7/30/2009

2 Sketches 4 You # 31 - birthday card for a little boy

Here is Laura`s sketch # 31:


One lucky winner will receive an amazing prize over at 2 Sketches 4 You this week! My dear friend Monika was so kind to stamp me some cool images to create a card for a little boy and here it is:


I colored the rocket and flames with pencils. Sorry, I do not know the company of this stamp. The stars and the sentiment are Hero Arts. Happy Birthday Kevin! (Your nesties are on their way, Monika!)

Have a great day and thank you for visiting my blog!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/28/2009

Lucy`s wedding card

Going to the chapel and we`re gonna get maaarried... I have this song in my head for almost a week now! Sweet and talented Lucy will marry this week and this is the wedding card I made for her and Andy... yes, another white on white card! Just love them :) And I think a groom thinks it`s ok, too...

Supplies: Butterfly stamp Hero Arts, Sentiment Papertrey Ink, Embossing folder Cuttlebug, Pearls Hero Arts

I thought I`ll submit this card over at caardvarks, their challenge is to create a wedding or baby related item... In honour of Lucy`s wedding! (She is on their DT)

I hope you have a wonderful tuesday and thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/27/2009

A passion for Papertrey candy!

Kate and Stephanie rock! Who wouldn`t love to receive an awesome Papertrey blogcandy? And this time, the candy is open worldwide... Take your chance here!

Happy Monday!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/26/2009

Beautiful Blogger Award

My dear friend Monika surprised me with this lovely award:

Love it... swirls and butterflies! Now it`s my turn to present this award to some friends... I would love to give it to them all, a difficult decision! Well here we go:

KIARA LEE (Stampingcafe) ( I adore your creations!!)

JACQUELINE ( My Scrap Basket) ( Love your beautiful style!!)

SUZANNE (Suzzs Stamping Spot) ( You are the queen of techniques!!)

TOMO ( Tomoh`s Attic) ( You rock!!)

TINA (Basteltinchen) ( Du hast es voll drauf!!)

KATHY ( My Daily Marker) ( You are soo creative!!)


I hope you have a wonderful sunday! Be sure to visit Monika and all my friends... leave some love, we all appreciate it very much!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/25/2009

Patchwork monochromatic card

Although I have beautiful patterned paper, I always hesitate to use it... don`t want to waste the beauties! This time I made myself use some of the paper! It`s nonsense keeping them all the time for something "special"... Here is another monochromatic card:

All the stamps are Hero Arts, the paper is Cosmo Cricket. On the wings of my butterfly I used stickles - this week`s theme for the Thinking Inking class! Be sure to check all the amazing entries for the Hero Arts challenge! This group is the best!

I am happy that you stopped by! I appreciate every visitor!

Hugs,
Vanessa


7/23/2009

Monochromatic 2 Sketches 4 You

I am sure it`s in time this time :) ... Kazan`s Sketch # 31:


And my monochromatic purple take on it:


I am not sure if it`s a bit too much... Tell me what you think?

Thanks for stopping by and have a great thursday!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/22/2009

Hero Arts Monochromatic challenge

This week on the Hero Arts` blog is all about monochromatic colors. Great theme! So many beautiful creations already... I am a bit stuck on shaker cards now, I really wanted to create a fun card again. Here is my first card for the challenge:


And a close-up:


All stamps are Hero Arts, I reversed one fish and left away a sentiment. I will add it when I`ll give away this card. For the bubble I used clear liquid soap and some glimmer and put it into a mini ziplock bag. It`s really fun playing with this card!

Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful wednesday!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/21/2009

Card Patterns - Sketch # 24 Babyshakercard

I needed a card for a baby and because mine loves shakercards, I decided to create one with Card Patterns` Sketch #24 :


Here it is:


I used a heart stamp for the balloons. You can`t see it, but I clear embossed the balloons for more dimension. I think I have to create some more shakercards, using a bag is soooo easy! All stamps (except for sentiment) are Hero Arts, also the buttons. The polka dotted paper is Papertrey Ink. Thanks for stopping by and have a sunny day!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/19/2009

2 Sketches 4 You # 30

Wow, just in time (Oops, just found out it wasn`t ! I have to check the timezones better)! I managed to make a Baby-naptime-card for Laura`s sketch # 30:


Here it is... death by colors :)


