Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year

 

Thank you all so very much for your support and encouragement throughout the year. I wish you and your families a peaceful and merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year. Stay warm and safe whereever you are. Take care and big hugs, Petra. x

Acknowledgements: main image by Stamping Mathilda, clip art by MyCuteGraphics

Christmas Bauble/Ornament

This week's Tag Tuesday theme is: Decorate a Christmas Bauble/Ornament.  I made two small baubles (each one is about 7 cm in diameter) from old bookpages ... it was such fun

 

For each bauble I cut 8 circles, folded them in half and lightly distressed the edges with walnut stain distress ink. I stamped tiny Christmas images and sentiments and words on the inside of each circle, one for each half of the circle and coloured them using Copics

 

I glued four circles together (= 4 half baubles), attached some twine in the middle  of two of them and then glued the remaining halves in place to complete the bauble. The finishing touches are some little beads. Have a lovely Christmas time, Petra.

Linked to: Craft Artwork

Mondrian Cake

A little while ago one of my lovely colleagues challenged me to make a Mondrian Cake. The Mondrain Cake is based on the paintings of Piet Mondrian.
My colleague sent me this link with a photo of such a cake. My first thought was: this is fine, the second one: oh dear how do I do this and the third one: oh no, this is not going to work. But a promise is a promise so I set out to make a Mondrian Cake last weekend. On the way there were various challenges: how much sponge do I need, the measurements, the colours, how to assemble. To resolve all of this I basically baked LOTS of sponge in various colours whereby I was not 100% happy with the red ... it was more pink-orange (sigh). But here it is

  The cake measures 6cm x 6 cm. I cut it all using ruler, tooth picks and a very sharp knife and assembled it with chocolate ganache. Unfortunately the ganache was quite soft when I cut the cake, so the chocolate smeared a little bit and the cuts are not quite clean. Oh well, it might be better next time (lol) Petra.

Just The Two of You

This is a wedding card I made for Peter's running friends who married today. They are a very lovely couple

I used a scalloped white card and based the design on Deconstructed Sketch No46 

 ... rotating it by 90 degrees ... layering four different EchoPark design papers and doing quite a bit of machine stitching around the edges of the various segments. The very sweet digi stamp is from Sliejke's Digi Stamps coloured with Copics and colouring pencils and a little bit of Stickles. I finished it off with organza ribbon, a heart button and a little tiny bling. Petra.

Linked to: Unruly PaperArts

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6 and 7

I struggled with those two days (sigh), in the end they turned out to be very different

 

Geese-A-Laying

The background are flowers from a children colouring book which I coloured with colouring pens. I stamped the geese (stamp: wood carved stamp), cut them out, embossed them and 'stickled' them. The egg basket is a Snag'em stamp - the eggs are also 'stickled' and the gras is a die-cut from Die-namics. With all the individual elements I created a little meadow scene, adding a couple little punched butterfly.

For Day 7 I found a lovely vintage image showing a Swan family and I couldn't resist using it for the ATC

 

Swan-A-Swimming

I layered the image on 7Gypsies paper which I distressed with distress ink and added some stamping (stamps: Artistic Outpost, Marianne Design). The ATC has been embellished with a little lace, some blings, resin flower and some punched branches. Have a lovely weekend, Petra.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4 and 5

Four Calling Birds and 5 Golden Rings ... how could I resist .... This time it got very inky with distressed inked backgrounds

 and Artistic Outpost stamps .... some lace and a little glittery snowflake.

and La Blanche stamp .... five golden rings, a little paper poinsettia, ribbon, bell and lots of micro beads (gosh, I had forgotten how jumpy they are and now they are EVERYWHERE (lol) ). Have a lovely day, Petra.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

I know I know ... a bit slow, a bit late but .... I thoroughly enjoy it and you get 2 for 1 today (lol). Here is my first offering: the 3 French hens very traditional in white blue and red

 

I covered a white ATC with some free and very old magazine paper and some strips EchoPark patterend paper. The paper strips are mounted on foam pads to give the ATC a bit more depth and the edges are covered with Stickles. The little cute hens are from a web colouring page, printed, cut out and coloured with Copics. I embellished the ATC with a glittery goam snowflake and some star blings.
When I had finished the ATC, I all of a sudden remembered that onec upon a time when I started to make cards I had bought some 3D decoupage sheets from Crafthouse Press, one of them with the French Hens. I found it and thought it would be fun to make a Christmas card using a Kraftcard, Crafthouse press and EchoPaprk papers. The stamped sentiment is from Elzybells.

