Pan Pastel (9)

This card took me maybe 5 minutes to make and I think it looks great! 

Pan Pastel (8)

I've made this card a while ago (as you can see at the trees in the background), but I'm showing it now 'cause the season is more suiting.  This stamp from Stampotique is perfect for creating a fall feeling.

Pan Pastel (7)

I'm really addicted to my panpastels :). Here's another one with Art Journey stamps this time.

Birthday card for Annemie

The current challenge on the Sweet Pea Stampers blog is Halloween. Although we don't have a Halloween tradition in Belgium, I make one card every year.  On October 31st, it's also my youngest sister's birthday so I try to include the Halloween theme in her birthday card.  I've used Basic Grey papers from the Indian Summer collection and of course a Sweet Pea Stamp: Little Witch Cat from Elaine Cox.

Pan Pastel (6)

Another card with panpastels and the same Tim Holtz stamping set as last week.   The sentiment I added is a LOTV stamp, but maybe the look is too cute for this card.  It should have been more tough looking, but I've already send this card.

Pan Pastel (5)

Another panpastel card with Tim Holtz stamps!



Stamping Day (2)

Today I'm finally showing you the results of the second workshop of the stamping day. This workshop was organised by Laurette. 

Birthday card

This is a very simple birthday card.  I've used Elzybells stamps: Teddy Surprise, which I've coloured with copic markers.

Stamping Day (1)

With a huge delay, I'm showing the first results of the stamping day of the Belgian yahoo-group: creatief met stempels. The theme of the stamping day were atc's.  I'm not into atc's, but afterwards I have to say it's a nice size to work on and I can use them on cards because I'm not into the swapping.  These 4 atc's are the result of the first workshop, given by Linda

Pan Pastel (4)

This is the next card in my little serie of pan pastel. This size of card (10x10cm)  is actually pretty nice to work on, so I might use it again in the future: square in stead of rectangle.  Another conclusion of this serie is I love pan pastels, they are easy to work with, it goes fast and the result looks great!

Birthday card for Hanka!

I'm really having a creative weekend :) . Although I have to admit this card was laying on my desk for a while, I only had to glue it together and add the sentiment.  It's a card for my nephew's daughter Hanka, who's birthday's coming up next month. I've used a Sugar Nellie stamp: Moon Beam. I'm actually pretty proud of the colouring. I usually end up way to dark, but with this one I've managed to keep the colours soft and the shadows are good visible. The papers are from Kruidvat and the sentiment stamp is Crafter's Companion.  Some dew drops finish the card.  I'm entering this one in the Sugar Bowl Challenge 108: anything goes.

Birthday card for Lauren!

October is a very busy birthday month in our family, so this will not be the last card I'll show you.  This one is for the daughter of my other niece, Lauren who's celebrating her second birthday this month.  I used the same stamp as I really fell in love with 'Birthday Fairy' from LOTV.  I also used the same paperpad as it was still on my desk.  The sketch came from the Papertake Weekly Challenge Blog, but I turned the square sketch #83 into a rectangle card. I didn't add embellishments, only a text stamp from Aud's Design.

Birthday card for Stien!

The little daughter of my niece is celebrating her first birthday next week, so this deserves a beautiful birthday card of course.  I've used a LOTV stamp: Birthday fairy. It's a stamp from an older collection, but I only recently bought it second hand and I'm really happy with it. I loved colouring it with my copics.  The sketch is from the current challenge on the Sketch and Stash Challenge blog. I've followed the sketch but changed the square shape into a rectangle and I also left the embellishements behind.  The patterned papers (which have some glitter, but it's not visible on the photo) are from First Edition 'Hideaway'. 

Pan Pastel (3)

My third pan pastel card didn't turn out how I expected it, but I adapted my ideas a bit: I put the text on top of the balloons in stead of in between them because they turned out to dark. I think this saved the card (a little bit) and the result is ok.

Pan Pastel (2)

I immediately made a serie of 10x10cm cards with my pan pastels. For this one, I used my new Stampinback stamps and I love the summer feeling of the card.  I wish the weather in Belgium was a little bit more like this!

Vacation!!!

It's finally my turn to go on vacation. I'll spend the coming week in Roquetas de Mar (Spain). I'm really looking forward to it :)  This picture is from 2 years ago when we also stayed there.  When I'm back, I hope to have renewed energy to do more crafting and update my blog more regularly.

Pan pastel (1)

In June there was a reunion with the Belgian Yahoo-stamping group I'm member of: creatief met stempels.

In advance we all had to make a card and these were raffled on the stamping day.  Because I had just bought panpastels, I experimented with these and the result was this card. I'm quite happy with it and Lily, who received the card, also loved it :)

Here's the description how I made the card (in Dutch):

- Langs rand van kaart (9,6x9,6cm) met Versamark swirls stempelen

- Achtergrond kleuren met Pan Pastels

- Gezichten en stippels langs de rand stempelen met Archival Ink

- Fixeren

- Klein kaartje kleuren met Pan Pastels en tekst met Archival Ink stempelen

- Kaart matten op cardstock 10x10cm

- Cardstock 20x10cm vouwen op 10cm (dalvouw) en op 5cm (bergvouw)

- Kaart kleven op geplooide stuk van 5cm langs de buitenrand

- Tekst kleven op geplooide stuk van 10cm, zodat de kaart hierachter kan blijven staan

My first order!

