Clean and Simple it is

Hello and welcome to my little corner of the world this lovely Monday. Hope you had a great start of your week and that the rest of it will continue at the same path. It's challenge time over at Crafty Card Makers again. I bet you have been wondering what you will come up with for this weeks challenge I bet. Well, I better tell you then. Clean and Simple it is. CAS cards are our thing the coming two weeks. Cards with lots of white space and very little decorations. I believe this is the first time I have manage to make something that can actually count as clean and simple. Much harder to make a good looking CAS card than you ever think. I dare you to try it! LoL

So my card feature an image from my beloved The Paper Shelter. Love those image from the botton of my heart, truly. Anyway, back to the card. My dear Father Christmas is coloured with my Letraset family and I am so pleased with how the red came out this time. Especially on the chimney. Wonder what colours I used? LoL 

Back to business and my card. It's coloured on some kind of Copic paper I think. I am still trying to find the perfect replacement for the wonderful heavyweight paper that Letraset used to sell. I love it because it's not shiny and it has a bit of a surface on it that isn't so glossy. Glossy kills the colours as they mutate in my way of seeing it. They are not as bright as they normal are. I shut up now and keep talking about the card instead, sorry! For my sentiment did I use a stamp from YouDo and blinged it up a little. Couldn't just leave it like that, could I ? Thought so. I did cut a snowflake from the wonderful collection from Joy crafts. Superb looking flake isn't it? I added a blingstone to the centre of that to. When all that was done I couldn't help myself so I used my scoringboard from Martha S, you know and made a line all the way around the card to add a little extra to it. I added a dark red backing panel as well to keep the card together with the other red parts. I like it but I feel it's something missing, but I can't think of what it can be. 

Sponsors for this challenge is 

DI'S DIGISTAMPS 
with a $10 GIFT VOUCHER

and
 THE STAMPMAN

 winner will recive a £10 voucher for their store, 

you can spend this online, or if you're lucky enough to see them at a show!  

Well I think this is enought from me for today. So I see you when I can. Busy trying to get my life in order with out fighting the system. Guess if it shows that it's election year here in Sweden? Eventhing is getting upgraded and change just so they can say that we don't have many home with longterm illnesses or are unemployed etc. I am one out of many, many more how is so tired fighting all this and noone understand how it is to live with crappy illnesses that doesn't kill you but make worth less whatever you try to do when it comes to working, getting the union working for you. It's such a joke, not even my worst enemy would deserve this.

Love n hugs

Marie

Challenges for this card
Eureka Challenges - Santa is on his way
Lexis creations - Christmas
Shabby Tea room - Christmas is coming (hope that the craft card counts as brown...)  

God Jul

As I said a million times already I love the fall and today is no different even if it feels more like summer here. Had 18 degrees here yesterday. Anyway, one of the things I love about the fall is that it's getting darker and darker and then suddenly when December comes all Christmas lights goes up and lights up everywhere. I love the expectant that it creates for what's to come. All the preps for the big C. It just makes life wonderful. :)

And until my fave time of the year is here I have to settle with preparing the Christmas cards. LoL This time I have gone all in with papers and motives from Bildmålarna. The new Christmas stamps are so cute and they are a little bigger than before, at least that's how it felt when I coloured this little lady called Snow is falling.

I am back with my markers again, it takes a lot long to colour now than it used to. I am guessing that the changing of papers has something to do with that. I have always used the heavy stuff from Letraset but they don't seem to make that anymore. Grrr, best thing ever made and it goes out from the product line. I am trying to adjust to the Neenah card but we don't get along as it's so much thinner than the other stuff and I am heavy on hand when colouring. So the hunt is on for something that suits me better.

For decorating my card have I used quite a few dies, the snowflake one from Joy!, the ivy from Joanna Sheen, the basic ones from Spellbinders, the border from Magnolia. A red ribbon and bow with ribbon from WOC (who is also dropping all ribbons except lace and seambinding). The roses are also from WOC. The pearls sprays used is from Rox stamps and the gemstones from Magnolia. Charm from Bildmålarna and ordinary pearls from Bunny Zoe. Some glitter glue for some extra sparkle and a glitter pen on the image and sentiment. I think that cover it it all....

