Grammy's Sewing Kit with Lovey Dovey Amilia by TGF with tutorial(s)

Voor mijn Nederlandse lezers, ik heb de tutorial voor het gebruik van My Time Made Easy templates ook in het Nederlands geschreven.

Hi everybody!!

If you have received todays newsletter by The Greeting Farm you will have already seen my next project. In this newsletter there is a tutorial from me on how I 3D paper piece my images. If you haven't signed up to the TGF newsletters yet you can do so on the home page of the store: HERE. The image I used for the tutorial is Amelia from Oliver and Amelia's Lovey Dovey set. Here is the project I created with it:



Isn't it adorable? It's the latest template released from My time made easy, Grammy's sewing kit. When I saw samples of this new template on Lauren Meader's blog I knew I had to have this one. Here is kit with the top opened:

The top boxes can also be opened. You could give some bonbons in the bottom with some teabags in the topboxes, or candles in the bottom and matches on top. Or you can fill it with ribbon and buttons for a friend who also likes to craft. The ideas are endless.

This is a close up, a close up of the image can be found in the The Greeting Farm newsletter, just as pictures of the creating of the image and the little pieces it was created from.

And finally the other side of the kit.

Now I have used a different template by My Time Made Easy before. You can find those HERE. I also used a template by Lauren Meader for Papertrey Ink, you can find that one HERE. Now you may think that you need a cutting machine for these templates, but I don't have one and you really don't need one. I thought I would just show you how these templates work when you, like me don't have a cutting machine. You want to buy the template that you want to purchase as a PDF file. I'm sure most of you are familiar with PDF files, you can download Adobat Reader, the program you need to use the PDF files for free HERE. I'm also translating this tutorial in Dutch so the next bold and italic piece is just that :).

Ik hoop dat jullie de naaikit leuk vinden. Ik heb al eerder een template van My Time Made Easy gebruikt en van PaperTrey Ink waar Lauren Meader eerder templates voor maakte, door op de eerste twee links HERE hierboven te klikken kun je die voorbeelden zien. Nu denken sommige mensen dat je een snijmachine nodig hebt om deze templates te gebruiken maar ik heb dus ook geen snijmachine, en dat is dus ook niet echt nodig. Het leek mij wel handig om aan de mensen die deze templates nog wat eng vinden te laten zien hoe je ermee kunt werken. Allereerst, als je dus geen snijmachine hebt zul je de bestanden moeten kopen als PDF bestanden. Bij sommige template-verkopers krijg je alle formaten in je aankoop, bij My Time Made Easy kies je specifiek voor PDF. PDF bestanden kun je lezen met Adobat Reader, een gratis programma dat je HIER kan downloaden, maar de meeste mensen zullen het al wel kennen en op hun computer hebben staan.

After your purchase you can download a ZIP file from the My Time Made Easy website. I'm sure most of you have downloaded and extracted ZIP files before, if you haven't you can read THIS tutorial. Your ZIP file will have several PDF files that together will make the project you want to make. All the files are made to print on letter-size paper or cardstock, the size of letter-sized paper is 8.5 x 11 inch or 21,6 x 27,9 cm. If you use 12x12 inch sheets of paper you need to simply trim the paper to that size. In the printer settings you will want to set the printable paper size to "letter" and when I cut on thicker paper I set my printer settings to photo paper. You want to make sure that the page layout is set to normal-size printing. On the picture above this text you will see the printed sheets of paper, one already partially cut out. As you can see there are lines without interruptions that you need to cut, dotted lines that you need to score and there are also dots where you want to punch holes. There are base parts that create the project but Lauren also provides you with parts to decorate the project. How I use those I'll show later on.

Nadat je je aankoop hebt gedaan kun je een ZIP bestand downloaden van de My Time Made Easy website. De meeste van jullie zullen wel eens met ZIP bestanden hebben gewerkt en anders kun je HIER lezen hoe je ermee moet werken. Het ZIP bestand bevat enkele PDF documenten die tezamen het project vormen dat je wilt maken. De bestanden zijn gemaakt om te printen op letter-formaat papier. Dit is de Amerikaanse standaard in plaats van ons A4-tje. Het letter formaat is 21,6 x 27,9 cm. groot, of 8,5 x 11 inches. Als je 12x12 inch papier gebruikt, het formaat van Bazzill cardstock bijvoorbeeld, dat snijd je dit dus gewoon in dat formaat. Je moet je printerinstellingen wijzigen naar letterformaat en ik kies fotopapier als papiersoort als ik met dikker papier werk. Je wilt er ook voor zorgen dat je printer in het juiste formaat afdrukt, dus geen aangepast aan het papier of in een bepaalde verhouding maar het normale bestandformaat. Op de foto hierboven zie je enkele van de afgedrukte delen, een deels al uitgeknipt. Zoals je ziet zijn er lijnen zonder onderbrekingen, die geknipt moeten worden, gestippelde lijnen die gevouwen moeten worden en de gaatjes moeten uitgeprikt of gepunched worden. Er zijn basisdelen waarmee het project wordt gemaakt maar Lauren Meader geeft ook delen die je uit kan printen voor decoratie. Hoe ik met die delen werk laat ik verderop zien.

One of the PDF files is a complete manual on how to put the project together with a sample. I use the printed side of the template on the inside of the project, this way you don't see the dotted lines.

Een van de PDF bestanden is een volledige handleiding (in het Engels maar wel met hele duidelijke foto's) hoe je je project in elkaar moet zetten. Ik gebruikt de geprinte kant altijd aan de binnenkant van mijn project zodat je de gestippelde lijnen niet ziet.

