Sunday 19 December 2010

More Christmas cards - Quick and easy

A short post for the quick and easy Christmas cards I prepared for the Scouts of Pagkrati Christmas bazaar - unfortunately I didn't have the time to prepare more as I am away most of the time lately.

Apologies for the very low photo quality as well - I took the photos in a rush just before I left for the bazaar :S

The main ingredients I used are Nitwit 3d decoupage sheets for the two large ones, Jolly Happy Christmas papers by Dovecraft, Shapeabilities 2010 Holiday Tree, round sentiment stamps by Lily of the Valley.


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Crochet Christmas trees

This year I decided to make most of my christmas presents myself, since the last few months I am hooked to preparing things myself.

A couple of months ago I had made with crochet a few christmas trees that I wanted to give as gifts for Christmas. However, a few weeks ago I was very happy to accept an invitation to start helping my old Scout Group (Group 1 AirScouts of Pagkrati) as a member of team which I have no idea how it is called in english ;o)

Our first activity was to raise funds for the group with a Christmas bazaar. Unfortunately, due to too many business trips the last few weeks, I wasn't able to prepare something for the bazaar, so I decided to give these Christmas trees and to prepare a few quick Christmas cards.

These are the photos of the Christmas trees I crocheted. I found the instruction online, however I experimented with different sizes, some trees are taller and thinner, others shorter and thicker, no tree has the same size as the others.

I hope you like them... At least yesterday afternoon there was only one left ;o)

The photo is not clear as I took it in a rush just before I left to go to the bazaar...

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Monday 13 December 2010

Another snowman card

Lately I've been travelling quite a lot, and unfortunately I haven't had time to make as many cards as I would have liked.

Finally this weekend I spent some time home, so I got to make a card that helped me relax from my travels quite a bit.



I would like to enter this card to the following challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge #11 - Sketch and optional extra distressing
Simon Says Stamp - Christmas but no red or green
Passion for Promarker Christmas mega challenge - Anything goes
Crafty Ann's #29 - Christmas and/or sketch
Craft Your Days Away #10 - Punch it out
Pollycraft #73 - Colour scheme Pink/Blue/Brown
A Spoonfull of Sugar #133 - Christmas card
Papertake - Red & Green must not be seen
Delightful challenges - Embossing
Paper Cutz #71 - Snowflake or snowman

This is a really short post as I have to leave for the airport again, so I won't be able to write all the materials that I have used. Some of them are the following:

- Snowman stamp by Pink Gem Designs
- Sentiment stamp by Lily of the Valley
- Promarker pens
- Artemio star border punch
- Marianne design snowflake die cuts
- Papers from my stash
- Fiskars embossing plates
- Distress ink Frayed Burlap
- Snow marker
- Perles from my stash Pin It

Thursday 2 December 2010

Wedding card

Recently I received a S.W.A.L.K. stamp and I wanted to make card for two friends of mine who got married recently. Last night I got the inspiration and prepared the following card.

What I tried for the first time now was to make flowers using die cuts. I was quite satisfied with the results and I am sure I am going to make flowers quite often in the future.

I wanted to keep the colours simple, so white and black are my main colours, for the groom and the bride. To add a bit "flavour" I used Glossy Accents and Icicle stickles.


I will submit this card to the following challenges:

 Passion for ProMarkers #79 - Old and new: The stamp is new, the papers are old

The recipe isQ

- White embossing powder by Hero Arts
- ProMarkers: Ivory, blush, cool grey 1, cool grey 3, black, magenta, burnt sienna, shale, caramel
- Fiskars Dots embossing plates

Unfortunately I got the papers a while ago from a shop that specializes in decoupage and had just brought a few scrapbooking supplies. There aren't any signs as to from which collection the papers are.
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Wednesday 1 December 2010

The cute ballerine - Believe in your dreams

It's been a while since my last post, but this is because I am working on a big (at least for me) project that should be ready by Christmas. That doesn't mean that I won't prepare anything else until then... but you know what I mean...

However yesterday I received my first Lily of the Valley stamp, the really cute ballerina and their amazing new circular sentiments stamps. So I couldn't resist and I prepared a cute (I hope!) card. And for a change, this is not a Christmas card!



I would like to enter in the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley # 75 - Bev's sketch: A really nice sketch from Bev




Passion for ProMarkers 79 - Old and new: The stamps are new, both the ballerina and the sentiment stamp, I just received them yesterday. The papers are "old", from the first papers I bought last summer. They might not be so old, but I only started with card making last summer, so for me they are old!