The new theme over at Passion For Promarkers this week is hosted by Eileen and it's called "Snow is falling". Our sponsor this week is Lili of the Valley with a gift voucher worth £10 for one lucky winner. Please take the time to check out what my teamies have been up to. Some fabby looking creations is made for this challenge.

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
CLP Challenges -  Sketch (as lovely as always)
Bildmålarna Challenges - Roses
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Craft-Dee BowZ- Anythng with a handmade bow
Eureka Stamps Challenges - Anything goes

Some good news and a challenge card

Hello to you all! The rain is pooring down here today and I am in pain again. Surprize! Way to many weather changes this summer period. Beyond the fact that I am in so much pain today that I can hardly use my fingers, I decided to use the weather for something good. As we have a basement that is below ground and made of concrete we have some trellises in the washing room so it won't be that cold during winter when we (read "I") are down there to take care of the laundry. I decided to carry them all out to get them washed by the rain, so I am now hoping for some heavy rain to get all the dirt off. Turning something bad into something good. Clever me!

It's Wednesday again and my turn to host the wonderful challenge over at the Paper Shelter once again. This week we are doing the theme Brads and/or buttons. Either one needs to be show on your creation. You know you all have them laying around so why not use them.

For this card have I used the lovely image called Extreme. I love this fun charming boys images that Veronica and Pedro has put up in the store lately. There is also an super cute fireman, a video gamer etc. They are so much fun to colour and as (almost) always it's coloured with my Letraset family, which will be used even more in the future. More about that later. I've used some bright and lovely dps from Echo Park and a simple border die from Magnolia, Sweden together with three brads to the the upper right corner to make this card. It was for Isac, a friend of my youngest son when he went to his birthday party a little while ago.

As always we have the lovely price of a gift certificate up for grabs. It's worth $30 if you play with our brand, the Paper Shelter. Playing with another brand gives you the chance of winning three digis of your choice. It's a very easy challenge so do come and join us for this one!

And now to some good news on top of all this! About a week ago did I get a question by mail from Denise, boss of the Passion for Promarker challenge if I wanted to join their team. And of course I wanted to. That challenge blog is the reson to why I started my own blog years ago. My first ever win/top five was there, and I still have that card as a reminder that I can do it. So I am very humble and grateful and happy and moved and... to be on this fantasic team. I won't be able to join my favourite challenge anymore, but I do get to be a part of the whole adventure. I am so happy about this! Thanks for having me join you and I will do my very best!

Love and hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card

Inky Chicks  - Anything goes
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything goes
Cards for men - Let's get sporty
Eureka Stamps - Summetime fun
Make it Monday - Always anything goes

Steampunk?

Good afternoon everyone! Hope you're feeling fine and have a good week ahead of you. We are celebrating Midsummer Eve here in Sweden on Friday and hopefully it will be a nice day. But to be honest it almost always rain. LoL I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope for the best. I do look forward to seeing some of my family during this day. It's the best part.

The weekend was really wet and I kind of struggled with my Bronto phobia. And for you who don't know what that is; it's unnatural fear of thunder. And no it doesn't even have to be going on at the moment. For me it's actually worse before it starts. I was a bit more successful this time with breaking given pattern in my mind but it's so much energy that goes to waste. Still I managed fairly well this time, kind of proud of myself. :)

(The browns are the same all over the card but it wouldn't show...)

Now, facing another fear of mine, steam punk cards! That is really not my style at all. But I showed you a card made very simple a few weeks back with a really cool dog from Kenny K and that's why I decided to take part in this weeks challenge over at Crafty Card Makers. At least I got to colour the dog up again. I don't have much stuff that can relate to steam punk in my stash so I kind of made my own version of it. Brass is something that I only had just a little of and reading about the steam punk and what's connected to it. Brass is a big thing, well I settle for gold, some cogwheel, metal charms, embossing and lots of brown and grey to that. I am not sure what to think about the result, but I am proud to have taken part. I hope you will go ahead and join us in this challenge as it really is a challenge, well at least for me. The doggy is coloured with my Letraset family by the way.

And this is what our challenge post of this periods challenge says in a shorter version.

