Candy for a teacher

Hi sweet people!!

So sorry for being away for so long. You probably have already read it on the Sketch Saturday blog but I have stopped being a Design Team member for Sketch Saturday. The last weeks have been a little to much for me, my health continues to let me down, I have been now forewarded to a doctor who specializes in rheumatism but there is a waitinglist and he won't be able to see me before the beginning of September. I'll be OK of course but with my body being so anoying I'm having a lot less energy then normal and since my family comes first, the crafting has to suffer. I am very sorry to leave the girls at SS though, they are the nicest bunch of ladies and I think I have really gotten to know them over the past months. But we are going to stay in touch and I'll join in on the SS challenges as often as I can. ENOUGH!! I've got a card to show you people.. finally :).

Tomorrow is my oldest daughter Dyanne's last day at school so I've bought both her teachers a little something and made a card to go with it. Here is the first card I've made, the second one I'll show you as soon as the Card Art kits for July are being distributed because I've used the materials of the new Card Art kit for that one, it will be any day now though.

The first card I did with the materials from last months Card Art kit. I thought the sweetness on the paper would go perfectly with the gift I got for the teachers (will show you that in a bit). The gorgeous image is from The Greeting Farm, she is called Hope & Grace Snuggle and she reminds me so much of my little girl. Here is a close up of the image. It looks as though she's got a grey spot on her cheek but that's actually the shade of the bunny, been doing 3D again as always :).

Here is the gift that I bought, it's filled with fudge, chocolate bonbons and more lovely candy:

The text on the jar reads 'De liefste juf ben jij' meaning 'you are the sweetest teacher', both her teachers are getting the same jar though, I just thought it was so cute :). And here is the gift ready to be taken to school tomorrow:

I hope you like it. I'll be back with more cards as soon as the Card Art kit of July is distributed. Soon!!

xxx

Mariska

Last project as All That Scraps Guest Designer

** I have had several question about the box I did in this post. It is not my template so I don't feel comfortable posting it on my blog but if you'll e-mail me I'll give you the details of how I made the box. ***

Hi everybody,

I'm a little late but here to show you my last project as a All That Scraps Guest Designer. I have had so much fun working with their stamps the past month and it has been such an honor, thank you again Amy for asking me!!!

Well... as mentioned.. my last project. I decided to do another project with the C.C. Designs Gingersnaps Oh Baby! stamps. I've mentioned the Dutch cardmaking magazine Cards Only before and a couple of months ago they had a special about babycards and amongst the project there was this cute little box. I used the template that was enclosed in the magazine. Here is a picture of the top of the box. Isn't that little bug baby cute! The sentiment is also included in the set. I used my Derwents and my Copics to colour and the baby was given some dimension by using 3D cubes again. Here is the box from the side:

The ribbon wasn't in the original template but I figured it would be cool to have something to ty the box shut with. The ribbon I bought at All That Scraps. The paper is Imaginisce Fairest of them all and cardstock. Here is picture of the opened box:

Perfect to pack a little baby had or socks in. I hope you like this project and liked the other projects I did for All That Scraps. Of course you will see more ATS stamps on my blog since I already was a buyer before I was asked to become a Guest Designer :).

Thank you again for visiting and for your lovely comments! Take Care!!

xxx

Mariska

All That Scraps and Sketch Saturday

Hello all you lovely ladies,

Sorry to have been away for so long and to be late with my Sketch Saturday card again. Still not feeling a 100% yet and on top of that I got a nice old micraine attack last Thursday. But Here now so let me show you the Sketch Saturday sketch for this week if you haven't seen it yet: Challenging huh!! I decided to rotate it and to use one of the stamps from the cute C.C. Designs Junebug Rubber Stamps.

The sentiment is once again from the C.C. Designs AmyR Thank You Sentiments Stamps. Here is a close up of the sweet little Junebug:

Isn't she lovely? The papers I used are all (both design and cardstock) from an older Card Art Card Kit and the design papers are by Dream Street Papers. Charm, chain, flowers and dewdrops are from stash and I added a bit of Liquid Pearls but I really wish I hadn't because the stuff just won't do what I want it to. As always, colouring with my Derwent Watercolour Pencils and Copics and 3D cubes fora little extra dimension.

