Monday 30 April 2012

Cherry Nest Damask

Hello!

About time for a card, right? ;o)

Today I will share with you a card I made for Cherry Nest:


As soon as I saw the beautiful Light Green damask paper, I knew what kind of card I wanted to make. The little flower-buttons are from the Vintage sets you can get from Cherry Nest.

The stamp is a clear one from Waltzing Mouse stamps. I stamped it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and since it has been a while since I last did that, the result was a bit disappointing. Then I remember the old tricks... So first I used a white eraser on the stamp - this way Distress Inks stay better on clear stamps. Then I used a mouse pad below the stamp to make sure that I get a good impression of the stamp. And I got the result that I wanted.

I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supplies:

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Friday 20 April 2012

Get Creative - April card sketch challenge

Good morning!!!

I hope this post is published correctly as it is a scheduled one. You see, by this time I'll be flying to London - not a business trip this time, a friend of mine is getting married so I'm going to enjoy London as a tourist for once!

So... time for a card, don't you think? I've been carried away with layouts lately, but I don't forget my first love!

Today we have another great card sketch challenge at Get Creative! The sketch is the following:




Based on the sketch, I made the following card:





As you can see, I changed the sketch into a landscape mode. The table lamp shades are chipboard by  Sfragidomania - "Table lamp shades set". Don't they have great details? I dressed the top part with paper and I painted their bases with red acrylic paint (the red one) and Distress Stain (the brown ones). I used my favourite Vintage Photo Distress Ink all around the shades and the card itself. You can see the details here:




Of course, I had to use some sewing around the card, since it fitted the style of the card and I'm in love with sewing! ;ο)

I hope you like it!

You can visit the Get Creative blog to get some amazing inspiration by the design team and to participate as well! The present for the winner this month is from generous Tina Suitella:


We'll be waiting!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supplies:


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Thursday 19 April 2012

Tiny hand - Big love

Good morning!

Another layout for today. I have made some cards too, but can't post them yet ;o)

The inspiration for the layout is a challenge blog I discovered recently which I find very interesting, White with 1. Each month they are providing a colour theme of white plus one other colour and an additional requirement. For April they have asked to make a layout with white, grey and tabs or tags. I did a layout with Andreas' hand:


Although in general I like colours, I really liked the idea of white-grey. Maybe because it's something different.

I used the latest sketch from Elina at Get Creative. Isn't it fabulous? You can come by the blog for more inspiration by the amazing design team and to participate to the challenge!




I enjoyed the layout so much! Many stamps in different grey colours, embossing, distressing and finally I was able to make a layout using a patterned paper as background! ok, maybe the pattern is not so strong, but it is a step ;o)

I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supplies:

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Monday 16 April 2012

Sweet Dreams

Hello!

Two days ago we had the family Easter dinner. Last time we had a family lunch my two cousins were still pregnant. This time it was the first time that we had together the two new family members, my nephews. All night long I kept thinking "it seems like yesterday when we were the kids of the family, now we have become the grown ups..." Time flies!

So... another layout today, this time of Nikolas:



The idea came to me as soon as I saw the Challenge Me Happy latest challenge with the following inspirational photo:


Aren't the colours gorgeous? As soon as I saw it I thought of the Lawn Fawn papers that were waiting for me... so happy!

I wanted to use some photos of Nikolas sleeping, and whenever I would look at them I would start singing Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics. (Yes, I know, the song's meaning has nothing to do, but that was what was coming on my mind!). So when I saw The Studio Challenges latest challenge that asks us to prepare a layout using the title of a song, I new what I would scrap.

So Lawn Fawn papers and stamps... of course I couldn't resist the paper piecing. For that I used the small paper pad (6x6) since I wanted to small motifs. I highlighted the title with Glossy Accents and I added a few Stickles details - he may be a baby boy, but dreams can be sparkly, right?



I cut the sun and the clouds on the left top with my Silhouette SD and highlighted them with faux stitching (strange, right? hehehe)


I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supplies:


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Friday 13 April 2012

Kissed by the dog

Hello!

