12 Tags of Christmas - No 1

This is the first year that I will attempt to make at least some of the 12 tags of Christmas as shown on the Tim Holtz' blog. Not having a lot of his products it is all about improvising and finding a different way of achieving 'the look'. I find it difficult, though, to use his designs but I've definitely learned already a lot! So, here is the first tag
For the background I used a mix of Distress ink and ink from VersaColour to get a good colour mix. Some little stars are stamped and embossed on the background. The edges are distressed with Distress ink.
For the house I embossed plain white card with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, coloured it with Distress ink and cut it into a house shape. The template for the house is from Stempeleinmaleins. Windows are dressed with clear vellum and little curtains, the door with patterned paper. The fence is part of the bird cage die cut from white corrugated card.
For the tree floristry wire became very handy .... it was pink so I coloured it with brown ink. The flower embellishments are haberdashery ones.
As finishing touch I added lots of snow (white acrylic paint) and LOTS of white glitter and a little star charm. Oh, and if you wonder about the '24' ... I thought I make it continental (lol) ....

This post is linked to Artyjen's blog. She has organised a: T!m's Splinter Group Linkie for everybody who would like their T!m's tags. It is not a competition, it is just for fun ... even if you don't have anything to link up, you might want to have a look. The tags are absolutely fantastic!
Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon, Petra.

Cold Nose ... Warm Heart

The last days it has been bitterly cold here in the South of England .... nothing compared to all the snow and low temperatures further up North but still quite unusual for this time of the year. It is definitely the time of cold noses and fingers ... which does not mean that you cannot have fun doing some skiing and ice-skating, having some snowball fights or just snuggle up in front of a nice fire
This little image of some children doing ice-skating comes from the Graphics Fairy. Karen has the most wonderful collection of graphics. It is so sweet and I couldn't resist turning it into a little winter card using a sketch from the Stempeleinmaleins Team. Petra.

Raining Kisses

I love Elzybells' stamps, the images are soooo sweet and the quality of the stamps is just outstanding. Unfortunately Elzybells is closing down which is a really sad :-( not only for the stamps but also for the amazing service and friendliness - thank you Elisabeth for all of this!

Together with the current sketch from Stempeleinmaleins I used one of the stamps for a wedding card ... Raining Kisses

The card is extra long. The papers are BoBunny and BazillBasics. I found the charm in my drawer, the ribbon is from John Lewis (they have very pretty half-orice ribbons at the moment). The flowers are Prima flowers and, of course, red shoes and kisses ask for some shine (LOL).
It was a wonderful wedding, the weather perfect and the newly weds very happy - congratulations! 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

Two For One

Stempeleinmaleins has a wonderful sketch for their current challenge
It is very appealing and I used it straight away for two quite different cards

The first card is a birthday card for my dear Auntie, she just loves a cute vintagey look for cards

The papers are K&Company. I found the image at Magic Moonlight Free Images, printed it three times and layered it to get a decoupage look for the image. For the embellishments I ruffled some fabric ribbon. The flowers are haberdashery and paper flowers, the blings from Artemio.

The second card is for my Dad for Father's Day

I love this cute little stamp from Elzybells. And the Woodware sentiment seemed to be so fitting (LOL). I layered the image onto My Mind's Eye papers, used some string, blings from Kanban and buttons from my stash. Petra.

Wedding Anniversary

Next week my parents have their 53th (!) Wedding Anniversary. They never really celebrate this anniversary unless it is really big one like the 50th ... but I still wanted to send them a card to give them all my love, to tell them how much I care for them and to wish them all the best for the next years. I used a sketch from Stempeleinmaleins which is quite rich in its layout and design and felt just right for this occasionThe card is built around an image from Antiques Images which I adore ... it is so lovely with its subtle colours and cheeky theme

The colours matched perfectly with My Minds Eye papers which I used for the layout, as base for the flower and the sentiment (from Elzybells). The sentiment is so telling about love and the growth of love over time. The theme of growth is a theme over at Gingersnap Creations which fits so perfect for this occasion.
I finished the design with some buttons, charm and some blings from Paperchase.
I wish my parents a wonderful Anniversary and many more years together! Petra.

A Christmas ornament

The Elzybells challenge for this fortnight is to create a Christmas gift or a gift packaging. I made a little hanging Christmas gift which could also be used as tag for a gift box

Supplies:
paper - Hot of the Press, Kraft card from Elzybells, plain ivory card
stamps - Elzybells
ink - VersaColor
ribbon - from my stash
bling - Kanban
Stickles 'Gold'

The idea and instructions for this gift came from Stempeleinmaleins. The idea is brilliant and it is so well explained that it is really easy to create. All you need are 12 little cones, a backing and an embellishment to decorate it in the front - and, of course, some ribbon or thread to hang it somewhere.
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Die Idee und Anleitung fuer dieses Geschenk kommt von Stempeleinmaleins. Die Idee ist einfach brilliant und es wird so gut erklaert, dass es wirklich einfach ist, dieses Geschenk herzustellen. Was macht braucht sind 12 kleine Tuetchen, einen Kreis fuer die Rueckseite und etwas, um die Vorderseite zu dekorieren - und natuerlich ein Band, damit es aufgehaengt werden kann.