Have a lovely week, Petra.

Baby Girl

A babygirl for one of our friends and colleagues ... and these Tilda papers were just perfect, so baby pink and flowery

 

I mounted four different papers in various shapes on a white A6 card ... a requirement for the Unruly Paperart RAQ1. The digital image is by LoriBoyds Design ... isn't she sweet with her little rabbit and teddy?  It is coloured with Copics and colouring pencils. The card is finished with some machine stitching, a little ribbon, Prima Marketing flower, wooden heart, a stamped sentiment (stamp: Karten Kunst) on a little punched label and a couple of pearls.

The design of the card is based on a wonderful Mojo Monday sketch which worked brilliantly for this card

Wishing you a lovely weekend, Petra.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

This is my offering for the second day of Christmas inspired by Alpha Stamps: Turtle Doves ... in the spirit of love, peace and kindness .... which requires a lot of wonderful hearts

 

I created the background by lightly brushing various distress inks onto white card and stamping (all stamps: Elzybells) it with blocks and heart stamps. For the centre piece I made a rosette from crepe paper and covered the edge with Stickles. The heart is a cardboard shape which has been 'painted' with ink and acrylic paint and then lightly crackled with crackle glaze from Paper Artsy. Stickles and Glossy Accents give a final touch. And now all what need to be done was to add a little stamped sentiment and two tiny punhed and inked turtle doves. Wishing you a lovely day, Petra.

Linked to: Try it on Tuesday

12 Days of Christmas - Day1

I felt inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas organised by Alpha Stamps. I would not be able to make such wonderfully lavish projects as created by the Alpha Stamps Design team but I thought I give a go to the ATCs. I love ATCs, they are so versatile not only for swaps but also to be used as toppers. Here is my first one: a partridge in a pear tree

I kept it simple and clean in the design but did a lot of 'fuzzy' cutting for leaves, pears and partridge .... The pear tree, a really sweet image from Beccy's Place, is printed on digital paper from Tracy Ann. I printed the pear tree a second time, coloured leaves, pears and partridge with colouring pencils, cut them all out and layered them onto the ATC to give the image a bit more depth and dimension. The finishing touches are a little bit of stamping (Stampendous), some Stickles and a little velvet ribbon bow. Now off to catch up with the 2nd and 3rd day ... enjoy the evening, Petra.

Christmas Is Coming

... and I made it! The first Christmas cards this year ... I have to admit somehow I do not feel like Christmas quite yet. The sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday helped me to start with the 'production' (LOL)

 

 The cards are made using the same sketch, plain coloured and white card and the same stamps (Elzybells). I coloured the stamped images using colouring pencils and Stickles. The white card is embosed using Cuttlebug embossing folders. The finishing touches are ribbons and some little blings. Wishing you a good start to the new week, Petra.

Keeping Warm!

... even Snowmen need to keep warm and this own is well equipped, warmly wrapped up with woollen felt mittens, scarf and hat - just right for the current cold spell here in England!

 

The tag is cut from felt using the Sizzix label die #2, the edges embroidered with a buttonhole stitch. The snowman image is from a colouring page, cut out and 'coloured' with Stickles and Copics. I cut mittens, hat and scarf from felt (all felt is from Bugs and Fishes) and added a little bit of Sticles to the edges. The tag is embellished with some beads, jewellers tag, some twine and more Stickles (LOL) - I have to say I like this little chap a lot and might make a few more of those .... have a lovely weekend, keep warm and safe, Petra.

linked to: Tag Tuesday
               Love to Create Challenge Blog
               Tuesday Alchemy 

Happy Thanksgiving

I did not have too much time for crafting lately because of Mr Penguin but I wanted to make a little something for Thanksgiving day ... I remembered that I still had some painted leaves from my previous journal project. They were just too nice to be thrown away. After covering one with Diamond Glaze I looked at it intently and thought that the leave would make a really lovely plumage for a Turkey (lol)

 

Mr Turkey himself is a digital image from LoriBoyd Design. I cut out the image and coloured it with colouring pencils and covered it with Glossy Accounts. Using the wonderful sketch from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 

 

I layered American Crafts paper on a square white card, did some machine stitching around the edges and added some white squares and a Waltzing Mouse sentiment.

