Sweet Mini Owl

Happy Thursday! Last night I had some fun making a sweet minicard. I thought it would take less time than a "normal" one, but it took just the same. I was allowed to use Alyssa's favorite bunny to create a cute set-up:

The stamps are from the adorable set "Night Owl" from My Cute Stamps. Oh, and I have a new favorite border punch! This lace punch from Martha Stewart. You'll see it very often in the future!

Any plans for New Year's Eve? We will stay at home. Hoping that the little girl will be able to sleep when everybody starts displaying their fireworks. If it was only for some minutes - but some freaks like to go on the whole night :(

Have a beautiful day everybody and thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Cardstock: (cream) Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: (Pink Polka Dot) October Afternoon, (Pink Pastel) Papertrey Ink

Stamps: (Owl, Branch) My Cute Stamps

Ink: (Black) Tsukineko, (brown, cream) Ranger Industries

Button: Papertrey Ink

Gem: Hero Arts

Flower: Prima Marketing

Colored Pencils: Faber Castell

Markers: Copic

Border Punch: Martha Stewart

Other: Seam Binding

Paper Crafts January/February Pubs

Happy Tuesday! Today I am sharing one of two cards that are published in the current January/February Issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. It can be found in the "Parlor" section of the issue:

I used Nina Brackett's lamp from her "Lovely Shelf" set. I love to be able to give back something with a publication to somebody providing me with their product!

You'll find this issue of Paper Crafts here - amazing ideas for Valentines, I tell you!

Thanks for visiting and have a beautiful day! Still freezing cold here with a lots of snow - I tried to move my car today, but there is ice underneath its tires and no chance to move from the spot :(

I wish someone had told me before I removed snow and ice from it for half an hour :)

Hugs,

Vanessa

Papertrey December Blog Hop Challenge

Happy Sunday after Christmas! It's over again and I have to admit I am glad about it. It was just exhausting, I really hope you all enjoyed it and that you had a wonderful time!

But now it is time for another:

Here is this month's challenge:

Holiday Leftovers

It's that time again for our annual holiday leftovers challenge! Use scraps of wrapping paper, parts of

holiday cards, recycle gift tags or bits of ribbon on a paper crafting project. We all have plenty of it

laying around after all the holiday excitement and this is your chance to incorporate some of those pretty

little things into an amazing piece of art!

Luckily I got a gift wrapped with some gorgeous organza ribbon and was able to create this:

That rose is made from this ribbon:

You'll find a list of all participants on Nichole's blog here. Have a wonderful time hopping and thanks for stopping by!!!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

(everything Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted)

Cardstock: cream

Stamps: Embellishments Set, Giga Guidelines Set, Mat Stack 1 Set

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Bamboo Leaves (Tsukineko)

Dies: Mat Stack 1, Embellishments, Delightful Dahlia

Embossing Plate: Tin Types

Pearls: cream (Kaiserkraft)

Other: green felt (unknown)

Merry Christmas!

Sweet friends, Merry Christmas to you and yours!!! Thanks for your friendship, your sweet comments and your support, I appreciate you all very much!

Hugs and Love,

Vanessa x

Winter Princess

Happy Winterday! So, yesterday I got my eagerly-awaited stamps for my term as a member of the My Cute Stamps Design Team! Oh, and I so love them! I couldn't resist making a card last night:

I created this wintery birthday card using the adorable little girl from the Tea Party set and the present from the Birthday Numbers set. Her dress is paper-pieced with some old Basic Grey Christmas Paper and to match her outfit I die-cut some tiny stars for her hair instead of coloring her flowers. This card looks so much better in real life, using perfect pearls spritzed with water and a brush to add a subtle shine to her dress, her hair and her eye-lids. Yes, she is wearing make-up :)

Keeping it short, time is precious these days! Thanks for stopping by and have a beautiful day!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey

Stamps: (Girl, Present) My Cute Stamps, (sentiment, background) Hero Arts

Ink: (black) Tsukineko, (white) Papertrey Ink

Dies: (label) Papertrey Ink, (stars) Provo Craft

Colored Pencils: Faber Castell

Other: Felt, Ribbon, transparent stars

Lebkuchen, Amaryllis and Publications

Happy whatever! I am not sure what day of the week it is :) It is some days before Christmas, it is a day where my little angel is struggling with fever and lying in my bed sleeping, it is a day where the weather doesn't want to decide between rain and snow. It is the day I sent off some last Christmas mail and the day I have no idea what to cook for Christmas Eve yet. Except for dessert, but that's easy. And it is the day I share an exceptional yummy Lebkuchen recipe with you. I don't know if you are familiar with this "German Elisenlebkuchen". My hometown is famous for these and I love them. I saw that you have to pay a fortune for imported ones in the States, so maybe you'd like to try and make them yourself. First, my little helper (a few days ago when she was feeling well):

Then this amazing little thingy (I have no idea what it is called!), made from wood to form perfect Lebkuchen:

It is fab. You put the dough into the hollow, then a wafer on top, turn it around and spin the winder and your Lebkuchen land perfectly on your baking sheet.

But you can make your Lebkuchen without it, too! Just spread the dough onto the wafers and they'll be perfect. Here is how mine look like:

You'll need:

5 eggs

150 g sugar

150 g honey

ground lemon zest of one lemon

1 tablespoon lemonjuice

100g candied lemon peel (chopped)

100g candied orange peel (chopped)

3 teaspoons Lebkuchen-spice

(or mix your own one, using cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger, nutmeg)

500g ground almonds or hazelnuts (or mixed)

about 28 round wafers

about 150 g dark chocolate

Beat eggs with sugar, honey, spice, lemonjuice/zest until fluffy. Stir in almonds/hazelnuts (I like to roast them in a dry pan before using them) and candied peel. Spread dough onto wafers (about 1cm high), let dry for about 1 hour. Bake for about 25 min at 150°C. After they cooled down, melt chocolate and cover your Lebkuchen. Enjoy!

Now to one of my favorite flowers, the amaryllis. Here I got a white one with four blossoms blooming at once:

And for those looking for cards, here are the cards that were published in the Scrapbook Trends Special Issue Create: Christmas Cards:

I hope you are having a fabulous time! Christmas is near, I hope to be back before it is over!

Thanks for visiting and have a beautiful day!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Sugared Roses and Snow Angels

Happy Thursday! How are your Christmas preparations going? I have no idea how mine are going. I lost track of time. And I am confused obviously. Can you imagine that I made Christmas cards, sent them off and then realized that I didn't photograph a single one??? Doh! So here I am sharing non-Christmas cards. I love this cling background from Hero Arts:

And I like to use it differently. I have two cards for this month's Hero Arts Challenge - Giving Thanks & Color Challenge + Adding Shine. This card qualifies for the Thanks theme:

I stamped the background onto patterned paper, cut out a large blossom and enhanced the shadows with a brown pencil. And on the second card I created a bouquet using the leaves and the roses:

These are stamped onto cardstock and colored with copics. Then I thought of sugared roses, added some Glossy Accents and Chrystal Glitter and voilà. Some shine! This will also qualify the card for the Moxie Fab World All that Glitters Challenge!

