Friday 31 December 2010

The last day

of the year is here, and I am really proud of myself! A year ago I started a project called 365 days!! Every single day of last year, from January first till December 31st I have made a picture!! All the pictures are saved in a special folder (and on discs) and untill June I have written a diary about the picture of that day! I will have a bit more time on my hands in the new year (I was swamped in card-orders etc) so I can finish writing my diary!

Here's another x-mas card (it never stops!!) with such a cute image from my pile! The coloring looks so great in real, the picture does not do it justice! I again used Promarkers and a bit of Basic Grey paper!

Have a wonderfull newyears eve, and I will post again next year (hahahahaha)!!

Yvette
  -x-

Thursday 30 December 2010

A rat

or a mouse?? Not sure about this stamp, as the little creature looks like a rat, but it is called housemouse!! Confusing hey!! Anyways, this was another one from the pile I have.

Cute little rat-mousy is colored with ..... tatatadaaaaaaa ..... Promarkers!! hahaha :) I love the backgroundpaper, though I can't recall what make it is. Might be Basic Grey but I am not sure!

Yvette
  -x-

Wednesday 29 December 2010

Snowmen

Actually it's a snowman and a snowwoman! Years and years ago, when I still lived in Holland, a friend of mine back then owned a lot of image stamps. Back then I had no clue about coloring or whatever, but on a lovely weekend when I was at her house, she brought the stamps down and I inked and stamped my little heart out. I've got a huge pile of images, still waiting to be colored!! And this is one of them!

Aren't they just the cutest pair of snowpeople!! The little bit of coloring was done with Promarkers, and the amazing backgroundpaper is from an old Basic Grey Collection. Not too much embellishments, because the paper is just too pretty!

Yvette
  -x-

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Happy 80th

Mandy, Ian's sister-in-law, asked me ages ago to make 2 birthday cards. One was for a lady who's birthday is on x-mas day, and another just in the new year. I know you think to yourself, x-mas is over and done with now, but I was in time making the cards!! Just not in time in posting them onhere :)

I made an easel-card with the lovely Marianne Design Die. Distressed and stencilled it with lovely Distress Ink. Colored Sarah Kay with Promarkers, cut her out and glued her on the card. Made the little rose myself again :) I love making these roses!!

Maybe a bit too springy for a January card, but I was a bit done with the snow and christmas colors! Cute bunny is colored with Promarkers.

Yvette
  -x-

Sunday 26 December 2010

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has had a good Christmas Day yesterday, and will enjoy boxing day, second christmas day or however you wanna call it!

Just a quick post from me, with another christmas card. I was nearly done for 2010, only needed to make 5 more according to my list :) Here they are:

Cute little christmas bunny (hope he does not end up on someones plate!!) colored with Promarkers. I handstitched the purple stitches, and used a few Dies.


Made another book with the Spellbinders Dies. I love making these!! They look so real and good in real life :)

Very simple card. Not one embellishment on it!! Popcorn the Bear is colored with Promarkers.


Isn't this cute :) I love the background paper from Basic Grey! Wish I had bought more of that line. I wanted to make like an iced flower with the puffy stuff, but yeah, more puffy stuff came out my pen then I wanted too, so it is a wee bit too puffed!! I learned to be very carefull in using that pen hahaha!


I love the colors on this Popcorn the Bear image. Used Promarkers again, and I really am getting the hang of the coloring a lot more!! I did not really wanna use any embellishments as the background paper is so pretty!!

That's it for the day. Again a good christmas day to everyone!

Yvette
  -x-

Friday 24 December 2010

Tilda

One more day till christmas. To be honoust, I can't wait for it to be over, and for the kids to have settled down again! Not to mention my boyfriend, but that's a different story :):)

I love this Tilda image. She looks all warm and cosy in her coat and gloves!! She will need it this winter :) I colored her with Promarkers. Made a little frame with 2 different Spellbinder Nestabilities. I used 2 miniature stamps from Barbara Grey on the frame and sentiment. Puffed up the snowflakes (I love puffing up stuff. It's even better then embossingpowder!!).

Yvette
  -x-

Thursday 23 December 2010

2 more cards made in Holland

Finally the last 2 cards I made when I was in Holland. It has been a very productive holiday, and it's amazing really that I did find the time to make so many cards, as my holiday was already fully booked with things to do and places to go before I actually had booked my flight!!