My brother in law was very happy with his birthday card,  so he asked if I could make some cards for friends of his VW-club.  This was the first time I made cards for someone else :)  Because I had only 2 days, I just made duplicates of the same card.

Marianne's Design Divas #23

Last month I was lucky to win Colette's blog candy. I found it in my mailbox on friday and immediately wanted to get started with it.  There was a fantastic paperpad from Melissa Frances: Kitschy Kitchen, which goes great with my newest stamps from Marianne Design.  I made this card to enter the 23rd challenge of the Marianne's Design Divas: lace and pearls.  

Grid technique

The current challenge on the Belgian stamping group 'Creatief met Stempels' is the grid technique. I've had fun trying it out, so I've made 2 cards for this one: a christmas card and a birthday card. Today I'm only showing the birthdaycard on my blog. Because I don't want to spoil the surprise I'll show you the other card when my brother in law received it. 

The Sugar Bowl Challenge 102

The last challenge on the Sugar Bowl Blog is 'Anything goes'.  This weekend I've created this card to enter it. Last week I really fell in love with this paper pad 'Hideaway' from First Edition. I've already coloured some images in this colour scheme and there will soon appear other cards.  The green dress look much brighter on the picture but in reality it goes well with the patterned paper. 

Triple Layer Technique

As spring has finally arrived in Belgium, I made these 2 birthday cards in bright colours. The Triple Layer Technique was a challenge on our stamping group a couple of months ago. I didn't have time to try it then, but kept it in mind.  I really enjoyed this technique: it's so easy and the result looks great!

Art Journey Challenge 32: torn paper

With the new Art Journey stamps I bought in Zeist, I now have extra possibilities to enter their challenges :)  This month it sounded: torn paper.  As usual I've waited so long and I had to hurry to enter it in time. The card ended up almost as I had in mind. I only intended the colour of the girl to be darker. I used the same ink as for the insects but it looks much lighter.  I tried two times, but the result was the same. I don't know how this comes, maybe the ink wasn't completely dry when I masked it?

Zeist

On April 6th my mother and I went to a fantastic stamping event 'Art Specially' in the Netherlands.  It's a 2 hour drive, but really worth the ride.  There were much more people than last year, so I couldn't do any make and takes or workshops. But this left lots of time to find great stamps and interesting promotions.  On the picture below you can see what we bought and also some presents we received .  When I unpacked everything at home I must admit it surprised me how much I came home with!  I already mounted all the stamps, but as we were a weekend away I hope to get started with my new stuff this week!

Bird card

Because another hobby of me is birdwatching, I have a special love for bird stamps.  I've had this one from Hero Arts for a while, but didn't know how to use it ...  untill I found a great tutorial from Chelle Fowler.  She gives a great explanation how to colour the image with distress markers.  My first try wasn't a succes, but I think this second one looks really nice!





Art Journey Challenge 31

http://artjourneydesign-team.blogspot.be/2013/03/aj-challenge-31-neutrale-kleuren.html

Today I'm showing my last minute entry for this month's Art Journey challenge: neutral colours.
I've made a condoleance card with distress inks (Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap and Gathered Twigs)
I've also made a second card, a variation in another colour scheme (Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo).

2 new cards

I'm looking forward to April 6th, 'cause I'm going to Art Specially (a stamping event in the Netherlands) on that day.  But I still have some stuff I bought there last year and haven't used yet.  I'm trying to use it before the new event, so I can buy new materials without feeling guilty :)  For example: on this cards I've used 'new' stamps (sentiments) and dies (tags) from Crealies.

Challenge on stamping group

I'm a member of the Belgian stamping group: creatief met stempels. Every 2 weeks we get a challenge, but I wasn't in a creative mood, so the last months I didn't enter. After a hard needed vacation in Budapest last week, I wanted to ink my stamps again this weekend.  This 'faux marbre technique' is not difficult and real fun to try! You can find directions for this technique on Dawn's blog. I'll be back soon with some new cards!

Christmas card

Today I'm showing a christmascard I've made a while ago, but didn't show on my blog yet.

I'm quite happy with it, although it's not the traditional christmas red, but rather red-brown.  I've had to search for the right copic numbers, but I'm satisfied with the colouring result! The only thing that might be missing on the card is a sentiment, but I didn't know where to put it and still keep the card balanced.

Something different

Last friday my sister had her bachelor party (although she already got married in December). We followed a jewelry workshop at Soie Belle and afterwards had a drink.  It was a really fun evening and everyone enjoyed themself.  This is the result of my workshop 'emaille'.  For my first attempts, I think they succeeded pretty well :)

My favorite five of 2012 (31/12-06/01)

On the first day of 2013, Debby has a great idea to look at your creations of 2012 and pick 5 favorites.  These are the cards I've selected. Funny to see how the same colour scheme returns on the first 3.