Today is Good Friday in Greece, but I'm scrapping... I'm not feeling very well (those days of the month, you ladies know what I mean) and I'm not up to much. Thankfully we have our scrapbooking supplies to do something we love these days!

So today I made a layout about a story that I wanted to scrap about for when my nephew Andreas to read when he grows up. It is about when the dog "kissed" him (aka bit him on his mouth). Sorry, no more details about the story, it's a bit painful, but making the layout was quite therapeutic!

And here's the layout:


You will allow me to write a few more things about the layout today... Although by now I have made a number of layouts, I still feel I'm just starting and I like to experiment with different techniques, styles etc. So I'll tell you a bit more about what I have done today.

First of all, this time I did something I wanted to try some time now: use a dark background and play with my white mist, inspired by the amazing Irini whose style is so unique and her layouts are all stunning. The combination of white mist, the white faux stitching and the brown and kraft colours give the impression of leather when you see it live, although this is not captured very well on the photos.

The layout is based on the sketch from My Creative Sketches:



To highlight a bit more the letters of the title I used white gel pen around them:




One of my favourite cardmakers, Marie, gave me the idea in one of her always meaningful and to-the-point comments of using my Silhouette SD to make my own low-cost masks - thank you Marie for the idea! (duh!) And that's what I did, I cut the animal paws with my Silhoutte and used them as masks with my white Studio Calico mist. but since I also liked the kraft paper I used as a mask, I thought I could try to use this as well on my layout. I liked the dimension I got when I placed a bit off-centre and I kept it. I highlighted it with white faux stitching:



I cut several papers in bright colours to make a contrast with the dark background, glued them together and the cut the bottom like a banner - I like banners so much! I also used my beloved mini-sewing machine (it's still working!)

And because I almost always want to have some kind of frame for my layouts, I used the white faux stitching all around the layout as well:




Finally, the journaling is hidden behind the photo and I have used a tab to both highlight it and use it to take it out and read it. I wrote the wrong name on the journaling (there are two dogs with similar names!), but that was ok, I just wrote the correct name on a white paper and glued it on the top. Handmade can have mistakes as well, right? ;ο):




I hope you like it! Just using these techniques, I really, really enjoyed preparing this layout.

Hugs and Happy Easter to my Greek friends!

Anastasia

Supplies:


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Sunday 8 April 2012

Welcome Nikolas...

Another layout for today! I can't stop, hehehe

This time is with my new nephew and soon-to-be my godson, Nikolas! He is soooo cute (you know, the aunt that sees all her nephews cute, hehehe), but of course his parent's wish is more important than mine to share him with you, so you won't be able to see his face




The photos are from the day he was born. He has already changed so much - especially his hair, so much and soooo long! Of course I've totally fallen for him and I go very often to see him.

I was looking for sketch inspiration last night and as soon as I saw the following sketch from Skissedilla  I was instantly inspired and started scrapping right away. The funny thing is that when I started scrapping I thought it would be too difficult for me to use many photos in one layout, but I seem to prefer it now. Especially when the layouts are about my nephews ;o)



I cut the photo with a polaroid-style border and used the space below them for my short journaling. (It says "Two days before you were born - Just five hours old - What a yawn - Like Napoleon - With your happy aunt/godmother".

I highlighted the stars die cuts with Glossy Accent. I didn't have a mist in the colours I wanted which were quite strong, so I first I used a green mist and then a white one and got the results I wanted.




The other funny thing is that I was planning to use my new scrapbooking supplies, but at the end I used an older My Mind's Eye kit I got when I was first flirting with scrapbooking.I


I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supplies:


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Saturday 7 April 2012

A Paris...

Hello!

Time for a layout... and for the first time, with my face on it (well, part of my face, hehehe):



I recently received some scrapbooking supplies and I really, really wanted to use them (you can find the main supplies at the end of the post). The theme is travel as I have quite a few photos from my business trips.

