It's Here - One World One Heart

The 30th of January midnight ... OWOH 2011 has started.
This is the fifth and final OWOH but it is the first time for me to participate - thank you Lisa for organizing this wonderful event. It is exciting and an amazing opportunity to meet artists from all over the world.

I am Petra. My country of origin is Germany, I moved to the UK almost 14 years ago where I also met the one person very close to my heart ... I have two grown-up children and one grandson who 'knows everything' (lol) ... Apart from working full time I love gardening , baking (which is a bit of an obsession) and crafting (which seems to turn into an even greater obsession!).

These are my offerings for OWOH ... each consists of a little handmade hanging and a little surprise
Looking at the finished hearts I realized that they are quite pink (lol) ... but I promise that the little surprise inside the wrapping is not pink but something for you to play with and to decorate yourself!
If you are interested, please just leave a comment but please only one entry per person. I will do some 'random' draw on the 18th of February and will contact the lucky winners ... please include an email address or some way for me to be able to contact you.
Good Luck to everybody and thank you so much for visiting my blog! It is so nice to meet all of you. Petra.

Coffee and Cream

Having been in Germany for a few days I lost a bit of touch with blogland and need to do some catching up (lol) ... let's start with having some coffee and cream - the colours of the Gingersnap Creations colour challenge

Supplies:
paper - plain brown card, cream card, My Mind's Eye
stamps - Rogue Redhead Design, Craft Stamper, Wildrose Studio
ink - Brilliance ink
image - Graphics Fairy

The card consists of various layers of stamped and printed images which are machine stitched around the edges.
Have a look at all the fabulous creations of the Gingersnap ladies and enjoy your coffee and cream, Petra.

Button Tag Book

A little tag book with 'Beautiful Buttons' ... Viv's challenge for the Art 'n' Soul Swap. Viv has always the most amazing ideas, this time: Four tags were required for this book. You could alter the shape of your tags and make them from any material you wish (paper, card, fabric anything you want!) . You may use real buttons or painted ones but each tag must have a button on it somewhere! And both sides of the tags had to be decorated!
I adore buttons so it was a very enjoyable task

tag 1: BasicGrey paper, image from Graphics Fairy, chipboard letter from Maya Road, Stickles

tag 2: BasicGrey paper, Tilda fabric, stamps from Studio g

tag 3: BasicGrey paper, stamps from Creative Expressions, colouring with Koh-i-noors & OMS, Tilda fabric
tag 4: BasicGrey and Graphics45 paper, stamps from Heyda, colouring with Koh-i-noors & OMS

tag 5: BasicGrey paper, stamps from Paper Artsy
tag 6: BasicGrey and Graphics45 paper

tag 7: BasicGrey paper, stamps from Paper Artsy
tag 8: BasicGrey paper, stamps from Artistic stamper and Elzybells, colouring with Koh-i-noors & OMS

Have an enjoyable Sunday, Petra.

Linked to: Art 'n' Soul

Winter

Who would have thought that winter is back, well, it is a little bit here in Germany. It is quite cold where my parents live and from time to time you can see a little snowflake (lol). And winter is back for the Tag Tuesday Challenge this week. Because I am with my parents I do not really have a lot of crafty supplies with me but I thought it would still be fun to play along and see what my mum has got in her sewing and wool box. I found some wonderful soft and very thick Merino wool, a crochet hook and some embroidery thread. My friend Martina gave me some lace leftovers and little wool-white/gold pearls. And this is what I created for the winter challenge
No paper, no stamps - just pure wooly softness (lol) .... have a great weekend, Petra.

Linked to: Tag Tuesday

Happy Birthday

This is a birthday card I made for my Dad.
My Dad loves such characters and colours. The stamp is from hÄnglar & stÄnglar stamped with Brilliance ink. I coloured the image with Koh-i-noor pencils and OMS ... and layered the image on Cosmo Cricket paper and a plain white card. The mushrooms are a Sizzix Die and the little butterfly a punch.
For the layout I used a sketch from the Friday Sketchers which I mirrored, have a great evening, Petra.

