kunterbunt Cottage

Sketchbook Project 2012 - Forever in a Nutshell

2012-02-01T10:20:00.007Z

I stumbled across the sketchbook project organised by the Brooklyn Art Library relatively late last year. I was intrigued about the idea of creating an evolving library of sketchbooks, sketchbooks which have been created by artists all around the world. These books are absolutely amazing and truly inspiring - especially for someone who has not used a sketchbook ever before. I signed up for the project rather late and also decided not to choose the subject but allow chance to have the final say: Forever in a Nutshell.
I hit two difficulties: using a sketchbook and not quite knowing how to interpret the theme.
Using the sketchbook taught me a lot ... I am not so frightened of blank pages anymore (lol), it taught me not to worry when creating something but just let it flow and see where the path leads you (not an easy task for me) ... I was able to relax after the first 20 pages (there were 32 - lol). Not being a native English speaker the topic was puzzling and exciting at the same time ... but once I started the pages sort of evolved. I did lots of doodling, scribbling and drawing (another scare of mine!), I used stamping, colouring, cutting, printing, .....
If you would like to see the sketchbook pages, you will find them here. And I cannot wait to see all the other sketchbooks online and in person later this year when the sketchbooks will be on display in London. Petra.

Romance Is In The Air

2012-01-30T12:34:00.009Z

I did not feel very romantic or vintagey or something like this at the time I made this card :-) so took more of a clean approach to Vicki's challenge: Romance is in the air. The card layout is 'loosely ' based on the sketch from the ArtBlog
I used paterend paper from FancyPants Design which I I layered on an A6 white card. The image is stamped with Heindesign stamp ... they look soooo sweet together!
To see more romance pop over to the Cheerful Stamp Pad. Have a lovely day, Petra.

Vintage Little Darling

2012-01-27T09:56:00.008Z

The theme at Tag Tuesday is: Vintage. I know it is weird but I was not sure at all how to approach it ... that is till I looked at my crochet flowers and then it all became clear (lol): a small crochet tag (8x4cm) which I attached to a very small coat hanger from Woodware. I stitched a little piece of packaging material onto the crochet base
and then decorated the tag with a really sweet image of a little girl all wrapped up to face the cold weather outside (Graphics Fairy)
Some lace and gauze, little pearls stitched on fabric, paper flowers and vintage buttons and a printed word completed the little tag. Have a lovely weekend, Petra.

Birds of a Feather - creation II

2012-01-24T14:25:00.005Z

Supply
image: Alpha Stamps, stamp: Kaisercraft
German Scraps, bling, black card

Not to distract from the beautiful image from Alpha Stamps, I kept embellishments, stamping and everything to a minimum on my card for Vicki's challenge: Birds of a Feather. Hope over to the Cheerful Stamp Pad and see more beautiful creations. Hopefully you can join us! Petra.

My Favourite Paper

2012-01-23T09:24:00.004Z

Oh, this was a difficult one! There are so many gorgeous patterend papers ... which one to choose for the Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead Challenge: Use Your Favourite Paper?
In the end it had to be October Afternoon 'Sidewalks'. I love their colours and the quality of the papers. I even used a matching label .... . I layered the papers, to give a little bit more depth I dry embossed the musical note paper and painted the little flowers with Copics. The stamped sentiment is from Kaisercraft and the group of adorable little girls are from Stampotique.
For more wonderfully inpsirational art, hop over to the Gingersnap blog and get creating! Petra.

Confetti Carnival

2012-01-21T18:09:00.008Z

What would be carnival without confetti ... especially for a 'carnival of madness' ATC at Craft Artwork ..... I definitely felt a bit mad after punching and glueing all the mini circles for the background (lol)
I stamped on the background (Kaisercraft), used lots of glitter (Stickles) ... another essential ingredient for carnival ... and added a little carnival girl with a carnival cake (Red Lead Paperworks)The words 'helau' and 'alaaf' are the famous carnival 'battle cries' in Germany alaaf being used in and I believe around Koeln and helau more on the other side of the Rhein.
Whether Helau or Alaaf - have a great weekend, Petra.

White - Experimental Paper Embroidery

2012-01-20T13:01:00.008Z

For Tag Tuesday the challenge was to create a tag in WHITE. A good opportunity to have a little play and to do some experimenting. I haven't done any 'serious' embroidery for a long time and definitely not on paper. For the tag I chose some shapes, cut them with nestabilities, underlaid it with felt and framed the cut-outs with little stitches and embroidery thread
I finished the tag with some beads, pearls and lace. Hhhmmmmmmm, not quite sure ... I need to do some more trials with paper thickness, threads, .... if anybody has any hints and tips for this, I would be very grateful for any advice. Have a great weekend Petra.

It's All About Cakes

2012-01-17T22:47:00.007Z

I haven't shared any cakes with you lately. Here they are and they are all chocolate ones and very light and healthy with no calories whatsoever (lol)

a very light girl's birthday cake
a birthday cake for a Reading Footballclub fan
a climbing adventure

Petra.

Birds of a Feather

2012-01-16T17:34:00.005Z

If I would have the time, I could sit all day long and watch the birds outside my kitchen window which come to pick some bird seeds. These are mainly the blue tits, starlings, sparrows, black birds and occasionally a little robin ....

Supplies:
paper: My Minds Eye - stamps: Artemio - flowers: Prima Marketing
image: Graphics Fairy - wooden frame, die-cut paperstamp from Whiff of Joy

This is for Vicki's current challenge at the Cheerful Stamp Pad, for much more wonderful inspiration just pop over, have a look and hopefully you will join us, Petra.

Also linked to:

Paper Doll of a Different Kind

2012-01-15T00:42:00.005Z

The Inspiration Avenue challenge is/was: turning Paper Dolls into a piece of art whereby the doll doesn't need to be a human figure .... may I introduce you to Mr Ratu

Mr Ratu, a very cool rat, is based on a children's book by Nancy Zimmermann. You can also find the instructions including the drawings on the website. Mr Ratu is articulated and can move

because he is a sort of Jumping Jack doll. Mr Ratu also has a very defined dress sense

The only bit which is now missing is a little hanger ... Petra.

Restructured Paper and Paper Cloth

2012-01-14T14:28:00.007Z

I very much enjoyed the restructured paper tutorial I did for Gingersnap Creations and the results

Restructured Paper

Tag made from Restructured Paper
stamps: Kaisercraft and Stampotique
Stickles, bling, ribbon

... soooo much that I ventured into making some 'Paper Cloth' having been inspired by the work of Kelli Perkins and her fabulous creations. In parts the process is similar to making Restructured Paper. Paper Cloth has a fabric base which I soaked in diluted PVA glue (1 part glue to 2 parts water) and then covered in tissue paper, fabric scraps, paper scraps and in the end with lace. It was an experiment

and I am quite happy with the outcome and will definitely do more with all my scraps. Petra.

Linked to: Let's Ink It Up

Ice Skating Princess

2012-01-13T13:38:00.003Z

This weeks theme for Tag Tuesday is: Snow Sports and Games

Supplies:
paper: black card, FancyPants, Girl's Paperie -
stamps: Kraftin' Kimmie, Free magazine stamps -
image: kids colouring page - colouring: Copics, Koh-i-noors -
Stickles, Martha Stewart Snow glitter - ribbon, bling

This little Ice Skating Princess is having a lot of fun. Wishing you a wonderful weekend with lots of fun, Petra.

Ribbons

2012-01-11T12:58:00.010Z

As part of stash re-organization month Gingersnap Creations challenge you to use: Ribbon in your creation - one or more or lots!
Do you also have ribbons which you have bought because they were cheap, you thought you might need/use them at some point but never did, leftover of ribbons which are too short for bigger projects, ... and so on? When going through my ribbons, I found lots of those and lots in the colour: green. With temperatures outside still suggesting that Spring is coming, I made a Spring wreath. Making a wreath has been a project I had on my list for a long time

I could not find a wire coat hanger which seem to be very popular as wreath base so I used some electrical cables which had become obsolete. They were perfect - a bit bendy but they don't loose their shape. To start with I cut lots of ribbons (be aware: you need more than you might think if you want to make it nice and tight). The length of each ribbon is 22cm and the ribbons have different width. To attach them around the cable I made double knots and tied them as closely together as possible alternating the different ribbons.

Once the wreath was finished, it looked a bit, well, bar. Looking around I rembered that I had bought some of these tiny adorable blank birdshouses from Happy Daze last month but hadn't used any of them

I just had to use it whereby I kept the colours (acrylic paint) in more muted colours. Fot the decoration I added a little printed bird from Vintage Catnip, which I cut out and covered in glossy accents, and some flowers removed from a ribbon. This little house is attached to the wreath with a string.
I really thought of keeping the wreath for myself because I quite like how it turned out but it is now on the way to Spain to a dear friend (lol).