That's it for me today!! Have a great day everybody and don't forget to check out the blogs from the other Sketch Saturday (guest) designers!!

xxx

Mariska

Digi images in honor of Ethan Weiman for the Make a Wish foundation

Hello everybody,

This post is a more serious one I'm affraid:

Pink Cat Studio is releasing these new digital stamps today to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in honor of Ethan Weiman. Little Ethan passed away at the age of only four on June 12th from Neuroblastoma cancer. Ethan was a true cowboy and loved horses, balloons and Knock Knock jokes. By purchasing these digital stamps you will help brighten the day of a sick child as the money we raise will go toward making one of their dreams come true.

Please visit http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Stamps/WeimanWranglers/WeimanWranglers.htm to purchase these digital stamps and help the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

xxx

Dit is een wat serieuzer bericht ben ik bang:

Pink Cat Studio brengt deze nieuwe digitale stempels vandaag op de markt om geld te verzamelen voor de (Amerikaanse) Doe een Wens Stichting ter ere van Ethan Weiman. Kleine Ethan is op 12 juni jl. op slechts vier jarige leeftijd overleden aan Neuroblastoma kanker. Ethan was een echte cowboy en hij was dol op paarden, ballonnen en grapjes. Door deze digitale stempels te kopen zul je wat zonneschijn brengen in een dag van een ziek kind, omdat het geld dat wordt opgehaald wordt gebruikt om hun dromen uit te laten komen.

Bezoek alsjeblieft http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Stamps/WeimanWranglers/WeimanWranglers.htm om deze digitale stempels te kopen en de (Amerikaanse) Doe een Wens Stichting te helpen.

xxx

I was so touched by the story of Little Ethan Weiman and his family. Of course I don't know the people but I have seen his picture and he was such a gorgeous little boy. I have a four year old myself and I couldn't imagine losing her. It is not fair that little children are taken away from us like this. I want to wish the Weisman family a whole lot of strength and love in this time that has to be impossible to go through.

I did a card with the little cowgirl that Melissa named Ava after Ethan's sister.


And here is a close up of the cute little image.


All the materials I used to make this card are from the June card kit and add on by Card Art. And colouring as always with my Derwent Watercolour pencils, Copics and foam cubes for dimension.

Don't forget to visit http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Stamps/WeimanWranglers/WeimanWranglers.htm to buy these lovely little stamps.


xxx
Mariska

My blog candy winner!!!

Hello everybody,

Time to announce the winner to my blog candy! Here are the numbers:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:92
Timestamp: 2009-06-21 14:12:23 UTC

I printed all the responses (30 pages!) and numbered every post and lucky number 92 is:

COCO zei
OH Mariska your blog candy is very fabulous and generous !!!!congrats for your bloganniversary and stamp anniversary !!!good week-end !!!hugs coco

So sorry to everyone who entered and didn't get picked but it couldn't have to a nicer person!! Coco you forgot to mention which Pink Cat Studio stamp set you would want.. but I think that is the laguage problem. If you let me know the candy will be going your way!!!

Thank you everybody for joining!!! I'm sure there will be more candy in the future and maybe you'll be more lucky that time!!

xxx
Mariska

Sketch Saturday and All That Scraps

Hello lovely ladies!!
A quick post from me this morning. I'm running very late with my Sketch Saturday card but at least I did it right :). Here is Jo's brilliant sketch for this week: And here is my not so brilliant take on it:

See the difference? I was planning to do the card just as the sketch only when I had attached everything together I noticed that I had done the punched piece vertical and the piece with the sentiment (flowers for me) and the brads horizontal. But never mind, you can always turn the sketches so I don't think it's a big problem and it looks fine this way too. Can't go wrong with that cute Gretel from the C.C. Designs Swiss Pixies can you? Don't forget you have until tomorrow morning to win her and some other goodies in my Blog Candy! I so love colouring her and her little sister! The design papers, cardstock and embellies I used are from the Card-Art card kit and add on from June. The papers are Doodlebug and I LOVE Doodlebug! Here is a close up of Gretel:

Colouring as always with my Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Copics and 3D and this time some Diamant Stickles on her wings.

I hope you like my card! Don't forget to check out the blogs of my fellow Design Team members (links on the right) and this weeks very talented guest designer, a fellow Dutchie: Leonie. There is also a prize up for grabs this week, a coupon to spend at Simons Says stamps so don't forget to check out the Sketch Saturday blog for details and to join in of course!!

