TGF Summer Fairy and Dutch Crazy Meiden club

Hi everybody,

Have you seen the digi fairies over at The Greeting Farm yet? There is one for each season and they are SO pretty! I loved checking out the samples a couple of very talented ladies had made and couldn't wait to get my own hands on these. I do hope TGF will turn these into rubber as well. Here is my card using the gorgeous Summer Fairy:I joined two Dutch 'Clubs' not to long ago, Scraps! and Crazy Meiden and the last one had a SOL yesterday. I didn't know what the term meant but I decided to join in anyway. The sketch I used was provided by Angelica. The sentiment has been made on my computer and reads "Heel veel sterkte" which means "Lots of strength", this card is going to go to one of the girls at the 'club' in question that will be undergoing chemo therapy soon. Here is a close up of the gorgeous fairy, hope you can see the glitter on her wings:
Papers and brads are Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice (so gorgeous!), Craft cardstock and ribbon from stash. The flowers are my Retro Flower punches by Paper Shapers and the leaves are by McGill. Coloring as always was done with my Derwent Watercolor Pencils and Copics and I added a few touches of Twinkling H2O's and stickles here and there. 3D was done with my fabulous new Olba 3D kit (het werkt echt een stuk sneller dan de blokjes Carmen!). Guess that's all :).

I hope the weather in your part of the world is better than it is here :S. Hope you have a lovely week!!

xxx
Mariska

New Card Art kit and Sweet Danni and Bella

Hello lovely ladies :),

I know it's been awhile since I have posted a card, I have made a couple though but they can't be shown on my blog until somewhere in March of next year :S... But today I'm back!

Yesterday the new Card Art cardkit arrived and the paper was so gorgeous but so not my usual material that I couldn't wait to use it. I think these kits are just lovely to get out of your comfort zone ones in a while. Another thing I have been wanting use bad is this gorgeous stamp I bought from my friend Nikki and her new company Wags 'n Whiskers. I thought the two could be combined perfectly so I went to work and here is the result:I think this image is SO cute! She is called Danni and Bella and she has been drawn by the incredibly talented Crissy Armstrong. All the materials I have used are in this months Card Art kit... so pretty! Here is a close up of the image:
As always colored using both my Derwent Watercolor pencils and Copics but this time I used Olba glue for the 3D. My friend Carmen bought me a whole tube (thank you sweetie!) and though it took a bit of getting use to I do see the advantages to the foamcubes I used before.

Well guess that's it for now! Please feel free to give me your honest opinion about this card.. I know it's a little bit different from my usual stuff but I'm always dying to find out what you guys think!

Have a great day everybody!!

xxx
Mariska

Big news for the Pink Cat Studio fans

Hi ladies,

You may have noticed already because I'm a bit late with this post but a couple of the digi-images Melissa has been offering the last few months are now also available in rubber. Good news I think for all the rubber addicts out there (I admit, I belong to this group too :) ). You can see a picture of the three “Lily in Winter” themed rubber stamp sets above. Each set has 3 stamps which include a large Lily stamp, a small coordinating stamp and a sentiment. Be sure to visit the PCS website to see the new stamps: http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Stamps/Lily/Lily.htm.

xxx
Mariska

Clubdag Card Art

Hiya ladies, dag lieve meiden :),

Today I have a card to show you I made yesterday on a 'Scraps! clubday' from Card Art. It was the first time I got to meet all the wonderfull ladies on the team (which also meant I got to meet my 'idol' Inge Groot) and also a whole bunch of other lovely ladies and I had a fantastic time! Carmen and Diana of Card Art had made ten example cards to get the ladies going and both Inge and I sort of demonstrated and talked to people about techniques. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous up front because what if they didn't like the cards I brought and I'd be sitting there on my own. But all my worries were quickly proven wrong because I had a whole lot of lovely ladies stopping by my table to ask me stuff and see me do stuff and they were all so lovely that I'll be walking with my head in the clouds for the next few days :).

Vandaag heb ik een kaart voor jullie die ik gisteren heb gemaakt op de 'Scraps! clubdag' van Card Art. Het was voor mij de eerste keer dat ik de lieve meiden van het Card Art team mocht ontmoeten (wat voor mij ook betekende dat ik mijn 'idool' Inge Groot mocht ontmoeten). Daarnaast waren er een heleboel super aardige en lieve meiden en ik heb het geweldig naar mijn zin gehad. Carmen en Diana van Card Art hadden tien voorbeeldkaarten gemaakt om de dames aan het werk te krijgen en Inge en ik hebben een soort van demonstraties gegeven en gepraat over technieken. Ik moet eerlijk bekennen dat ik vooraf behoorlijk nerveus was, wat nou als ze mijn kaarten helemaal niks zouden vinden! Maar al mijn zorgen bleken gelukkig al snel onterecht want ik kreeg een heleboel super lieve dames aan mijn tafel die mij van alles vroegen en keken hoe ik werkte en ze waren allemaal zo aardig dat ik de komende dagen lekker met mijn hoofd in de wolken blijf lopen :).

