told our new Papercraft Challenge theme "Rainbows" and kindly given a bunny image from our sponsor Gerda Steiner Designs I immediatly knew what kind of carrd I wanted to create:

I'll admit it is a rather unusual birthday card, but I always felt that this bunny was giving the carrot to someone to make them happe, so I chose the sentiment "Sending birthday sunshine & rainbows" and added "... and Möhrchen" (which is carrot in German) on the inside. Plus I added a tiny little carrot there as well. I so hope it will make someone smile in the near future. 

For the background I chose a patterned paper featuring some cute clouds and added two grassy hills die cut from some green paper. I added the cute chick tucked behind  the first layer and I just love this surprised look. I bet the chick is very happy to have cracked the egg early enough to attend the birthday party ;o) Both images, as well as the rainbow were coloured with Copic markers. The sentiment was stamped on in black ink and then I heat embossed over it with clear embossing powder to give it a more shiny and raised finish. I hope you like this card and if you love the images and just find them half as cute as I do I recommend you play along this time and maybe you could be the lucky winner of a $15 gift certificate to Gerade Steiner Designs. Have a wonderful time and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Easter Bunnies" by Gerda Steiner Designs
Dies: "Rainbow Whimsy Die" by My Favourite Things
          "Meadow Borders" by Lawn Fawn

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "A Bit O' Green"
Animal Friend's Challenge "Hasen / Bunnies"
Send a Smile 4 Kids "Anything Goes 4 Kids"
Sweet Stampers Challenge "Easter or Spring"

Snowflakes at Papercraft Challenge

Heya my dear crafty friends,
today I am back with an inspiration card for Papercraft Challenges. Our theme this time is "Snowflakes" and our kind sponsor is Gerda Steiner Designs. That cute snowman image is one of their digis and if you'd also like to work with it or do like their stamps you should definately play along with us this month. Gerda Steiner Designs offers a $15 gift certificate for the winner of this month' challenge. 

This year I really fell for the combination of blue and purple shades for my Christmas and winter themed cards. It transports a frosty feel that I really like, so I coloured the snowman accordingly. For the shading of the snowman I used Copics in BG11 and BG10 to give it a bit of a rounded appearance and more dimension. The patterned papers I used are from Echo Park "Winter Magic"paper pad and I just adore the colours! To tie it all in I used "Shaded Lilac" Distress Ink on the edge of my card base and also coloured a strip of paper which became the sentiment strip. Lastly I added the snowflakes all over the card to help guide the eye a little and added some glitter glue accents using Nuvo Glitter Drops in the clear version "White Blizzard".

I hope you are going to play along with us and share your lovely "Snowflake" makes in our gallery! Have a fantastic day and happy crafting everyone! Yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Snowman and Birds Digital Stamp" by Gerda Steiner Designs
              "Merry Messages" by Lawn Fawn

Dies: "Rounded Stitched Window" by Reverse Confetti
          "Mini Snowflakes" by Lawn Fawn

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Let it Snow"
Simon Says Monday Challenge "Ice Cold"
Send a Smile 4 Kids "Winter Cards 4 Kids"
Little Red Wagon "Snow Day"
Crafty Calender Challenge "Christmas Theme"
The Cutie Pie Challenge Blog "White Christmas"
Christmas With The Cuties "Have yourself a merry little christmas"
Sweet Stampers Challenge "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. 

Älter? Besser! (Cat)

Hello everyone!

This card was made as inspiration for the newest theme "Woodgrain Background" over at Challenge Up Your Life:

I used a card base by Lawn Fawn and added all the other elements directly on top. This card is meant for a man so I kept it fairly simple and kept the colours more neutral than usual. ;o) I wanted the cat to have some kind of frame, but didn't want to take away from the background so I decided to go with a vellum circle behind it.

The cat is an image by Gerda Steiner Designs which I really love a lot. You can customize it with a sentiment or another image and for this card I decided to use the sentiment "Älter Besser!" which means "Older Better!"

The tiny star stickers are from Create a Smile and are perfect to add a bit of embellishment. I hope you are going to play along with our challenge this month! Have a fabulous week and happy crafting everyone, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Cat holding sign - Digi" by Gerda Steiner Designs

Dies: "Scallop Circle" by My Favorite Things (discontinued it seems)

Have a happy birthday (elephant)

Heya everyone,

just a quick post today because I am late as it is and the last days have been soooo busy - so I hope you'll forgive me if I don't elaborate too much ;o) This is my inspiration card for the newest Papercraft Challenges challenge ;o) The theme is "Spring" and we are kindly sponsored by Gerda Steiner Designs:

I printed the digi stamp on Copic paper as a watermark so that I could only barely see the outlines, because I wanted to go with a light, no-line style for the "Spring" theme. After I had coloured everything in and had added a nice grassy hill and blue sky to the image I die cut the scene with a rounded rectangle die.

I chose a yellow paper for my background to draw the eye towards the birdie even more and also added the lovely tall letters by Altenew which I had die cut from a rainbow patterned paper. I hope you are going to join us at Papercraft Challenges with a "Spring" related project! Please stay safe and have a wonderful weekend everyone! Happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies: tba

Tippe Tappe - a card for a vet

Heya everyone,

I hope you are all doing good and that crafting or other hobbies, people, phone-calls, ... help you through this strange time. Challenge Up Your Life's new theme for the month of May is "Animals", so I am hopeful our gallery will overflow with your lovely projects at the end of the month ;o) This is my inspiration card:

A friend of mine needed a card for a vet who had opened their own office (or is it clinic?) and I had so much fun making this one for her. This is the front of the card and I wanted it to look like you were looking through the windows into the office. 

Though the windows you can only see the dog and the cat, but when you open the card...