I used this amazing Marianne Design die, and cut the cardshape. The circle in the middle is a Spellbinders nestability that my mum bought at the craftfair. I love that one, and in the newyear it will be bought by me hahaha!! I colored the image with Promarkers, cut a lovely snowflake and puffed it up with some snowpuff stuff, and sprinkled it with glitters!! Little roses are bought on the craftfair, so that's just a matter of cutting them of the wire and glue them on :) I like fast flowers like that :)

This project (I think this goes beyond the word car really) I started in Holland, but finished it off at home. I cut the word JOY with the cricut machine, and glittered them. Colored my lovely Santa with Promarkers, and I was really pleased with the outcome! At home I made the big roses, got the smaller ones from the craftfair and added some leafs, branches-thingies and a glittery swirl!! I love the way it looks, and ofcourse the picture does not do it justice at all!!

Well, there you have it, I am almost caught up to the cards I have made in the last 3 weeks. But that is for tomorrow.

Yvette
  -x-

I am in love

with this card. I bought the Magnolia Ink magazine when I was in Holland, and I saw a similar card in the magazine. So my mum got the coffee filters out, her sewing machine and off I went. I have never used a sewing machine before for card making, eventhough I soooo love the result. I suppose actually owning a sewing machine would be a big help :)

The card is glued on the coffee filter. I colored the image (Lili of the valley) with watercolorpencils. Made the roses with the Marianne Design die, and created a fun tag that says Merry Christmas on it. Ofcourse I did not take a picture of the tag. The tag slides inside the coffeefilter.
This was my first go at one of those amazing stamp cards I see on the blogs, and I must say, I really really love it!!

Yvette
  -x-

Wednesday 22 December 2010

A x-mas cards order

Just 3 days before I went on holiday to Holland someone came to me and asked me if I could make 8 A5 x-mas cards for him. Hmmmm, 3 days is a bit short in time, and I was going to take some craft stuff to Holland anyways, so yes I spend my holiday making x-mas cards :) I made a few more then 8 so he had a choice :) Get ready for a long post with lots of pictures:

This card actually took the longest to make. It was also the last one I made, so I was a bit out of inspiration. I actually had a different image for it, but the whole thing just did not work together.
I have always said, I am never gonna buy any Magnolia stamps, they are way too expensive and all that. So when I was in Holland we went to the KreaDoe craft fair there was a Magnolia stand. And OMG the example cards they had ... just to die for!! So yeah, my idea of no magnolia's went down the drain and I ended up with 2 very cute father christmas stamps. This is one of them!! Colored with Promarkers, used a lot of distress inks to create the background, and used a Marianne design die for the snowflake, and a Martha Stewart punch for the row of snowflakes.


A fun step-card, made with Adorables stamps and colored with Promarkers.


I stamped the Adorables image with Distress ink (Vintage Photo) on watercolorpaper and used a wet brush to drag the ink from the stamp into the picture. A fun technique and with an amazing result!! I used Barn Door Distress Ink to give it a little bit of color. Some lace, a MS border punch, snowflakescurls and a sentiment and voila :)


Another relatively simple card. Though I now notice that the little girl is not holding her rope to pull the sleigh anymore. Both images are colored with Promarkers.

Lots of Distress Inks on this one. Stamped the borders with Creative Expressions - Christmas Postcard stamps, and the Image is from Kanban. Again colored with Promarkers.


This is a shaker card. I used flowersoft for the snow-shaker effect, but next time I need to use a bit thicker foamtape. The flowersoft gets stuck a bit!


My aunt Marij, who is a very good crafter and cardmaker herself, bought this Spellbinders die ages ago, and she never knew what to do with it. She asked me to make a card with it to give her a little idea on what to do with it. I cut it and stenciled it, and then I made a Faux Nestie to layer. I also made the buckle from a Nestie. I cut the smallest size, cut out 2 half moon shapes to give it the buckle shape. Dipped the whole thing in Versamark and then bronze embossing powder. I did it twice to give it a nice metallic look, and voila Faux Buckle so to say :)


This is one of my favorite cards I made on my holiday, It's got such nice colors and it's elegant. Used one of my new fave Spellbinders dies, and a stamp from Creative Expressions - Christmas Postcard collection. Also had a first go at making my own rose. There is a new Marianne Design die with 5 flowers. It's the same flower, in 5 sizes. Perfect to make your own flowers! Dipped it in UTEE to give it a porselain look. I love making these little roses!!


