Easter 2020

Hello Crafters, 

with Easter fast approaching, it's about time I finally share last year's Easter cards, before it's too late and I have to wait another year. 

I normally don't really send Easter cards, but with the current situation, I had to last year. And this year as well, as a matter of fact. Not usually needing them, I have VERY limited Easter supplies, which is why I completely made do without.

I used Spray Ink in red green and yellow to create the panels and an alphabet die set to cut out the letters for Easter (=Ostern). Then I cut apart a sentiment stamp and stamped the word happy (=frohe). 

Very simple, but effective.

Stay safe and healthy
Ela

 

Easter Chickies

Hello Everyone, 

how are you keeping up? Me personally, I've been sick of Corona measures for a long time now, but we are still sticking to them anyway. After all, it's worked for us so far, no one in the family has had it. 

Since we're not able to see people this year - again -  I made some Easter cards. 

Also, almost all of the supplies I used were a Birthday from the best Penpal there ever was (XOXO) and I wanted to play with them so, so, soo much. 

I started out without a clear idea, by stamping and colouring the chicks and cutting them out. I love that stamp, it's so cute and can be used for Easter cards, without screaming Easter... 

Then I decided to ground them on a wonkily stitched panel with some soft ink blending and a simple stamped sentiment. I tried a piercing die on one of the panels but liked it better without the pierced dots. 

Then I used 2 different background stamps on the card base. I liked the pink caleidoscope stamp well enough, but it was slightly too busy. And then I totally fell for the bold brush strokes. That's so versatile. So I tried it out in different colours of Oxides.

Which version do you like best?

For the envelopes, I decided to use up some very old patterned papers, that I never used and am not likely to miss. I picked matching colours or patterns as best I could. I am proud to finally have made use of these papers. 

Lots of love

Ela

Happy Birthday from the heart

Hello Everyone, 

how did the first week in 2021 go for you all?

I had 4 days off work last week, which was wonderful and desperately needed at that. I am not much looking forward to having to work again next week, but at least everyone will be back from their Christmas holidays. The last two weeks of December were very stressful...

Today, I'd like to share some die-cut inlay cards I made, with the is very intricate hearts die. 

 

I started out by inking a card panel to get some nice gradients. Then I cut the die from the inked panel and white and inlayed the coloured pieces three different ways, to see what worked best. 

For the first card, I stacked up the white harts, so they have dimension. For the second card, I didn't cut the coloured panel, but only made an impression with the die, thinking that might be easier, so I could just glue on the hearts. Did work too well. It was the first time using my embossing mat and I messed it up, so the cardstock cracked slightly in some places. It's not very noticeable, with the hearts adhered, so I still used it for a card. 

For the last card I went back to regular inlay, but this time I inlayed it flat and added some dimension behind the whole piece, not only the hearts.

I love how they all turned out, I'd love these in all kinds of colour combinations, but the intricate inlay is just a little much for mass production. 

Have a beautiful day

Ela

Happy New Year 2021

 Hello Crafters, 

I'd like to wish you all a happy and above all healthy new year. I sure hope 2021 will turn out better than 2020 did. 

I don't send out extra New Year's cards myself, since December is always a busy time. But my friend does and we have the (still new) tradition of me giving her a set of new year's cards for Christmas. 

This year I wanted to make an early start, while she still hadn't given me the latest count. So I decided on 25, assembly-line style, since the year before she had needed 20 cards.

First, I stamped each of the balloons individually with the main colour. I left the stamp in place in my stamping platform and stamped each balloon again, with a darker shade blended around the edge to achieve the shading. Then I set out to die-cut all the individual numbers and stacked them up for more dimension. After they were all ready, I blended on some yellow ink from the bottom and adhered them to the card base, using a straight edge to get them straight.

Next, I stamped, heat embossed and cut out all the sentiment strips. They read "healthy new year" in German. Before I adhered them, I loosely doodled in the balloon strings. 

Normally I would have put glossy accents on all of the balloons, but since they were so many I didn't do that this time. 

I was very glad to finish these cards in mid-November because I knew that would be the most involved Christmas present this year. 300 die-cuts, I must be losing it... 

