Of cats and mice

Hi Crafters out there,

today, I'd like to introduce you to one of my cats, Smokey. She has worried me a lot lately, but today she once again proved to me, that her live is still worth living.
She brought me a mouse that she must have caught within 10 minutes. Such hunter.

I know, no unusual behaviour for a cat, BUT she was never much for hunting so far - or maybe she just didn't bring her kills home. She is a rather old lady by now, about 15 years, chronically ill all her life, one-eyed and toothless and plagued with cancer she has decided in her old age that she is a wild thing after all.

I quite like mice, so I am really sad for the poor thing, but I am none the less proud of my panther. And glad to see that she is still fit enough to catch a mouse.




See you soon
Ela

Stenciled - Take 11

Hello Crafters,

today I spent a few minutes altering envelops to match my cards. And then I decided to play with stucture paste and my Rayher Spritzer tool.

Nothing went as I wanted, so in the end I am rather unhappy with my card, but I'll show you anyway.
Maybe you have suggestions how I could have done better:

First I used the Spritzer to mist the bottom left corner with teal and grey alcohol markers. That went well enough, but mind you: Spectrum Noir markers don't fit in, I had to hold the marker in place.
I would have wanted some bigger splotches, but I didn't have and mist or liquid ink refill I could have used for that, so I made do without.

Then I stencilled on the sturcture paste, but I really don't like how it is not entirely white. It shows up kind of greyish on the white card stock, but not enough to look grey on  purpose. So I thought I might heat emboss it in white, I wanted to try that out anyway. I didn't like the effect on this card, though I loved it on the little stars on Debby's owl card.

Next I punched and coloured the bird with alcohol markers. It was the first time I tried my new kind of cardstock with alcohol markers - it's no good. I need to stick to copic paper, but I only found thin one so far.

Then I created the sentiment and glued it all down. Last step I added some liquid pearls with a pearl maker pen. I think I'll colour a few of these with alcohol markers when they are dry.


Hope I'll be in a craftier mood tomorrow, today wasn't the best day for crafting - or anything else, actually...
Ela

Stenciled - Take 10

Hi again,

this is the card I made today, using the same stencil as in the last card, and Kirstina's tracing technique:

I would have preferred a darker twine, but didn't  have any.

So, now I am almost ready to watch the last videos and maybe mess up my craft area some more.

Happy crafting
Ela

Stenciled - Take 9

Hey there,

this is the last card I did last night, using Laura's idea of watercolouring with stencils:

Again I used my inktense pencils, this time with water, and a large flower stencil. I sponged the card base very slightly pink, so the white panel stands out more, but in the picture you can hardly see that.

I like this card surprisingly much, because it's actually not really my style.
Therefore I did another card with the same stencil today. I'll upload this in a moment.

Be right back
Ela

Stenciled - Take 8

And Hi again,

I did a second card with the tracing technique, this time I kept much closer to Kristina's sketch:

I wanted to keep it in masculine colours,  but I'm rather unhappy with my choice. I don't like this card as much, but I think the sketch is great, you could do so much with it...
I think I might to quite a few versions of this one.

But not right now, last night I wanted to try something else, and today I din't even watch the videos yet...

Be right back
Ela

Stenciled - Take 7

Hi,

here is the second card I did last night, and the first of stenciled, day 2:

For this card, I chose Kristina's "tracing" and a rather unusual stencil, the "Little pirate" set. I used my Inktense pencils to scribble the skulls and letters on black cardstock. 

See you

Ela

Stenciled - Take 6

Hello again and a crafty Sunday to all of you!

Today is definitely not my day, I had to spent 3,5 hours doing homework with my unmotivated, arguing and crying daughters. I really wish they would realise, how much faster they could be back to play, if they just did their work without all that fuzz...

However, I did some crafting last night and even one card today, so here is the first one:

This card is featuring a mix of several ideas from day 1, Laura's heat embossing, Debby's idea with the vellum tag, and Jennifer's moving the stencil.

I heat embossed the stencil in white - several coats, because the swirls are rather large, and I wanted good coverage. Then pressed 3 distress ink pads on my craft sheet, watered the ink down a bit and moved my paper in the pigment. After the panel dried, I sponged on the blueish shadow by offsetting the stencil just a tiny bit.

For the tag I stamped the sentiment in the same blue distress ink and clear embossed it.

See you in a bit, when I post more cards...
Ela

Stenciled - Take 5

And again Hi!