I didn't get to finish the card I was working on that day though (to slow and to much talking :) ) but I finished it today and here it is:

Ik heb gister mijn kaart niet afgekregen (te langzaam en te veel gepraat :) ) maar ik heb hem vandaag afgemaakt en hier is hij:The sketch is completely copied from example card 2 (for the ladies who were there) and all the materials were in the package we received except for the pearls. The image is a digi from Pink Cat Studio called Lily in her wintercoat. Inge, who is on the PCS digi team has given us some information on the use of digi-images and Melissa was kind enough to let us use this image to try out digi's. Here is a close up of the image:

De sketch heb ik volledig overgenomen van voorbeeldkaart 2 (voor de dames die erbij waren)) en al het materiaal komt uit het materiaalpakket dat we kregen behalve de parels. De afbeelding is een digi van Pink Cat Studio (waar Card Art de rubbere stempels van verkoopt) genaamd Lily in her wintercoat. Inge, die in het PCS digi team zit heeft ons wat informatie over digi-afbeeldingen gegeven en Melissa was lief genoeg om ons deze afbeelding te laten gebruiken om digi's uit te proberen. Hier is nog een foto van alleen de afbeelding:
Hope you like it. Thank you again ladies for the incredible day, hope to see you all again in the future!

Ik hoop dat jullie hem leuk vinden. Nogmaals bedankt lieve dames for een vreselijk leuke dag en ik hoop jullie allemaal in de toekomst weer te zien!

xxx
Mariska

A memorial for Henry....

Dear friends,

I know I haven't been posting much lately and now that I am... it is with a card I wish I didn't have to make. Perhaps you have already read this somewhere but this week my fellow Pink Cat Studio DT member Sarah Anderson’s 3 year old son Henry passed away. Little Henry was unable to overcome a virus that made him ill last week. I am so sad for Sarah and her family, they have been in my thoughts ever since I was told about this terrible news.

Lorie Ames has organized a way to donate for a memorial for Henry. Henry loved his local zoo and visited it almost every day in the summer. As a memorial, trees will be planted there in his honor. Melissa at Pink Cat Studio has created a digital stamp to help raise funds for a tree for Henry. As you will probably understand it is the cute digi image I have used to create this card for Sarah and her family.

All proceeds from the sale of the digi stamp, minus Paypal costs, will go towards the tree. If you would like to donate towards the tree, please visit this webpage to purchase the digi stamp: http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Digital/DigiStamps/Animals/Zoo/GiraffeAndMonkey.htm

Another way to donate to the memorial is to print out this form and mail in your donation directly: http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/Parks/PDF/MemorialTreePamphlet.pdf

Please write on the form that the donation is for Sarah Anderson’s son Henry. Once all of the money is collected, a tree and location will be selected. If you have questions about the form please contact Lorie Ames. Lorie will be in contact with Sarah along this memorial journey to ensure that her wishes are followed.
To contact Lorie, please visit her blog at http://www.live-love-laugh-create.blogspot.com/

If you don’t know Sarah and would like to learn more about her, please visit her blog: http://scrampinmama.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your help to raise money for a tree for Henry.

xxx
Mariska

Card for Alison Acton

Hi everybody!!

Now don't shoot me when you see the card I have to show you today OK? The image has no layers at all. I always start out my projects with stamping the image I want to use at least three times. I then color different parts of the image on the different stamped images, I demonstrated that in my tutorial HERE. I did the same with this image only I was chatting with my five year old Dyanne while coloring (it's autumn break here so we were coloring together :) ) and at some point I realized I had just about colored the entire image. I kind of liked how it turned out though so I decided to just keep it one layer this one time. Still I hope you like it :). I made this card for Alison Acton, the very talented illustrator for Whiff of Joy. I don't work with her images very often but I do own a lot of her stamps and I adore her style. Her little baby is due any day now and Katharina Frei has asked people to sent Alison baby cards using her own images. I'm sure you have read about it already, she is also offering candy for people who will participate, you read about it HERE. Here is my card for Alison:I so love Henry the Mouse! Here is a close up of the Henry Mouse Hugging Heart:
Almost all of the materials I've used came in the post yesterday with the latest Card Art Card Kit. The only things I've added are white cardstock that I embossed using my Swiss Dots folder, the heart charm and some string. Coloring as always was done using my Derwent Watercolor Pencils and my Copics. The sentiment is from the Pink Cat Studio Sweet Pea Plate 2 that is also for sale at Card Art HERE. Card Art also sells Whiff of Joy stamps but Carmen doesn't have this one in stock (IN DUTCH: mocht je niet uit het buitenland willen bestellen en wel helemaal verliefd zijn op dit stempeltje dan kun je natuurlijk wel altijd contact met Carmen opnemen, ik weet zeker dat ze hem graag voor je bestelt).

