A Busy Week

Hey there! It's been a busy week and I thought I'd share some photos showing why. My little girl turned 6 (how did that happen so fast??) and we celebrated with the family first and had the big party with her friends yesterday. This is a photo-heavy post :o)
These were the invitations:

I used the Simon Says Stamp feathers dies to create simple invitations. Love the rustic feel with the stick.
I couldn't manage to take photos of my party decorations, like the cupcake toppers, little tipis made from ice-cones etc because some guests arrived early and we weren't able to get it done in time. But here are some photos of the party. We are a bit crazy when it comes to creating a fun party for our girl :o)

This is my sweet princess prairie buttercup. She enjoyed her party immensely.

This is what we looked like. All kids were face-painted by us. We told everybody to look proud in this photo. They did well! But I didn't want to show the other kids without permission. We had drums-background-music for the right atmosphere and let the kids do various tasks to gain some feathers:

First, they had to sneak up on the chief and get the feather next to him. We arranged some dried leaves around him to make it more difficult. Can you imagine the squeaking when the chief tried to catch them? So fun!

Then they had to cross the dangerous snake canyon and catch a snake:

My husband created a bison from cardboard (amazing, mmh?):

And they had a try at archery:

Then they each caught a mustang:

And did a wild rain-dance that succeeded in refreshment (because it was really really hot yesterday):

Finally, we made dream-catchers:

Every guest got a little bag with goodies to take home. This is what they looked like:

My husband and me were so finished at the end of the day, taking care of 6 kids on sugar is exhausting! But it was totally worth it:

Back to "normal"! Don't miss the new winnie & walter release starting tomorrow! Thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

Me and my Birthday Girl and a Winner!!!

Hello! Breathe in, breathe out. It's been a busy week - my sweet girl turned 5 and we first had the family to celebrate and then her friends yesterday. A lot of baking and preparing. But it was worth it, she enjoyed every minute! Here I am with my cutie:

Hallo! Einatmen, ausatmen. Es war eine stressige Woche - mein süsses Mädchen ist 5 geworden und erst hatten wir die Familie zum Feiern da und gestern noch die Kinder. Eine Menge Gebacke und Vorbereitung. Aber es wars wert, sie hat jede Minute genossen! Hier bin ich mit meiner Maus:

This is the simple decor I made for the kids:

Hier sieht man die einfache Deko die ich für die Kinder gemacht habe:

I made a fab cake - but the kids preferred the ice-cream! I prepared various toppings and sauces for them to choose from. They immensly enjoyed putting them onto their ice-cream. My husband and me enjoyed it, too :)

Ich hab ne tolle Torte gemacht - aber die Kinder haben das Eis bevorzugt! Ich hatte verschiedene Streusel und Sossen für sie vorbereitet. Sie hatten Riesenspass daran, davon etwas auf ihr Eis zu packen. Mein Mann und ich fandens auch ziemlich toll :)

So, now to the winner of the Paper Crafts blog hop. Mr Random chose the following lucky duck:

So, jetzt zum Gewinner des Paper Crafts Bloghop. Herr Zufall hat den folgenden Glückspilz ausgewählt:

Congratulations, calamity jane! Please send me an email with your address and I'll forward it to the PC editor. 
Thanks to everybody who left a comment. I loved reading them all!

Danke an alle, die kommentiert haben. Ich fand es toll, sie alle zu lesen!

Vanessa

Greetings from our Garden

Sorry I've been away so long. After another nasty stomach bug, I've been spending time in the garden to get everything ready. There's a cuckoo cuckooing continously and it is really getting on my nerves while I am preparing the patches and planting the vegetables. And I can't help but jump up shrieking when accidentially grabbing a blindworm, but apart from that I am enjoying working on the garden very much with my sweet little helper. Here are some photos I took in our garden for those who are interested. For those strictly crafts-related-interested, I'll be back tomorrow with a card or a layout!

