Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the other mothers out there! I am just quickly sharing a card I made for my MIL:

I used the PTI Peonies on Parade stamp set and dies for this. First, I trimmed a piece of patterned paper slightly smaller than a pink card base and adhered it. Then I stamped and heat-embossed the peonies and leaves onto watercolor paper and colored them with peerless watercolors. Now I die-cut them with the matching dies and adhered everything to the card with foam tape. I finished the card off with clear droplets.

Have a wonderful Sunday everybody and thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

Secret Agent Birthday Party

Hey everybody! I hope you are all well! I've been busy with various stuff - celebrating my girl's 7th birthday was the funniest of all, then there were difficult things happening and some secret things I am working on that I can not yet share. But for now I am sharing the fun we had on the 7th birthday party. This year we had a secret agent party. Some may say it is not very girly - but we always have boys and girls for the parties, so it is suitable for everybody. The children loved it! And detective/agent seems to be very popular at that age. These were the invitations I made:

I created the cardbase using the WRMK envelope punch board to make it look like a file. Then I stamped all the elements from the PTI Secret Agent stamp set. Very simple and fun. Here is the inside:

I typed the text on my computer and printed it out before stamping the "confidential".

For the party, we prepared a lot of games for the kids. And we chose an authentic outfit to welcome them:

These were the missions they had to accomplish:

They had to lift fingerprints and identify the suspect, had to decipher a text, find hidden letters, had to dismantle a (water)bomb, go through the laser beam maze and do some target practice. Oh, and they had to disguise themselves to stake out the suspect:

The "suspect" had to try very hard not to break out laughing when he came into a garden full of disguised little ones with mustaches, hats and newspapers with spy holes :o)

I'll be back soon with my regular card posts! Thanks for stopping by today!

Vanessa

More Yellow

Hey there! It's spring, I am happily digging in my garden, waiting impatiently for the flowers to bloom and I am in the mood for more yellow. So I created a card combining the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Spring Pinterest Inspiration and the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge Springtime/Easter. I have a big, beautiful bunch of daffodils sitting next to my desk, so I created this card:

I started with a white cardbase and softly inked the background using light blue Distress Ink. Then I trimmed a panel of the same cardstock slightly smaller and die-cut the stitched circle from it. I stamped and heat-embossed the sentiment to the bottom and adhered the panel to the card. Now I stamped and heat-embossed the daffodils from PTI's Year of Flowers set onto another piece of cardstock and colored them using Distress Inks mixed with water. I cut them out and adhered them to the card. Finally, I added clear sequins.

Here are the inspiration photos of the challenges:

Have a great day everybody and thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

   

   

   

Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Challenge Day 8

Hello everyone! Today's card is for the PTI Anniversary Challenge of day 8: Blue Ombre. Here comes my take:

I started with a panel of watercolor paper that I inked with various blue Distress Inks. Then I added droplets of blue and pearlescent spray ink and let it dry. Afterwards I stamped and heat-embossed the "Merci" and the images from the Mehndi Medallion Mini Stamp Set using black glitter embossing powder. I adhered the panel to the card and finished it off with sequins.
Thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, Mehndi Medallion Mini Stamp Set, Think Big Favorites #3 - Ranger Distress Inks - Spray Inks - Versamark ink - Black Glitter Embossing Powder - sequins

Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Challenge Day 7

I am back with a card for the PTI Anniversary Challenge on day 7. It requires to only use neutrals with metallics. Here is my entry:

No stamping on this card! I die-cut one of the butterflies from Beautiful Butterflies from a panel of patterned paper to create a window for a shaker card. The window is filled with sequins, micro beads and die-cut little hearts from gold foiled cardstock. I assembled the card and die-cut the word "forever" from gold foiled cardstock to adhere it above the window. Then I added some die-cut hearts and an enamel dot to finish the card off.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Vanessa

supplies:

PTI cardstock, Beautiful Butterflies dies, Wonderful Words dies, Tiny Tags dies (for the hearts) - gold foiled cardstock - Crate pp - MME enamel dot - Fancy Pants sequins - micro beads

Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Challenge #5

Ha, you guessed it! I am back with my entry for the PTI Anniversary Challenge of the 5th day. This time we had to ink up a not-yet-used or not-yet-enough-used stamp set. My card features both:

Blimey, I made a card suitable for a man! I used Secret Agent (never before used), City Scene (not used enough) and City Scene Sentiments (never before used). I thought the fun agent would fit into London perfectly. And because I am a huge London/GB fan, I had to create this card.
I hope you like it, too!
Thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, Secret Agent, City Scene, City Scene Sentiments - Tsukineko ink

Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Challenge #4 And Fun News!

Hi everybody! I am back with the next project for the next PTI Anniversary Challenge. This one is to create a flower bouquet from at least two different stamp sets:

I had to use my Bigger Blooms stamp set and combined it with those cute dandelion-like flowers from the Botanical Silhouettes stamp set. I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun creating it!

