Rainbows, clouds and dragons

While you read this I'm back home in Finland enjoying Easter with my family, far far away from my craft room. Unfortunately I managed to catch a terrible cold just before I was leaving. Fortunately my family is choc-a-block with doctors of the medical kind (not a "namby-pamby" PhD doctor like me, as my medical doctor sister likes to remind me!) so I was pumped full of drugs (of the legal kind) and the flight wasn't too uncomfortable despite blocked sinuses and lots of mucus. I think I have now gotten over the worst of it and feel much better. I have been busy stocking up on Finnish chocolate to take back home (it's the best chocolate in the world, forget about Belgian or Swiss, Finnish milk chocolate is simply the best) as well as a whole new stash of Moomin towels.

I made this card a while ago but haven't gotten around to post it until now. It's created almost exclusively using things from my leftover stash box. Last summer I created rainbow coloured backgrounds using the smooshing technique with Tim Holtz Distress Paints,  the journalling card in the background is one I created back then and it's been hanging around in my leftover box ever since. I also put together the rainbow from leftover die cuts, and the sentiment was found in the same leftover box, I have no recollection of when I created them. Last but not least, the dragon from Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After has also been coloured and die cut very lovingly at some point but then abandoned in the leftover box. So all I had to do to create this card was to die cut the clouds from a scrap of vellum, put all the pieces together and add a dash of stickles to the rainbow. It feels so good to give the leftover bits a home and created something lovely at the same time.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - L is for legend
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Freshly Brewed Challenge - Happy Birthday
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge  - Come Rain or Shine (I'm assuming rainbow is close enough...)
City Crafter Challenge - On Cloud Nine
Fan-Tastic Tuesday - Anything Goes with a twist - cute creature

Card: White 300 gsm card, scraps of coloured card, Hobbycraft 160 gsm white card, Dovecraft 110 gsm vellum, 300 gsm watercolour paper
Ink: Various Tim Holtz Distress inks and Distress markers
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After and matching dies
Dies: Lawn Fawn Rainbow, Puffy Clouds, Stitched Journalling Card and Scripty Happy Birthday border die
Other: Ranger Ice Stickles

More Lilies for Easter

Finally we are coming to the end of my series of Easter cards using the Stampin' Up stamp set Remarkable You and watercolours. The two other cards I made are here and here. It's funny that I ended up making so many Easter cards as I usually don't send any at all. Oh well, I guess as carmakers we take any opportunity we get, right?

I started by stamping onto watercolour paper, then colouring with Tim Holtz distress markers and a watercolour brush, using light colours only wanting to enhance the image a little but not overwhelm the simple beauty of the strong lines of the flowers. I did make a bit of boo-boo with my colouring, but I'm just saying it makes the flowers unique and with a hand-made look. It was deliberate, I'm sure. I die cut the panel, and die cut the happy for the sentiment from a leftover scrap of card I coloured with Distress Paints for some other project which never got made. Last, I stamped the second part of the sentiment from a Lawn Fawn set and added a few adhesive gems for that final little extra touch.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Amusing Challenges - Easter
Glitter N' Sparkle - Anything Goes
Allsorts - Easter
Sweet Stampin' - Easter
Addicted to CAS - Delicate
Crafty Cardmakers - Easter

Card: 250 gsm white card, 300 gsm watercolour paper, a scrap of watercolour card I coloured with Tim Holtz distress paints
Stamps: Stampin' Up Remarkable You, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Markers Fossilized Amber, Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron and Weathered Wood
Other: Stampin' Up Hello You dies, Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle dies

Welcome James!

Greetings from underneath the covers. Let's just say I'm not feeling very well right now. My manager sent me home from work (I have the best manager!), that must mean I looked and sounded quite terrible. I really need to get well soon again as I'm going back home for Easter, so I'm focusing on rest and healing. Can you will yourself to heal from a cold?

Anyhow, today's card is for my former manager who just got a little dog named James. I thought I would get little James a welcome card. He is sure to be a very happy dog, my former manager is such a great lady.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Curtain Call - Rainbow
Make My Monday - Something Fluffy
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Cute and Cuddly
PDE Linky Party - Anything Goes
Cards For Galz - Cute and Cuddly

Card: white 300 gsm card, Dovecraft 110 gsm premium vellum
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Critters at the Dog Park and matching dies, STAMPlorations Sketchy Alphabet
Paper: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka, Let's Polka in the Dark and Let's Bokeh in the Snow
Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Tim Holtz Distress Markers Fossilized Amber, Mermaid Lagoon, Wilted Violet, Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries
Other: Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border, Stitched Hillside border, Grassy Border die and Stitched Journal card die

Another Easter watercolour card

Happy Saturday, peeps!! I can't believe it's been a week since I have spent any time in the craft room. Well, technically that's not true, I spent quite a bit of time in the craft room both Wednesday and Thursday evening but that time was spent assembling flat pack furniture, not doing any crafting. I have finally executed part B of the great craft room plan and bough myself a new desk. Those chests of drawers took some assembling, and very annoyingly one screw was missing from one of the flat packs. However, very luckily my Culinary Consultant discovered that one of the screws in my old desk which I was taking apart to make room for the new desk had a screw that was just the right size, so I was able to finish my building frenzy and now have a luxuriously large crafting table. And just look at all that storage space in the drawers, I can have so much more stuff right at the tip of my fingers while crafting! Sadly it still looks quite desolate, but in time I'm sure that will change.