"Welcome to our latest challenge, hosted by Julie who has chosen the theme 'Steampunk'

If you need an idea of what Steampunk is we have a definition here 

We are sponsored by
DI'S DIGISTAMPS

 with a

$10 GIFT VOUCHER

and
 THE STAMPMAN

 We are kindly sponsored for this challenge by The Stampman (and Lady of course!) who are ofering the winner a £10 voucher for their store, you can spend this online, or if you're lucky enough to see them at a show!  They have a ton of items in store, enough to tickle any crafty taste bud."

Have fun and come and join us for this challenge. Quite a challenge but that's what life is all about, getting challenged from time to time. And it actually is a good thing, what else could make you learn something new about yourself or life itself?

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Cards for Men - Boys will be boys
Creative Creations Challenges - For dad / masculine
Eureka Challenges - Anything goes
Dream Valley Challenges - Fathers day / Male theme
Joanna Sheen Challenges - Fathers day / male theme

Technic challenge

Good afternoon every one. Hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you saved up some energy for the week to come. I'm really feeling tired and well not bad, but not good either. Low might be the word I'm looking for here. Oh well, life goes on and hopefully I catch up with it soon. It would be nice to be if not on the same page, at least in the same book. ;)

As there seems to be a little baby boom going on in the family, I had made another baby card using one of the wonderful images from Bildmålarna, Sweden. That is if you can call two babies for a baby boom? The paper pad used is from First Edition; the Sweet Owl pad. Lovely pink and browns in this pad. I don't like the glittered or embossed papers that much as it always seems to be too much of it, but in small pieces I can use them too. Or give them to the kids... isn't that using too? LoL

The image is coloured with distress inks this time and the splatter in the corners is made with a stamp from Stempelglede. Love that set, it's so useful. The technics I have use for my card is embossing (both wet and dry). The middle panel is dry embossed with a heart embossing board, the big butterfly is wet embossed in white. All edges is distressed with walnut stain from T.H. I have used the shrink plastic to make a few heart embellishments and tied them to the scrappers floss I added to the card. Also tied a bow around there as it looked a bit empty. I did also die cut some flowers and added to the mix. The dies used are from Magnolia, and so is the big butterfly. The smaller ones are made with a M.S. punch. A few pearls added to the mix and I was done. I so regret adding the scrapping floss, but as it was stuck, it had to stay. LoL

Anyway, it's time for a new challenge over at the Crafty Card Makers and this period we are having a technic challenge for you all. You have to pick three of the technics from a list choosen by Sharon. Take a look down here for what technics you have to pick from. Or even better check out the Crafty Card Makers challenge blog. For me it was lots of fun to bring out the shrink plastic again after all those years actually. LoL But it was a lot harder to colour on than I remembered. LoL

This is the list and don't forget to tell what technics you have used. It's not easy to see all the lovely details of your creation in the photos from time to time. 

Embossing (dry or wet) 
Distressing 
Masking 
Making your own flowers 
Paper piecing/patchwork 
shrink plastic

Sponsoring us this time is 

Milk Coffee Digital stamps

with five digis of one winners choice

Sir Stampalot

with a wonderful pack of Fran-tage Mica Fragments.

(Check out the challenge blog for more details)

So don't be shy and do come and play with us over at the Crafty Card Makers this period. You have two weeks to enter our challenges and that gives you plenty of time to come up with some lovely creations for us to see. I for sure can't wait to see what you come up with and make to inspire me. After all that's why we love our challenges isn't it? To see what everyone else comes up with and to get challenged from time to time. 

Love n hugs

Marie

Challenges for this card

Make it Monday - Always anything goes

Creative Creations Challenges - For a Child (mine is very young but still a child) 
Cup Cake Craft challenges - Lots of Layers
Eureka Stamp Challenges - Baby or pregnancy card
The Crazy Challenge - Baby card

Using some buttons

Happy weekend everyone! Hope you're doing fine and have a lovely weekend planed for yourself. I hope to relax and take it easy as I am still adjusting to the warmer weather. The different air and moist is not that kind to my joints that's for sure. I also hope that I will be able to plant my last seeds today that has to be started up indoor. My dear partner gave me two smaller greenhouses earlier this week and I really want to get them up and in use by now. But I saw the weather forecast the other night and it's going to be cold a few nights. Have to bring in all the plants during the night, but that's ok, then I have my kitchen table back for the days at least. LoL

I've been a bit creative again. It's good that I am able to make a little card every now and then even when the kids are home sick. My olderst has been home for almost the whole week with fever and cough. Sounds familiar? Well, it might have been because I had it about two weeks ago and the youngest last week. LoL What a winter it has been! Hope we all start to heal soon.