Come on and hop over to the Gingersnap blog for some wonderful ribbon inspiration. Hopefully you can join in with the challenge! Petra.

linked to: Happy Daze January challenge

Snow Card

2012-01-09T17:19:00.004Z

Using another delightful image from Dezinaworld I created a card for Vicki's Cheerful Stamp Pad challenge: Let it Snow

Supplies:
image: Dezinaworld - paper: A6 card, BoBunny -
doily, buttons, ribbon, snowflake due from Woodware, letters from Prima Marketing

There is much more inspiration over at Vicki's blog. Just come and join us! Petra.

Snow Tag

2012-01-05T22:32:00.005Z

... for Tag Tuesday hosted by Carolyn. It is a wonderful challenge and so fitting for the season: Snow.
I started with a corrugated card from a parcel which I partly teared. The ridges are covered with acrylic paint and snow glitter from Martha Stewart. The opposite part of the base tag is stamped with snowflake stamps from Vintage Christmas No 4 and covered with Star Dust Stickles.
The base tag is layered with patterend paper from October Afternoon and a printed image from Magic Moonlight Free Images. I embellished the tag with lace, ribbons and buttons. The paper snowflake is die-cut with a Nestabilities die and has as second layer a little felt snowflake which I found at Papermaze. The little sentiment from PaperWhimsy is printed.
And if you want to see all these wonderful inspiring snow tags, just hop over to the blog ... Carolyn has created a theme cloud! Petra.

Let It Snow

2012-01-03T22:58:00.006Z

... still waiting for the snow here in the South of England. We might have had a few flakes but not more ... and I am not sure whether I should be glad or not. I love snow, when covered with snow the world looks so pure and magical

Supplies:
cardboard snowflake covered in Stickles 'Star Dust' -
paper: Cosmo Cricket, Kaisercraft, crepe paper -
image: Dezinaworld - printed sentiment, blings, ribbon

This is for the first challenge of the year over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad. Just hop over to the blog and you will see many more inspirations and hopefully you will join us! Petra.

Soft Yellow And White

2011-12-29T22:49:00.007Z

These very lovely mellow colours are for the final Gingersnap Creations Colour challenge this year - yes, it is the final challenge of 2011!
May I introduce you to my New Year's angel? She is a lovely stamp from the Octopode Factory. I stamped her on white slightly textured card, cut her out and coloured her with Koh-i-noors and Copics. The background for the card is from Temari 09 whereby I only used part of the background image to keep the background colour very soft and mellow. I modified the background by stamping various snowflakes with white ink and covering them with superfine glitter. The finishing touches are some white lace and letters from BoBunny.
Just pop over to the Gingersnap blog for more wonderful mellow yellow and white creations, hope you will join us for the final challenge of 2011! Petra.

Silver Sparkly Tag

2011-12-23T13:34:00.003Z

Last minutes makes ... a tag inspired by Nancy
I tea-dyed a manila tag and then embossed it with the Tim Holtz snowflake embossing folder which I covered in distress ink beforehand. I quite like the effect of the double treatment ....
I layered the tag with lace and gauze - patterend papers from Authentique and Fancy Pants - image and sentiment from PaperWhimsy. The little branches are cut with a Martha Stewart punch and glittered them with Stickles. The finishing touches are vintage lace sewn to the tag, vintage buttons and blings.
Merry Christmas to all of you, Petra.

Sparkly Snowflake Cards

2011-12-21T16:40:00.006Z

... as shown on the 5th Day of Whimsy. I made four cards using Nancy's instructions as inspiration and all of them turned out slightly different

All cards are slightly wider than A6, the patterned papers are from FancyPants and Kaisercraft and the images including the sentiments from PaperWhimsy. I used an EKSuccess punch to decorate the edges of the second paper layer and Nestabilities shapes to cut out the snowflakes and circles. All snowflakes are covered in lots of Stickles and so am I .... The stamp is by Stamper Anonymous, the little snowflake punch from Woodware. The cards are adorned with lace, button twine, blings, pearls and buttons, Petra.

Also linked to: Der/Die/Das Blog von Bawion

Holidays & Ornaments

2011-12-16T21:32:00.011Z

Last week we went for a short city break to Hamburg, Germany's biggest port. I hadn't been to Hamburg for about 20 years and was amazed how the city has developed (and still is) during the last years. We found an eclectic mix of new and old living very happily next to each other .... wonderful restaurants with fresh fish .... Christmas market stalls at almost each corner ... lots of very small and very big boats in the harbour to watch. The weather was not as friendly as we had hoped but there were always some very lovely cafes with wonderful coffees and delicious cakes (lol)
We will definitely return to Hamburg but on request of a gentleman only when it is a bit warmer (lol).

Before going on holiday I received all the wonderful Holiday Ornaments from the Gingersnap swap, thankls to Laura. All ornaments are absolutely stunning. Ladies, thank you so much.

Suze and Laura
Emma and Kezzy

and a wonderful tag from Laura

Wishing you all an enjoyable Advents weekend, Petra.

Christmas Sentiment

2011-12-10T13:25:00.002Z

This is for Vicki's current challenge over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad: A Christmas Greeting. I have to admit it is not only a Christmas Greeting but also a greeting for the new year. It is German and in translation: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Petra.

Supplies:

paper: BasicGrey, embossed wrapping paper - Cuttlebug embossing folder -
stamp: Heindesing - gold gel pen, blings, Stickles

Art 'n' Soul Christmas Tag - part two

2011-12-08T12:19:00.005Z

This is part two of the last Art 'n' Soul challenge. Part one was to create a bookmark with lace, part two was: You must make a Christmas themed tag to go with your bookmark.

I kept the tag relatively simple as I wanted the image (from: On The House) to be the focal point. I cut the tag with Nestabilities Oval shapes (papers: October Afternoon, Echo Park). For the front I added the image which I printed and cut out. As adornment I added lots of glitter, little metallic stars, a little holly embellishment cut with Tim Holtz Holly die, Bakers Twine and little jingle bells. For the back of the tag I added a little stamped sentiment (stamps: Elzybells). Happy crafting, Petra.

Sankt Nikolaus Mitten

2011-12-07T20:11:00.004Z

Inspired by Nancy's tutorial for the 12 Days of Whimsy I created a Sankt Nikolaus mitten using burlap, tartan cotton fabric and felt. The image at the front is a Santa Claus from the Graphics Fairy which I had printed previously ... luckily because when trying to print a new image the printer cartridge was out of ink (sigh).
I cut the image and covered it with clear accents and added a little bit of glitter. The finishing touches are pompon and tartan ribbon and a little jingle bell. Petra.

Thank You

2011-12-06T10:50:00.003Z

Oh oh, I am well behind with my posts (sigh) ... thank you for your patience, thank you for stopping by so often and for leaving all these wonderful comments
My Thank You card for the Gingersnap Creations 'Once in a Blue Moon' challenge. I very often make thank you notes or cards in batches. So they have to be relatively easy to put together. The base is a slightly textured A6 card. I stamped a paperbag image onto 7Gypsies paper and then cut out a wonderful rose from The Sum of All Crafts. The sentiment is printed and cut with a Nestabilities label.
Hop over to see all other wonderful creations from the Gingersnap DT, and hopefully you will join us, Petra. x

Victorian Rose Pennants

2011-12-03T23:03:00.011Z

... for the Second Day of Whimsy. I have to admit, I am totally hooked. Nancy's tutorials are wonderful. They give so much inspiration but leave a lot of room for your own interpretation. And I am already itching to start today's creation. But first ... the Victorian Rose Pennants. I have not made a pendant beforehand and I learned a lot and enjoyed it

All parts of the pendant look quite similar but they are all slightly different. I cut Prima Marketing paper with Nestabilities in various shapes. The little Paper Whimsy ladies were printed, cut out and attached to the oval shapes. I added some old musical paper and found the rose at Digital Collage Sheets. As adornments I used lots of lace, little charms and some blings. When I had finished I thought it would be nice to do something with the back. I cut Kraftcard with the Nestabilities, distressed the edges and cut a little label.

I deliberately did not write anything on the labels yet ... will do it later when I know who will receive the pennants :-) Petra.

Whimsical Button Fairy

2011-12-02T00:51:00.004Z

The First day of Whimsy ... Nancy created these fabulous button fairies ... and I enjoyed every minute creating the little fairy

Supplies:
images: paper whimsy - silver paper lace, buttons, silver wire,
paper flower, blings, nestabilities, jingle bell

The biggest challenge was to find a substitute for the beautiful silver doily Nancy used in her creation. After a bit of a search I found this neglected silver paper lace which I've had for a long time but never used. I cut it with a Quickutz scalloped circle die. Otherwise I followed Nancy's instructions, I only added a little jungle bell - for Christmas, Petra.

