It's an anything goes

Morning and hello!
It's me again, tired but happy. Got home from Malmö late last night after having watched my favourite team in the world play, the National team of Sweden and the sport is handball! Since 1988 I have been dreaming of watching them live and finally I got the chance to do that. Sneak that I am, I gave the tickets to my boys as a Christmas gift and off we went. We lost by one goal but I have seen them play and it was such fun. It couldn't get better as the team we played against was Denmark, another one of favourite teams. They have amazing players too. Real fun and now I hope to see yet another game in April when they come to Växjö which is only about 100 km drive instead of 300.

But you are not here to listen to me talking about my sports again are you? I have a little announcement to make. Before Christmas I saw a little ad about a dt-call. It was Party Time Tuesday which was looking for new designers. Now we are so many and the challenges are always "Anything goes" so a nice and easy task for everyone. So I hope that you from time to time come and play with us. The challenge is monthly at this time.

This time I have yet another card for a boy and I have made something simular before but this is a new one, well actually I made two of them for my boys' friends. I have used and image from Crafters Companion called "Lets play football" and coloured it with my Letraset markers. I have also used a whole bunch of die cuts as I love the back drop in the shape of a soccer ball or football if your over in Europe as I am. :) The colour scheme use is the colours of my boys' team Lindsdal. And as the boys' has birthdays and parties to go to... well, I better be prepared.

To make the foot ball I have used Joanna Sheen's die for patch work the middle size I think it is, wish I had the bigger one. And then I spend quite some time die cutting left over / scrapps of black and white card stock. After that it's time to start to glue all the pieces together. This also take some time as it's no fun when the glue shows up in the edges of each piece. But it's so worth it all when it's done. Once it's all dry I use yet another die cut in a circlar shape to cut the ball out. Taadaa! A classic black and white soccer ball is born!

We have a sponsor for this challenge and that is Spectrum Noir and here is a little info about them.

Specturm Noir

Spectrum Noir is a range of professional coloring tools. The range includes alcohol markers, blendable colored pencils, inks and marker storage, and is perfect for crafters everywhere.There are a total of 168 alcohol-based, acid-free and fast-drying markers. There are 120 wax-based blendable pencils that are great for using on their own or combined with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. AquaTint inks are intense, concentrated liquid water paints.

And that's all from me for today. I hope to see you around and that you come and play with us over at PTT.

Love n hugs

Marie

Challenges for this card
Papertake weekly - Anything goes
ABC-challenges - anything goes
Die cut divas - Anything goes

For the first time

Morning everyone! Hope you're having a great week. I feel ok, but still tired. I am not used to having my kids at home all day long and having to take care of them all by myself. LoL Normally there is daycare and school but now it's time for a 7 week long vacation for them both. That means a lot of kids around all day but I will see if they can't spend a night at granny and grandd ads later on. Would be good for them all, quality time you know?

Today is my first time as a dt member of the wonderful crew of my favourite challenge Passion for Promarkers. Starting off today and I am still thinking it's a dream. As always when I start something new and this is no exception I kind of lost track of what I know and how to do it, so please bear with me. I actually had to start two cards at once to get this together. LoL The challenge theme for this challenge is "Time - us a clock/watch image and or a sentiment with "time" in it". It was there the trouble started, I found the challenge really hard. LoL And there was no watch or clock in sight on my stamps so off to google sayings and wise words with the word time in it. Took a while to match it all up with an image as well but I got there in the end.

I use a Tilda image for my card, it's probably two or three years old. I think it looks like she is rushing so my sentiment "Time waits for no one" is suitable for the card. I have also used a paper pad called Timepiece Collection from Bo Bunny. I love the colours in this pad even if it's not my normal cheerful colors. Should use them more often. I used the latest sketch from Papertake Weekly even if I know I wont be able to enter their sketch challenge with it, I just needed to get over the block. Flowers from WOC and some liquid pearls is used to decorate. Have also used some "real" pearls and a net ribbon to finish it all off. The sentiment is computer made.

Sponsoring this challenge is Letraset with a fabby prize of  6 flexmarkers. How wonderful to get the those as a winning! So even if I found this challenge really challenging I hope you won't. I really look forward to come and visit you and see what you can do with this theme of ours. Come on and play with us!

