New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

I'm here with my DT card for the new Inkspirational Challenge. We are inspired by a photo and here it is:

Many ways to be inspired here, right? The color palette, the theme of new year, stars, moon, drinks... You name it! After several star and new year themed cards went to bin (!) I decided to just create with the color palette. My card consists of Altenew flowers (heat embossed with gold, stamped with white pigment ink and then die cut) a MFT die, a STAMPlorations stamped sentiment and gold glitter card. I think the card became stylish but looks a bit bare... I'll just call it CAS ;) I do love how the flowers turned out and I think I'll make more stamping experimenting with this Altenew set on dark card. 

Please head on over to our challenge blog for more DT inspiration! I'd love to see you join us! 

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends and followers! May year 2017 bring you good health and all other fab things you wish for!

Hugs

Nonni

I'd like to join:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ Anything Goes

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder

Hi guys!

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas. If you are looking for some crafting inspiration, do join our current TIME OUT Challenge:

 'With each sunrise we are given a chance for a new beginning'

We are sponsored by STAMPlorations, amazing prizes for grabs! 

In my DT card I used a STAMPlorations butterfly stencil (buy it here) and STAMPlorations sentiment stamps from this stamp set. I stenciled the butterflies with Distress Inks on water color paper. I spread the ink color a little bit with a paint brush and water and then used a Wink of Stella pen for shimmer. Love how this turned out! I attached the panel on black card base and that's all there is to this card, very fast and fun to make! 

I hope to see you playing along! If you need more inspiration, visit our blog for more DT cards. Our guest designer this time is my good crafting friend Marina. I always love her cards, she is so creative!  Thank you Marina for joining us! 

I'd like to enter:

STAMPlorations December CAS Challenge (no twist)

No More Christmas Cards!

Hi friends!

The immediate need for Christmas cards is over and I celebrated this by making a very feminine floral card. :) The flower stamp is by Penny black and I've stamped it using Zigs and water on water color card. I stamped with We R Memorykeepers stamp press: I got it a couple of weeks ago and have been anxiously waiting to test it! I have the mini Misti and it's great... But it's not big enough for stamping a card like this for example, the stamps don't fit to "hang outside" the card you are stamping on. I quite liked the stamp press -using it feels different than using the Misti but I would not say it's worse -just different. And being more than 50% cheaper than the big Misti... I think it was a great buy. Before stamping the flowers I had "prepped" the background with a couple of Prima stamps so the flowers wouldn't float in the air. The sentiment is from a MFT set, love love love this set that I just received! I must confess I bought myself A LOT of crafty X man gifts the last couple of months... So be prepared for seeing more cards where I use my new goodies! I also look forward playing more with the stamp press and creating large backgrounds with it. 

I'd like to enter:

https://modsquadchallenge.blogspot.fi A little bit of spring

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.fi Floral Fancies

http://stampinkpaper.com Anything but Christmas 

Hope you like, thanks for popping by and Happy Holidays! :)

Merry Christmas!

Hi friends!

I'm here to share my last two Christmas cards for 2016. I run out of time and energy in the end and not everyone that I would have wanted to send cards to received one from me... But that's life I guess. :) However, I got some extra boost for these last cards: at Inkspirational we DT members have done a Secret Santa for a couple of years -we all get a person to send a small present to and everyone receives something from their Secret Santa too. This year I received a wonderful craft package from my Secret Santa: it contained die cuts, stamped images, sparkly enamel dot-type embellsihments, pre-made brush water color sheets and even some Christmas sentiment dies. Amazing package! 

Here's the two first cards I made with the supplies. I used the brusho sheets (my Secret Santa tipped that they would be great for die cutting but I just couldn't bare cutting through them! They were so pretty!), the dies (for the word "merry"), the die cut bauble and those lovely sparkly embellishments. In the first card I also used a Uniko stamp for the "string" of the bauble and a Sugar Pea designs bow die + Christmas sentiment by STAMPlorations. My second card is super simple, I've only added a heat embossed Finnish Christmas sentiment and a snowflake I had. I so love these sparkly enamel dots, they look amazing! Thank you Secret Santa!

With this post I want to wish everyone the most wonderful Christmas. I hope you'll enjoy the holidays by celebrating, resting, hanging out with loved ones... And by crafting of course! :)

I'd like to join Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday (use dies) with my first card. 

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder!

Please click on the card for more clear and detailed look! 

Hi friends!

I'm here to remind you of our current TIME OUT Challenge where we are CASEing (Copy and Share everything) a fabulous card by Kim

I decided to use Kim's CAS layout but turned her design into a Christmas card by stamping flower-like snowflakes and using a bit more muted colors and some sparkle! My card looked a bit dull on a white base but gold glitter card seemed to bring it into the holiday season. :) Have a look what our talented guest designer Deepti and our DT members have made for your inspiration and then.. Take TIME OUT and craft! 

