A new badge and a layout to share

It's now official: I'm part of The Studio Challenges DT :-)

My first reveal will be on Sunday February 3rd, and I promise you - we have lots and lots off different, fun and inspiring  challenges coming up in the future! So pay the The Studio Challenges blog a visit, have a look at the previous challenges, and don't forget to follow us so you don't miss any of the fun!

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And I finally have a layout to share:

Patterned papers: Crate Papers (backgruond paper), Sassafras lass (heart paper), MME (other papers)
Chipboards: Maya Road (snowflakes), Imaginarium Designs (swirls). Alpha: Cosmo Cricket
Diamond shape stamp, embossing powder, buttons, dotted washi tape, snowflake brads: unknown

I pulled out an old stamp with diamond shapes on and wet embossed the pattern. I haven't embossed on pages in ages, but obviously I hadn't forgotten how to do it. I often use my chipboard raw, or paint it, but this time embossing them gave the perfect look for my theme

Some close up photos:

The diamond shapes are made with a stamp and embossing powder, the swirl is embossed, too

Circular chipboard covered with dotted washi.

I found inspiration for this layout in CSI Case File #55:

How I solved the case:
Colors: All colors used + neutral background
Evidence: Diamond chapes + circles
Testimony: Journalling six interesting things about my subject (you will see this option on the CSI blog)

The photo of DS10 is taken during a break while skiing in the Norwgegian ski resort Kongsberg, and my journaling is about skiing and the resort itself.


So I pulled out old stamps and my embossing powder - something I haven't done in ages. Have you done something "old" lately?

A card I didn't succeed in submitting

I know my blog is quiet these days, and it will be for another week. Here are my excuses:

• I have been good and am up to date with DT work, which means I have created, but the work can't be shown yet. That said, if you look at the badges in the side bar, you will only find one, and how busy can I be designing for a challenge blog once a month? The truth is: I'm adding a new badge late next week, and there has been some preparations to make, including designing :-)
   
• I'm participating in a six week long paper craft contest at Swedish Inzpira Magazine. Rules state that the participating work can not be shown after the contest is over, which means the layout and AI I have made so far not will show up here at the blog until the end of February at the earliest. 
   
• One of my scrappy goals in 2013 is to submit and get published. I'm not doing this for the fame and glory which follows (OK, a little bit), but because I need some deadlines and personal commitments to push me forward and to force me to develop my skills. Three cards are made for this purpose so far in January.

Patterned papers: Sassafras Lass (note paper), October Afternoon (anything else).
Button  & washi : unknown

• I am determined to brake the code on how to use wet medias, stamps and inks on my projects. If you look at my last blog post, you can see I'm ranting over my mixed media skills, but I am taking this as a personal challenge - I do want to make it work. I have given up on using mists, but have pulled out  stamps and inkpads, exploring how old tecniques can be incorporated in today's trends. I'm slowly getting there, but as most of this time consuming activity results in samples only, there really isn't much to show.... Who wants to see a card background I have spent an entire evening making? A card is not complete with just the background.
• Work, family and house keeping. I work long days, we have huge challenges family wise, and everybody in my household are on dometic strike. Lies! Life is good, work is good, family is good. We seem to be in a good steam, we spend quality time together, and there is room for some Me Time. Yay!

 

But I do have something to share. A card. The one above was made to fit criterias for an upcoming issue of Inzpira Magazine and I submitted a couple of days before deadline. On regular bases, but not every day, I check my spam box (e-mail) and what did I found here a few days after deadline for the submission? A non delivery note, saying the submission had failed. Oh happy day! The good thing is that I do have something to share with you. For the record, the theme of this issue is music.

 

So what are you up to these days? Busy creating or living your life? Or both?

I'll never be a mixed media artist :-(

Do you have materials, or tecniques, you struggle with?

Using mist and masks seems impossible to get a good grip on for me. My papers get all bulky, and I struggle with the design on my papers and cards when I I don't have paper to shuffle around. Why? Do I THINK too much, or try too hard? It's interesting that I have problems with this media, as ink pads, water colors and modelling paste works great for me...

Anyway - I have been playing, and here is the result:

Paper: 7Gypsies. Mask: The Crafters Workshop. Mist: Dylusions. Modelling Past: Panduro
Brown ink: Ranger. Pens: Signo. Chipboard: Imaginarium Designs. Washi & metal: Unknown

My mist is Chocolate brown, but for some reason it turned out more pinkish on my background paper, even if this was in brown shades. So annoying!