Image is from Adorables and colred with Promarkers.


I love this card. I like the blue and brown tones. The little girl and her kittycat friend are colored with watercolor pencils. I still need to practise with it, but she looks cute I think. The image, corner and sentiment stamps are from Adorables collection.


My last card of this post. It's a gatefold as they call it. I used lots of lovely dies, made a rose and stamped my little heart out!!

There, lots of cards, and there are still a few more I made in my holiday but they are for tomorrow's post!

Yvette
  -x-

Tuesday 21 December 2010

mama

My mum makes cards too, and everytime when I come over to Holland, we spent a lot of time together making cards. I try and teach her some new things, and she is a good learner! Look at this amazing card that she stamped, colored and distressed!! Well done mama :)


That's all my posts again for the day. More to come tomorrow!!

Yvette
  -x-

family x-mas card

I never really liked making x-mas cards. It's cheaper and a lot faster to buy them in a bulk in shops!! But this last year things have changed. And I just love making x-mas cards now :) Not for the whole family though, because it is very timeconsuming, and not everyone appreciates the work you put in a card. So for a few members in my family I make a x-mas card. This year I made an easel-card with a background Barbara Grey style, and used a lot of Adorable stamps. I was really pleased with the cards when they were finished :)

Completely different

I got an order in to make a big birthday card for a 15 year old boy. Last year I made his birthday card and I remembered that he liked dolphins and yin-yangs (or how ever you write that). Last year he had dolphins, so yin-yangs was the theme for this year. I used the cricut machine to cut out his name and the yin-yang. I cut the yin-yang twice and glued them together on a kebab stick. If you open up the card you can swirl the yin-yang around if you turn the kebab stick :)


Yvette
  -x-

Another Sarah Kay

I got these new Xmassy corner and border stamps, and I wanted to give them a little try. Ofcourse I used a too small card, and I had to fiddle to get my image in the middle. It turned out ok, but next time I use a bigger card, or the stamp just once!


Yvette
  -x-

Monday 20 December 2010

Paul's birthday

My last post for the day (still trying to catch up!!)
I made a little birthday card for Paul, Ian's brother. Making a card for a man is very difficult. No flowers, swirly bits and pink allowed! Luckily I had a stamp with a little golfer-dude on it, as Paul likes to play golf (so I am told).

I cut the really cool corners with the cricut and colored golf-dude with Promarkers. It turned out ok I think :) Not that any guy pays any attention to the cards they get. They just wanna see if there is money inside!

Yvette
  -x-

Sarah Kay

When I was a little girl I was in lovewith my Holly Hobby Doll. She was so cute. The same cuteness is in Sarah Kay, and Sarah Kay, unlike Holly Hobby, can be found in the craftworld. There are Decoupage sheets and rubber stamps. My dear friend Anna from craftclub owns a selection of Sarah Kay stamps, and I was fortunate enough to borrow them, ink them up and play with them.

This was my first try at one of those scrap/stamp cards that I so love! This way ofcardmaking has been around for many years now, but I never got "involved" with it. Never understood why you wanted to by coloring pencils that cost well over a pound a piece. Untill I started to color myself!! Bah, the future is gonna be expensive for me :)                                                                                                                                                              

Yvette                                                                                                                                                             
-x-                                                                                                                                                               

I love my nesties

I have had a cricut machine for 4 years now, and eehhh, started using it about a year and a half ago. I love my cricut machine, and never saw the need for a cuttlebug as I can cut shapes to any size I want. But then my mum got one for her birthday and I started playing with it, and I was sold. Bought one, and slowly I am building up a nice die collection.

One of my favorite Nestabilities is the labels seventeen. Here I used the largest and second largest die, and made 2 faux nesties with the same dies, to create a little book! I was so pleased with how this turned out! Used stamps from the Adorables collection, and collored with Promarkers. Used some Distress Ink to make the book look "old".


I do like my shaped cards, and when I was at craftclub Julie gave me the template for this super cool card! It took a bit of fiddling to slot everything in, but Voila, a fun card! Used some real tiny bells on it and again the Adorable stamps :)

Yvette
  -x-

Sunday 19 December 2010

And then there was a little progress

Yes, I am starting to get the hang of this coloring stuff. I only have a small (I hear my mum laugh now, because she thinks I have loads, but I dont even have half of the collection) collection of Promarkers, so for me not nearly enough choice on colors, but it is getting better! I understand more how the colors work. Maybe one day I can be somewhere near as good as some of the amazing people I see on blogs! I still have a lot to learn (and buy!!).