Lace Bookmark - part one

2011-11-30T19:27:00.007Z

What a challenge! I very much enjoyed creating this bookmark for the last Art 'n' Soul swap of the year. It was a two part challenge and here is the first part. Viv gave us quite a list of requirements for this one:
"Make a BOOKMARK with a VINTAGE theme AND include LACE somewhere on the project - you can make the actual bookmark from any medium you wish providing it is sturdy enough to be used and adorn it any way you want to as long as it has a vintage/shabby chic theme!"
... and, of course, a bookmark should be relatively flat, should have sort of a reasonable size, .... this time I lost the battle for the flat bit ... the bookmark just evolved and developed and before I realized all these beads appeared (lol)
The base for the bookmark is patterend paper from Kaisercraft sandwiching some white card for sturdiness. I covered the paper with lace whereby the lace scallop defined the width of the bookmark. The centre piece is an image from ArtCult which I printed on canvas (the first time and it worked like a treat). After attaching the image I started to adorn the bookmark with more lace, white cutout lace flowers anhd free-hand stitching ... and then the beads appeared ... luckily because it looked a bit plain beforehand! Petra.

Santa's Little Helper

2011-11-28T22:37:00.005Z

... is wearing Santa's hat for Vicki's Cheerful Stamp Pad Challenge: Who's Wearing Santa's Hat? I wouldn't mind getting some presents from this little helper (lol)

Supplies:
paper: white card, EchoPark paper - stamp: High Hopes -
nestabilities, embossing folder, punch, ribbon, Stickles

Why not pop over to Vicki's blog enjoying more amazing creations from the DT and join in for this fun challenge, Petra.

Yellow, Red and Brown

2011-11-23T16:06:00.008Z

What a wonderful colour combination for the Gingersnap Creation Colour challenge, so warm and welcoming! And a perfect opportunity to play with some wax crayons and the iron. As I was not so sure how to go about I found this tutorial. For this technique you need wax paper and unfortunately I have only brown wax paper which would not show the colours so well. So I experimented with greaseproof paper which naturally doesn't give the same result as the papers do not stick together. When opening up the 'crayon sandwich', the melted crayons displayed a nice texture and colour combo
It is even possible to use dies to cut out shapes which I straight away used to create a little card for the colour challenge. I kept the layout relatively simple because I wanted to make the little cut-out leave the focal point
The base for the card is textured off-white card layered with Kraftcard and patterend papers from Jillibean Soup and Crate paper. The stamped word is from Elzybells, the button twine from the Ribbon Girl and the wooden pearls from my stash.
And as I had quite a bit of melted crayon paper I could not resist to make a couple more of these little cards whereby they are very similar but still each one is slightly different
Hope you join us for this wonderful challenge. Hop over to the Gingersnap blog for more fabulous inspiration, Petra.

Who's Wearing Santa's Hat?

2011-11-21T17:15:00.004Z

... a little sweet and yet so cheeky looking Santa with lots of Chritsmas toys

Supplies:
image: Bugaboo digital stamp - paper: My Mind's Eye, white card -
colouring: colouring pencils and Copics - Stickles, cotton wool, bakers twine, Nestabilities

Come and join us for this fun challenge over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad, Petra.

Thomas the Tank Engine

2011-11-19T21:15:00.010Z

It was a week full of cakes - little ones and big ones. On those occasions I am never quite sure which I like better ... making cakes or paper crafting. Luckily at times they do complement each other especially when some slightly tricky construction is involved like the chimney of a tank engine ... may I introduce you to Thomas?

(thank you so much to Jane for taking the photo)

... a moist vanilla sponge filled with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream and covered with soft icing ..... have a great Sunday, Petra.

Holiday Ornaments

2011-11-16T17:13:00.034Z

.. for the Gingersnap Creations Art Exchange. I did enjoy it a lot and it got my right into the Christmas Spirit - creating four Holiday Ornaments in any shape but sized at least 2" x 2", it had to include some stamping and more than one layer. Every ornament is sort of similar but also slightly different. All of them have a decorated front and back. All of them consist of three layers of paper/card for the base. All shapes have been cut with Nestabilities apart from the snowflakes (Marianne Design) and holly (Tim Holtz Alterations).

The patterend base papers are from Kaisercraft edged with Stickles. For the second layer I cut some cardboard which I crackled with dark red/green and cream acrylic paints (Lefranc & Bourgeois) and crackle paint (FolkArt). This created the frame for the stamped Santa Claus images (Tim Holtz). I decorated the ornaments with some bakers twine and a snowflake charm at the bottom. For the top of one ornament I die cut the holly leaves and embellished it with some gems asberries. The gems are covered in red Stickles. For the second ornament the snowflake was cut from patterend Kaisercraft paper for both front and back and glittered the front with Stickles. The finishing touch is a Kanban pearl.
The back is the same for both ornaments: patterend Kaisercraft paper, a stamped sentiment from Elzybells stamped onto patterend Kaisercraft paper.

For the remaining two ornaments I took a slightly different approach using vintage images and having the stamping only on the back ... hope this counts (lol)
The patterend papers are from JillibeanSoup, Kaisercraft and BasicGrey. Some of the little stars on the base layer in the front and the back are glittered with silver Stickles. The image of the two rather sweet coral singers is from The Graphic Addict, it is slightly raised with foam pads to give it some more depth. The ornament is decorated with organza ribbon, two little jingle bells, a snowflake and a glittered pearl. The stamps for the sentiment on the back is from Artistic Outpost, the stars from 7Gypsies.
This ornament evolved around an image from the Graphics Fairy ... I wanted to use it for a long time and it seemed to be perfect for this occasion. The design principle and supplies for this ornament are the same as for the previous one apart from using just Stickled pearls, some woollen lace and a little bell for decoration.
Hope everybody likes them and I cannot wait to see what everybody else created. Petra.

Late Halloween Postcard

2011-11-10T18:55:00.005Z

Late with posting here on my blog but hopefully not too late arriving at Chriss' doorstep ... for the Kindred Spirit Postcard swap. Chriss wanted to see bats on the postcard
The base for this postcard is again a watercolour-paper postcard which is brilliant when using lots of paint or ink ... lots of inking for the background with Distress inks ranging from scattered straw to fired brick and lots of stamping with Archival and Memento ink (stamps: Artistic Outpost, Elzybells). Hope there are enough bats on the postcard ... Petra.

All Pink

2011-11-08T20:25:00.010Z

I love pink but nevertheless this challenge from Craft Artwork was more than a challenge: to create a tag in pink. It took me a whole week to create something I am sort of happy with. I am not quite sure why ... maybe because we are supposed to use only pink (do you know how many different shades of pink there are?)? maybe because the weather is not bright and pink but rather dark and damp? I created several backgrounds with paper, paint, ink, ... and destroyed them. I cut and glued numerous images and destroyed them and in the end settled for something quite different to the initial - more subtle -plan (lol)
The tag is relatively small, the shape a nestabilities label. For the background I painted several layers of gesso, crackle and acrylic paint in various shades of pink trying to create some depth for the background. I stamped some script (Paperbag Studios) onto one half of the tag.
For the fhe focal point I created a little heart cut from some pink card and covered with beads of various shapes, sizes and shades of pink. More embellishments are ribbon with sequin hearts, pink glitter around the beaded heart and lots of varied ribbons and gauze for the top of the tag. Petra.

also linked to:
Let's Get Shabby challenge #29
Happy Daze November Challenge - An Explosion of Colour

Christmas Tree

2011-11-07T19:02:00.007Z

My first Christmas Tree ... this year .... made of paper ... not in my house yet ... there are still a few weeks to go (lol). The tree is for the current Cheerful Stamp Pad challenge: Trees

Supplies:
paper beads with October Afternoon papers - papers for card: October Afternoon -
bling, lace and ribbon from mys stash

The Christmas Tree was assembled with paper beads which I created according the same principle as described in one of my previous post - except: I cut the paper into rectangular shapes and not triangles and then rolled the paper.

Pop over to Vicki's challenge, for more brilliant tree samples and show us your tree! Petra.

Cinderella Goes to the Ball

2011-11-04T18:50:00.006Z

.. in her new ballroom dress

My first attempt of a Cinderella Birthday cake and just in case you would like to know how I made it:
The Cinderella doll was given to me by the Dad of the little lady who has birthday this weekend. I first considered buying a specific doll baking tin but as I wanted to fill the cake with jam and Buttercream I decided it would maybe be better to bake individual round cakes (8", vanilla sponge) and then do a bit of sculpting. Not really being into Barbie/Cinderella dolls myself I was really surprised to find that her legs are so extremely long! It took three sponges, some jam and Vanilla buttercream and a double layer of soft icing to match sort of the height between her feet and waist - just amazing - but I didn't want to take the legs off ... I heart it could be difficult to assemble them again (lol)
So once the cakes were ready for decorating a friend of mine came to give a helping hand in wrapping up the legs in cling film to stabilise the doll and to avoid her getting too messy and to cut the necessary hole in the middle of the sponges. After this I sculpted the cake, filled it and decorated the cake - which is always one of the best parts of the process.
The little princess and her family and friends will have to eat a lot of cake and I hope she likes it! Have a great weekend, Petra.

On The Farm ...

2011-11-03T14:38:00.000Z

.... farm fresh carrots ... 50c a bundle
... with Jillibeansoup papers, Stampotique and Waltzing Mouse stamp, a carrot image from a children's colouring page, some printing, punching, colouring with colouring pencils and distressing.

Hope over to the Gingersnap Creations blog for the latest Chestnut Theme Challenge: Farm Fresh. You will see lots of fantastic DT samples and have the chance to join us! Petra.

