CAS(E) this Sketch #97

Good Afternoon!

My entry to the CAS(E) this Sketch #97.

This week's sketch at the CAS(E) this Sketch #97 is wonderful but I just couldn't get an idea what to make out of it. And more importantly I wanted to create something that is special since my dear blog friend Hannelie is guest designing at the CTS this week. Hannalie's blog Desert Diva - on a creative journey is one my favorite place to visit in blogland - she is so creative and talented! Congrats Hannelie! 

Anyhow, this card was inspired by the sketch but also inspired by Therese Calvird's technique: altering your dies. Her blog is also one of my other favourite blog's to visit to get inspiration; her colouring skills are also amazing! 

I watercolored the magnolias from Altenew with Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar Distress Inks. The honeycomb die and the branch die are from Marianne Design. I embossed the background with Clear Matt Dull Embossing Powder by WOW and inked Memento Sand Ink to give it some contrast. The sentiment is also from Altenew.

Here is the sketch from this week's challenge:

Thank you for stopping by today! I am always pleased to hear what you think! Have a Wonderful Day! 

Marika

ColourQ Challenge #264

Good Afternoon!

This is my entry to the ColorQ Challenge #264.

During the weekend I played with Altenew Sketchy Rose set, coloured them with different colours and shades. These rosebuds were watercolored with Distress Inks: Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade and Gathered Twigs. I let them dry and then I stamped on top of them with Versamark and added Clear Sparkle Embossing Powder by Wow! I think that looks beautiful with that little bit of sparkle. I wanted to keep the card very simple so I just scored the background and added few dragonflies by Technique Tuesday. The sentiment is from Altenew. It really is a simple card, maybe too simple?

The closeup with the sparkling embossing powder seen better.

I am linking this to the ColourQ Challenge #264 and here is the challenge's graphic. Hopefully it is okey that I didn't use one of the colours...

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day! 

Marika

Color me...Playful! #43- challenge and Fusion Card Challenge!

Good evening!

This is my entry to the Color me... Playful! #43- challenge. and to the 
Fusion Card Challenge - Something Wicked This Way Comes.. or Not
This card got Honourable Mention at Color me...! 

This is my second post for today. This week's colour theme Color..me! Card Challenge is Basic Black, Blackberry Bliss, Elegant Eggplant and Crisp Cantaloupe. Perfect colours for a Halloween card! We don't really celebrate Halloween here but I think the inspiration picture was so inspiring that I had to make one... And there are this Halloween themed challenge on at Fusion so I link this card to there as well. 

This card is special with two reasons. I don't have a coloured image here - I usually always have. I found this witches silhouette from internet and fuzzycut it out. I like to cut - I really do - but those bats were difficult, I have to say. The houses are dies from LeCreaDesign and the fence is from Marianne Design. For the background I used Memento and Distress inks which are: Memento Cantaloupe and Lulu Lavender, Victorian Velvet and Dusty Concord Distress Inks. And the coolest part of this card is the MOON! I embossed it with Glow-in-the-dark Embossing Powder by WOW! And look at this, this is how it looks when lights go out...!! I think this is really cool! Especially for the Halloween! I don't have any kind of Halloween themed sentiments so this card have to go without one. LOL! 

Close up taken without the lights.

Here are the graphics for the challenges:

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your lovely comments! They make my day everytime!

Marika

Purple Onion Designs Giveaway!

Good morning all!

My entry to the Purple Onion Charming Winter Giveaway

Well, you all know by now that I really like Stacey Yacula's designs and stamps from Purple Onion Designs. I really love to create these little wintery scenes with these stamps - as you may have noticed.. Purple Onion is having a giveaway, with a chance to win the whole new stamp collection by Stacey Yacula called Charming Winter. Of course, I just HAD to participate! 

