{Jolly Christmas} Color Throwdown #523

Hi everyone,

I had a lot of fun exploring different and a bit unusual color combinations for christmas but now it's time for something a bit more traditionally and this week's color throwdown challenge is just perfect. Red, green and craft is one of my all time favorite christmas color combo.

I wanted to try to do something a bit more minimalist this time. I normally love to go crazy on the layering and stacking  but I really tried to constrain myself. I embossed white snowflakes from an older, retired TCP stamp set on my cardstock and dabbed some white ink with a sponge on it for a touch of snow. I used the Snowfall Style 1 Die from PTI for the large snowflake.

Thanks so much for stopping by 

and a Merry Christmas!!!

Sony

{Jewel Christmas} Funky Christmas Pt.5

Hi,

I hope you're ready for another funky christmas card. I wanted to push myself a little out of my comfort zone on this one and decided to base my card on a patterned paper I'd normally wouldn't chose...and that was this one:

I usually prefer a bit more subtle patterns with smaller accents and details. I'm also not really a pink person so this paper would have probably been one of the last ones I would have used from this pack.

I thought to pull this one off, I'd have to pair it with a fun christmas tree stamp so I looked through my old stamps and found this Sprinkle one from the Cat's Pajamas that was just perfect for it.

Now I wanted a sketch that I could base my card on. I've found that having a sketch design before you start making your card is a great way to save some time. I found this sketch from MFT on Pinterest that sparked my interest and thought could be fun to make.

 

The pattern was so busy already I wanted to keep the coloring of the stamp to a minimum.

I used sponges and ink to add a subtle background behind Sprinkle and the tree. I just wanted to make it pop off the page a bit more. Some glitter, ribbon and a little metal accent were the final touches.

Here a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Sonja

{Too much Howliday Fun} Funky Christmas Pt. 4

Hi,

I'm back with another installment of my funky christmas color series. For this one I started with a goold ole sketch search on pinterest and fell in love with this one from Jen Shults:

I really like playing with 3D elements and layering to reveal...must be my day job as a 3D Artist creeping in.lol But that's why this sketch looked like a lot of fun to me. Now I just had to pick a paper and decide whether I wanted the pattern on top or below. I went with layering it on top because the pattern would have gotten lost had I layered it underneath.

These adorable snowman are from this fun pad that started it all:

Next up was figuring out the stamp and sentiment. I had done a lot of circular designs lately so I wanted to keep the rectangular shape for a change. I recently had put in an order with The Cat's Pajamas but hadn't gotten the chance to use all of my new goodies yet so I thought...time to change that. I pulled out the set Big Cups and even though it's not really a christmas set, you can easily re-purpose it to one. I chose sleepy Poochie and paired it with the Happy Howliday sentiment from an older, now retired set.

I added a cut out snowflake behind Pooche, sprinkled some glitter, added some brads and that was it.

Here a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Happy Holidays!!

Sonja

{Bright} Funky Christmas Pt. 3

Hi,

I'm back with another card in my funky christmas color series. This whole series was inspired by some really pretty designer paper pads I found in my local hobby store here in Sweden.  One of them was this cute snowman paper. I decided to pair the grey and white with a little soft pink.

I found a great sketch on pinterest - of course now I can't find it anymore so please forgive me for not giving it proper credit. I love the sentiment from TCP's set Give a little (now retired I'm afraid) and I really wanted to use it for this card. The challenge was that it's more of a vertical stamp so it wouldn't work as a side sentiment on a flag banner or anything like that. It had to become the main focal point. Thankfully, that set comes with this cute little penguin which can act as a perfect frame topper, which is exactly what I used it as. 

Some glitter and subtle copic coloring, a little glitter ribbon and bow aand the card is done.

Here a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Merry Christmas,

Sonja

{Candy?} Funky Christmas Pt. 2 and Color Throwdown 522

Hi everyone,

I decided to get inspired by this week's Color Throwdown Challenge and incorporate that into my funky Christmas Color series. Especially the salmon color makes it so unique so I wanted to use that as my base and really highlight it.