Have a great day everybody!!!

xxx
Mariska

Get well card for Riet

Hello friends,

Back earlier then expected :). I made a card for my bloggingbuddy and fellow Dutchie Riet. I'm sure a whole lot of you know Riet from the lovely comments she's always giving everybody. Riet doesn't even speak English herself but I know she has asked her daughter for help because she really wanted to leave everybody comments, how sweet is that!

Riet hasn't been feeling well lately. Her daughter has been kind enough to give updates on Riet's blog. She has also added their address if anybody wants to send Riet a card to make her feel just a little better. I didn't have to think twice about that....This is my card for Riet. The sentiment is hand written and reads 'Heel veel sterkte' which means 'Lots of strength'. The layout is a direct copy of a card the very talented 'Wicked Pixie' Traci posted yesterday, you can find that gorgeous card HERE (told you I'd copy your layout Traci :) ). As always here is a close up of the image:
This set remains one of my favorites. It's from All That Scraps and it's called Bear Hugs Rubber Stamps. I thought the look on the bear's face would be perfect for a card like this. The background was stamped using another set by All That Scraps but I wasn't able to find that one in the store anymore, perhaps they don't sell it anymore? The bear, leaf and flower were colored using my usual Derwent Watercolor pencils and Copics, the background was done using Twinkling H2O's. I also did the inside of the card..
The bear and sentiment on the inside are both from the same set as mentioned before. All papers are Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice, I think these papers are SO pretty! Cardstock is very dark brown (I don't know the name of the color) and Bazzill Bling Sparkle.

Hope you and of course especially Riet likes it!!

Take care everybody!

xxx
Mariska

Itty Bitty Christmas release day!!

Aren't they cute? I know that some of my fellow Design team members and perhaps the guest designers for this release MacKenzie Bruckler and Tracey Cuccia have even more examples with this set... I have my mojo back but I will always be very slow :). You can find these new cuties HERE, so be sure to check them out! I'm almost finished with a new card (not with this set though) so I hope to be back tomorrow. Have fun shopping!!

xxx
Mariska

Second day of Pink Cat Studio Itty Bitty Christmas Sneak Peeks

Hello again!

As promised here I am with two more sneak peeks of the new set. Again, today there are two new images being shown by the team so be sure to check out the blogs of my fellow Design Team members and our two guest designers for this release MacKenzie Bruckler and Tracey Cuccia!

Onto my first card:
I think this is my favorite image of the new set. Here is a close up of it:
You must have some idea by now... coloring was done with Derwent Watercolor pencils and Copics, there were a lot of Stickles used (hope it shows) and I have 3D paperpieced the image using foam cubes. As with my card yesterday I used Twinkling H2O's to create a background color. I believe this color was called Orange Peel. Again, be sure to let me know what you think about the background. I used this weeks sketch from my friends at Sketch Saturday. I wanted to join them as a participant ever since I left the Design Team but because of the lack of cardmaking lately I didn't get around to it earlier. I loved this weeks sketch though and was so glad to be able to use it!! The papers I've used are My Minds Eye Colorful Christmas, the sentiment and the snowflakes are from an accessory sheet from the same paper line. I did use some Stickles on both the snowflakes and the sentiment and I placed some crystals in the centers of the snowflakes. The ribbon is from stash.

On to the next and last sneak peek of this set:
Little Bobby in a Gingerbread man suit (hope that's the right description :S ). The little gingerbread men are from the stamp used above, I cut out the little gingerbread men and adhered them to white circles using foam cubes. Here is a close up:
The coloring is of course done with Derwent Watercolor pencils and Copics, the background was also done using my Derwent's and I have added Stickles for some Christmas sparkle. Paper is again My Minds Eye Colorful Christmas and the sentiment strip on the bottum is from the same accessory sheet the snowflakes and sentiment from the card above are from. The flower was punched out using two different sizes of EK Success Retro flower punches and the center is a pearl brad which I also used on the right bottom of the card. Finally a little piece of chain and a lovely charm I believe I bought from my friend Nikki from Bunny Zoe's Crafts.