Linked to: Friday Sketchers

A Bit of Fabric

My friend Martina from Germany visited us for a few days and we were deep into curtain making and discussing wedding dresses for my daughter who is going to get married in a few months (lol). Having all the fabrics and sewing equipment at hand I created this easy tag which fits nicely with the Tag Tuesday challenge: A Bit of Fabric. I very much enjoyed the process

The paper is from gcd Studios, the stamps from Creative Expressions. I stamped the tailor's dummy in three different colours on fabric , stiffened them with bondaweb, cut them out and glued them to the tag. The fabric flower is made from cotton fabric and attached to the tag together with two buttons (one at the front, one at the back). The final touch are some stamped fabric samples secured with pins. Petra.

Linked to: Tag Tuesday

Coffee Filter - A Little Booklet

Did you know how many uses a coffee filter can have apart from the obvious one? It is amazing! You will find a fantastic showcase of coffee filter art at the Gingersnap Creations Blog, the new Spicy Supply challenge is: Coffee Filters. My contribution is a little book made of coffee filters.
I used unbleached coffee filters which I dyed and stained them with tea and coffee. The results were a bit disappointing at first. The filters didn't take the dye very well and remained quite pale. I repeated the process several times and distressed the edges of all pages with Tea Dye Ranger distress ink.
The background is stamped with Elzybells stamps and Brilliance ink. The images are from the Graphics Fairy, Magic Moonlight Free Images and Flickr, coffee recipes from the Caffe Society. The cup is a free stamp from the Craft Stamper magazine.
This is definitely my dream: coffee and cakes (lol). Stamps are Hero Arts, Elzybells and Rogue Redhead Designs with a lot of paper piecing using Crate Paper.
Coffee and cake is even better when having friends around. Image from Night Owl Vintage, stamps: Woodware and Studio g. Cups and pots are cut with a Sizzix Die and Laura Ashley paper.
Enjoy your coffee and cake and the incredible coffee filter art at Gingersnap Creations! Petra.

Happy Yellow

Susan challenged us to use the happy colour yellow as dominant colour on a one layer card
The little sentiment is a stamp from Studio g and was stamped first. I created the surrounding pattern with Artemio stamps using yellow Heyda ink. Happy Crafting, Petra.

Linked to: One-Layer Wednesday
PaperPlay Challenge
Bawion

Friends

Three options for making one card
a template
a set of given colours
and three themes to choose from: Friendship, Valentine's Day or Australia Day. It is possible to combine options or to use just one of the options. This is Deborah's brief for the January Card Chain Challenge. My card is a bit of a combination: a couple of colours, template and friendship as theme as it fitted all quite nicely together
Papers are from Desing House Digital, lace from Webster's and the image from Digital Two For Tuesday ... I have used the image before,I just love it. Hats and dresses are paper-pieced. Have a good start into the new week, Petra.

Hello

Have you ever been in a situation that you lost contact with someone you have known quite well for ages and you are not quite sure how to approach this person again? Well, if you have the address, you could send a little card ... (lol)
The card is based on Lucy's second sketch
The colours of the card is one of my favourite colour combination. The patterned paper is from Jenni Bowlin, stamps (telephone and sentiment) from Hero Arts. After having sewn around the edges of the card and the tag, I didn't like it at all. Maybe it was not close enough to the edge ot the stitches were too big. In the end I removed the stitching; now the stitch holes show but I like it much better.
I stamped the telephone, cut it out and covered it heavily in Glossy Accents ... it is a one of these lovely old bakelite telephones and have to have this lovely black shine (lol)
Wishing you a brilliantly crafty weekend, Petra.

Linked to: Lucy's Cards

Little Give-Away Winner

... and the winner is - drawn by random.org

8 = Sandy Ang

Congratulations! And a big thank you to everyone who left a lovely comment on my blog ... I promise there will be another chance at another time ...
Sandy Ang, please can you send me your address so that I can post the goodies to you. Wishing you all a great afternoon, Petra.