For this project I chose to keep with earthentone colours and a tartan scheme which went well with the Kraft card and the glitter.
*****
Fuer dieses Projekt habe ich mich an eine Farbpalette aus Erdfarben und ein Tartanmuster gehalten. Das passt sehr gut mit dem Glitter und dem Karftpapier.

Petra.

Purple - Lilac - Violette

The French Violette Lady from The Graphics Fairy, the Purple/Lilac challenge from Sketchy Colors and the template from Stempeleinmaleins - a perfect match. And it all started with a little box

which turned into

Supplies:
match box
paper - plain lilac/pink card, The Graphics Fairy
fabric/ribbon/button - from my stash
image - The Graphics Fairy
flowers/brad - Artemio
blings - Kanban
Nestabilities - Label8, oval and oval scallop shapes

I covered the outside of the inner part of the box with vintage wallpaper from The Graphics Fairy, attached a button as "handle" and lined it with fabric lining (I haven't done this for a while, I have to practice).
The outside is embellished with image, flowers, blings, ribbon, ... I deliberately did not do any distressing but left it in an clean untouched state which I quite like.
I think I will make some more of these boxes with a Christmas theme and will show you next time. Petra.

Elzybells Challenge #31 - Tempting Textures & Stempeleinmaleins stitching

I tried to restrain myself and used only a few textural effects: embossing folder, felt, different ribbons
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Ich versuchte, mich zurueckzuhalten und benutzte nur einige structurelle Effekte: embossing folder, Filz, verschiedene Baender.

(Sorry for the quality of the photos, the light was unfortunately not very kind today - well, it might also have been the photographer :-) )
Supplies:
paper - BasicGrey, kraft card from Elzybells
felt - Hobbycraft
stamps - Elzybells
colouring - Koh-i-noor with OMS
blings - Papermania
ribbons/string - from my stash
nestabilities - squares, scalloped squares
circle - Quickutz
embossing folder - Cuttlebug (Swiss Dots)

I layered paper, card and felt stitching the felt onto the kraft card (idea from Stempeleinmaleins). The stamped image is partly paperpieced to give it a bit more depth (hair decoration, shirt). For the little label I used the square scallop nestability just using one edge of the nestability. I quite like the way both ends of the label turned out.
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Ich habe Papier, Karton und Filz uebereinander gelegt und den Filz auf den Karton aufgenaeht. Das gestempelte Bild ist teilweise paper-pieced (Haarclips, Blueschen). Fuer den Text habe ich eine Seite der quadratischen Bogen-Nestabilities benutzt. Ich war ziemlich ueberrascht wie nett die beiden Enden des Schildchens aussehen.

Have a nice day, Petra.

Shadowy & Krafty

Fuer die DCM Challenge diese Woche 'Getting Krafty' verwendete ich nicht nur eine sondern gleich zwei Anleitungen vom Stempeleinmaleins Team: die Shadow Box Card und das Spukhaus, das ich in ein kleines Schneehaeuschen verwandelte.
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For this week's DCM challenge 'Getting Krafty' I used not only one but two of the templates provided by the Stempeleinmaleins Team: the Shadow Box Card and the Haunted House which is now a little snowhouse.


I kept the colour scheme as simple (krafty, red, white and a spot of pink) as possible to be able to concentrate on the shape of the card and its various elements.

Supplies:
Kraft card - Elzybells
papers - Cosmo Cricket
stamps - Elzybells, Papercraft Inspirations
ink - Elzybells
bling - Kanban
stickles - Frosted Lace, Gold
punch - Woodware, Stampin' Up
nestabilities

The only problem is now to get the card into an envelope but Tanja mentioned in her tutorial it should be possible ...... :-) Petra.

Haunted House - Cheerful House

Jay Jay und Tanja vom Stempeleinmaleins haben zwei Vorlagen zum Thema 'Halloween' zur Verfuegung gestellt: einen Sarg und das Spukhaus. Leider ist Halloween vorbei und die Vorlagen muessen bis zum naechsten Jahr warten - oder ?
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Jay Jay and Tanja from Stempeleinmaleins have put to templates for personal use on the Stempeleinmaleins blog: a coffin and the haunted house. Unfortunately Halloween is over and the templates need to wait till next year - or do they?
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Peter's Tochter und sein Enkel sind vor Kurzem umgezogen und ich dachte, es waere nett, ihnen eine Karte zum Umzug zu gestalten. Ich wusste nur nicht so recht, wie das Design aussehen sollte, bis ich Tanja's Spukhaus-Vorlage und die Karten des DT sah.
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Peter's daughter and his grandson moved recently and I thought it would be quite nice to give them a card but was not sure what design to use till I saw Tanja's template for the Haunted House and the cards of the DT.
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Ich benutzte die Vorlage und gestaltete ein 'froehliches' Haus mit Garten und Tieren.
Design: Spukhaus Vorlage, Treppenkarte
Karte: weisse quadratisch
Papier: BasicGrey
Stempel: BasicGrey, Little-Z, Studio g
Tinte: Heine, VersaColour
Blumen: Sizzix 'Hello Kitty'
Brads: BasicGrey
*****
I used the template and created a cheerful house with garden and animals.
design: Haunted House template, stair step card
card: basic white square
paper: BasicGrey
stamps: BasicGrey, Little-Z, Studio g
Tinte: Heine, VersaColour
Blumen: Sizzix 'Hello Kitty'
Brads: BasicGrey
*****

Thank you for the great template. I am sure I will use more often.
Happy crafting, Petra.