Black and White Christmas

Hello everyone,

today I am sharing a rather unusual card with you I'd say ;o) The Crafty Cardmakers dare you to create a card in black and white only and I thought I would try to create a Christmas card with this specification:

When I created this card I was thinking of how a teacher would maybe decorate the blackboard with chalk for their class right before Christmas and believe I nailed the look ;o) What do you think? To create the card I first stamped the cats and the huge sentiment, poured the embossing powder over it and heat set it. Next I added the snowflakes in the same way.

Next I used Picket Fence Distress Paint to paint in the snowy hill and also to add the flicks of paint to the background. To finish the card I covered the cats in Wink of Stella Clear Glitter pen and also added a tiny bit of Nuvo Clear Drops to the right side of the cats. I really hope you are going to join us in our "Black and White" challenge at the Crafty Cardmakers. See you there and happy crafting, Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Snow Friends" by Mama Elephant

              "Warm Holiday Wishes" by My Favorite Things

Challenges:
Basteltraum "Monochrome / Glitter"
The Crafting Challenge Blog "A Touch of White"

Dare 2b Artzy "Winter"

Gem of a Challenge "Anything Goes"
Crafty Friends Challenge "Anything Goes"
Di's Digi Challenge "Winter / Snow"
Simply Create Too "Monochromatic"
Christmas 24 Challenge "Anything Goes"

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"

Fröhliche Weihnachten (lamb)

Heya everyone!

I am back with another Christmas card... I know it is January, but I also know I was very (!!!) short on Christmas cards this time and I really need to stock up on them ;o) So I hope you don't mind seeing some more:

I made this one for the new "Anything Goes" challenge at the Crafty Cardmakers. Perfect for my plans... and maybe your plans, too? To create this card I first stamped the circular sentiment which means "Meryy Christmas" in English on my piece of white Perfect Colouring paper and die cut the panel from that paper. Next I masked the stamped area as well as the edges and created the ink blended background using Distress Inks. (The colours I used were Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry and Wilted Violet.) 

When the ink had dried I stamped the beautiful snowflakes all over it using Versamark Ink. I love the subtle effect that gives to any background! Now it was time to peel off the masks and stamp the cute lamb inside the still white area. I coloured it using Copic markers (E55, E53, E51 and E50 for the body, E39, RV09 and RV06 for the scarf and mittens and mostly Y08 for the star with just a tiny bit of Y17 to give it a little dimension.)

With a bit of Diamond Stickles on the star and some white and white blizzard Nuvo drops on the snowflakes my card was done. I hope you are going to join us for our "Anything Goes" challenge and share your talent in our gallery! Have a wonderful week and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:
Stamps: "Ella - Winter lamb" by Purple Onion Designs
              "Snowflake Splendor" by My Favorite Things
              "Frohe Weihnachten Circle Stempel" by Kulricke

Stanzen: "All Prettied Up" by Mama Elephant

Challenges:
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge "Anything goes / Option: Feature a Creature"
A Gem of a Challenge "Anything Goes Card making"
Brown Sugar Challenge Blog "Anything Goes"

Crafty Catz Challenge "Anything Goes / Option Add an Animal"

Holly Jolly Christmas Seal

Happy new year everyone ;o)

I wish you all the happiest year yet with lots of joy and fun, friends and loved ones, a year in which you grow in whichever way you want to, a year in which you meet at least some of your goals, a creative year, a year with lots of laughter and - most important of all - a happy and healthy year!

With the creative part I could probably help ;o) We at Challenge Up Your Life have one of the first 2020 challenges for you and it is an "Anything Goes" one, so get out your old and new toys and get inky ;o)

This is a card I made last year (I did have to use that line) because I noticed around mid December that I hadn't nearly enough Christmas cards to send out. It is a quicker design simply because I used a printed card base and didn't use any other embellishments than the sentiments. I felt the card was busy enough as it it. (Now that I am seeing the card again I wished I had added one layer of vellum between the cardbase and my elements though to make it less busy....)

This image is quite large which was perfect for my card and it is super cute as well. In order to keep the added elements as simple as possible I stayed in the pink-purple family with my colours and think it was the right decision. I hope you are going to join us at Challenge Up Your Life! Wishing you a fabulous day and happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Snow Cap" by Purple Onion Designs

              "Puffy Holiday Geeetings" by Mama Elephant

Dies: "Holly Jolly" by Avery Elle

HOHOH....

Ich wünsche euch allen ein frohes Fest mit lieben Menschen, mit fröhlichem Lachen, mit guten Gesprächen, mit Zeit für die Dinge, die sonst schnell in den Hintergrund geraten, Zeit für euch und genug Zeit, um noch etwas an andere verschenken zu können. Vor allem aber wünsche ich euch Zufriedenheit und Gesundheit, meine lieben Mitbastler und Mitbastlerinnen! ;o)

I wish you a merry Christmas with your loved ones, with laughter and joy, with good conversations, with enough time for yourself, time for the things that often get pushed to the back and time to give to others. Mainly though I wish you contentment and health my crafty friends! ;o)

Now to today's card ;o) Over at the Papercraft Challenges we have an "Anything Goes" challenge for you, so that you can play with whatever you fancy and really get creative with new and old supplies! This is what I have come up with using our kind sponsor's (Dr. Digi) image:

I think this image is a lot of fun, even though I am not a big fan of random graffitis ;o))) I imagined a scene in the city by night which I hope you can tell... Other than the background I only added the German sentiment which means "Merry Christmas" to the card and called it a day. I felt like everything more would be too much. What you you think?

I hope you like the card. Also that you will have some time to play at your craft table and share it with us at Papercraft Challenges.

Merry Christmas everyone and happy crafting to all of you ;o) Yours Maike

Supplies:

Digi stamp: "Banksy Claus" by Dr. Digi

Stamp: "Zum Feste das Beste" by Create a Smile 

Stencil: "Brick Wall" by My Favorite Things

Challenges:

Colouring in Scarpland "Christmas"
Christmas Cards All Year Around "Santa, Mrs Claus or Elves"
The Crafting Challenge "Christmas"
STAMPlorations Challenge "December Stencil Challenge" (I used a stencil to create the brick wall in the background)

Sending Holiday Cheer Mouse

Hello my lovely crafty friends!

My life has been really, really busy these last few weeks and I am just now starting to get back to my normal routines. Which is why you haven't really seen any new cards here on the blog. However for the latest PINspirational challenge I managed to create the card you can see above. This was my inspiration:

I didn't want to go with a black and white card, but I thought I'd take the snow, the hat and the scarf as inspiration.

I love the super cheery looking mouse jumping for joy! I also love the fact that the sky paired with the sentiment ended up looking a bit like a snow globe, don't you think? Well, I hope you are having a lot of (fun) time playing with your stamps and that maybe you are going to link your card or project to our gallery at PINspirational Challenges. Have a wonderful weekend and also - if you celebrate Christmas - the most wonderful time with your family and friends!

Happy crafting, yours Maike

Supplies:

Stamps: "Maggie - winter mouse" by Purple Onion Designs

Dies: "Snow Scene Elle-Ments" by Avery Elle

Challenges:
Sweet Stampers Challenge "Anything Goes"
CAS on Sundays "Christmas"
Paper Funday Challenge "Anything Goes, Twist: Christmas"
Aud Sentiments Challenge "Christmas / Winter and a sentiment"
Through the Purple Haze "Snow, Snow, Snow"
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge "Anything Christmas"