Video Collaboration with Pia - Sparkle and Shine

Hello Everyone!

Today I have something special planned for you. Today is the day when we share our first part of our collaboration with Pia from Pia's Creative World. 

Back in the summer we started talking and planning that this kind of collaboration would be a lot fun - it's like crafting together and finishing up card together although we are living (and crafting) in different countries. In this first part, I made some individual stuff and sent them to Pia and she finished up the card. 

Firstly, if you don't know Pia already - you should! She is so sweet and kind, always happy to help and she happens to have such a creative mind and very talented hands. I find that the name of her blog is just Genius and sums up everything so well! Her style is different from mine  - and I just love that - and that makes this collaboration so interesting. I love her CAS style combined sort of graphic style in card making but still she has a lot of clever and neat ideas that just leave me speechless - oh, I-never-thought-of-doing-that-like-that -kind of way. She has a Youtube channel where she shares some of her work and ideas and if you haven't subscribed, please do so! She speaks such a fluent English and her videos are very easy to follow. If you are interested in new techniques, then her channel is one that you must follow. :)

So here's the card that we've made together:

You can see how we made this card in video tutorial that we made together. You can watch it here or in HD in YouTube.

Supplies that I used:

Stamps: Joe the Skating Snowman from Purple Onion Designs, To the Moon by Altenew.

Dies: Tiny Pine Trees by Marianne Designs

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, SSS Smoke Ink, Fairy Dust and Falling Star Pure Color Ink by Wplus9.

Paper: Canson Watercolour Paper 220gms, Neenah Solar White Smooth Card Stock, SSS Slate Card Stock

Derwent Inktense and Metallic Pencils

Hopefully you found this fun and entertaining. We surely had fun doing this and we both learnt so much in the process. Thank you for stopping by today and see you real soon!

Hugs,

Marika

Altenew November 2015 Blog Hop

Hello!

Today I'm participating Altenew November 2015 Blog Hop to celebrate the release of ten new stamp sets and six new 8.5" x 11" papers. You probably just came from very talented and sweet Amy Gray's blog, if not please start from the beginning at Altenew blog and see what other members of Altenew's design team have come up with. 

On my first card, I went with a Christmas theme. I used couple different sets to create my wreath. Firstly I stamped them with Altenew Peach Perfect ink onto a desert storm card stock. Then I coloured the images with my Inktense Pencils. To get the illusion of snow, I used my white Gelly Roll pen after I had gotten all coloured. The sentiments were stamped with Altenew Jet Black and Dark Chocolate Crisp Inks.

Stamps used: Winter Cardinal, Poinsettia and Pine, Beautiful Day and Halftone Holidays.
Inks used: Altenew Jet Black and Dark Chocolate Inks.

Stamps used: Winter Cardinal, Poinsettia and Pine, Beautiful Day and Halftone Holidays.
Inks used: Altenew Jet Black and Dark Chocolate Inks.

For my second card I used Oriental Orchid set designed by our fabulous design team member May!! Congratulation May!! Your set is so gorgeous and it is so much fun to arrange your orchid flowers in a way you want them. I stamped the images with Altenew  Frosty Pink Crisp Ink onto a smooth card stock. Then I coloured the flowers with copics and coloured pencils. Hopefully I made justice to this beautiful set, I couldn't get them as realistic as I had wished for - need more practise. The sentiment is handwritten by me and it says (hopefully, I can trust the google translate) Thank you in Korean. I got the English version of May's set but I wanted the sentiment to be in Korean to celebrate the release of May's set in Korean! 

My third card features the set called Beautiful Day. This set has fun multilayered flowers but it also has the outline versions of the flowers and I went for the outline ones and coloured them with copics and coloured pencils. The branch seen on the back is from Winter Cardinal set.

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away $30 gift certificate to three lucky winners. Please leave a comment on the Altenew blog by Friday November 20, 11:59 pm EST for a chance to win.