Paper: 7Gypsies. Mask: The Crafters Workshop + Clubscrap. Mist: Dylusions. Modelling Past: Panduro. Pens: Signo. Chipboard (used as mask): Imaginarium Designs. Button: Purple Pumpkin. Washi & ribbon: Unknown



Paper: 7Gypsies. Mask: The Crafters Workshop + Clubscrap. Mist: Dylusions. Modelling Past: Panduro. Pens: Signo. Chipboard: Imaginarium Designs. Flair: ScrapButtons. Washi & clip: Unknown


Do you have materials or teqniques you struggle with?

Thank you cards

I needed some - it was time thank aunties for the kids' Christmas presents.

I was determined to use last week's CSI coordinates on my layout for challenge #53, but got carried away with some paint, modelling paint and stamps and never got to use the freebies I had printed. But it would be a shame to just toss the lovely stuff, so I decided to make some simple Thank You cards with them.

Thank You sticker: SRM Stickers. Ribbon: Scrapbook Fantasies.
Cardstock: Bazill. Flower: unknown

I have lots of 5"*5" white envelopes, and as I am a frugal card maker, I made the following card in size 4"*4" to fit my envelopes *lol*
On the first card i did some doodling to make the center piece pop a little more


Thank You sticker: SRM Stickers. Ribbon: Scrapbook Fantasies.
Cardstock: Bazill. Button: unknown

 Ouch - what happened to this bow?

Thank You sticker: SRM Stickers. Ribbon: Scrapbook Fantasies.
Cardstock: Bazill.

Love the soft palette on these card, and the purple reminds me of spring.

Do you like purple?

Say Hello to Mercedes!

Mercedes:

• Born on October 20th 2012
• 50/50 Main Coon/Norwegian Forest cat mix
• The cuuuuutest kitten ever born!

And it's fun to have a kitten again - a little creature chasing toes at night, messing up all my pretty embellies on my scrap desk, purring, running, playing. It's cold outside, so she hasn't been outdoor yet, but I have a feeling she will drag home huuuuuge amounts of mice when she finally is let outdoor. Ponky, the four year cat is terrified to death, but pushing her self out of her comfort zone as she want's the kitten food - so much more tasty than her own diet nutrition *lol*

My first layout with Mercedes, but there will surely be more in the future, as she's at the age when kitten does funny things...

Look - I have been messy!
Chipboard Alpha: Imaginarium Designs. Twine: the Twinery. The rest: unknown

The structure is made by stamping on modelling paste. Grid stamp from kaiser kraft

Have you ever written a haiku? This one is my first

I found the inspiration to this layout when I saw CSI Case File #53:

How I solved this case:
Colors: All five used + neutral kraft. What might look yellow on images is actually green
Evidence: metal (heart), pleating (cat toy in left bottom corner), texture paste
Testimony: Haiku


Have you been messy lately?

What's for dinner? - Meal planner

Some time last spring I got tired of always rushing dinner cooking. I was fed up of never knowing what to make, and the food we made was boring. So we did something about it. My FIL feed the kids when they come home from school, so they weren't exactly starving when it was dinner time, either.

I started to cook everything from scratch (well, uhm, I don't hunt or have chicken in the garden so I don't grow it myself, except some veggies during summer), which mean basicly every dinner is made from fresh veggies and herbs, and preferably fresh meat and fish, too. Home made food tasts so much better - and the kids love it, too.

Decoreted front page containing last week's dinners

Usually I spend about an hour to cook dinner. The kids do homework while they wait for it to get ready. As I work full time, and hubby often work the late shift in his store, I need to plan the dinners so I don't have to go grocery shopping every day. Honestly, I think the dinner planning saves us both time, and money, in the long run - and the food is probably much healthier, too.

I have had grocery lists, and recipes, all over, and I wanted to get more organized. I found a cheap binder at a local store, with room for an insert at the front, and I made myself a dinner planner:




Binder with fron page insert.
Patterned papers, cut outs etc: Michele Singh for CSI (CSI coordinates #38)


As you see the front is covered, so I don't have to worry about stains on my pretty front insert (unless somebody (like me) spoil 1/3 gallon of milk on top of it). I also sewed a plastic pocket onto the insert, so I can replace the week menus easily.

I use simple plastic protectors for my recipes - since they are in a binder they are easy to move backwards during the week.

