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

Liebe Grüße (Bear greetings)

Hello everyone :o)

It is Febuary already - well it has been for a day, but don't tell anyone, because I am a little late posting this card... I have created it for the "Hearts" challenge over at Challenge Up your Life. I am not a whole lot into Valentine's cards because my loved ones never throw those cards away I give to them - which is lovely and shows appreciation and all that, but they tend to pile up in our home, so I usually give other things for Valentines like a cake or some flowers or hugs ;o) However, I love hearts on cards, so even this is a perfect theme for Valentine's cards I created a "Hello" card and love how it turned out. I hoipe you do, too:

To get a bit of a shadow effect I die cut the hearts beackground die twice, once from white and the second time from dark red cardstock and glued the slightly offset together as you can see in the picture. Next i cut a wonky circle and two speech bubbles from the same red cardstick. I heat embossed my sentiment on the speech bubbles and afterwards added the faux stitching line with a white gel pen.

Next I die cut some copic friendly paper with the bear die, added some colouring and or shading to the individual pieces and assembled the bear back together again. The way I do this is to take the biggest die and colouring around it with a pencil. Next I will cut it out not on the line but rather a quarter inch inside of the line to give myself a piece of paper to glue all the individual pieces to. That way I can cover the big peiece with adhesive and don't have to worry about putting a tiny bit of glue on each and every piece. I adhered the bear to the wonky circle using foam tape on the top and regular tape towards the bottom to give it that angle to really make it look at you and also added the speech bubbles. I hope you are going to join us at Challenge Up Your Life. With the updated rules you can now post three projects to our challenge, sharing even more of your talent with us ;o) Have a wonderful day everyone and happy crafting ;o)
Yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "tba

Dies: "Cool Cuts Speech Bubbles" by Create a Smile

         "Big Picture Book Bear" by Simon Says Stamp

         "Fluttering Hearts Cover Plate" by Honey Bee Stamps

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:

Wish big - dragon

Hello everyone ;o)

Today I would like to share a card with you that I have created as an inspiration for the newest "Papercraft Challenge". Our theme is "Phantasy" and our kind sponsor "Dr. Digi" is offering two digi stamps to the winner ;o) I love dragons on cards so I thought I'd use the cute "In a flap" digi to create one for today:

I created the background with some blending brushes and Distress Inks in "Wilted Violet", "Pink Raspberry" and "Squeezed Lemonade". I wanted the dragon to have a lovely sky to fly in and be happy ;o)

Next I die cut a frame for the scene, but because I wanted the frame to be smaller than the background paper I die cut it with a simple stitched rectangle. To finish the card I stamped the sentiment a few times in the deepest black ink I own and added the wonderful glittery stars.

I hope you are going to have a wonderful day and that you will have the time and the inspiration now as well to dig through your stamps and create a phantastic card ;o) and join us at Papercraft Challenges! Happy crafting everyone, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "In a Flap" by Dr. Digi

              "Birthday Tags" by Lawn Fawn

Dies: "Sky Bursters" by Mama Elephant

          "Stitched Rectangle Stackables" by Lawn Fawn

          "Mini Stars" by Simon Says Stamp

Lifesaver

Heya everyone,
this is my card for the latest PINspirational Challenge! I am a bit late - well very late really, but life is getting in the way all the time recently... So I hope you'll forgive me. This is our challenge inspiration picture, though it is an "Anything Goes" theme at the moment to give everyone the "room" to create whatever is good for them or needed at the moment ;o)

I created the card using a background die by HEllo Bluebird and an older stamp set by Simon Says Stamp. 

I hope you are all well and that maybe if you feel like crafting you will share your project with us at PINspirational Challenge! Take care and happy crafting, everyone ;o)))

Supplies:
Stamps:
Die: "Ocean Scene Die" by Hello Bluebird

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:

Sending Birthday Sunshine and Rainbows (Inksmooching)

Heya my dear friends,

today it is time for a new task over at Challenge Up Your Life. This time we would like you to use the "Inksmooching" technique on your project - whether it is a piece of decoration, a layout, a card or whatever you can thing of. This is my inspiration card:

I used four colours of Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Fossilized Amber, Peacock Feather & Twisted Citron) and placed them all together on a piece of acetate, but leaving a rather big gap between the colours so that I would still have some "wiggle-room". I spritzed the acetate lightly with water and put it down on a piece of watercolour paper. Afterwards I went in with only one colour at a time and added a little bit more texture until I liked the result. Then I adhered the coloured piece of paper behind a die cut frame and added the cute images as well.

