White Moon

Hello Friends!

I'm at the Altenew blog today to feature To the Moon set. I combined it to Painted Butterflies set and used the sentiment from Fresh Freesia set. I saw the sketch at the CAS(E) this Sketch by N@ Ali - awesome sketch!! I used that as my base inspiration for this card. Hopefully you enjoy! Here is my card for today:

Stamps used: To the Moon, Painted Butterflies and Fresh Freesia.

Stamps used: To the Moon and Painted Butterflies.

I also made a video tutorial. Hopefully you find it helpful. Had a quite a struggle filming it though.



Supplies: 
Stamps: To the Moon, Painted Butterflies and Fresh Freesia by Altenew
Inks: The Moon: Pure Colour Fairy Dust by Wplus9. SSS Smoke, Versamark, Versafine,  Onyx Black and Altenew Jet Black Ink, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks
Superfine Clear Embossing Powder by Ranger
Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb
Silver Irresistible Picco Embellisher by Tsukineko
Copic Multiliner Black 0.3
Stamp-a-Magic


Thank you for stopping by today! See you soon! 

Marika

Another new baby card with Purple Onion

Hello!

Hopefully you are not too board with my new baby cards - I needed quite a many this summer. Here is another example, this time I used watercolours. I had a blast playing with these cute Purple Onion stamps and watercoloring this. I just loved how those rocks turned out. 

Stamps used: Sweetheart and Sweet Occasion sentiment set.

Supplies:
Stamps: Sweetheart and Sweet Occasion sentiment set from Purple Onion Designs.
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black
Watercolours: Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolours
Paper: Canson 180gms Textured Watercolour Paper

A quick reminder, there is still anniversary sale going on at the Purple Onion Designs. Until 24th of August - all stamps are 25% off. 

Thank you for stopping by today! See you soon!

Marika

Freshly Made Sketches #200 Challenge Celebration

Hello!

Today I'm participating in Freshly Made Sketches #200th Challenge Celebration. I've a big fan of sketches - they are a great starting point for a card. FMS is an awesome challenge and today they are celebrating their 200th sketch! How amazing is that?!? Congratulations!! 

Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating their awesome milestone with tons of sponsors.   Please, join the fun with us and have some fun in your craft room and be eligible to win awesome prices. So here is the sketch first and then my take on it!

Supplies:
Stamps: Figure Effects by Altenew
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Altenew Crisp Ink Ruby Red
Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb
Copic Multiliner 0.5 Black

Hopefully you find time to play along with us. Thank you for stopping by today. See you soon!

Marika

Welcome little one with Purple Onion

Hello!

Here's another example how cute these Purple Onion Designs stamps are. I made this card with stamps from Stacey Yacula Studio Collection. 

Stamps used: Chloe and Birch Tree Background.

Supplies:

Stamps: Chloe and Birch Tree Background from Purple Onion Designs

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Shabby Shutter and Faded Jeans Distress Inks

Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb

Copic Multiliner Black 0.3

Copic Markers: Grey (bunny and birch): W1 - W3 - W5, Shirt: R81 - W00, Grass: YG91 - YG95 - YG03 - YR31 - R81 - YG67

Just a quick reminder that Michele from Purple Onion Designs is having an anniversary sale until Monday 24th of August 2015. All stamps are 25% off. 

Thank you for stopping by today. Have an amazing day!

Marika

Congratulations on your new house with Purple Onion

Hello friends,

Today I am sharing a card that I made with Purple Onion Designs stamps. Some of you may know that I my hubby took me to my first hiking trip. We hiked and camped in the forest for three days in Kuusamo in Eastern part of Finland. Beautiful scenery and pure nature. This card was very much inspired by that trip of ours:

I started to expreriment with my copics and drew and coloured this scene. For this card I used Birch Tree Background from Stacey Yacula Studio. Stacey also have a tent stamp called Tent but I didn't have that stamp in my collection so I drew my own tent. I asked my friend Nonni that what kind of card this could be and she suggested that this would make a sweat housewarming card. Then I coloured Charlotte from Stacey Yacula Studio Collection and added the sentiment from Sweet Occasions Sentiment Set. I thought this mouse looks so proud of his new "waterproof" home that I thought he is perfect for this card. Thank you, Nonni! You're the best!

And great news, Michele from Purple Onion Designs is having an anniversary sale starting today  - all stamps are 25% off until Friday 28th of August! Have great time shopping!

My blogging friend, Julia from Just One More Card, is joining us with the celebration of this Anniversary Sale this month at the Purple Onion. Please, visit her blog and leave her some love. She does such a cute cards with Purple Onion Designs' stamps and she usually makes a videos of them as well. 

Supplies:

Stamps: Birch Tree Background, Charlotte, Sweet Occasions Sentiment Set from Purple Onion Designs

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Shabby Shutters and Faded Jeans Distress Inks

Copic Multiliner Black 0.1 and =.3

Copic Markers: Green (tent): YG91 - YG95 - YG97 - YG99, Grey (birch and mouse): W0 - W1 - W3 - W5 - W7 - W9, Red: R35 - R37, Pink: R81

Thanks for stopping by today! See you soon!

