Sewing and Fashion

June's theme at Addicted to ATCs is Sewing and Fashion ... I went for a bit of a retro look using Cosmo Cricket papers, PaperArtsy stamps and wonderful fashion images from Clearly Vintage,
Have a wonderful warm and sunny afternoon, Petra.

Cuthbert

This is a little card for a dear friend who loves bears ... when I found this little cutie on the Pollycraft web page I immediately thought of her ... for the card I used a sketch from Stempeleinmaleins ... have a nice weekend, Petra.

Supplies:
square white card
paper: 3bugsinarug, white textured card
image: digital stamp from Pollycraft
stamp: Elzybells with Brilliance ink
ribbon: My Minds Eye
colouring: Koh-i-noor with OMS
bling from Kanban, brad from my stash

Black & White Monochrome & Blue

Yippeeh, I am back online - well, at least temporarily (LOL) ....

I haven't taken part in one of the challenges for a long time but this one was too much fun to miss (LOL). For the Play Date Cafe Challenge: simply black & white with a 'bit of colour'. I must admit it is really just a tiny bit of a splash:
The little butterflies' patterns are stamped with various background stamps and Brilliance ink. For the pale blue butterfly I just used Stickles 'Baby Blue'. Petra.

Luggage Tags and Transparency

No, I am not ignoring any of you and yes, I would love to keep far more in touch with everybody .... BUT .... we haven't had any Internet access since last Thursday and it doesn't look as if we would be able to connect more regulary any time soon ... :-(

So, as I have managed to get some Internet access during my lunchbreak, I would like to share with you some luggage tags and its 'holder' which I made for my friend as birthday present. The holder was inspired by a design by Marleen van Meerendonk:

The basis for this holder is Kraft card from Elzybells which I covered with graphics 45 'Communique' collection paper. Because it is a holder for luggage tags I chose some transport images (bicycle - my freind'd favourite means of transport and a ship) from the Graphics Fairy for the front of the holder and completed it with transparent card from Elzybells - which goes with the Gingersnaps Creations Spicy Supply challenge: Transparencies. Before attaching the transparent card I embossed it using a Cuttlebug extra large embossing folder (5" x 7") ... the size of this embossing folder is just brilliant as it is now possible to emboss a nicely sized card without having any 'unembossed' stripes on wither side of the card. The finishing touch were two eyelets and a little piece of string.

Inside the tag holder are two luggage tags

I am quite happy with the backs of the tags but not so much with the front. I think some more work needs to be done here .... The main images were a Lady from Suzee Que, roses from Antiques Images and a commercial image of a rug. Tania really gave me the idea of using a flying carpet for the tags ... it was not easy to make it fly because I use Gimp and there are so many options to choose from. Both background images are from the Graphics Fairy - a ticket which I completed with travel words and a tea cup (LOL). For the address label on the back I attached a transparent luggage tag from WHSmith. To disguise the address label I created a matching back and levelled it with the back of the tag.

Here are the two digital images I created for the tags, please feel free to use them - have a nice day, Petra.

For Sharing

A couple of weeks ago the weekend turned into a cake-baking weekend with six cakes to be baked and decorated with one being a 'wonky' wedding cake and another one a simple birthday cake. I thought I just share the photos for the cakes with you. It was good fun and I was told that the cakes were delicious (LOL)

Wedding Cake
Vanilla Sponge soaked with Vanilla syrup, filled with raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream, topped with marzipan and rolled fondant
Birthday Cake - Schwarzwaelderkirschtorte
Chocolate sponge layered with Kirsch (!), Morello Cherry jam, Morello cherries and whipped cream, topped with whipped cream, chocolate vermicellis and Morello cherries

Enjoy, Petra.

Simplicity - Flourishes

Another challenging task from Susan for the One-Layer Wednesday card. I really struggled with this one and ended up having seven tries (!): the task is to use a flourish on our card
All stamps are from Lavinia. I have not used them beforehand and still have to practise. The stamps are very fairy-tale like and really sweet. I stamped the images with Tim Holtz Distress and Elzybells Hybrid ink. To give the images a bit more depth I highlighted the swirls surrounding the little houses with a golden gel pen. Petra.

Pearls

... the June's birthstone .... it is incredible but almost half of this year is already gone, time really flies! This month the pearl is the traditional birthstone
The pearl is also considered to be the birthstone for Gemini, the sign of the Twins in astrological terms

The background paper is from Art Freebies printed on canvas textured white card. I found the image of the pearl lady at Magic Moonlight Free Images. Petra.

Simplicity - Repetition

What a great challenge set by Susan for the One-Layer Wednesday challenge: repetition. I chose to use one of the stamps I wanted to play with since I've bought it in spring but have not had time to do so till now
The surfer is a tiny but very cute stamp from DeNami Design. I think he looks well cool (LOL). The surfboard is coloured with Koh-i-noor pencils. The Bon Voyage stamp is from Anita's which I struggled to align because the rubber is not correctly aligned on the wooden block .... a nightmare! Petra.

More Ribbons

Our Art 'n' Soul leading Lady Viv asked me to be the guest designer for the forthcoming challenge which will start ... TODAY! I was so surprised and a bit scared but now I feel really excited and it was fun to prepare the challenge. The idea for this challenge is based on the ribbon tags I created some weeks ago:
The full details can be found in this post. It is really pretty simple ... find some nice images (mine were from the Graphics Fairy) print them in an appropriate size, cut them in shape, make a hole for the ribbons and one for the hanging. Voila! The ribbon tag is ready.
The tag can then be slid on to an old metal hanger. I realized that I was not very clear how the metal hanger can be used. At the top part of the hanger the wire is twisted together, and this can be undone
For the challenge I thought I create a couple more tags and try a few more ideas:

For those tags I used a lovely vintage button card from the Graphics Fairy.
The tag with the two hole I stamped some yarn spools from the Creative Expressions 'Vintage Sewing' set. The means to tie it to any hanger are the ribbons at the top. As the image is a button card the second tag is a combination of button and ribbon storage and is therefore slightly larger than the first one. The little images (sewing machine and scissor) are also from the Graphics Fairy collection. This tag can be slid on to the hanger through the hole in the top.
Both hangers' backing paper is from graphics45 fashion collection. And the edges are slightly distressed using Tim Holtz distress ink Bundled Sage.

It was really fun to think of more designs. Give it a go .... and let me know what you come up with! Petra.

Good to be back

Great to be back and have the chance to look at all the wonderful and amazing work everybody has created over the last weeks .... I can hardly believe that it has already been more than two weeks since posting something on my blog.
I have been to Germany for a holiday and had not really a chance to connect to the Internet or to do any crafting ... but I bought lots of crafty goodies in Germany especially ribbons and stamps. It was fantastic!

The first project to complete after the long break was the Flower ATCs for the ATC swap with the very talented Dawn. This theme fitted so well with the season and the atmosphere in the garden. All gardens look absolutely lovely at the moment ... with so many flowers in bloom

I tried to keep the ATCs as different as possible and used a variety of techniques and materials

Supplies:
images: from the Graphics Fairy
stamps: Stamper Anonymous, Crafty Individuals, Stempel Barbara
ink: Elzybells, Brilliance
colouring: Copics
papers: garphics45, October Afternoon, canvas textured white card
brads/some blings

I really hope she likes them and I am very excited to see her ATCs (will share them with you as soon as they've arrived). Now I am looking forward to the next swap - it is: Paris/France. This sounds like holidays, La Tour Eiffel and romance to me .... (lol), Petra.