Stempel Spass

I have another new member on my blog! Yippee! Getting closer to that magic 100....... I want to welcome  Nessa - The Craftee Laydee She has a fun blog - very creative! And she has a great sense of humor - and that's why I choose that picture. I don't know the artist, but it adorns a subway station in Brooklyn - its the exit for the Brooklyn Museum. I hope you like it Nessa and I hope you like what you'll see on my blog! --X-- When I was at the Scrapbook Expo on Saturday I bought this lovely stamp from Rubber Necker and knew immediately I wanted to use it for the KIS challenge I love poppies and I love the artsy fell of this stamp.  I am also linking this up with this weeks  Simon Says challenge - Anything goes Thanks for coming over and thanks for all you lovely comments - they are so appreciated and stimulate me to keep crafting! Have a great day everybody!

I like this color combination at Little Tangles  yellow, pink and grey First I thought the challenge was over, but that turned out to be not true. I wanted to use my brand new Christmas set- Merry and Bright  - a gift from my fried Ren-Yi - we finally managed to get together - more on that later.... Here is the card I made - had to be nontraditional colors, but I like how it turned out: I used silver metallic embossing powder for the sentiment and the rod - or however you call that long thingy. I used some Stickles on the ornament and the little star. It just fits well with the sentiment. I also used thin strips of silver metallic paper on the ides to "frame" it. I am also linking this up with this weeks  Simon Says challenge - Anything goes --X-- I met Ren-Yi through the Neat &Tangles Birthday bash. We discovered we both live in New Jersey - not too far apart and we finally got together for a lovely lunch an fun afternoon. --X--

Hi Everybody, there were 5 hours left to make a snowman card for Merry Monday when I checked this morning - lets get started! I used my brand new Sizzix embossing folder, some Washi tape on the sides and a stamp from Fiskars. The snowman is from Rubber soul. I heat embossed it and paper pieced it and propped it up on foam tape. Some twine to finish it. Really quick - just my kind of card! I am also linking this up with this weeks Simon Says challenge - Anything goes --X-- And guess where my new embossing folder is coming from? I went to the Scrapbook Expo yesterday with my sister and some of my brand new crafting friends: Here are we - from left to right: Ren-Yi from Little Tangles , me, Charlene also from Little Tangles, my sister and Elke - not sure if she has a blog. See how color coordinated we are - we are almost forming a rainbow! We shopped 'till we dropped - I could barely carry my bag in the end - my credit card company act

Not much time any more for the RIC - I missed the last couple of challenges - too busy with other stuff.....and this is going to be quick - I had back to school night today and its late..... I used peach colored vellum for my card. The stamp is from Impression Obsession, the die is Memory Box - perched Reed Bird, the sentiment is from Fresh Squeezed Stamps - I won that recently -yeahh and finally go to use it. I heat embossed it. Added a ribbon Here is a close-up: The eye is a tiny enamel dot. I really like it - it came out just as I wanted and envisioned it. I am also linking this card with Simon Says - Anything goes and  Seize the Birthday Have a good night and thanks for stepping by!

Now that's a Fun Challenge hosted by the Crafty Laydee  - to make a Christmas Card without Christmas Stamps!  I went with a tree - so many stamps can be assembled into a tree, so this was really easy. I inked up Papertrey's Tiny Triangles with my Kaleidocolor ink pad. The star I made from a feather in the TAWS - Bird Brain set and the sentiment is an ancient Paper Source stamp - I also inked it up with two colors. Some Stickles to add some glitz... I am also submitting this card to the  CHNC challenge , the CHNC stamp, stamp stamp challenge  and the September Rudolph Day link

At  Make it Monday its create your own stencil and use embossing paste cooked up by the talented Danielle Flanders . Alright - making a stencil  - no big deal - I have done that before several times, bu the embossing paste....Now ages ago I actually bought that stuff and got excited thinking I finally going to use it - but guess what? It was totally dried up .... So whats a woman to do ? Well I have flour at home and water - this is much cheaper - so here is the recipe: 2 T flour (T =  stands for tablespoon) 1 T water  1/2 t white acrylic  paint - mix (t =  teaspoon) Here is my stencil - made out of one of those cards that I get for donating money.... I use them for many things - they are great for stencils, shims, etc...  Smear the paste over it - just as Danielle showed you, but I did not use a credit card - a thin acrylic block works like a charm.. Lift the stencil off This was white on Kraft. But then I put some drops of re-inker liquid i

The clock is ticking for the TAWS challenge  - but there are 2 more days left to play. For once I am not scrambling at the last minute..... Here is the card I made: I tried to mimic the clock frame with an EK sucess punch. All stamps are TAWS - Bird Brain and  Jibber Jabber. I gold embossed the birds and colored the beaks with a metallic pen. I also used a touch of Stickles, although it does not show in the picture.....And, of course the googly eyes- they make those birds even more unique! I love the Bird Brain set - it makes me smile every time I use it! And just for the fun of it I am going to enter this into the Moxie Fab challenge  - All that Glitters is Gold!

Don't you love it - that inspiration picture from Avery Elle ? For me it makes a big difference if I am going to play in a challenge. this one really appeals to me -  probably because of those colors..... Hers is my take on it: I spritzed the background paper with Mr. Huey. I hung the banners from a piece of twine, fastened with bards - after I fuzzy cut them from paint swatches. I like the semi-glossy finish of those and they are nice and sturdy. All stamps are Avery Elle. Added some enamel dots. I am also linking this card with: Simon Says Operation Write Home   Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground  (paint swatches again...)