Have a great Saturday everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Yippieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Hello sweet people!!


No card for me today but I did get some extremely good news that I wanted to share with you. Yesterday when I was making my two girls dinner my phone rang and I was stunned to find Carmen from Card Art on the other end of the line. Now you might have seen me refer to Card Art in the past, I have their monthly card kit which I absolutely love and I bought things like the sliding card I used for the soccer Billy card from them. But to make a long story short... she contacted me because she wondered if I wanted to join their team!!! Now I don't know if you know the Card Art blog and their team but the work they display is gorgeous! The team consists of five extremely talented crafters with amongst them the reason why I started making cards in the first place Inge de Groot. So would I like to join them? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?
YES PLEASE!!!
I think I must have made a terrible impression on the phone, I was in a state somewhere between unbelieve, hysteria and flabbergastion (don't know if these words are all real but you'll know what I mean :) ). Thank you for the chance to join you girls!!!!

xxx
Mariska

Last weeks Sketch Saturday and Sports Billy

Hi everybody,

I didn't make Sketch Saturday last Saturday but I did like the sketch very much so decided to do it a bit later. Have you seen Jo's sketch yet?:

This sketch somehow gave me the feeling that it would be perfect for a boy's card and since I haven't used all the new Sporty Billy stamps yet I decided to ink up American Football Billy:

Now I have to admit that I'm not totally satisfied with this one. In my head everything turned out way better than in real life... but that happens sometimes, can't win them all can you? Here is a close up of the image and sentiment:

I don't know that much about American Football, it isn't played her much and I don't think I've ever watched a game on tv, they don't show it here often in sports programs either. But I thought with Billy and his cute little dog standing with their hands up like they are doing it would be perfect for a surprise sentiment and I used the one from the Pink Cat Studio Lily & Tweet Plate. You can stamp numbers on Billy's shirt, they are enclosed in the Sporty Billy set but I decided to give him a star on his shirt, the star is from the Pink Cat Studio Billy Plate 1. Colouring is again with my Derwent Watercolour Pencils and my Copics (why do I even mention it?) and the papers are by My Minds Eye and cardstock from stash. A little bit of stickles, I embossed the cardstock behind Billy with stars, a little toy I bought in a local crafts shop and some white gellpen.... that's it. Not my best card I know but I hope you do like it.

See you back soon, have a great day everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Second Project for All That Scraps this week

MY BLOG CANDY IS A COUPLE OF POSTS DOWN!

I told you yesterday that I'd be back today with the second project I did for All That Scraps. I decorated this lovely Spanish bottle of wine. Now I don't know if you are a wine lover but I am very much so. I actually didn't like it though until I went on a crash course in the Italian language in the Italian Calabria District. At the time I wasn't very sure of myself and decided that I needed to do something on my own so I booked this course for myself, I do love the Italian language but the main reason was to see if I dared to do this on my own for two whole weeks.... I had a wonderful time! I stayed in this lovely cottage in a gorgeous orchard with all sorts of fruit that we could pick when we wanted too. I met lovely people and together we had lessons every morning in that same orchard. In the afternoon we went to the beach that was just a couple of minutes away and in the evening we had dinner together with always lots of wine on the table. When I got back... I loved wine :). The stamps I used to decorate the bottle are the AmyR Thank You Sentiments Stamps and the Gingersnaps Celebrate! Rubber Stamps. I did alter the Gingersnaps stamp slightly though. There is an olive in her drink but I got that out... no olives in my wine :). And When I was finished I noticed that I forget to paperpiece the bottum of the glass, but then I figured in Italy we drank our wine in little waterglasses and that tasted fine too. Here is a close up of the image and one sentiment:

And here is a close up of the second sentiment from the set that I used:

I think this will make one lovely thank you gift when I go to a barbeque or something one of these days. The papers I used are from My Little Shoe Box, the tule is from Bazzill. I again used my Peony Nesties and this time I used my Martha Steward Doily Lace punch. The White cardstock, beads, charm and waxcord are from stash. Colouring was as always done with my Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Copics and a touch of H2O's.

