1 stencil - 2 unusual ways!

And one more post for today before I go into my weekend:

The Curtain Call Challenge is about to close, and I created a really simple card for it. But before I share the final product with you, I would like to introduce you to my new technique: 1 stencil - 2 unusual ways!

This is my stencil:

The idea was to tape the stencil to some craft card stock & fill the gaps with white pigment ink (which is very juicy compared to ,let's say, Distress inks). I've done that in a rather 'messy' way as I wasn't going for a perfect result, but rather an arty and individual background.
Once I had enough color on my paper I removed the stencil and let my card stock dry.

And then?

Then I had a ton of white ink on my stencil... and I found it a shame to simply wash it off.
So I grabbed another piece of craft card stock and simply pressed it on the top side of my stencil.... see this cool result - I love it!!

See on the left my initially intended background.
And on the right the 'left-over-ink-result' = )

And here is my final creation:

Supplies used:
- SSS stencil
- white pigment ink
- Cleary Besotted Happy sentiments
- a very ancient rabbit stamp (this is probably 30 years old)
- woodgrain paper & white vellum

Please go and try this technique for yourself, I'm sure you will love the results!

Yours, Steph



P.S.: I am also participating in the SSS Wednesday Challenge 'Something New' and the SSS Monday Challenge 'Old and New' with this Card, the 'Fresh Start' Challenge from Inspiration Journal and Case this Sketch.

Purple is the new blue

Hello again,

As you all know I am still pretty new to the whole stamping world and just recently I've discovered a new Challenge Blog from The Unity Stamp Company. Clearly I should have browsed through their website more carefully and I would have found this challenge much earlier... Anyhow, I took a chance and created a card for this amazing color combo of purples and blues (*color.24*). This is what I came up with (using tons of perfect peals): 

Supplies used:
- Perfect Pearls (purple & blue)
- Hero Arts large lace stamp
- Avery Elle surf's up
- Unity Stamp Company adventfull season
- patterned paper & blue vellum

Thanks for stopping by & see you soon!!
Yours, Steph



P.S.: I am also participating in the SSS Wednesday Challenge 'Something New' and the SSS Monday Challenge 'Old and New' with this Card, as well as the 'Cure the Monday Blues' Challenge #38 because of the happy & 'patchy' color combination I've created here & the 'Fresh Start' Challenge from Inspiration Journal.

Paper piecing is fun!

Hello crafty friends!

As you can see I have spent some time on my blog to make it look a little more appealing - hopefully you'll like it just as much as I do!

But back to my projects: I decided I just had to recreate this card for the Avery Elle *AEI♥U* Challenge because I love the design so much and I thought this is PERFECT for this challenge (and I can easily use this again next year for the holiday season):

- The van is all paper pieced with glossy accents over the windows the create an even more realistic feel.
- The tree is cut out of patterned paper & actually sewn on to the panel with brown, rather thick, thread.
- Some pumice stone distress ink for the shadows.
- Lots and lot's of foam dots to make it all pop!

That's it - quite simple but a little work-some with all the cutting. But hey, if it looks amazing in the end it's all worth it = )

Thanks for stopping by & until next time!

Yours, Steph

My favorite Christmas card!

Hello again,

Drummrolls please...!!!!!
Here is my most favorite Christmas card! Especially created for my one and only best friend M o n i k a !!

I absolutely love the background I have created here! The left side is made with a large background stamp and tumbled glass distress ink on water color paper. The right hand side is a mix of distress inks mixed together as well on water color paper & pearlized (is that a word?) with perfect pearls shimmer spray (simply water mixed with a little bit of perfect pearls). And of course my adorable sea critter is covered with wink of stellar glitter, its horn shines with glossy accents and the sentiment is placed on some vellum which I have fixated on the back of the card to hide the adhesive.

Just love it! =o)

Thanks for spending time with me here!
Yours, Steph

P.S.: This card is posted in the following challenges:
SSS Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"

SSS Monday Challenge "Old and New"

Lawnscaping Challenge #97 "Winter Themed"

Stempelgarten - Winterfreuden

A very special card for a very special person in my life!

