JCBC Week #25 --- Simone's sketch

Our new challenge at Just Christmas and Birthday Cards is to follow a sketch made by Simone. It is a great sketch which provided me with a few confused moments. You know my cards are never too elaborate and for Simone's sketch I had to think much more than I'm used to. :D

But Thank You! Simone for making me think outside my (tight) box.

Here's the sketch:

And this is my card...

The image is a stamp print I have from Karin (thank you!), coloured with watercolour pencils and 'dotted' with white Sakura glaze.
The sentiment stamp is from a See D's Christmas set.
Green DPs are a download from my
friend Tracey (Fred She Said).
Other DPs are a free download from Shabby Princess - some really nice digi-papers and scrapbook kits in there.
Flower, ribbon and brad - from stash.

I couldn't make a birthday card too but if I manage to produce one in the next few days I will update this post. :)

Please check out our JCBC Challenge Blog to see all the DT's creations and, why not, to enter the challenge. This week's prize is a cute Alota Rubber stamp.

Thanks for looking and I wish you all a very fine week ahead.

My DT contributions for this week

Quick, quick...

Before the week is completely over, I have to show you the cards I made for "Just Christmas and Birthday Cards" and for "Stamping with Jany" - I am a DT member on both.

On JCBC we are on Week/Challenge #24 and we had to work with a sketch made by our lovely Tanja. She has also generously donated an adorable Magnolia stamp for this week's prize.

Have a look at the sketch...

Isn't it just great? It was great to work with it, I am not sure I've made it the right justice but
I really had fun following the sketch.

Christmas card

Background paper is from Dovecraft - one of their older Christmas packs
The poinsettia stamp is from Anita's Christmas Classics set - stamped it three times and layered the flower. The middle layer (the lighter coloured one) has some clear gloss on it and that's why it looks lighter in the photo. In real life has the same red as the other layers.
The rest of the stuff is from around the house. :)

Birthday card

This is a very quick card, as I am sure you can all tell by looking at it. :D
I had the heat embossed daisy for a long time just waiting patiently in a box and I thought it might make a nice center image for Tanja's layout.
The stamp is from Papermania - it's a big ornamental stamp and I've cut out the flower in the middle and the surrounding circle.
Layered them on turquoise and orange cardstock
and finished the ensemble with a gem.
Punched out the other circles, used some flowers, gems, a bit of ribbon and
a sentiment from Penny Black.
All the DP are free downloads printed at home. :)

My old camera is (again) not feeling very well so I had to scan the cards. Sorry for bad images.

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For Stamping with Jany's new MIMI mini-kit (TAC products) presentation - which is on the 3rd week now - I followed one of her sketches. Apart from sending us (the DT members) the mini kit, JAny also makes sketches for us to work with. But we can use other sketches if we so wish.

The sketch I followed this week (Jany's sketch) is this:

I tried to respect it as close as I could. :)

My card

Another scanned image, a bit blurry on the background because of the popped up images.
Jany's mini kit consists of:

• 6X6 Mimi paper
• 6X6 Mimi cardstock
• A2 US White cardstock with stamped images (4 each of cute little skunks)

• Lime Scrappers Floss

The papers are very very beautiful and the skunk stamps are absolutely adorable. :) Please have a look at the other cards the DT members made - Linda, Jill and Jany.

Thank you for stopping by. Hope you are all having a great and sunny weekend.

Lovely Awards --- Thank You!

This week I've been awarded three times. I feel so unworthy because I am never a faithful blogger and my activity here is almost restricted to weekends only, which doesn't allow me to post and comment as much as I wish to. I cannot find the proper words to express my gratitude for the wonderful ladies who thought of me and offered me these awards. So I will only say a big, big THANK YOU!

• The first award comes from Inger - I love her creations and her blog [it has some great music :D ]

First, I'm sending it back to Inger :)
Then, I am passing it on to all my blog followers and to each and everyone of you who ever left a comment in my blog. You know who you are :) so please accept the award and pass it on to your supporters.