A Sketch and Some Cutting

2011-11-02T22:11:00.007Z

This card was inspired by a sketch from the Quixotic Paperie and the challenge to use dies and punches for the ABC challenge by the Der/Die/Das Blog von Bawion
I started by covering an A6 card with Kaisercraft paper which I have had for a long time but strangely never used. For the top and bottom strip I built up layers of punched patterned paper (Martha Stewart and Stampin'Up), ribbon and little pearls (both from Kaisercraft). The rectangular shape in the sketch is represented by a stamped and embossed Waltzing Mouse baking label which I cut with Nestabilities - it is one of those stamps which have been designed to go perfectly with one of the Nestabilities labels! Instead of one round shape I created various layers with a patterned doilie, patterend paper, a Kaisercraft die-cut and an adorable image from MadebyJanet. To complete it I added some little pearls. Petra.
also linked to: Stamptacular Sunday

Autumn Time

2011-10-31T23:49:00.001Z

I love Autumn with its wonderful vibrant colours, all the fresh and delicious fruits and vegetables to be harvested and the endless possibilities to go out and enjoy the fresh air and changing nature ... so many things to grateful for

Supplies:
papers: American Crafts - stamps: Waltzing Mouse - Nestabilities labels, Stampin'Up edge punch,
some little friendly wooden kites, some machine stitching

To see more delightful Thanksgiving creations just pop over to Vicki's blog The Cheerful Stamp Pad. Hope you have time to join us. Petra.

Bags

2011-10-27T22:55:00.007+01:00

To complement my daughter's wedding dress I made a little bag for her using the same fabrics as her dress and a wonderful pattern from Emma Brennan's book: Making Vintage Bags. It is a little crescent bag with a bit of a different handle

... and therefore very easy to carry it around on the wedding day. It is surprisingly roomy as well taking mobile phone, make-up, ... and even a sandwich(lol)
I enjoyed making this bag and it is so easy to make that I created a second one for Autumn

Have a great weekend, Petra.

Black & Greys

2011-10-27T13:00:00.010+01:00

... for the new Gingersnap Creations Colour challenge
with greys ranging from light to stone grey for the background, black soot and jet black for the stamping. I sponged the background on soft watercolour card using the square That Special Touch mask and various inks. It gave a bit of a hazey feel to the background which just worked great with the theme and stamps (stamps: Elzybells, Artistic Outpost, Paperbag). The image is mounted onto black card whereby I made two slits into the black card as 'photo corner'. The black card is dry-embossed with the Creative Expression crackle embossing folder.

Come and join us for this fabulous colour challenge! Pop over to the Gingersnaps blog and see some brilliantly scary and arty pieces from the DT, Petra.

Forest Treasures

2011-10-26T18:16:00.009+01:00

... for the Craft Artwork Trinchie challenge: Forest. Working with a trinchie format (7.5x7.5cm) is completely new for me but I like it very much. It is small enough to be reltively quick but big enough to elaborate on embellishments!
It is not quite Summer anymore as the stamped background might suggest, the leaves are getting all dressed in their Autumn colours. Some trees are already almost bare, Autumn is progressing fast (sigh). For the background I coloured a Crafty Individual stamp with various Distress Inks and stamped it on slightly textured off-white card. The colouring between the leaves was done using colour pencils with OMS. The edges of the twinchie are distressed with Distress inks and lightly sanded.
All natural elements were collected in the forest and then dried. The squirrel (stamp: Artemio) enjoys itself after having been stamped using a mix of Distress ink Fired Brick and Walnut Stain, cut out and 'improved' with quite a thick layer of Glossy Accents ... which is better visible in this photo
The finishing touch was a bling from my stash to adorn the inside of a little acorn hat, Petra.

A Visit To The Botanical Garden

2011-10-25T19:46:00.006+01:00

We just love to visit the botanical garden in London (UK), Kew Gardens. It is a place full of beauty, tranquility and excitement at the same time. It offers so much at all seasons but Autumn is my favourite with the rich colours, the long shadows in the afternoon and the anticipation that the cycle of nature is about to come to a close to be reborn.
It is also a wonderful place to visit with children. They can run, explore and play to their hearts content.
Enjoy the season, Petra. x

Thankful

2011-10-24T17:39:00.014+01:00

This is my first Thanksgiving creation and it centres around the pumpkin ... I love pumpkins and it was a good year for growing them! My card is based on a sketch from here
and it worked very well with the elements I had prepared for the card

Supplies:
image: Graphics Fairy, paper: Kraftcard and Kaisercraft,
embellishments and ribbon/lace from my stash,
letters: BoBunny and some crazy stitching

You can find more wonderful Thanksgiving creations over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad for Vicki's new challenge. Hope you join us! Petra.

Linked to: The Graphics Fairy, Artblog

Autumn Leaves

2011-10-22T21:04:00.015+01:00

For Alexa and the September KindredSpirit Postcard challenge I created an autumn leave postcard. The base was a pre-prepared watercolour postcard which I worked on with various shades of distress ink to create the background.
For the stamping I used real leaves from the garden. The idea came about when a little while ago I found a little table cloth in my drawer which had been decorated with leave prints. And I remembered that my kids and me created this cloth during a weekend activity a VERY long time ago
For the postcard I collected acer leaves in varied sizes which I brushed with acrylic paint and pressed them onto the background - I covered the leave with white paper and rolled it very lightly with a brayer. I like this technique a lot. When taking the leaves off, quite a bit of the leave structure has been preserved
And who is just taking a quick peek from behind the leaves? A little witch from the Octopode Factory who is just about to go for a little ride (sentiment from Red Lead PaperWorks) (lol) - Petra.

Rainy Inchie

2011-10-21T11:03:00.008+01:00

Ok, it does not really rain on my inchie but the rain left a big enough puddle to have fun with wellington boots (lol). I created this inchie for the Craftwork inchie challenge: Rainy Inchie
The background of the inchie is a mix of VersaColor and Elzybells inks, water mist, Copics and some dabbing with baby wipes. For the boots and the puddle I stamped images from Little Claire on slightly textured card, coloured it with Copics and did some fussy cutting. The little puddle has been highlighted with glossy accents. The final bit is some handwriting. Enjoy the weekend, Petra.

The Raven

2011-10-19T18:43:00.007+01:00

It is Edgar Allan Poe month at Gingersnap Creations ....
What would such a month be without The Raven?
I created an altered book page with the little help of a collage sheet by Plush Possum Studio and Artistic Outpost stamps. The text page is printed on slightly textured off-white paper while Poe's image is printed on transparency and then layered onto the text page. For one of the ravens at the top and the one in the middle I did some fussy cutting. The transparency is attached by staples and ravens. The eye ring around Poe's eye is a l eftover from some inking experiment! The edges of the text page and the transparency are distressed with Vintage Photo distress ink. ..... Oh, and of course, the page is signed by Poe ... how cool is this? (lol)

Check out the Gingersnap blog for the current Random Redhead challenge. You will see some absolutely brilliant raven creations. Petra.

Also linked to: Our Creative Corner - Totally Transparent

Button(s) and Bow(s)

2011-10-18T22:16:00.004+01:00

My very talented crafty friend Debbie had birthday last Sunday and it was too good an opportunity to miss to make a birthday card for her
It all started with a photo of one of the flower table decorations at my daughter's wedding. I combined the photo with Kraft card, doily and patterned paper from BoBunny and layered it onto a square white card. The sentiment is created using BoBunny letter stickers. The finishing touches are some lace, pearl and bling and a button and a bow (lol). Happy crafting, Petra.

Linked to: Cupcake Craft Challenges - Buttons and Bows

Sweet Halloween

2011-10-17T20:51:00.010+01:00

My first Halloween creation this year! I made the card for Vicki's current challenge using the very sweet image from Bumble Button and the very scary BOO letters from Karen, the Graphics Fairy

Spiders from Elybells have also found their way into the inside of the card.

To get more scared by the fabulous creations of the DT and to join in the fun just pop over to the Cheerful Stamp Pad and its current challenge. Petra.

Birdsong

2011-10-11T23:26:00.014+01:00

I created this book for the last Art 'n' Soul challenge: GOTHIC ARCHES with a MUSIC/MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS/ANYTHING MUSIC OR SONG RELATED theme. We had to make three arches with front and back decorated. I chose birds and birdsong as my musical theme

The book pages are connected at the top with some string. The edge of every page is also lined with string to give it some definition. These are the plain individual pages of the booklet

All patterend paper is from The Girl's Paperie, stamps are Stempelglede, Red Lead PaperWorks, Obsession Impressions, Darcies and 7Gypsies.

Petra.

My Daughter's Wedding

2011-10-10T20:59:00.012+01:00

Once upon a time .... the activities were intense, time was more than tight with last minute cakes and wedding dress accessories ... but it was all worthwhile: my daughter's wedding day. The wedding ceremony was so lovely, the newly Weds looking as happy as you can imagine

Even the weather was friendly with only an occasional shower (lol). With my daughter being German and her husband British the celebrations were a mix of both German and British traditions - a sit-down coffee and cake after the wedding ceremony and dinner and hog-roast afterwards

... and they lived happily ever after ..... Petra.