New Challenge at Inkspirational

Hi friends!

We have a new challenge for you at Inkspirational and this time Sandie has chosen the theme:

Fun theme and perfect for quick and easy Christmas cards! Our guest designer this time is Tracy and she made a wonderfully sparkly butterfly-card, don't miss it or any cards from the DT, click HERE! 

I took the cue sparkle very seriously... Both my sentiment and my image are sparkly! I've heat embossed the sentiment (Penny Black) with sparkly, silver embossing powder. The penguin (Lawn Fawn) is stamped and colored in with Copics, but after that I covered all areas of the penguin with different colored Stickles and the results were pretty fantastic if you ask me -the penguin looks like a sticker IRL, not like something I've stamped by hand! Such a cool effect. I'm a bit fussy with my Stickles and always use a small paint brush for applying it but it's worth it because you can really control the coverage you get. The die is by MFT. Hope you like!

I'd like to enter:

http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.fi Make Your Mark (my 2nd entry)

http://stampinroyalty.blogspot.fi Clean and Simple
http://asyoulikeitchallenge.blogspot.fi Use your favorite silver/gold. Mine is silver... I just looooove this sparkly silver embossing powder. It's especially perfect for Christmas cards!
http://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.fi Anything Goes + sentiment
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday (use dies)
http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ Anything Goes (my 2nd entry)
http://cleanandsimpleonsunday.blogspot.fi (my 2nd entry)

TIME OUT Challenges Reminder

Hi friends!

I'm here to share my DT reminder card for the current TIME OUT Challenge

Christmas with an Optional Twist of Glitter/Shimmer

Click HERE for all the challenge details + fabulous inspiration from our talented guest designer Valentyna and DT members! We are sponsored by Uniko so do not hesitate to play along, the fab prize could be yours! 

I've made a simple card with a stamp set I've had for almost a year and only used it now for the first time.. I ordered this online to practice on my watercoloring but after receiving the stamp it was clear for me some details were way too tiny for coloring (at least with my patience...) -like the bricks in the house, the fence and the bench... So I've been wondering how to add color to this image. In the end I did end up water coloring but with a more simplified style + I used an old wink of stella brush as my water brush (you can easily fill the pen after it's empty) and was able to turn my Distress Inks into sparkly watercolors. :) Thank you Anita who has once made this and the idea stuck in my head! :) The background I "brushed" with brown DI and an old make up brush. I wanted it to be very soft and water coloring and ink sponging both failed, I think this looks nice. :) After the image was all done I die cut the panel and heat embossed a sentiment from the same stamp set. Hope you like and thanks for popping by! 

I'd like to enter the following challenges:

https://modsquadchallenge.blogspot.fi Christmas Dimension (I've popped up the stamped panel with 3d foam and I think the coloration gives some dimension too!) 

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ Anything Goes

http://cleanandsimpleonsunday.blogspot.fi Christmas

http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.fi Make Your Mark

Christmas Card for Challenges

Hi friends!
I'm here to share a quick card I made for challenges.

My sketch comes from Can You Case It Challenge

I was also inspired by the current City Crafter Challenge, use gold (gold heat embossing + gold Stickles used here)

and I'm also entering

http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.fi Clean and Simple Christmas

http://mmmchallengeblog.blogspot.fi CAS Christmas

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/ Use 3 of something (3 sequins)

http://pennyblackatallsorts.blogspot.fi Christmas with Stamping (I hope my stamped and heat embossed Penny Black sentiment qualifies!) 

This is not the CASest of CAS cards but I think the overall look is still clean. Or is it? Let me know what you think! Thanks for popping by! 

Guest Designing at CASology!

Hi guys!

Today I have the great pleasure to be guest designing at CASology, woohoo! I won their "team" challenge with my card here and was naturally over the moon happy! Thank you everyone at CASology for this amazing GD opportunity!

The cue card this week is "soft"

My design defined is:

"Add interest to your CAS designs with texture and techniques: paper with soft velvet finish and extremely light stenciling used here”

So, what I did: I cut a square out of beautiful card that has dark brown velvet swirls on it -it feels so soft and nice to touch! I attached a Penny Black die cut flower on top of the velvet card using foam tape and 3d stickers -the card has lots of dimension which I also find adds interest to clean and simple designs. I stenciled a fish tail pattern very very softly to the card base to the top part of the card base, fading it out completely (I used an old  make up brush for this) and stamped a greeting by Altenew. I hope you like my card, I think it turned out very soft and pretty! :) Thanks again for having me as guest designer,  CASology 

I'd like to enter:

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.fi Vintage 

( I think that swirly velvet paper is perfect for vintage look!)

http://cupcakeinspirations.blogspot.fi/?m=0 Inspiration photo 

(I used the colors of the photo)

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi guys!