That's it. Hope you like it and it gives you ideas. Have a great day everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

All That Scrap Guest Designer week 3

My blog candy is HERE

Hello everybody,


First of all sorry for missing Sketch Saturday for the second week in a row, times are busy here and on top of that I'm not feeling very well, my doctor is running some tests to find out what's wrong. But enough about that, I'm back with another project I did for All That Scraps.
Two weeks ago All That Scraps had a challenge to create a box in a bag. I loved the look of the project and (even though I'm to late) decided to give it a go. You can find the super easy tutorial HERE. I used the Gingersnaps Oh Baby! stamp set. and coloured it with my Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Copics and H2O's. I added a few fineliner points and some ink around the image. Here is a close up:

I used my Spellbinders Peony Nesties and my Fiskars Border Treading Water punch, the paper is by Pinecone Press that came in the May cardkit from Card-Art, the cardstock, waxcord, pin-charm and ribbon are from stash and the tab on the top of the bag as well as the Dutch sentiment (that reads "Van Harte" which sort of means Congratulations) are from a free stampset that I received when I subscribed to a Dutch Cardmaking Magazine Cards Only. I think the bag turned out lovely and it would be perfect to give as a gift filled with a little present for a little baby boy.

I did a second project that you might have already seen on the ATS blog but I'll show you that one tomorrow. Hope you like this one for now. Have a wonderful day everybody!!

xxx
Mariska

Sports Billy is now available to you!!

Hi everybody!!



Hope you enjoyed our sneak peeks the past two days. Today is THE day that you can buy a set of your own to play with. Here is what the set looks like:

And HERE is where you can find it! I'll show you two more cards with this fantastic boy set in the next two weeks. Don't forget my BLOG CANDY a couple of posts down and see you back soon!!

xxx

Mariska

Second day of Sports Billy Sneak Peeks!!

It's Tuesday morning here and so it's time for my second Sports Billy Sneak Peak. Today we are showing you soccer Billy and Baseball Billy. Since soccer is boy's sport no.1 here I decided to go for the soccer Billy... and here is what I did with him:
Isn't he cool? The ball is actually very close to Billy on the stamp but I decided to place the ball a little to the right because this card is actually....

A slider card! When you click on the image you can see it better. When you pull the ball further away from Billy both the left and the right slide will come out, showing some space to write your message down on the left and a (computer generated) birthday wish on the right. I bought these slider cards a couple of weeks ago and figured this was the perfect stamp to give it a go. Hope you like :). The papers and die cuts are again My Minds Eye Breaking Free.. I think these papers are SO cool! Here is a close up of Billy:

I coloured him in orange and black, the Dutch National Team used to play in those colours, they are orange and white now but back in the day when they played in these colours number 11 was Marc Overmars... the only soccerplayer who ever ended up on the walls of my bedroom :). In fact, I had a very big crush on a guy back in those days who was a mixture between Tom Cruise and Marc Overmars... totally wasn't into me of course but I had such a BIG crush :). Still makes me smile when I think of it.

Well that's it for me today. Don't forget to check out the blogs of my fellow Design Team friends and our guest Designer Cindy Bundy! Tomorrow is the release people!!

xxx
Mariska

Second week as All That Scraps June Guest Designer

THE FIRST SPORTS BILLY SNEAK PEEK IS ONE POST DOWN AND MY BLOG CANDY IS TWO POSTS DOWN!

Hello again!!

Told you I had more in store for June. Here is the promissed project I did for All That Scraps. I got the template for this card out of a Dutch magazine called Cards Only, I thought it would work perfectly with the C.C. Designs Cookie Crumbs Get Well Critters Stamps that have been released June 1st. Here is the front of my card: Isn't that piggy adorable in his bed? Here is a close up:

I did a lot of paper piecing on this one and of course a lot of 3D (what else is new :S). The papers I used for this card are all Fancy Pants and cardstock from stash. The flowers were punched out with my retro flower punches and the brads are by Making Memories. The tule is by Bazzill. This is the inside of the card:

The sentiments used on the card and all the smaller stamps are also in the Get Well Critters set. As you can see I'm holding the right side of the card (which is why this picture is slightly blurry because it's very hard to take a picture with one hand while the other is holding the card). Reason for me holding the card is that:

It's a flap that hides a hidden compartment to send somebody a little something like a bag of tea, a bag of instant chocolate or instant soup (as I did). On the inside of the flap is again some room to write your message to the ill person in question:

I hope you like my project. Don't forget, I'm back tomorrow with another Sports Billy sneak peek!

xxx

Mariska

First Sneak Peek Day Sports Billy!!

