Lavinia tags

 This will be the last post of 2021, so I will wish you all a pleasant New Year's Eve and I hope to see you in 2022. Today I have two tags, made with lavinia stamps. I got a tree stamp recently and I really like how it can be used on the edge so that only some of the branches show. It gives a nice dimension to the scene.

Challenges:

Cards4Gals: New stash
Crafty creations - AG
Creative Moments - AG
Through the craftroom door - AG
Welove2create - AG
InspirationStation - photo inspiration (she looks like a fairy in the forest)

And here is the second tag, I really like how the stars pop when you use silver embossing. 

Challenges:

Use your stuff - snow or winter
Christmas Craft creations - make a scene
Watercooler Wednesday - AG

Looking back on 2021

 

This has been a year to remember and blog wise they can be summarized with a reference to three posts that were mile stones to me. I have also chosen ten creations displayed during the year. 

Starting with the post from January 3 where I was convinced to take on the DT assignment for the challenge blog We Love Chocolate Baroque in addition to the one I've had at Allsorts for many years. So I chose a creation using a Chocolate Baroque stamp, paired with my interest in making gift boxes and paper items other than cards. 

I picked some more creations that are not cards since I really enjoy that. They also show my two major passions in life - my grandchildren and music.

 

After that comes the post from May 5 which is about having to leave my DT assignments. Dark times where I lost both my confidence and my joy of crafting. I put away the papers and the distress inks and instead sat in front of the computer until I found the words of encouragement I needed and some new joy and inspiration in the form of online crafters and digital stamps. 

The third post is from October 18 and signals that I have grown, I have moved on and I am confident once again. 

I do now what gives me joy (very Marie Kondo, I know, but I couldn't resist) and I never wonder what others might think of the quality of the inking, if the choice of stamp is valid, if I have done things according to someone elses wishes or not. I craft because I like it and when I do things to give away I can see that it brings joy to the receiver. I post my creations so that they might inspire someone else, not to get credit.

Right now I really enjoy the Lavinia stamps, therefor I chose creations using them, and since I have boxes upon boxes of cards I have started making tags instead so two tags will finish this post.

 

Take care and I hope 2022 will be a joyful crafting year for you, I know it will be for me. 

I'm doing this year in review as part of Ellie's blog hop and the other co hosts are:

Debbie - Blog: Secrets to Stamping

Ellie - Blog: Ellibelle's Corner

Helene - Blog: Mummylade

Kate - Blog: Small Bits of Paper

Maria Giselle - Blog: Maria Giselle's Creative Cuts

Misty - Blog: A Card a Day

You can enter your favourite project or projects for 2021 by adding it to the link below. 

Christmas chickadee and a red bouquet

I really love the digistamp with the little bird from Power Poppy so here is another frosty card featuring it. Coloured with distress inks and I used iridescent painter's medium to make the snow on the branches pop out. 

Challenges:

Cards4Galz - Christmas Animals

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge - Christmas - the last stretch
Little red wagon - Do they know it's Christmas

The paper shelter - Anything goes
Cutiepie challenge - Cute and cuddly

Allsorts - Wings and/or tails

We love stamping - A/G with CAS option

merrylittlechristmas - A/G

And then I have a Christmas card with a musical background made by dabbing acrylic silver paint onto a stencil, it created a very rustic texture. On that I mounted the flowers and leaves that I stamped, die cut and coloured with distress inks. Lots of elements as you can see in the picture below :)

This creation is for

 

Watercooler Wednesday - Anything goes
A bit more time to craft - Anything goes
Addicted to stamps and more - die cuts and stencils

and

Bird on a branch

 I just got this stamp from Gina K and wanted to try it out so I coloured it with distress inks, fussy cut it and used some foam tape to give it dimension. A plain white background and some die cut pieces to make a frame, clean and simple.

Challenges:

Allsorts - wings or tails
Creative fingers - anything goes
Polkadoodles - anything goes
Happy little stampers - use a die
Little red wagon - NBUS

And then I used the mood board at Incy Wincy - where I was creatively encouraged by being top 5 last challenge - to make this stencil card.

challenges:

Incy wincy designs - colour palette

A perfect time to craft - anything goes
Happy little stampers - use a stencil

Poinsetta and Bandit

 I've got two makings today, a card and a tag. The tag I made using some new Lavinia stamps I recently got, including the fox Bandit - adorable! The card is a Christmas card with a die cut poinsetta as focal point. 

Challenges for the tag:

Stamping sensations - choose a theme and stamp it
613 Avenue - A/G
Creative fingers - A/G
Fun Friday - sparkle and shine

Challenges for the card: 

Allsorts - use a die
Country view - christmas A/G
The flower challenge - Christmas
Winter wonderland - Anything christmas

Christmas makings

I've made some Christmas cards in different colours using an image from the Paper shelter and added some fussy yarn to the hats. Sorry for the bad light on the photos.

And some small gift packages containing four chocolate bars (KitKat size)

Challenges for the cards:

Cardz4Galz - It's snowtime

Paper shelter - celebration 

Country View - A/G Christmas

Little red wagon - let it snow

EllieBelle's - Baby, it's cold outside

Challenges for the gift packs:

ABC Christmas - Y is for yummy

CRAFT challenge - Christmas present

MAWTT - fancy fold

Watercooler Wednesday - Occasions

Shopping our stash - Triple threat

Creative fingers - A/G

fab n funky - Anything Christmas

Christmas sign

 Last week I made a Christmas sign using a black frame (Ribba) from IKEA.

