Spring Wishes

Hello everybody,

I come today with another card i made using the same stamp-set from yesterday but this time with a more watercolor feel to it. The wait i did it was very chaotic, just jumping from idea to idea with no clear end in mind.

For the background i used mushed distress inks, on top of which i then embossed the poppies' outlines with white embossing powder. And because it felt like the poppies were getting lost too much in the background i decided to stamp the other pieces in the stamp-set as well with more intense colors in order to define them and make them stand out from the background. When everything was done i embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder on top of a vellum strip and added Wink of Stella to the flowers and the buds.

Finally, i rounded the corners of this watercolor piece and attached it to pretty green-teal(ish) card base using fun foam for support and dimension.

I really love how it turned out and i think i will be making at least 2 or three more cards like this. Would be nice to give them as birthday cards or just notes to friends and family.

As for the photos, i think i turned my entire house upside down looking for a good angle and lighting to catch best the feel and look of the card. And i think i finally got it. I really want to do my cards justice, because when they find a new owner, all i am left with are photos. And its also my only way of sharing my craft with you.

Additionally i would also like to enter this Spring card to the Color Throwdown challenge for this week. This challenge was perfect for me to play with my colors and invoke the warmth that Spring and Summer brings.


And given that i have finally found a good spot that i liked for the photos i decided to invite yesterday's card to the photo-shoot. I have to say that i like these photos more than the previous.
That's it ... on my list for tomorrow's shopping ... white and patterned paper for background. :D

I really hope you have enjoyed today's card and if you have any tips and tricks for me to take better pictures i am looking forward to reading them down in the comments.  

Have a great weekend,

Teodora

When 50 means Gold

Today i have for you a card i made with the Painted Poppy stamp-set from Altenew which i adore.
And the Altenew Crisp inks are not crispy just because it sounded great when they thought about them. They really stamp amazing and i can't get enough of them. I keep on finding new stuff to ink up and put on my cards. I just hope i didn't go too far with this card.

This card i made for a special couple that is turning 50 years of marriage around this date. I can't imagine such an amount of years spent with someone, but boy, it has to be great to look back and see all that you have accomplished together, how wonderful these years have been, not just counting the good memories, but also the bad and how working together made all those problems diminish or go away. I wish I will be able to find something like that as well. Or maybe i have ... only time will tell.

Being gold embossed it was so hard to catch the light and give you a best idea of how this card looks like. But i hope you get the idea. I stamped with different shades the poppies, as well as the leafs and the buds and for the flowers i gold embossed their outline. It gives such an elegant feel to the card, i love it.  Inside i have also stamped and gold embossed a bud with the stem as well just to tie it with the exterior of the card.

 

I hope you have enjoyed my card and i wish you all a great weekend.

Teodora

Happy Spring and Updates

Hello everybody,

I didn't even get a chance to say Happy New Year. And its already March. Ladies, happy Women's Day for yesterday. It seems i am late for everything this year! :D Nevertheless i made a couple of cards with new supplies i got either for Christmas from my awesome boyfriend or later, after i got greedy and having discovered this great shop online here in Denmark called Hobbyboden. 

However, after the beginning of the year it took me a while to start crafting again, due to some exams i still had to study for and take (2 or 5 days exams :D - isn't that a lot). But with the right motivation and willingness to bring some happiness to someone i finally got my creativity back. 

And this motivation was that i really wanted to cheer my two beautiful sisters on, with their amazing accomplishment to have been accepted to participate in X Factor Denmark. They are called Embrace and the show is every Friday at 20:00 on DR1. You should vote because they are wonderful, the way they sing and not even just that. They are warm, with big hearts and very funny. Just remember ... EMB to 1212 or on the DR App. :D

And for them, for finding the courage to do what they are now doing, and killin' it if it i might add, i made a couple of cards to congratulate them. ⇊

The next one is for their parents, just letting them know that they are in our hearts and that we wish them to win this competition, which i have no doubt that they will! :D With every week, they charm the entire Denmark with their amazing talent. ⇊

And a card i made for their little sister, because she needs to know how awesome she is and how talented as well and that she shouldn't give up on her dreams. ⇊

And this next card i made for when i went to see them live in Copenhagen. OMG, what an experience. How wonderful is to see it all in action, the magic behind the cameras hehe. ⇊

14th of February  ... just a note for my boyfriend to remind him that i love him ... if he, by any chance, forgot :P ⇊

And before i knew it was already the end of February, and remembering that March is coming. And in Romania, from the 1st of March to the 8th of March (when the International Women's Day is) these are sacred days of joy and flowers and everything that means spring. Which i don't feel as much here in Denmark, but i try to make my home here, as close as possible to what i used to feel when i was still living in Romania. Ok ok ... i miss it a lot. :D ⇊

I made the following cards for my mom, sister and grandma, and sent them as well. But until now, only one of them arrived. I really don't get how letters get lost in the mail or how should i even send them ... Same thing last year! :( How did people used to do it 50 years ago? Was sending mail by post more reliable then than now?