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

Exciting news - I'm joining in the Purple Onion Designs' Team!

Hello my friends,

Today, I have very exciting news to share. You all probably know that I love to make cards with Purple Onion Designs cute critters.. and today I am able to say that in the future I will be making even more cards with their stamps since lovely Michele, from Purple Onion Designs asked me to join in her team! So thrilled! 

To celebrate this I noticed that this week over at the Time Out -challenge, there is CASE challenge and there is my new team mate Alice to be CASEd. Alice from Alice's (little) Wonderland is one of those colourist that I just adore. Her skills with no-line copic colouring are just stunning! So what would be more perfect to celebrate this than make a card for her challenge. So here is my card:

This is my entry to the Time Out- challenge #36.

And here is the wonderful card by Alice:

I was inspired by Alice's little critter and her lay-out. I'm also a big fan of Alice's way of using bold colours - in this card I tried to mimic her colour themes.  This little fella is from Purple Onion Designs and he is called Cinnamon and the branch is called Blossoming Perch. I stamped them with black ink and coloured with copic markers. I don't have washi tape so I had to improvise so I just inked the background with light yellow ink. To finish off my card I added a dark brown border and a few tiny little flower sequins here and there. I changed the place of the sentiment to the right, opposite corner - I've seen Alice to use this many times. 

Supplies:
Stamps: Cinnamon,  Blossoming Perch and Sweet Occasions sentiment set by Purple Onion Designs.
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Altenew Crisp Buttercream Ink
Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb, SSS Dark Chocolate
Copic Markers: Browns: E55 - E23 - E47 - E49, Greens: YG91 - YG95, Pinks: W0 - R81 - RV34

There's still time to join us at the Time Out to CASE Alice. Hope to see your card at the gallery. Thank you for stopping by today! See you soon! 

Marika

Altenew July 2015 Blog Hop WINNER!

Good Morning!

I am here to announce the winner of the Altenew July 2015 Blog Hop Winner! I used random.org to draw the winner. There were total of 401 wonderfully kind comments, which I've read with great appreciation. Thank you.

Here's the winner:

And 86th comment was left by:

Асель Бапанова24 July 2015 at 20:11

You are a Queen of coloring! Your cards are stunning!!!

Congratulations! Please, email us at winner@altenew.com with the subject line Marika's July 2015 Blog Hop Winner and we will set you up with your prize of $30 gift certificate to Altenew store. 

Blueberries in a Golden Garden

Hello Friends,

It is my turn to host Altenew's blog today. On the next week and so, we are having focus posts at the Altenew blog. Each design team member features a newly released stamp set and shows different ways to use. So much inspiration and a lot of fun techniques. Today is my turn so here are my cards:

Stamps used: Golden Garden and Baby Zoo

It is a blueberry season here in Finland it seems I see them everywhere. I created this card with the Golden Garden set. Since there is only one "blueberry" image, I used mirror stamping technique to get the mirror image and more natural look to my card. I try to explain it in my tutorial. You can watch it here or in HD in YouTube.



Supplies:
Stamps: Golden Garden and Baby Zoo by Altenew
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink: Jet Black
Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb, SSS Olive Card Stock, Balck and Light Blue Texured Card Stock by Papermani
Copics used: BV20 - BV23 - BV25 - BV29 (blue), YG91 - YG95 (green)

For my second card, I stayed in my comfort zone. I stamped and coloured, did a bit of masking and then to retain some contrast and to add little interest I doodled around my flowers and leaves with a black marker. Here's the card:

Stamps used: Golden Garden, Halftone Hello and co-ordinationg die
and Sentiments and quotes.

Supplies:
Stamps and dies: Golden Garden, Halftone Hello and co-ordinationg die and Sentiments and quotes by Altenew
Inks: Altenew Crisp Dye Inks: Frosty Pink, Frayed Leaf and Grapevine, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: Neenah Solar White 80lb, Red Textured Card Stock from Papermania, Black card stock
Copics: R81 - RV34 (pink), YG91 - YG95 (green)
Black Copic Multiliner 0.1


For my third card I went to a different direction. My first thought was to make a white-on-white wedding card but the idea grew while creating. A few weeks back, there was this awesome sketch by Michelle Williams at the CTS. At that time I didn't have time to play along but I wanted to use the sketch sometime. This card is created inspired by Michelle's awesome sketch:

Stamps used: Golden Garden, Baby Zoo and Ori Kami.

Supplies:
Stamps: Golden Garden, Baby Zoo and Ori Kami
Inks: Altenew Crisp Inks: Forsty Pink and Coral Berry, Versafine Onyx Black
Paper: WHSmith Linen Paper, Silver Glitter Paper by Primeco
SSS White Iris Sequins
Superfine Silver Embossing Powder by Ranger

Thank you for stopping by today! See you soon!

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