Happy Birthday ...

2011-09-29T20:42:00.006+01:00

... to my friend and colleague Jane. She had birthday a few days ago but I could not really share her birthday goodies with you before she had seen them (lol). Jane is such a vivid and talented crafter. It is always a pleasure to pick bits and pieces which she might be able to use in her crafting. Amongst the bits and bobs like patterend paper doilies, little buttons, ... I crocheted some 'Mary Go Round' ornaments from the relatively new Mollie Makes magazine using bangles and cashmere wool
I put all goodies in a paper bag and added quite a big birthday tag with candles because ... what would be a birthday without candles?
The basic layer of the tag is cut from plain white paper and layered with Echo Park paper. The candles are actually paper candles (also Echo Park paper) rolled in the same way as I previously made some paperbeads - except that I rolled the paper around a cotton string as candlewick. The sentiment is from Lily of the Valley and the little butterfly punched with a Martha Stewart punch. Happy Birthday, Jane! Petra.

Shared Moments

2011-09-28T08:47:00.004+01:00

This is for the Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead Challenge: Shared Moments.
The ladies seem to have so much fun enjoying some cups of coffee or tea (I cannot remember anymore where I found the image, if anyone knows, it would be great if you could let me know, x). The image is layered on black card, Basic Grey paper and background paper I created with the VersaMark resist technique:
I stamped a geometrical pattern (Kaisercraft) with distress ink (scattered straw) on plain white card and embossed it. Then I coloured the card with various shades of red and brown inks. The stamped pattern is just about visible - it gave a bit of a distressed effect which I quite like.
The sleave around the card is made of brown wrapping paper, the stamped sentiment and stars are from 7Gypsies, the die-cut star cut with nestabilities. The little bling is the finishing touch to it.

Why not pop over to see all fabulous DT pieces and take part in the challenge? Happy crafting, Petra.

Let's Recycle

2011-09-26T17:56:00.009+01:00

The Blog Challenge Garden tag challenge is all about creating a tag using recycled materials ... at least 90% should be recycled. I LOVE such challenges. This is my recycle pool
A script page from a clothes catalogue, corrugated card from a parcel, a tag with some beads from a dress I bought last year, a cut-out circle from soem packaging, a little label which came with a stamp, some white twine from a Christmas tag and a wonderful little angel image which I found in the street - I don't know who lost it but I couldn't leave it, could I? It was a bit dirty when I found it but with a little bit of careful cleaning it looks wonderful now. And here is the tag
Have you spotted it? The only two new items I used are two new staples - haven't found a way of recycling those ones yet (lol) Petra.

Be Transparent

2011-09-24T08:00:00.005+01:00

... with your creations ... the current challenge over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad. I always loved the effect of stamping on transparencies. It gives such a crisp and clean look

Supplies:
transparency - stamp: Heindesign, ink: Elzybells hybrid ink -
paper: Memorybox - Nestabilities, charm and ribbon

Come and join us and check out the fabulous creations of the DT, Petra.

Keys

2011-09-23T08:00:00.006+01:00

Keys is the current challenge at Inspiration Avenue hosted by the ever so talented Hettienne from Her Grace: to use a key or keys or the metaphor of a key in your creations. This theme offers so many choices and possibilities, so it was time to make a decision (lol)
This is a very simple and surprisingly quick tag. I absolutely enjoyed the process of using various techniques: first I coloured and patterend the background of a plain Manila tag with a That Special Touch mask and distress inks. I had already printed a key definition from the web which I gessoed and transferred to the tag. And then it is all in rubbing it down gently but firm and allow the paper to dry. With a little bit of water I rubbed off the paper to disclose the script but left some paper so that some areas are a bit obscured - an effect I quite like
The last steps were to stamp the music key (stamp: 7Gypsies) with Coffee Archival ink onto the tag and to attach a bit of leftover twine. Petra.

Catching Up With Friends

2011-09-22T18:24:00.007+01:00

Oh dear, after having been away for a few days I realized that I am well behind with any blogging - especially with uploading my DT piece for the Gingersnap Creations Chestnut Theme challenge: Gal Pals.
Aren't they sweet? I love these two ladies (stamps: Lily of the Valley) ... they remind me so much of my Mum and my Auntie ... if they have the chance they do exactly the same (lol)...
The base for this card is a plain white square card covered with patterend Crate papers. The image is coloured with Copics and colour pencils. I mounted the image on more patterend Crate paper and attached it with nestabilities tags and some buttons from my stash to the card. The individual letters were self-adhesive (sorry, I cannot remember where they are from).

If you haven't looked yet at the fabulous creations pop over to the Gingersnap blog ... and there is still time to join in! Petra.

Bees and Beehive

2011-09-12T22:42:00.004+01:00

For the second week of Vicki's 'Let's Reuse' challenge I paid tribute to the bees in our garden which are so busy collecting the pollen for the wonderful honey

Supplies:
recyclables: beer bottle cap, corrugated card, receipt -
images: Graphics Fairy, Percy & Bloom -
stamp: LilY of the Valley - ribbon, raffia

There is still quite a few days for you to join the challenge. Just pop over and have a look at the amazing pieces of the DT, Petra. x
Linked to: the Graphics Fairy

Knit Happens!

2011-09-09T13:59:00.008+01:00

This is a postcard I made for the Kindred Spirit Postcard exchange. It is for the month of August and went to the lovely Christine from Change of Heart Creations.
Here theme was: pick your own theme/anything goes ...

The base of the post card is digital cloud paper from TracyAnn Digital paper. For the second layer I first stamped all the images (stamps from Kraftie Kimmie and Little-Z) on white card and then coloured the background and the images with Koh-i-noors and Copics. And ... I know it is a postcard ... but I couldn't resist to give it a bit more depth and a bit of a three-dimensional feel by adding some 'true' knitting (the knitting needles are pins), make the sheep all fluffy with cotton pads and add some stamped (stamp by Elzybells) and cut flowers.
Wishing you a great weekend, Petra. x

Stardust & Moonbeams

2011-09-07T20:44:00.013+01:00

First I have to tell you that I feel very achy today and any action takes so much longer than usual ... I have been swimming yesterday - the first time in 10(!) years. And now I really feel like this lady (lol)
To get over this I thought it would be best to attempt some crafting and explore the new tag challenge at the Blog Challenge Garden: Moon
It just had to be something sweet and girlie with paper from the girl's paperie, Elzybells stamps, some paper piecing, some ribbon, blings and lots of golden glittery gel pen. Happy Crafting, Petra.

Let's Reuse - Paperbeads

2011-09-06T20:19:00.015+01:00

Have you ever asked yourself what to do with all these advertising brochures which come through your letterbox? Quite often they have a good size, nice colours and the paper might have an appealing texture. With Vicki's new challenge at the Cheerful Stamp Pad: Let's Reuse I decided it was time to do something with these brochures which are sort of piling up in my crafty corner.

I started to cut one of the brochures in triangles - very long and pinty but very slim to make paperbeads. I would have never imagined this to be so much fun and thought I make a little tutorial to share it with everybody:
1 It all starts with long pointy thin paper triangles

2 Take one of them and find something round like a knitting needle (just make sure that it is thick enough to leave a nicely sized hole in the middle of your beads) and begin rolling the paper around the needle starting on the wide end. Roll it as tighly as possible and as regular as you wish - paper is amazingly flexible and don't worry if it gets ripped in the process, just add it on maybe securing it with a little dab of glue

3 I only add some glue to the paper when 3 to 5 cm of the paper left, continue to roll. Don't worry if some glue squidges out on the sides just continue with the rolling

4 Once you have finished give the glue a few seconds to settle and then the bead of the needle

5 What to do now with such lovely beads? For stability and to smooth the surface I covered some with Modge Podge and some with glossy accents. Of course, you could also paint them with acrylic paint, roll them in Versamark ink and emboss them with UTEE, ..... and turn them into wonderful embellishments, charms, .....

Of course, you can give the beads different shapes, sizes and uses. Just have a play, it is so much fun but be aware ... it is addictive as well! Hope to see you over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad, Petra.

Have a Heart

2011-09-01T22:59:00.004+01:00

... and make it the focal point of your tag ... this is the current challenge over at the Blog Challenge Garden. I haven't participated for quite a while but could not let this one pass (lol)
As base I used a simple Kraft card tag and covered it with BasicGrey patterned paper which I distressed around the edges and stamped on with Kaisercraft stamps (ink: Elzybells whipped cream and shattered straw distress ink). I added some paper lace, a bit of cheese cloth and some scrap music paper. The heart itself is cut from Basic Grey patterned paper and seriously distressed around the edge and slightly ripped on the surface. Two ribbon knots and some bling are the final touches. Petra.