Happy Birthday

... to one of our friends. The basis for this card is Lucy's sketch No1
The card base is created from digital paper created by Crystal Wilkerson. Apart from the sentiment (Hero Arts) no stamping required (lol). I drew and cut the leaves by hand (digital paper by Crystal Wilkerson) and used embroidery thread to secure them to the card (Bazzill cardstock). The flower is cut with a Sizzix Die, secured with a little button and embroidery thread. Petra.

Linked to: Lucy's Cards

Hot Beverages

Coming back after a nice walk on cold winter days what could be better than a cup of hot steaming chocolate, coffee or tea to warm up again? This month's Chestnut Theme Challenge at Gingersnap Creations is all about: Hot Beverages.
Many of my work colleagues are quite 'addicted' to coffee ... the Espresso image seems to capture the spirit nicely (lol) - unfortunately I cannot remember where I found it, if anyone knows it would be great if you could let me know, I would love to give credit.
I mounted the image on various layers of coloured Bazzill cardstock and a stamped 'coffee menu' from Elzybells. The final touch is a little dark red button.

For more hot beverages and wonderful art just hop over to the Gingersnap Creations blog - enjoy your break, Petra.

Life in Past Times

As soon as I saw the image of the old Irish Lady sitting on her Spinning Wheel, I was fascinated by it. It radiates such a serenity, it looks so peaceful in the natural surroundings. When creating this little ornament, I tried to use mainly 'natural' elements: handmade paper pleated as backing, angora wool for the crocheted frame, a little wooden button, a wooden cotton reel, the paper around the reel is also handmade. The only not so natural item was the glue (lol) and the teeny tiny stamp from Little-Z I used for the sentiment ... ah,yes, and the glitter. Enjoy, Petra.

Image: Just a little note, it came from Night Owl Vintage. Unfortunately this blog doesn't seem to exist anymore. What a shame!

Linked to: The Cheerful Stamp Pad

New Blog Header

For a long time I had the plan to create my own blog header ... and here it is created with images from the Graphics Fairy, Maries Freebies and Carol Anne's Boutique
Thank you so much to all those who provide sall thee free images which allows us crafters to choose, to mix and match in our art work. Have a good start into the new week, Petra.

Linked to: Brag Monday

Christmas Leftovers

Louise's challenge for Tag Tuesday is to use some leftover Christmas tidbit to create a tag
This tag is made from two gift tags. I stamped the bird image from Stamper Anonymous with Ancient Page ink onto BasicGrey patterned paper and cut it out. The sentiment is stamped with Brilliance ink and embossed. The finishing touches are some tiny buttons and leftover ribbons and thread from Christmas presents. Petra.

Linked to: Tag Tuesday

B for Baby

Hope you had a wonderful first day in the new decade. Do you have any New Year resolutions, crafty ones? Well, normally I try not to because after a while I realise that it seems to disappear in non-being (lol). But this year my crafty New Year's resolutions is to create pieces from time to time which I feel quite uncomfortable with ... the style, the theme, the colour, the technique, the shape. I started straight away today with a Baby girl card ... I don't do baby cards very often especially the ones of the pink variety. Cards still feel awkward at times and I am not so sure about the Shabby Chic style. Luckily I found a really appealing sketch for the card layout over at s'Sketches ... it is their bonus sketch ... and combined it with the Shabby Tearoom colours

Supplies:

paper - plain white card, Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye, Kars
stamps - Heyda, Elzybells
ink - Brilliance Ink
flowers - Prima
gem - Kanban
Stickles
ribbons from my stash
Tim Holtz Sizzix Die

I cut the shape of the card with the sizzix die, the patterned papers are sewn together and the edges distressed with chalk. For the image I used an Elzybells stamp and did some paper piecing. The 'B' for baby - my sentiment - is stamped, cut out and glittered. Finally I added some flowers ... yes, I know mayby a couple too many ... but once I started I just couldn't stop .... luckily I ran out of the little ones (lol)
Have a great weekend with lots of crafting, Petra.

Linked to: s'Sketches
The Shabby Tearoom
Sentimental Sundays