...you will find a few more animals as well. The card can be opened one more time to give room for a text and - as I understood it - loads of signatures from friends to wish the vet good luck. I hope you like the card and I hope even more that you will link an "Animal" themed project to our gallery at Challenge Up Your Life for us to see! ;o) Please take care everyone and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies: tba

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"
Addicted To Stamps And More "Make Your Mark"
2 Crafty Critter Crazies "Anything Goes"
A Bit More Time To Craft "Anything Goes"
Lemon Shortbread "Anything Goes"
Krafty Chicks Challenge "Anything Goes"

Easter card using the Magic Iris

Hello everyone!

I am soooo, so late with this post, but life pushed itself between me and my blog the last week, but here it comes. This is my card for this months Papercraft Challenge with an "Easter" theme:

I created my very first card with the Magic Iris die by Lawn Fawn and have to say I am in love! Once I got the hang of it I created this card very quickly.

The only thing I am a little unhappy about is that I would have needed to use a double layer of foam tape around the mechanism which I didn't and so the paper bends down towards the edges a little. However, next time I won`t make that mistake again and I do like the card very much. It was so much fun playing with it and having the cute chick revealed ;o)

I hope you are going to show us your crafty "Easter" themed projects in our gallery! Until then please take care and happy, happy crafting ;o) Yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Easter Bunnies" by Gerda Steiner Designs
Dies: "Magic Iris Die" & "Magic Iris Add On" & "Happy Easter Line Border"
          by Lawn Fawn

Sending Smiles - turtle

Hello everyone!

In these crazy times I quite like that making a card still fills me with the same joy and calm, so I am very happy to share a new card with you today:

I made it as an inspiration card for our newest challenge over at the Crafty Cardmakers. The theme this time is "Spring" and I love to see all the bees and butterflies coming back to our garden, so I thought I would use this cute image by Gerda Steiner Designs. 

I die cut a somewhat flower-shape from the patterned paper I had chosen and also die cut a frame to go around that opening. Next I heat-embossed some butterflies on a light blue piece of paper and glued that on a the front of a card base. I place the tortoise on a strip of paper on which I had stamped the greeting and then adhered averything on top of the blue piece with foam tape. Three tiny butterflies in a deeper shade of pink were added as an afterthought to give a bit more interest to the background. I hope you are going to join us in our challenge and create something that makes your heart smile! Please take care and happy crafting, Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Hello Friend Tortoise" by Gerda Steiner Designs

              "Butterfly Ink Splatter" by Your Next

Challenges:

Sweet Stampers "Easter or Spring"

Addicted to Stamps and more "Anything Goes"

2 Crafty Critter Crazies "Animals"

Crafter's Cafe Challenge Blog "Animals"

Daisy Chain Challenges "Use Dies"

Happy Fall Squirrels

Heya everyone and happy fall :o)

I hope you all had a great start this week and that you had a fabulous weekend! I don't know how it is where you live, but here we can clearly see and feel that fall is coming. Last weekend though was lovely weather and we spend most of the time outside. I did manage to squeeze in some card making time though to create the card for the current PINspirational challenge. This is the inspiration picture:

I created the background using loads of Distress Inks (if you are interested I will list the exact colours for you) and dry embossed it with a folder that is meant for Christmas, but I always felt it looked a bit like leaves or a festive lamp string... Let's just say I like the look ;O) Next I placed a frame on top of the colourful background to tone it down just a little, added the squirrels and used some left over leaves from my "Hedgehog Hugs" card to give the card even more of an autumnal look.

The squirrels are from a Gerda Steiner set and I just love their cute faces! I hope you are going to join us and share your project and talent with us in our gallery! Have fun crafting and have a fabulous week! Yours Maike

Stamps: "Happy Fall" by Gerda Steiner Designs

Dies: "Small Stitched Leaves" by Lawn Fawn

          "Essential Cover Up" by My Favorite Things

Challenges:
Animal Friends Challenge "Squirrels or Deer" (Rehe oder Eichhörnchen)
Simon Says Monday Challenge "Stitch It"
Send A Smile 4 Kids "Cute Fall or Halloween card"
Always Fun Challenges "Cute Critters"

Crafting Happiness "Autumn / Fall"
Allsorts Challenge "Trees and Leaves"

Cute Card Thursday "Dies and Punches"

Sweet Stampers "Use A Sentiment"

Ganz liebe Panda Grüße

Heya my dear crafty friends!

I hope you all had a great start to this week! Today I would like to share my inspiration card for the Papercraft Challenges with you. Our theme is "All Critters Great and Small" and our awesome sponsor is Gerda Steiner Designs. You could win a $15 gift certificate to their shop. This is my inspiration card made with one of their lovely digi stamps:

After colouring the panda bear I cut a white piece of paper to the size I wanted, stamped the greeting  and added loads of grey hearts to add a bit more interest to the background piece. Using the same shades of pink I had for the hearts I also coloured a strip of paper to punch the edges and also to die cut the hearts from. 

The hearts help to "break" the design a bit and guide the eyes over the card from the top left to the bottom right. Whenever a card feels too empty I like to add little elements like hearts, stars or dots to it. If you love critters on cards like me I would love to see one or even a few of your projects in our gallery! Have a wonderful rest of the week and happy crafting to all of you ;o)))

PS: About a year ago I made a card with the same digi stamp and the same dies. If you interested in seeing the panda in a slightly different surrounding just click here ;o)

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Panda in Love" von Gerda Steiner Designs

Stanzen / dies: "Mini Hearts Set" von Simon Says Stamp 

Punch: EK Success

Challenges:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies #23
Creations in Pink "Anything Goes in Mainly Pink"
Daisy Chain Challenge "Have a Heart"
Make My Monday "Make it Krafty"
Dragonfly Dreams "Include a Heart"
Pile it on "Pink and / or Blue"