a chalky christmas

I just love the chalkboard trend going on right now - inspired by Pinterest,  I moved my chalkboard from the office to the kitchen & made some very simple xmas chalkboard art - (I need to pratice...)

;)

This year I finally made some christmas cards and actually sent them out! Yay! This is what I came up with ! Going all-in with the chalky part! I distressed some licorice bazill paper using some white memories dye ink to get the chalk board look and I then stamped the images using Memories Unicorn white ink. So Simple - but I really like this look of this!

So are you ready for the holidays!?  :-)

I wish you all a very merry christmas!

Velveteen technique

Sorry for the very long blog break. I have been working very long hours the last months and no time for creativity at all.

I did do a few classes with the velveteen technique in 2 of them ( a technique introduced by the amazing Shari Caroll a while back).  So at least I can share some of these cards, huh?

This first one is using the wonderful Snow Dots stamp from Hero Arts and the White Christmas stamp which is a negative stampe with lots of solid area - great for this technique.
The blue ink is the mid tone pool.

On the next one I used the Leaf Background and the Christmas Ornaments - all from Hero Arts.
The grey ink is wet cement.

 

By the way, it is snowing here today - the first snow. Can you believe it? Anyway, perfect timing on 1st of December! ;))

 

hot pink with a shine

Hot pink is a refreshing color amongst the autumn colors ;) I made the background by randomly stamping the flowers and leaves from the Flutter By set by Lawn Fawn in versamark ink and then white embossed it. I used pickled raspberry, walnut stain and mowed lawn to color in the background and  then finally sprayed the whole piece with pearlized water for some shine.

The card base is made of bazzil kraft cs - die cut with the new cute Scalloped Labels 1 - love this!

The rose is made by me a long time ago - finally it found a place on a card! The HI letters are die cut with MFT High Rise Alphabet.

Have a great Sunday and thanks so much for stopping by!

Lawnscaping Bloghop Fall

A warm welcome to the lawnscaping blog hop!

I've been looking forward to welcoming you to this hop!  You should have come to me by way of Lynette.  I hope you have been enjoying the hop so far ? :) Seeing all those beautiful fall colors!?  Yes, you might have already noticed that this month's theme is all things pumpkin and beautiful changing leaves: FALL!

I have created 2 fall cards for you today! Both cards are inspired by the beautiful photos above. The gorgeous pumpkins and the orange colors!

No fall card without pumpkins, right? The cute Lawn Fawn owl (winter owl) is hopping of joy to see you! He is paperpieced with some cosmo cricket papers and the eyes are black gems with rangers white enamel.

Supplies: 

Stamps: Lawn Fawn Winter Owl, Lawn Fawn So Thankful, Lawn Fawn, Lawn Fawn Claire's ABC.

Papers: Cosmo Cricket, Bazzill 

For my next card I used orange colors on kraft - I love orange at this time of the year! I was actually looking at the small half moon stamp in the same set Lawn Fawn Hoppy Halloween and that inspired me to create a bigger half moon (using spellbinders nestabilities) for the bunny to sit on!

Note, the hop runs from Friday, October 5th, all the way until Sunday, October 7th.  Make sure to comment on all of the blogs to be eligible for some FANTASTIC prizes!  All of the details can be found on the lawnscaping home page. 

Thank you so much for hopping along with us all today! 

Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Now, please head on over to the talented Barb's blog.  If you've gotten off-track, don't worry!  Head back to the lawnscaping blog to see the complete list of designers and prize information!

Harvest Time & Pumpkins ;)

I always adore the Autumn & harvest time. The colors are so beautiful right now and today we went to a cute pumpkin patch to get some pumpkins, picked some of our own apples when we came home, and now it's time to make this autumns' first apple pie, I think ;)

First up some very Clean & Simple cards - made with Ali Edward stamps from Technique Tuesday. I love her handwriting and the very clean look of these small cards, they would go perfectly with a gift from your garden to a friend or neighbor - huh!? Very quick and very simple to make.

Here are some of the pumpkins we brought home...  (needs to be arranged later)

My favourite is this green one! Just love it!!

The 2 small pumpkins on the table I got from my sister - along with some homemade jam. Now I need to label my pickled beetroot and Jan's Queen Jam (made with blueberry & raspberry) :-)

And here are some of our apples  - picked today. Don't they just look lovely ! ?

Have a great Sunday! And thanks for stopping by!

take it easy

I made this fun little card using the cute "Dad's Day" set from Lawn Fawn. I made the chair looking very cosy and comfy by stamping over a white stamped background using the Leaf and Flower Background from Hero Arts. This is leaving a nice pattern on the chair!