Thank you for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/17/2009

Papertrey Ink - white on white card

I love white on white cards! They are always so elegant... Here is my entry for the Papertrey Ink Guest Star Stamper for July, "best use of a previous set" and I just found out... THE WINNING ENTRY FOR THIS CATEGORY!!! I am still breathless from another happy hoppy dance :)

I used two of the only three sets I possess at the moment, Beautiful Blooms and Bird Watching. Love my stamps!!! The flowers are embossed with clear embossing powder. They have a subtle pink shine, because I put a tiny bit of rose chalk ink onto the stamp before I used my versamark ink pad. Can`t wait to place another order at Papertrey Ink!! Thank you for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

Happy hugs,
Vanessa

Hero Arts Website Inspiration

This week`s Hero Arts challenge is about being inspired by anything on their website. There are many technique articles and videos... inspiration everywhere!! I love Shari Carroll`s work, I was inspired by her examples here.



Supplies: stamps Hero Arts, inks Ranger Distress Inks, gems Hero Arts

Thanks for stopping by! I am so nervous, the Gallery Idol Top 10 is to be revealed every moment... Keep your fingers crossed!!

Hugs,
Vanessa

7/15/2009

Birthday girl

Today is the first birthday of my little Alyssa! One year ago I woke up at about 7 am and felt some strange pain in my belly. I told myself that it means nothing, I still had almost 6 weeks to go before my baby would be born. I read through my pregnancy books and found some info about false contractions. They gave the advice to relax and wait. So I tried to relax and wait. It didn`t work. The pain came again and again, so I decided to call the hospital for advice. They told me to come over to have a look. My husband was at work, so I drove to the hospital on my own. It took me about 20 min. from the parking lot to the entrance, I always went about 10 steps and then had to stop to breathe deeply. The nurse at the hospital told me that she too thought that these were false contractions but didn`t want to send me back home, just in case. Well, after my water broke she was quite in a hurry!! That took her by surprise. I immediately called my husband and he arrived half an hour later. I went through everything without any medication and at 3:17 pm my angel was born. I only had time to give her a quick kiss, then they took her away to the children`s hospital. This photo was taken about 24 hours later, when I was allowed to hold her in my arms for the first time. They called it "kangarooing".


Two days later her billirubin was too high, she was weak and always tired, so we weren`t allowed to take her out of the incubator. She was lying under some kind of artificial sunlight with sunglasses on. They had to feed her through her nose, because she was even too weak to eat. She had to stay in hospital for 3 weeks. I stayed with her all the time, visiting her every 3 hours, trying to feed her, changing her diapers, controlling her temperature, weighing her diapers, holding her hand while the doctors had to take blood again and again... It was very exhausting and hard! My husband got ill about 4 days after she was born and wasn`t allowed to visit us for about a week. But after 3 weeks we were allowed to take our baby girl home! She obviously had to compensate the being taken away from her mommy for the first few months, because she was only satisfied as long as I wrapped her inside a cloth that was tied close to my body. But now everything is fine... Here is my birthday girl:


She loves berries, especially raspberries. She still wants to be fed about 4 times every night. She knows about 40 things, when you ask her where something is, she`ll point at it and says "DAA". She loves trying to stand in the middle of a room with nothing to hold on, grinning from ear to ear. She loves mobile phones and cameras, you always have to take a picture of her and show her the photo afterwards. She loves "reading" books with her mummy. She hates hats (this is the only photo I got with her partyhat on). She loves watching herself in the mirror. As soon as she hears music, she starts rocking. She has the cutest giggle in the world!

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

7/13/2009

Gallery Idol 2009 Sweet Moments card

Welcome back! This is my card for the next round for Paper Crafts` Gallery Idol 2009. I would so much appreciate your vote!! Here is the link... Thank you so much!!!

Supplies: Stamps Hero Arts, Gems Hero Arts, Ink Ranger Distress Ink, Pencils Faber Castell, Paper Papertrey Ink

Wishing you sweet moments!

Hugs
Vanessa

BIG Hero Arts week!!

Today starts the BIG Hero Arts week over here and there are so many great news!! They doubled their prizes for the challenge this week and are having great giveaways, too! Be sure to hop over and take a look - I can`t wait to see what they come up with on wednesday!

Happy Monday to you!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/11/2009

Win big!