And there is more! I will randomly choose a winner from comments left on this post and the prize will be $30 gift certificate to Altenew online store. Please leave a comment on this post by Friday November 20, 11:59 pm EST for a chance to win. I will announce the winner on my blog after the 20th.

GET HOPPING!

Hopefully you are having fun hopping. Next on the hop is fabulous and so sweet and kind Sveta Fotinia. I'm sure you are in for some serious eye candy on her blog. It is also Sveta's first time on our Release hop so please remember to leave her some love. I'm sure she has worked hard and it is always so nice to know that your efforts are appreciated. If you encounter a broken link along the hop, please start at the beginning from Altenew blog.

Thank you so much for visiting us. See you soon! 

Hugs,
Marika

Miss You Lots with Inktense Pencils

Hello crafters,

I was kindly ask to Guest Design at the Time Out Challenges #39 where the theme is Make your Mark. The challenge is still going on for about a week and I did another card for your inspiration. 

I've purchased this adorable little girl called Miss you Lots by Wplus9. I just haven't had time to colour it until now. While I bought these I thought that they would make a perfect gift for my Goddaughters and this is my first one (of quite a many) and it'll be for my niece. Hopefully she likes it when she receives it. It would be super neat if Dawn would use her magical drawing skills and make a set of stamps like this but little boys in them... What would you think? 

I took a close up since those frames were the only ones that I could find while taking a photo... AND they are HUGE!!. I used no-line colouring technique with Inktense Pencils. For the trees on the background I used a stamp from Coming up Roses and did a bit of watercolour stamping. I very much like how this turned out, in particular I like how the dress turned out. (Many many MANY layers of Inktense pencils...) Lol! And I had a blast colouring! 

Supplies:
Stamps: Miss You Lots and Coming up Roses by Wplus9
Inks: Memento Desert Sand. Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks.
Paper: Daler & Rowney Simply... Watercolour paper 190mgs/90lb, medium grain textured surface

Derwent Inktense Pencils: 
Dress: Sicilian Yellow (0220), Cadmiun Orange (0250), Baked Earth (1800) 
Boots: Sicilian Yellow (0220), Spring Green (1550), Light Olive (1540), Sepia Ink (2010) Hair: Tan (1720), Amber (1710), Saddle Brown (1740), Willow (1900) 
Skin: Willow (1900) 
Petticoat: Sepia Ink (2010)
Kitty and stones: Chinese Ink (2030)
Sky: Iris Blue (0900)
Lake: Iron Blue (0840)
Lakeshore: Tan (1720), Saddle Brown (1740), Willow (1900)
Grass: Spring Green (1550), Light Olive (1540)

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Enjoy your day!

Marika

White Lilies for her

Good Afternoon,

Today is my turn to host Altenew blog. I made this card with Layered Lily set. I wanted to colour these beautiful lilies into white. I really like how the colouring turned out. Here is my card:

Stamps used: Layered Lily and Birthday Greetings.

Stamps used: Layered Lily and Birthday Greetings.

You can watch my tutorial here or in HD in Youtube.



Supplies:
Stamps: Layered Lily and Birthday Greetings from Altenew
Inks: Pumice Stone and Antique Linen Distress Inks,  Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Daler and Rowney Aquafine Texture Watercolour Paper 300gms/140lb, Cold Pressed, Black card stock
Superfine Clear Embossing Powder by Ranger
Vellum

Thank you for stopping by today. Have a great week! 

Marika

Altenew July 2015 Blog Hop

EDIT: This giveaway is closed and you can find the winner HERE! 

Hello Everyone!

Today I'm participating Altenew July 2015 Blog Hop to celebrate a new release of nine new stamp sets. Within this release Altenew brings very different kinds of designs from beautiful florals to silhouette animals. There' surely something for everyone. Please, join me in the celebration. You probably just came from Agnieszka Malyszek if not please start from the beginning at Altenew blog and see what other members of Altenew's design team have come up with. 

Stamps used: Fresh Freesia.

Stamps used: Fresh Freesia.