Hello dear crafters,

Welcome to my most elaborate card EVER!
I think this card has taken me hours and hours to finish (see all the layers and details here), especially because I wanted it all to be absolutely perfect!

This special creation is for my very best friend who unfortunately is so very far away from me and I miss her dearly!! It's always very cold around her special day, so a cute winter card with lots of detail seemed like the ideal Birthday card!

I think she loves it just as much as I do =o)

Most of the trees are hidden behind some vellum and there is lot's of embossing, glossy accents & wink of stellar going on here which I was unable to capture properly in my photos unfortunately.

 

Thanks for stopping by & I will see you soon with another winter card!!

Yours, Steph

 

P.S.: This card is posted in the following challenges:
SSS Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"

SSS Monday Challenge "Old and New"

Lawnscaping Challenge #97 "Winter Themed"

MFT "Color Palette Challenge"

 

 

 

The festive season is over...

... and yet I have a few more creations with you to share.

Hello dear crafters & thanks for stopping by my blog once again!

I would like to share with you the creations I couldn't post before Christmas (or else somebody might have seen their card), so thanks for being patient with me.

 

I'm quite proud of this shaker card & how it turned out, especially considering that I haven't made many shaker cards yet (not sure why even, they're so much fun). But I love the craft cardstock in the window & the bunny combined with the sparkly red background. But I probably was a little too keen filling up that window haha :-D

I'll be back with my other creations soon.
Happy crafting!
Steph

P.S.: This card is posted in the following challenges:
SSS Wednesday Challenge "Anything Goes"

SSS Monday Challenge "Old and New"

Lawnscaping Challenge #97 "Winter Themed"

MFT "Color Palette Challenge"

Transportation & Bling Challenges

Hello dear crafters,

Welcome back to some more card peojects of mine: this time I'm participating in more SSS challenges!! 

For my Aussie friends who enjoy lots of sun at the moment Down Under I've created 2 fun summer surf cards by piecing lots of paper together:

And here is a creation for the European winter season:

Lot's of sparkle makes this card really festive! For the background I used a stencil with clear embossing paste on black cardstock & when that was dry I filled in the rest with liquified gold perfect pearls! The dots on the bottom are from fabric tape (I love the material mix), the mose is paper pieced & the sentiment is heat embossed in gold on white vellum. I love how Santa's 'means of transportation' has turned out here!! Perfect for the 'Transport It Challenge' by Simon Says Stamp. 

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/

I think this card actually also meets the requirements of another SSS Wednesday Challenge: 'Bling It On' :-)

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

Thanks so much for stopping by & I hope to see you here again soon!

Yours,

Steph

12 Tags of Christmas with a Feminine Twist Challenge

Hello dear readers,

I'm back with another creation: This time it's a very posh, golden card created from a tag.

Believe it or not, I was inspired by Jennifer McGuire's tag (you can see it on the Ellen Hudson's 12 Tags of Christmas page here). I know my tag/card looks completely different, but I swear, I watched Jennifer's video and went straight away to my crafting table and this came out:

As you can see, tons of golden embossing powder (I guess I need a new jar soon after this project), second generation stamping with this lovely scripty background stamp (to make my black ink look a little more grayish - I don't have gray ink...). I have colored my tag completely black (it was originally of a cream color) and heat embossed the ring around the hole, as well as the sentiment, in gold. To finish the card, I added some natural twine (folded it a few times to get more strings) and looped it through the hole in my tag.

And of course the tag is raised up a little with dimensional adhesive to be the center point of the card!

Btw: I totally cheated with the card stock here! I don't have a die cut machine, so I bought this intricate butterfly cream color cardstock, and just dipped it all in gold embossing powder. To 'pop' it up from the cream colored back of the card, I just lined the whole card base with black card stock. I think it looks great!

I hope you like this posh new creation of mine - see you soon!
Steph

'Cards' & 'White' & 'Christmas' Challenge

Hello dear crafters,

Welcome back to 3 more wintery creations of mine for another SSS Monday Challenge:

My first project is for true cat lovers:

this sweet kitten is peeking through a round hole in the card on to a gold heat-embossed mouse sitting on a parcel!