Well that was it for me as far as the sneak peeks for this release go. I hope you liked my sneak peels and don't forget you can get these lovely rubber stamps yourself tomorrow but I'll be back tomorrow with a picture of the complete set of stamps to remind you :). Don't forget to visit my lovely Design Team buddies, I'm sure they'll blow you away with their gorgeous creations again.

See you back soon (I promiss ;) ). Take care!

xxx
Mariska

First day of Pink Cat Studio Itty Bitty Christmas Sneak Peeks

Hello friends!

I want to start by thanking all of you who left a comment on the announcement of my pregnancy! Thank you all so much for you lovely remarks and wishes!!!

Now, as promised, let me show you all the first sneak peeks of the Itty Bitty rubber Christmas stamps. There are a total of six images in this set and I think you are going to love them, I do and I loved working with them... hope it shows :). The team is showing three of the six images today and two of those you'll find on my blog. For the other image (and of course other examples with the same images I've used) be sure to visit my very talented fellow Design Team members and our two very talented guest designers for this release MacKenzie Bruckler and Tracey Cuccia. Both MacKenzie and Tracey have recently made it to the Pink Cat Studio Digi Design Team so you know they'll be bringing some good stuff!

Let's get on with the first card:
I decided to get one of my Christmas decorations out of the box to give the pictures a Christmas mood. Don't you love this image? I think the Itty Bitties look so cute on their little reindeer friend. Here is a close up of the image:
As always coloring was done with my Derwent watercolor pencils and Copics, I used different Stickles, a bit of Paper Glaze on the nose of the reindeer and 3D paperpieced the image with foam cubes. The background was done using Twinklink H2O's. I'm pretty new to Twinkling H2O's and I'm not sure how I feel about this background so be sure to give me your honest opinion. The papers are Bo Bunny Tis the season. Cardstock and ribbon are from stash and the poinsettia flowers are from Irene's Garden.

Now for the next card:
And for a better view of the card:
Isn't she sweet? Little Betty dressed up as a Christmas tree. The sentiment is also included in the new set. Again a close up of the image:
I used my pencils and Copics again, Stickles, Ruby Red Liquid Pearls for the balls in the tree, Paper Glaze on the star on top and I 3D paperpieced the image again with foam cubes. The paper, ribbon, cardstock and the brads are from a previous Card-Art kit. The large poinsettia flower is from Imaginisce (as is the paper that was in the Card-Art kit mentioned) and the small flower is the same as I used in the card above, from Irene's garden. I used some chalk and some Sakura Gelly Roll pen for the background and I have tried to keep the card simple to give the lovely image some focus.

Well hope you like both my cards and that you'll be back tomorrow for two more sneak peeks. Don't forget to visit the other lovely ladies of the Pink Cat Studio Design Team (links can be found on the right) and our two guest designers for this release MacKenzie Bruckler and Tracey Cuccia!

I just noticed that Melissa is also having a contest on the Pink Cat Studio blog. Guess the number of reindeer in the square on the blog and you may just win the new release! Good luck everybody!!!

Take care!

xxx
Mariska

Personal news and release coming up

Hi sweeties,

I know I've been quiet way to long but I am busy and I do have the creative feeling back at last :). I'm very busy with making my cards for the rubber Christmas release over at Pink Cat Studio. We'll be sneak peeking on Monday the 12th of October and Tuesday the 13th and the release will be on the 14th and I am so enjoying myself with these new cuties that I know you are going to want these in your collection. So just hold on!

And now onto the reason my mojo has been out of the window for the last couple of weeks.... my friend Heather already guessed it... I'm pregnant! The first eleven weeks I was sick a lot and very tired with this little miracle growing inside of me and trying to keep up with a five year old and with a one-and-a-half year old so basically there wasn't anything left for the crafting side of me. I was just glad to get into bed when things were done in the house. But I am about thirteen weeks now and my body is getting back to normal again... well normal... there is of course the problem that my normal clothes won't fit anymore :).

We had an ultrasound on Monday and everything seems to be perfect with the little one so no reason to keep the news from you all :). Here is a pic of the third miracle that hopefully will be blessing our home somewhere in April of 2010:
I hope to see you all back on monday for the first peeks of the new rubber Pink Cat Studio Christmas collection!

xxx
Mariska

There is a new stamping company!!!