I just LOVED colouring this. I'm really fond of these outline images that leave you room to be creative and add your own details to make the image yours. This very realistic stamp of a freesia flower just gives you the joy to see the image come alive while colouring it. I googled the flower and added colour and details with my Inktense Pencils. Since I thought this to be a sympathy card, I chose a light grey card stock to be my front panel to get a more toned down look. Before colouring I stamped the flower with light grey ink. I think sympathy cards needs to stay simple so I just added a sentiment at the bottom with black pigment ink and mounted the panel to a darker grey card base. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Fresh Freesia by Altenew.

Card Stock: Simon Says Stamp Smoke and Slate

Inks: SSS Smoke Dye ink

Inktense Pencils used: Carmine Pink (0520), Sun Yellow (0200), Spring Green (1550), Light Olive (1540), Saddle Brown (1740)

Derwent Artists Pencils: Chinese White (7200).

Stamps used: Layered Lily. and Vintage Roses

Stamps used: Layered Lily.

For my second card, I used the 5-step-lily stamp to stamp the flower. I used Altenew inks for my base colour. As I did with the vintage roses, I started at the sedond layer, then the lightest and then I stamped to the darkest. I used black pigment ink to stamp the stamens in the middle because I added details with Inktense Pencils and I didn't want it to smear while blending. With Inktense pencils I sharpened some details and added more shading in the parts that I thought needed more contrast to get more dimension. I drew the little stems in the middle and added a light ombre grey wash for the background. I finished the card with little black dots to give the card some interest.

Supplies:

Stamps: Layered Lily and Vintage Roses by Altenew

Inks: Altenew Crisp Dye Inks: Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red and Grapevine.

Paper: Daler and Rowney Cold Pressed 300gms Textured Watercolour Paper, SSS Smoke Card Stock

Derwent Inktense Pencils used: Carmine Pink (0520), Crimson (0530), Shiraz (0600), Madder Brown (1920), Spring Green (1550), Light Olive (1540), Indian Ink (2020).

Black Irresistible by ImageCrafts

Stamps used: Baby Zoo and Sketchy Cities Abroad

As mentioned earlier, there is something for everyone. I created a scene inspired by Africa to make this Anniversary card. First, I stamped the giraffe's silhouettes with black pigment ink and then fussy cut them with my scissors. To get the mirror image, I just flipped the cut piece over and added a black marker onto it. For the background, I firstly masked off the ground and the sun with post-it tape. Next, I inked the background with Altenew Crisp Dye Inks and found that they worked perfectly creating an array of sunsut colours. I used Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Ruby Red and Grapevine inks. After the background was dry, I took a black marker and sketched the mountains and added some interest to the ground. At the end, I stamped the sentiment with black pigment ink. 

Supplies: 
Stamps: Baby Zoo and Sketchy Cities Abroad by Altenew
Inks: Altenew Crisp Dye Inks: Buttercream, Warm Sunshine, Ruby Red and Grapevine, Versafine Onyx Black, SSS Smoke Dye Ink and Pure Color Dye Ink Fairy Dust by Wplus9.
Black Marker
Copic Markers: W3 - W5 - W7

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate this release, Altenew will draw three winners who will each receive a $50 gift certificate to their online store. Please leave a comment on the Altenew blog by Friday, July 31 11:59pm EST for a chance to win. The winners will be announced on Saturday, August 1st.

And there is more! I will randomly choose a winner from comments left on this post and the prize will be $30 gift certificate to Altenew online store. Please leave a comment on this post by Friday, July 31 11:59pm EST for a chance to win. I will announce the winner here at my blog on Saturday, August 1. 

GET HOPPING!

Your next stop will be very talented Yana Smakula. If you encounter a broken link, please go back to Altenew Blog.

Thank you so much for stopping by! See you soon!

Marika

Christmas scene - Christmas in July with Penny Black - Final Day

Hello my dear friends!

Today is my last day on the Penny Black blog to celebrate Christmas in July. At this point I would love to give my heartfelt thank you for all of you who have been with me along this week long journey and given me such a lovely words and comments. Thank you! Also, thank Penny Black and Jill Foster for asking me to Guest Design for Penny Black. It was a blast! 