• The next award was given to me by one of my own - a Romanian crafter, Meda. I've come upon her blog very recently and was so excited to find it. I also fell in love with her Cuttlebug talents and creativity. Check her out, there's some great stuff in there. :)

"The PREMIO DARDOS AWARD" acknowledges the value of every blogger, showed in their effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literacy and personal values everyday.
The Rules Are:
1. Accept the Award, post it on your blog along with the name of the person
that gave it to you and their blog link.
2. Past the Award to 15 other blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgement.
Remember to contact them to let them know that they have been chosen for this award.

Now I'm in a tight corner, because it's so difficult to choose only 15 when I would like to give the award to probably 150 blogs I've seen and loved. To not send it along at all, for fear of leaving anyone out, would be uncivilized I guess.
Boy, this is tough...

OK, here we are:

I am offering the Premio Dardos Award to all my DT "co-workers" :) from Just Christmas and Birthday Cards - we are such a great mix, with each of us coming from another spot on this world's map. I love it that we are a cultural diversity, 10 different personalities in our own but with so many common ground between us.
Love you all girls and bless the day (and the person) who put us all together.

The award goes to:

- Karin

- Linda

- Tanja

- Rheannon

- Amanda

- Kristin

- Simone

- Janina

- Gry-Heidi

• Now to the third award I've been given. Angie is the lovely lady who has thrown this heart in my direction. She's crafting all sorts of stuff - crads, crochet, knitting, dollshouses, cross stitch - you can tell she's one talented and very busy lady. :D

I haven't seen any specific rules for this one but Angie has pass it on to 5 other blogs so I'll just do the same.

My picks of love-spreaders are:

Donalda

Mel

Laura

Chris

Tracey


Thanks again to all of you who awarded me. It is much appreciated and I am forever grateful for your kindness and support.

Candies, Candies Everywhere...

I was browsing around trying to catch up and found out about some magnificent Blog Candies. I thought I'd share them - you might want to have a look and get your chance to win some great goodies. :)

Heather's Blog Candy sounds very tempting - she's one of Incy Wincy Children's Charities co-founders (and I so admire her for doing this) and she's offering free downloads from their new digi-shop. There will also be some surprise candies for the followers of her blog.
Take a few minutes and check out Heather's blog - she's a talented crafter and a great lady.
Her blog candy stays open until March 28th.


Katharina, the wonderful lady who keeps our addiction alive with her adorable Whiff of Joy stamps, is offering a whole new set of rubber stamps designed by Elisabeth Bell. I tell you, they all look great.
Pay a visit to her blog and enroll yourself quickly - the blog candy will close in a few hours, at 9PM Katharina's time :) Pay attention to the clock on her blog.


Jacqui, the Events Coordinator at Whiff of Joy, offers an amazing blog candy - a WoJ stamp (Melinda Angel Sitting), Basic Grey Porcelain Paper Pack, Beads, Flowers, Chipboard Flowers, a large assortment of Stickers and Toppers and many other yummy goodies.
Go see for yourself on her blog - the candy is available till March 27th.

Hurry up and Good Luck all! :D

Mel Stampz.... and I try to copy :)

This is the second time when I'm playing around with one of Mel's awesome cards.
What I love most about her creations is that she uses lots of different techniques and 'home-made' embellishments and tiny details which make a huge difference.

I will never make a card as beautiful and crafty as the original, but if I make it look like it at least 50% I'm a happy girl. :) My cards are usually much more simple and it was a real challenge to work on this one.

Thank you Mel for making me stretch my boundaries. :D

Here you can see my inspiration - Mel's card

And this is what I managed to produce ...

I almost can't believe I finished it! :)

Thank you for stopping by, I wish you all have the best in this world.

Just Christmas and Birthday Cards - Sketch #23

Hello everyone! :)

Hope you're all doing fine and looking forward to a great weekend. I know I do.

