Sketch Saturday one year = CANDY!!

THIS PARTY BAG CANDY IS NOW CLOSED, THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON SATURDAY JUNE 6TH!! Thank you for joining everybody!!

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A very good morning to you all!!! Almost the first of June, I'll have some exciting news on that day. But exciting news today too!! We have been warning you for some time now but today is the day... we are celebrating Sketch Saturday's one year anniversary!!

As always Jo has created a gorgeous sketch for everybody to play with:
But the difference this week is... that we have all created some candy with it to give to one lucky participant. There are ten Design Team members, so ten chances to win candy plus our regular sponsor The Craft Barn has generously offered some birthday related prizes (check out the Sketch Saturday Blog) so that makes a total of eleven chances to win some candy!!!

As I said we have all made a small package with this weeks sketch, each for one challenger, please go to each blog (you can find the links on the right) and put your name down on the relevant post, but please note: you are only eligible to enter each party bag candy once, and ONLY if you've already taken part in this weeks challenge too (please provide a link to your work in your comment on each blog).We want to thank sketch saturday challengers so this is why it's only open to SS entrants!(we will be checking!).

There is one difference though.... Each Party Bag Candy will close on each of the DT members blogs at 8:00 AM (UK time) on Friday 5th June, please note: FRIDAY MORNING.

The normal SS challenge (to win the goodies by The Craft Barn) will run until 11:59PM on the Friday evening as normal.

Now... that's it for the details... on to my candy :).

I made a paperbagcard. I bought a kit to make one from Card-Art (you can still see it HERE) and though I loved the papers, I never used the bag to make the actual paperbagcard. I figured this was the perfect opportunity. The image I used is from High Hopes stamps and she is called the Fairy Princess. I have had her for ages and loved her from the moment I saw here but never got around to stamping her up. Here is a close up:

Again 3D on there and she is coloured with my Derwent pencils, Copics and (for the first time) some Twinkling H2O. Her shoes and some of the details on her crown and magic wand are touched up with paper glaze and I used stickles on her wings. The little white dots are my attempt at fairy dust and they also have some shiny dots withing them done with a spica pen.

The sentiment is from the Lily & Tweet Plate by Pink Cat Studio. The papers I used are Basic Grey Ambrosia, the tule is Bazzill and the flowers were done with my smallest retro flower punch with little gems in the middle. I also did the inside:

And here you can see a sneak peak of the inside:

Remember!! To win this candy join us at Sketch Saturday this week, leave a comment to this post and please provide a link to your work in your comment. Do this before Friday the 5th, 8 AM UK time.

Have a great Saturday everybody!!

xxxx

Mariska

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THIS PARTY BAG CANDY IS NOW CLOSED, THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON SATURDAY JUNE 6TH!! Thank you for joining everybody!!

Week 51 at Sketch Saturday

Hello everybody,

Saturday again already!!! Where has this week gone! A quick post from me today I'm affraid but have to show you Jo's sketch for this weeks Sketch Saturday of course: Isn't it lovely? It gave me the perfect chance to try out my new Martha Stewart punch. These babies are finally starting to be available here in The Netherlands and I couldn't be happier! I also got me some Paper Shaper Retro flower punches (thanks Dawn for the info!) so had to try those too.

This weeks sponsor at Sketch Saturday is All That Scraps. Christine from All That Scraps is offering the winner their favourite stampset or four individual CC design stamps! The only problem you'll have when you become this weeks winner is which set to choose because I absolutely adore their stamps. Had to use their stamps for this card of course:

And a close up:

I used two stampsets; Hunny Bunny (the cute little bunny) and Gingersnaps Spring Thing! (the fence and the butterflies). I hope you can see that there is a lot of paperpiecing and 3D on this image again. The paper I've used is from the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday line (love that line!), Doodlebug white velvet cardstock and cardstock from stash. The flowers were as mentioned done with my new Paper Shaper Retro Flower punches (small, medium and whale) (love them!) and the rhinestones in the middle are from Kaiser, I got both the punches and the rhinestones from my friend Helma over at Stamping Corner. The little extra flower is from stash.