So tomorrow it's a kiddi birthday party again and that is pretty much why I needed to make this card and I have actually been looking forward to making it. For some reason the creative spirit has come back to me and I am so grateful for that. Earlier this week I posted a card with a cow girl on it, a totally super cute image from the Paper Shelter and here comes an older image also from the Shelter. I have done quite a few cards with this image and I just adore him. He is so cute and such a joy to colour, and since my kids still are young I use him as much as I can. LoL (Sorry about the bad pictures, I have to take a photo class, soon.) LoL

He is coloured with my Letraset family and some prisma pens for the back ground. Also worked quite a lot with the blender especially on his hat to get a softer look on it. The designer papers are from NitWit Collections which by the way has a sale going on today. The digi set is called "Lil tumble weeds" and is inspired by cowboys in red, blue and white. Just to die for! Also used a cow girly paper set from NitWits for my earlier cowgirl card this week. For embellishments I have gone back to a favourite of mine making a lasso out of some jute string. A star charm (need to find more of those as I am running out of them) Also some buttons in brown is used to decorate my card. The inside is made to match up the front and to give space to a gift voucher and some text. The sentiment is made with my granddads old dynamo writer. It's super old but works as a charm. The text just says "happy birthday" in Swedish.

Have a brilliant weekend!

Love n hugs
Marie

Challenges for this card
Passion for Promarkers - Button it up
Cards for Men - Anything goes (Also running a DT call)
Created with Love - Reuse / recycle (my buttons from old clothes and the string from a gift)
Eureka Stamps Challenge - For the Boys
Love to Create - For the guys
The stamp Spot - masculine cards
Clear it Out Challenges - Anything goes with at least 2 buttons (My buttons! I have tons of them & they don't get use often enough)
Crafty Catz - One for the boyz

Hello

and good morning to you all! Hope your day started well. Here we are ok, but it's the most busy week in ages, since before summer I would say. Doctors, employment office, health insurance office, physio, "shoe doctor" etc. I'm grateful that I am alive! If I was longing for last weekend, this is nothing compared to how much I want it to be weekend this week. I know, here and now. But for now that is not working with me even if I know it has to be like that. I do my best and take it one day at the time. I just wish it wasn't so moist outside! My body is not feeling to well in this so lets hope for high and dry fall weather soon and not this.

This is a card made by Mi, well of course it is. I was just looking for a different way of starting my rumblings about my card. LoL It's a quite simple card for the new challenge over at Bearly Mine Challenges. I have used the wonderful pink and orangeie digi set called Cheeky Days. Love the colour combo there. I have paired the papers up with the lovely Gypsy Dance from the Paper Shelter. She is coloured with my Prisma / Polychrome pens. One of my first time doing a whole image this way, so please don't laugh. At least not so that I can see it, ok? 

As we are having the theme of Anything that glitters over at the Bearly Mine Challenges this week, I have glitter all over the card. Not that it normally shows, but this time it does for sure shows on the clothing the dancer is wearing. It doesn't look that bad IRL, it just shows on the picture and it shows really well. LoL. On my flowers are there some frosted lace stickles from Rangers. Gems from my stash and pearls from Rox Stamps here in Sweden. Flowers are from WOC and Kort och Godt. Feathers from Magnolia. All the edges are distressed with some ink from T.H. 

We do have a sponsor for this challenge as well and that is no other than the Lovely Donna from Bearly Mine Designs. Two digi sets of your choice is up for grabs. You don't want to miss out on this. The new Christmas set is to die for, called Christmas ligths and was put up in the shop a few weeks ago. Go and take a look. You find all the links you need to the right here on my blog. 

So please come and join our game. We are waiting for you! And a big thank your for leaving a little trace of you when you're leaving.

Love n hugs

Marie

Challenges for this card
Make it Monday - Always anything goes
Eureka Stamps - Anything goes
Tammy's Scrapin Corner - Lots of Layers
Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything goes