For my last day, I was actually inspired by my dear crafting friend, Kelly from You and your big dreams. She is master with copics and she is also very talented in drawing. She has created many amazing cards with background scenes that she has drawn on her own. You can find awesome drawing HERE, and HERE and HERE - just to mention a few. I wanted to experiment if I could follow her footsteps and here is my card for today. Hopefully you like - I had a lot of fun making it. I used a photo of mine as my reference which I have taken in Oxford, UK. Hopefully you find your way to Penny Black blog to see the full card.

Supplies:
Stamps: On the Town and Beauty of the Season by Penny Black
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black
Derwent Inktense Pencils: Poppy Red (0400), Chinise Ink (2030), Payne’s Grey (2110)
Copic Multi-Liner 0.1
Kids Funky Foam White
Watercolour paper
Card Stock: Inspire Me Grey Card Stock, Canson Watercolour Paper 180g/m2

Thanks for stopping by today! See you soon! 

Marika

Tone-on-tone coloured Festive Florals - Christmas in July with Penny Black Day 4

Good Morning Everyone,

Today I'm sharing two of my favourite cards from this Guest Design work for Penny Black. I kind of had this colourless month of June and these tone-on-tone flowers just became my favorite. Here's the sneaks for today's cards. To see the full cards, please visit Penny Black blog.

I also put my camera rolling while making the first card. You can watch it here or in HD in YouTube. Hopefully you find it helpful and try this technique while making your Christmas cards.



Supplies:
Stamps: Festive Florals by Penny Black
Dies: Word of Wishes by Penny Black
Inks: Memento Desert Sand and Brilliance Moonlight White
Derwent Inktense Pencils: Oak (1730)
Derwent Coloursoft Pencils: White (C720)
Card Stock: Neenah Desert Storm 80lb, Neenah Solar White 80lb
White Gelly Roll Pen by Sakura
Perfect Pearl Perfect Pearls by Ranger
Clear Wink of Stella

Thank you for stopping by today. See you tomorrow!

Marika

A Glorious window card - Christmas in July Day 2

Good Morning!

Hopefully you're day has started well. Today I'm featuring a die called Gloriuos at the Penny Black Blog. When I got this die, I fell in love with it at first sight. For this guest design work, I wanted to use it a bit differently - I used it to make a window for my card. And, I'm very pleased how this card came together. I just love the effect what the shadows create for the image inside of the card. Here is a sneak from today's card, I hope to see you at the Penny Black's blog to see the whole card.

I filmed while created, if you wish to see the how-to- video, you can watch it here or in HD in Youtube.

Supplies: 
Stamps: Snowy Hamlet by Penny Black
Dies: Glorious and Word of Wishes by Penny Black
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black and Versamark
Derwent Inktense Pencils: Sepia Ink (2010), Poppy Red (0400), Chinese Ink (2030), Golden Yellow (0230), Cadmiun Yellow (0210) and Oak (1730).
Faber-Castell Polychromo Pencils:
Derwent Metallic Pencils: Pewter (81) and Silver (80)
Wink of Stella Clear Glitter Pen
Superfine Silver Embossing Powder by Ranger

I hope you liked today's card and enjoyed watching my how-to video. Thank you for stopping by and see you tomorrow with a floral card.

Marika

Guesting at the CTS #130

Hello Friends,

Today I am thrilled to tell you that I am guesting at the CTS this week. I've said this before but I love there challenge, unfortunately I haven't had time to play along as much I have wanted to in the past few weeks. Their sketches are just awesome, please play along this week! 

When I received the sketch for this week, my first thought was that this is right in my alley like a friend of mine would say. Then, I quite struggled with it but finally came up with this card to what I am quite happy with. Hopefully you like it! I'm having a bit of colourless month and this card will continue it. Maybe when I come back from our "adventure" I'll be more inspired by the beautiful colours of the summer again. But here is my card:

Here is the sketch by very talented Leigh Penner. She has really eye for design and her blog - To the Full - is full of inspiration. Please, visit her - you'll be really enjoying your visit!

