Sending Birthday Wishes!

Hello and happy March!

I can´t believe it - it´s March already, where did February go?

For the March challenge over at Country View Challenges the lovely Corrie is the host and she wants to see birthday cards for a man.

I made a little bit grungy card with a lot of new stamps and dies!

I started by colouring my background with Distress inks (walnut stain and salvage patina) with a brush, added some water drops and spritzed with a brush watered down walnut stain. Later I added some background stamping with my also new visible image stamps "Distressed Christmas" and "Background Vision" with the same Distress Inks.

I used my new purchased dies from Tim Holtz and cut out tiny tags and labels. I used some older papers from Tim Holtz.

For my focal point I used - well, also new - the butterflies from the stamp set "Watercolor CMS217" and coloured them with inktense colours and activated them with a waterbrush.

The labels were distressed with ground espresso DI and I added some eyelets. On top of the tiny tags I glued down some numbers I diecut and attached them to the labels with a string.

Underneath the labels I arranged some black thread, put some 3D tape down and glued the butterflies on top.

Finally I stamped the little sentiment with black Versafine Ink directly onto the card. I love this stamp, it is so small and pretty!

I attached the topper to a card - and that´s it!

Here are some close ups:

Now I hope you will find some time to make a card for our challenge, you can win a 20 £ voucher for the shop!

Thank you for your visit today and have a sunny March!

Sending Birthday Wishes - A Male Birthday Card

 Hello my friends,

today I want to share my second project for the August challenge "Happy Birthday" at Country View Challenges. This time I made a card for a man.

I started by making the background with my new DI uncharted mariner (I love this colour!) and brushed corduroy and a tiny hint of picked raspberry, Then I stamped withthe same colours some texture and distressed the edges.

The focal point is a stamp from LaBlanche. I stamped it with Archival Ink coffee, coloured the face and the hands with DI antique line, cut it out and coloured the edges with brushed corduroy.

I digged in my stash for some ephemera (these are very old Tim Holtz ones), glued a cluster down, added some thread and glued the stamped image with some foam tape.

To embellish the composition, I took some of my premade paper rolls and a cardboard sticker.

Last I stamped the sentiment (Crafters Companion shabby chic) and glued it onto the card.

Here are some close ups:

I hope, you will find time to make something pretty for our challenge, you can win a 20 £ voucher for the shop!

Thank you for your visit!

Summer Birthday Card

 Hello my friends,

you probably may noticed, that I had a little brake. But now I´m back and happy to share my make for the August challenge "Happy Birthday" over at Country View Challenges.

I made a summer birthday card.

And this is, how I made it:

For the background I pushed DI salty ocean, evergreen bough and a tiny amount of picked raspberry directly on my glass mat, spritzed some water and dragged in my paper. I dried it with my heat tool and repeated the process until I was happy with the result. Then I did some stamping with a text stamp from PaperArtsy and with a small background stamp, also PaperArtsy.

For the sentiment I made a rainbow paper with DI mustard seed, spiced marmalade, barn door, picked raspberry, peacock feathers, evergreen bough and mowed lawn. Then I diecut Happy Birthday.

The flowers are dies from Alexandra Renke. I diecut them from Watercolour paper and vellum.

Then I glued everything down, added some crystals and details with a black Pitt artist pen and some colour to the center of the flowers with a crayon.

That´s it!

Here are some more pictures:

Now it´s your turn to make something for a Happy Birthday!

You know, you can win a 20 £ voucher for the shop!

Thank you for your visit today!

Cats

 Hello and welcome to the May challenge at Country View Challenges!

The theme this month is "Cats & Dogs", hosted by my talented teamy Rachel.

I really like dogs, but my heart belongs to cats. I always had one or more cats in my life from childhood until now and I really love these confident, independent but also clingy creatures.

And of course I made a card with a cat.

For this card I used a elder stamp from LaBlanche - it was a stamp set with cats, a dog and a pony.

This one is so very adorable, I really love, how detailed and lifelike it is!

First I stamped the cat face on my card topper and drew a circle with a pencil around the face. Then I grabbed DI kitsch flamingo, milled lavender and speckled egg and blended the inks with a domed foam applicator. For more interest I used a stencil and went over it with the same colour of the background. Some water drops completed the background.

Next I stamped some paw prints with DI brushed corduroy and darkend the edges of my paper with it too. Then I samped the lovely cat again and coloured it with DI (brushed corduroy again), gave her green eyes and made some highlight with a white gel pen. I cut it out in a circle. Lastly I stamped the sentiment with black Archival ink, matted the focal point and the sentiment onto cardboard for some dimension. Then I glued both onto my card topper, alining with the cat underneath.

The sentiment is in German an it says:

Not all Angels have wings,

some have whiskers.

