Stamping Again...

It's been such a long time without stamping...
Yes, I said without stamping - not just without posting!!!
And I do hope so much I will be able to stamp more regularly again now that I changed some organisation things in my office - new employees, new office hours...

Well, here's two cards I created two weeks ago at a stamping retreat.



I love watercoloring, and this image (by Crafty Individuals) was just stampend and then watercolored on some canvas-textured watercolor paper. Sentiment by Stempelmeer saying "Congratulations".



Something more funny... I'm known for loving coffee, and well, though it's not my style of clothing, this might just be what I'm dreaming of sometimes - sitting with a friend having a cup of coffee, ready for a shopping adventure...
Stamp by designs by Leerè, colored with Tombow markers.

Age Happens...

I was asked to create some funny birthday cards. I LOVE those American Art Stamps images with all those more or less young ladies struggling with age, diet, husbands and other minor problems... So I had a lot of fun creating these quick cards!



Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalks to sponge the edges.
Images colored with Tombow markers. Dp by 3 Bugs in a Rug (Flower design) and Basic Grey (stripes design).

Easter Bunny

Isn't he a cutie??? I love this smiling bunny with his spring flowers! He makes me smile whenever I see him. So I decided after stamping this card not to tidy up my desk but let this stamp stand on my table - outside it's raining, but I'm sure where this bunny is scampering along, the sun is shining!
The image (Penny Black) was stamped with Black Memento ink, then colored with Tombow Markers and a waterbrush. Flourish punch by EK Success, border punch by Martha Stewart, flowers by Prima, flower brads by Making Memories, dp by Provo Craft.

In Love With Polka Dots

I didn't have the chance to upload my card for last Friday's Limited Supplies Challenge "Love You Much" at Splitcoaststampers earlier. But hey, better late than never, right?
The challenge was to create some "Love" card restricted to the colors red, pink, black and white, and it had to contain polka dots.
I got this heart stamp (Hero Arts) from my Mom on Thursday, so I had to try it... It is stamped with Palette Noir ink and colored with Tombow markers and pink Stickles. Polka dots are in the little hearts, on the ribbons and cuttlebug-embossed on the red cardstock. Oh yes, and on the scallop-punched black oval. The sentiment says "Best Wishes".
Do you like it?

Finally... I had some free minutes for a Splitcoast challenge today: The First Day Of Spring. Oh, I'm so much longing for spring!!! It's still much too cold here, so I haven't seen any cherry blossoms yet (we usually would have at this time of the year).
I used my new Penny Black stamp - isn't it a beauty?!? I colored the stamp with Tombow markers, then misted the whole stamp with water and stamped the image for this watercolored look. The design paper is by Wild Asparagus.
The sentiment translates "Congratulations".

One More Virtual Stamping Night Challenge

After having missed a few birthdays recently, I thought it would be clever to have some belated birthday cards stored up...
So I used the FEB09VSNO challenge (Joy Fold Card) to create this snail birthday card. I used this image (by Whipper Snapper Designs) recently on another card, but I had so much fun trying it for a joy fold card. The sentiment is by Stampendous. I stamped the image with Versamark and embossed it with black powder, then colored it with Tombow markers and watercolors. The design paper is by Basic Grey.
Look at this wonderful tutorial written by Beate to create a Joy Fold Card, too!

Virtual Stamping Night at Splitcoast!

This weekend there's the Virtual Stamping Night at the Splitcoaststampers Forum! This means that there are posted challenges every hour at Friday and Saturday evening, and you have 45 minutes to complete a challenge. You can do as much challenges you like, and the best cards later will be presented in an honor gallery. GREAT FUN!!!!