I picked out my cardstock and then I went out to find a sketch I could use as inspiration. I came across this one from an old  Sweet Sunday Challenge and decided to re-purpose it a bit.

I used the cute little penguin from TCP's Big Cups and paired it with a sentiment from an older retired TCP set. I wanted to break up the diagonal lines a bit so I used a bit of Jute Twine and added a little bow. The card still felt a bit bare after that so I cut out a big snowflake from PTI and used it behind my sentiment.

Some glitter, coloring and jewel drops completed the card.

Here's a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Sonja

{Oops} Funky Christmas Pt 1.

Hiiii,

I'm back with another christmas card. I mentioned last week how I got inspired by some designer christmas paper in my local hobby store because of the somewhat unusual colors they used. That inspired me so much that I decided to continue and make a series of christmas cards using non traditional color schemes.

Here is my very first entry aaand you can tell I was a little tired when I made this card since I didn't realize I had paired a Sprinkle sentiment, the cat with Poochie, the dog. Yeeaaahhh... lol oooohh well. The stamps are from the Cat's Pajamas Give a little (now retired I believe).

The fastest way for me to make a card is by starting with a sketch. Pinterest is an amazing way to search through sketches and what I like to use. This is how I came across the sketch I used to inspire me for this card:

It's an old sketch from 2013 on Jen Shults' blog but I absolutely adore it so I decided to run with it. I don't alway follow the sketches exactly. I rather take them as a starting point and then I go with where things take me. In this case, I went with a rectangular version of the square design and since the card was already a bit bottom heavy, I decided to place the brads on the top instead.

Next step: pick a paper and a color scheme.

I picked the dark grey christmas tree from this paper pad by Panduro Design, which is from our local hobby store chain here in Sweden. I paired that with salmon colored cardstock from PTI.

Some sparkling ribbon, copic markers, glitter and crackle paint completed my card ingredients.

Here a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by,

Sonja

{Sweet Holidays} Mojo Sketch 504

Hi everyone,

I did a little bit of christmas shopping for my cousin's family when I spotted some super adorable christmas themed patterned paper in my local hobby store. I loved the somewhat unusual color theme and that's what inspired me to sit down and make a card again. 

I then spotted Julee's sketch on her blog and decided to take that as my jumping off point for my card. You'll notice I took some liberties with this one.

I picked a pattern and then started to layer complimentary cardstock. A little trial and error ensued until I landed at something that I liked. I wanted to make a card that I could also use as a gift card holder for our local coffee shop so a coffee motive was a must. I decided on using the to go cup from Verve's Better With You set. I paired that with a saying from PTI's Petite Places Holiday Lane. I also used the little gingerbread man stamp from that set to add a little flavor to my coffee cup. 

Lastly I needed something that worked as a frame and anchored the card. I didn't really have any small snowflakes so I decided to use the flowers from Reverse Confetti's Toucan of Friendship. I feel like they can either have a tropical or wintery feel, depending on how you dress/stamp them up.

Some final touches with a copic marker to draw in some shadows, some glitter in shape of ribbon and Stickles glitter and this is where I ended up:

here a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by and Merry Christmas!!!

Sonja

{Santa is coming to town} Petite Places

Hi everyone,

I managed to squeeze in a little time and try out a new stamp set I got from Papertrey Ink. It's called Petite Places: Holiday Lane and it's super adorable. I made these two cards with it:

 Detail View:

Thanks for stopping by and happy holidays!!

Sony

{Here comes Santa}

Hi,

Here is one of the last christmas card's I made this year. For this one I used the globe Confetti Cut from Reverse Confetti and paired it with another retired stamp from The Cat's Pajamas.

I used two different Ranger Ink stamp pads and dry brushed them onto water color paper. I then sprayed some water on it to help blend some of the colors a bit better. As a final touch I splattered some white paint I had left over from us painting our apartment onto my card. :) Can't let good paint go to waste. :)

The Santa was colored in with Copic Markers and I used some Stickles Glitter for his beard, hat and candy canes.

