Julkortsmakeriet är igång!

Hej kära läsare! 

Jag gissar att jag inte är ensam om att ha börjat med julkorten. Eftersom det är kul att prova lite nytt köpte jag några nya dies som passar till julkorten. Hittade så fina hjortar och granar som kunde ge lite vinterstämning. Så här blev det:

För att få till 3D-effekten använde jag små distanskuddar bakom några av granarna.

Tack för att du tittade in!

Just A Few Cards from the Past

 Dear visitor, here are some cards that I haven't displayed earlier. I hope you might enjoy some of them.

Planning for Valentine's and Easter

 Hello!

Welcome to my blog. Today I've been searching for creative inspiration. Though it's still January I know I should start making my Valentine's cards. Thinking I've got plenty of time until February 14 is more of an intention than reality  ... does that sound familiar?

Next project will be the Easter cards. I made some last year and they disappeared quickly to new owners. As I have promised myself not to buy more stuff for my crafting room, I feel a bit anxious. What if I haven't got any yellow cardstock? Or cute bunny pictures for the cards... perhaps I will have to buy something anyway... lol!

Here are some of the Easter cards from last year. Thank you for stopping by. 

Latest News from my Crafting Room

 Hello to all of you out there!

I've been absent from this blog for some time now, but I haven't stopped making cards. Here are some of my latest ones. Hope you enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by,

Outi

It's All Flowers

Hello all! I'm currently on vacation and it's all about flowers. My garden is in bloom and so are the cards I make. Today I'd like to share this card:

This card was entered into the challenge at The Sketchy Challenges 144 - Theme Anything Goes

In September I will show my cards at an exhibition at the local library and I'm so looking forward to that. We'll see how I'll feel when we get closer to that date. Probably I'll get more and more nervous about it all. Anyway I've got lovely friends who support me so I know they will do everything to boost my self confidence.

Thanks for visiting!
Take care!
Outi

Christmas Card Traditional Colours

Hi there!
Welcome to my second post today. There are so many inspirational blogs out there I just couldn't resist some of the challenges so I'd like to share this card at Hjerteboden, Kort o Mania and Allsorts Challenge Blog.

Thanks for visiting! Happy New Year!
Outi

Anything But a Card

Hello all!
When I visited the Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog I just knew I had to join their current challenge Anything But a Card #146 with ribbon or trim. This is the outcome of my efforts in the crafting-room:

A lilac themed tag from scrap pieces embellished with large flowers. My favourite is the two-toned lily. Thank you for stopping by today!
Love, Outi

Preparing for Christmas...

Hello everybody! Summer is now slowly fading away. Here in south Sweden July was unusually hot but now the temperature seems to have gone into autumn mode. And soon it's time to prepare for Christmas, isn't it? Anyway, I'd like to share some Christmas tags today. The tags were made from paper scraps which is quite fun. It's a bit of a challenge to make something out of scrap pieces and I really like that.

These Christmas tags were also entered into the Christmas challenge #315 at Fab'n'Funky. Thanks a lot for stopping by.
Love, Outi

How to Use Dull Scrapbook Paper - Make These Cute Mini-books!

Hello again! Hope you've had a great start on this fresh new year. I still feel great about most things and I hope I will keep my spirits up throughout the year. Today I'd like to share a fun way of using those scrapbook papers whose patterns, colours or whatever don't appeal to you. You know the feeling when you buy a stack of coordinated papers and you love most of them, but then there are a couple of papers that you simply don't like.

Guess how happy I was when a good friend of mine directed me to this link on YouTube. Click on the link and enjoy when The Frugal Crafter shows you how to make cute little note-books with those darn dull papers. And it's super easy! I've already made five mini-books and I'm so happy now that I know how to use the rest of those -what am I going to do - papers. There is nothing so refreshing as learning a new technique!

This little collection books were also entered into the following challenges:
As You Like It - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday #406 Anything Goes
Allsorts Week 344 What's New?
Kort o Mania #144 Anything Goes

I'd be happy to know if you've had as fun as I did when learning to make this mini-books, so feel free to come back and leave a comment. Wishing you all the best!

Love
Outi

My Cards in iHanna's DIY Postcard Swap Fall 2015

These are the postcards I made for iHanna's DIY Postcard Swap Fall 2015. I played with a few colours and tried not to be too hard on myself. Sadly I often judge myself and the outcome of my experiments. I really need to let go...

Thanks for stopping by today.
Love Outi

A Set of ATC:s

Hello everybody! Today I'm back with some atc:s I've been working on. The atc card size is both fun and challenging to use. These will hopefully be swapped later this month. On each card there is a little die cut frame in the center on which the flowers and other stuff are arranged. I just love that miniature frame die!