The materials are the following:

- Stamps from Lily of the Valley
- ProMarkers: Ivory, Blush, Burnt Sienna, Caramel, Cocktail pink, Antique pink, Blender
- Papers: Dovecraft collection Back to Basics
- Border punch from Fiskar
- Flower from Pink Gem Designs
- Distress Ink - Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed
- Clear embossing powder

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Wednesday 17 November 2010

Pastel blue Christmas card

What's the connection between Christmas, pastel blue and a blonde angel? If you get inspiration from the wonderful blogs, anything can be connected ;o)



The angel stamp was ready since a couple of days ago and I was waiting some snowflake die cut templates I ordered last week to prepare the embellishments. However, I couldn't wait more and I got another idea. I had some wooden stars that would go well with the angel and here it goes...

The paper ribbon is made with my favourite border punch with stars from Artemio.

I hope you like it!

Challenges:
Pink Gem Challenge 10 - sketch and optional extra a christmas card in non traditional colours (you see where the inspiration came from...)
Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog #27 - Guess what... christmas card in non traditional colours ;ο)
Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight - Dry embossing
Delightful Challenges - Glitter it up
Secret Crafter #109 - Sparkle & shine
Paper Sundaes #44 - Two of: punches, Ribbon, Embossing and colour Blue
Simon Says Stamp - Sparkle
Flutterby Wednesday #131 - Anything goes with butterfly, fairy or angel
Crafts and me #17 - Glitter
Christmas stamping all year long #70 - Christmas card with anything stripe
Pollycraft Challenge #70 - A Glittery Christmas

Materials:
- Pink Gem Desings stamp, my favourite Chloe
- ProMarkers Ivory, Blush, Cool Grey 1, Pastel Blue, Powder Blue, Pastel Yellow, Vanilla, Tan, Blender
- Sentiment stamps from Fairy Doodles by Buzzcraft
- Blue pigment ink
- Nestabilities Lacey Squares
- Border punch stars by Artemio
- Fiskars texture plates Snowflakes and Filigree
- Papers: white cardstock, pale blue cardstock by Papermania - Colossal colour card pack, silver Gemstones
- Blue chalk
- Blue ribbon
- Wooden stars
- Acrylic paints Pebeo Argent iridescent and Indigo iridescent
- Perles
- Stickles Icicle
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Saturday 13 November 2010

Iris folded christmas card



I had been flirting with the idea of trying an iris folded card lately as I have found some stunning cards online, but somehow it wasn't getting at the top of my priorities (seemed a bit too complicated to tell the truth). And then, while in London two weeks ago, if found a book with many great cards and (most importantly) patterns. The book is 460 Iris Folded Cards to Make by Maruscha Gaasenbee & Tine Beauvese.

This is my first attempt to prepare an iris folded card and I have to admit it was easier than what I thought - as long as you have the pattern!

Challenges:

Get Creative - Christmas cards
Lexi's Creations - Anything goes
Fairy Tale Challenge - Anything goes
Cute Card Thursday 138 - Anything goes
ABC Challenge Blog - H is for Holidays
Craft Your Days Away 8 - Christmas trees
2 sisters #13 - Christmas
Crazy 4 Challenges - Christmas

I thought I should keep the card simple, without any embellishments, so that the folded pattern could stand out. Didn't want to keep it too simple though, so I prepared an easel card, and since there wasn't too much space left for cropping the pattern, I used some stitching instead.

Materials:
- Papers: Orange Canson cardstock, My Mind's Eye - Bloom & Grow and Wild Asparagus
- Sentiment stamp: Fairy Doodles from Buzzcraft, Memento ink pad - Rich Cocoa
- Star punch from Heyda Pin It

Friday 12 November 2010

Amigu... What???

But what is this Amigurumi?

According to Widipedia, Amigurumi, or 編みぐるみ is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll.

In a few words, I make crocheted dolls.

I don't make many, nor often, but they are indeed one of my most pleasant hobbies...

In this first post, I will share some of the first amigurumis I have prepared so far. I hope you like them, although, as it is obvious with some of them, I am really a beginner!

Note: the photos are the best I could do today. If I manage to have some better ones later on, I will change these.

So... here they are:

My first amigurumi: the objective was to prepare a little dog, finally I got an alien dog... take a look at the photos and you will see what I mean ;o)


It is a little strange, isn't it? The first lesson I learnt from my first amigurumi is that it doesn't matter if the separate parts (head, body, legs, ears) are correct, if you don't sew them together correctly, the result will be.... let's say funny. And using a multicoloured yarn didn't help either.