Detail look:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Merry Christmas!!

Sony

{Manly Wishes} and TCP Tuesday 341

Hi,

I needed to make some gift card holder cards for my cousin's two teenage boys. I really enjoy making more masculine cards because it pushes me to try some color combinations I normally wouldn't. In this case I combined an olive green with a desaturated blue. I probably should resist using glitter stickles but um that...they'll just have to live with. :)

Here are my cards - the stamps are from The Cat's Pajamas. Unfortunately both of these sets are now retired as far as I know but Alma does have some really cute new stamps on her website so be sure to check them out if you're not familiar with TCP.

This one here I actually made for the TCP Tuesday Tag challenge (TCP Tuesday 341) but unfortunately I was too late to submit it. Oohhh well ...I still had fun making it and that's the most important part. :)

I used a couple of different dies for the cards. I used the Die-namics Stitched Rectangle Stax for the first card. For the second card I used The Big Stripes Cover Panel Confetti Cut by Reverse Confetti. I cut it out of dark grey and white cardstock and offset them a bit from each other to give a bit of a shadowing effect.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Merry Christmas!!

Sony

{A Toucan Christmas} SFYTT 55

Hi there,

it's been a little while but I'm back. We finally managed to unpack all our boxes after moving halfway across the world to Sweden, just in time for christmas. I'm very excited to share my first card - I managed to squeeze in about four over the last few days.

 I discovered a hobby store not too far from us and thankfully they had some cardstock since I did not bring any with me from the States, just in time to play along with this month's SFYTT.  I've posted the sketch a bit further below.

Here's a closer up look:

I used the flowers from a Toucan of Friendship by Reverse Confetti and made them into Poinsettias by coloring them with beige and grey Copic markers and adding lots of Stickles glitter. The Santa Hat is a stamp from the now retired TCP set a Beary Year.

And here is this month's SFYTT sketch:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!!

Sony

{Is it too late?} Mojo Monday 426

hi everyone,

I'm still on vacation which meant I was able to get another card in this morning. Yay!

This time I played along with this weeks Mojo Monday sketch. Always a good jumping off point.

Here's the sketch:

have a good day everyone!

{have a jolly holly christmas}

this was my second card I made.I just love how a little bow on top of a circle nestie makes it feel like a christmas ornament. :)

{and one more}

here is one more I did last night. This one reminds me of gingerbread cookies. :)

Happy Holidays!!

{tis the season...} to stamp

it's been a long time but I had the sudden urge to create some christmas cards and I had so much fun I didn't stop at one, I made three. I hope you enjoy and are having a wonderful holiday season. In case you're wondering - the stamps I used are all from the Cat's Pajamas. These are some of my alltime favorites of Alma's designs.

{Winter Wonderland} December Diva Inspiration Bloghop

Hi everyone,

and welcome to our December Diva Inspiration Blog Hop. My Internet is currently down so please bare with me as im posting this from my cell phone. :) 

I'll be back as soon as i have access but in the meantime here's my  card and my inspiration. 

hi!!! Ok my internet is back up and running! Unbelievable how helpless you feel without it isn't it? lol Anyway, can you believe it's December already? 

It's time to break out the cookies, get the tree out and write those cards. I also like to take this time to think about the past year, the highs and lows and for me there were quite a few of those. 

I got lasik eye surgery a few weeks ago and no longer need glasses. It's an amazing feeling!! Especially when you don't even remember the last time you were able to see without glasses. I finished my very first project at the company I now work out and I'm extremely proud of it. It's called "Tomorrowland" and is a movie by Brad Bird that comes out next summer. I fought hard to get a raise at work so please keep your fingers crossed for me there. I moved into an amazing apartment - no more roommates for me so yay. I'm way too old for roommates anyway but with rents in San Francisco being as high as they are it's unavoidable unless you move 30miles outside of the city which I did. :) Gives me time to make those phonecalls in the morning. :) 

And lastly...my mom was diagnosed with cancer about two weeks ago. She has multiple myeloma, stage  3  and if you follow my blog you know that I just lost my dad to cancer two years ago so the diagnosis came as a shock and in some ways we're still dealing with it.