When I read the theme of this fortnight's challenge I felt a little uneasy at first, because I usually don't like not having the control over what I do - splatters on a card are the most I do in that category I'd say ;o) However, after creating some ink smooching background I think it is a great starting point for a project at least for me and I will use it more often now! Have a lovely weekend my dear crafty friends, try this technique and link your project to our gallery! I would love to see your ink smoochings ;o) All the best, yours Maike

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Rain or Shine" von Simon Says Stamp / Mama Elephant (discontinued)

Stanze / die: "Cover Up horizontal" von My Favorite Things (discontinued?)

Challenges:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"
Through the Purple Haze "Rainbows"
Sweet Stampers Challenge "Easter or Spring"
Alphabet Challenge Blog "A is for Animals"
Seize the Birthday "Option Spring"

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"

Happy Birthday Winter Owl

Heya everyone!

We at Challenge Up Your Life always want to provide inspiration for you, so this time we thought we would challenge you to CASE our Design Team members: Simply choose a card from one of us and use it as inspiration. You can case the layout, the colour pallette, the motive or anything you like really as long as we can recognize how you got inspired. My card was inspired by this fun and cute card made by Silke of KartenKram:

I stamped the owl on a piece of Copic friendly paper and die cut it after colouring. To get the coloured frame I die cut a second slightly larger circle and coloured it with the same shade I had used for the scarf so it would match the image. I added it on to some designer paper and stamped the sentiment on a banner to match Silke's card.

I hope you are going to play along with our "CASE the Designer" challenge and I am looking forward to seeing your projects in our gallery! Have a lovely and sunny weekend, everyone and happy crafting ;o)))

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Flora" von Purple Onion Designs

Stanzen / dies: "Stitched Circle Stax" von My Favorite Things 

Patterned Paper: Gummiapan

Challenges:
Seize The Birthday "Anything Birthday Goes"
Cute Card Thursday "Wings"
The Crafty Addincts #57 "Anything Goes" 

Cardz For Gals "Weather - Any Condition"

Warm thoughts on a cold day

Hello everyone ;o)

I would like to share my card for the newest challenge for the Crafty Cardmakers with you. The theme is "Winter" so I thought a snowman would be the perfect image for it:

I used a piece of patterned paper for my background and added a very glittery hill to it. The paper is from Simon Says Stamp and has a fantastic shimmery look without leaving pieces of glitter all around it. I love it! 

I cut a long rectangle from some black paper and added my heat embossed sentiment to the left side which I had cut to a flag shape beforehand. Lastly I added the "Starry Frame" and the cute, cuuuute snowman from Paper Smooches.

I hope you are going to join our "Winter" challenge ;o) Have a lovely week everyone and happy crafting! Yours Maike

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Cool Dudes" von Paper Smooches

                              "Snow Dance Mini Set" von Create A Smile

Stanzen / dies: "Star Frame Die" von Avery Elle

                        "Stitched Scallop Basic Edges" von My Favorite Things

Challenges:

Sweet Stampers Challenge "Winter / Snow"

Addicted To Stamps "Snowman"

Scrap From Your Heart "Winter in Pink"

Fairy and Unicorn Challenge "Anything Frosty"

Di's Digi Challenge "Snow Much Fun"

Pattie's Creations Design Challenge "Snowy Days / Nights"

Hello Pumpkin

Hallo zusammen!

Eigentlich hätte mein Post am Diestag live gehen sollen, aber Blogger hat mich da wohl falsch verstanden... Hier also nun mit etwas Verspätung mein DT-Beitrag zur aktuellen PINspirational Challenge. 

Heya everyone!

This post was planned for Tuesday, but it seems that blogger and I had a bis of a misunderstanding... Even though it is a little late, I'd like to share my DT project for the current PINspirational Challenge. This is the newest inspiration pic:

Für die Karte habe ich die Stempel vom Stamptember Set von Simon Says Stamp und Neat & Tangled aus dem letzten Jahr benutzt und sehr viel maskiert. Am Ende wurde ich aber mit einer - wie ich finde - niedlichen 1-Layer Herbstszene belohnt.

For this card I have used images from the Stamptember set by Simon Says Stamp and Neat & Tangled from last year which I still totally love! I used a lot of masking to achieve this - as I think - very cute one layer Autumn scene.

Ich hoffe, ihr teilt eure Halloween-, Kürbis- oder sonstigen Werke mit uns bei PINspirational und ich drücke euch die Daumen für den tollen Preis unseres freundlichen Sponsors "The Cutting Cafe". Habt einen schönen Freitag und happy crafting wünscht euch eure Maike

I hope you are going to share your Halloween or pumpkin project with us at PINspirational and I am keeping my fingers crossed that maybe you will win the awesome prize by our kind sponsor "The Cutting Cafe". Have a wonderful Friday and happy crafting. Take care, yours Maike

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Hello pumpkin" von Simon Says Stamp und Neat & Tangled

Stanze / die: "All Prettied Up" von Mama Elephant

Challenges:

Animal Friends Challenge "Autumn / Halloween"

Addicted To Stamps "Autumn Colours"

Unicorn Challenge "Autumn or Halloween"

Sweet Stampers Challenge "Autumn or Halloween"

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht with CAS

Hallo ihr Lieben!