And the hubby? He's all happy! Some weeks he has plenty of time off, and he's then the one in charge of both dinner planning and grocery shopping :-)


How do you organize your cooking?

Decorated notebook

My mum asked me if I could pimp up the book she uses in her summer recidence - a large notebook where visitirs can write a note when they leave.

I promised her I would, but I admit I was surprised when it was a blue canvas book - the color would limit me, unless I wanted to paint it. The book layed on my desk for weeks - I had no idea where to start and what to do.

Then I saw these fabolous decorated calendars at Kasia's blog in November - she was one of my fellow DTers at Cardabilities - I new exactly what to do: I pulled out some papers and stuff I had laying around, and just did it when I finally had the inpiration last week). It was actually quite easy - it was just a matter of having the right idea on how to start.

Patterned papers, doilies & trim: Unknown. Rubon house: Maya Road
Pearls: Prima. Birds flash card: October Aftenoon. Alpha: Fancy Pants

Do you ever have projects laying on your desk, not knowing where to start?

The start of something new

Happy new year everybody, and welcome to my new blog. As you see it isn't complete yet, but it will be in not so long :-)

 

 

Thank you to all of you who have visited me over the years at my old blog and signed in to follow me here  in the future. The old blog still exists, and there you also will find my Top 10 12 layouts and Top 10 cards made by me in 2012.

 

 

Over at OUAS we're ready to keep your mojo going by giving you a new sketch and challenge to work with in January:

 

 

 

Theme: "The start of something new" 

 

 

Here is the deal:

 

The new year is among us. What better way to celebrate change, renewed hope and having a positive attitude than with a brand new year? A new start...a new horizon and the start of something new! A new year is full of possibilities. So in honor of the start of 2013, we would like you to create a layout and interpret the theme "The start of something new..." however you like. Whatever that sentence inspires you to scrap then go for it. 

Ideas for journalling: Include the theme sentence as your title, a new job coming up or the beginning of a new job and in the past and what it meant to you, a child's new toy, a new house you are building/moving in to or one you have moved in already, a new year and what it means to you, a new attitude, the start of a new school year, a new relationship - yours, a family members, your child's, a new friendship, new wardrobe, new diet, new phone, new haircut...

Your layout must incorporate this theme and the sketch below. 

Please make sure that we see some sort of journalling on your layouts and please tell us where your journalling is . You are allowed to journal in any language but please tell us where on your page we will find your journalling. Remember journalling has to be a bit more than a title, or a generic comment. Hidden journalling is perfectly fine.

 

 

Please head over to the OUAS blog to see the complete rules and to see what the marvellous DT has come up with, and to learn who is this month's sponsors. OUAS has undergone some minor changes, too, but you will learn all about if you visit the blog.

 

 

Do you want to know how I solved this challenge?

Here you are:

  


Yepp, you read it right - no shopping for us in 2013!
I try to learn my kids that happiness doesn't come from what you own, but what you do and how you are. It's amazing what a teenager, and a ten year old "need", but we're trying to force them to reconcider it.

The entire family agreed on this shop stop, and we sat down one afternoon to create a list of what we are allowed to buy this year. Necessities, like food, medicine and underwear are excluded from the shop stop list and the list contains a number of items each of us need to buy over the year (text continues under the following close up photos):

 

Patterned papers, stickers, alpha & chipboard: Echo Park. Bling: Petaloo
Dots: Craftworkcards. Glassine envelope & fiber:: unknown



The envelope contains the deal/shopping list for 2013



• Shoes, trousers and t-shirts can be bough when the old ones are broken, but nobody need more than 10 t-shirts!
• Long sleeves/hoodies will not be bought this year as we all have plenty (exception: if a kid grow 15 cm+), the same goes for other clothes. This mean no shopping just because there are sales in the stores!
• Electronical devices which are broken will not be replaced, execpt household items like washing mashines, stoves, computers etc. Broken mobile phones will be replaced by the cheapest there are!
• No new car!
• We need a new tent, and hubby a new golf driver.
• Trips and vacations are allowed!
• etc etc

There are more details to this deal, all of them in the list in the envelope.

 

I am allowed to buy as much white cardstock & glue I want, but not more than four paper collections (but I am allowed to win some, without them counting as part of the four *lol*)

 

I also offered to not buy albums this year, but the kids told me I should as "it looks so messy with layouts piled up in your scrap place" - god bless them.

 

 

What to you say - is this a good deal? Can we do it? Could you/would you?