The first time that I win a prize! - Pink Gem Designs

The last two days have been so hectic at work, I feel really exhausted - and it's only Tuesday! I promised myself not to sit in front of the computer tonight. Just check my emails and then relax a bit and go to bed early.

However... while checking my emails I found out that I won one of "A Gem Of A Challenge" blog hop prizes!

I am so excited! It's the first time that I win something, and I am double excited because it is one of my favourite stamp designs - especially Chloe. Isn't she just adorable?

I have prepared a number of Chloe cards so far, and I have more stamps that I haven't used - yet! And now even more! yummy-yummy-yummy!

Sooo.... thank you very much for giving us the chance to win some of your wonderful stamps! woooohooooo!!!!

I'll go to sleep with a smile on my face ;o)

Easy paper basket by Evdokia and Get Creative

Irini's Get Creative has started offering us tutorials on projects or techniques every month, which is really great!

The first tutorial is how to make a really easy but wonderful paper basket. You can find the tutorial here and it is delivered by Evdokia. Now, ok, you might say that the tutorial is written in Greek... but I think that the photos say it all and believe me, it is really, really easy to make... It took me less than half an hour myself!

So here is what I prepared:

Isn't it nice? I used a 12x12 dark red cardstock and Hippie Chic cardstock by DCWV.

Hope you like it!


Edited to say:

19.02.2010

When my mother saw this last night, she asked me to prepare one for her as well. Since I was about to start a project, I made one right away.

All the cardstock that I used is Hippie Chic by DCWV. The reason is simple - when the base cardstock is 12x12, it is convenient that the papers/cardstock you use to decorate it is 8x8. Hippie Chic is the only paper kit that I have in that dimension... and I really like it!

Balou gave birth!

So... there's this stray cat I've been taking care of for the last two years, almost since she was born. I was thinking that I couldn't take her home, as I already have two cats and I live in an apartment.

At some point she got lost, we saw her a couple of times near the neighbourhood and we thought that she might have found other friends...

A few months later she came back, frightened and tired. We started taking care of her again.

I tried once to take her home, but she got really scared in the elevator and had to let her go. Then, a week later we realised she was pregnant.

Last Thursday, she didn't want to eat the food I was giving her, she just wanted to be caressed and she was looking inside our building. I thought "that's it". I took her in my arms and off we went to my apartment.

I don't remember seeing a happier cat before! I just hope that she will get along with my other two cats when the time comes and they meet.

Anyway... this brings me to the reason for this post. She gave birth last Tuesday! Although I wanted to be by her side, I found out that she gave birth when I woke up. She had four kittens, but two have survived.

Here are the very first photos we took. I will keep posting more photos as they grow up.

Needless to say that I am crazy about them! I just hope that I can quickly find someone to adopt them and that Balou (that's how I have "baptised" her) gets along with Sakis and Lola, so that I can keep her. She is simply amazing!

2-6 hours old:

1 day old:

I will finally have some scrapbooking to do!!! ;o)

Feel like home

Lately I'm into simple sketches and using my scraps. While looking around, I found a really nice sketch at Waltzing Mouse Sketch Challenge and I thought I could give it a try.

Although at the beginning I thought it was going to be a simple and quick card... it turned out a bit tricky! Much, much paper piecing being involved, cutting really small images (let me tell you, I don't think I'll be cutting grass any time soon!). But at least it's something different from what I have been doing.

So all the papers/cardstock that I used are from scraps and I am really happy I managed to do this!

Other materials that I used:

- Stamps Hero Arts "Whimsical Houses"
- Versafine and Memento black inks
- Clear embossing powder
- Artemio buttons
- Nestabilities Circles and Scalloped Circles
- Fiscars border punches
- Sakura white gelly roll pen

Hope you like it!

2011 Calendar and Christmas presents

Oh yes... it's already February 8th, but I can finally share with you some of the Christmas presents that we prepared this year! Better late than never, right? ;o)

Sooo...

You can find the decoupage items my cousin Emilia and myself prepared for friends and family here.

Other than that, I also gave Christmas cards that I have already posted on this site... and a calendar for my mother!