I just can't believe it - 3 more members - who knows - perhaps I make it to 100 by my 1 year blog anniversary, which is coming up at the end of next month! I am planning a little celebration, but for now I am going to celebrate 3 NEW MEMBERS!!! Charmaine Flo Benzi I welcome all of you to my little blog and hope you will continue to like what I make. Here is your welcome picture: It it by Fritz Koenig - the artist who created the Sphere at the World Trade Center, which got so badly damaged on 9/11. He is German and actually lives near my hometown. This is one of his sculptures in front of his Sculpture Museum in Landshut (my home town), which is housed in the restored old City Wall. --X-- Back to card making.....A while back I discovered Lavinia stamps - they are from the UK and you can't buy them here. The currency exchange for the British pound is not exactly favorable, but eventually I could not resist and ordered a whole bunch of their stam

A real long time ago my blogging friend Rosi/DaenY's gave me a Liebster award! I was touched and very surprised - I never expected that! Thank you so much Rosi - it means so much to me! What a lovely gesture! But the rules are: Of course you have to thank the person giving it to you. Post the award and link it to this person Hand the award to 5 people with less than 200 followers Write a comment on those blogs and let them know you gave them an award.  I was really busy at the time and put it off and thought it is going to be easy to hand it to five people. But that turned out to be wrong - I really struggled with this. There are myriad of wonderful blogs out there - how to choose 5? I wanted to give the award to somebody I feel I have a personal connection to and not somebody I do admire with their creations and I keep commenting, but I never hear back from them - does anybody else feel the same way? I also wanted to give it to somebody who had ne

So cute, this felt acorn from Festive Friday - it immediately appealed to me and I wanted to play.... But it wasn't as easy as I thought. I wanted to use felt, to get that cozy warm feeling from the inspiration picture, but I did not like any one of my two felt cards I made. So I went with what comes easier to me - stamping.....I like this card.  The windows are cut with the Papertrey Take Tree die, the stamps are Hero Arts Four Framed Snowflakes, the sentiment is by Magenta. I also cut a thin strip of metal foil and added some Stickles. --X-- I will show you my other attempts....maybe I shouldn't..... The stamps and die cuts are Prickley Pear,the sentiment is Hero Arts - Decorate your Holidays. Somehow there is something missing on this card - any suggestions? The second card looks better here than in real life. The stamps and die cut are from the Hero Arts/Sizzix Merry Christmas Tree set. For both cards I used the Papertrey woodgr

 Two new members on my little blog - I can't believe it! For a long time membership was kind of flat, so this is very exciting!  Michelle  is on the design team for Simon Says and loves vintage. Mary  has been in blog land since March 2012 and uses a variety of styles - even has given mixed media a try! There are treasures to find on each blog - perhaps you want to check them out yourself! I choose this as my welcome picture: I usually choose some modern artist for that - this is different. It is a "collage" of used glass molds for glass blowing. I found this on a recent visit to Vermont, where I visited the Simon Pearce workshop in Quechee. So it's kind of vintage, with a modern feel to it....I hope you like it! --X-- With a color inspiration over at Creative Friday  like this I can't resist.... Here is my card: The background squares I cut from left over rubber snippets (when you buy sheets of stamps) and stamped

This week we have to use layered die cuts on the Make it Monday feature by Papertrey. The talented Dawn McVey  explains in a tutorial how to do that. She has some valuable tips on how to make this as easy as possible! I used a paper swatches from Home Depot  for this card. Since it was kind of drizzly and cloudy yesterday, I opted for a sunny yellow.  Supplies: Papertrey Rickrack border dies and Filigree Border Die, Papertrey Think Big Favorites, gems.  I frequently use paper swatches for my cards. They have great colors and you immediately get matching colors in the same color group. On Operation Write Home  Nancy talks about those swatches and you can link up your card. Hm - I am wondering if this could be put into the Pixie's Crafty Snippets Playground , because of my use of paint swatches??? I'll let Diane decide that.... And lastly I am linking this up with the Die Cut Divas - Let's celebrate challenge

Interesting challenge, I actually had to think about it. Create a fish scene, something wintery or rainy?  But in the end I decided to go with my favorite stamps -  Ryn's water droplets . I am sure you have seen them  on my blog  or other peoples blogs and she was just recently featured on the  Papercrafters Library . I wet a left over strip of water color paper and sprayed it with Tim Holtz color wash and had the colors run down the paper and blend. After it had dried i sprinkled water drops on it - it shows a little bit. I then stamped the waterdroplet stamp over it, took a little bit of color off with a paintbrush and tissue paper and put highlights on them. The sentiment is from Savy stamps.                                                                        KIS #22 -  Water Pixies Crafty Snippets Playground

Its a sketch challenge at Paper Smooches this week, which I somewhat loosely interpreted. I am really in love with that little gnome from the Paper Smooches - Forest Whimsy set. It just looks like a funky Santa to me and I think I will use it on many of my Christmas cards.... The sentiment is also Paper Smooches (Christmas sampler) - heat embossed in white and I used a Tim Holtz Sizzix Embossing Folder. The Santa is colored with Copics. I am also linking this card with Addicted to Stamps and More #62 - Make Your Mark and with CHNC - Anything Christmas --X-- The challenge over at My Favorite things is also a sketch challenge: I recently ordered some supplies from them and now I can play! The stamps and dies I used are all MFT/Die-namics and are form the You Move Me set and the new Thank You set. The paper is by Basic Grey - isn't it made for those stamps? I am also linking this card up with Seize the Birthday  - Anything

Just a super quick post - I made this card for the CASology silhouette challenge , then got sidetracked by other stuff and now the challenge is almost over..... So I quickly finished the card and here it is: I masked and sponged the background Materials: Stampin' up, sentiment Martha Stewart, enamel accents (for the eyes)