This is for the FEB09VSNL challenge: A Wee Bit O' Love.
The challenge was to use at least three inchies on the card. I decided to use stampoboard inchies and an African theme.
The images were stamped with Palette Noir ink onto the stampboard inchies, then colored with Tombow markers and sponged with Fluid chalks. Finally I scratched some white highlights into the stampboard with a carving tool.
Images by Judi Kins, "wild" by Art Impression, zebra brad by Eyelet Outlet, ribbon by Basic Grey, dp by Bo-Bunny-Press.
Do I have to explain that I would really love to travel to Africa some day???



Okay, this is a FUN card. It's for the FEB09VSNH challenge: You're My Obsession. Well, my obsession is...surprise, surprise... STAMPING!!!!
I own a lot of funny "stamping stamps", so I combined the Traffic Sign (by Stamps In Motion) and my Stamping Bella (by Stamping Bella) - looks like she just jumped out of the car and let her husband drive his way alone - she has to make a stop at the stamp store first...you know this situation?!?
Design paper by Crea Motion, heart brad by Rayher, images stamped with Versamark, then embossed with violet embossing powder and colored with Tombow markers.



This is for the FEB09VSNG challenge: As You Wish.
The challenge was to stamp something about a quote from The Princess Bride movie.
I chose the quote: You be careful. People in masks cannot be trusted.
I have this wonderful large mask stamp (by Judi Kins) and wanted to use it. I stamped it onto shrink plastic so that the size would fit onto my card, colored the image from the back with pencils, shrinked the image and added some wire and beads. The sentiment is handwritten. Design paper by Junkitz, I stamped some hearts onto it from the Build-A-Swirl clear stamps set by Prima marketing.

Hey, take part in the challenges, too! It's FUN!!!

Loriot's 60th Birthday

I needed a masculine 60th birthday card... As I'm VERY bad at masculine cards, I wanted to combine it with today's Splitcoast featured stamper challenge to get some inspiration. Today's featured stamper is Julie - you have to visit her wonderful blog: Stamps and Taxes! Julie creates really beautiful cards in a very distinct style - many layers, clear and crisp layout.
I used a stamp with a scene from a German animated cartoon comedy which I really love. It has a very special subtle humor, and I was soooo happy when I once got these stamps...
I took Julie's Halloween Frights card as my inspiration piece, but changed the number of layers, the dp (thought it is also striped), the cuttlebug folder and the size of the whole card. Yeah, and I'll NEVER be able to tie such perfect bows as Julie does...
And... I used the tiniest of all my tiny flowers on the man's suit. You know what the problem with tiny little flowers is? Hmmm, they are TINY and SMALL and hide behind my whole stash of flowers, LOL!!!
So...this card was stamped in two minutes... but it felt like hours to assemble it with this ... bow and this TINY flower!!!!

Card details:
* Loriot stamp: manufacturer unknown. Sentiment stamp: Kaleidoskop. Numbers stamps: Hero Arts
* Ink: Palette Noir
* Colors: Tombow markers
* And: Green and brown cardstock. The dp is from a series called Bohemian Christmas, but I don't know the manufacturer. Burgundy sheer ribbon. Black metallic brads (Making Memories). Cuttlebug embossing folder. TINY Prima flower. Red rhinestone.

Birthday Changito

A friend of mine just came back from Africa where she worked as a pastor for a while. So I wanted to create some Africa-inspired birthday card for her, and Changito was just perfect because I had some salt an pepper pots looking like little apes sitting in a banana boat as birthday present for her...
The Changito clear stamps are by Stampendous. They are stamped with palette Noir and colored with tombow markers. The sentiment is handwritten. I used some green natural paper for the background and added some raffia instead of a usual bow.

Snail Birthday Mail

Crazy times here... seems like someone pushed the fast forward button in my life and I just can't find a way to stop it. So I missed the birthday of a former colleague, and I'm so sorry about that. I stamped her a snail card for some late congrats - hope she likes it and excuses my forgetfulness...
The snail stamp is by Whipper Snapper Designs. I stamped it with versamark ink and embossed it with black powder, then I colored the image with Tombow markers. The sentiment is stamped with Palette Noir ink. The design paper is by Basic Grey.