The reason I chose to start with Paris is simple. Until now the photos I was taking on my travels were mainly from the scenery and buildings. No faces. Thanks to scrapbooking, in my last trip to Paris I started taking photos of myself. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it and I will keep taking this kind of photos. What I like most is that many photos remind me of the Amelie movie, you know, the photos with the gnome that Amelie was sending to her father from all around the world?


Misting is a technique that I didn't use for my cards. However, I really like it in layouts. So of course I had to use my new Mini Chevron mask and my Calico white mist. However I also did one of my favourite card techniques - using a white gel pen on kraft paper for faux stitching ;ο)

The inspiration for the layout came for the following two challenges

The Studio Challenges - April 1st asks us to use at least three of the following materials (I used all of them ;ο):
- Kraft - my cardstock
- Twine - the black and white bakery twine on the left
- Die cuts - a few embellishments, such as the clouds and the camera
- Ink - I used white ink around the photo and the papers, and also to stamp the sentiment in the cloud
- A star - well, I used two ;o)
- Washi tape - the black and white striped on the right

Stuck Sketches April 1st with the following sketch:


I hope you like it!

Hugs,
Anastasia

Supplies:


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Friday 6 April 2012

Cherry Nest - Iris folded heart

Hello!

Today I have another card I made for Cherry Nest!

First of all my apologies for the photo quality... It's just that I forgot somewhere my camera and I had to use my iphone!



So, I made the heart with the iris folded technique. A closer photo to see how the heart looks like:


In the centre I have used silver paper, but you cannot see it in the photo.

If you want to get an idea of how iris folded cards are prepared, take a look here.

I hope you like it!

The Cherry Nest papers I have used, as well as the rest of the supplies, are the following:


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Thursday 5 April 2012

Get Creative with stickers

Good morning!

Back at Get Creative this month! I wanted to thank very much March guest designers, really really great projects ladies, you gave us amazing inspiration!

So today we have the first card challenge for April. And the challenge, as the title post suggests, is the following

Stickers-stickers-stickers! That means, you are challenged to make a card using your sticker stash! And keep in mind - no pattern paper please!

Such a great challenge, right? Funny thing is that I don't use stickers for my cards. Great, eh? And as I was thinking whether I should buy some stickers, I thought that I might not have stickers with images, but I do have plenty of alphabet stickers. Be creative, right? And I kept thinking of a quote from Kung Fu Panda I had read a few days before that I really, really liked and wanted to do something with it. So here's the card I made:




I have to confess something else: I "destroyed" a number of sticker for making the card. The problem was that the card was too plain, even for the clean and simple style that I love. And then I thought "duh! you can make your own background!" So I grabbed my Versamark and one of my favourite Hero Arts background stamps (supplies at the end of the post) and that was it - problem solved.

A bit of distressing around the edge with Vintage Photo and my favourite faux stitching with white gel pen, and here's the card. I hope you like it!

Don't forget to visit Get Creative for amazing inspiration by the creative team... and of course to participate to the challenge! This month's sponsor is generous Tina Suitella and here's a picture of the goodies she's offering:





Hugs,
Anastasia

Supplies:
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Sunday 1 April 2012

Birthday card

Hello!

I know, I know, I disappeared this week... Life you see... My second nephew, Nikolas, was born last Saturday! Party time for the family again. And this time I will also be my nephew's godmother, I'm so so happy!

Of course I hadn't finished the blanket I was making for the new nephew, so I was full on crocheting last week. Finally I finished it yesterday, I will post photos in another post.

Then I had a two-days business trip, then too much work... Luckily a friend of mine, Aleka, had her birthday yesterday, so I found the perfect excuse to make a card. I had getting my hands on my card supplies so much!

Aleka really, really likes busts (I hope this is the right word!), so I used my Tim Holtz die and my favourite My Mind's Eye papers I also used for my previous card.



And a closer photo to see how I have given dimension to my card with distressing and foam stickers:





And as usual, I get my inspiration from card challenges, so here are the challenges I was inspired by:

Young Crafters Unite #8: Use sewing or stitching:



Mojo Monday 234 with the following sketch:


I hope you like it!

Supplies:

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