Don't forget to check out the Sketch Saturday blog for further details on the sponsorship by All That Scraps this week and don't forget to check out the blogs of my fellow Design Team members and this weeks Guest Designer a fellow Dutchie Janneke!! I've been checking out her blog and she has some amazing creations to show there!! Thank you for joining us Janneke!

That's it for me this week, I'm off! Have a great Saturday everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Week 50 at Sketch Saturday

Hi people!!

From this week on I'm also going to include some Dutch text for my fellow Dutch readers of my blog. I'll use a slightly smaller cursive font for this text.

Omdat ik er achter ben gekomen dat toch ook veel Nederlandse mensen naar mijn blogje kijken die misschien niet allemaal graag Engels lezen voeg ik deze week ook wat tekst bij in het Nederlands, ik gebruik hiervoor een iets kleiner cursief lettertype. Graag jullie commentaar.

A whole week has gone by and not a single post from little old me. So sorry!! I have been very busy though but with upcoming design team cards, I've been working a bit ahead because I'm expecting a lot of DT work in the upcoming weeks. But more about that later :). I do have awesome news now though... do you remember my card for the April Sheetload Challenge? You can find it HERE if you can't. I ended up second!! I couldn't believe it when I opened my mail last Tuesday, there were so many gorgeous entries!! I'll be receiving one of two The Greeting Farms stamp sets that were the price for that month. Thank you to everybody at Sheetload for voting for my card, you made my week :).

Een hele week voorbij en ging enkel berichtje van mij. Sorry! I ben heel erg druk bezig geweest met aankomende Design Team kaartjes. Ik ben wat vooruit aan het werken omdat ik verwacht de komende weken nog meer DT werk te krijgen. Maar daarover later meer :). I heb wel erg leuk nieuws... weten jullie nog mijn kaart voor de April Sheetload wedstrijd een tijdje terug? Hij staat HIER als je het niet meer weet. Ik ben tweede geworden! Ik kon het niet geloven toen ik dinsdag mijn mail opende, er waren zoveel mooie inzendingen! Mijn prijs is een van de twee The Greeting Farm stempelsets die die maand de prijs waren. Bedankt iedereen bij Sheetload voor het stemmen op mijn kaart, jullie hebben mijn week gemaakt :).

And this week has now almost come to an end. It is Saturday again and I have something lovely for you all to do this weekend... how about a nice sketch over at Sketch Saturday!! Jo has been busy again for us and this is the gorgeous sketch she came up with:

En deze week is al bijna weer voorbij. Het is zaterdag en ik heb iets leuks voor jullie te doen dit weekend... wat dachten jullie van een mooie sketch van Sketch Saturday!! Jo is weer bezig geweest voor ons and heeft deze geweldige sketch voor ons gemaakt:
Simple but perfect I think. It gives you a chance to lay your focus on the image you want to use and I always like that in my cards. This is the card I made for this week:
Simpel maar perfekt vind ik. Hij geeft je echt de kans om het aandachtpunt op de afbeelding te leggen en dat vind ik altijd fijn bij mijn kaarten. Dit is mijn kaart voor deze week:
Don't you love that cute cat? I found these stamps on the blog of Naoual, a brilliant fellow Dutch stamper (if you haven't seen her blog yet you should give her a visit because her work is just stunning!!). The stamps are from a German company called LeLo Design and you can find them HERE. And as always a close up of the stamp:

Vinden jullie deze lieve kat niet geweldig? Ik kwam deze stempels tegen op de blog van Naoual, een brilliante mede-Nederlandse stempel-fan (als je nog niet op haar blog bent geweest moet je haar echt even een bezoekje brengen want haar werk is echt geweldig!). De stempels zijn van een Duitse firma genaamd Lelo Design en je kan ze HIER vinden. En als altijd een close up van de stempel:
The ladybug in the circle is also included in the set I bought and the sentiment has been done with word and it reads "Fijne dag", which means "Have a nice day" in Dutch. I'm going to send this card to my uncle who's birthday is coming up soon. The papers are from Daisy Bucket and cardstock, ribbon and embellies are from stash.