That´s it for today, I hope you will find time to join in with our challenge this month, as you know, you can win a 20 £ voucher for the shop!

Well, and now I don´t want to introduce you my two beloved furr babies Lucy and Oskar:

This is Lucy - she is a little Diva =)

....and this is her brother Oskar. He is the most adorable cat I ever had! 💗

Thank you for your visit and happy May!

Autumn - Art Journal Page

 Hello and happy September!

Unbelievable - it´s the first of September, where has the summer gone?

As always at the first of a month, it is time for a new challenge over at Country View Challenges. This month the theme is: Leaves begin to fall, hosted by the lovely Jane. She says:  Use leaves as background or the main focal of your project.

 Leaves must be the main feature, no "token" leaf added!!

So I made an art journal page.

This is what I did:

First I sprayed a watercolor paper with various mists in autumnal colors. 

I used Glimmer Mists and Glimmer Mists from Lindy´s Stamp Gang.

My background I prepared with Gesso and then I used a stencil and heavy Gesso to create some texture. When dry, I colored it with grey Ecoline liquid watercolor and added a hint of turquoise blue and light green Ecoline liquid watercolor. For some shine I dabbed some Extreme Sheen metalic paint 24K Gold from DecoArt.

For more interest I did some stamping. I used an old BoBunny stamp called It´s Written with Versa Fine Clair Morning Mist and some subtile stamping with an old border stamp, I guess it´s from Kaiserkraft, with DI speckled egg here and there.

Next I did some die cutting with the beautiful sizzix thinlits called fall foliage by Tim Holtz. I used the colored watercolor paper. I used some squeezed lemonade DO on some of the leaves and distressed the edges with DI walnut stain. Then I glued them all down, some with foam squares for some hight.

...oh, and did you discover the little elves? They were a freebe from Astrid McLean in 2020. They are absolutely lovely. 

Here are some more pictures:

I wrote the word "Herbst" (autumn) into one of the bigger leaves.

Here the first elve.

....and here the second one, hidden between the leaves.

Now it´s your turn to make something beautiful with falling leaves! You can win a 20 £ voucher for the shop!

Thank you for your visit today.

Monochromatic - A Fun Card

Hello and welcome to August!

For our new challenge "Monochromatic" over at Country View Challenges I made a fun card, using the palette of many brown tones.

For the background I went over a piece of Bristol paper with Distress Ink Antique Linen, spreat the ink with a foam pad and put a stencil from finnabair called "Mind Games" on top. Then I sprayed some water and let it sit for a while. I dabbed the excess with a cloth and dried everything. 

Now I took the same DI and a make up brush and accented the letters inside of the squares - unfortunately you can´t see too much of it, but it looked very cool!

To tone down the color, I used a brayer with white Gesso and rolled over the background.

The picture from the vocal point is a sticker from finnabair´s "Words you need" sticker set. I matted it on dark brown and beige cardstock, glued some cardboard underneath and glued some threat behind.

The frame I built with lace from my stash, then I glued everything onto the card.

Only some embellishing was left to do: I glued some metallic stickers from my stash around the vocal point and a redish-brown flower and my card was finished!

Here are some close ups:

I hope you like it and feel inspired to make some monochromatic art for our challenge! As you know, you can win a 20 £ voucher for the shop!

Card for a Man

 Hello all, nice to have you here!

For the new month we have a new challenge over at Country View Challenges. This time the theme is "Use a stencil or two...".

I love to use stencils very much and I guess I use them in nearly all my artwork.

To add texture with a stencil changes the whole look of a piece and they are so very versatile in their use.

For my first piece I decided to make a card for a man.

This is what I did:

I took a piece of watercolor paper and sprayed it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in a light grey.

I put the stencil Lattice Work form Tim on top of the wet paint, sprayed a little bit more and left it to dry.

When it was dry, I removed the stencil and it looked like this.

The stencil was still wet, so i placed it on another piece of paper. I will use it for a second card.

To get rid of the "frame" I spreat Distress Inks ground espresso and black soot around it with a distressing tool and a sponge.

Time for a second stencil. I used the Numeric stencil from Tim, also one of my favourites, with Distress Oxide mermaid lagoon.

To make the numbers stand out more, I surrounded some of them with a white posca pen.

For some more marks I used the third stencil, again a Tim one, called Stitched Layering, with Distress Oxide crackling campfire. It´s not visible very much, but it adds a subtile texture and a hint of color.

To finish the background, I sprinkled some white paint on top.

I stamped my image and the sign, colored all, layered them and glued them on top of my background. Last I glued everything on top of a card and embellished the card with some flowers and a bow.

Now it´s ypir turn to make something with a stencil! As always you can win a 20£ voucher for the shop.

Thank you for your visit today!