Charming winter means a little bit of freeze and a little bit of sunshine for me after the endless dark during the polar night. Here at North during winter when it's almost dark all the time, the winter sky is just beautiful when the sun finally shines a bit - and I mean a BIT, it really shines only few minutes in first couple of days before it goes down again BUT those moments are just beautiful and the long-awaited moments. That's the time when children (and adults also) go out and have a lot fun with sledding and tobogganing. If there're new snow, the scene is just beautifully bright and ... charming! LOL! That's the scene I wanted to create here in this card. 

All the stamps are from Purple Onion Designs. The diecut trees at the back are from Marianne Designs. The sentiment says Merry Christmas in Finnish! I inked the scene with Memento and VersaColor Inks and inks used are: Memento Cantaloupe, Lulu Lavender, Sweet Plum and Versacolor Sky Blue. For the detail I added a little bit Wink of Stella glitter pen for the bunny's hat and a little bit Vintage Shampange Embossing powder to mark the shine from snow around the birch.

Thank you for stopping by today and happy crafting!

Marika

Edited: I was asked about the tree die on the background. It is a die from Marianne Design called Tiny's Pine Trees (CR1287). I got it from a local craft event. In Europe Cuddly Buddly and Glitterpot have it in their selection. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with US online craft stores other than Simon Says Stamp and Ellen Hudson and unfortunately they don't have it in their selection. 

Altenew October Challenge

Good Evening!

My entry to the Altenew October Challenge.

When I saw this month's challenge at Altenew, I immediately knew what I wanted to do. I just had received a couple of new stamp sets from Altenew and one of them was this beautiful Sketchy Rose. Just beautiful!! This months's theme is From the Craft Room: Chocolate Delight. Challenge's graphic is shown below.

I watercolored the rose with Fried Brick and Peeled Paint Distress Inks and to get some detail I added a little bit of Wink of Stella Glitter pen. For the background I used Antique Linen Distress Ink. For the frame I used Gathered Twigs Distress Ink on a craft cardstock. The sentiment is also from Altenew and it was inked with Versafine Onyx Black. Here is the close up taken from a different angle that the shine from the glitter pen and embossing can be seen a little bit better. 

Here's the challenge graphic.

Thank you for stopping by today and have a wonderful day! 

Marika

Merry Monday #131- challenge

Good Afternoon everyone! 

My entry to the Merry Monday #131- challenge.

Today I want to share this card that I made with my daughter, who is three and half years old. This week's theme at Merry Monday #131- challenge is Non-traditional colours. I've had this idea of a snowhill with these cute little images from Purple Onion Designs. I've coloured them a while a go but I had trouple with the background. I just couldn't get it the way I wanted and then I had an idea! I taped a piece of watercolour paper on to a table and gave a brush and three colours of Distress Inks to my older daughter - the master of looseness, wild imagination and chaos! She had tons of fun and the mess wasn't that bad at all. After she had laid down the colours, we sprinkled sea salt on top of the paper to give the spots and let it dry its own. And there it was - my perfect background! 

The distress inks used: Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky and Faded Jeans. All the images are from Purple Onion Designs. I coloured them with Derwent Inktense Pencils.

Challenge's graphic is here and I would say my colours in this card are non-traditional for Christmas since there isn't any gold... :) 

Thank you for stopping by today and Have a wonderful day! 

Marika

Mama Elephant October Challenge and Color Throwdown #314- Challenge

Good Morning all! 

Firstly, I want to thank all of you who has given me such kind comments on my previous cards. I've read all of your comments many times and they really have made my day! Thank you! 

This is my entry to the  Mama Elephant: October Challenge 

and to the Color Throwdown #314 Challenge.

This card was shortlisted  in the Color Throwdown.

I've been seeing these CAS cards that have a square or a circle behind the image. I really like the simple background what that creates so I wanted to try out myself. When I saw the colours of this week's Colour Throwdown #314 Challenge I know I wanted to use Mama Elephant's Up and Away set and make this really sweet card. 

