Stars and embossing paste again

Hello Everyone,

I love my new embossing paste, it's so much more fun than the old structure paste I had. I wanted to play with it some more, and try an ombre effect. When I thought about the color combination, I remembered the current Fusion challenge and went for bright pink. 

I also used my stars dies again, and created two cards, because I colored too much paste.

I stenciled on the paste, trying to create a nice ombre. I think I still have to practice that a bit. When it was dry, I arranged the stars and sentiments, which are all die cuts. I also added some stars to the envelops and insides.

By the way, this card was inspired by some older cards I made, which in turn were inspired by a card showcased in the stenciled online class. I can't show you the latter, but mine are these:

Background Gelli plate print

Background: Spray ink

I really like the stencil in combination with black stars and die cut words. 


Have a great week-end
Ela


Challenges:

Creative Friday: Sterne / Stars
Stempelküche: Schablone / Stencil
Keep it simple: #49 keine Stempel / no stamps
Fusion Card Challenge: Shiny Pink 

 

More stars

Hi again, 

here's the last card I created on Wednesday. I die cut some stars for the previous card from a piece of scrap cardstock. And because I liked the negative panel that was left over, I wanted to use it. 


 I covered the card base with some patterned paper from a Christmas paper pad. Then I cut the panel a little smaller, added 3 more negative stars and fiddled a lot with the sentiment. It turned  out I don't have a nice little "Merry" in any of my stampsets. 

So I changed my plan, die cut the word from craft cardstock and stamped the "Christmas" with black ink.

At last I popped up the panel on some foam squares and added a few red and gold sequins. 

Then I picked a red envelop, but the color was not quite dark enough. Therefore I sponged on a little antique linen ink to darken it just a bit. I wanted to adhere a little panel for the name and address, but didn't want it white, so I sponged some more of the same ink. Now the color matches the small stripes on the patterned paper quite well.

I also added a few stars to the envelop and the inside.



See ya all
Ela


Challenges:
Creative Friday: Sterne / Stars

Embossing paste is my new Star

Hello there,

I had a creative night last night and created another card for a challenge (actually 3 challenges).

I wanted to use the sketch from Make the day special, because it is so cute and simple. For the shape I die cut lots of stars and sponged and stamped them in orange and blue. But when I arranged them on my card, I liked them so much on the white, that I didn't want to add patterned paper or stamping... And then I had an idea...

I used a stencil and my embossing paste to create some white on white texture on my cardbase. Then  and arranged them on my card, stamped the sentiment and added a little glossy accents to some of the stars.

The inside and envelop are also embellished with the same stars, to make them match.


I love how it turned out, the white embossing paste on white looks great. I think I'll do that more often in future.
 
Hope you have a great day
Ela


Challenges:
Creative Friday: Sterne / Stars
Stempelküche: Schablone / Stencil
Make the day special: Sketch

Autumn leaves

Hi Crafters,

the beautiful sunny days this week made me want to do more autumn cards and besides I still had my stitched leaves die out. 

I created a watercolor panel with autumn colors and die cut the leaves out of a smaller panel. The top panel is popped up with foam squares. The sentiment is stamped in dark brown ink, because black would have been too hard.

I also adhered another leaf on the inside and the envelop, to make them match.

Wishing you a golden sunny autumn
Ela



Challenges:
Friday Mashup: Create a card with leaves

Golden Autumn

Hey Crafters,

this week we finally get some nice weather over here, is warm and sunny, but not too hot. Lovely. I'd like it to stay this way, 'til I am ready for some Christmas atmosphere.

I decided, that I really wanted to do more challenges, so I hopped across my challenge blogroll to see what's up. And a sketch caught my eye. I am not good with sketches normally, but  went for this one and combined it with another challenge.

So here's my card.

I sponged the leaves in fall colors and added the sentiment in dark brown ink: Then I added some faux stitching along the strip of patterned paper.

I embellished the inside with three more leaves and created the envelop from the same patterned paper. I drew on some more faux stitching and also adhered some leaves to it.



It's pretty straight forward, but I had fun sponging these leaves. And I like how they turned out, makes me want to take my kids to the woods for a walk.


Have a golden day
Ela



Challenges:
Friday Mashup: Create a project with leaves
clean & simple: #307 Sketch

Dusty Crophopper

Hello Everyone,

today my friend's son will start Kindergarten and my friend feared that he might feel put in the shade by his older sister, who started school only a few days ago, with school cone and gifts and everything.

So I decided to get him a few small gifts in a little school cone and a card too. I did the same for his sister. I found a nice little cone in a shop, with Dusty Crophopper on it. 

Therefore I created a Dusty card to go with it:

I started by drawing the plane from the internet with a copic liner. I can't color anything I print, because my printer's ink bleeds with both copics and water color. Then I wet the paper all around the plane and colored it blue wet on wet. I lifted of some clouds with a tissue and added some grey shadows underneath the clouds to make them look realistic. 

I didn't like them at all at first and thought I'd totally messed up and would have to start over again, but after I added some more blue and grey and some water to blend they turned out ok. 