Het lieveheersbeestje in de cirkel zit ook in de set die ik heb gekocht en de tekst hoef ik aan jullie natuurlijk niet uit te leggen :). Ik ga deze kaart naar mijn oom sturen die binnenkort jarig is. Het papier is van Daisy Bucket en het cardstock, lint en de embellishments (bloemen enzo) komen uit mijn voorraad.


Don't forget to check out the brilliant creations by my fellow Design Team members and my friend Jacqui who has been our Guest Designer for these past two weeks. Jacqui your creations have been brilliant as always and I'm so glad I've asked you to join us, but then I knew I would be :).

Vergeet niet de brilliante creaties van mijn mede Design Team leden en mijn vriendin Jacqui te bekijken. Jacqui is de afgelopen twee weken onze gast Designer geweest en ik vond haar werk helemaal geweldig en ik ben blij dat ik haar heb gevraagd onze gast te zijn.


This week is sponsored by Simon Says stamps. They have been very generous with their price so be sure to check out the Sketch Saturday blog and if you didn't want to join in already I'm sure this will get you into the spirit.

Deze week is gesponserd door Simon Says stempels. Ze hebben een erg royale prijs gedoneerd dus kijk vooral even op de Sketch Saturday blog en als je nog niet van plan was deel te nemen krijg je misschien wel zin van de prijs.


Well that's it for me. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! Take care!!

Zo, dat was het voor mij. Ik hoop dat jullie allemaal een geweldig weekend hebben. Zorg goed voor jezelf!!


xxx
Mariska

Sketch Saturday week 48!

Hi everybody,

I'm gone when you read this!! Still no idea where my husband is taking me but I'll tell you Tuesday. It is Saturday though so had to show you Jo's perfect sketch for this week: And the little card I made with this cute little Whiff of Joy Kitty:

Isn't she adorable!! Here is a close up of the kitty and the charm I got from one of my friends from the Sketch Saturday Design Team... but I'm affraid I don't remember who gave them to me. Speak up girl so I can alter this post and give you credit!!

Love the little charm, it reads 'Made with love', soooooooo cute!! The ribbon was a gift from the same friend :). Papers are Basic Grey Bittersweet and cardstock from stash. I used my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder again and the ink cube is Brilliance Coffee Bean. I did the inside too:

The little piece in a circel is totally inspired by the incredible Rach. LOVE how she decorates the insides of her card. Thanks for the inspiration sweetie!! And to finish things off... the back:

The flower was a must because my little baby girl got the card in her hands and left a stain :S. Like how it turned out though.

So that's it for me for this weekend. Be sure to check out my DT friends and this weeks Guest Designer Diane . We are once again sponsored by incredible The Craft Barn this week, be sure to check out the SS blog for further info!!

Have fun working with Jo's fantastic sketch people!! Have a wonderful weekend!!

xxx

Mariska

Sketch Saturday sketch 47!!

A lovely good morning to you all :).

Before I tell you anything else I want to remind you that there are still two chances at prizes to be won over at the Pink Cat Studio blog. The first one is by making a card for my challenge which ends next Monday read more about that HERE and the second is by adding the new release blinkie on the right to your blog which you can do until next Wednesday and you can read more about that HERE.