And before anyone asks, that reflection of the fence in the picture is purely from the kitchen table with sunlight coming out of the window. Pretty cool, isn't it?!?! I was so amazed by it.

This is a one-layer card, I stamped the butterfly with light grey ink, the sentiment is stamped with black pigment ink. Then I used Derwent Inktense Pencils to colour in the image. I sketched the "fence" with my pencil and then shaded it with the same inktense pencil.

Supplies:
Stamps: Bejeweled and Birthday Greetings by Altenew
Inks: Memento London Fog and Versafine Onyx Black
Derwent Inktense Pencils: Ink Black (2200)
White card stock 300gsm (manufacturer unknown)

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you play along this week at the CTS! Enjoy rest of your day and see you soon!

Marika

Vintage Roses with Inktense Pencils

Hello my Crafty Friends,

I have been quite silent in the blogland but that is because my girls and I are accompanying my husband to his work trip. I made these DT assignments well ahead and now I'm jus sharing these. So another fortnight has gone and it is my turn to host Altenew blog today. I decided to use Vintage Roses and Flowers set for this post. And of course, I just couldn't keep my pencils in their drawers.. so here is my card:

Stamps and dies used: Vintage Roses and Flowers, Doodle Blooms and coordinating die
and Sentiments and Quotes.

Stamps and dies used: Vintage Roses and Flowers, Doodle Blooms and coordinating die 
and Sentiments and Quotes.

I had to admit that this card reminds me of Formula One - I so should have used different colours. If someone is having trouble using these layering stamp sets (as I did LOL), I share at the video how I managed to get then lined up and look like a flower. These aren't my first attempts, so if you are having hard time layering these, you may consider using this guide here - it helped me a lot! 

You can watch my tutorial here or in HD in YouTube:

May I ask a favour? I have one more tutorial already planned for Altenew, do you have some ideas what you would like to see in them in the future? If do, please let me know them in the comments or email me. I would appreciate it a lot. Thank you!

Supplies:
Stamps: Vintage Roses and Flowers, Doodle Blooms, Sentiments and Quotes.
Dies: Doodle Blooms die set, Vintage Flowers and Roses die set.
Inks: Altenew Crisp Inks - Buttercream, Warm Sunshine and Caramel Toffee, Frayed Leaf and Forest Glades, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Canson Watercolour Paper 180gms, Neenah Solar White 80lb, 
Derwent Inktense Pencils: Sienna Gold (0240), Mid Vermillion (0310) and Light Olive (1540).
Copic Multi Liner 0.5 Black
Derwent Aqua Brush no.2

Thank you for stopping by today. See you soon! 

Marika

Sketchy Rose with an Inktense Pencil

Good Afternoon everyone!

I am hosting Altenew blog today and I am featuring Sketchy Rose set. We had a discussion with my hubby the other day what is monochromatic and he suggested that it is purely something that can be made using only one pencil. Well, that really sounded a challenge for me all though I still believe a card can be monochromatic other ways too. So, I used Sketchy Rose and stamped it on coloured card stock and added shading with an Inktense pencil. I really had fun with this piece and I am planning on doing another with the same technique later on. I really really liked the end product, hopefully you do to. So here is my project for today:

I filmed while I coloured, if you wish to see it, you can watch it here or in HD in Youtube.




Supplies:
Stamps: Sketchy Rose and Sentiments and Quotes by Altenew
Inks: Memento Desert Sand, Versafine Onyx Black
Derwent Inktense Pencils: Oak (1730)

Thank you for visiting and have a great day! See you soon!
Marika

Stacey Yacula's new stamp collection Sweet Occasions is released!

Hello my friends!

Today is the day when the new collection of stamps from Stacey Yacula is in sale at Purple Onion website. The collection consists of 25 adorable images and a coordinating sentiment set with 20 different sentiments. 

