Advent Calendars

Good evening or maybe I should say "Happy Halloween"!

Here in Sweden we don't really celebrate Halloween, but people still have parties and dress up and kids go around the block asking "Trick or treat?!", just for fun.

Anyway, I started to think about advent calendars in scrapbook format, when I stumbled upon this:

It's a whisky advent calendar! It's neat and would fit really well for my dad. The only thing is the price... The one I was looking at costed  £150 (about 1500 SEK). Pretty much for liquid of ca 75 ml.

So my dad came up with something else, still a calendar with things you can open but with the name of a whisky. Then you (he) can go and try it out! And for smaller whisky collections you can repeat some of the best ones. Simple and a little fun for the whisky fan. Can also be done with other things.

And then I started to think about advent calendars in the 12"x12" format and found this nice one made by Erdbeerlöckchen: 

There's always these "photo-a-day"-challanges and I thought I would take a photo each day until Christmas and make it like a calendar with lids that can be opend. I've always like the little albums people create about the days in December, but felt it was too much (and too much PL for me). So this is a great way to document everyday until Christmas :)

And this one (above) is my own. My mom sewed and hand stiched it for my siblings and me a long time ago. Last year I hung little peieces of Milka Chocolate (Austrian milk chocolate) in it. Haven't made up my mind yet what I should hang this year.

Thanks for stopping by!

Internet, Internet, Internet...

Hello hello!

Bad update here - I know, but I have my reasons. Not only there's no enough light to photograph my creations, there's also the fact that for several days (maybe more than a week) my Internet connection has been totally slow. Like snail-slow. Which has been really annoying; for each blog/website I visit the pictures are loading for a loooong time and then fail to load = update page several times.

And, when I want to watch something on Youtube that is 10 minutes short, it buffers for 40 minutes and then I can watch 2 minutes... I am so sick of this. Luckily, this doesn't last forever (just a week or so). 

Enough wining.

I've added to my scrapbooking supply with new papers and embellishments. The thing is only that I have the inspiration but no idea which photos to go with the papers. So, I now I scrap the layout first (cutting, pasting, decorating) and then look for the photo(s). Seems a bit backwards :P But all ways are good except the bad ones!

Thanks for stopping by to "listen" to my wining!

Page Maps Sketch

Hello!

It's been a little while since the last post, not that I don't have anything to show - I do, it's just that work and lack of good light has come between. So, today I thought I would show a sketch from Page Maps that inspired me to create a layout called "Reflecting".

Sketches are great to get the inspiration going along with the creativeness.

Have a nice friday!

Take me to the Beach - layout

Hello hello!

Fall is here and it's beautiful, but I have a christmas/summer layout to share. The pictures are from our Christmas holiday last year when we went to Teneriffe, Spain. It's called "beach" and the whole text says "Take me to the beach, waves at my feet, wind in my hair, sand on my toes, sun on my face" (a little something I found on Pinterest). 

To create the stencil I used a big circle stencil from Crafters Workshop and simply traced the circles and cut everything by hand. It was however very timeconsuming, so I probably won't do this again. I've also used a 6"x6" paper pad from American Crafts "Dear Lizzy 5th & Frolic" along with white cardstock and gold glitter Thickers.

With my Silhouette I cut out the banners with the text.

The photos fit perfectly in the circles since they were taken with my phone; small and low resolution.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a nice friday!

Great news & 10x10 Canvas

Hello hello!

I have great news to share: I've created a card and now it's up on this Swedish blog. You can click on the link to see it: Swe Scrapbook blog. Yay!! :)

A few months ago I created this mini canvas in purple and black. I made this as an anniversiry gift for my bf.

Lots of gesso and modelling paste along with glimmer mist and Distress ink. 

I put down the date we became "official" and our first names initials.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stop & smell the flowers

Hey there!

Firstly, I'm gonna stop saving my blog photos in PNG and go back to JPG. Read somewhere that PNG's would be smaller and be faster to upload to my blog or Facebook. I've only noticed the opposite.

Secondly, I have another layout with Washi Tape to show. It's called "Stop & smell the flowers".

I've used some Prima flowers and some other flowers along with burlap, chipboards (painted with a mix of gold and black), buttons. 

For the background I've used 3 different washi tapes and painted with gold acrylic paint. Here and there you can see gold damask rub-ons and left over pieces.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Bellis" - mini layout

Hi there!

I've created another 20 cm X 20 cm mini layout using the 6"x6" paperpad "Romance" from Prima Marketing. I painted the background paper with black acrylic color and I love that it looks a bit like wood (unexpected).

Lately, I have noticed that I like to use papers, flowers, embellishments and such from the same collection. It helps a lot with the coordination and I don't have to think too much, haha. In the beginning of my scrapbook (lack of) "career", I was always sitting a long time and trying to pick out papers that went well together. I still do that, but I really enjoy when everything already goes together.

This little layout is 90% Prima! And the photo is of my youngest niece at the beach last October.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mini layout "2 mån"/"2 months"

Hello there!

Today I'm showing a mini layout 20 cm x 20 cm (12"x12"=30 cm x 30 cm, so smaller than 12"). I have an album where I test things or just create layouts quickly and not think about it too much, which is the opposite of what I normally do.

This one is called "2 months" and the pics are of me and my boyfriend celebrating 2 months together.

The papers are a mix of Echo Park, American Craft and Theresa Collins.

With washi tape I created the pink border (under the heart paper) and the blue striped circle. And some Thickers for the title.

Thanks for stopping by!

Silhouette Cupcake Card - "Grattis"/"Happy birthday"

Hello Monday!