Now, my mother uses this type of wall calendars where one can take notes about appointments, bills to be paid etc. So I thought that this year I would prepare her a calendar myself. My idea was to make it in a way I would describe "really big cards" - after all, the size of each page would be 30x30. And it started like this.

Then... I got ill with the flu, miss the targets I had for finishing it... and at the end I had to prepare the last 6 months in one day in order to have it ready for the 1st of January. So, as you will see, some of the pages have stamps that I coloured with ProMarkers and proper layouts and everything... while others were put together a bit hastily.... sorry mum!

Below are the pictures - once again, my thanks to Petros, the photographer, who was asked to take the pictures hastily after an amazing Jan 1 family lunch ! (and yes, July's photo is missing... but it's my mistake!)

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Crop in Athens February 5th

Hello everyone,

Last Saturday I had a GREAT time! I went to my first crop ever, organised by Irini - Get Creative.

Although I've been making cards since September, I had never tried scrapbooking before, mainly because of lack of pictures (you know, that horrible day you want to forget about, when your hard disk crashed and hundreds of photos were lost forever because you thought that this would never happen to you and you couldn't find the time to make a backup? Yes, PAINFUL story!).

Anyway, I've been flirting with the scrapbooking idea for a while now, and when I saw that Irini from Get Creative was organising a crop... well, suffice to say I was sooo glad with my last minute cancelation of my plans so that I could attend the crop.

Let me tell you, we had a great time! More than 20 ladies, scrapbooking along, giving advices, ideas... What more can I say, if you have been in a crop before, you can imagine what I'm trying to describe here. You can find some photos here.

So, of course, I had to give it a go and try to prepare a layout for the first time. I selected a couple of my cats' photos. Unfortunately the quality of the photos is not so good as I am really horrible with taking photos... and most of the photos are taken with my iphone... but anyway ("to do": get some advise from Petros, my cousin/friend photographer whose work I admire!). I thought I'd better work with what I had instead of not doing anything!

I prepared my very first layout for the pre crop challenge, which was a layout with only one colour. Somehow, I ended up preparing something in green - mainly driven by the 12x12 papers I had, which are not many, that would match well with the colours of the photos.

It took me a while to finish it off and the result is, to say the least, really basic and simple. Even so, I was glad that I finally prepared my very first layout, which is the following:

In addition to that, Irini had also prepared for us the materials and gave us instructions for a make-and-take mini album. So, not only did I prepare my first layout, I made my first mini album as well! Here are a few pictures of the mini album:

Isn't that lovely? I liked the mini-album so much that yesterday I spent some considerable time online looking for more inspiration... I ordered a couple of books and as soon as I receive them and decide over what to do next, I will get my first kit and give it a go...

Last but not least, I have to mention the lovely presents that we got from sfragidomania.gr and Cherrynest... We got some chipboard from someone else too, but I have to confess that I was too focused on my layout that I didn't hear who gave it to us :S (Plus the fact that I have a horrible difficulty with remembering names.... :S)

So, again a big thank you to Irini for organising this, and to the lovely ladies I met... Hope I'll see you again soon!

Winter card

Since the last few days have been finally a bit colder in Athens, today I prepared the following card, mainly inspired by the Get Creative Feb 1st Challenge to use white, blue and grey colours. I would like to submit the card also to the following challenges:

- Pollycraft Challenge #78 - "Baby it's cold outside"
- The ABC Challenge - "N is for Nesties" - I used Nestabilities both for the image and sentiment framing
- Papertake Challenge - Anything goes + Flowers optional

Supplies:

Cardstock:
- White and blue cardstock
- Metallic stack by DCWV

Stamps:
- Forever Friends Cosy Christmas by Docrafts
- Sentiment by Papermania
- Versafine Onyx Black inkpad
- Blue Hobbycraft pigment ink
- Clear embossing powder

ProMarkers: Pale Pink, Cool Grey 1, Cool Grey 2 & Blender

Other:
- Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities
- Stars & Swirls embossing folder by Sizzix
- Snowflakes by Paperchase
- White ribbon from my stash
- White paper thread from my stash
- Blue eyelet by Making Memories