Ian gave me the amazing stamp set called Adorables, made by Jayne Nestorenko. The rubber stamp sheets are full with fun little bits, adorable little kids, and amazing background stamps! There is so much you can do with these stamps :) Got my shape cut out with the cricut machine, and used a Pearl Pen for the very first time. Mind you, this card was made somewhere back in September, and any crafter knows that trends and things change like every 2 weeks :)


Have you noticed the coloring! Yes, I did at a few more Promarkers to my collection and that does make a difference! Cut the shape with the cricut machine, and I learned that I should color those corners in the same color range, as now it's a wee bit chaotic!
I do love that verse though, and really should use it more often hahaha :)

That's it for today. More cards will follow tomorrow. I have to catch up with posts from last September, and I did make a lot of cards since then :)

Yvette
  -x-

I need lessons

Yes I do, I need lessons in creating a blog. I have no clue how to put people's blinkies onhere and all that other fun stuff. I might have some times later today and google it. For now a few more cards I have made earlier this year.

I go to a craftclub every monday here in Hull, and it's such a lovely bunch of woman! Anita brought this punch to the club and I gave it a little try. The card did not really turn out how I wanted, but that's the learning process. I did use one of Barbara Grey's Clarity Stamp - Clever Corners. They are so so amazing!




A simple card really. I stamped these christmas corners, and wanted to color them in. Onlu to find out really that I used a way too small piece of paper to make it a nice card. I also had a very small collection of Promarkers at the time, so the coloring isn't whoopteedoo!!                                                                                                             








And as all stampers, you make more then one image when you borrow someone elses stamp, so again that christmas corner stamp, colored in with Promarkers and Santa plunked in the middle. I do like that poinsettia stamp. It's fun to color and easy to layer!                                                                                                     


Yvette
  -x-

Saturday 18 December 2010

Some oldies ...

I first started Distressing and using stamps in a "different" way somewhere around may this year. The cards are a bit so-so but I wanted to post them onhere so in future I can se my own progress! I still have a lot to learn :)

I did not have any image stamps just yet, so I did use some decoupage. I don't like decoupage. I hate cutting things out really! When I looked at the card again 2 weeks ago, it was so "naked" that I added a swirl, a flower and a nice greeting. Made the thing look a little bit better!


My mum got a cuttlebug for her birthday. I had never used one before, so this was my first try at inking one of those gold metal stencil things. It looks alright, though I did change the corner bit. I took something ugly off and made a pretty snowflake (with liquid applique) and a sentiment. Not the best card, but better then it was haha :)


Yes, I still had to learn a lot about distressing. This actually looks horrible, even in real life hahaha! Ok, maybe not horrible, but not what  would make nowadays!

Only added a sentiment to this one. It was pretty much ok the way I made it :)


Added a greeting and a little bunch of flowers, as the card felt a bit "naked". I still do like the shape of this card!


So very different then the other cards I made, but this was still made in the same weeks. It has a little drawer at the bottom of the card that contains 3 little candles. I really like this project, but I have no clue where I put the template for it :(

I will post some more cards tomorrow. I have always made pictures of my cards, so there are still a few to come!

Yvette
  -x-

That went well ...

Ok, I get it now ... click Publish Post after you typed something. My first two posts are now in the wrong order!! Live and learn :)

Yvette
  -x-

A Blog

Ohdear, what have I done. I have always said, no blog for me. I don't know how to make a blog, and I most likely wont keep it up that well, as I am a lazy blog-person. But ..... I love making my cards, and I love sharing my cards with "the world" and for me to be able to do some other card challenges, it is a MUST to have a blog. So here it is, it's orange and brown for now, maybe one day I will find out how to make it all fancy and swirly and flowery and stuff, but it's gonna be a little home for the cards I make. I hope, whoever is gonna read this, will enjoy what I make.

Yvette
  -x-

my first try

No, not my first try at making a card. I have been making cards for over 10 years now. Changed techniques over the years, and ofcourse learned a lot over the years (if you would see my first card, you would laugh your head off!!). No, this is my first try in posting a picture onhere. Let's see how this turns out!


Well, I can see it, I don't know if anyone else can :)

I made a very simple card. Used stamps from Creative Expressions- Christmas Post. A little Disstress Ink and a Spellbinders Nestability (labels seventeen).

Yvette
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