Für die neue Papercraft-Challenge geht es um Karten, zu denen euch ein bestimmtes Lied inspiriert hat. Bei mir war es das Lied "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" ;o)

Heya my dear crafty friends!

The newest Papercraft Challenge asks for cards that are inspired by a song this time. For me it was "Silent Night, Holy Night" ;o)

Ich wollte eine schlichte Karte haben, die den Aspekt der ruhigen Nacht gut darstellt und die sich eventuell auch als Massenproduktionskarte eignen würde - falls eine/r von euch schon loslegen möchte ;o) Momentan fällt es mir wirklich noch sehr schwer an Weihnachten zu denken. Letzte Woche noch bin ich bei knapp 27°C durch London gelaufen und das ist ja nun nicht unbedingt eine Stadt, die für ihr ausgesprochen mildes Klima bekannt ist... Wenn ich dann gerade auf den Kalender sehe und nun leider auch auf das Grau hinter den Fensterscheiben, kann ich das kaum noch glauben. 

I went for a simple design for two reasons. One was that I wanted to create the feeling of the "Silent Night" and the other one was that I wanted to share a design that could rather easily be mass produced, in case anyone of you is actually thinking of starting with their Christmas cards soon. Christmas seems to be far away still when I think about last week when I have been walking around London with friends and it was 27°C, but when I peek at my calender and take a look out of my window right now... it's a whole different matter. 

Für die Karte habe ich Stempel aus 2 verschiedenen Sets von Create A Smile benutzt, von denen ihr übrigens einen 20 Euro Gutschein gewinnen könnt, wenn ihr bei uns mit spielt ;o) Also Radio an und an den Basteltisch würde ich sagen ;o) Habt eine tolle Woche und happy crafting, wünscht euch Maike

For this card I have used two sets by Create A Smile, from whom you could win a 20 Euro certificate if you play along with our challenge. So I'd say switch on the radio and be creative ;o) Have a wonderful week and happy crafting, wishes yours Maike

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Friede, Freude, Lebkuchen" & "Fröhliche Schreiertage" von Create A Smile

Stanzen / dies: "All Prettied Up" von Mama Elephant

                        "Mini Stars" von Simon Says Stamp

Willkommen Matteo :o)

Hallo ihr Lieben!

Die aktuelle Herausforderung bei Challenge Up Your Life ist diese Farbherausforderung:

Heya my friends!

The current task for Challenge Up Your Life is this colour inspiration board:

Da es bei uns im Freundeskreis kürzlich Zuwachs gab und ich die Farbkombination wirklich schön finde, habe ich sie als Inspiration genutzt, um den neuen Erdenbürger willkommen zu heißen. Den Hintergrund habe ich in verschiedenen Tönen der Inspirationsvorlage gestempelt und einen der süßen Pinguine von Gerda Steiner Designs coloriert.

Friend's of ours recently got blessed with their third child and so I used the colour inspiration and staring point for my card to welcome the new earthling ;o) I started by stamping the dots in the background in different colours from the inspiration board and also coloured one of the cute penguins by Gerda Steiner Designs. 

Der ist auf ein ausgestanztes Stück Vellum gehopst und hat es sich damit auf der Karte gemütlich gemacht ;o) Die Buchstaben für den Namen stammen von Create a Smile und sind meine absoluten "Go-To" Alphabetsticker geworden, weil sie eine prima Größe haben, wie ich finde ;o) 

The penguin then jumped on a piece of vellum and with it got comfortable on the front of the card. For the name I used letter stickers from Create a Smile, which became my "go-to" alphabet stickers in the last months, because they simply have a perfect size and you get them in almost every colour ;o)

Ich hoffe, ihr spielt bei unserer Farbinspiration mit und wünsche euch ein wunderschönes, kreatives Wochenende, eure Maike ;o)

I hope you are going to join us in this colour-challenge and I wish you all a wonderful and creative weekend! Yours Maike ;o)

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Lots of Dots" von Simon Says Stamp

                             "Valentine Penguins" von Gerda Steiner Designs

Sticker: Alphabet Stickers by Create a Smile

Try something different (Pink Sea)

Hallo ihr Lieben!

Bei den Pinspirational Challenges gibt es ab heute eine neue Herausforderung für euch und mit diesem Bild möchten wir euch zum Kreativ-Sein anregen:

Heya my dear crafty friends!