I stamped the images with very light Distress Ink and coloured them with Derwent Inktense Pencils. I didn't want those black lines to show. I didn't know that balloons are so difficult to colour - now I know! LOL!  I added some white Derwent Coloursoft white pencil and Wink of Stella glitter pen to highlight the reflection from the balloons. For the background I used Memento Cantaloupe and Fried Brick Distress Ink and inked the masked square. For the Mama Elephant's sentiment I used Versafine Onyx Black.

In real life the colours of the balloons look more the colours of the challenge - I don't know what happened when I took the photo. 

Since I only used Mama Elephant's products, I will enter this card to their October Challenge as well.

Here are the challenges' graphics:

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day! 

Marika

Penguins from Purple Onion Designs

Good Afternoon!

My entry to the Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge #130 
and to the ColourQ Challenge #263.
This card got ColourQ Courtier from ColourQ Challenge.

I got this card idea when my older daughter was watching The Octonauts this one day. In that episode, it was Christmas time and the Octonauts visited Peso's (the penguin in the show) family in the Antarctic. Peso introduced his "family" which consisted many many relatives. I thought they looked so cute when they were all standing in a huge circle-like-shape - everyone looking a little bit different from one another. Isn't that what happens during Christmas time when family gathers together. The stamp is called Frost from Purple Onion Designs.

I found this perfect challenge for me called Merry Monday Christmas Challenge. I've been participating these different challenges to make Christmas cards. When it comes to the time to post them, I am always short of them, so this year I started early. LOL! It's theme this week is Silent Night evoking the calm, peaceful feeling of silent night before Christmas! The challenge's graphics are shown below. For me, the night before Christmas includes also the excited joy of the children when they know that the Christmas is just One night away! And that was the feeling that I also wanted to express with the penguins in this card. For background I tried to create a scene from here near Arctic during the cold and dark Christmas time. I know that penguins live in the antarctic, so that is a little bit controversial but isn't this just card making - it doesn't have to be real, right? Here's a close up from the little glitter that I added to mark the shine from the moon. I am also entering this card for the ColourQ Challenge #263, the color theme is based on their challenge.  

Here are the graphics for the challenges.

Does it ever happen to you that when you start to do something, you'll get company and you'l end up being an assistant. Well, that happens often in our household and here are some results from that craft date. These cards are for my daughter's friends, who just turned four. Like you can see, I helped with the cutting and gluing, but the design, colour theme and sentiment stamping is made by herself and a few days earlier she made that water coloured background. My daughter is 3.5 years old. The stamps are from Gorjuss. 

Thank you for stopping by. Happy crafting!

Marika

Hero Arts Flowers with watercolours!

Good Evening! 

During the weekend I wanted to do some water colouring and paint some flowers. I've had this flow of making scenery, holiday cards for Christmas and now I wanted to do something different. To get some inspiration I went through some really nice blogs and found some really nice challenges to which I wanted to participate. 

This first one was inspired by Fusion Card Challenge - Hardwood Florals! Perfect what I had in mind anyways! I took the sketch and the background and then I went through my stamps and found these Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms- stamp set. They are not near the flowers in the picture - but they'll have to do. I water coloured them with Distress Inks: Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire. I also found this Inkspirational #67- challenge which had a colour theme in this week's challenge: any shades of Purple and Silver! How pretty is that! I took the silver since I already had purple flowers and stamped this (just beautiful) woodgrain background stamp from Purple Onion Designs. I stamped it with Versamark and heat embossed it with Superfine Silver Embossing Powder by Ranger. Love that stuff, gives really crisp and detailed embossing. I inked white card stock with Dusty Concord and Chipped Sapphire Distress ink to create a border for my background. I die cut those little branches behind the flowers with Tiny Pine Cones- die by Marianne Design. I applied Versamark and black embossing powder and heat set it. For the sentiment I used a sentiment from Technique Tuesday's set called One of a Kind. The challenges graphics and the sketch is shown below.  

And this is my final card! I am pretty pleased for the fact that I really followed the sketch this time almost fully - I just changed the sentiment! LOL! 