My last attempt was at moving the stencil. as Jennifer flipped over her chevron stencil, I wanted to do something different, so I moved my stencil down and created a multicolored chevron. I had masked off a portion for the sentiment, but it turned out that it wasn't entirely straight, so I filled it with the pattern and used vellum instead.
I wanted white butterflies, but as mentioned before my die doesn't cut cardstock properly, I cut them from vellum and heat embossed them in white. But I can't recomment that, the wings curl up and the embossing cracks.
All in all I like the last card least. I thing the pattern is a little to much, maybe I should have covered more of it. Again I feed the desperate need for my SSS order...

Looking forward to tonight, when I have time to watch the new videos.

See you then
Ela

Stenciled - Take 4

Hi again,

Next I tried heat embossing the butterfly and coloring the background with my Gelatos. Today I blended them dry. I matted the panel on some black and white washi tape and kept it without a sentiment.

I did some more heat embossing afterwards, but that panel had to dry, so I forgot about it and now it's still just a panel no card. Hopefully I'll do something with it tonight. Truth be told, I doubt it, because I'll have all the new videos to watch...


See you in a bit, when I will post the last card for this morning.
Ela

Stenciled - Take 3

Hello again,

this morning the postman woke me. Not awaiting any delivery, except the one from Simon's, I instantly resolved that this MUST be my wish come true.
Well, it wasn't, it was for my mother-in-law. I was sooo disappointed!

But I came over it quickly, my daughters had breakfast with their grandparents, so I was free to play.

First I had another go at sponging, because it's a technique I still haven't quite mastered. But with this card I am rather content. 

Be right back
Ela

Stenciled - Take 2

Hello Crafters out there,

did I say I was off to bed? I lied!

I couldn't resist a go at misting, but I entirely failed. I don't have any mists, but I do own a set of Gelatos I have never used. I've wanted to make a mists from them for ages and never dared, because they are so expensive.
But I went ahead tonight, but it simply didn't work. So I gave it up and went for blending the Gelatos with a baby wipe and my fingers. So here is the result:

I embossed the sentiment on vellum, added a few rhinestones and popped up the panel on the card base.


So now, please stop posting pictures, I really desperately need some sleep.
Good night
Ela

P.S: I remembered to take the daylight shot:

Stenciled - Take 1

Hello again,

my second post tonight. As mentioned earlier, this week-end is stenciling time, and I'd like to show you my first card:

Sorry for the bad lighting, I'll try to remember to take a daylight shot tomorrow.

I must say, this is kind of different for me. Usually I plan my cards, searching for all the perdfect elements, doing and re-doing things until I am either happy with my card or totally frustrated. Tonight I just wanted to have something to link up and show, and it didn't need to be perfect for a special occasion.
I felt rather free, a rogue crafter set loose.

As you can see, I started with Debby's card (Debby, I love your accent!). I didn't have the perfect sentiment, to put on a tag, so I changed it up for a vellum butterfly and a sentiment in  the corner. I am glad, I finally found something, my butterfly die really cuts: thin vellum! I love the die and as I don't have a shim it was pretty useless to me so far.

In the end I am rather content with the result, even though I went overboard with the dots. I would not usually have chosen the bright yellow cardstock as a matt, but it fittet the ink nicely.

Speaking of sentiments:
I really do have a lack of good sentiments. I don't like using English sentiments all the time, because my friends and family are all from Germany. "Happy Birthday" and "Merry Christmas" are ok, but most of the other sentiments I'd rather have in German. So if any of you knows where to get really cool versatile German sentiment stamps, give me a hint please!

I think I'm off to bed now, wishing you crafty dreams
Ela

P.S: I received a gift certificate from Simon's for Christmas, and I desperately wish my order had arrived already. I know it's a long way, but pleeeease hurry up!

Knitting madness

Hi there,

I've been pretty busy over the Christmas holidays, most of all because I had to work most of the time, with my girls at home. No mercy for single Moms at my office.

And I got infected by a knitting virus. My mother gave my daugthers loop scarfs, that I instantly fell in love with. Mom, why didn't I get any? (I'm save, she's not reading anything on the internet)

My sister-in-law and mother-in-law both also liked them a lot, so I decided to knit some myself. They are made from thick wool, knitted with even larger needles (European 12, which I consider more of a weapon than a needle), so I can finish a scarf in about 2-3 evening.

It brought back happy childhood memories. My mother was always knitting socks, nonstop, even in summer. Most of them she donated to Unicef to be sold at the local Christmas market. And of course all of the family would get a symbolic single sock, for which she'd knit the second one during Christmas holidays, because with all the knitting for the market she hadn't gotten round to them any earlier.

And while I was at it, I taught my dauthers to crochet. Now I have wooly pieces everywhere in the house. I am not yet sure if it was a good idea.

Anyhow, so here are the originals:

And my versions:

My own is not yet done. I created half of it yesterday, but this week-end I am participating in the "Stenciled" online card class, so I won't have any time for knitting.


So wishing you a crafty week-end
Ela