With this picture at PINspirational Challenges we would like to inspire you to get creative:

Ich habe mich dazu entschieden den "Versuch etwas Neues"- Teil als Inspiration für meine Karte zu nutzen und  habe dazu eine ganze Menge Pink benutzt, auf Colorieren komplett verzichtet (das war der schwierigste Part) und habe die Fische mit Wackelaugen aufgepeppt, die sonst auch nur selten bei mir zum Einsatz kommen. Ich hoffe, euch gefällt die Karte trotzdem, obwohl ich mich bemüht habe, ganz Vieles anders zu machen als sonst ;o)

I decided to go with the "Try something different" part and used a lot of pink, didn't do any colouring for this card and also used googely eyes on the fish which I rarely do. I hope you still like the card even though I tried a lot of new things ;o)

Ich würde mich freuen, wenn ihr bei unserer Challenge mitmachen würdet und drücke euch ganz fest die Daumen für den Preis unseres freundlichen Sponsors "SheepSki Designs". Habt eine schöne Woche und happy crafting euch allen! Eure Maike

I would love to see your project in the PINspirational gallery and wish you all good luck for the prize of our kind sponsor "SheepSki Designs". Have a wonderful week and I wish you all happy crafting! Yours Maike

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Kugelfisch Manfred" & "Qualle Roberta" & "Pflanze 6"
                              von Cats on Appletrees

Stanze / die: "Best Day Ever" von Simon Says Stamp

Happy Birthday Panda Party

Halli Hallo ihr Lieben!
Heute startet bei den Crafty Cardmakers eine neue Challenge mit dem Thema "Geburtstag". Ein gutes Thema wie ich finde, weil man nie genug Geburtstagskarten haben kann, aber ich glaube, das habe ich schon oft gesagt ;o)

Heya my dear crafty friends!

Today is the start of a new challenge at the Crafty Cardmakers. This time we would like to see "Birthday" projects. I think it is a brilliant theme, because I can never have enough birthday cards in my stash ;o)

Als erstes habe ich den Hintergrund für meine süßen, bannerhaltenden Pandabären gemacht. Dazu habe ich aus einem großen Stück Maskingpapier die Kuppelform ausgestanzt und das, was übrig geblieben ist als Maske auf mein Panel geklebt. Benutzt habe ich Distress Oxide Inks in den Farben Twisted Citron und Salty Ocean. Um noch ein bisschen mehr Farbe ins Spiel zu bringen habe ich noch die kleine abstrakte Blume mehrfach in gelbgrün und pink gestempelt.

First I created a backdrop for the two cute pandas holding the banner. I die cut the dome shape from a large piece of masking paper and used Distress Oxide Inks in Twisted Citron and Salty Ocean to create the background for them. In order to give a bit more interest to the card front itself I added many little abstract flower images.

Als nächstes habe ich drei Ballons für die Szene gestempelt und genauso wie die Pandas mit Copics coloriert. Die ganze Szene wirkte ohne die Farbkleckse der Ballons irgendwie zu platt und langweilig - so gefällt es mir aber richtig gut. Um die strahlenden Farben noch mehr zu unterstreichen habe ich mich dieses Mal für eine schwarze Kartenbasis entschieden. Falls ihr öfter auf meinem Blog unterwegs seid, wisst ihr sicherlich, dass ich mich doch meistens für eine weiße Kartenbasis entscheide - zu den Pandas und dem Pink fand ich, passte das Schwarz aber einfach genial und macht die Karte irgendwie moderner? Um das viele Schwarz im Inneren der Karte aber nicht Überhand nehmen zu lassen, habe ich auch innen ein weißes Panel aufgeklebt und sowohl den Panda als Motiv, als auch das Pink noch einmal aufgenommen.

Next I coloured and added three balloons to the scene, because the top still felt a little empty and also added the birthday die cut. I chose a black card base this time, because I thought it would emphasize all the bright colours as well as the pandas well. I think it works out great - what do you think? To break up the black a little though I added the white line around my panel and also decorated the inside with a bit of colour as well.

Ich hoffe, ihr habt Lust bei uns mitzumachen und euer Geburtstags-Projekt bei uns zu verlinken. Habt eine wunderschöne Woche und happy crafting, eure Maike

I hope I could inspire or motivate you to create a birthday project of your own and link ot to our gallery. I would love to see you there ;o) Have a wonderful week and happy crafting, yours Maike

Material / supplies:

Stempel / stamps: "Party Pals" von Avery Elle

                              "Kleine Blüte 3" von Cats on Appletrees

Stanzen / dies: "Stitched Dome Stax" von My Favorite Things

Challenges:
Seize the Birthday "Vibrant Colours"
Addicted to Stamps "Balloons / Bunting /  Presents"
Send A Smile 4 Kids "Anything Goes 4 Kids"

Alphabet Challenge "B is for Bears"
Aud Sentiments "Birthday Sentiment"