Anyways... it's Saturday so the reason you must be stopping by on my blog is probably SKETCH SATURDAY!! It's already time for sketch 47 and I can't believe how many people are joining us now each week!! Thank you all so much for your participation. I'm absolutely sure you'll be wanting to try out Jo's sketch for this week. Here it is:

I loved working with this sketch!! And I personally am so pleased how my card turned out. Here's the picture:

The image is from Whipper Snapper and when I saw it in their shop I knew I had to have it. The image reminds me so much of my oldest daughter Dyanne. Her favourite toy is a little rabbit which she carries around with her everywhere and when her hair isn't in a ponytail it looks just like the hair of this little cutie :). Here is a close up:

I made this card for my sister in law who is going to have a sleep over at our house on Tuesday the 28th. The reason is because that gives me the chances to take my husband away to a concert and a lovely little hotel in Amsterdam for our fifth wedding anniversary. The reason why I can post this here is because I couldn't keep this a secret and he knows (shame on me), I'm affraid he's much better at keeping secrets because I still haven't figured out what we are going to be doing next weekend (see two posts below :) ). Anyway, my oldest is very excited about her sweet aunt staying over, she is planning to sleep together in our bed and stuff, so cute :). Here is the inside of the card:

Because my SIL is also going to be watching over my youngest Amy she had to be on the card to. Another cutie from Whipper Snapper there :).

The sentiment was done on my computer and reads "Heel erg bedankt" which means "Thank you very much" in Dutch. The design papers are all Cosmo Cricket and I love them so much!! The cardstock is from stash and I have embossed some pieces with my Cuttlebug folder. I also used my new Peony nestie which I am mad about so you'll be seeing more of that one. The ribbon I got as part of a very generous gift from my friend Helma who sells the gorgeous ribbon in a lot of gorgeous colours in her shop Stamping Corner. I guess that's all there is to tell about this one :).

We have gotten ourselves another brilliant guest designer for the next two weeks and her name is Diane. I have been checking out her blog and Diane has a unique style, I can't wait to see what gorgeous cards she is going to show us this week and the next. Welcome to the team Diane!! Be sure to check out her blog and of course the blogs of my extremely talented co-design team members.

And now you know what's coming don't you? Get to work people!! Make a gorgeous creation with Jo's sketch. To get your creative braincells more motivated this week we are being sponsored once again by the lovely Emma Lockley :). As by now you should know Emma is a UK independant Stampin Up demonstrator. Be sure to check out the Sketch Saturday blog for the details!!

Have a great weekend everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Sketch Saturday week 46

Oh my it's Saturday again!! You must think I did nothing at all the past week but that's so not true :). My baby girl Amy turned 1 last Tuesday so that took a lot of my crafting time and I have been very busy with the upcoming Pink Cat Studio Sneak Peeks. So please don't think I've been lazy :). It is Saturday again as I said so that means I do have a card to show you today. Because as you all should know by now... Saturday means Sketch Saturday on this blog :).

Here is the sketch Jo came up with for this week: I think it's so perfect!! I absolutely loved working with it! I decided to make a card for my mum who's birthday it will be tomorrow. I can't be with her on her birthday but in this card I will tell her that I'm taking her away for a day at a beautyfarm soon to spend some quality time together. Here is my card:

The sentiment reads Verrassing which means Surprise in Dutch. These very cute images are from All That Scraps from the My Rubber Ducky Stamp Set. All the papers, ribbons, flowers and other embellies are from the Card-Art Card Kit from March except for the waterdrops in the left corner which are from stash. The papers are Dream Street Papers.

This is the inside of my card:

And this is a close up from the image. I hope this shows the layers I've added to this image. There are a whole lot of foam cubes on this card :).

And because I don't think the image before shows the glitter and shine I've added here is another close up in different light. I hope you can see both the bubbles and foam are coloured with a little bit of blue and then redone with a spica pen. After that I have added stickles to the foam and Paper Glaze to the bubbles. The spica/paper glaze effect is very cool in real life, the bubbles are shiny and sparkly at the same time.

Well that's it for me today. Please don't forget to check out the blogs of my very talented co-design team members and our guest designer for the past and this week Brocelaine. Also this week is sponsored by Clare Chanter, who owns Thread-Bare, a website selling craft goodies and a lovely selection of handmade cards and gifts. Clare is offering a beautiful Papermania stamp and absolutely stunning Dovecraft charm brads so be sure to check out the Sketch Saturday blog for further details.