Linked to: Blog Challenge Garden - Have a Heart

Scraplings

2011-08-31T22:13:00.006+01:00

Once in a Blue Moon challenges at Gingersnap Creations are always really good fun ... maybe because they only happen on a 5th Wednesday in a month and this is not very often (lol). This month is no exception: revisit and choose any prior Art Exchange theme. My choice is paint chip scraplings whose specs are:
Format: Scrapling - 1.5" wide x 4.25" tall, folded (must be complete, no fronts accepted)
Theme: Open
Supply to be Used: paint chips (or something close)
Media: Any but must include some stamping
I cut the scrapling from white slightly textured card. The scrapling is stamped with a Crafty Individual stamp and then layered onto balck card. The finishing touch is a little ribbon knot from my stash.

The longer I looked at the scrapling, the more I thought that it would be nice to try something different and use the paint chip sample underneath ...
The design was inspired by the new Artistic Outpost Christmas stamps. I first stamped the image onto Basic Grey patterned paper and then punched out the little Christmas trees. The panel is mounted onto the paint chip sample with thin foam pads. To finish it off I stamped the bow on patterned Basic Grey paper and cut it out, added some little stars (stamps from Elzybells) which I coloured with gold gel pen. The edges are slightly distressed and then very slightly covered with gold colour too.

Pop Over to Gingersnap Creations to see many more amazing creations and to join us. Happy Blue Moon!

Portrait of a Different Kind

2011-08-30T22:53:00.003+01:00

For the second part of Vicki's challenge at the Cheerful Stamp Pad: Portraits I took a different approach ... no stamping but I used real photos for my tag. I took the photos this summer when visiting my family in Germany.
May I introduce you to Nele, my brother's lady dog. She is a very friendly and pretty lady with lots of character, and everybody loves her and spoils her (lol).

Supplies:

photos - mine, paper - Dovecrafts, black and corrugated card, string, ribbon, buttons

Hope you will join us for the challenge, Petra.

Primary Colour School Mice

2011-08-24T23:14:00.008+01:00

When children start primary school in Germany, they receive a 'Schultuete' (school cone) on their first ever schoolday filled with allsorts ... sweet treats but also little useful bits and pieces like rubber, little paper pads, ... this is my little version of such a cone - perfect for the new Gingersnap Creations color challenge: Primary Colours
It was great fun to create these little mice and so easy as well. I used a Rayher template and TracyAnn digital paper. All you need to decorate them are pearls for their eyes, little pompom noses, whiskers and little tails which I crocheted. For the ears I cut double-sided paper circles, made a cut into the middle and glued them together so that the ears have now a bit more of a cone shape.
All I need now is something for the filling and some first school day pupil (LOL)

Come and play with us at Gingersnap Creations and show us your primary colours. Have a great weekend, Petra.

Portrait of a Lady

2011-08-23T20:39:00.006+01:00

Elegant, stylish and beautiful - oh, and this hat .....

Supplies:
paper: Prima Marketing - stamp: La Blanche - lace from Lucy, charm from Robin,
all other embellishments from my stash

Pop over to the Cheerful Stamp Pad to see more wonderful portraits and to join in, happy crafting. Petra.

July 2011 in Photos

2011-08-18T21:40:00.009+01:00

Taking part in a Flickr photo challenge: July 2011 in Photos has been a completely new experience for me. For each day Natalea challenged the group with a different topic:
Your breakfast - Something you're passionate about - Where you went today - Red, white and blue - In your refrigerator - Something sweet - Bold bright colors - The sky - A summer necessity - Orange and pink together - Something you made - What makes you smile - Beverages - What you wore - On your coffee table - Dinner tonight - Transportation - A mess - Books - Today's mail - Smells good - Best part of today - Guilty pleasure - Something red - Growing - Where you are at 6:00pm - A corner of your home - Can't get enough of - What you did today - Friend(S) - Self-portrait ...
... difficult, very enjoyable and I learned a lot about composition, colour, angles, .....

I am also very proud that two of my creative pieces were featured by Laura from Bugs and Fishes and by Karen, the Graphics Fairy. I cannot thank both of them enough for their kindness. Have a great weekend, Petra.

Baby Wipes ....

2011-08-13T17:44:00.005+01:00

... Background Technique. ´Baby Wipes´ is the current Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply Challenge: not only are baby wipes indispensable when it comes to cleaning stamps, fingers and the likes but you can also use them to create the background, for embellishments, as stamp pad, .....
I used the baby wipes to create the background, for me a very new background technique which is so effective and makes brilliant backgrounds for all sorts of projects. The supplies you need are: glossy card, refill inks, brayer and baby wipes and lots of newspaper and kitchen towels. Protect your table with newspaper and add the kitchen towel on top. Take a baby wipe, put it flat on top of the kitchen towels and wet the wipe with the refill ink(s). For the background of my card I used two colours (Distress ink pumice stone and faded jeans) in several rows a 6 drops of inks) whereby I made 4 rows with faded jeans ink and 2 with pumice stone.
You will see that the ink droplets run into each other. Take the brayer and run it (always in the same direction) over the baby wipes until the brayer is relatively evenly covered and then roll it a few times over the glossy card until you see an even distribution of colour on the card. Allow it to dry. You can stamp on the background and decorate it. I used stamps from Little Claire to create the beach scene and the sentiment is from Elzybells. The scene is mounted on an A6 white card.

Hope over to the Gingersnap blog for more baby wipe inspiration and join us with the fun! Petra.

Flower Petals

2011-08-08T22:56:00.006+01:00

Summertime, the garden full with life and beauty .... flowers show the most amazing beauty with their shapes and colours. It is wonderful that Vicki chose this wonderful challenge theme for the new Cheerful Stamp Pad: Petals

Supplies:
papers and images - The Sum of All Crafts, edge punch from Stampin' Up, fabric flower tutorial

To see more wonderful petals and to join us just pop over to the Cheerful Stamp Pad, happy crafting, Petra.

Joys of Childhood - special delivery

2011-08-06T21:52:00.005+01:00

What a wonderful theme at Gingersnap Creations for this month. And so fitting for August. The first Chestnut Theme challenge is: Babes and Tots
Normally it is the stork delivering the babies but now and again they need a little bit of help ... and postmen are just the right people to give a hand with special deliveries! The idea came about after I saw the image at Flickr. I couldn't help it, I had to use it. It is just too cute.
At first the paper from Prima Marketing is layered onto a square white card, the edges are slightly distressed with some distress ink. I cut a label for the sentiment using a ledger image from the Vintage Moth. The embellishments are some lace, staples, stamped postmarks from Craft Individuals and a stamp and a little found object in form of a little metal bird.

To see more wonderful childhood pieces, just pop over to the Gingersnap blog - get inspired - and join us. Petra.

Let's Go Circling

2011-08-02T13:42:00.003+01:00

More and more circles. It is amazing how many circles you can put on a card and I am sure I could have added even more (LOL)

Supplies:
digital paper: Pink Petticoat and Tracy Ann Digital paper -
stamps: Create with TLC, Crafty Individuals, Waltzing Mouse, Penny Black

Come on and circle with us at the Cheerful Stamp Pad, happy crafting Petra.

Birthday Fun

2011-07-30T22:27:00.007+01:00

One of our friends is a real vintage tractor enthusiast and likes nothing better than supporting his local vintage tractor club in their activities. But ... he has never driven a tractor himself! So, when he had brithday recently, we all had a little think and in the end it had to be a tractor ride as birthday present. To hold the voucher I made him a little birthday card
The sky with its wonderful little white cloud is digital paper from Tracy Ann Digital. All images are taken from kids colouring pages coloured with Copics. I did some fuzzy cutting with the images and layered them onto the card. The green gras is distress ink and, yes, the man on the tractor is our friend.
He was delighted and is looking forward to his ride. Have a wonderful Sunday, Petra. x

Linked to: Dezinaworld (Fun Friday)

A Blooming Great Tea Party

2011-07-29T17:48:00.006+01:00

It's Tea Time! - this is the current Inspiration Avenue challenge but this is also what we thoroughly enjoyed at work this afternoon - I had organised a tea party for a good cause: Marie Curie Cancer Care and their Blooming Great Tea Party campaign. Lots of colleagues helped to make this event a success and everybody had a great time. I had baked all the cakes - lots of them and they were all gone! Enjoy the weekend, Petra. x

idea: PetraB, image: Lenny's Alice in Wonderland, graphic: Peter Darnell

photos: SylviaR

Going Around In Circles

2011-07-27T23:08:00.005+01:00

... the more circles the merrier for the new challenge at the Cheerful Stamp Pad. It is amazing how versatile circles are and well they are used in my pieces. This time I played with a new mask and lots of Cosmic Shimmer Chalk mists

Supplies:
aquarelle card, circle mask from 'that special touch of',
Cosmic Shimmer chalk mists, raffia, paper flowers and button

Hope you pop over to the Cheerful Stamp Pad and join us for the circling (lol), Petra.