MY BLOG CANDY IS ONE POST DOWN!

Good morning everybody!!!

It's Monday June 8th here in The Netherlands and so it's time for the first sneak peeks of the new Pink Cat Studio set.... Sports Billy. Now I have to admit that I'm not that sporty myself and I always have more trouble creating boys than girls cards but these stamps were SO much fun to work with. I do hope it shows...

Today we are showing you two of the four stamps in the set, Surfing Billy and American Football Billy. I am showing you a card using Surfing Billy but other girls from the team are going to show you the American Football stamp... even though that may be later in the day because of the time differences. Here is my card though:

I'm so satisfied with how this card turned out. Here is a close up:

Now isn't Billy cute riding the waves? The sentiment is from the new stamp set. As always I coloured him with Derwent Watercolour Pencils and Copics and also added a view touches of H2O's here and there. The wave was stamped on design paper and touched up with glitter and paper glaze. The papers and die cuts are all My Minds Eye Breaking Free, I think this paper and the die cuts that come with it are perfect for all these stamps! The eyelits I did with my Crop A Dile and came with it in a box and the pieces of string are actually from labels that came in my husband's new clothes (I always save those little ribbons and pieces of string... never know when they might come to use and the orange string matched the paper PERFECTLY!). As always a whole lot of 3D on the card. Because of the dark shade of the cardstock I used for the cardbase (from stash) I had to do the inside of the card too... little hard to write otherwise:

This card has already made it's way to a very cute boy for his birthday. Hope you like it!

Don't forget to check out the blogs of my fellow Design Team friends, I myself can't wait to see what they did with the first two sneak peek stamps. This month we are also joined by Cindy Bundy. Cindy's blog looks absolutely stunning as do her creations so I'm sure she'll rock these sneak peeks!

I'll be back later today with a project I did for All That Scraps. Don't forget the second day of sneak peeks tomorrow and the stamps will be available for you to buy on Wednesday June 10th!!

See you later (DUDE)!!

xxx

Mariska

And more Blog Candy!!!

Hi everybody!! It is CANDY time!!

I started stamping almost a year ago now, very bad at first but I have learned a lot since then and made a lot of lovely blogging buddies while learning. I started my blog on the third of August of 2008 and was so shocked when I made the Sketch Saturday design team at the end of that same month! I joined a group of such lovely, talented and supportive ladies!

November came and the owner of my favourite stamping company Pink Cat Studio, Melissa, had a Design Team Call. I decided to give it a try but was so sure I wouldn't be picked... but I did get picked!!! I was over the moon. I still can't believe that I have been blessed to work with her gorgeous stamps and got to join a group of such incredibly talented people.

And now it's June and I have been asked by another company that is in my top three of favourite stamps to join them as a Guest Designer, All That Scraps!! How lucky can a girl get!!

You have all been so supportive and have left me such wonderful comments, I'm sure I wouldn't have made it this far without all of you girls!! That's why I have decided to give away some candy. Have you seen the picture yet? The candy contains:

• A Pink Cat Studio stamp set of YOUR choice! Displayed is Dress Up Lily but if you already have that set or would prefer another, that's up to you. Melissa will send out the set of your choice directly to you (thank you sweetie!!).
  
• My personal two favourites of the latest All That Scraps release, the two Swiss Pixies Gretel and Heidi. Displayed is the pack I received as Guest Designer but the two new stamps are already on their way to me.
  
• Susanne, an unmounted stamp by a Dutch company named Boefje. These stamps are sold by my friend Helma from Stampingcorner. She is a Dutch Pink Cat Studio reseller and displays some of my cards on her blog.
  
• Four more Dutch stamps. Clear stamps by Hetty Meeuwsen displaying a cat with a flower, a cat with butterflies, a dog with a letter and a dog with a gift.
  
• The complete set of doublesided Twitterpated paper (six sheets) cut in half for easier sending.
  
• One sheet of Doodlebug red velvet cardstock cut in half for easier sending.
  
• A selection of ribbon, flowers and dewdrops.

To enter my candy what you need to do is:

1. Tell me what Pink Cat Studio Stamp set you'd like to win if random.org picks you as the winner.
2. I would appreciate it if you would follow my blog and tell about this candy on your blog (if you have one) but it isn't a rule.
3. Leave a comment under this message.

Blog candy will close on June 21st 8am CET.

xxx
Mariska