I don't know if you have seen it yet but there is a new stamp company Wags 'n Whiskers Stamps. The company is being run by my lovely friend Nikki Fairbairn and the very talented Lacey Stephens. As for the stamps, they are being designed by one of my favorite stamp designers (she used to design for High Hopes Stamps) Crissy Armstrong so they are without any doubt going to be incredible! The first release is going to be on October 9th and there is going to be a blog hop with prizes so don't want to miss that action!! Check them out now HERE!!

Good luck with your new venture Nikki and Lacey!!!

xxx
Mariska

Pink Cat Studio is going digital!

Hi there!

Well I told you Pink Cat Studio had some big news today didn't I? Well... here it is:

I’m excited to announce that Pink Cat Studio is going digital! Today Melissa is opening an online digital stamp store with a great selection of brand new Halloween and Christmas designs. So now PCS will have two stores, one for rubber stamps and one for digital stamps. You can check out the new store at: http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Digital/PCSDigi.htm

Melissa has asked the rubber Design Team and a couple of VERY talented other people to make some projects using the new digistamps. Here are the two cards I created with three of the new digi-images:

Isnt' she cute? she is of course Itty Bitty Betty that you got to know in the last Halloween release. Melissa created this gorgeous enchanted Betty that was so much fun to colour. Here is a close up:
You know by now how I colour... Derwent Watercolour pencils, Copics and the 3D was done using my scissors and foam cubes. All the materials on this card, except for gorgeous digi-Betty of course are from the last Card-Art kit, it was just brilliant again, Carmen just makes the best kits, everything is in there, the cardstock, the design papers, the embellies and even the sentiment stamps.
My first Christmas card in ages! Isn't little Betty cute on her candy cane swing? I used a lot of glitter on her, check out the close up:
Isn't she gorgeous? She looks a little dark but if you click the image you get a better look, it's just the light that's all bad these days for taking pictures. I guess I'll need to get myself one of those daylight lamps. I did the inside too:
Little Bobby is also a digi-image for sale at Melissa's new store. I mirrored him (can't do that with rubber) and added a sentiment. I did check with Melissa first if it made sense but it sounded right with the cute images of Betty and Bobby on the swing. I just changed the color of the image and that's it. Very simple but I thought it was cute for the inside. Again, the images I used are Pink Cat Studio's, all the rest is from a Card-Art kit, this time the one before the last. Believe me... you need to get yourself a subscription to these kits!

I do hope you like my two examples but either way, there is much more to see with Melissa's new digi-images because there are way more then I used. Check out these blogs to see some fabulous cards and projects using the new digi stamps:

Becky Carafa - http://www.lakeshorestamper.com/

Emily Leiphart - http://www.leiphartonart.blogspot.com/

Inge Groot - http://www.patternedpaper.typepad.com/

Jodi-Ann Lee - http://www.inkedinspirations.blogspot.com/

Lauren Meader - http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

Lauretta See - http://www.passioncartesetplus.blogspot.com/

MacKenzie Bruckler - http://midnightscramper.blogspot.com/

Maria Bell - http://stampininspirations.blogspot.com/

Sparkle Smith - http://sparklecreations.blogspot.com/

Suzanne J Dean - http://www.scrapbitz.blogspot.com/

Tracey Cuccia - http://www.tmcuccia.blogspot.com/

Vicki Garrett - http://www.summerthymestudio.blogspot.com/

And don't forget, you can find the new Pink Cat Studio Digi store HERE. Have fun!!!

xxx
Mariska

Big news at Pink Cat Studio!!!!

But I'm affraid I can't tell you what is is yet :S. Melissa did tell me and the other Design Team members though and we are all very excited but now we have to keep quiet about it!!! Can you believe how unfair that is? All will be clear on Tuesday though!

In the meantime Melissa is doing the post my blinky on your blog give away again and this time there are going to be FIVE price winners... only thing is, you don't know what you are going to win yet because that would give away the secret! But I know you want to win, believe me you do, so if I were you I would go over to the Pink Cat Studio Blog right now and get a blinky of your own!!

Just five more nights till Tuesday so hang in there everybody :).

xxx
Mariska

The new Pink Cat Studio Release!!

Hello everybody!!

I wish I had another project to show you today but I'm affraid I don't. I'll try to get some more samples with the new set this week though even though it is already pretty much full and on top of that my oldest Dyanne got out of bed with a high fever this morning :S. But what I can show you today is the complete set!!


Aren't they cute in a scary way :). You can find them HERE on the Pink Cat Studio shop! Have fun shopping and talk soon!!

xxx
Mariska