I took the backside of the frame - which is made of masonite - and painted it with plack acrylic paint mixed with plaster of paris and a little water to make the paint more chalky and resemble a black board. Then I cut out the image from sign vinyl, using my Silhouette Cameo and took away the cut out pattern, making it a stencil, and placed that on the dried board. The first layer was black - to make sure that if the paint would bleed it would bleed the background color and hence not be visible, and after that two layers of white acrylic paint. 

The image is from Etsy, but I added the sentence Wonderful toys for good little boys since my grand kids are lovely little lads :).

I am really pleased with the outcome. The Cameo machine has brought so much joy lately, I can't understand why I haven't used it more...

Challenges:

Welove2create - mixed media anything goes

Just add ink - inspiration picture (with a christmas sign hanging very conveniently on the mantle piece)

Avenue 613 - anything goes

Creative Artiste's - anything goes mixed media

Polkadoodles - Anything goes

C.R.A.F.T challenge - winter

Baby girl and winter cards

 Today I have some creations for different challenges:

Allsorts - one for the girls

Sweet stampin - happy birthday

Stamps and fun - Snowflakes

paper minutes - it's cold outside

Little red dragon - no patterned paper

Try it on Tuesday - Winter wonderland

shopping our stash - triple threats (three trees)

Roses on kraft and my new machine

 Today I have a Christmas card to show, a Chocolate Baroque stamp on craft paper, coloured with wax crayons. The stamp is so detailed it actually took me three attempts to get it right, ssshhh don't tell anyone :)

And I have bought myself a proper heat press so now I cut and press vinyl on more or less everything. It's so fun and the result is amazing. I used to use a regular iron to press on the stuff I cut with my Silhouette Cameo and was quite happy with that but the difference is out of this world! 

And I also like to create my own cutting files so I will put them on a separate tab on this blog, since sharing truly is caring. And I will enter them in the challenge Anything but a card at MAWTT. 

Other Challenges: 

The flower challenge - add leaves

Inspiration station - wood (the colour of wood and the green bits on the image)

Incy wincy designs - colour on kraft

A bit more time to craft - anything goes

Allsorts challenge - Christmas

Polka doodles - Anything goes

Stamping sensations - Christmas

We love stamping - christmas

Christmas and Magic

 Two cards today;

Try it on Tuesday - Make it Magical

Addicted to CAS - circle

the fairy and the unicorn - Fantasy

Christmas with the cuties - In the pink at christmas

Coloring in Scrapland - Christmas in unconventional colours

The cutie pie challenge - Anything cute

Starting up Christmas

 It's getting colder and I really hope we'll get some snow soon cause November really is dark. But on the bright side the Christmas preparations are starting, noticeable on many challenge blogs so here are a few of my Christmassy creations:

A gift bag made from kraft paper, a gorgeous vintage image and some die cut lace on the sides. 

Rivers of Creativity - the gift

Watercooler Wednesday - all about occasions (Christmas)

613 Avenue Create - thankful (and a gift bag is a lovely thank you)

Country view - Christmas gifting

Stamping sensations - Christmas

A very CAS card with some puffy paint on the branches to give them texture.

Polkadoodles - Anything goes

Happy little Stampers - Christmas

We love stamping - christmas

Creative craft cottage - add some sparkle

And finally a playful card for a little boy.

Allsorts - from boys to men

Crafter´s Castle - Anything goes

Vintage flower and lilac gingham

 

Challenges:

TTCRD - A/G

Allsorts - Vintage

We love Chocolate Baroque - Anything autumn

Shopping our stash  -you don't bring me flowers

Cute Card Thursday - A/G

Challenges:

MAWTT - bingo (diagonal ribbon, patterned paper and lace)

613 Avenue Create - A/G

Halloween

 Halloween is not really celebrated where I live, even though shops have been trying hard for years to add the event to commercial tradition :)

But I have some Halloween inspired cards made but not shown so here goes: The pumpkin witch from Rick St Dennis is so adorable, I wish I could use it more often.

Challenges:

InspirationStation - pumpkin patch

Simon says stamp monday challenge - spooky/Halloween

Fab and funky - spooky season

TTCRD - A/G

613 Avenue - A/G

River of Creativity - Wildlife, card 3

Stampin sensations - animals, birds and bugs  card 3

Autumn cards

 I have a couple of autumn inspired cards today and the top one is a favourite cause it really puts a finger on where I am today. Letting things go can be frustrating, hard, scary and sad but when you do you might find that it is very liberating. 

Like being on crafting design teams. I've been on plenty, both long-term and short, and it was scary to let go; would I be able to continue to craft? Why would I without the audience? Would I lose inspiration or interest? Was I even good enough to continue on my own?

But here's the thing ladies - it's wonderful! I do what I want because it feels right at that particular moment. No pressure about colours or stamp brands, no deadlines, no wondering about whether I've been active enough, creative enough, talkative enough. Just me and my craft supplies, a bit of music in the background and a feeling of calm and joy. 

I don't need the confirmation, I don't need comments or cheering, I do this on my own terms. Crafting communities can be very supportive but also a bit overwhelming and it can be difficult finding the balance. I have and I'm not looking back. Comment if you like, or don't. It's your time, use it wisely cause it's not coming back. :)

Challenges:

Country view challenges - autumnal colours, card 3 and 4

We love chocolate baroque - anything autumn, card 5 and 6

Incy, wincy designs - kindness/fondness, card 1

Allsorts - anything autumn, card 1

A bit more time to craft - A/G

Creative craft cottage - Autumn/Halloween, card 1 and 3

Pinspirational challenge - image inspiration, card 6

creativefingerschallenge - A/G