 

Could be used as a gift card for a man loving his old comfy chair :-)  I punched a half circle and added a flat masculine looking embellishment - tones down that bow, don't you think? ;)

Btw, Stay tuned for a Lawnscaping Blop Hop on October, 5th.
I am sure we are all in for an inspirational treat with the Fall Themed hop!
I am looking very much forward to it!

Giant Fall Manilla Tag

A friend of mine gave me some HUGE manilla tags and I must admit this is the first time I have used them. I tell you - they are huge!  8 x 4,5" !

I used the overthetop cute set from My Favourite Things Primitive Pumpkins to stamp the backgrounds and the pumpkins with the coordinating dies.

Yummy Hero Arts Shadow Inks was used - love these colors so much! (Soft Orange, Cup o´Joe & Soft Olive)! Btw, Jan brought the yummy chanterelles home from Germany yesterday - we'll cook these for dinner tonight! Yum!!

And here is the tag hanging from my cabinet !

I love Fall and soon I will be on the hunt for some real pumpkins!! Yay!

Have a great weekend!

Hero Arts Challenge - Orange

I am back with a CAS card for this months Hero Arts Challenge ;)  It has really been too long!

I stamped the cat with versamark ink first and then I white embossed it. I wanted a clean and crisp edge so I  masked off both the cat and the "hill" using some masking paper.
Finally I inked the background with the new Orange Soda ink. The stamped sentiment is from the Live Life set - pulls in the orange in a very grafical way, which I kind of like!

I mounted the piece on a Mandarin layering paper (inside out).

Supplies

Hero Arts Halloween Moon, Hero Arts Live Life, Hero Arts Orange Soda ink, Hero Arts Mandarin layering paper.

Thanks for stopping by - have a great Sunday!

Spectacular bookmarks?

.... well maybe not - but these are indeed made with the gorgeous Circus Spectacular set, designed by Lisa Johnson for MFT (see also this post on my other blog).


I used this book mark die, to make the kraft bookmark - and did some very simple stamping. I thought the text stamp from Hero Arts would fit these circus themed stamps beautifully ;)

Another one - simple stamping on kraft - using Hero Arts Shadow inks! Love those inks!!

Have a spectacular Sunday and thank you very much for stopping by!

tuning in...

to say I am still here ;)  This is an older CAS design I have not shared here before, I think ;)

I am using some lovely Lawn Fawn Stamps here - the Chevron Backdrops  and the fun set Stay Tuned.

The TV screen is covered with Rock Candy Stickles ;)

Have a great weekend y'all!

sweet dreams

I am sending this little owl off with some sweet dreams ;) It is late here and I am off to bed, not much cardmaking lately as I have been busy with having guests over and finalizing the potting bench - made by my husband, (see below).

The sweet owl is from Hero Arts, the airplane is from this set from MFT and so is the saying.  The paper is from October Afternoon.

The potting bench is now finalized! 

Inspired by several pins, I asked my husband if he could make a potting bench for my greenhouse. He had never made anything like this before - I think he did a wonderful job and I am so so happy about this!

The wood used is brand new pine.  I aged the wood using this technique by Common Place Beauty using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (white linen) and Annie Sloan Dark Wax. 

The bench has two semi-open cabinets which are both lined with chicken wire on two sides.  The top is covered with a thin plate of zink.

Small cards and pictures from my latest garden project

I made a couple of small cards with stamped scraps - I always seem to keep lots of stamped pieces but I rarely use them. So I challenged myself on Sunday and made a few quick cards ;)

The little tag was the stamped piece on this card.

And I have to show you some pictures from my latest garden project. Jan, my husband did most of the work by himself. I am so proud of him! He did a great job.

I have always wanted a greenhouse - but I just couldn't find the place in the garden - untill my husband suggested this spot - which was perfect for this kind of greenhouse / orangeri.

1. Getting ready for the sand to arrive - Harry Potter is checking it out.
2. The outdoor tiles have been laid down.
3. Digging a path for the waterpipe into the greenhouse - love this photo of the grass dominos ;)

1. The house arrived - lots of items - like lego for grown ups. Will we manage?
2. Looking out the window from the 1st floor, on day 2 in the morning - I was so surprised. Jan got up very early!!
3. Working hard...

 1. Almost finished - it is a bit late for this season - I got 4 tomato plants from a colleague and I have big plans for the next season - meanwhile we shall enjoy the flowers.
2. Made some deco with my silhouette for the table.
3. The cats already love the place and ofcourse they have their own little place.

Do you have a greenhouse and some good tips to share? I would love to know ;))