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
Papertake Weekly - Anything goes
ABC Challenges - Anything goes
Eclectic Ellapu - Time
Magnolia Down Under - Flower Power

Guest designing

Happy Midsummer's Eve everyone! Today is the big summer celebration here in Sweden. Always with bad weather, and every year you expect it to be nice and sunny. That's a rare thing. LoL They are threatening with thunderstorms today and I so hope they are wrong about that or that it some magical way passes by without getting near me. I get such shortness of breath when the thunder comes that it feels like I'm going to die. Horrible!

But now to something more fun. This week I am guest designing over at ABC challenges which has the theme of Summer / warm weather. I chose to use an image from the Paper Shelter called Summer Holydays. She is coloured with my Letraset family in bright summer colours from the special editions set from this and last year. The work so well together.

The lovely gal is paired up with some yummy papers from Echo Park called Paradise Beach. Every singel paper in that pad is wonderful with stunning summer colours that I love. Almost hard to cut into them. To embrace the summer feeling I have also used some lovely yellow flowers from Prima together with a few roses from WOC. Cheery blossoms from I am Roses. A ribbon from a Molloy kit together with a few charms from Bildmålarna and Pagoni if I remember right. A bunch of dew drops represents the water. Also some chees cloth is used under the flowers. Hopefully bringing your thoughts to fishing. I used to do that all the time when I was a kid. Those were the days. LoL

So please pop by the challenge blog for the ABC challenges. You still have time to play with this weeks summer theme. There is some lovely inspiration for you over at the challenge blog too. Also a big thank you to Patty and the gals for picking me as a winner for the Male card with the mc bird. And thanks for having me as a guest over at your lovely blog.

Happy Summer everyone!

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
Brown Sugar Challenges - Summer
Pattie's creations Design challenge - Summertime fun
Totally Paper Craft Challenges - Flowers and bows
Aud sentiments challenge blog - Summer
Crafty Ribbons Challenges - Flower galore
Paper Take Weekly - Hot Hot Hot

Time for a challenge

Afternoon everyone, hope you are doing fine and have a good start of the new week. I'm feeling a bit tired but ok. It was a busy weekend with a birthday party for Philip, only two months late, but there has been no time for it before. To be honest if felt strange to have a party so close to the death of little Saga in early March and then did my granny pass away, but it was now or never. 9 little monster getting together to have fun at a indoor playground. It was fine, but I am really glad it's over until November when the next one is having his party.

So after only one week this time we are back with a new challenge for you over at the Crafty Card Makers challenge. This time we have the theme of "Father's day". Here in Sweden we don't celebrate it until November so for a change I way ahead. LoL

I have used one of my favourite images from the Paper Shelter for this card. I fell in love with this birdie the first time I saw him and I still love it. I have to stop myself from using him for all the male cards I need to do. There is plenty of motorbike riders in my family so he is very useable. I who seem to have a totally different kind of genes than the rest of them prefere an ordinary bicycle. LoL If we talk about going out on the sea with a boat my family says racer boat and I say rowing boat. It must have been some kind of mix up at the hospital when I was born. LoL

The card, I lost track of it again... Oh dear... coloured with my Letraset family in sunny colours. Papers from My Mind's Eye, the Fine and Dany Boy pad. A lovely collection of summer papers. As decorations I have used a few buttons with some twine added and a ribbon. Sentiment is made with my granddad's old dynamo writer still working perfect after more than 40 years. Quality stuff! I just love it and I think that grand dad is happy about it getting used.

Our sponsors this week is the Paper Shelter offering a gift voucher worth $20 and Woodware also offering a lovely price for one happy winner. See more details over at the challenge blog.

I hope you come and join us over at the CCM challenges this week. It's always such joy to see what you create. Before you ad your card, make sure that you follow the rules and criterias of this challenge, otherwise your card will not be added to challenge.

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
Passion for Promarkers - Ribbon, lace or twine
Paper take weekly - Sketch
Make it Monday - Anything goes
Created with love - Anything goes
Cards for men - Dad
ABC Challenges - Masculine
Challenges 4 everybody - Anything goes

I'm having a guest

Hello and happy weekend! Hope you have a good one. Spent most of the day chasing clothes for my grannys funeral today. Manage half of the family, the kids. Found them each a lovely looking blazer in black, bought them big ones so the can (hopefully) use them again a few more times and Philip will take over Willy's when he has out grown it. They looked so handsome and grown up with them on. Granny would have love that. Now it's only me and my partner left and I dread that. I HATE BUYING CLOTHES for myself. Next to thunder storm and blood tests comes buying clothes for myself on the "hate list". A few more days left to find something, keep your fingers crossed that it will be smooth.