I am in love with this card!!

I've colored the cat just like my own with black patches on the cute face & back and with a black striped tail. For a little extra 'bling' I've added some tiny silver gemstones on the parcel. And the background is heat embossed in white on blue card stock (this card stock has a subtle pattern, that's why it doesn't look 100% uniform here). I thought it needed a bit more contrast, so I embossed the mouse on black card stock for the inside.

 

 

Another attempt to create a shaker card:

I found this amazing patterned paper (this feels as if it is heat embossed itself) and covered the whole front of my card with it.

For the shaking part I simply added some black cardstock at the back (for extra contrast) and filled in the shaker with white & see-through sparkly sequins. The 'Happy' is heat embossed in white and the 'Christmas' is stamped in black and clear heat embossed. I think this card is a little more non-traditional for the holidays but I like it nevertheless.

 

 

One of my favorites:

I wanted to use this really summary stamp set with the 70's van & create a very plain yet interesting wintery card with it - here we go! =o)

I've paper-pieced the van from all sorts of different card stocks, colored the windows in light blue and added tons of glossy accents to them to make them look like proper windows.

The tree is stamped in green on patterned paper too and I've added some white dots with a gel pen. To give this rather simple card some extra interest, I have actually sewn this tree on :-D

Some shading with water colors finish off this card.

The intention was to keep this card mostly white & I have placed the image & the sentiment purposefully not in the center of the card, just to give it some more interest.

Because it is so white & with 2 white card stock panel stuck on top of each other with foam adhesive, I think it also fits very well to the new Lawnscaping "white on white" challenge (although it has a splash of colors for the van, but I think it still counts).

 

 

 

I hope you like my creations!

Until next time - saludos, Steph

 



 

 

P.S.: All 3 cards above are picked & combined here specifically to match yet another challenge: The new Curtain Call 'Clearly Christmas' Challenge (which I admittedly just stumbled over when looking at Winnie & Walter's blog) =D



Anything Goes - Holidays & Clearly Christmas Challenge

Hi again,

As mentioned in my earlier posts I have been quite busy with crafting lately (trying to avoid the last minute card-making stress before the holidays).

Please have a look at a few of my new creations here:

Gold, gold, gold..!!

This background is so shiny, I just love it!

 

I used peacock feathers Distress ink for the background and sprayed some water (with Perfect Pearls in it) over it to make it super shiny & to give it some interest & texture. The lacy stamp and the sentiment are both heat embossed in gold. And finally, I've colored this adorable little puppy with watercolor and added "seafoam" embossing powder to its scarf and hat. Some sparkly gemstones make this card look truly posh I find!

I love this cute stamp set from Lawnfawn with the bunnies, I think it's just incredibly sweet!
For this card I have created a background with Distress inks. But before that, I heat embossed the sentiment, the trees and the snowflakes in white, so that they resist the inks. The little bunny is colored with pencils and added with dimensional adhesives to give this card some depth. Of course the glossy accents on its ears is a must! :-D
BTW: I dedicate this card also to the new Curtain Call 'Clearly Christmas' Challenge! Have a look at the theme:



This card was an experiment for me. I wanted to use lots of patterned paper, but because I don't have proper colored card stock, but only this really thin origami paper, this turned out to be a little tricky. Nevertheless, I think it looks very sweet with the ice fully covered in glossy accents for some extra shine (as well as the cheeks and teeth of the walrus) and the banner is stuck with dimensional adhesives to give it some extra dimension.
Although I probably should have made the ice from white card stock I think the playing with papers was worth a try.

I hope you all like my crafty Christmas output & thank you very much for spending time with me.

Until next time.

Ciao,

Steph

P.S.: I am participating at the SSS Wednesday Challenge with my 3 creations above.

Caring Hearts Card Drive

Here I am once again,

I just wanted to let you know that the ´Caring Hearts Card Drive´ is in its final days!
I´ve made sure I submitted my contribution a while ago to ensure it will reach the US on time (and presume they are all there by now).