And these 2 cards i made for my 2 amazing friends and colleagues :D to wish them a Happy Spring on the 1st of March in the traditional Martisor colors ... red and white! :D 

And this is it ... for now at least! Wishing you all a Happy Spring and make sure to enjoy and celebrate every small thing that brings a smile to your face! :) 

Teodora

The most wonderful time of the year ...

... has arrived. It's the time when I discover that magic do exist. Christmas is my favorite time of the year because it reminds me of family, of love and kindness. And it makes me so happy that i get to create magic for others in the form of cards. And I have finally started to create my bundle for this year. 

The following card is a recreation of a card i did the previous year, when i was just starting with paper crafting. Then i had colored my snow-man with pencils and this year with watercolors. I finally got myself to buy the Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors, which i absolutely adore and can't wait to get to experiment with them better! Additionally i also bought a set of clear stamps with the sentiment God Jul (danish for Merry Christmas) in different fonts, which you will get to see across these 2 months.

This next card started as an experiment. I have recently acquired a Versamark stamp pad and embossing powders from WOW and 2 stamp sets from Create a Smile (Smiling Snowflakes and Perfect Tune). Then i got to play a little with the distress inks on top of the embossing to see how it would look like. And i loved it so much that i just couldn't scrap it. It might not be that Christmasy but in my world, Christmas is all about colors and bringing happiness and joy. And making this certainly brought me joy. :) 

This last card is a recreation of Kristina Werner's Day 2 Christmas Card from her Christmas Series. I have to say that i love this card and i plan to do many similar cards to this one in the future. It is a bit time consuming but i have a steep learning curve and i hope it will take less and less. Anyway, the elegance and coziness of this plaid motif really reminds me of home and family. 

I hope you have all enjoyed my start into the Holiday Season. If you have any questions about the cards or the materials please leave a comment, i promise i will answer! :)

Have a great weekend everybody

Teo

Creative Little Holiday

We finally had our (little) holiday, after the exam and i felt really creative, where i should have started reading for school. But nevertheless in the last 2 days i have created a bunch of new cards, some inspired or recreated, and some completely new (that i know of!).

This beauty underneath is a take on a card made by Kristina Werner and of course i didn't have the stamp-set, but i made do with a ruler and several flower stamps! :D It can also be a spring sunset as well. ahaha

For this card i decided to do some repetitive stamping, after which i covered the background with a watercolor wash and then used my markers to color in the boxes and added glittery accents.

This card is also based on a card Kristina Werner made but i decided to take it a step further and make a shaker card out of it. And this is a very small card as well, maybe 7 by 7 cm.

For this card, i wanted to use my stencils, cause there has been a long time and i didn't want to feel guilty for purchasing them without a purpose. Also, i really wanted to use the girl stamp again, because i wanted to give them a longer life, for the same reason. After i had finished the card seemed a little dull, and the girl wasn't standing out, therefore i just colored in an oval with my black permanent marker and i think it worked. :) 

I made this card with an awesome friend/close relative in mind. As i said previously, i wanted to use the stencils i had, so i did the same thing, this time on normal card-stock, and alternated the 4 distress colors i have, using peacock feathers and picked raspberry together and then mustard seed and spiced marmalade to create somewhat of a dynamic background. I have to say that i really love this background and the feel of it is almost like a patterned paper. In the end i decided to add a bit of interest to a couple of the squares with glittery accents.

This card was also made with a special friend/family in mind, for this person's birthday. Here i used my home-made stencils and a couple of stamps from my girl stamps. It made sense for me to write instead of Happy Birthday, Enjoy your trip - Share your journey! It feels more involved. The 22 is hand written, but boy, do i need to buy some letter and number stamps.

This last piece is a bookmark that i made when i decided to test my Memento Tuxedo Black ink from Tsukineko. I repeated stamping 3 different flowers and then colored them with my Staedtler Triplus colors. Nothing fancy, can't even blend with them, but for a flat colored look, they do their job. I didn't want to waste that piece of paper where i had tested the ink, so i decided to do a bookmark instead :D It looks so pretty in my VBA programming book! :D

This was it for this week, and thank you all for getting here. Boy, was that a long post or what?! In the meantime i am waiting for 2 stamp-sets from Create a Smile, and then i need to buy some danish Christmas sentiments to get started on my Christmas production. :D Yuhuuuu!!!

Have a wonderful week all,

Teo

Last couple of weeks

During the last couple of weeks things have been a bit hectic so i didn't have time to be creative as much as i felt i could have been. Nevertheless i made a couple of cards that i am very proud of. This post will not be very long, but just wanted to let you know that i finally started "playing" with stamps and water-coloring.

Here goes, enjoy! :)

These last 2 cards bellow i made for 2 very special friends of mine!