Have fun creating everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Week 45 at Sketch Saturday!!

A lovely good morning to you all!!

It's Saturday and so that to me means SKETCH SATURDAY!! It is already week 45 and this week is hosted by my lovely Design Team friend Tracie! Next to being very talented Tracie is also a very sweet person, so sweet in fact that for this challenge she herself is giving away two super cute Penny Black stamps!! Now how sweet is that? Check out the Sketch Saturday blog for further details.

Now onto Tracie's (pink :) ) sketch: Isn't that lovely? I loved working with this one. I decided to use the last stamp from the Pink Cat Studio Sweet Pea Plate 2 that I hadn't used yet... the Cowboy baby. This image could of course be used very well for a little girl but I wanted to do a boys card so I tried to keep the card a bit manly. Here goes:

As you can see I used a sentiment for the flower on the sketch (this sentiment is also in the Sweet Pea set) and I've used this gorgeous... how do you call it?... ribbon that I got in a Card-Art kit instead of the scallopses on the sketch. Here is a close up of the paper pieced baby.

I hope you like it!!

This week we are joined by the very talented Brocelaine as our two week Guest Designer. Welcome to the team Brocelaine!! Can't wait to see your creations. Be sure to check her blog and don't forget to check out the card from my Design Team buddies!!

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

A very late card for Sketch Saturday week 44

Happy Sunday everybody!!

So I promissed I'd finish my card for Sketch Saturday week 44 and I have finally :). The sketch is posted in the post below this one and here is my card: Just had to use this cute little bumblebee outfit for the Sweet Pea dress up baby from Pink Cat Studio. The little bee I used on the bottum of the card in the circles is also in this set and the sentiment with the slightly larger little bee belongs to the also brand new Sweet Pea Plate 2. Here is a close up of the little cutie with the sentiment.

As you can (hopefully) see I have layered both Sweet Pea in his outfit as all the bees on the card. All the paper I've used were little pieces of scrap paper and cardstock from stash. The ribbon I got as part of a very generous gift from my friend Helma who sells the gorgeous ribbon in a lot of gorgeous colours in her shop Stamping Corner. Helma is also a Dutch reseller for Pink Cat Studio stamps (which is how I actually met her) so for my Dutch friends you could also buy this cute little Sweet Pea through Helma, she has both sets in stock!

That's it for me today. Sorry to keep you waiting for this card but I hope I've made it up to you ;). Have a great Sunday everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Week 43 at Sketch Saturday

Hello dear stamping buddies!!

I can't believe a whole week has gone by since my last post. Saturday already!! I haven't had much time to craft this week, I did do one card with the new Pink Cat Studio stamps that will be released on March 26th. Sneak peeks won't start until Tuesday the 24th though so can't show you that one. What I can show you though is this brilliant sketch my friend Jo made for you over on Sketch Saturday!!
All squares but I checked and it is perfectly OK to change some of the squares into other shapes... and I am very glad about that because if it wouldn't have been OK I would have to alter my finished card :). I used a digi-download that was created by my Design Team friend Sandra Dry. Sandra has opened her own digi-shop Sandra Dry Digi-Stamps and her first designs are these gorgeous fairies. I have used Rosabella & Ladybug:

Rosabella's wings just have to be glittered I think, with the gorgeous swirls. I first outlined the swirls with a blue sakura pen and then painted the rest of the wings with water and the ink of the pen. Afterwords I added a nice coat of stickles. Rosabella's clothes are also sparkly thanks to a sakura pen and I have added Heidi Swap gems and black stickle drops instead of the squares on the sketch.

The papers are black velvet paper from Doodlebug, black cardstock and red cardstock from stash and old Daisy D's paper. The image was coloured with my Derwent Watercolour Pens and my Copics. I hope you like my card :).

