26 January 2014

Divas by Design "Anything Goes" challenge

Good evening Everyone,

Apologies for a bit of a quiet period on the blog, but somehow the days are too short for me again! And I don't mean the daylight situation (btw, this is actually finally getting better! :)), it's just that 24 hours in a day is sometimes somehow not enough! Do you feel that way also?

Anyhow, better late than never, and here is the card that I posted on the Divas by Design "Anything Goes" challenge this week. Click here if you want to play along - it's definitely worth it - we have some new sponsors! :)

A pretty simple-looking card, however the "window" and all the punched flowers did take a bit of time, and a lot of patience! All in all - happy with the result! It started as an idea for a Christmas card, and ended up as a Birthday card.. oh well!




I have new video ideas for my new YouTube channel, but these will have to wait a little bit also, I'm afraid! Bear with me!

Have a good week,

M.

15 January 2014

My 2014 resolution...

It has happened.. I was postponing this moment for quite a bit, but I decided that with the New Year I should make a crafty resolution and here it is: I've decided to join the YouTube madness!

Now, I have to admit, I am one of the thousands out there who hates their voice when recorded. In addition, I am not the biggest fan of my accent... But hey, I've decided to give it a go, and then there was simply no going back! 

The plan is to make a few tutorials of shaped cards, maybe some hauls...hopefully at some point some giveaways... For now, I am still trying to figure out how to set up my camera to have both hands free (I know, I should have waited with making videos until then, but I just didn't want to have another excuse!) - and since at the moment one of my hands holds the camera, I am a little bit limited... I might try some photo-tutorials, we'll see... 

Enough of rambling, here's the first (and so far only) video on my channel... Let me know what you think! And please forgive me for forcing you to watch my cutting mat for the first 2 minutes ;-)


Have a good evening!

M.

12 January 2014

Christmassy Baby Card

Hello again,

Hope you're all keeping well. I have spent way too much time online today, hence this is just a short post, showing you a card I made for the daughter of my boss. It's a bit after Christmas now, I know, but she wanted - as she put it, roughly - a special keepsake kind of a card for her little one. I feel so honoured to have been asked to make it! 

Since I know little Saoirse is often called by her mammy "a cheeky monkey", I knew straight away what kind of image I wanted to use. And the LMMS Pudding Chester was precisely what I was looking for! Isn't he just the cutest? Since I wanted to make him a bit more girly, though, I added him eyelashes, freckles and a cute little bow. I was asked to make the card girly, but without too much of the usual pinks, etc. I tried my best with balancing the colours, and the little "monkey's" mammy was really happy with my creation!

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the baby's name, and then for the first time played with my Xyron sticker maker - very handy! I was lucky enough, as by pure coincidence the font was not too big for the machine - gotta keep that in mind in the future! :)




 A bit of glitter and GlossyAccents was a must!




I would like to enter the card into the following challenges:
I Love Promarkers - Add a bow
QKR Stampede - Snowflakes and sparkle
Inky Impressions - Something New  (digi)
Inky Chicks - Anything goes
A Gem of a challenge - Something New (digi)

Hop you liked it, have a great Sunday evening!

M.

07 January 2014

Engagement shaker card

Hello Everyone,

How is the new year treating you? Hopefully all is fine! I have already managed to forget all about the Christmas break from work, but hey, here's to looking forward to new holiday times! ;-)

Today I would like to share with you another shaker card I have recently made. I guess I will have to invest in a few extra colours of the sequins in my stash, cause these card are really cute! 

The heart shape is a freebie that came with my Silhouette - starting to get used to using it more often, yay! :D

The card is my contribution to the Divas by Designs challenge blog - our new challenge (starting tomorrow) is Let's celebrate. Join us here!




It did look cute on my shelf, but now it's in the recipients' house! ;-)

I am entering this card into the following challenges:
Inky Chicks: Anything goes
Love to Create: Blue w/bling
Creative Creations: Anything goes
A gem of a challenge: Something new (new technique and first pearl swirl I ever used)
As you like it challenge - Favourite colour and why - for card making, I <3 using turquoise/teal. I have fallen in love with this colour whilst browsing for ideas for my own wedding invitations, and I have used it in a lot of my projects since!
Inky Impressions - Anything goes

Enjoy the rest of your evening,
M.

02 January 2014

Favourite Five of 2013

Happy New Year! 

My blogging buddy Debby is having a fab candy on her blog, and it gave me a great opportunity to review some of my 2013 creations. It was really difficult to choose only 5 of my favourite cards (I started with 12, and that's only from cards I have posted here, which is only a percentage of the ones I have actually made, eek!), but I did manage to get close enough to this magic number ;-) 

Below are my choices (in chronological order, starting from the oldest creations) and reasons behind them. Hope you like these, too!

Let's start with Valentine's Day cards. 2 made it to my favourite top ones! 

The one below was simply sooo cute, and I loved the black and white with a splash of red. It was sad to see this one go, but the gentleman who bought this card for his girlfriend/fiancĂ©e is now her husband, so I think we did quite well ;-)


The Shrek-y Valentine was simply really quirky and funny! Fun to make, and the recipient loved it! :D


This little Bunny is actually still patiently waiting to be posted, as I made him too late last year to share him with anyone. I was really happy with the end result, and so he hopped to the top section! :-)


Definitely one of my favourite creations! And if I am not wrong, it actually won most prizes at challenge blogs, of all my cards. 


This one should be closing my top 5 list, but there might still be one or two to go ;-)
Very simple in terms of embellishments, etc., but I just really loved it! And had loads of fun making it!


I tried... But I just had to add one more card! :D 
My very favourite Christmas card of 2013! Made me laugh every time I poked the Santa's sleigh, and he bounced around... You can see a video of Santa "in action" here



I hope you like my choices! Not an easy decision, I have to say! 

M.