Today I'm showing you my second Easter card in my watercolour Easter card series I made using Stampin' Up Remarkable You - the first one with Calla lilies is here. I simply stamped the flower in Staz-On Jet Black Ink and coloured with my Gansai Tambi watercolours, adding some glitter with a Wink of Stella pen. Last, I stamped the sentiment using Lawn Fawn Violet's ABC. Perfect one layer card for sending (I have learned that it's very expensive to add embellishments on cards going abroad - just one rhinestone can push it past the limit of maximum thickness and all of a sudden the postage goes up 50%).

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
Just Add Ink - Just add E (Easter)
The Card Concept - Inspiration Image (I chose to go with the Pink and the Eater theme, but also the blue around the flower is inspired by the straw around the eggs in the basket)
The Friday Mashup - This time I chose to only go with the Easter theme, and I'm also very sad to see that this is the last ever Friday Mashup so thank you for all the inspiration over the years!
Brown Sugar - Spring
In The Pink - Spring flowers in pink 

Card: 300 gsm white textured card
Stamps: Stampin' Up Remarkable You, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABC
Ink: Tsukineko Staz-On Jet Black and Memento Tuxedo Black, colouring with Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours
Other: Wink of Stella pen

March STAMPlorations CAS challenge - Mid-month inspiration

 

The mid-month reminder for our monthly CAS challenge over at STAMPlorations always stops me in my tracks. I can't believe how quickly the month is passing by. I hope you have had a chance to craft and maybe play along with our challenge already? If not, there is still plenty of time to join us for our Anything Goes with an optional twist of yellow challenge. The fantastic and very creative DT have a new bunch of cards to show you and inspire you with if you need a bit of help to kick-start the good old mojo. Don't forget that the winner will be rewarded with a $15 gift card to the fabulous STAMPlorations store ($10 if not using STAMPlorations products in your submission). 

I started by stamping the lovely Narcissus Large in Scattered straw Distress ink, and painted it with my lovely Gansai Tambi watercolours. I finally got a chance to use my brand new ultra fine Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Watercolour brush. So worth every penny! After finishing the flowers I added some green and turquoise around the flowers, and splattered really fine splashes of colour on the background. Last, I created the sentiment by spelling out "Easter" using the gorgeous Sketchy Alphabet and added a "Happy" from Blossom Overture. Whoever says you have to have lots of stash to create a card? All you need are a few stamps and some watercolours. And maybe a ridiculously expensive brush or two...

I'm linking up with the following challenges:
AAA Cards - Easter
Unicorn Challenge - CAS (My third entry for the challenge)
Deep Ocean Challenge - Easter
Try it on Tuesday - Nature
Artistic Inspirations - Anything goes with an optional twist of Easter

Card: 300 gsm textured card 
Stamps: STAMPlorations Narcissus Large, Sketchy Alphabet, Blossom Overture 
Ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Scattered Straw, Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours 

Disclaimer: I have received some STAMPlorations products for free in exchange for creating cards for the challenge. All opinions however are completely my own. As you can see by browsing my blog, I have been using STAMPlorations products (which I bought myself) way before my time on the DT and I wouldn't recommend them unless I absolutely loved them myself.

Easter Calla lilies

I was working out in the greenhouse on the weekend, and after turning the soil over for about a minute, I was sweating all over. That is a clear sign that spring must be on it's way. It was lovely to feel the sun, even though it was only warm inside the greenhouse - outside I still had to put my jacket back on. But it was lovely to enjoy a bright and sunny day, and I think my cheeks caught a few rays of sun as well, they feel nice and warm. 

Another thing that's quickly speeding towards us is the chocoholic holiday that is elsewhere known as Easter. I'm not big on sending Easter cards, but happy to use the excuse to create some flower themed cards. This particular one has a greeting in Finnish, so you will just have to take my word for it, but I promise it says Happy Easter in Finnish. I used the lovely Calla lilies from Stampin' Up set Remarkable You and coloured with my Gansai Tambi watercolours. All stamped and coloured in one single layer using nothing but two stamp sets and watercolours. It doesn't get much more clean and simple that that.

I'm linking up with the following challenges:

AAA Challenges - Easter

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Add a Little Bit O'Green

Allsorts - Spring is in the Air

My Time to Craft - Flowers 

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - Anything Goes with twist Easter

The Artistic Stamper Creative Challenge - Springtime

Card: 300 gsm watercolour card

Stamps: Stampin' Up Remarkable You, Lawn Fawn Violet's ABC

Ink and colouring: Tsukineko Staz-On Jet Black and Memento Tuxedo Black, Gansai Tambi watercolours

Hoppy Easter from the Crazy Birds

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I have had a very special guest stay with me. Said special guest, who happens to be my favourite sister (just to make clear, she is also my only sister, so I'm not playing any favourites here), invited me to go to dragged me kicking and screaming to the gym first thing Saturday morning. As I haven't been to the gym in the last month three months I'm not able to move a muscle at the moment. Just sitting down or standing up is agony. Is this what it feels like to get older? Just a simple gym class will render you immobile... Of course the solution would be to go back there regularly, but it just seems like so much work! And cuts off the crafty time, and we wouldn't want that now would we?

Anyhow, we did have some shared crafty time together which was great fun. I made a Easter card which was inspired by the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, although I used birds instead of squares. I was also inspired by the colours over at ColourQ. I also think my little birds-disguised-as-bunnies go with the theme of "Laugh" over at CASology, the Spring/Easter theme over at Time Out (where this will be my second entry for the challenge) and the Hoppy Easter theme over at Creative Corner Challenges.

The cute card my Sis made for her friend.

Card: 300 gsm textured card, 190 gsm watercolour paper
Stamps: Tim Holtz Bird Crazy&Crazy Things and matching dies, Lawn Fawn Happy Everything
Ink: Versamark Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up Calypso Coral, Pacific Point, Coastal Cabana and Summer Starfruit
Other: Lawn Fawn Let's Polka Mon Amie DSP