And finally this is for you, Donna (although I had made it before you asked for it):

Have a beautiful day and thanks for visiting!!!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Thanks Card

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: (green/orange) Pink Paislee, (light orange) GCD Studios

Stamps: (Rose Background) Hero Arts, (sentiment, leaves) Papertrey Ink, (label) Waltzingmouse

Ink: (brown) Ranger Industries, (black) Tsukineko

Ribbon: Papertrey Ink

Pearls: Prima Marketing

Pencil: Faber Castell

Die: Spellbinders

Birthday Card

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: (pink) Papertrey Ink, (cream) Webster's Pages

Stamps: (Rose Background) Hero Arts, (sentiment) Papertrey Ink

Ink: Tsukineko

Marker: Copic

Pearls: Prima Marketing

Glossy Accents: Ranger Industries

Other: Glitter

Card Creations: Favorite Occasions, Vol.2

* This is my favorite Papertrey Ink project of the year 2010*

Happy Monday! I am quite late, but I am allowed to share one of the published cards from Paper Crafts Card Creations: Favorite Occasions, Volume 2 and here it is:

A lot of yummy Papertrey Ink! Be sure to get your issue of this fab magazine here, it is full of beautiful cards - so inspiring!

I am glad you liked my snow photos - unfortunately it didn't last for long. It was very warm on Saturday and almost all of it melted away. But they predicted more snow for the next days. But nothing compared to the blizzards in the states! I saw this on the news - I really hope you are staying safe and warm, friends!

Thanks for visiting and have a happy day!

Hugs,

Vanessa

P.S. Oh, do you know what's an unmistakable sign of being a stamper? When your christmas cookie plate is standing lopsided on your table, because a stamp is clinging to its bottom :)

Winter wonderland and a card from sweet Donna

Happy Friday! Well, we had some snow here already - and I thought it was quite a lot. Then the weather turned warmer and everything melted away again. But tonight it came back and now I know it wasn't a lot before! I can't remember that schools were closed because of snow here in our region before. My husband stayed home from work today because most of the highways are closed due to accidents and we walked our little girl to Kindergarten together. Here are some impressions of our Winter Wonderland:

Our garden - so beautiful that the sun came out and everything glistened!

My favorite deckchair has a new upholstery.

I love this pic of the bikes! It shows the amount of snow best when looking at the basket!

A pretty tree from our neighbor's garden - still some red berries on it!

Now to a card I received from sweet Donna! I was smiling broadly when the postman handed me over an envelope from Hawaii and delighted to find this:

Isn't it the cutest? So honored to own an original from Donna now! Thanks again sweet friend!!

Ok, I hope you are safe and warm everybody! Thanks for visiting and have a beautiful day!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Hello, my name is Juniper Goblinfly

Happy Wednesday! I am sure you are wondering about that strange title :) Well, the story goes like this: Over a year ago, sweet Deborah informed us that Ruth, a friend from the Hero Arts flickr group, was struggling with cancer. She had the fabulous idea to anonymously send her cards to lift up her spirits. Over 50 ladies sent out cards to her and her family and to be able to sign the cards, we were each given a fun fairy name. Mine was Juniper Goblinfly. Ruth is much better now and here we are revealing our identity. These are the cards I sent her:

On the first one I did some layered stamping with the lavender image and added some punched butterflies.

On the second one I created that background using distress inks. Then I stamped with a lot of different stamps, using Versamark spritzed with water and dark dye ink. The butterfly is colored with pencils and a white gel pen.

I hope Ruthie liked them! Have a beautiful day and thanks for visiting!!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

First Card:

Cardstock, Lavender Stamp, Patterned Paper: Papertrey Ink

Sentiment Stamp: Hero Arts

Ink: Tsukineko, Ranger Industries

Pearls: Prima Marketing

Second Card:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, Papertrey Ink

Stamps: Hero Arts, Stampers Anonymous

Ink: Tsukineko, Ranger Industries

Gems: GCD Studios

Pencils: Faber Castell

Tiffany Doodles December Challenge

Happy Tuesday! Time for another Tiffany Doodles Challenge and for my last challenge as a Design Team member. I enjoyed my time as a member of Tiffany's Team very much, it was a pleasure working for her! Have you seen the new Design Team??? AMAZING talent, I tell you! Ok, now to my projects for this month's Christmas Challenge:

On my card I used the kit "Christmas Holly", printed the holly onto patterned paper, cut it out and arranged a cluster of buttons for the berries. Here is a close-up:

My second project is a simple little tag using "Star Trees"

I printed the image onto the cardstock and the patterned paper and paper-pieced it. The star and the baubles are made with liquid pearls.