The Cuttlebug Spot is having a big contest! They are trying to reach 1.000 followers by the end of July. Everyone becoming a follower, spreading the word on the blog and leaving a comment has the chance to win an unbelievable $1.000 gift certificate to Custom Crops!! Check it out at www.TheCuttlebugSpot.com!! Good luck!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/10/2009

Woohoo!

Just popping in to say woohooo! I made it to the Top 15 for Gallery Idol 2009!! Thank you so much for voting!!! The next theme is to create a card displaying an household item... Difficult!! I do not own any stamps or embellies for this, but I ordered new Hero Arts stamps at my favourite shop and the owner was sooo kind and sent them on the way for me today although she is sick! I could smooch her for this! Hope the mail works well...

Now off to do some brainstorming! Happy day to you!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/09/2009

Card Patterns - Sketch # 22

Happy thursday! I played a bit with this week`s Thinking Inking Class techniques about crackle paint. I do not own Ranger crackle paints, but acrylic paints and some crackle medium. It is not working so well, but I tried my very best! Here is Card Patterns` Sketch #22:



And here is what I did with it:

Supplies: Paper Sassafras, Stamps Hero Arts (except for sentiment), Inks Ranger Distress Ink Walnut Stain, Gems Hero Arts, Embossing Ranger Distress Embossing Powder Walnut Stain, Ranger Distress Stickles Walnut stain, Other ribbon and acrylic paint sentiment stamp.

I had to use my butterfly stamp again! I hope my supplies list is not so confusing, I have to work this out! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful thursday!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/08/2009

A passion for Papertrey and Charisma Cardz

This is officially the quickest and easiest card I`ve ever made! I am a proud owner of nesties now and used them for the first time. Nesties with lovely PTI paper, a button, a sentiment, a ribbon ... voilà! If I would create only cards like this, I would be able to make tons of them! Easypeasy! But I love trying new techniques, so that won`t happen! This is my card for the button challenge of A passion for Papertrey and Charisma Cardz:

Love Steph and Kate, the girls are so sweet and kind and creative! I am so happy that they "connect" us Europeans with the lucky Papertrey fans of the States...
Have a beautiful day and if you didn`t already vote for your favourite card for the Gallery Idol 2009, here is the link again! I would so much appreciate your support!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/06/2009

Gallery Idol 2009 Wedding card

Oh, I am sweating! Now the next round of Gallery Idol 2009 has started!! It is time to vote for your favourite wedding card! Please hop over to the Paper Crafts` Gallery Idol 2009 site and vote for your favourite entry. The ladies did an amazing job, it is pure eyecandy! Here is my little card:

I created the shape of the card with my computer and cut it out. Love white on white cards! Pleeeeease keep your fingers crossed!
Thanks for stopping by and happy Monday!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/05/2009

Photocard

We are melting! It is about 86 F all the time, not even a light breeze and very high moisture. We are living under the roof and it is really hot in here... But I created some cards during my baby`s nap times! This one combines the Thinking Inking class with the Hero Arts Photo card challenge:


I did paint dabbing, masking, stamping with acrylic paint, blending, partial stamping and used a bit of Perfect Pearls on the butterfly. Here is the inside of the little book:


Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful sunday! I`ll be back tomorrow with my wedding card and the voting link to Gallery Idol 2009. I hope that I will be able to sleep tonight! I am an excited chick all the time...

Hugs
Vanessa

7/04/2009

Thinking Inking week 3

This week`s Thinking Inking class is about paint dabbers. I do not own any, but I have many acrylic paints, so I was able to try some techniques. They are so much fun!! Here is the result of some masking, blending, paint dabbing, partial stamping and heat embossing:

Supplies: Stamps Hero Arts, Ink Ranger Distress Inks, Embossing Powder and Pearls Hero Arts

Thanks for stopping by, have a beautiful weekend and to all my US visitors have a happy 4th!!

Hugs
Vanessa

7/02/2009

Just sharing...

Just sharing this card. I made it for the Gallery Idol 2009... We are allowed to submit one card only for the next round, I hope I`ll decide for the right one! On Monday 6th (noon) you have the possibility to vote for your favourite wedding card. I`ll post the link to it on Monday, maybe you`ll like to have a look and vote for your favourite!

Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

Hugs
Vanessa

Supplies: Stamps and Buttons Hero Arts, Paper Papertrey Ink