Train Journey

2011-07-20T23:23:00.007+01:00

For the new Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead challenge it is all about wonderful and magical machines: Planes and Trains. How about one of these magical and romantic trips with a true steam train?
This card combines two of the styles which are always a challenge for me: steampunk and shabby chic ... renamed into: steampunk chic. I created the background layering one of the amazing images provided by this month's Gingersnap Creations sponsor: Dezinaworld on some digital paper from Matora embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. Stamped images from Artistic Outpost, Kraft card and Tilda paper complement the layering. To finish off the card I used some blings, a sentiment from K&Company and some borders and cog (Martha Stewart and Tim Holtz). Have a great week and come and join us for the challenge! Petra.

Winner of My Little Giveaway

2011-07-17T23:57:00.004+01:00

I cannot believe it but it is Sunday evening and almost Monday morning and I haven't announced the randomly drawn winner of my little lavender sachet yet!

Thank you to all of you leaving wonderful and kind comments on my blog. Here is the winner:
The winner is: Valerie-Jael. Congratulations, I will be in touch with you shortly. Petra. x

Something I made & Wonderful News

2011-07-11T22:15:00.010+01:00

Since the beginning of July I have been taken part in Natalea's photo challenge: July 2011 in Photos. The photos submitted are so amazing and awesome and utterly interesting. I very much enjoy being part of the group although I struggle at the moment with taking photos ... my little camera is slowing dying on me and me not being too good in taking photos (lol) But I have already learned a lot about colours, perspectives, angles, .... For today the challenge topic is: Something I made. I tackled a project which has been on my list for a long time, a lavender sachet

It was a very enjoyable project, the idea behind it to make it look like these little matchbooks. To create the matchbook I used Tilda papers with doublesided patterns and tracing paper for the sachet holding the lavender which is the first one from the garden this year! The lavender image is from Karen, the Graphics Fairy. As soon as I saw it on Karen's blog I knew I wanted to do include it in this project. The finishing touches are some seambinding and fresh lavender. I thought I might be able to sneak in some stamping but decided I am quite happy with the project as it is.

And now to the wonderful news ... I am 'La Creme du Bella' this week at Bella Creations - how amazing is this?????? I still cannot believe it but ... it seems to be true. Thank you so much for this honour, I am so proud of this.
And because this is such fantastic news, I would like to give this little sachet and a few bits and pieces away ... if you are interested, please just leave a comment. I will draw the little giveaway coming Sunday.
Have a wonderful evening and happy crafting, Petra. x

A Little Butterfly Fairy

2011-07-10T15:01:00.015+01:00

I am part of a postcard swap which runs over 12 months. Every participant chooses her own theme. The first postcard went to Jeanie whose theme was: create a post card in your own style. This is always a tricky one for me as I do not really have a distinct style - I think - but create projects depending on my mood, surroundings, ... on the day. And there is also always the challenge to make sure that a postcard is as flat as possible ... I have to admit this part did not quite work out so well ...
The postcard now safely arrived at Jeanie's so I can show it to you
The background is created with gesso, various acrylic paints and some vintage musical notepaper on watercolour paper. This was daunting as I had never done anything like this before ... but it was great fun and it came all quite easily together. The tricky part was the stamping. First I stamped some subtle patterns onto the painted background using cinnamon hybrid ink and stamps from Impression Obsessions and Penny Black - this worked very well. Then I started to stamp the images ... and this went horribly wrong at first. Using the wrong ink the stamped images started to run and it looked all blotchy. But thanks to Lucy who taught me to use archival ink for stamping on acrylic paint, all went well in the end ... Lucy, I would have been lost without your advice! The sentiment is Kaisercraft, the brackets Hero Arts, the corner Crafty Individuals and the little butterfly fairy Red Lead Paperworks. To balance the composition I did some fuzzy cutting using Hero Art flowers and a Darkroom Door butterfly. The finishing touches were some pink and turquoise glitter. Have a wonderful Summer Sunday, Petra. x

Linked to: Theme Thursday - Wings

Poetry

2011-07-08T23:13:00.010+01:00

The theme for this week's Inspiration Avenue challenge:

"in every picture there is a poem; in every poem, a picture"

my poem:

Supplies:
slightly textured white card, black card - background paper from Rustic Pixels Background -
tracing paper - stamps: Stampington & Company, Hero Arts

On The Road

2011-07-06T16:07:00.007+01:00

Ok, it is a project in progress ... it will become a book cover in its later stage of life ... and was inspired by a book from Jack Kerouac: On The Road. I just love the colours and the feel of the cover ... here is my version

To create the cover I used some digital paper from Martora, I printed the design twice overlapping it digitally. I used stamps from Eco Green Rubber Stamps to stamp the screw heads and sentiments onto the paper.
The second layer consists of tracing paper which I printed on using just a normal inkjet printer ... the first time I did this but printing on tracing paper is so easy and seems to be so effective! The Lady waiting by the roadside for a lift and her roller feet are from June from Dezinaworld, our July Sponsor at Gingersnap creations. Her steampunk images are wonderful and work so well with the Gingersnap Creations Chestnut Theme Challenge: On The Road. Body and feet are joined by some steampunk elements from The Sum of All Crafts. The embellishments are watch parts for the feet and a keyring from Lucy pinned to the Ladie's outfit.

Hop over to the Gingersnap blog for some breathtaking creations and join us, Petra.

International Art Stamp Fair

2011-07-05T15:49:00.007+01:00

Last Sunday a few Ladies went to Newbury, UK to the International Art Stamp Fair ... it was fabulous! It was the first time for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots and lots of crafty goodness, so difficult to decide what to buy (lol). Here are some photos

A cup of tea and coffee to discuss purchases and exhibitors ....

... and some of my purchases, Petra.

Mask and Distress Inks

2011-07-04T13:19:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I went to the Newbury International Art Stamp Fair. It was a real treat and I will show you some pictures soon ... lots and lots of stamps, of paper, inks, masks, ..... it was very difficult to choose (lol). One of my purchases were two wonderful masks from That Special Touch Masks and I couldn't reist to use one of them straight away for a background project

Supplies:
That Special Touch Mask, distress inks (Spiced Marmalade, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw), stamps: 7Gypsies

If you want to see more wonderful background creations just pop over to the Cheerful Stamp Pad and join us, Petra.

Bookmarks & Recipe

2011-06-30T15:09:00.013+01:00

Yippeehh, the bookmarks from the last Art Exchange: Travel The World bookmarks arrived and they are wonderful! Thank you so much to Laura, Zoechaos, Sarah and Valerie-Jael

Now you might ask where is the recipe. Well, good things come in three's ... and definitely so at the Gingersnap Creations blog for the the last challenge of the month of June, the Blue Moon Challenge with 3 papers, 3 buttons, 3 words

The papers are from October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket. They are layered and machine stitched onto an A6 plain white card. Both telephone and sentiment are Hero Arts stamps. The telephone is stamped, cut out and covered with Glossy Accents. The finishing touch are the 3 buttons.

Hope you come and join us for the challenge at Gingersnap Creations. Enjoy your weekend, Petra.

A Bird's Home

2011-06-27T10:46:00.005+01:00

It was a difficult decision ... to choose which is 'My Favourite Background' for the new Cheerful Stamp Pad challenge. But it has to be the VersaMark Resist technique. I just love the results and the technique is so easy to use and a lot of inky fun

Supplies:
plain white square card - inks: VersaMark, Distress ink 'Faded Jeans' and 'Black Soot' - stamps: Red Lead Paper Works and Non-Sequitur - colouring: Copics - ribbon, house charm

Come and play with us at the Cheerful Stamp Pad and show us your favourite technique. Petra.

Flowerpot and Clapperboard

2011-06-26T22:58:00.005+01:00

What would be a birthday without birthday treats (lol) Petra.

Flowerpot Cake
vanilla sponge filled with raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream, covered with soft icing
Clapperboard
choclate sponge filled with Baileys, morello cherry jam and chocolate ganache
covered with soft icing and royal icing

Travel The World Bookmarks

2011-06-22T23:25:00.012+01:00

The theme of the last Gingersnap Creations Art Exchange was: Travel The World Bookmarks with each bookmark being different and having a geographic theme. I truly enjoyed making them although using the sort of standard size of 1.5" x 7" and keeping it relatively flat posed quite a bit of a challenge.
The Netherlands
First I printed the Dutch girl and the bicylce image (both from the Graphics Fairy) on white card, then I designed the background. The cloudy background is stamped with a Hero Arts stamp and Memento ink, the bottom part of the background inked with distress ink. I did some fuzzy cutting with the tulip image from Hero Arts and coloured it with distress ink. The finishing touch was the stamped word and stamp at the top.

English Seaside
A purely stamped bookmark in the tradition of the scene stamping technique using masks for the beachhuts and the Lady. The stampes are from Hero Arts for the clouds, Eline Pellinkhof for the post stripes and for the rest Crafty Individuals. For the colouring I used inks, Koh-i-noors and Copics.

Paris
All digital images (including the background) are from the Graphics Fairy. There is only little stamping on this bookmark with stamps from Clear Stamps.

Italy
The background is from Cemerony. The stamped images are from a stamp set from Crafty Individuals which I cut to size and mounted onto the background. The images are coloured with chalks and inks.

Petra.

Small Bags and a Big Tag .....