There are 8 cards in total I´ve created for this good cause. Unfortunately I can´t share them with you in detail because I completely forgot to take photos of them individually before mailing them, but at least I´ve taken a photo of the whole pile =o)

Send yours quickly - deadline is November 28!
Saludos,

Steph

SSS ´Thank You´ Wednesday Challenge

Hello again,

 

As promised, I will share another project with you straight away:

I rented a 70s campervan for my summer holidays, and in order to express my special thanks to the lovely owners, I wanted to create an extra-special thank-you-card.

Have a look:

 

 

I must say I´m actually quite proud of the background I´ve created here, because this was the first time I used embossing paste! Actually, ´translucent´ embossing paste (on white watercolor cardstock). I´ve used distress inks for the background and made sure not to blend them too much because I didn´t want the background to be too distracting (compared to the quite flashy 70´s van). I heat embossed the van on colored cardstock (I think this orange looks almost like an original from the 70s haha).

 

To finish the card and to round it all up I´ve heat embossed the sentiment in white on blue vellum.

 

I really like my creation, and especially for one particular reason: The van owner was so happy when she received this card fully unexpectedly & in the end that´s what makes me extra happy!

 

I hope you like this project as much as I do & if you have questions, please feel free to contact me.

 

And: This project is specifically dedicated to the latest SSS Wednesday ´Thank you´ challenge: http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/

 

See you soon all!

Saludos,

Steph

 

 

 

 

A very special birthday: 102!!

Hello dear readers,

Apologies for keeping you wait, but I have been crafting a lot recently and only now found the time to get to note it all down & to share it with you.

But here we go, no more wait:
The first project I want to share with you is a very special card for my dear neighbor, who just recently celebrated his 102nd (!) birthday! I am really not kidding here!

Thankfully I can make cards on my own, because, hey, have you ever tried to find a card for a 102nd birthday in a shop?? IMPOSSIBLE!! =o)

Have a look at my creation:

 

I used this lovely handwritten stamp for the background & toned down the black ink a little with a piece of vellum. The lacy image is stamped with Versamark ink & colored with perfect pearls on red cardstock. The number 102 is heat embossed in white and raised with tons of glossy accents (also the sentiment by the way)!

Although it looks a little pink on the picture here, the cardstock is really more of a warm light red & together with the vellum a really fitting combination for a masculine card in my view.
My neighbor was very happy about the card and that´s all that matters to me =D

I thought this project is perfectly fitting to the latest ´count me in´ Lawnscaping challenge, and you can find their blog here: http://lawnscaping.blogspot.com


I hope you like my creation and will stop by again soon.
Until then!
Steph

Ornament

Hello dear crafters,

Today I have another creation of mine to introduce you to:
A gorgeous ornament! It's all created by clear embossing this nice big background stamp on black card stock. Then I've filled the gaps with liquefied perfect pearls in 3 colors (pearls, blue and purple). The shine it gives is unbelievable! =D

Extremely simple this time, and some nice patterned paper, blue vellum and some Washi tape complete my project!

Of course this is yet again for a SSS Monday Challenge "Ornaments".
Thanks for stopping by and for your interest in my crafts!
And as always, if you have any questions on my projects please don't hesitate to contact me.

Until next time,
Yours Steph


Link: SSS Monday Challenge

SSS 'Thinking of You' Challenge

Hello dear crafters!

Today I have a special card to share with you:

I've cut out this 3D folding up heart from white card stock for the inside & covered up the heart with patterned paper. To match the inside with the outside I've cut another heart from the same patterned paper & stuck it to the front with dimensional adhesive (and added a small ribbon & bow). The black card stock gives great contrast.
To add a little detail I've heat embossed the 2 cute birds in gold on the front as well as the very back of the card.

It's pretty rare that I have some sort of detail on each and every side of a card & I must say I'm quite proud of myself.

Hope you like it & thanks for stopping by!
See you next time,
Steph

Of course this card is linked to a challenge: SSS Wednesday Challenge

SSS Wednesday Challenge Link