{Happy Anniversary}

Hi everyone,

I have two silver wedding anniversary's in my family coming up this year so I'm in desperate need of some cards. Came to find out - I don't have a lot of wedding themed cards so I had to get a little creative but I thought Sprinkles and Poochie on the swing from Just Let it Happen (TCP) would make a really cute anniversary card. 

So...for this card I started out with blending some Distress Ink (Mermaid Lagoon) into my paper. I then stamped some splatter using  the Watercolor Basics Set from TCP. I love this set because you know exactly what your splatter will look like. Very handy! Then I stamped Sprinkles and Poochie on top of my background and colored in the swing with Copic Markers. The sentiment I took from the Simply Said Set. As a final touch I added some Clear Jewel Dew Drops and a little bit of glitter to Sprinkles collar.

Closer look:

thanks so much for stopping by,

Sonja

{Sending You Love}

Happy new year everyone,

I'm back with my very first card of 2019 and I wanted to keep it a bit more clean this time so I stuck to an almost all white card and really tried to constrain myself with the layering. For this card I used the Clouds CutUps Die from TCP. I used a polka dot embossing folder for my sky, just to add a bit more texture to it and pop the clouds a bit more. The sentiment is from the Just Let it Happen set by TCP and the rocket is from an older, now unfortunately retired TCP set.

Here is my card:

Thanks so much for stopping by and to a happy crafting 2019 :)

Sonja

{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

{Hello Sunshine} TCP Tuesday 345

Hi everyone,

it's finally spring here in Sweden and after a long winter, it feels so good to have the sun come out. And nothing says spring to me better than one of Alma's newer stamp sets: Family Forever. This cute bear with this ducky friend is just too adorable.

Here is my card:

I embossed the bear and the sentiment to make the blacks really pop. For the look of the fur on the bear I first colored the edges with water color pencils, then applied water and then went back over the wet surface with the water color pencils. 

Here a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Sony

{Perk up} TCP Tuesday 344

Hello everyone,

I'm back with a TCP Tuesday challenge card. This month's pick is the popular coffee/tea theme, which gave me a chance to pick up my Verve stamp set Better With You and pair it with the TCP's Watercolor Basics stamp set aka coffee spill set. :)

I used water color pencils for the to go cups and layered the spill spot using Distress Ink mixed with a bit water, works like a charm.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great start to your week!

Sony

{Life is Good} TCP Tuesday 343

Hi everyone,

I've really enjoyed the new release blog hop by The Catpack over at the Cat's Pajamas.  I've enjoyed it so much I felt the need to make a spring card even though it's still pretty chilly over here in Sweden. 

I broke into my stash of stamps and came across this beauty here..retired now I'm afraid but the set was called Spring Fling by TCP. The grass die is from TCP as well. The sun is from the Scene It series by Papertrey Ink. The die is originally quite a bit larger so I used a circle die on top of it to trim it down. I used water color pencils for the grass and Poochie, distress ink for the sky and stickles glitter for the bling.

A closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Sony

{Stay Cool} TCP Tuesday 343

Hi everyone,

I'm back with another card for this month's TCP Tuesday challenge. So...if you weren't able to tell...I've been dreaming of summer lately. lol These Swedish summers are loong. Anyway...this month's TCP Tuesday challenge is about including animals in our projects. Pretty easy since there are tons of TCP stamps that include animals. 

I broke out one of Alma's retired summer sets featuring Poochie with a surfboard. I paired it with a cloud background die from PTI, on top of a background die from Reverse Confetti.

and here's a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sony

{Sm'ore Memories} TCP Tuesday 343

Hi everyone,

I just received my order from Papertrey Ink and I was so excited, although I had to pay a hefty extra tax on it. Welcome to life in Europe I guess. :P I may have to look into the European stamp market because at this rate, this is going to become a very expensive hobby .

 Anyway, a hole in my wallet later, I hopped right into the TCP Challenge. I paired the Scene It dies by Papertrey Ink with some of my all time favorite stamps by The Cat's Pajamas, now sadly retired. I used PJ from A Beary Good Year and had him go camping with stamps from a Happy Camper. The sentiment is from another retired set but this time an MFT set.

Here is my card:

and here is a closer look:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Have a great day!!

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

{Have a Beary Special Day} Document Wallet Card

Hi everyone,

I have a slightly different paper project for you today. Yes, it's still a card but one for a larger gift pass. I had some complimentary Disneyland tickets when I worked for Disney that I wanted to give to my friend Anna and her family. The tickets were just printed on a regular size letter paper so I thought of creating a wallet type of card and this here is my result:

outside of the card

inside of the card, the tickets slide right in front of the yellow panel.