2011-06-21T14:24:00.009+01:00

.... for Bags and Tags at Gingersnap Creations and the Random Redhead Challenge. I don't know about you but I love shopping and I love shopping bags. They come in so many types and colours and some of them just look fabulous ... this Lady from The Sum of All Crafts obviously thinks the same (lol)

supplies:
image - The Sum of All Crafts, papers - Prima Marketing, Papermania, stamp - Katzelkraft,
flowers, embellishments, ribbon from my stash, edge punch from Stampin' Up

and sees shopping as a therapy coming home with wonderful bags and fabulous things ... a shame we cannot see what she has bought. But this might be for another tag and another challenge ....

Come and join us and show us your bags and tags at Gingersnap Creations, Petra.

Keep Calm and Carry On Shopping

2011-06-18T18:57:00.007+01:00

The Ladies from the Order of the Opus Gluei challenged us this week to show them some girl things ... well, shopping is quite girlie, or not? (lol)

To create the shopping tag I modified a 'Keep Calm ...' image from the Graphics Fairy - changed the background colour, replaced the two last lines and exchanged the crwon with a handbag which I found on the web. After printing the image I layered it on newspaper. The back of the tag is a Digi stamp from MFT coloured with Copics and layered on green card and newspaper. The finishing touch is some coloured raffia. Enjoy your weekend, Petra.

A New Book

2011-06-14T15:07:00.002+01:00

Last Saturday I went to my second bookbinding course and I LOVED it. Tghere is just something really satisfying in being able to create your own book out of somepaper, card and some thread. This time we only used coptic binding for the book
The paper for covering the front and back cover are from K&Company and the small circles are punched from corrugated card. I used waxed linen thread for the binding ... and some beads for embellishment.
Each section inside the book, the signatures, are made up of some white paper and a black 'wrapper' paper
I also decorated the book a little bit with some 'Things with Wings', our current Cheerful Stamp Pad challenge which you can hopefully all join.

Have a great afternoon, Petra.

Bake!

2011-06-11T22:08:00.004+01:00

This is a challenge by Inspiration Avenue I definitely could not resist (lol) ... strawberries are on the menu at the moment. They are wonderfully sweet and juicy ... and with a little dollop of whipped cream irresistible ... have a great weekend, Petra.

Packaging Materials

2011-06-08T12:12:00.012+01:00

I love this Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply challenge, using packaging materials in my art is very close to my heart. And there is such a variety to choose from ... it was quite difficult to make a decision! At the time when I looked at all my options I had just baked a batch of vanilla and chocolate cookies. So I thought it would be nice to make some containers for the cookies .... out of containers. These days lots of food comes in some sort of plastic or cardboard containers, I picked three different ones: two plastic cheese containers and one normally used for hot chocolate
I covered all three of them with a mix of craft glue and water and old newspaper
This was great fun ... and a brilliant mess, everything stuck to everything, it was all very sticky ... including myself! I covered the inside of the plastic containers not only with newspaper was also with napkins and patterned tissue respectively. The lighter the colour of the tissue paper is, the more newspaper writing you will see through the tissue paper and it gives an interesting effect.
The chocolate container has only embellishments on the outside as the inside was already lined with alufoil - perfect for holding cookies. I tied some hessian ribbon and button twine around the container and added a newspaper flower and leaves
And while filling the container I actually noticed that I had managed to give my chocolate cookies a really nice crackle finish (result of icing sugar sprinkkling before baking)
Come and join us at Gingersnap Creations for the challenge. You will see some truly awesome pieces and you can show us your creations. Happy Crafting, Petra.

Summerbooklet

2011-06-07T13:49:00.005+01:00

I made some more little booklets lately and this is one of them
The booklet is in A6 size, really handy to put it in your handbag or else to take it with you. The outside consists of lightweight coloured card, inside just plain white paper. The plain card looked a bit boring so I decorated it with some little doggy images from Just Something I Made and a label from the Graphics Fairy.
For the binding I used a technique called: Japanese Stab binding. It is fun and easy to do - you might get a tutorial about it some time soon (lol) ... and as it is/was so much fun to make the booklet I link it to the Order of the Opus Gluei Blog Hop .... have fun today, Petra.

A Special Reason - Encouragement

2011-06-06T12:28:00.005+01:00

Now and again each one of us probably need a little bit of encouragement, somebody saying: Good Luck to you

Supplies:
paper: plain white square card, inside of commercial envelopes
stamps: Prickley Pear, Waltzing Mouse
Nestabilities, embossing

Join us at the Cheerful Stamp Pad and show us your special reason, Petra.

Greenpaper June Collage

2011-06-05T23:09:00.009+01:00

Every month Mary from Greenpaper offers the most challenging (3) image combination, the rule being: Create any piece of art using at least part of each of the 3 images. This is the first time I participate and it was not easy. My piece has been created digitally and I am still not sure whether I like it or not (lol) ...... have a good start to the week, Petra.

Mailart - Envelope

2011-06-05T01:38:00.007+01:00

My first ever envelope ... I am not sure how it could take me that long to take the step from making cards to making envelopes (lol). The inspiration came when I stumbled across the Order of the Opus Gluei recently. Their current challenge is: Mail Art. I created a very simple envelope based on one of Mel Stampz envelope templates

The background paper is a page from an old roadmap, the stamped images are from Waltizing Mouse and Prickley Pear. Have a great Sunday, Petra.

At The Mall - Label Shopping

2011-06-01T19:23:00.005+01:00

This month's challenge theme at Gingersnap Creations is to celebrate SHOPPING! How cool is this? And the first Chestnut Theme challenge is to show us what you find At The Mall. It could be anything ... clothes, crafty items, food, .... I went label shopping and chose one of my favourite clothes' labels (sorry for the advertising(lol) )

Supplies: vellum, stamp: Stapendous and Kaisercraft, colouring: Copics and Koh-i-noors

The colour and shape of the label were the basis for the design. I love the red, it is so vibrant and complements so well with the bright blue and white. I layered the label onto vellum which I stamped with a Kaisercraft stamp and heat-embossed ... for the very first time that I heat-embossed vellum. It was a bit of trial and error as the first pieces looked rather wavy (lol) but having worked out after a while that shorter heating times and moving the heat gun around rather quickly does the trick, I really like the result. The bottom edge of the label is punched with an EKSuccess edge punch and decorated with a little paper flower. The stamped image is from Stampendous coloured with Copics and Koh-i-noors. I attached the label to the Vellum with two eyelets and threaded a ribbon through the two holes.

Don't forget to pop over to the Gingersnap blog to see all the amazing shopping experiences and join us to celebrate shopping. Happy shopping, Petra.

A Special Reason

2011-05-31T20:09:00.003+01:00

Anniversary, birth, encouragement, .... being in the middle of helping my daughter with her wedding invitations it had to be a wedding card for the current Cheerful Stamp Pad challenge: A Special Reason

paper: Webster's Pages, Prima Marketing - image: sorry, I cannot remember -
cardboard heart, ink, glitter - stamp: Eline Pellinkhof - some button twine, ribbon

Come and play along and show us your creations, happy crafting, Petra.

Last Performance - Sold Out

2011-05-29T23:09:00.005+01:00

If you haven't got any tickets yet .... the last performance is sold out ... and when looking at the girls, are you surprised? (lol)

image: Gecko Galz, words from the web - stamp: Stamper Anonymous -
ink: Ranger Distress inks - ribbon, Stickles

The image was provided by Gecko Galz for the Bella Creations Oh La La May challenge. I inked the background of the ATC with three different inks: Victorian Velvet, Fired Brick and Tattered Rose. The moulin rouge image is stamped with a mixture of Black Sooth and Fired Brick inks. I printed both girls in ATC size and did some 'fuzzy' cutting. A little ribbon, the 'sold out' announcement and, of course, glittery shoes were the finishing touches.
Happy crafting, Petra.

S for Spoon

2011-05-26T00:40:00.009+01:00

... and strawberry (lol). This week Rebecca challenges us to create a tag with a spoon theme ... easy - I thought. But then I realised I don't have any stamps which I could have used ..... a definite gap in my stamp drawer. So I just played digitally and created a little digital collage which I printed and embellished it only very minimalistic that is a tiny button and some twine

images: Graphics Fairy, Clipart ETC - paper: Decoupage paper -
button twine from the Ribbon Girl, a tiny button from my stash

As soon as I had started the ideas came popping up and I created some more digital images which I will also turn into tags ... will share them with you in one of my next emails, Petra.

Linked to: Blog Challenge Garden

Colourful Paper

2011-05-24T14:43:00.006+01:00

This time round for the 'Color My World' challenge at the Cheerful Stamp Pad I did only a little bit of colouring myself but used lots of colourful paper. And I tried to keep the card clean and uncluttered ... not even distressing of edges (lol). As I hadn't done this for a while, it was quite a challenge - which I enjoyed! Happy crafting, Petra.

plain white square card - paper: Cosmo Cricket - stamps: Elzybells - colouring: Copics and Koh-i-noors -
ribbon and buttons from my stash