Pumpkin Cake

I mean, a cake in the shape of a pumpkin. Hhhhmmm, the shape and face turned out a bit odd but I can tell you that inside you find chocolate cake and 5 layers of chocolate ganache (lol) Petra.

Eggplant, Avocado & Pumpkin

This might sound like a recipe for a vegetable pie but ... it isn't. Translate it into colours ... et voila .... this is the new colour challenge at Gingersnap Creations. I love these colours. They are so intense and vibrant. They fit so perfectly into the Halloween season and the Goth-ober theme at Gingersnap.
I started my creation with this cute little stamped image from Betty Creations which I coloured with Copics and Koh-i-noors.
and then ...
a Halloween card evolved around this image with lots of layers and details ... bats, pumpkins, little spiders, a little sentiment (all Elzybells stamps), some ribbon from my stash and paper flowers cut with a Sizzix die cut (paper from Crystal Wilkerson, Bazill Basics and white card)
and a little coffin perfect for holding little treats

The template for the coffin is also from Bettys Creations. Betty is a very talented lady and you will find a lot of free templates on her website.
And in case you wonder about the wonderful treats ... they are petrified pumpkins - white chocolate and a splash of orange ... I must say just right for a nice hour of crafting (lol). And if you want to see more treats, just hop over to Gingersnap Creations and join in the fun! Petra.

Think Pink

Vicki's second challenge over at the Cheerful Stamp Pad ... this was a tricky one especially as I thought a clean sort of uncluttered look would be nice for this theme. I hadn't done anything like this for quite a while ... a nice change but it took some re-thinking ... hope it is pink enough ... (lol)
I love this little DeNami stamp, the ladies are sooo stylish and elegant. Their outfits match perfectly to Cosmo Cricket and gcd papers. Petra.

GC75: Random Redhead Challenge - Arches

An architectural challenge for this month's Random Redhead Challenge at Gingersnap Creations fitting perfectly in with the 'going goth' theme: Arches. I am still a bit in holiday mode looking at the photos taken and marvel in the memories of the fantastic time we had in North Yorkshire and especially in Whitby. Whitby has a wonderful abbey with lots and lots of arches. It is a ruin now but you can still see the structure of the building, feel the grandeur and how special this place was in the past. The abbey is on top of the cliffs and can be seen from very far away

The sandy beach in Whitby stretches for about a mile and it is wonderful ... covered with shells and little stones with funny shapes and holes. As you can probably see the weather was not quite what you would consider as weather for bathing but you can always dream (lol)
This postcard is based on one of my photos I took during the holidays - the beachhuts. The cloudy sky, waves and duck family are free clip art from the web. I added a little sandy beach, stamped birds and a wavey greeting.
Pop over to the Gingersnap Creations blog to see all the other work from the DT, the arches are amazing and hopefully you will join us for this month's Redhead challenge! See you there, Petra.xx

A Woman

Vicki from the Cheerful Stamper has launched her first two challenges. The theme of her first one is: A woman (or women) and it must have one stamped image - my stamped contribution is the sentiment ... hope it counts .....

Supplies:
white textured and brown corrugated card
paper from Jenni Bowlin, October Afternoon and old book pages
image from the Graphics Fairy
Bakers Twine

Thank you Vicki for organizing the challenges, Petra.

Holiday Postcards

On our recent vacation we went to North Yorkshire in England and I loved it. The landscape with its moors and little villages is so beautiful. Naturally I took a lot of photos and now the question to ask is: what to do with them. Photoalbums is a bit boring, scrapbooking is not really my thing ... maybe making some postcards?
These are the first two photos I used

I cropped the images and combined them digitally with some amazing graphics from Karen, the Graphics Fairy (pumpkin, little witches hats) and Free Image Tuesday Creations (child). I printed the digital image on some white watercolour paper (roughly postcard size) and layered it on digital paper from the Background Fairy

To finish the postcard I used some Elzybells spider stamps and printed a sentiment.
Thank you, Karen for your wonderful graphics. Petra.

Cupcake Afternoon

Today I spent a very enjoyable afternoon with family and some friends. The weather was perfect, we were having coffee and tea and lots of cake (lol) sitting outside .... Hope you also had a lovely weekend, Petra.

Ginger, Copper and Rust

... equals Gingertivity ... All DT newbies for Gingersnap Creations were asked to create a project in ginger, copper or rust reflecting our 'gingerness': Penny, Helene, Jules, Stephanie and myself.
Being a Ginger is a very new beginning and being part of such a talented group opened a completely different door for me ...

At the beginning was the image from Vintage Stampers Freebees , all other elements developed around it. I digitally modified the image and layered it on a background from Cemerony. I found the template for the arch on the web (sorry, haven't got the web page anymore), cut it from very thick copper coloured card, embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and distressed it with Adirondack ink. The little enter sign is a Darkroom stamp. The inside of the arch is distressed and on both inside doors stamped with Artemio stamps.

