Cold Nose ... Warm Heart

The last days it has been bitterly cold here in the South of England .... nothing compared to all the snow and low temperatures further up North but still quite unusual for this time of the year. It is definitely the time of cold noses and fingers ... which does not mean that you cannot have fun doing some skiing and ice-skating, having some snowball fights or just snuggle up in front of a nice fire
This little image of some children doing ice-skating comes from the Graphics Fairy. Karen has the most wonderful collection of graphics. It is so sweet and I couldn't resist turning it into a little winter card using a sketch from the Stempeleinmaleins Team. Petra.

Inspiring Minds

Another great OLW challenge from Jennifer and a bit of a tough one as well: use any of the images seen here as the inspiration for the card ... colours, layout or the 'feel' of the chosen card can be the basis. It took me quite a while to decide which one to choose

my interpretation
I used a free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine stamping it repeatedly on plain white card and coloured it with Koh-i-noor pencils. The sentiment is an Elzybells stamp. Petra.

Something to Share

Yesterday was the absolute climax for cakes and cookies ... Christmas Fair (photos and everything to follow) and Iggle Piggle cake. Oh dear, this cake was something ... I was in such a daze because of all the baking that I attached his arms to the wrong sides of his body ... poor little chap! As compensation I made him a nice warm and cosy little blanket from felt ....
Today it is tidying up and sorting out the left-overs from yesterday and, of course, it is Monday - Brag Monday over at the Graphics Fairy with all the wonderful and free graphics which are ideal to use in any kind of art - thanks to Karen!
I needed little cards for the Christmas Fair ... I was basically looking for a frame and a little ornament with a bit of a Christmas feel to it. The little image I created is quite simple but everybody who saw it seemed to like it ... so I thought you might like it as well, please feel free to use it

Have a great week, Petra.

Pudsey Cake

A cake for a good cause - a Pudsey cake! Pudsey is a very cuddly bear and the mascott for the yearly BBC Children in Need charity event which will take place tomorrow. The charity's aim is to raise money to help improve the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across the UK. Our cantine at work organises a fundraising event and asked if I would like to participate ... yes, definitely!
And if you look closely you might spot some dotty spotty stamping ... (lol) Petra.

More Stitches

Oh, I really love this month's sewing theme at Gingersnap Creations, it is such great fun and so enjoyable. The Random Redhead challenge for November is: Stitching ... it can be anything - real stitching, faux stitching, embroidery, ... endless combinations and possibilities like ... combining paper and stitching (lol)
This tag started with the papers. They are from Cosmo Cricket and they have just such a christmasey feel to it. I cut the tag and then small strips of paper which I machine-stitched onto the tag. The thread I used is real silk thread, I had forgotten that I still had some from my Grandma. It is so lovely to work with.
To decorate the tag I made a flower ornament using vintage paper; the circles for the flower are cut with edging scissors and distressed with chalk.

Hop over to Gingersnap Creations and enjoy the amazing stitching show! Come and join us for the challenge, Petra.

Forthcoming Christmas Fair

Hope you all have a great weekend! I have not been around much in blogland lately and I miss it but there is a Christmas Fair waiting ... just one week to go and I still need to bake LOTS ... this afternoon's venture: shaped butter cookies topped with chocolate

Will hopefully see you all again more regularly in blogland after the fair, happy crafting, Petra.

Winter Themed 4x4 Panels

A 'frosty' art exchange at Gingersnap Creations: Winter themed 4"x 4" card panels. I made the panels in stages ... and ended up with panels which look all quite different apart from the glitter. When looking at them together, I realized each one of them has something glittery! Happy crafting, Petra.

BasicGrey papers
stamps: Vintage Christmas No 4 Adirondack ink
Stickles
brad and ribbon from stash

papers: October Afternoon, Kraft card from Elzybells, BoBunny, corrugated card
stamps: Elzybells
ink: Elzybells, Brilliance
colouring: Koh-i-noors with OMS
Nestabilities
Stickles
ribbon and lace from stash

papers: Crate Paper
image: Graphics Fairy
Nestabilities
Martha Stewart Punch
Flowers: John Lewis

paper: October Afternoon, white textured card
stamp: Whiff of Joy
ink: Brilliance ink
colouring: Koh-i-noor with OMS
Nestabilities
Woodware Punch
Stickles
Sewing machine, thread

Sewing Notions

I LOVE sewing ... did I mention this already? (LOL) and this month's theme at Gingersnap Creations suits me so well. So, when the new Spicy Supply Challenge was announced ... Sewing Notions ... this immediately triggered images of pins and needles, safety pins, thread, measuring tape, and much more. I have quite a big box for all my sewing supplies but now and again it would be nice to have some emergency supplies ready at hand around the house ... a notions jar seemed to be sort of a solution for this

I used a preserving jar with a wide opening and realtively straight sides. The top and the inside of the top have pincushions attached. First I put all the contents into the jar but everything got entangled very quickly so I constructed an inside 'room divider' using felt and fabric for separating the various bits and pieces. To give it a bit of a friendly feel I added a bit of plain white ribbon which I stamped ... well, this is really all to it ... and it is very handy!

Check out all the other projects from the Gingersnap team, it is amazing what they came up with. Have fun and join us, Petra.