This set of cards was entered into the following challenges:
Cute Card Thursday # 86 Anything Goes
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards #97 Frame It
Card and Scrap #101 Alt er lov/Anything goes

Thank you for visiting!
Love, Outi

Christmas in July - My third card

Rain has been pouring down most of the day. You know what I've been doing? Sure you know! Today I'd like to share my third Christmas in July card. I thought I'd try a slightly different colour scheme than I usually do. Actually that means LESS colour from my point of view as you can see below.

This card was entered into the following challenges:
Sparkles Christmas Challenges # 54 Use Ribbon Lace or Twine
Crafty Ribbons Challenge # 124 Anything Goes with Ribbon

Thank you for stopping by today.
Hugs Outi

Chrismas in July Again!

Hello everybody! Hope you're enjoying the season as much as I do. Summer is great! Our garden and the surroundings are green, green and green, and I love it. That doesn't mean I'm out in the wilderness all day long. Today I began my day making yet another Christmas card as I took the challenge at Winter Wonderland to make a card in traditional Christmas colours.

This card was entered into the following challenges:
Winter Wonderland: Traditional Christmas Colours
Creative Fingers: Challenge #87 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!
Hugs Outi

Christmas in July

Hello fellow crafters! Hope you're having a great day whatever you do today. In south Sweden where I live it's sunny and windy at the moment. Within a few hours I will be on my way to visit some of the finest private gardens in this county. It's Open Garden Day today and I hope I will get some inspiration for our own garden. In my opinion there is too much open space in our garden and recently I have planted some shrubs, dug a new flower bed, no two actually, and we've also planted a cherry tree. Problem is that there are rocks everywhere beneath the lawn. And I mean everywhere.

Now I am lucky enough to have a partner who is very down to earth (LOL) and he gets things done, house, cars and all other things. And how handy wasn't it when he found a rather used little excavator and bought it. Planting has become so much easier since then...

Anyway enough about our garden. Today I'd like to share a little Christmas card inspired by some current challenges.

This card was entered into the following challenges:
Live & Love Crafts: Challenge 37 Christmas in July
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog: Challenge 108 Christmas in July
Papertake Weekly: Don't Be A Square

Thank you for stopping by. Wishing you a fine day today!
Hugs, Outi

For My Niece - Till min systerdotter

Hello all! Long time no see... I've simply been busy with other things than paper crafting. First there were some major changes at work and I was happy to get tasks which I'm more comfortable with than those I used to have, so I feel like a winner in a lottery. It took some time though to adapt to new routines but everything has worked out fine.

Now I'm on summer vacation and there are plenty of things to do at home. Gardening for instance. On a rainy day like today it feels great to be excused from lawn-mowing and so forth.

I made this card for my niece on her Confirmation Day. Service at church was a bit different than it was 33 years ago on my Confirmation Day. I won't go into details, lets just say the church was crowded and we laughed a lot. The laughing part was never an option back in the days...

This card was also entered into the following challenges:

The Sketchy Challenges: Challenge 88 Cordine's Sketch or Anything Goes (not entirely following the sketch, more like anything goes)
Hjerteboden juli-utfordring Alt er lov/Anything goes
Allsorts Challenge Blog: Week 318 How does your garden grow
The Ribbon Girl: July Card Challenge Anything Goes
Card and Scrap: Utfordring nr 100 Allt er tillatt/Anything goes
Crafty Cardmakers: #141 Sentiment

Thank you for stopping by!
Love, Outi

Valentine's

Hello all! The day before yesterday it was all romance, love and hearts for Valentine's Day. Today it's time to share another Valentine's card. There is a chance I might share yet another one tomorrow too. Well, we'll see about that later.

Today I've used the sketch at The Sketchy Challenges but I sort of lost it entirely when I got to the flowers. I could have filled the entire card with flowers so I had to restrain myself. LOL!

This card was also entered into the following challenges:
Kort o Mania #123 Some Love
Allsorts #296 Flower Power
Card and Scrap #90 Use Flowers
Deep Ocean Challenge Blog #96 Laces & Pearls

Thank you for visiting today! Please feel free to take part in my giveaway here.

Hugs, Outi

Hej alla! I förrgår var det romantik, kärlek och hjärtan för hela slanten. Idag blir det ytterligare ett kort till Alla Hjärtans Dag. Jag utgick från sketchen hos The Sketchy Challenges och höll på att fylla hela kortet med blommor. Vet inte riktigt vad det tog åt mig - ha ha ha!