Be sure to check out my Design Team friends blogs, and this week we have a new guest designer and Gill has asked the oh so talented Dawn to join us this week and next week and she has kindly agreed. I haven't seen Dawns card for this week yet as I type this blogmessage but I love everything Dawn creates so I'm sure it is going to be stunning. Welcome to the team Dawn!!

Now, it's up to you. Join us this week at Sketch Saturday!! And if the inspiration of Jo's fantastic sketch isn't enough for you... there is another price to be won!! This week is sponsored by Dream2Stamp and they are offering some incredibly cute stamps to one lucky participant. Check out the blog for further details!!

Have a fantastic weekend everybody and see you back on Tuesday for the sneak peeks of the new Pink Cat Studio releases!!

xxx

Mariska

Sketch 42 at Sketch Saturday

A very good Saturday to you all!!

And what a lovely Saturday it promisses to be here in The Netherlands. Yesterday, Friday the 13th (actually... I'm typing this on Friday night so really I should say today but since this post won't go public until tomorrow morning I'll just say yesterday for now (have I lost you yet :) ), was a very promissing day. My hubby and I had to go to Dyanne's school for a talk with her teacher so my sweetie decided to work at home and we had nice cups of coffee and lunch together outside... first time this year and I loved it!!! Later Dyanne and I did some work in the garden and it was the first time Amy got to play outside in the backgarden. I was told that this weather would continue for the rest of the weekend in which case I won't be behind my computer much this weekend :).

Anyway... you didn't come here for a talk about the weather. It's Saturday so time for another sketch by my dear talented friend Jo. As always Jo came up with a brilliant sketch to get your creativity going: I'm beginning to notice that I have a soft spot for sketches with a square in the middle. Just love how that highlights your stamped image. As always I had a lot of fun with Jo's sketch. I've been on a shopping spree lately when it comes to rubber... just to much gorgeous new stamps to buy I'm affraid and where other people spoil themselves to make up, clothes and chocolate when they need a make me feel better boost, I prefer stamps! A (for me) new brand I absolutely couldn't resist is The Greeting Farm. This brand with their gorgeous stamps has made is way into my top 3 of favourite brands in no time. I received my last order (I have to admit that I have treated myself to three orders of stamps from this company :S ) last Saturday and I just had to ink one of the new fairies up straight away. So here is my card with this weeks sketch:

I am so much in love with this cutie. Her name is Tink and you can find her here. She is so much fun to colour. Her hair, skirt and wings are actually glittery from my Sakura Gell Pens but you don't really see it on this picture. The butterfly gems are actually from a pimp up your phone kit I bought at a budget store (Action for my Dutch friends). Loved them and they were very good for my wallet :). Here is a close up of my new friend:

Gotta love her!!! And she has two very cute friends too that are waiting to be coloured on my desk :).

Anyway, back to the sketch. This week is sponsored by The Cutting Cafe. They sell very cool and handy printable stamps and for this weeks challenge you have the chance to win three stamps of your choise! Further details can be found on the Sketch Saturday blog.

I have been lucky enough to see most of the cards my fellow Design Team members and our Guest Design Team member Shary have made for this week and they are all gorgeous (but didn't expect anything less :) ). I strongly advice you to visit their blogs and get inspired. This is Shary's second week with us so next week we'll have another Guest Designer but I for sure will visit Shary's blog more often from now on. Gorgeous work sweetie!! Thank you for joining us!

And now it's time for you to join us. Do your thing with Jo's brilliant sketch and have fun!! I'm of to drink a nice glass of wine with my sweetie (don't forget... I'm typing this on Friday evening so that's perfectly normal :) ). Have a great Saturday everybody, I wish us all a lovely sunny day!!

xxx

Mariska

Ria Design Team week at Sketch Saturday

A very good Saturday to everybody who stumbles on my blog!!


I've been busy with the sneak peeks for the March Release over at Sketch Saturday (and they are so cute they are a pleasure to work with. Furthermore after Dyanne two weeks ago now this week has been Amy's week to have the chicken pox. Poor thing has had it real bad, there were pox right underneath both her eyes which made them swell and a whole lot of them on the skin underneath her little diaper. Fortunatelly I got something against the itch from the doctor last wedsnesday because she had hardly slept for three nights (just like us of course) and her one eye were starting to get infected. She is much better now and her eyes are turning back to their normal state real fast.