Wishing you all a lovely and wonderful Thanksgiving day and evening from wet and stormswept England, Petra. 

Linked to: Crafty Friend's Challenges

Mr Penguin

May I introduce you to Mr Penguin? A cake commission based on the following photo

 

... and this is my interpretation with woollen hat and scarf. Apparently it looked very life-like ..... Have a lovely evening, Petra.

  

vanilla sponge with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream

Brown & Sepia Tag

... for the Tag Tuesday challenge. I am a bit late (working at some cakes at the moment :-) ) with this tag and only managed now to create a little something with bits and pieces I had at hand.
Some time ago I tea-dyed quite a few tags and this was the last one. I distressed it with distress ink Gathered Twigs and stamped onto it using an Impression Obsession stamp and Sepia archival ink

 

As embellishments I used some krafty packaging material strips which were crimped and some left-over lace. I added little beads and glas flowers. The little Sepia cutie is again an image from Artchix Studios

  

I also link this to the 'addicted to stamps' challenge: tags. Have a lovely evening, Petra. 

It's A Boy

Recently two of our friends became parents. They are over the moon. They had to go through so much before having a baby and now are truly happy to be Mum and Dad to a little screaming and all-demanding little chap. I made a little card to celebrate the occasion using a sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday

patterend paper from EchoPark and Kraftcard, stamps from LoriBoydDesign and Woodware, some blings, ribbon and some machine stitching

Wishing you a lovely Sunday, Petra.

ATC & Inchies

This was the challenge from Craft Artwork: to create an ATC with at least three inchies. This immediately reminded me of the gorgeous and very  sweet digital sheet I had received from Artchix Studio called "Sepia Cuties" .... aren't they adorable?

 

As base I used one of my own digital papers. I created this paper by digitally layering various postcard images from the Graphics Fairy and Antique Images - please feel free to use it in your own art

 

 I brushed various distress and archival inks over the paper, stamped it with a musical note stamp from 7Gypsies and stencilled it with the Mini Numeral template from Crafter's Workshop again using distress inks. The adorable images are cut to inchie size, the edges lightly inked and added using foam pads. I embellished the ATC using lace scraps and little gem flowers. Have a lovely Thursday, Petra.

Linked to: Unique Crafter's Challenge Blog - November
                 Order of the Opus Gluei - Figures

Happy New Home

Eventually I managed to visit Lucy and Colin in their 'new' home. It looks very nice and quite different from before the water damage. I am so happy for them that everything turned out ok for them in the end ... Of course, a new home needs to be filled ... at least with a card (lol)

I layered a scallop white card with wonderful paper from Anna Griffin and cut it around the scalloped edge. As next step I placed the washi tape and added the perforator lines using acrylic paint. The homely house is a stamp from Paperbag Studios and the stamped roof star is from Woodware. To finish the card I added a pearl, a mulberry flower and a little stamped sentiment from Elzybells.
I also link it to the IBS Inspiration Challenge IBSIC #34 and their November sketch

Have a great start to the new week, Petra.

Celestial Wax Crayons

... or a little piece of scratch art (lol). The challenge for this week over at Tag Tuesday: Celestial somehow reminded me immediately about my childhood and about the time I spent with my kids crafting. Using wax crayons, covering yourself in black wax bits and then scratching happily away, it had always been great fun and a brilliant mess ... and it is still today! I couldn't resist to scratch happily away ....

 

I cut a little tag from a piece of leftover card and covered it with various colours of wax crayons. After applying a very thick layer of black wax crayon, I started to scratch the little pattern of moon and some stars using my craft scissors

 

For the final design I added a stamped sentiment and little stars (stamps: Elzybells) and some raffia and little star beads.  Happy Scratching, Petra.

AutumnPage

I love Autumn with all its vibrant colours ... its fresh and clear air .... the leaves twirling through the air and silently tumbling down. I wanted to capture the spirit of the colours and time of change in my journal page

and started by crunching some old sewing pattern. I glued it to the gessoed journal page, added chalk and some gesso. The old bookpage I layered on top was swished through some orange and brown watercolour paints and stencilled with some distress inks. I printed/stamped some acorn leaves onto the page using acrylic paints  and real acorn leaves. I 'framed' the page by creating lines with a perforator and acrylic paint. Enjoy the lovely Autumn, Petra.

linked to: Dawn's Journal Journey
               Artful Times Challenge

Happy Halloween!

