Birthday Fun

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

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

... 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.