My entry to the Fusion Card Challenge - Hardwood Florals
and to the Inkspirational #67.
This card got Honorable Mention at Fusion 
and was one of the top picks at Inspirational.

My second card was inspired by this week's CAS(E) this Sketch #96. Ingredients are the same - just a little bit different design and colour theme. I water coloured the flowers with Distress Inks: Spiced Marmalade, Rusty Hinge and Gathered Twigs. The little branches are die cut from craft card stock and sponged with Gathered Twigs to give some dimension. The background is stamped with Versafine Sepia ink. The sentiment is a bit old and bought in a local craft store. It says "To my Friend" in Finnish. The challege's graphics is shown below.

My entry to the CAS(E) this Sketch #96.
This card was CTS Favorite.

Here are the graphics for the challenges:

Thank you for stopping by today! I am always pleased to hear what you think. Happy crafting!

Marika

CMCC #41 - Colour me... Striking!

Good afternoon! 

My entry to the CMCC #41- challenge.
This card got Honourable Mention in the challenge.

I had a phone call a few days ago and heard that one of friends got engaged! Wohoo! Of course, I immediately started to sketch in mind a card for her. I had this image on my mind with these two cute penguins from Purple Onion Designs sitting alone in the Antarctic in a moonlight - a little bit like us against to the hard world around us! The penguins are called Frost from Stacey Yacula Winter Wishes! Collection. I found this Color Me Card Challenge #41 and this card's colour theme is based on this week's challenge which is Cherry Coppler and Hello Honey. The challenge graphic is seen below. I coloured Frost and her husband-to-be with Derwent Inktense Pencils. I sponged the background with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. For the moon and the moon bridge I used Memento Cantaloupe ink. The sentiment was stamped by Versafine Onyx Black and the sentiment is from Tecnique Tuesday's stamp set called One of a kind. I die cut that little heart and inked it with Fired Brick distress ink and applied Glossy Accents to give some shine and dimension. For the detail, I also added a little bit Wink of Stella glitter pen for the scarf.

Thank you for stopping by today! I really like this card, hopefully it made you smile also! Happy crafting everyone!

Marika

Marianne Design Challenge #113

Good Evening Everyone!

My entry to the Marianne Design Challenge #113.

Today I am back with this Christmas card, which I made to the Marianne Design Challenge #113. The theme was to make a Christmas card - how pleasant since I am in a mood of doing them anyway.  I started with stamping the image called Don & Daisy - Lighting a Candle with VersaFine Onyx Black. Then I created a mask for Daisy and second mask for the snowy hill. After I had placed the masks I sponged Faded Jeans and Stormy sky Distress Inks for the background. I coloured the Daisy with Derwent Inktense and Metallic Pencils. I die cut a snowflake with Swedish Ice Star by Marianne Design. (Just a note, when I bought this set of dies, I had a huge dilemma since I wanted these snowflakes but their name was Swedish Ice stars... There are a set of snowflakes called Finnish Ice stars but at that time they were out of stock.. LOL. I got over it and bought them, these are a beautiful set of snowflakes). I stamped it with Versamark and covered it with Super Fine Silver Embossing Powder by Ranger and heat set it. I made a little banner from blueish patterned paper and stamped the sentiment from Purple Onion Designs with Versafine Black ink. To get some detail, I added a little bit of Wink of Stella glitter pen for Daisy's dress.

Thank you for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful day and Happy crafting!

Marika

The Color Throwdown #312 and CAS(E) this Sketch #95

Good afternoon everyone!

It's a weekend and that's the time for crafting for me when my lovely husband is hanging out with the kids. I got a little bit carried away yesterday though. I made this Christmas card and I really liked the design, so since I will be needing a couple dozens of Christmas cards anyway I might as well duplicate this one and play with colours a bit. This is the first one that I made inspired by this week's CAS(E) this Sketch #95. Lately, I've been seeing lovely wintery scenes made with sponging with distress inks. I think they look so beautiful and make really lovely Christmas cards. I wanted to try out myself also. This is my creation.