Eftersom jag gillar utmaningar har jag anmält kortet till flera såna. Länkar finns ovan ifall du också vill vara med. Det finns alltid så fina inspirationsalster på utmaningsbloggarna, så man blir verkligen sugen på att vara med.

Tack för besöket! Var gärna med på mitt bloggodis som du hittar här:

Kram, Outi

Romance... Love... Hearts... It's Valentine's!

Hello all! After some browsing I got so much inspiration I just had to run upstairs and start creating cards for Valentine's Day. This is the one I've finished so far. Large flowers, plenty of ribbon and hearts and vibrant red design papers for background.

It was entered into the following challenges:
Fairy Tale Challenge: #110 Something with a heart
The Ribbon Girl: February Challenge Romance is in the air
Kort o Mania: #123 Some Love
Card and Scrap: #90 Use Flowers
Really Reasonable Ribbon: #110 Hearts and Ribbon
En liten butik i Mörrum: Februari månadstävling Kärlek

Thank you for stopping by today. Also welcome to my giveaway here.

Hugs, Outi

Hearts and Ribbon - Hjärtan och band

Hello all! Recently I've been enjoying myself exploring the world of ATC:s. Making some, swapping and enjoying those beautiful little works of art which have found their way to my mailbox irl. My collection is still small but slowly growing and I love it!

For this card I used a die to punch a heart shaped hole in the design paper. Then I cut stripes from a small bright pink paper bag, folded them and glued them into the heart shaped hole. At the moment I can't recall the proper name of the technique so if you know it please leave a comment below.

This ATC was entered into the following challenges:
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #110 - Hearts and Ribbon Theme
Party Time Tuesdays: #194 Anything Goes
Moving Along With The Times: Die Cuts and/or Punches
Kort o Mania: Utfordring #122 Anything Goes

Thank you for stopping by today. There will soon be a Blogoversary celebration here so make sure you pop in to have a chance at some candy!

Hugs!
Outi

Hej allesammans! På senare tid har jag roat mig med att utforska det här med atc:er. Har gjort några själv, varit med på några swappar och njutit i fulla drag av alla de små konstverk som har dykt upp i brevlådan här hemma. Än så länge är samlingen liten, men den växer stadigt och jag är väldigt förtjust i den!

Det här kortet gjorde jag genom att stansa ut ett hjärtformat hål i mönstrat papper. Sen tog jag en gammal illrosa papperspåse och skar i remsor som veks dubbelt och limmades i det hjärtformade hålet. Just nu kan jag inte komma ihåg vad tekniken kallas, men påminn mig gärna genom att skriva en kommentar.

Tack för att du tittade in idag. Det kommer snart att bli bloggfödelsedagsfirande här så se till att titta in framöver så har du chansen att få ta del av lite godis!

Kramar!
Outi

A Gift Box - En presentask

Hello again! Today I'd like to enter this gift box into the following challenges:

Ett Trykk: Trykkpressa AUGUST
Cute Card Thursday: #333 Lots of Lace
Deep Ocean: #83 Summer Colours
Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!
Outi x

Ring Around The Rosie - En blomsterkrans

Hello everybody! Yesterday I went on a mad shopping tour with my sister and my niece. My niece just turned 14 and I sometimes see myself in her being so crazy about clothes, shopping and sewing. Today nobody would call me a fashionista, well nobody ever did since I used to design my own clothes not bothering about trends. Anyway my wardrobe is nowadays somewhat more mainstream than crazy.

Today I've been hiding away from the heat outdoors and enjoying myself in my crafting-room. This card was inspired by the current challenge at The Shabby Tea Room where they display the most beautiful inspiration photo.

This card was entered into the following challenges:
The Shabby Tea Room #229 Ring Around The Rosie (Green, pink, bling and flowers.)
Crafty Catz #241 Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenges #87 Favourite Colour Combo (I really like pink and green)

Thank you for visiting today!
Hugs, Outi

Hejsan allesammans! Igår var jag på en rejäl shoppingtur med min syster och systerdotter. Systerdottern har just fyllt fjorton och ibland ser jag mig själv i henne, tokig i kläder, shopping och sömnad. Idag skulle ingen kalla mig modemedveten, och det har väl kanske aldrig hänt tidigare heller eftersom jag brukade designa mina egna kläder utan att bry mig om gällande trender. Hur som helst ser min garderob liten mera "vanlig" ut än den gjorde när jag var ung.

Idag har jag gjort allt för att hålla mig undan värmen utomhus och njutit i pysselrummet. Detta kort fick jag inspiration till från The Shabby Tea Room där de har en alldeles underbar inspirationsbild till den pågående utmaningen.

Tack för titten!
Kramar, Outi