For this week, our challenge blog - Just Christmas and Birthday Cards - featured a sketch made by Kristin. Her sketch is now one of my very favourites because it lets you do an infinity of things with it. Very versatile and generous - Thank you Kristin! :)

Sketch #23

My Christmas card

This adorable snowman and his fellow birdie are a giveaway (free download) from the lovely, talented Inger Harding. She's offering a free digi-stamp each month and they are all adorable.
Inger designs for Panduro Hobby and her new Spring Collection 2009 contains unmounted stamps and designer papers. Check out all the Giveaways on her blog and help yourself to some of her sweet characters. :)
I printed the snowman twice and layered the hat, scarf, nose and bird. I am sorry my photo doesn't show them very clearly.
The designer papers come from my friend Carol - they're to be found on her Backing Paper CD. Carol is a bit of a computer nut and creates all sort of great stuff. Very talented lady with a heart of gold.

My Birthday card

Well... I just thought... what if I don't use any image on my card? :) Personally, I really like how it came out. It's simple [a.k.a. "lazy" - LOL] and with only a bit of bling, two stamped hearts (See D's set) and a heat embossed sentiment. Plus a piece of DP from Joanna Sheen.
Easy peasy but very 'usable' - I mean I won't be ashamed to send it to one of my friends. (they might be ashamed to receive it tho'...)

Before I finish this post I have to say this - which I should have said long time ago and more often:

Please check out the JCBC Design Team blogs and see what they did with the sketch.
'My girls' are all so very creative and talented. :)

You might also wish to participate in this week's challenge - there are 2 more days until it ends and the prize for this week is the lovely "Herb with bird" from Whiff of Joy.

Thank you for looking and we'll be seeing each other again... soon.

Hugs to you all!

JCBC #22 --- Stamping with Jany... again :) and a few other cards

It's been a whole month since I've been around Blog-ville and I really missed it. Unfortunately, my working place asked for every inch of me during this last month and I was so burned out when I got home late in the evening that I couldn't concentrate on anything.

I did manage to make a few cards while I was 'away' but didn't get around to posting them. They were mostly birthday cards I needed for co-workers and friends and some of them are gone (given) without being scanned or photographed. I had to work on them late at night and have them ready for first thing next morning.

Anyway...

I am trying to catch up a bit and see if I remember how to post :D

The week that is just ending has been the 22nd at Just Christmas and Birthday Cards - I can't believe it's been so long since it's started!

Sketch #22 is a creation of Linda's and is a lovely sketch which provided much fun in working with it - Thank you, Linda! :)

My Birthday card...

I've used my very first Penny Black stamps - Critter Party.
I LOVE them!
They are all so adorable, I wish I was more talented to honour and show them off better.
Cardstock and papers are from Dovecraft and the sentiment stamp is from Imaginisce.

My Christmas card...

For this one I've rotated the sketch.
The image (Christmas baubles) is a digi-stamp from the very talented Chris Dark.
[You might want to check out her new digi-store, she's adding new stamps all the time and the designs are absolutely awesome - love her landscapes/backgrounds and will acquire them soon]
The cardstock and paper are from Papermania and the rest are bits and pieces from my big stash provided my my great friend Sue.

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Stamping with Jany continues to be a fun-filled adventure. :) She has just sent us her second TAC kit (which is available for purchase) and I fell in love with the little skunks. The papers are also very very nice, in green and pink - so bright and happy looking.

The entire kit includes:

• 6X6 mimi paper collection pieces (1 of each pattern totaling 5)
• 6X6 mimi cardstock pieces (1 of each color totaling 5)
• 4 pieces sized A2 with stamped images of all the images in the stamp set.
• Scrapper Floss from the Citrus collection (lime-green)

Would you like a kit like this? It cost: $5.00 Shipping (regular mail to US) included and is available at Jany's blog

Here is the first card I made using Jany's new kit and following Jill's sketch.

Isn't the lil' skunk-ette a sweetie? :D


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I'll end this post with two cards I've made with one of the gorgeous stamps from Whiff of Joy's "Spring Stamp Kit 2009" . [I love myself for getting it while it was on offer :D]

Cardstock and papers from Papermania, sentiment stamps from a See D's set.

Thank you for bearing with me and my crazy life schedule. :)

Have a wonderful week ahead!