Ok, here is why I am here today. My olderst son Willy made a card the other day and he wanted me to show it here on my blog, so I have a 6 year old guest designer here on Cards by MI today. It started when he found one of my very few High Hope stamps that I really love but never know how to work with. This one is probably my favourite especially when used with the fabby sentiment "I might look tough and on attack, but I'm glad you got my back". Now he hasn't use it here but the image is cute anyway.

He spent a long time trying to colour the best he could, and then picked out some fabby designer papers from NitWit collections. Decided how he wanted to have his LO and made be cut the papers for him. Of course it took some looking into his mum's stash of decorations and this time the buttons was the favourite ones. And as he said, nothing is complete without some glitter stuff. So that is added in two different ways; stickles and some glitter borders from Anitas that I normally use for my Christmas cards. Pearls is also important but the ones that is a bit transparent is the best if you ask him. They look a bit like coloured water as he said.

So I promised to find him some challenges for his card as well. And here they are:

High Hope Stamps - Borders
ABC Challenges - Recycle (Buttons from old clothes
Make it Monday - Always anything goes

Love n hugs
Marie and the Willy-6, the guest designer

Challenge time

Morning to you all! Hope the day is filled with sunshine and happiness. Myself is preparing to go to "Folkuniversitetet" where I have my "get back to working life" meeting of the week. Should have been the stables as well, but I am in way too much pain for that today. My right leg is refusing to straighten out at this point. So no good idea going to the stables then, besides I got tons of pain when I went there last. I am not really sure it's such good idea to be there for me unfortunately.

We have a new challenge up for you over at the Bearly Mine Challenges this week. The theme is set to "Spring flowers". That means we want to see some of them on your creation. Not that hard I hope?

For my card have I used one of Donnas new digi sets called Floral Surprise and Mini Dots. Don't ask why I used that soft organge mini dot stripe, I should have gone for something more bold but now it's too late. LoL The image is from The stamping boutique and is called Tulips. Tulips was my grandmothers favourite flowers and I had here in my mind when making this card. It's a little more than a week since she passed now and I will miss her dearly. She was over 98 years old and very senile so it was a blessing for her, still...

The image is coloured with my Letraset Family and added details with my Prisma pencils. The daisy flowers are from the Ribbon girls and I made the leaves with a boss cut die. Gemstones from Magnolia. And the card design is inspired by a sketch from Little Claire Designs. I love the clean look of this design even if I have altered it slightly. Artistic freedom, right?

Our sponsors this week is I am Roses and The Greeting Farm. More info is found over the challenge blog.

Do please come and join us and spread some flowers into the world! We could all use some colours in our lifes.

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
Little Clarie Designs - Sketch and spring theme (Nothing says spring more to me than tulips, hope I have not gone to far from the sketch, wasn't my attention to mess it up.)
ABC Challenges - 1 - 2 - 3 (I have used 3 designer papers, two daisy flowers and 1 image)
My Craft Spot - Anything goes
Sparkle and Sprinkle - Use a digi

Happy Easter

Hi there! Have you missed me? I have missed me. ;) I have already managed to end up in a relapse with my rheumatic pain. It normally doesn't start this early in spring, but this year it decided it was time already. I'm in so much pain at the moment that I took a big nice pill and hope that I won't feel this crap for a while. A gal can always wish, right? We're having a birthday party here in a short while so I better speed this up. LoL

I have made this little card with an image from the Paper Shelter. She is coloured with Prisma colours as they where close by when I started to colour that's why she looks very sun tanned, I wouldn't mind that myself at the moment. It might have eased the stiffness in my joints. :) DP is from First Edition Spring drop I believe it's called that pad.

Made some flowers with a Marianne Die and put it together with a swirl from Magnolia. Also a butterfly from Magnolias die collection is used. Some rosebuds from Wild Orchid Craft. And the white small flowers from I am Roses. Pearls from Joanna Sheen for a change. Found a whole box of self-adhesive pearls and gemstones while I was looking through some old crafting stash that I needed for a card coming up in a few weeks. You never know what you'll find in those boxes. LoL Like a treasure hunt almost, and sometimes I wonder what was I thinking?