After this I took my lesson and decided to do something that wouldn't need any joining... and is very simple to do. So I prepared an egg to give to my mother for her eggs collection:


Although sewing the felt to prepare the cheeks troubled me a bit, I liked the egg quite a lot. (Now I can give it to my mother, after so long!)

Next I prepared another funny amigurumi... the ice cream-crazy-artist:


With this amigurumi I learnt something else: the right stuffing is as important as sewing together the different parts. How can someone understand that this is supposed to be an ice cream with the overstuffing?

For the next one I did everything according to the pattern, but finally the pattern was a bit strange, as I thought at the beginning. So here goes the really wide heart:


At some point I will change a bit the pattern and prepare another heart.

I really loved the next amigurumi, because it was the first one that I really liked:


The picture doesn't do it justice, but I think it is a really cute pear.

After the pear, I thought I should try again something with legs. And I think I overdid it. It was quite hard to sew the 8 legs of the octopus! But I was very satisfied with the result:


I wanted to prepare the octopus' kid as well... but it is still pending ;o)

Finally, I found online some really cute christmas trees and I started experimenting with them. The results are the following:


I liked the first one quite a lot... but it was a bit difficult to find buttons to use as ornaments. So I tried a single coloured tree next:


I did like it, but I wasn't very satisfied with the colours.

Now I am preparing a series of Christmas trees that I will give as presents for Christmas to family and friends. I haven't taken photos of them yet, I will prepare them when I have finished all of them. So long, I have prepared five in different sizes ;o)

As for the patterns, I found the ones for the heart and the christmas trees in Ravelry. The rest of the patterns are from the books of Ana Paula Rimoli. Take a look at her blog to see her really cute amigurumis... hopefully one day I will be able to make my amigurumis as cute as hers!

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New blog

The last few weeks, after kicking off my two blogs, one where I share the cards that I make, and another one that I share with my cousin, sharing the items we decorate with the decoupage technique, I was thinking about starting a third blog, sharing my crochet and amigurumi creations. However, I was thinking that it would be tricky for me to maintain all these blogs.

Until yesterday I discovered that there is a way to add tabs (similar to the internet browsers) to my blogs! And Ι found an more convenient way to have separate posts for english and greek, so that my bilingual posts are not confusing to the readers.

So yesterday I spent some time (well, a few hours, as I know nothing about html editing and I am new with bloggin!) and finally I prepared my new blog, where I will be sharing the results from all my hobbies!

I just took some photos of some crochet items I have prepared... and now I am ready to post them as well.

So from now on, I will stop using my previous blog "Astero's cards" (luckily, there is a way to import my posts from there to this new blog! the things that one can discover, hehehe). I will use the current blog, where I will share everything that I make - and even more, soon enough I will post some photos of my cats!

Hugs,
Anastasia - the cat lover ;o) Pin It

Thursday 11 November 2010

Decoupage

I have a separate blog about my decoupage creations, which I share with my cousin.

Please visit http://nteteo.blogspot.com/

We will be expecting you! Pin It

Tuesday 9 November 2010

I made it to top five!



I was so happy to see yesterday that I made it to Top Five on Pink Gem Designs blog challenge with one of my Christmas cards. This morning I got my very first badge... Yippee!!! Pin It

Saturday 6 November 2010

A few more Xmas cards

It's still early November, but I thought that I should start preparing some xmas cards, against my "wait until the last minute" attitude ;o)

I would like to enter this first card to A Gem of a Challenge #9 . I have already submitted another card, but hey, I had received my new Pink Gem stamps and I couldn't wait for the new challenge... hehehe




I don't like the photo that much (the same for the following photos), but I didn't have a good light today and that was the best I could do.

The products that I used are:
- Ping Gem Designs stamp
- Promarkers (Cool grey 1 & 3, blender, Magenta, burnt orange, grass)
- Stickles (icicle)
- Brads (I think Papermania) - I changed the colours with embossing as usual by now
- Perles
- Toga rub-on letters
- Nestabilities
- Xcut round corner punch


The following card is similar to the first one, with different colours - but same sketch and stamp.




The papers used are from the collection Jolly Happy Christmas by Dovecraft and the brads are Christams Shimmer Brads by Dovecraft as well.