This is my (second) entry to
the CAS(E) this sketch #95 -challenge.

I coloured this lovely image called Birch by Stacey Yacula from Purple Onion Designs with Derwent Inktense Pencils. Then I stamped the Winter Bough by Stacey Yacula from POD. I stamped it with Versafine Onyx Black and covered it with Black Glitter Embossing Powder from Papermania and heat set it. Then I masked off the snowy hill and laid some Faded Jeans and Stormy Sky Distress inks to create a background for my card. Then I created a reverse mask for the hill and masked off the background and inked the snowy hill with Tsukineko Brilliance Matte Moonlight White ink. After the snowy hill was dry (which took a LONG time) I stamped the sentiment with Versafine Onyx Black. I framed the picture with some blue card stock. To get some detail, I added some Wink of Stella glitter pen for the Birch's hat. This is the close up where you can see the glitter and the glitter embossing powder better.

Well, I liked this one a lot. I wanted to play with some colours and here are the creations from that play date! 

This is my entry to the Color Throwdown #312- challenge.
This card was shortlisted in the challenge.

These two other cards are made with the same technique as the first one. The penguin with a scarf is also from Stacey Yacula collection from POD: she's called Frost. With Frost's card I used Gathered Twigs Distress Ink for the background: that was the closest to kraft that I could find. I will enter this card to the ctd312- challenge. I've never played along with this challenge before, hopefully I didn't break any rules. 

With the grey shade card I used Memento London Fog, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed distress inks for the background. I tried to create a wintery scene with the sun shining just above the horizon like it does here near the Arctic Circle during Christmas time. My husband commented afterwards that what's up with the air pollutants on the back... I still see the sun though! LOL! 

Here are the inspiration and graphics for the challenges:

Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day and Happy crafting!

Marika

CAS(E) this Sketch #95

Good evening everyone!

My entry for the CAS(E) this Sketch #95.

This is my second post for today. This time I will share my card for the CAS(E) this Sketch. Today I wanted to follow the sketch precisely - or at least that was the plan. Being loyal to my true nature, I just had to flip the sketch and the sentiment - I just can't do what I am told. I always have to add something on my own and that might not be a good thing in this challenge anyway. :) 

My focal point in this card is a magnolia from Altenew stamp set called Magnolias for her. The sentiment is also from the same stamp set and I stamped it with Versafine Toffee ink. I coloured the flower with Distress Inks: Antique Linen for the main colour and added some shading with Rusty Hinge and Gathered Twigs. For the background I die cut a ripe from Neenah desert storm card stock with some border die. I added a few "leaves" made from paper twine. I also sponged some Antique Linen for the edges to give some detail.

This is the sketch for this week's challenge. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

Marika

The Card Concept #20 - Color Challenge

Good morning to all!

My entry for the Card Concept #20- challenge.
This card was one of the winners in the challenge.

Today I have card that I made yesterday for the Card Concept #20- Challenge. It's theme is black, white and orange and I was inspired by the colours and the tablecloth in the picture. The inspiration picture is shown below. This time I wanted to try out the Clean and Simple- style. Usually I have a coloured image in my cards - this time I just sponged the Sizzix's die cut butterfly with Distress inks to be the focal point of my card. I used Mustard seed, Spiced Marmalade and Fired brick Distress inks. I needed something to ground my butterfly, so I die cut with some border die the square and inked it up with Versamark and added some Black glitter embossing power by Papermania and heat set it. I did the same for the thin black border to get some interest on the edge. The little pieces are from the wings of the butterfly which I just tried to position randomly. The sentiment is from Magnolias for Her by Altenew. I think this card came to have some attitude and this is quite different that I've done but I kind of like it more every time I look at the card. I will enter this card for the Clean and Simple category at the Card Consept.

Thank you for stopping by and thank you for your lovely comments on my cards. They make me smile every time I read them. Have a wonderful day and Happy crafting!

Marika