Anyway, enough about me and my kids, today is Saturday and so it's time for a wonderfull sketch at Sketch Saturday and this week is hosted by my lovely friend and co-Dutchie on the team Ria. Ria is next to very talented probably one of the fastest card-makers I have the pleasure of knowing... so jealous of that since I'm probably the slowest you'll ever encounter. But as it turns out... Ria is also a brilliant sketcher. Check out the sketch she did for this week:


Now don't you just love the gorgeous papers she used to create this sketch? It looks so cute this way you could just print it, add an image and a sentiment and you've got yourself a card... but of course we would appreciate a bit more of you guys :). You could however win your own set of downloadable papers since Ria has found Funky Fairys Papercrafts to be this weeks sponsor. Please go to the Sketch Saturday blog for further details.


Anyhow, I loved working with Ria's sketch. I received my own set of Gorjuss girls last week and just had to stamp one up. Here is my card out in the spring sun we were treated to (finally) this afternoon):

Don't you love those papers? They are October Afternoon and I just love the colours. The Sentiment is from the Pink Cat Studio Lily & Tweet Plate. And the flowers, string and buttons are all from stash. Don't you love the little stand? I kept seeing all these gorgeous cards on displays everywhere on the net and decided to try and find one of my very own. I ended up bying a plate stand and I think it's perfect for my cards. I might just have to buy a couple more to display my cards in my room. Anyway... here is a close up of the little girl... because this one was taken inside the colours are somewhat different from the first picture.

I do want to use this post to finally thank my design team friends Sandra and Ria for passing on this award to me:
And again Ria for passing on this award:

Thank you so much sweeties. They are very much appreciated!! I think most people have been awarded by now (I've waited for ever to put these on my blogs, sorry girls) and since I am terrible in choosing between different blogs because we all have got our own style I'll just leave it at this big thank you.

Now... I'm going to continue with my work for the March release by Pink Cat Studio (you are going to want these they are so cute!!). I do hope you'll check out the wonderfull work my fellow Design Team members (links on the right) have produced this week as well as our guest Design Team member for this week and the next Shary. I have already seen Shary's card and it's just gorjuss!!! A very big welcome to you and I can't wait to see what you come up with next week.

So, now it's up to you!!! Do your thing, can't wait to see what you come up with!!

xxx

Mariska

Sketch Saturday week 40

A very good morning to everybody!!!

It's Saturday and so that means Sketch Saturday and I'm glad to say I'm back :). Jo has given us another challenging sketch for this week to play with and in her intro she herself suggests that maybe this sketch would be suitable for scrappers as well as cardmakers... and since I'm both (but don't do a lot of scrapping these days) I thought... let's do a scrap page. But first, let me show you Jo's sketch for this week:

See what Jo means... perfect for a scrapbook layout as well as a card. Here is my layout with the sketch:


You can click on the picture to see a larger view. The picture is of my two girls and was taken last May when my youngest daughter Amy was not even two months old. Dyanne (my oldest) was three at that time. The title reads All Girl and underneath I have added some journaling in Dutch about how lucky I am to have my two girls and that I hope that next to being sisters they'll turn out to be good friends to as they grow up (they are so cute now when they play together). The paper and title is all Minds Eye and gorgeous and glittery. The stars are budget stars I picked up at a Dutch store called Kruitvat but I thought they worked very well on this page.

Please check out the gorgeous examples of my fellow Design Team members and our talented guest Designer Susan on their blogs and on the Sketch Saturday blog. And while you are there check out the gorgeous prize our regular sponsor:

offers this week. If you weren't motivated enough to join us this week that surely will motivate you a bit more. Can't wait to see what you girls come up with!!!

Have a great weekend everybody!!

xxx
Mariska

I'll be there...