I used papers and brads from the same collections for the following card. There is another brad from Making Memories. I also used Artemio border punch. The stamp is a wood mounted stamp I bought for 50p in Edinburgh last summer. ;ο)





Finally, for the next two cards I used the decoupage sheets from Deer Friends collection by NitWit Collections Essentials, with similar papers and brads as the previous cards.

However, for the first time I did some real stitching - and I love it!




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Wednesday 3 November 2010

White Christmas card

I thought it was time to start preparing some christmas cards... And while I have vertigo from a blow I got on my head a few days ago (thankfully, I feel much better now), I have to avoid the pc (well, just a few minutes now to prepare this post!), so I thought what better way to spend a bit of time than preparing a card... So here it is:




I would like to enter this card to the following challenges:


The materials I used are:
- White cardstock
- Fairy Doodles stamps from Buzzcraft
- ProMarkers: blender, cool grey 1&3, burnt sienna, tan, burnt orange, red, bright orange, peach, tulip yellow, ivory, blush, amethyst, orchid, lush green, mint green, azure
- Big shot and nestabilities classic scallped circles
- Mulberry paper flowers (small) and white hydrangeas by Pink gem designs
- Fiskar texture plates Dots & Snowflakes
- White ribbon
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Saturday 23 October 2010

Autumn colours

Good morning!




This card is for the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge #9 - Sketch with optional extra autumn colours
I love ProMarkers #37 - Autumn colours
Crafting Goings On from Charmed Cards & Crafts - download or stamped image
Craftalicious #10 - Anything goes
Tuesday Throwdown #22 - Anything goes

Last night I finished another card... No matter how tired I was, I just had to try my new Big Shot!!! Yes, I couldn't resist anymore and got myself one. Let's consider it an early xmas present to myself ;o)

Materials used:
- My new Chloe stamp from Pink Gem Designs (I just LOVE Chloe!!!)
- ProMarkers (have to remember to keep the names of the ProMarkers I use for the next time)
- Hampstead papers and sentiment by Papermania
- Brenda Walton textured papers by K&Company
- And, of course.... my brand new Big Shot machine, with my brand new Nestabilities dies! :D Pin It

Saturday 9 October 2010

My first easel card




I prepared this card for two challenges:
- I love ProMarkers - Challenge #35 "Think Pink": Yes, obviously this is why I used so much pink in this card
- Passion for Promarkers - Week 72 Theme "Recycled": I used a flower I had crocheted a while ago for a scarf which I didn't use at the end

So this time I thought I could experiment making an easel card. It was easier than what I thought, so I will be making a bit more in the future. The problem that I had (and maybe that's why this card is definitely not one of my favourite ones) is that I didn't have any inspiration for the bottom part of the card. Oh well, next time I will look for more inspiration!

The stamp is from Lofty and Co Rubber Stamps - Oriental Lofty. I coloured it with ProMarkers.

I used Quite Contrary papers from  My Minds Eye. The sentiment is stamped and hot embossed.

The brad holding the flower was originally yellow, but I changed it with pink pigment ink and clear embossing powder. I do like the liberty of giving your brads any colour you want.

(Edit:) Forgot to say that for the first time I also used peel offs and lace Pin It

Friday 8 October 2010

Birthday card for my brother




It's been a while since my last post. I've been working long hours, been on short holidays to Cyprus, as well as to a couple of business trips, I have been sick... quite a busy month this last one!

This is a card I prepared almost a month ago for my brother's birthday. I couldn't post it earlier, as I hadn't given him the card - I kept forgetting it at home. Anyway, this was the first card I was making for a male, so I wanted it to be simple, and the colours less bright than usual.

The technique I tried for the first time was distressing the paper. For that, I used Tim Holtz Distress ink "Frayed burlap". Although I have to admit that distressing is not one of my favourite styles, I wasn't disappointed of this first attempt, and using Distress Inks is, indeed, very easy!

...And in case you wonder about the number 156, let's just say that this is my brother's favourite number ;o) Pin It

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Christening invitations

I haven't been making any cards lately, I have been too busy I am afraid... First a business trip last week, and then during last weekend my cousin and myself were preparing some invitations for the christening of the daughter of a friend of ours. Here are some pictures and a description of how we prepared it.





The christening theme is the girl you see in the photo and the colours used for everything related to the christening are pink and beige ecru.