My mom started her chemo treatments this week and as anybody who has gone through it or has seen a loved one go through it you know there are good and bad days. There are days when she's full of hope and then there are days when she wants to give up. What makes it harder for us is that I live on the westcoast and she is in Florida but thanks be to God that I have such an amazing family. My uncle told my aunt to go to my mom as soon as she can and stay with her for as long as she wants. Did I mention the rest of my family all live in Germany? Yes so my aunt will fly in to be with my mom next week and will be there with her for the entire time. 

I can't even begin to describe to you how grateful and relieved I am. 

God is good!

So...let me tell you what this month's blog hop is all about:

It's the 5th of the month and that means it's time for the Divas to serve up some fresh inspiration with their Verve stamps! Leave some comment love along the hop spots for a chance to win a prize, then grab some stamps and play along with our December inspiration challenge for another chance to win!

This month's challenge is entitled O Christmas Tree:

Ribbons and sparkle and merry galore! Create a card inspired by the decorations of the season!

Need a little inspiration? Check out the blogs linked below to see what the other Divas did with the challenge! It's sure to be a treat, and speaking of treats, we've got a prize for one lucky commenter along the hop! Check out the Verve Blog today for all the prize info and deadlines!

This here was my inspiration for the card I made above - a little side note: that believe fence I actually made myself. 

	1. Julee	6. Karen
	2. Amy	7. Sankari
	3. Anya	8. Sarah
	4. Betty	9. Sony
	5. Jen	10. Susan

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to you!!!

{Sweet Java} Diva Inspiration Hop

Hi everyone!!!!

Welcome to the World Card Making Day edition of the Verve Diva Inspirations Hop!

Along the hop this month we're debuting FIVE brand new plain janes that just hit the store today, so grab a drink and hop along to see a fresh mix of old and new Verve and maybe even win a prize! You can find out all the prize details and see the full reveal of the new plain janes over on the Verve Blog today.

sooooo you'll notice that I didn't make a card today....shame on me I know but you know when the inspiration hits ya you don't just ignore it do you? No so I was cooking yesterday and ran out of chili powder. I was about to throw out my chili powder jar when I thought, how cute would this be as a small little favor or gift...and then I realized I still had a card  to make for the hop today aaand it all sorta came together in my head right then and there. :)

The new plain jane sets are darling darling cute and I thought that one of them could be used as a little snowflake so I just went along with the christmas theme. :) The sentiment you're so sweet I thought worked perfectly with the little mocha mix I put in the jar aaand you want to know something else?
I found out that one of the other plain janes fits perfectly to the scalloped flowers die set!! Gotta love that because I personally hate cutting out things so if there's a die to help me out and make things easier...I'm all for it.

here are a few more shots:

uh hum...a little tip for ya: when applying glitter glue to your snowflake I recommend you do it before you tie it to your jar...otherwise it can stick to your tag...yeeeahhhh....lol

I hope you're having a wonderful time hopping along.
Next up is Susan!!!

	1. Betty	9. Andrea
	2. Jen T.	10. Charmaine
	3. Julee	11. Janelle
	4. Sankari	12. Laurie
	5. Sony	13. Maureen
	6. Susan	14. Teresa
	7. Amber	15. Tosha
	8. Amy

Stamps: Loopy Medallion (Verve), So Sweet PJ (Verve), Loopy Petals (Verve), Borderline (Verve), Better With You (Verve)

Paper: Kraft, Ivory, Chocolate Brown, scrap Christmas DP 
Ink: Frost White (Colorbox), Soft Suede (SU), Frayed Burlap (Distress Ink)
Accessories: Mini Classy Label Die (Verve), Scalloped Flower Die (Verve), Classy Label Die (Verve), Ribbon, Jute Twine, Sponge, Hot Glue Gun, Glass Jar