Sorry dass ich so lange weg war. Nach einem weiteren überstandenen Darmvirus habe ich meine Zeit im Garten verbracht um alles fertig zu bekommen. Ein Kuckuck schreit ohne Unterlass während ich die Beete vorbereite und Gemüse pflanze und macht mich damit fast wahnsinnig. Und ich kann nicht anders, als wie ein kleines Mädchen zu kreischen und aufzuspringen, wenn ich aus Versehen eine Blindschleiche anpacke, aber ansonsten geniesse ich es, mit meiner süssen kleinen Helferin im Garten zu arbeiten. Hier sind ein paar Fotos, die ich im Garten gemacht habe, falls es jemanden interessiert. Für diejenigen, die strikt nur-bastel-bezogen-interessiert sind, ich bin morgen zurück mit einer Karte oder einem Layout!

My Other Winter Crafts and Another Card

Hi! Today I have another christmas card and I wanted to share photos of other winter crafts from our home. First this card:

Hi! Heute habe ich noch eine Weihnachtskarte und ich wollte Fotos zeigen von unseren anderen Winterhandarbeiten bei uns zu Hause. Erstmal diese Karte:

One of my favorite projects that was published in the Paper Crafts Holiday Cards & More 2012 issue. Love the texture. 

Eines meiner liebsten Werke das im Paper Crafts Holiday Cards & More 2012 Magazin veröffentlicht wurde. Ich mag die Strukturen so gerne.

And here some impressions of our winter crafts:

Und hier einige Eindrücke unserer Winterhandarbeiten:

I was inspired by a photo on pinterest to try these cute little guys. I just glued a wood pearl to the top of a pine cone, made a little hat and a shawl from felt and drew them a face with markers. The top of the hats are either little pompoms or tiny bells. 

Ich war von einem Foto auf Pinterest dazu inspiriert worden, diese kleinen Kerlchen auszuprobieren. Ich habe einfach eine Holzperle auf die Zapfen geklebt, eine kleine Mütze und einen Schal aus Filz dazu gemacht und ein Gesicht mit Filzern aufgemalt. Die Mützen werden entweder von einem Bommel oder einem Miniglöckchen bestückt.

These ornaments are made from airdrying clay. So easy. Just like baking cookies without having to bake. We rolled the clay, stamped it with Hero Arts stamps and used cookie cutters to cut them out. We used Fimo which is really lightweighted.

Diese Anhänger sind aus lufttrocknender Modelliermasse gemacht. So einfach. Wie Plätzchen backen ohne dass man backen muss. Wir haben die Masse ausgerollt, mit Hero Arts Stempeln bestempelt und mit Plätzchenausstechern ausgestochen. Wir haben Fimo verwendet das schön federleicht ist.

I finally learned how to make these traditional dimensional paper stars. Love them and made lots of these!

Ich hab endlich gelernt wie man die traditionellen Fröbelsterne faltet. Ich mag sie echt gerne und habe eine Menge davon gemacht!

Oh, and I rediscovered knitting. I haven't been knitting since I was a child, but I couldn't resist these pretty loop shawls. Now I am hooked and made 4 different colors already. It is so cosy to snuggle up with a blanket and a tea and knit...

Oh und ich hab Stricken wiederentdeckt. Ich habe nicht mehr gestrickt seit ich ein Kind war, aber ich konnte diesen hübschen Loopschals einfach nicht wiederstehen. Jetzt hat es mich erwischt und ich habe  schon 4 verschiedene Farben fertig. Es ist auch so gemütlich, sich mit einer Decke und einem Tee einzukuscheln und zu stricken...

My little one loves making these perler snowflakes!

Meine Kleine liebt es, diese Bügelperlen Schneeflocken zu machen!

And finally I made these felted acorns. Love their fluffy look.

Und schliesslich habe ich diese gefilzten Eicheln gemacht. Ich mag wie flauschig sie aussehen.

So, what are you doing besides making cards? I would love to know! Have a great day!

Also, was macht Ihr so ausser Karten basteln? Ich würde es sehr gerne wissen! Habt einen tollen Tag!