And now I have fun news to share! You might have noticed that I like to finish my cards off with sequins, so when Angel and Laurel invited me to join their DT for the new challenge blog "Sparkle and Shine", I immediately said yes. Our first challenge will start March, 1st and we'll have amazing sponsors! Don't miss it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, Bigger Blooms stamps + dies, Botanical Silhouettes - Hero Arts inks - Fancy Pants sequins

Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Challenge #3

Happy Sunday! I am back with my entry for the third of the PTI Anniversary Challenges. The challenge is to create a bag or  tag. I did both:

I stamped flowers and elements from Bigger Blooms onto this linen bag and created matching tags. Easy and fun to do!
Keeping it short today, back to family! Thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, Bigger Blooms stamps, Beautiful Blooms stamps, Tag dies - Hero Arts ink - Tsukineko ink

Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Challenge #2

Here I am again with another entry for another PTI Anniversary Challenge. This time the challenge was to create a card inspired by the amazing Maile Belles. I chose to use her signature technique, splitting a panel to make something peek out from the space between. Here is my card:

I stamped all the ampersands and hearts from the Grand Ampersand Stamp Set onto my cardbase, using various inks. Then I trimmed a panel of white cardstock to fit the card and cut out a gap. Now I stamped the sentiment, splitting the "always & forever" from the Happy Hydrangea Stamp Set. I just masked part of the stamp, stamped the "always" first and masked the other part of the stamp to only stamp "forever" onto the second strip of the panel. I adhered the panel parts with foam tape and finished the card off with enamel dots like Maile likes to do. That's it!
Thank you for visiting today!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, Grand Ampersand Stamp Set, Happy Hydrangea Stamp Set - Hero Arts inks - Simon Says Stamp inks - Tsukineko ink - MME enamel dots

Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Inspiration Challenge

Hello! It's this time of the year, the Papertrey Ink Anniversary Celebrations have begun. That means amazing challenges and I can't help but have to enter as many as possible. Here is my first entry, using the first color recipe

and this sketch

Here is the result:

I stamped the banners from the Sketched Shapes Stamp Set first, then the dotted hangings from the Birthday Style Stamp Set. Now I die-cut the word "PARTY" four times from black cardstock, assembled them to one thick word and adhered it to the card. Then I drew a string with a black marker, die-cut the balloon, stamped it and adhered it to the card with foam tape. Finally, I added sequins and rounded the bottom left corner.
I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, Sketched Shapes Stamp set, Birthday Style Stamp set + die, Party Trio Die - Mama Elephant ink - Hero Arts ink - American Crafts ink - Clearsnap ink - Prettty Pink Posh sequins

A City Scene Christmas Card

Today I have a city scene christmas card to share. I'll enter it to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Christmas/Holidays.

Here is my card:

I covered a card base with red chevron patterned paper. Then I trimmed a panel from Rustic Cream cardstock and stamped all the images and the sentiment using "City Scene" from PTI. I slightly inked the edges of the panel and adhered it with foam tape.
Thanks for visiting today!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI City Scene stamp set, Rustic Cream cardstock - Crate pp - Tsukineko ink - Ranger Distress ink

Pinspired Christmas Card

Today I have a Pinspired Christmas Card for you. This is the image I found on Pinterest:

source

I love this image! Here comes the card:

I used the deer stamps from the PTI In the Meadow set and stamped with various Hero Arts Shadow inks. I'll enter it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "anything goes". 
Thank you for visiting!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI In the Meadow stamp set - Hero Arts shadow inks - Tsukineko ink

PTI November 2014 Blog Hop Challenge

While playing around to create christmas cards, I had time to make a card for the PTI November 2014 Blog Hop Challenge. The theme is snow. Here is my card:

I wanted to create a cute winter scene. First, I inked the background with blue Distress Inks and stamped the snowflakes. Then I die-cut the various elements from white cardstock and assembled everything. For more dimension, some elements are adhered with foam tape. To finish the card off, I applied Wink of Stella onto the snow edges and the snowflakes. It is so sparkly in real life, but so difficult to catch on the photo!
Thanks for visiting and happy hopping!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, In the Meadow dies, Global Greetings: Christmas Wishes stamp set, Snow Drifts dies - Ranger Distress Ink - Wink of Stella

PTI July 2014 Blog Hop Challenge

Today I am playing with the PTI Blog Hop Challenge again. I love the beautiful inspiration Nichole found for us:

Isn't it pretty? There are so many elements to play with, the inspiration is endless! Here is what I made of it:

I wanted to use the red gingham and the cute polka dot pattern of the bird. I used the button card die for my center piece. The boat and baby are from the Bitty Baby Blessings set. And I just had to add a button. I hope you like it!
Thanks for visiting and happy hopping!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI cardstock, Bitty Baby Blessings stamps + die, Button Card die, button - My Mind's Eye pp - Lawn Fawn pp - Ranger Distress ink - Tsukineko ink

Shake It! Take Three

Here comes the third shaker card I made. This time, I'll enter it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and Virginia's View Challenge

And here comes the card:

I used Lawn Fawn's Float my Boat stamp set + dies to create this little scene. For the waves, I used a scalloped edge die-cut border as a mask and inked them with distress inks and my ink blending tool. The polaroid die is from PTI. I hope you like it!

Thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

supplies:

Lawn Fawn Float my Boat stamps + dies - MME pp - Carta Bella pp - PTI die - Ranger Distress Inks, Ink Blending Tool - Pretty Pink Posh sequins

Share the Love Week: Distress Inks (Watercolors)

It's time for another fun winnie & walter share the love week! This time we are all having fun with Ranger Distress Inks. I so love my Distress Inks. So many techniques to use them for! Our first challenge is to use a watercolor technique. Here comes my take:

I used my Weathered Wood ink pad and created a soft watercolor wash for the background. Then I stamped the little hearts from You've Got Love Mail and added some white pearlescent droplets I created with Perfect Pearls + water. Now I stamped and heat-embossed the banner and the flower from The Big, the Bold and Extras using clear embossing powder. On an acrylic block, I mixed ink from my Picked Raspberry ink pad with water and colored the embossed images using a brush. I stamped the sentiment onto my banner using the Weathered Wood ink again. Then I fussy-cut everything, arranged it with some die-cuts onto my card and adhered it with foam tape for more dimension. Some rhinestones were added for a bit of glamour and bling. I hope you like it!
Now to some important information! Hop over to the winnie & walter blog and read all about how to win some Distress Inks for yourself! Ranger is generously sponsoring prizes for you! Can't wait to see your take on the challenge! Good luck!
Thanks for visiting and be sure to come back tomorrow for the second challenge!

Vanessa

supplies:
winnie & walter You've Got Love Mail, The Big, the Bold and Extras - Ranger Distress Ink Weathered Wood, Picked Raspberry - Tsukineko Versamark ink - Spellbinders die - PTI dies - Memory Box die - Hero Arts rhinestones

Gold

Oh, I really like using a touch of gold on my creations. So I just had to create something for the new AEI♥U Challenge:

 And of course, it'll fit the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge:

Here is what I made:

I love the look of gold and blue. Here I created a watercolor wash on watercolor paper using spray mist. Then I added some gold spray mist ink splatters. I die-cut a frame from gold foiled cardstock and adhered it to the panel. Now I stamped the sentiment from the Modern Leaves set onto a die-cut tag, tied on some twine and added some of the gold ink splatters, then adhered the tag to the card with foam tape. For my flower, I used the solid leaf from the Modern Leaves set and stamped and heat-embossed it with gold embossing powder (twice), then I cut the leaves out and adhered them together with a Prima flower onto my card. Finally, I adhered some gold enamel dots and sequins to finish the card off. I hope you like it!

Thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

supplies:

Avery Elle Modern Leaves stamp set - PTI dies - Tattered Angels mist - Prima Flower - MME enamel dots - Pretty Pink Posh sequins - Garn & Mehr twine - Ranger embossing powder

PTI June Blog Hop Challenge

It's that time of the month again! This month's PTI Blog Hop Challenge is so fun, I love love love this inspiration photo:

source

I chose to use this sketch recipe:

And made this card:

First I created the frames, matting soft stone cardstock with pink, yellow and turquoise ones. Then I added pictures to the frames. For the yellow one, I stamped the tiny butterflies from the Beautiful Butterflies set, for the turquoise one I stamped the dots from the Birthday Style set and for the pink one, I just die-cut a little heart. The sentiment is from the Happy Hexagons set. I hope you like it!
Thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

supplies:
PTI stamps, cardstock, die - Tsukineko ink - Clearsnap ink - Pretty Pink Posh sequins

A Yummy Cupcake

For today's card, I watercolored a yummy Paper Smooches cupcake. It's one of the cute free digis available here. I made it for the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge:

Here it is:

I wanted it to be very happy and colorful. The cupcake was printed onto watercolor paper, then I colored it using Distress Inks spritzed with water. The cherry on top is covered with Glossy Accents for more shine. The birthday was die-cut from a left-over piece of watercolored paper. The happy is from the winnie & walter The Big, the Bold, and the Happy set. The sequins topped the card perfectly. I hope you like it!
Thanks for visiting!

Vanessa

supplies:
Paper Smooches cupcake digi - winnie & walter The Big, the Bold, and the Happy - Carta Bella pp - Ranger Distress inks - Tsukineko ink - PTI birthday die - Pretty Pink Posh sequins - Glossy Accents

Anything Goes

This week, there are two "Anything Goes" challenges. One on the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Blog and one on the Paper Smooches Sparks Blog:

I had some fun with Paper Smooches dies and here is the result:

No stamping here. But I hope you like it nevertheless! I used the rainbow die to create the stripes, adhered them to a strip of white cardstock and then die-cut the hello and trimmed the white strip along the rainbow. I hope this wasn't too confusing :o)
Thanks for visiting!!

Vanessa

supplies:
Paper Smooches hello die, rainbow die - PTI cardstock - Pretty Pink Posh sequins