Then I colored Dusty in orange and grey, trying to get in lights and shadows as close as possible to my reference.

I thought about adding a sentiment, but decided against. I have none that fits, I'll just write inside what I want to say. My friend tends to keep everything, so she might even want to frame it for his room - it's "Cars" themed, so Dusty would fit in... 

I created an orange envelop to match from some cardstock I had.


Have a great day
Ela



Challenges:
Simon says stamp: Make your own background

Another bird card

Hi Crafters,

When I created my ant card, I colored too much emossing paste green for the grass, so I smeared the rest of it onto a white card panel with the well rounded stencil. I had in mind to use it as  out of focus foliage in the background for my next bird card.

I wanted to use my bird stencil with other colors, so I went for a yellowhammer look, with greenish yellow and light browns.

I didn't have enough embossing paste for the envelop, and didn't want to color any more, so I just sponged on some more green dots with the same stencil.

It's pretty much the same concept as before, but still a different look. I do like the blues better though.

I also used the time by girls spent with their Dad to re-organize my paper collection. I didn't like what I had, it neither fit my space well, nor was I finding it very convenient.

I've always wanted a wooden shelf and tought about constructing one myself. But then I decided to go for a cheaper solution and went to Ikea to get 6 packs of yellow Tjena Magazine files (there are 2 in each pack).

It fits my crafty mess quite nicely, because I already use Tjena boxes (with compartments) to organize all the little bits on my desk, like pens, scissors, brushes etc. 

I know, that looks a terrible mess, but it has a system. There are two boxes, one for my daughters and one for me. Each box has 12 compartments and each compartment has it's own kind of supplies. One for brushes, two for adhesives (all the differnt types need a lot of space), one for Gelpens, one for cutting devices, etc. I also bought a smaller box of which I use both box and lid for larger things and miscellaneous mess. And I also still use an old plastic box, just because the length of it fits so nicely.


So, that's it for today, lots of love
Ela






Challenges:
Simon says stamp: Make your own background

Starry Treat Box

Hello Crafters,

did you see the fantastic treat boxes Laura Bassen created a while ago? I simply adore them!

I absolutely wanted to create some of my own, and wish I had the same stampset. I don't, so I checked what stamps I have to replace them. I bought a set with stars and arrows a few month back, and haven't really used it yet, so I decided to take some ink to that. 

As I still had the grey cardstock out from my kingfisher birthday card, so I used it for the box and  I decided to go with a similar color combo, with teals grey and white for the sleeve:

I used The Crafty Owl's Box Buster to sized the envelop so it would fit 2 Kinder Country bars.

Dimensions:

Box                      2x5x9 cm
Paper                   14,9x14,9 cm
1st Punchline      7,5 cm
2nd Punchline     10,3 cm

I also got 2 other small chocolate bars, to check what dimensions they would need, but I can't find them anymore. I suspect my daughters found them.

Maybe I should have made the sleeve a little smaller, so you can see more of the box?
Anyway I am pretty happy with it for a first try, and I think I will make these as Christmas gifts for the teachers. I have two winter stampsets from Lawnfawn with tiny images that I imagine would fit perfectly. And I wouldn't even have to create an extra card, I could just include the sentiment on the sleeve, like I did with this one. Christmas is a busy time after all...


Hope you have a great day
Ela



Challenges:
Creative Friday: #111 Sterne / Stars

Fantastic Birthday Wishes

Hello out there,

today I'd like to show you a card, I created with a digi stamp from a new German stamp company, create a smile.

I simply love how this card turned out, I am feeling very creative right now. When I first thought of it, I imagined the ant colored with alcohol markers, but frankly: I'm not  good at that. So I went with what I know: Inktense pencils. I am really glad I bought them and also that I chose the set of 36, instead of a smaller one.

I colored the ant with very dark grayish brown, which I think fits quite nicely. I stamped some parcels on his back, actually from a Christmas set and colored them too. Then I used distress inks to color the embossing paste and stenciled some grass underneath the ant. At last I stamped the curved sentiment, (it somehow looks more curved in real life) to imitate an ant track.

To create the envelop, I resized the ant and used a few of the little fellows as a border. The last one got cut off by my printer, because it was to close to the edge, so drew his bottom with a copic liner.

With this card I'd like to apply as a guest designer for create a smile, though unfortunately I don't fulfill one of the requirements: I cannot like them at facebook, because I deeply distrust facebook and have no account. I hope in this case it's not mandatory.


Have a good day
Ela


Challenges:
Seize  the Birthday: Anything goes
Stempelküche: Geburtstag / Birthday
Create a smile: Guest designer call

Seize the Birthday

Hey Crafters, 

I am so thrilled, I received the Birthday Honors Badge over at Seize the Birthday:

I am so thrilled, I can't believe it. Mostly I am rather unsure about my crafts and tend to be rather critical. But this gives me the feeling that others like what I do, and that feels really, really good!

 So, here's the card I created for it:

Thanks you sooo much!

Ela