Christmas Kindness

A warm and useful purpose goes with the One Layer Wednesday challenge for this week: Christmas Kindness. Susan encouraged us all to create a one layer card and send them to Rhonda. Rhonda and her friends make cards which they for the ND State Penitentiary inmates to send to their families and friends ... you can read the full story on Susan's OLW blog
It is a little white square card stamped with Elzybells and Little Claire stamps and coloured with Koh-i-noors. For the Christmas shine I couldn't resist to ass a little bit of sparkle. Tomorrow the card will go on its journey to Rhonda. Thank you Rhonda for all your and your friends brilliant work. Petra.

Thankful

Our last Hugz from the Heart challenge for this year is all about 'Thanksgiving'. As Viv said in her introduction for the challenge we don't celebrate thanksgiving in the UK ... but it is a good excuse to make some mess on our workdesks and, of course, to send a hug! The requirement was to make a greeting card ... any size and any technique. Making cards is really hard for me, I am not a card person and I always struggle with the layout, the image ... well, just everything (lol). To my surprise this time I absolutely enjoyed making this card
The basic shape is cut from Elzybells Kraft card using nestabilities. On the top half I stamped leave images from Crafty Individuals with white Elzybells hybrid ink, the bottom half is covered with 3 Bugs in a Rug paper. Then came ribbons and corrugated card from my stash, I printed the sentiment on white textured card and cut it into individual letters.
The centre piece (although it is slightly off-centre (LOL)) is one of many many wonderful images from Karen, the Graphics Fairy. The image is part of a Thanksgiving Greeting card and I just adore the colours. I layered it onto Kraft card and 3 Bugs in a Rug paper. No distressing at all this time!
I also link this card to Brag Monday and to the Cheerful Stamp Pad. Have a great evening, Petra.

Numberjack 2

For all of you who are not quite sure what Numberjacks are just have a look here. I didn't know anything about them ... guess it has something to do with age (lol) ... till I was asked to make a numberjack 2 cake ... Petra.

vanilla sponge filled with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream, covered with vanilla buttercream and sugarpaste

Experimental Plastic Crochet

Quite a while ago I saw some interesting pieces of art made of plastic bags on the web ... unfortunately I cannot remember which website or which blog, sorry for this. One of the projects used recycled plastic bags cut in stripes and crocheted. This afternoon I went to see Lucy which is always very enjoyable, and because I had no time to prepare anything for this little crafting session, I just took a plastic bag, a scissor and a crochet hook ready to do a little experiment with a plastic bag. Although I kept the crochet extremely simple and small, I am quite impressed with the result

I can see endless possibilities. Lucy suggested to use them as Christmas Tree ornaments .. a really lovely idea. There is only one small problem now ... I normally don't have plastic bags (this one came from a friend) as I always use fabric bags for shopping ... maybe I could start a collection (lol) Petra.

Whimsical Haute Couture

This week sees the start of a new theme at Gingersnap Creations: it all about Sewing ... how brilliant is this? I love everything to do with fabrics, sewing, styles, patterns, ...... I am not a fashion addict at all (I prefer jeans and nice cosy jumpers) but in my previous live I used to make most of my clothes and the ones for my children myself - including designing, drawing , making the patterns and sewing. This is so much fun ... unfortunately I don't find enough time anymore ... you know the paper, glue, stamps, ink, cakes and so much more. The new theme challenge was a fantastic opportunity to take a trip down memory lane: Haute Couture.
As soon as I saw Les Petites Whimsies stamps from Sandra Evertson/Stampington Company I knew these would be the ones to use ... the characters are so whimsical and delicate and incredibly stylish ... I created a little booklet. Each page can be used as an individual tag or as a little notebook or journal for your fashion ideas .....

It all started with cutting out lots of squares for front, back and in-between for each individual page. I used K&Company, imaginisce and white textured card. I rounded the edges and cut an oval shape in the middle of the front of each page ... all cutting was done with nestabilities. The images are stamped into the oval and then coloured with chalk using paper stumps. I absolutely adore the result, it gives a powdery effect which works so well with the style of the images. Not to overpower the images by adding too many embellishments I tried to keep the decoration to a whimsical minimum just adding a button here, a flower there, ..... The sentiment on the front is directly printed onto Splendid Fiins digital paper. Both little flowers are from dear Dawn - Dawn they look so pretty.

For journaling each page has a little oval label on the back ... a little whole in one corner and some ribbon was all what was needed to finish the project.

I cannot wait to see what you sew and create as 'Haute Couture' and share with us. Some fabulous examples from the DT are on the Gingersnap Creations blog, happy sewing ... Petra.

Red - White - Black

Jennifer challenged us this week for the One Layer Wednesday challenge: Black and White and Read all over. This colour combination is awesome ... unfortunately the stamping I had in mind was a bit of a challenge in itself .... For quite a while I have one Hero Arts sentiment set where I only used two stamps from so far. All others are still on their original place on the cover. I thought it might be quite nice to leave them as they are, stamp everything on a white card with black ink and and just highlight the relevant message(s) in red ... well, these things are always easier thought than actually done (sigh) .... and five attempts later
I ran out of white card and never realized before that it is so difficult to stamp such big images ... at least for me (LOL) ... a good reason to do some more practicing ..... Petra.