Now, I hope you'll join the challenge! And I heard the new team is having a blog hop where you can win even more prizes! Happy Hopping!

Thank you for visiting and have a very happy day everybody!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: Sorry, unknown!

Digis: (Christmas Holly and Star Trees) Tiffany Doodles

Stamps: (German Sentiment) Kartenkunst, (Merry Christmas) Hero Arts, (Lace border) Karen Russell

Ink: Tsukineko

Buttons, Ribbon: Papertrey Ink

Label Die: Spellbinders

Other: Twine, Liquid Pearls

CARDS November Pub and new Design Team

Happy Weekend! Today I am sharing a card that was published in the November issue of CARDS Magazine:

Everything is Papertrey Ink, except for the yellow floral paper, that's from the Artsy Urban Collection by GCD Studios.

And now to some exciting news! I am a proud new member of the My Cute Stamps Design Team:

Can't wait for my stamps to arrive to get started! I will stalk the post man :)

Have a happy Saturday everybody, stay warm in your part of the world! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Card Creations - Favorite Occasions Volume 2

Happy Friday again! This is my second post for today, please scroll down for the first one! I am excited and thrilled to be one of the Top 5 Designers of the Paper Crafts Special Issue Card Creations - Favorite Occasions Volume 2! Today we are featured on the Paper Crafts Connections blog and had the chance to work with the adorable Sweetness Collection from Pink Paislee. In honor of this special day I made an All Occasions card for you:

Love this cute collection! These flipnotes make quick and easy cards. To see my other card, be sure to visit the Paper Crafts Connection blog here and check out what the other 4 Designers made with this Collection! And get your issue of this fab magazine here - you'll love it!!

Thanks for visiting and have a very happy day!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Everything Pink Paislee from Sweetness Collection except for:

Faux Silk Ribbon: Really Reasonable Ribbon

Ink: Ranger Industries

Last Day of the Practicing Creativity Release

Happy Friday! It's the last day of the Practicing Creativity December Release and I have another card using the cute Look Up! Additions set for you:

I inked the label lightly while it was still in the die for this "airy" look. The balloon is paper-pieced and adhered with foam tape for a bit dimension. The sentiments coming with this set are perfect for the balloon theme!

I hope you enjoyed the peeks of the new Practicing Creativity releases - I enjoyed working with these and am really honored Courtney asked me to do so! Be sure to see what the other girls prepared for today:

Courtney

Karen

Dana

Paulina

Amy

Valerie

I'll be back with another post for today - so excited about it!! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Cardstock, Patterned Paper: Papertrey Ink

Stamps: (Look Up! Additions) Practicing Creativity

Ink: Tsukineko

Buttons: Papertrey Ink

Label Die: Spellbinders

Other: White Floss

Nature's Wonder

Happy Thursday! Day 2 of this month's Practicing Creativity release! Today I have a card using the beautiful set Nature's Wonder that will be available on December, 3rd:

I love the huge outlined words included in the set! I colored the "Sympathy" with distress ink that I spritzed with water (that was mixed with some Perfect Pearls for a bit of shine). For my panel I used watercolor paper, inked the stamps with distress inks and spritzed these with water, too. Here is a close-up of the sentiment:

Be sure to check out the other girls' blogs for more creations using this beautiful set:

Courtney

Karen

Dana

Paulina

Amy

Valerie

I hope you'll come back tomorrow for the last day of the release and for another special, exciting post!!

Thanks for visiting and have a beautiful day!!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Cardstock: Watercolor Paper

Stamps: (Nature's Wonder) Practicing Creativity

Ink: Ranger Industries, Tsukineko

Faux Silk Ribbon: Really Reasonably Ribbons

Rhinestone, Green Notecard: Hero Arts