Hello everybody!!

Before I show you the card I made let me begin with telling you that I did a post earlier today about the release of the gorgeous Enchanted Lily stamps by Pink Cat Studio and a last sneak peek card, so scroll down for that one!! Then there is something else. Some of you may have noticed that I have been skipping two Sketch Saturday's. The reasons for my abscence had partly to do with Dyanne's health (but don't worry she is fine now) and have been partly very personal. I have explained the situation to Jo and the other girls from the Design Team and they really are next to extremely talented the nicest bunch of girls on the blog :). I hope to be back this Saturday but I did want to tell me dear friends that I truly appreciate them and their support... you are the best!

Anyway, I did actually start to do a card with this weeks sketch by Jo. I don't know if you've seen it but if you haven't... here it is:

I wanted to use my brand new Whiff of Joy Medieval stamps (love them) and thought the knight would work perfect for a card to tell somebody I'd be there for her when she needs me. I stamped my stamps up and coloured and cut the image but then something went wrong and in the end... my card is nothing like Jo's sketch. Here it is:

It has a rectangle... but that's about it. The black and grey rectangle with the images on them are mounted on a transparancy. Here is a close up of the knight and the dragon:

They are mounted with foam cubes and some parts have been extra mounted with foam cubes to give extra dimension but I don't know if that shows. When you lift the transparancy you have this inside:

The orange square is to write on and is completely covert when the transparancy is down. The papers are Basic Grey Ambrosia.

Hope you like this card even though it has nothing to do with Jo's sketch. I'll do better this Saturday I promiss!!

Have a great Monday and don't forget to check out my other post of today with the Enchanted Lily Release by Pink Cat Studio!

xxx
Mariska

Jeanette's DT week at Sketch Saturday

Good morning everybody,

So I woke up this morning and I realized... I haven't done my post yet for Sketch Saturday!! My husband has bought himself an iPhone and last night I was playing games on it (I WANT ONE TOO :) ) so it completely slipped my mind. I did do the card very early in the week though because Dyanne had her tonsills removed last wednesday and I didn't know what the rest of the week was going to bring. The surgery was horrible (I'll spare you the details... I already layed all those on Janna (sorry sweetie)) but she is doing very well now. She is eating lots of ice cream and is starting to talk back again so that's a good sign (I think :S).

Anyway... on to this weeks challenge at Sketch Saturday!! It's my lovely design team friend Jeanette's time to shine. Most of you will probably know Jeanette's blog already but if you don't you should really give her a visit. She is amazingly talented and makes the most gorgeous creations... and she is a very lovely person to top that. She made this gorgeous sketch for all of you to play with:

I love it. The sketch really lets your image jump of the card. I decided on a little cutie by All That Scraps:

It's the Winter Bear from C.C. Designs. I made this card into a Christmas Card and in doing so I wanted to tell you about Christmas Stampin All Year Long a group on Paper Craft Planet which was started by my Pink Cat Studio design team friend Maria Bell for those of us who didn't have enough christmas cards to send last December :). She is offering sketches and swaps all year long to motivate us to start (real) early with our christmas cards this year.

So here is close up of the cute bear... lovely stickles, al stiches are by hand, some glitter snow on the snow and of course my Derwents and Copics:

A picture of the inside, except for the Holiday wishes the stamps are all from the same set as the bear:

And a picture of the back:
The papers are all Doodlebug, the dotted papers are thin but the other papers are rich and thick and velvet or velvet printed. One thing is for sure... it's going to take some extra stamps sending this one :). That's why I decided to use no papers on the inside of the card.

Well.. hope you like. Be sure to join in on the fun on Sketch Saturday. Jeanette's friend Denise of Whimsy Stamps is generously sponsoring us this week and here's a look at the wonderful stamps from the February release that she will send the lucky winner!

OK... I know I've lost you now to the Sketch Saturday blog for further details.... love these litte cuties!! Have a lovely week everybody!!!

xxx
Mariska