This weekend was a bit stressful and full of celebrations. I already showed you the card I made for the first celebration. This card was for my cousins youngest son who turned 20! He tought it was store bought - really nice comment! :)

The Crate Paper blog had a challange/theme a while ago called "Navy blue and sequins", I've used that as my inspiration for this card. Blue and gold go really well together and it's one of my favourite combos. So gold dotted vellum paper from Crate Paper + silhouette cupcake free cut file = birthday card.

The numbers are Thickers - doesn't it just look delicious?! :P

Thanks for stopping by!

BoBunny card "grattis" (congratulations)

Hello hello hello!

I'm back with something to show you; a card created with BoBunny's Forever Fall collection (2012). It's a simple happy birthday card. (The pictures are a bit blurry due to the lack of light when photographed.)

I put the orange leaf paper on foam dots to give it some dimension. The result of that was that people thought they could open it :P I also put two foam dots under the bannerpiece edges to give that some dimension as well. 

My inspiration for this card came from a Swedish blog (the black card): Swe Scrapbook. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Vector graphic

Hello!

Since I haven't taken photos of my latest work I thought I show you this vector graphic thing I did two years ago when I was an intern at a webb agency. Now I don't have the program for it anymore, but thinking about getting it so that I can start doing more things like this. Had almost forgotten that I think it's fun :P 

This morning I met up with an old friend that I haven't seen for a few months and we took a morning walk in the nice crisp fall weather.

Thanks for stopping by!

Washi drawers

Hello there!

The washi tape is here to stay and I have to say that I wasn't so fond of it in the beginning. Now I really like it, although my collection still is quite small. Before I've showed you how I decorated my Silhouette with washi tape (you can see more on that here: Washi tape on Silhouette).

I also spiced up my drawers on my workspace with what? You guessed right: washi tape!

I've used three different colors and patterns. More of a summer theme. After applying the tape I painted it over with Modge Podge to keep the tape in place (the green one didn't want to stick).

And a close-up: 

Since fall is here, I thought I'd change it up a little. Brown washi tape with golden stripes. Love it! 

This time I put the tape horizontal to get another effect than before. 

This time I didn't paint it over with Modge Podge cause it sticks great so far. 

Thanks for stopping by!

"Friends Forever & Freedom" - 7 Dots Studio

Good morning!

When I scrap I tend to take a looong on deciding what to put on, which papers to use, do I dare cut this or paint over that - this makes the process quite long and I just create little things at a time. With this one I knew which papers, photos and title I wanted to use. But mostly it ends up pretty good. On this one I've used papers from Messy Head from 7 Dots Studio (new favourite brand). The photos are actually a bit more purple, hence all the purple details.

Since one of my best friends had a daughter it is not often that we see each other just the two of us (not that I mind the baby cause she's adorable, but you sometimes need some alone time away from home). We had a wonderful summer evening and we did what we are used to - take selfportraits, haha! These photos turned out awesome with the silhouette and the sunset in the background. 

I created three accordian flowers with the woodgrain paper, back and front, and used a stencil from Studio Calico, some plastic from Prima (the thing were the flowers sit on) and some purple Thickers.

Some splashes with purple and red/pink mist, seashell brads and purple buttons. 

Today I'm going to the dentist to fix my front teeths that were "broken" in '98...

Thanks for stopping by!

"Herr & Fru" with My Mind's Eye "All is bright"

Good day!

Today I want to show that themed collections like the "All is bright" collection from MME also works with not only summer photos, but also with wedding photos. My best friend got married last year and I had gotten the honour of taking the official wedding photos (YAY!). My Silhouette go to do some work here as well, I cut out the & in white cardstock with it. After that I adhered washi tape to it and cut off the access.

The title says "Herr & Fru" ("Husband & Wife"). As a little cluster I used some decorations from both MME, Teresa Collins and some things from my own stash.

I think these to just speaks for it selfes. :) 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a nice Sunday!

"The Sweet & Wonderful Life" & "Summer Trip" layouts

Hello!

Tonight I'm showing this:

First up is layout/mixed media art, but not the normal 12"x12" but smaller. I actually don't know the the size. Anyway, I've used black distressed ink from Tim Holtz and then embossed it with orange powder. The stamps are from different manufacturers. This came together with inspiration from Nicole Nowosad at the Jillibean Soup design team.

I've painted with water colors and used some leftover scraps for the arrows. I hand sewed around the whole page. This whole thing was just a playful test, but I'm quite happy with the result. 

Here's another mixed media-layout about a trip I made to France with my boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend. We saw sunflower fields all along the road. I used last years fall-collection from BoBunny, Forever Fall. But the background paper is from Basic Grey. 

I stamped a lot and sprayed with glimmer mists and a stencil from Prima with modeling paste. 

The journaling is hidden behind the blue paper, with some string and a brad I created something to pull it up with. The big sunflower is fussy cut and you can see the stamping and paint behind it.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

"Life Captured" & "10+1=elva"

Hello there!

I've got more layouts to share! The first one is created using a sketch from Silhouette. Instead of two stripes at the bottom I used another cut file from Silhouette, a wave. All the papers are My Mind's Eye; Miss Caroline and background paper is from the All is bright collection.

Quite a simple layout, but still cute. I've put some cut out hearts in the waves and painted the edges with pink acrylic paint.

The title says "Life Captured" and the photo is of my nieces last Christmas at Teneriffe, Spain. We went to a water park - which was so much fun.

On my second layout I tried to use mostly squares and create a grid. It's about my oldest niece who turned 11 this year. The title says "10+1=elva (eleven)".  The papers are from BoBunny's Vicki B. collection.

I still haven't written anything yet. I'm bad at that, especially when I don't really know what to write. 

For the title I've used four different types of Thickers. The big pink flower is created with pink washi tape and purple/pink ribbon and a big pearl from Prima.

Thanks for stopping by!