This is the digital image I created for the inside of the arch, please feel free to use. Have a wonderful weekend, Petra.

Spicy Supply Challenge & Tags

I think I am tagged ... or at least I have the tag bug (lol) .... this month's Gingersnap Creations Spicy Supply Challenge is : Versamark ... and I created two more tags ... and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The brief for this challenge is: "Versamark is a brand name and any other clear embossing ink will work just fine. This versatile ink can be used for embossing, resist techniques, watermarking and much more."

Not having used Versamark a lot it was an exciting challenge. There are so many possibilities - creating backgrounds in various ways, embossing stamped images and sentiments, .... I found a technique I hadn't used beforehand: stamping with Versamark and colouring with chalks to create beautiful images and backgrounds ... and I LOVE it - the process and the results!

The tags were cut out of white card and then layered with pastel coloured paper by Rayher and Basic Grey. I stamped onto the basic tags with Versamark ink using Lavinia stamps and for the left hand side of the blue tag a paper doily. To highlight the stamping I carefully applied chalks onto the stamped images starting with the lightest colour. I loved this process, the result is so subtle but yet so striking - I think (lol)
The finishing touches are stamped sentiments and spider webs embossed, ribbons, buttons and stickles for the Fairies ....

If you want more inspirations, please go and visit Gingersnap Creations. The work displayed is just stunning. And hopefully you will join us .... happy crafting, Petra.

Heavy Metal ...

... and my first encounter with Ultra Thick Embossing powder (lol) and it is all for Susan's OLW challenge: Heavy Metal - use something metallic on a one-layer card. Your metallic element may be an embellishment, metallic embossing powder, metallic ink, or metallic paper.
Ok, guilty - it is not quite a one-layer card but after I positioned my embellishment it just looked dull so unfortuantely it had to be a bit of a two-layer card, sorry ... however, I used metallic embossing powder and some metallic glitter
The metallic element has been embossed 6 times. After it was cooled down I cracked the surface, filled the cracks with black embossing powder, heated it up and stamped into the hot embossed surface with one of my favourite Heindesign stamps which a had slightly inked with black Brilliance ink. I will definitely need to do some more practising because I burnt two cards and embossed my craft table - not quite sure how this happened ...... happy crafting, Petra.

A Birthday Tag

I made this birthday tag for my friend and colleague Jane, the most generous person and a most talented crafter

The tag is built around an graphic from the vast image collection of the Graphics Fairy. Karen collects the most amazing images and she generously shares them with the crafting community - Karen, thank you so much.
I cut out the image and layered it on Jenny Bowlin paper and embellished it with some ribbons which I had in my stash, some sewing around the edges and a little printed label. Oh, and I put a little bit of glitter in the middle of the little hydrangea flowers ... Enjoy, Petra.
Also linking it to: Creative Spirit Challenge
CES Challenge

Get Ahead, Get A Hat

This is this week's challenge over at the CES Challenge Blog. It is the first time I participate but I was tempted after my friend Jane has been talking about it for quite a while ... she is also on the design team. When looking at the challenge, I realized that I still had to share a card with you which I made quite a while ago ... and the stamped image just fitted nicely for the challenge

Supplies
slightly textured square card
paper: plain white card, Cosmo Cricket
stamps: Elzybells
ink: Brilliance
colouring: Koh-i-noors with OMS
buttons/ribbon: found in my stash
Stampin Up edge punch
bling from Kanban

Have a great weekend with lots of sunshine, Petra.

Gratitude

This week's One Layer Wednesday challenge is about gratitude to any mum ... this is for my mum. I love her dearly, sometimes it is really hard that we live so far apart and I cannot visit her as often as I would want to. My mum loves sunflowers, in summer her garden is brimming with lots of sunflower varieties from a lovely bright yellow to a more autumnal rusty colour. It is wonderful. And so is my mum ... Petra.

Supplies:
plain square card
stamps: Heyda, Elzybells, Hero Arts
ink: Brilliance
colouring: Koh-i-noors
Stickles
corner punch Creative Memories

Paint Chip Scraplings Arrived

... and they are fabulous! A huge thank you to Ali, Jean, Julie and Penny ..... enjoy, Petra.xx

Exciting News

Back from holidays, all relaxed and refreshed I have some absolutely exciting news to share with you ..... I am now part of the Gingersnap Creations Design Team .... this is sooo wonderful although it still feels so unreal! I am absolutely thrilled and honoured ... I love Gingersnap Creations, it is such a wonderful warm and welcoming group of talented artists ... the Gingersnap Creations blog with its ever changing challenges, the fantastic tutorials and the abundance of amazing work submitted by the design team, contributing artists and all people who participate in the challenges and exchanges is a great place to share your artwork .... if you haven't had a chance yet to visit the blog, just hop over and have a look around .... you will love it and hopefully join us for the challenges and exchanges to come! Have a great weekend from a very happy Petra (lol).