I have my craft room back and all visitors are gone :-) It is wonderfull to have friends around but it is also a bit exhausting .... although already looking forward to seeing them again .....
I had a little bit of time to play with stamps and some scraps I found in one of my paper boxes

The background is an old book page which I had inked for another project quite a while ago but it fitted perfectly for the Tag Tuesday challenge this week which is: Halloween! I cut the tag with a Sizzix die and added some stamping (Heindesign, Elzybells) and a little Mulberry flower.
Have a lovely evening and keep safe wherever you are! Petra.

linked to: The Order of the Opus Gluei
               Fashionable Stamping Challenges
               Art with no Boundaries

Poppy

The poppy is one of my favourite flower in the garden. The flowers look so delicate and, yet, have such an intense vibrant colour and appearance. But the show does not stop, comes Autumn The poppy seed heads show the most amazing shape. I just love the structure and the rattling sound of the seeds in the seed head
                      
This is one of the seed heads I collected this year, a rather small one but perfect for this little project. I coloured it with Dylusions spray ink and gave it a bit of a glimmer with Perfect Pearls. It is layered on some leftover bits of paper I had at hand and have been waiting to be used for a long time .... structured paper, inked background, old book page and wax crayons on baking paper stamped. As embellishment I used some ribbon, a littlebead and a wee bit of stamping (Waltzing Mouse). Have a lovely weekend - now off in the garden to enjoy the wonderful sunshine, Petra.

linked to: Tag Tuesday

Autumn Nostalgia

Because of all the lovely visitors staying with us, my craft room is now a bedroom and out of bounds for crafting (boohoo) ... but I have to admit I am getting a bit crafty-desperate now and had to do SOMETHING. So I played a little bit with some digital images and created a digital ATC for Craft Artwork

 

using images from the web ( frame, leaves and spider web), magazine page, Magic Moonlight Free Images, e-vint.com and Martora. Have a lovely Monday, Petra.

Sketchbook and Cake

Last week the Brooklyn Art Library came to the Canada Water Library in London to display the European and Australian Sketchbooks which had been created as part of the Sketchbook Project 2012. I feel so happy, I had the chance to go and see not only my sketchbook but also quite a few of the others. The sketchbooks are amazing and I am still excited about the trip! My camera battery decided to be empty ... oh what a pain ... but my DH rescued me with his phone camera!!!!

some of the nice library ladies with the sketchbooks in the background

 

me signing in and I am now the proud owner of a Brooklyn Art Library card

 

intense reading

 And guess what ... I signed up for the Sketchbook Project 2013 (big smile)!

Since then a lot has happened ... lots of visitors staying with us and a little birthday cake with a little cat which was outwitted by some little mice

Wishing you all a lovely start to the new week, Petra.

Autumn Holidays

Being back from our short holidays I would like to share some photos. We went to La Palma for a week to escape the early Autumn feel and we were so happy we did. La Palma is an amazing island ... full of contrasts, colours and nature

  

It was wonderful to soak up the sun, swim in the sea and enjoy the wonderful food. But it is also nice to be back home and able to catch up with all of you and maybe do even a spot of crafting (lol). Have a lovely day, Petra.

Sharing

I want to share with you one truly wonderful postcard I received from Jeanie, it was such a surprise and I love just everything about it - especially the writing on the front - thank you so much Jeanie.

A while ago my daughter gave me a little pile of old postcards which I am in the process of scanning. I thought you might like to use them in your art. Here is the first one (front and back) - have a lovely day, Petra.

M for Mini-Monster-Button-Book

Ever since I have seen a button book a few weeks ago, I wanted to make one ... and here is my first little button book, a picture book about little scary monsters (lol)

The simple ingredients are: two not too small buttons, patterend paper from EchoPark, Sizzix die-cut shapes, images from the web and from Pollycraft, some ribbon and the stamped letter is from Woodware. The images are all digital stamps and I coloured them with Copics and Sharpies. Ejoy your evening, Petra.

Linked to: Craft Artwork