Michele, is so sweet that if you act fast she is offering you a discount if you purchase the entire collection. For a limited time you can purchase the entire Sweet Occasions collection for $100.00.  This is a 30% discount off the regular prices.  This offer is only available until Sunday, June 7, 2015. 

I have a card to share today also. Here it is:

Stamps used: Cinnamon and Sweet Occasion sentiment set

Instructions: I started by stamping the Cinnamon with black pigment ink onto a watercolour paper. I coloured the squirrel with my Inktense Pencils. I used my pencil to draw the branch and coloured the trunk and the leaves with Inktense pencils. (Yes, again had tons of fun doing this). I added some doodling with my alcohol marker after I was finished with colouring and let it dry in between. Then I temporarily adhered the circle die behind the watercolour paper and ran it through my die cutting machine. This way, there isn't going to be that "indents" showing on the right side. :) Then I adhered the little stripes of patterned paper onto my card base and adhere the watercolored panel to it. I die cut a same sized circle out of fun foam and adhered the centre pieces to it and then to my card base. I stamped the sentiment with black pigment ink.

Supplies:

Stamps: Cinnamon and Sweet Occasions sentiment set from Purple Onion

Inks: Memento Tuxido Black, Versafine Onyx Black

Dies: A circle die (manufacturer unknown)

Card stock: Canson watercolour paper 180gms, Dovecraft Back To Basics IV Designer Paper Pack

Derwent Inktens Pencils: Willow (1900), Saddle Brown (1740), Tan (1720), Oak (1730), Sepia Ink (2010), Spring Green (1550), Light Olive (1540).

Copic Multi Liner Black 0.1

Card base: Papermania A6 300gms 

Thank you for stopping by today! See you real soon!

Marika

CAS(E) this Sketch #120, Throwback Thursday #3 and Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

 Hi Everyone!

This is my entry to the CAS(E) this Sketch #120, Throwback Thursday #3
Inkspirational #81.

I've been anxiously waiting for my parcel from Wplus9 to arrive and it finally arrived this Monday. I was so amazed how fast it was shipped (within 2 hours after I placed my order). Delivery to Helsinki was quite fast (about a week) BUT then the parcel was held at the customs and it took almost two weeks to get here... You might be able to believe that every afternoon I was waiting the post to come like a little kid at  Christmas and every time I was disappointed. Just knowing that the parcel is just sitting at the customs to be declared kind of made me crazy... Well, it arrived and my girls and I were as happy to go through all the stuff that we had ordered. My girl wanted to colour the Miss you lots -girl and I went for this gorgeous image of a this little Chickadee. Before we started on Thursday, I went and looked up the newest challenge at the CAS(E) this Sketch. I was so amazed to see how perfectly this stamp was made for their challenge. Thanks for my friend Michele who pointed out for me who this bird really was since I think we only have his relatives living here in Europe.  I googled him and tried to stay true to his real colours, I believe he got more yellow under his chest as he might have but I doesn't really bother me - at all. 

I had a tons of fun watercolouring this image. I stamped the image with light brown ink and I used Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours and as I usually go for one colour and use the shades of that to colour and to add dimension and shading to my watercolours, I wanted to challenge myself to actually colour as it is meant with watercolours. While I was adding another washes of different colours and shades of those colours on top of each other, the bird started to look like a REAL bird. I was so amazed that I had just painted this, so amazed. I've never done anything like this before and I will certainly keep this card to myself. I would like to thank Dawn and Wplus9 for making this stamp since the design is all theirs - I just added the colour.

I will enter this into these challenges:

CAS(E) this Sketch #120 - the sketch

Throwback Thursday Challenge #3 - Use Wplus9 stamp

Inkspirational  #81 - Space - I have lots of white space in my card

Supplies:

Stamps: A new day by Wplus9

Paper: Canson 180gms watercolour paper, Colour Me 180gms card stock (grey)

Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours: no. 61, 67, 32, 53, 54, 47, 44, 40, 20, 46

Derwent Inktense Pencils: Iron Blue (0840), Iris Blue (0900) (Background)

Thank you for stopping by today! See you soon!