Welcome to a new challenge at Inkspirational! Our challenge this time is "chill" -such  a fun word for this time of year and very appropriate for those Christmas cards many of us are in need of!

I went with "chill-cold-cool" kind of thinking process and made a simple card with Lawn Fawn stamps. I masked the snowbank and sponged the sky and then stamped some snow with white pigment ink and a background stamp by Marianne Design. I colored in my arctic critter with Copics, die cut it and added a sentiment. Love my frame dies by MFT too! A couple of die cut snowflakes finish off this little card.

Please head on over to our challenge blog for inspiration from our DT and guest designer Teresa. Loved her winter scene, so pretty! Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you joining us! 

I'd like to join:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/wednesdaychallenge/ Christmas critters

http://sevenhillscrafts.blogspot.fi/p/blog-page.html Inspired by Christmas song (Baby it's cold outside) 

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder!

Hi friends!

You still have about one week to enter our current TIME OUT Challenge here! We are being inspired of the fantastic photo above. You could be inspired of the colors, the flowers, the shapes and patterns, the gorgeous golden wings... You name it!

The beautiful mirror in the left corner of the photo caught my eye and somehow it reminded me of a die I have. The pattern is not really similar but that's how this card started! I then decided to just follow the color palette of the photo and see what else I could find in my stash to go with the feel of the photo... And a feather die seemed really appropriate due to the giant wings over the sofa. :) This card has no stamping (well, the heat embossed sentiment of course, by STAMPlorations!) and it was quite fun to make a card just out of dies. I wanted my sentiment to be sparkly so I heat embossed it with glittery WOW embossing powder and added shiny sequins too. This color palette sure is wonderful!

Our very talented guest designer Hazel and our DT members have created fantastic cards for your inspiration. Don't miss them, click here! Thanks for popping by and I hope to see you joining us! 

Card Kit Swap Final Round -Pia's Materials

Hi friends!

Very photo-heavy post ahead... It's time to post cards made with a card making kit Pia sent. Me, Marina and Pia have been enjoying of altogether 6 rounds of crafting material exchange and I think we have all enjoyed this swap a lot and have all inspired each other in many ways. I want to thank Marina and Pia for this fun fun fun swap! 

My first project is a Christmas tag where I used patterned paper, deer and wreath die cuts from the kit. I was inspired by two tags in Tracey McNeely's Christmas Tags- Day 3 :

Samantha Mann's tag

Naki Rager's tag

My sketch inspiration comes from Sugar Pea Mix it Up Challenge #22

and I would also like to join the Holiday TAGplorations linky party happening at STAMPlorations here . My sentiment comes from STAMPlorations.

Then, my second project that I posted already yesterday for some challenges... Here it is again as part of all the cards that I made with Pia's materials. In this card I used a silhouette die cut from the kit. 

The 2 next cards are made using the embossed cards Pia sent. These where so fun and pretty! I had great time sponging, heat embossing, inking, playing with water, adding glitter... Let me know if you want to read more details about how I created these looks. In the green card I also used the big, die cut sentiment Pia sent. I heat embossed it with gold. I'd like to enter the card with the blue sky to the ombre challenge at Addicted to CAS here. My card is not super super CAS... But still sort of clean and simple I think. Is it? :) 

My final project is a cute shaker card where I used a stamped image and patterned paper form Pia's kit. I colored the image in with Copics, heat embossed a sentiment with gold powder, cut the frame, Stickled the frame with gold Stickles and created the shaker with sequins that complemented my color palette. I wanted to create a shaker card with more "grown up", traditional Christmas colors and I think it worked well. Adults can enjoy some shaking too, can't they! :)

Pia sent so much (fab!) stuff that I can still make at least 1 if not 2 cards with the left over die cuts and patterned paper. Thank you so much Pia for this generous kit, I enjoyed creating with this a lot! Thank you everyone who made it to the end of this post! :) 

Sneak Peak of a Set of Christmas Cards Coming Up Tomorrow!

Hi guys!

Tomorrow I'm posting Christmas cards made with materials Pia sent to me and Marina. I'm taking a small head start here today with this card that focuses on the beautiful silhouette die Pia sent. I combined the silhouette die with a die cut tag I had first masked with a self-made snow bank mask, then sponged with DI:s and stamped with a background stamp using water as my ink for a wintry night sky. Absolutely love how this turned out! I used a card base where I had dry embossed some poinsettias -the folder came as a freebie with a crafting magazine. The simple stamped sentiment is just "Merry Christmas" in Finnish. 