Vanessa

supplies/Material:

cardstock, die/Papier, Stanze: PTI

stamp/Stempel: Hero Arts

embossing folder/Prägemappe: Sizzix

pearls/Perlen: Prima

Enchanted Fairy Party

Last Sunday, my little girl turned 4 and yesterday we celebrated with her friends. She loves fairies, so I prepared everything for an enchanted fairy party. Here are some photos:

Letzten Sonntag hatte meine Kleine ihren 4. Geburtstag und gestern haben wir mit ihren Freunden gefeiert. Sie liebt Feen, also habe ich alles für eine Feenparty vorbereitet. Hier sind ein paar Fotos:

Aren't these fairy silhouettes beautiful? I used a digi die set from svgcuts.com. The drinks were made using raspberry syrup + water and woodruff syrup + water. My first cakepops ever. Quite easy if the melted chocolate runs well (which it didn't). The pink cake had a raspberry filling. I even found pink letter cookies :)
I tried myself on face painting for the first time and the kids loved it. For more entertainment, I had hidden various nuts in the garden and told them that the cheeky squirrel had hidden a lot of nuts in the garden and that they had to find them to trade them against fairygold (chocolate coins). And we made fairy wands and wizzard wands.

Sind diese Feensilhouetten nicht wunderschön? Ich habe ein digitales Stanzenset von svgcuts.com dafür verwendet. Den Elfentau und die Ogertränen habe ich einfach aus Himbeersirup + Mineralwasser bzw. Waldmeistersirup + Mineralwasser gemacht. Meine ersten Cakepops. Ziemlich einfach, wenn die geschmolzene Schokolade gut fliesst (was sie nicht getan hat). Die pinkfarbene Torte habe ich mit einer Himbeerfüllung gefüllt. Ich hab sogar rosafarbenes Russischbrot gefunden :)
Zum ersten Mal habe ich mich auch ans Kinderschminken gewagt und die Kids fanden das super. Zur weiteren Unterhaltung hatte ich ne Menge Nüsse im ganzen Garten versteckt und den Kindern erzählt, dass das freche Eichhörnchen überall Nüsse versteckt hätte und sie alle finden müssten um diese dann gegen Feengold einzutauschen (Schokotaler). Und wir haben noch Zauberstäbe gebastelt.

A lot of work to prepare on my own and I was so so exhausted, but Alyssa enjoyed everything and this sweet kiss was the best reward!

Eine Menge Arbeit alles alleine vorzubereiten und ich war so so müde, aber Alyssa hat alles sehr gefallen und dieser süsse Kuss hat mich für alles entlohnt!

Vanessa

Some More Publications I Forgot to Share and THE CAKE

Hello! I hope you are all well! And that you all had a wonderful christmas! I have been not well most of the time because of a nasty cold that made me feel dizzy. But I just worked slowly and enjoyed the magic of christmas nonetheless. It was such fun to watch the excitement of a sweet little girl. And I made the most elaborate cake ever! But first some projects to share. So totally out of the season, these Halloween Tags were published in the CARDS October 2011 issue:

You can only see one of them in this photo, but they are featured in a video, too. You'll find it here. And that issue can be found here. Yummy Pink Paislee again. I thought these would make nice little treats. 


Next is a card from the Paper Crafts special issue Card Creations: Get Inspired:

Love that Hero Arts Lace Background stamp! I embossed it with gold embossing powder. 


And the last card for today was featured on the Paper Crafts Connection blog yesterday:

This one is from the new special issue Cool Tools for Card Makers. Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on it! There will be a Cool Tools Week on the Paper Crafts Connection blog and Moxie Fab World (Jan. 9 -13). Don't miss it!


Now THE CAKE. I was close to giving him a name. So much time spent together. Haha. I got this new German magazine called Sweet Dreams and it is full of delicious cakes and desserts. We have been drooling over its pages. Ok, now that's not a pretty mental picture, sorry. Usually I just look at those amazing cakes and end up making the simple ones, but this time I decided to jump right in. And chose one of the most elaborate ones. It took me hours. Because I had to bake four different cake bases. Then make toffee for the filling. And then the toppings. But it was worth it. Proud me:

And a closer look at THE CAKE:

We were 8 on Christmas Eve. But we only ate a quarter of THE CAKE. Death by chocolate. I froze the rest. So yummy, but so much!


Long post. I hope you are still here? Thanks for reading! And thanks for visiting!


Hugs and Love,
Vanessa

Happy Birthday Alyssa!