Stay safe and healthy and a happy new year!

Ela

More Flamingos

 Hello Crafters, 

I hope you had a lovely Christmas, despite social distancing and reduced family opportunities. 

We sure did, even though it was sad not so see everyone. I am looking forward to having a full family Christmas again next year. With vaccinations started, I feel that by Christmas life should be better by Christmas. 

Since I am thinking pink for next year, I'll take the opportunity to share some more Flamingo cards today. They were both inspired by the incredible Jennifer her embossing folder techniques. 

I always feel that I don't use my embossing folders enough, especially this one. I love it because it's so unique. But it's not super versatile. 

So I made several impressions with different tones of ink and just added different sentiments on top. The last is a standard white impression, but I softly brushed some pink over the flamingo, to make it stand out more. 

As usual, I made them all Birthday cards, since this is what I use most of throughout the year. 

I hope you'll have a lovely New Year's Eve today. 

See you in 2021

Ela

Birthday Princess

Hi Crafters, 

today's card is a re-make of this card I made years ago. My daughter loved it so much, she wanted to re-create it for my niece's 2nd Birthday, which was 3 years ago today. Time surely flies. 

Happy 5th Birthday little one!

I think my girl will tell me off for showing her early works since she has made a lot of progress in her artwork in the past years. So please don't tell her.

I love her take on it and how much care she took.

Have a great day!
Ela

One layer stencilled Christmas card

Hello Crafters, 

I do hope you are still safe and healthy, wherever you are. And hopefully well on track with your Christmas preparations. 

I am not much in the mood this year, but at least I am less stressed about Christmas preparations than ever before in my adult life. I started early and am well on track at the moment. 

Today's card is one I actually made last year. We had two French exchange students staying at the time and had a little crafty session together. I made this simple one layer card with a stencil and some inks and sequins. Very simple, but I like that in a card. 

 

Have a lovely week!

Ela 

 

Hot pink Flamingo - Part 2

Hello Friends, 

and happy December. Can you believe it? Christmas panic is setting in. 

Here is the second Flamingo I promised you on Monday. 

As before, I coloured her in hot pink with my ZIG markers and fuzzy cut her out. Then I die-cut the letters to spell Birthday from black card stock and arranged them vertically on the card. The happy die-cut was once again coloured with alcohol markers since I don't have that bright pink card stock. I stacked it up for more dimension and adhered it across the Birthday.

So, which one is your favourite?

Have a lovely day

Ela 

Hot pink Flamingo

Hello Again, 

another week, who else doesn't want to go to work today?

To cheer you up, I have a hot pink flamingo card for you today. 

I love this cute flamingo girl so I started out colouring her with my ZIG markers in bright pink and cutting her out. Then I picked a bold sentiment die to be able to let her peek out from behind it. I couldn't quite decide on a colour for the sentiment, stuck between black, white and hot pink.

In the end, I die cut the sentiment from white card stock and coloured it black and pink with alcohol markers before stacking it up for more dimension. I love how that turned out. 

I thought the background was a bit bleak just plain white, so I chose the leftover negative space of a die-cut and adhered it to the card base. I also added the same flamingo on the envelope, just because it's so darn cute.

After I finished the card, I wanted to make the same card again, just different, but that's for another day. 

Have a lovely week

Ela

 

Personalized Birthday cards with alcohol inks

Hello Crafters, 

I am slowly working off all the cards I created last spring and summer. I wasn't even aware I did craft that much. It felt like I was completely out of Mojo all year, except for maybe the last 2 months. 

I had originally decided not to get any alcohol inks, on the basis that you can't have everything and that I'm not a professional crafter. Surprise: I caved and ordered some at the beginning of the first lockdown. 

When they arrived I created a bunch of panels just to try different colour combinations and try to achieve different looks. Basically to get to know them. 

Some of these panels are still around, but I think by now I managed to make most of them into cards. 

These two cards were created in much the same way, I die-cut the letters to spell out the recipient's names and added a heat embossed sentiment strip. 

 One of them I even forgot to send out in time, so I have that one for next year. 

Lots of Love and a happy weekend

Ela