First, we actually prepared the stamp with the girl and the name of the baby (isn't that customized or what?). I was so excited, as it was the first time we prepared a stamp. We used the Stamp!t kit from Imagepac. The first attempt was a disaster. Lesson learned: avoid using transparencies to print the artwork! The light of the lamp used to solidify the gel goes through the black printed on the transparency. The second attempt, although we were sure it wouldn't work, actually did the work. Lesson learned: a simple white inkjet paper will work (although we did reinforce the printed black with a permanent black pen). I was excited to see how clear the name was on the stamp







Once the stamp was ready, we started cutting the card stock on which it would be stamped. Then, we used a pink pigment inkpad and transparent embossing powder. One was stamping, the other was embossing. Good teamwork!






Our work then was simpler, which was a good thing after all this stamping and embossing! Cut the pink card stock paper we would use as a frame, round all edges (pink and beige ecru card stock, card blank), glue everything together.

As a cute detail, we stamped a small pink bow on the back of the envelop.





Finally, the invitation text was printed on a pink pearl paper, corners rounded and glued on the inside of the invitation. 





And then, my cousin took some great photos of the invitations! Aren't they great? The photos I mean ;o)













We have more work to do for the christening, as we are going to prepare the decorations and other materials needed for a proper Greek Orthodox christening ;o) Although not card-related, I will post here once we have finished them. So, another busy weekend full of fun!
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Sunday 5 September 2010

Baby bear card



A card I finished yesterday for a friend of mine with a baby boy.

Background and 3D decoupage papers from NitWit Collection. For the star I used Fiskars shapecutter and coloured the edges with blue chalk. Pin It

Thursday 2 September 2010

Passion for Promarkers 67 Challenge



And the second challenge I participate into is... Passion for Promarkers 67. The theme of the challenge is teddy bears, so I thought I could use this really cute stamp I got a while ago. I coloured it with my Promarkers pens and cut it all around.

The papers are from the NitWit collections - one of the cutest products I have found so far.

Eyelets are one of my favourite embellishments. Especially these pink flower ones... just love them.

I made the sentiment with dark pink pigment ink and clear embossing powder.

Finally, what I experimented with for the first tine are the stitches that I have drawn with Sakura white pen. It is also the first time that I have used buttons on a card.

I hope you like it! Pin It

Wednesday 1 September 2010

A Gem of a Challenge 7



Yes, this is the first time I am entering into a challenge - Pink Gem Designs - A Gem of a Challenge 7

I just loved the Pink Gem Designs stamps when I first saw them in a card making magazine. I ordered one, found out about their challenges blog and thought I should give it a try. So this what I came up with.

First I stamped the image with a Memento ink pad, I coloured it with Promarkers and then cut it all around.

Although it's still too hot in Greece, I decided to use autumn colours (given how much I liked them on my previous card).

While preparing the layout, I realised that I didn't have any embellishments that fitted the colours of the card. Then I remembered a YouTube video that I had seen, about how you could change the colours of your brads. All I needed was an embossing ink, gold embossing powder and the heating tool... and voila! Pin It

One of my favourite ones


As the title says - one of my favourite cards. I love the S.W.A.L.K. stamp (notice there is a cat also!) and the colours, although not my favourite ones. I hope you like it too! Pin It

And my fourth card



Oh yes, my fourth card... I gave the third card that I made to my mother for her birthday and didn't take a picture of it :S

With this card, I used the embossing templates from Fiskar (great result, although a bit painful on my hand, as I don't have any embossing/die cutting machines, at least not yet) and Fiskars shapecutter.

I also tried the Glossy Accents by Ranger to give dimension to the letters... only to think a day later that I could have used clear embossing powder. Oh well, that's the way we learn, right? Pin It

My second card




So, this is the second card I tried to make. I used my favourite theme - cats! Yes, I am a crazy catlover and I have two cats, Sakis and Lola....

ok, back to card making. With this card, I was experimenting for the first time with:

  • Fiskars shapecutter
  • Embossing powders
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    My first card ever - Η πρώτη μου κάρτα




    Here's the first card I made. Obviously, a very simple card. I was trying:

    • Stamping
    • Promarkers
    • Round corner punches
    • Eyelets
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      Welcome!

      Welcome to my new blog...

      I have created this blog to post my new hobby's creations ... card making!

      Although this hobby is not as popular in my country (Greece), I fell in love with it while travelling to the UK for business. I have been building my stash and everything, and experimenting with the various techniques to see what works for me and what I can create.

      I will be posting here the cards I am creating. And hopefully, the challenges I will participate in!

      So... wish me luck!

      Cheers,
      Anastasia Pin It