I'd like to enter this card to a couple of challenges:

The cue word at CASology is TEAM and I think these kids show some good team spirit in their small group don't they! One helping the others to ride on their sleigh! :) 

I'd also like to join the CAS Mix Up November challenge 

Masking, Sponging, Stamping (with water), Die Cuts, Dry Embossing

Thanks for popping by and do come back tomorrow for all the rest of the cards I made with the wonderful materials Pia sent! Thanks so much Pia! 

Dream Catcher for a New Home

Hi guys!

I'm here to share a card I made for my friends to wish them good luck for their new home. I intend to write something like "may this dream catcher do it's job and may all the vibes in the flat staying good" or something. :) 

I fell in love with the colors from Sunday Stamps

So pretty colors and quite original combo I think! I hope my friends will like them.

The dream catcher die comes from Spellbinders, my blog friend Pia introduced me to it when we did card kit swaps. It's so beautiful...  I had to buy it for myself after trying it from Pia. :) I cut it from colored card and added some extra shading to the feathers with grey Copics. I wanted to stamp something to "ground" the die and my old PTI medallion was pretty much perfect I think, to my eye the die and the stamped image complement each other beautifully. I added a lot of Copic-colored orange rhinestones to bling up the card. :) The heat embossed, white sentiment is Finnish for "Congratulations on your new home". 

In addition to Sunday Stamps I'd like to enter:

http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/ Shine bright like a diamond 

http://www.happylittlestampers.com/2016/11/hls-november-anything-goes-with-dies.html Anything goes with dies

Hope you like and thanks for popping by! 

A Thank You Card for Challenges

Hi guys!

Here's a card I made for a very good friend of mine who has been very supportive over the last months when I've been absolutely stressed with my work situation (all worked out super well in the end by the way!). I know she has received this card by now so time for posting!

I made this card using a Paper Smooches stamp and some fun techniques. After stamping the flower banner I masked it and also used large posts its for masking the strip behind the image. I sponged the strip with some DI:s and after that I stenciled the fish tail patterns with white pigment ink. I love how it looks! I then removed the masks, colored in the image with Copics and heat embossed the sentiment with white powder. I added some Stickles to spark up the flowers and leaves. The card I used is not normal marker paper but textured card that has little "bumbs" and it was actually very easy to color on. The texture looks lovely IRL but was hard to photograph. The color of the card is sort of off-white, creamy, looks fun too. :)

I'd like to enter the GD search for November at Paper Smooches

...Along with the monthly challenge of November at Paper Smooches: Giving Thanks 

This will also be my second entry for CAS Mix Up November Challenge:

(stamping, masking, sponging, stenciling, heat embossing, coloring in with Copics, using glitter glue)

and last but not least, AAA cards: Thanks

Thanks for popping by! 

New Challenge at Inkspirational!

Hi friends!

I'm here with my DT card for the new Inkspirational challenge, a photo inspiration:

Such a fantastic photo, isn't it? I was trying and trying an trying to come up with good fireworks/burst-ideas but with no success... So just went with hearts then. However, you can see the golden "sparks" in the photo can't you? I went with those adding golden Stickles to my sentiment! :) The sentiment is die cut with my new My Favorite Things die and the hearts are sponged in with a STAMPlorations stencil. I hope you like!

Please visit the Inkspirational blog for fantastic cards from my DT buddies and guest designer Jenny. She is so talented -you do not want to miss her card! 

I'd like to play along at:

https://modsquadchallenge.blogspot.fi Gold

http://craftforthecraic.blogspot.fi 2 colors (red and gold)

http://stampinroyalty.blogspot.fi All that glitters 

http://deepoceanchallengeblog.blogspot.fi Use dies

Thanks for popping by and happy crafting!

TIME OUT Challenge Reminder!

Hi guys!

I'm here to remind you of our current TIME OUT Challenge: 

'Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart'

You can be inspired by the whole sentiment or just choose one word or a couple of words for your starting point.

Please click HERE for all the challenge details and inspiration from our amazing guest designer Karren and our DT members. Karren has great eye for wonderful designs with fun touches -don't miss her blog! 

I'm using my new My Favorite Things Thanks-sentiment die in my card for the first time. I've colored it with Copics and added some sparkle with Stickles (I'm out of Wink of Stella... Shocker!!) For the background I created an ink strip with Black Soot DI and Prima background stamp. My stamping is done with water so "Ghosting technique" is in action in this card. :) I added a couple of die cut hearts for finishing touch. 

I'd like to play along at couple of challenges:

AAA Cards: Masculine

Just us Girls: Focus on Sentiment 

CASE This Sketch

CAS Mix Up:

I used masking for the inked strip, stamping with water (ghosting) + die cutting, coloring with markers + glitter glue. Oh and sponging. For the strip. :)

Thanks for popping by! Have a great rest of the week everyone!