Since I trimmed down my stamp collection for our move to Sweden I had to get a little creative with the sentiment. So, the bear and the "sweet" in Sweet Friends is from the TCP set Honey Bear (currently out of stock I'm afraid). The "Friends" is from the TCP set Good Friends - it looks like this is retired and then the sentiment "Have a Beary Special Day" is from one of my all time favorite sets, one of the very first PJ (that's the bear) sets. I don't remember the name unfortunately and I know it's definitely retired. It was an amazing set!!

For the honeycomb pattern I used one of my brand new sets from Honey Bee Stamps called Sweet As Honey with the coordinating dies. I used the dies to make a stencil and then I used my Ranger Ink blending tool to dab in the color for the honeycombs.

Now to the fun part...so after I decorated the inside of my card I realized that it was too bulky for the card to actually stay closed. I needed a closure of some kind and this is the one I came up with. I cut out a couple of circle shapes, glued them together, attached a string to one side and voila. My document/gift pass wallet was complete.

exterior closure

interior string 

That's all I have for today...have a great start to your week!

Sony
 

{Make a Splash} TCP Tuesday 336

Hi everyone,

I'm back with another card today. So I know I've been out of the game for a while and watercolor seems to be the big new thing. Or I'm so late to the party it's on it's way out again? Who knows....anyway, it's new to me and it's been years that I've played with water colors. Quite frankly I was never all that great at it but what the heck. Time to give it one more try. I used some of my mini Distress Inks, a mister and a blender...and just started doing some stuff. 

Really...it took me about 3 full sheets of paper to get something I sort of liked. Now I know I need to get Alma's watercolor stamps over at The Cat's Pajamas. This is just way too unpredictable for me. lol 

Speaking of the Cat's Pajama's...I admit I have my eye on a few swanky sets over there but since I'm about to have to pay for COBRA health insurance for a few months while I'm in between jobs...a little gift certificate would certainly be appreciated. 

What better way than to play along in this month's TCP Tuesday challenge?! The theme is Sea, Sand and Sky....or Sand, sky and sea?? It's one of those but you get the idea. :) 

It's summer!!!!

So for my card I used a retired set. I just love me some Sprinkle and can't seem to part with her. This one I believe was called Fun in the Sun? 

I colored it with Copic markers and added some Glitter which is a bit hard to see in my photographs so you just have to take my word for it. :) It's sparkles :)

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Have a great week!!

Sonja

{We're moving} TCP Blog Hop

Hi everyone,

I don't know if you've heard already but my boyfriend and I are moving!!! It's a big one this time..we're moving to Sweden! Yes...it's quite the endeavor. It's amazing how much work goes into an international move. We're starting by downsizing as much as we can. How much stuff can a person have?! It's insane!! I've even downsized my stamp collection by a considerable amount. Unfortunately, and I kick myself for it, I threw out some stamp sets that I now regret having thrown out and I'm seriously considering buying again. Ugh!!! Anyway...

I needed a little moment of Zen in between boxes and stuff everywhere so here is my card for this months TCP blog hop:

I paired some of Alma's stamps with some dies from Reverse Confetti to create this cute announcement card. :) I believe these stamps are retired I'm sorry to say. I'm a huge fan of Alma's designs and couldn't part with most of her stamp sets so you'll most likely see a few more retired-stamp-set cards from me in the future.

Here a closer look:

I started to use hot glue for putting my cards together. I didn't like how some of my cards would relatively easily come apart so...hot glue to the rescue. Well, not for my fingers unfortunately. I have the one or other burn to show for it. :P But hey! My cards are no longer coming apart. :) Win!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Have a great rest of your week!

Sonja

{Know what you're getting?}

Hi everyone,

I'm back with another card today. This time I revisited some of my old TCP or The Cat's Pajama's stamps. I paired Sassy Birthday with Hola Tequila for a more masculine happy 30th birthday card.

I figured...nothing says happy 30th to a guy more than a shot of Tequila, don't you think?

Here's a closer look:

thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a great day!

Sonja

{Travel vacation} SFYTT

Hi everyone,

Making my card I got really inspired to make another...so the next day, when I had a moment I made this card here, using the March SFYTT sketch. I'm a huge fan of Jen's sketches. They are always a little more complex than the average sketch, giving ample opportunity for me to challenge myself and try something new. This time I wanted to push my pattern limits. Patterns for some reason always scare me a bit but at the same time I'm always super impressed when I see someone who's really good at using them.

I figure - it's just a matter of practice. :)

Oh and here's the sketch I've been raving about so much:

Isn't it fun?!

If you participate and use Reverse Confetti stamps you even have the chance to win something. I unfortunately don't own any Reverse Confetti stamps yet so no chance for me but I still had fun playing along. The stamps I used are a hodge podge mix from The Cat's Pajamas and (I believe a retired set now from) My Favorite Things. 

Have a great rest of the weekend!