Today my sweet little girl is turning 3. Already!?! When we went into her bedroom to sing Happy Birthday this morning, I had to hide my tears from her. I am so sentimental because she is no baby any more, because she is 3 already. Stupid, isn't it? There, I am crying again! Ok, so this is a photo-only-post. Sharing some pictures I made today:

I got the idea for this one from Pinterest. There was a baby lying next to his name written with chalk. I made that 3 last night when she was lying in bed to surprise her. She loved it. Here she is telling me how old she is now:

And here is one from the evening when we enjoyed some time snuggling:

Now some things for me to remember:

Some days you drive me crazy (and you are good at that!) but most of the time you are sweet and fun and clever! I am so proud of you! When you are talking to me you use long sentences already, like recently: "Mama, Dad told me that the builder went away to get something to eat, but we made the cinnamon rolls, they should eat these!" You always amaze me when you come up with sentences like this! You love singing. And you do remember the words very well. Although you sometimes prefer to sing imaginary words. You are able to give a whole concert without using a single existing word. You are my little artist. Painting and drawing is your favorite occupation at the moment. And cutting with scissors. You love noodle soup. And noodles. And ice-cream. And galia melon. And the raspberries in our garden. I am thankful that you are reasonable with sweets. You know that you can have a piece of chocolate and then it is enough. And you are ok with that. You can show sympathy very well. Like everytime I bump myself. Which happens very often. You like strawberries on your clothes. They are always your first choice there. You can be very stubborn. Very loud. And very silent and shy. But also very outgoing. You like going to our pediatrician. Breathing deeply like a pro when it comes to listening to your chest. You love visit. But when you have enough you have no problems telling them to go home.

I love you my sweetest girl! You mean everything to me!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Mama

A winner, a cute ladybug and a card

Happy Wednesday! I am back to announce the winner of my give-away. Thanks to everyone who entered! There weren't many interested in it - I guess you all already have a subscription to Paper Crafts? So, without further ado, the randomly chosen winner is

CinnamonSally said...

Great card Vanessa and congratulations on being published again. I have added your giveaway to my sidebar, thanks for the chance to win.
Sallyx

2/27/2011 8:26 PM

Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you! Thanks for spreading the word about my give-away and for being such a sweet friend, Sally! Please email me your address again (I have it somewhere, but just in case) and I'll forward it to the Paper Crafts editor.

Ok, now to a card. I've seen many cards posted that weren't accepted for the latest Paper Crafts call. I didn't have much time to make a lot for the call, but I am honored to have some accepted. But this one didn't make it, so I thought I'd share it here. I used sketch 76:

Yummy October Afternoon! Love that cute image of the little girl. Oh, and how about another adorable girl? I had to make another costume for Alyssa, because the little sheep lost too much "wool" and she needed one for the festivities in Kindergarten. She wanted to be a bug, so I made her this ladybug costume:

A quick tutu made from tulle strips, a black pair of tights with some antennae and wings made from fun foam:

It took me less than an hour, a tiny budget and I love the result :)

I can smell spring here in my corner of the world. How about you? Wishing you all a sunny day! Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Card Patterns Sketch # 105

Happy Saturday! This week Card Patterns is sponsored by Catherine Pooler, an independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and we were able to play with some yummy paper and ribbon. Here is my take on sketch 105:

I wanted it to be fresh. Can't wait for spring to come! No more colds, flus and whatelse we are suffering from all the time! I hope you are not groaning "butterflies - again!". Can't help it. Please join us this week over at Card Patterns! Find all the info here.

Now I wanted to share photos of my cute little sheep. I made a costume for Alyssa last week when we were invited to a Mardi Gras Party for kids. The idea for the costume is from Martha Stewart. Isn't it the cutest?

I used one of her old tights to create the hat and sewed some felt ears to it. Those cotton balls are all sewn to the shirt. She loved it, but those cotton balls are very fuzzy and she lost some "wool" over the afternoon (especially onto my black cardigan). But I couldn't help hugging her - she was soo fluffy :)

I hope you are well! Enjoy your weekend and thanks for visiting!

Hugs,

Vanessa

Supplies:

Paper, Ribbon: Stampin' Up

Ink: Tsukineko

Stamp: Papertrey Ink

Die: Spellbinders

Butterfly Punch: Martha Stewart

Border Punch: Fiskars

Gems: Basic Grey