I know i still have a long way to go in terms of watercoloring, nevertheless i love it and can't wait to start creating backgrounds and all. Got myself some masking gum paste so i hope to be playing with that too, soon, after my impending exam on Wednesday.

Have a wonderful week dear people,
Signing out,
Teo :)

Uncertain comeback

Hello beautiful people,

It's been long since i had my last post due to having moved recently and starting a new education. Nevertheless, my wonderful boyfriend got me this goodie bag with a lot of stuff from Panduro (100 kr ... it was a steal with everything it had inside -> i wish i could have done a haul video with discovering what it had inside, because they are sold in brown paper bags, clipped at the top, so its completely random what you will get ), our local craft store, and it got me inspired and longing to create some more cards. I missed being creative every day, and the way the time passes when you do something you love.

Additionally, yesterday we were passing though our big shopping center and of course, it couldn't have been without me going in Panduro and getting something. This time i bought a label maker because it was on sale with 4 neon colors included. It was my first time trying something like this but i can say i absolutely love it. Planning to get all other label colors Panduro has on stock because its genius. It feel like child's play when doing labels but maybe a more professional one such as Dymo would work even better, Not sure how much will the letter press last ... but until then, i will enjoy it as much as i possibly can.

Therefore, last night ... i created 2 similar cards with some of the ribbons and brads from the goodie bag and a Christmas card, using kind of vellum plasticized paper from a paper pack i got from Lidl a while back.

I will not say more about the cards, because their making is quite straight forward! :) I started light because i was out of practice! :D

I hope you enjoyed my uncertain comeback, and i say uncertain, because i have a lot to study for my new education. Might go about every Friday after class doing some more cards. I need to create my stack for Christmas and renew my Birthday and Thank you cards.

Source of inspiration: Here and Here. Pinterest FTW. :D

Have a wonderful week,
Teo ;)

Sending Love

So it's Tuesday ... and i actually thought it was Wednesday and that the deadline over at CAS Colours & Sketches was tonight so because of that i had a sparkle of inspiration. A couple of weeks ago i drew and water coloured with distress inks this image from a picture i saw on Pinterest (can't find the link right now, sorry). 

Because it was a large illustration, i decided to stick it on the inside of a card after trimming it down a LITTLE. :P Given that the inspiration came from the challenge, i had to incorporate the 3 square in my card composition and thus these 3 windows were born.  Compared with the original sketch, i horizontally flipped the squares to fit a little better my illustration. 

The card base was really thin so i stuck on the backside another piece of watercolor paper which has the same texture as the illustration on the other side. It also gave me the necessary hiding spots for sticking the vellum which serve as windows.

After i came up with the sentiment and drew it on with a permanent fine-line marker both on the cover and on the inside i felt the card lacked something, and therefore i drew these corner doodles you see in the pictures. At the point of each doodle corner i added sticky pearls. It feels so elegant this way. 

In order to tie the inside with the outside together, i draw and painted with the same colors 3 different sized hearts, which i cut and then mounted on foam squares. 

Sorry for the long post and many pictures but i felt this card deserved a little bit more love in order to be able to show you all the features. I absolutely adore this card and can't wait to send it to someone special. 

As stated above, i am entering this card in the CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge 124: Sketch. 

Thank you for visiting my blog,

Have a wonderful evening,

Teodora

Friends are Sunshine

While browsing around the challenges that came out this week, one really inspired me. I am talking about the Less Is More Week 224 Challenge "Hello Sunshine". 

Therefore i decided to create a Rays of Sun stencil, given that i didn't have any, so that i could use it with distress inks and create this sun. 

I have also created a tutorial which you can find it here in where you can see how i created my stencil with low cost materials that everybody may have lying around.

I have also used a written words stencil that i bought in a pack of 4 from Panduro and daubed with Spiced Marmalade. The sun and the rays are Mustard Seeds. Then i used a piece of orange ribbon to create a delimitation and proceeded to writing my sentiment. 

As it is obvious, i will also enter this card in the Less is More Week 224 Challenge. Another challenge i will enter my card in is ShowCASe Your Style Challenge #15: Friendship.

Thanks for stopping by,

Have a wonderful sunny weekend, 

Teo

Mom's Birthday Card

Heya all,

As i was saying in the previous post, i have decided to create another card for my mom's birthday using the same stencil. This is the result. I used a different set of papers which i can't remember where i downloaded on the internet (sorry for that) and black cardstock on white card base. The sentiment i wrote on a piece of vellum and embellished it at the end with several holographic sticky crystals. 

Today was short, i know ... but all i can say is that i adore this card and how it turned out. 

I will be entering this card in the Virginia's View Challenge. Virginia has created this challenge with a special prize in mind. A Craftsy Card Class Giveaway. She has also included in her post a FREE Class from the Craftsy page. I have already seen a couple of videos from that class and i loved this idea for the gift card pocket in your cards. Looking forward to seeing the rest! :) 

Thank you for visiting my blog,

Have a great weekend,

Teo