Ok, time to set the table and start preparing the last parts of the meal. See you around and have a wonderful blessed Easter!

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
ABC challenges - Easter
4 Crafty Chicks - Easter
Make it Monday - Anything goes

Bear time

Hi there! I am back again trying to write something up here for my new card. I am really tired today. I hate spring even if this spring seems more like winter. We had -16 degrees Celicius last Saturday. That's nice. I do get so tired when the spring comes, maybe because I am always going into a period of pain during this time. Me or rather my body can't stand the changes between temperatures and the moist that comes with it.  Oh well, fall will be here soon again. LoL

It's time for a new challenge over at the Bearly Mine Challenges and this time we are doing the easy one, "Anything goes". Bet we'll have one or two entries this week. :)

This time I have used a sponsor image from Teddy Bo and Bea. Isn't she cute? She is coloured with my Letraset family and some Prisma pencils for some extra shadowing. Designer papers are a sky free bee from Donna, Gingham and Summer Light. Flowers are handmade most of them with dies from Marianne Design, and Memory Box. Two roses from WOC and I am Roses. Lace is from the super market and pearls from Rox Stamps, Sweden and Bunny Zoe. The heart in the upper corner is from Magnolia, a puch is used for the lace panel and it's from X cut.

Sponoring our challenge this week is Crafty Sentiments with a lovely stamp and Teddy Bo gives away three digi Teddy Bo trio images. See further details on our challenge blog.

So I bet I see you around this week. Talk to you soon again.

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
Throught the Craftroom door - Anything goes
ABC Challenges - Bring on the flowers (second entry)
Crafty Boots Challenge - Flowers
Forever Friends Challenge blog - Lots of Flowers

Best friends

Hello my friends. Lovely to see you all again. How are you doing? I hope you're doing fine. It's a new week and we are getting closer to spring. It has been a really cold week considering we are in March now and it was actually snowing the other day. When Easter has passed it will probably good weather again as for some reason it's always really cold during Easter when everyone wants to go out and fix their gardens. Strange isn't it?

As it is Monday, it's time for a new challenge over at Crafty Card Makers blog. Why don't you join us over there? We have a new theme set and it's Friends and friendship. Your card has to state either one of those. That means you need a sentiment on your card this time. And before you say, You have not gotten that on your card. But I do I will answer then. My sentiment is in Swedish and says "Good friends make good times better and hard times easier. Thank you for being there". So I have Swedish friends on my card, oki? :)

(Click the photo to get a better view of it, looks a bit blurry here)

I have used the lovely image by K.S called pint sized love. Isn't it adorable? I just love it and the kitten is too cute for words. I have coloured the image with my Letraset family and some pencils from Prisma for added details. The designer papers are from Paper Mania and is called Rose garden I think. It's a fairly old pad by now and I discovered that I have three of them. Time to use some of the papers up. Flowers are from WOC and the lilies from Magnolia Sweden. Lace is also from WOC. The big butterfly is from The ribbon girls if I remember correctly. Some stickles is also added to the flowers. Pearls from Magnolia.

Our sponsors this week is 

SATURATED CANARY

with

                                                               2 of their gorgeous digis

Hello!  My name is Krista Smith.  I draw characters and do a lot of crafting:).  I gather a lot of inspiration from my two kiddos...they are sweet and goofy.  I love to see how other people color my images...It is always exciting to watch the colors bring them to life!  You can check out my artwork and family tidbits on my blog,Saturated Canary.  Thanks for having me this challenge! Good luck everyone! 

                                                                             and

                                                                  SIR STAMPALOT

                                                               with this fabulous prize:-

                                                     Hero Arts Fancy Friendship Stamp Sheet

                                           and 'Our Friendship' single stamp

Sir Stampalot is a retail shop and online website that specialises in stamps, die cutting and paper-crafting goodies.  We try to offer exceptional delivery times on your orders as well as keeping our stock fresh, new and exciting!  Our dedicated team of card makers means we have a wonderful, inspirational online card gallery with many more cards still to upload!  Sir Stampalot ships internationally as well as domestic so why not check us out if you haven’t already – www.sirstampalot.co.uk. 

Ok, I think I have covered it all by now. So do come and join us for this lovely challenge of Friendship and Friends. 

Love n hugs

Marie

Challenges for this card

Make it Monday - Always anything goes
ABC Challenges - Bring on the Flowers