Then a little tip. I use a lot of 6x6 inch patterned paper kits, which are of course impossible to cut into a letter size. What I do for the decorating parts of the projects (and also on some of the smaller base parts of the projects) is I print it on white letter sized paper (I used my Paper Temptress paper that I use to Copic Color my images with but you can also just cut cardstock to the letter size). Next I take a non permanent adhesive (mine is a roller by Pritt) and attach (cut parts of) the patterned paper I want to use on top of the printed templates, making sure the patterned paper covers the whole part (see picture above). I feed the paper again to the printer in the same direction as I did the first time and print again, the printer will now print on the patterned paper. Then you simple remove the patterned paper from the base template and cut as normal. I remove the non-permanent adhesive from the base document by simply rubbing it off and keep that for the next time I want to use the template.

Dan nog een kleine tip. Ik werk veel met 6x6 inch patterned paper blokjes, die natuurlijk niet te snijden zijn in een letter formaat. Wat ik doe voor de decoratieve delen van het project (en ook voor kleineren basis delen zoals in dit geval de roze "scharnieren" en het handvat) is het bestand printen op wit letter formaat iets dikker papier. Ik gebruik het papier waar ik ook op kleur van Paper Temptress dat ik koop in letter formaat maar je kan natuurlijk ook wit cardstock in letter formaat snijden. Vervolgens breng ik op de te printen delen niet permanente lijm aan, ik gebruik een roller van Pritt. Dan breng ik (op maat geknipt) design papier aan over de te printen en van lijm voorziene delen (zie de foto). Vervolgens voer ik het papier weer in de printer in op dezelfde wijze als ik het de eerste keer heb geprint en print opnieuw. Nu print mijn printer op het design papier. Tot slot pel je de design papier stukken van het basis vel, en gebruikt de delen zoals je ze normaal zou verwerken. De lijmresten kan ik simpelweg wegwrijven van het basisvel waarna ik het basisvel bewaar voor een volgende keer dat ik de template wil gebruiken.

I hope you found this small tutorial helpfull and that it will take the fear of using templates when not owning a cutting machine away by some people. These templates are super easy to work with and the results are so cute! If you have any more questions please let me know!!

Ik hoop dat jullie deze tutorial nuttig vonden en dat het bij een aantal mensen de angst van het gebruik van templates als je geen snijmachine hebt weg zal halen. Deze templates zijn zo makkelijk om te maken en ze zijn zo leuk!! Als er nog vragen zijn stel ze alsjeblieft!!

Hugs, Groetjes,

Copic Marker Europe, Whimsy Stamps and The Greeting Farm....

Hey people!!

Sorry to have been quiet for so long. I am slowly starting up the crafting thing again though :). I'll have a card on my blog for All That Scraps later today but in the meantime, I have some news for you guys.

Copic Marker Europe
As you know I'm very proud to be part of Copic Marker Europe's design team. This month CME is celebrating it's 1st birthday and who gets the presents.... YOU!!! After reading my post (because there's more news to come) you should really bring a visit to the CME blog. There are fabulous freebies by Sylvia Zet of Wee Stamps and by Saturated Canary if you take part in the contest and there is a hop (which unfortuntally I won't be joining) with prizes along the way. So after you finish reading this post you want to go to the Copic Marker Europe blog!

Whimsy Stamps
And there is another hop later today. Whimsy Stamps is releasing it's June stamps today so starting today there are bloghops until the 26th of June. Again I won't be attending, I took a month off but I HAVE seen the stamps (and couldn't help myself HAD to buy a couple of them) and believe me... you don't want to miss this release or the hops. The hops start today at 12 PM EST (dat is 6 uur vanmiddag Nederlandse tijd, and 5 o clock this afternoon in GB). As always there will be prizes along the way so you want to check out the Whimsy Stamps blog this afternoon at 12 PM EST. Oh this is one of the stamps that'll be released today... this is an oldie but isn't this cutie from Meljen's cute!!!

The Greeting Farm
You may have seen already but Jessica Diedrich, the Creative Coordinator at The Greeting Farm, asked me to be a special reporter for the TGF newsletter. I have been a big fan of TGF for forever and so it didn't take me very long to say YES YES YES :). The first TGF newsletter with me in it came out earlier this week and just in case you aren't signed up for it (you really should sign up for it though) the link to it can be found HERE. For this issue I have done a project with the cute Cheeky Geeky, in upcoming issues I may surprise you with tutorials and more projects :). I'll leave you with a close up of Cheeky Geeky, for the complete project you need to visit the newsletter :).

Well... that's it for this morning. I'll be back with an all new All That Scraps project later today so hope to see you back then!!!!

Hugs,

Hi Fleur Anya!

Hi Guys,

Back with another card. Again the image I colored during our stay in a holiday cottage a while back and I just did the card today but at least I'm back creating right :). Just one more pre-colored image to go and I can start coloring some new images again.

I needed a card for a new "stamping" friend that I promised to send some Gina K. paper a while back (het komt er eindelijk aan Nicole :) ). I decided this sweet Fleur Anya by The Greeting Farm would make a lovely card.
I bought these glitter chipboard letters ages ago and figured I could use them for a big HI. The papers are white and blue cardstock from stash and oldies from Basic Grey. The pearls are by Kaiser Krafts and I used some diamond stickles on Anya's flowers and dress. Here is a close up:
She's so cute! She was colored using Copics only and 3D paper pieced for extra dimension.

I'm going to enter this card in the Color Me Copic clothing challenge :), thanks Rach ;).

Well hope you and Nicole like my card.

Take care sweet people!!!

xxx
Mariska

Card for Marco with Sketch Saturday sketch 107

Hi girls,

I told you I wanted to make three cards for three upcoming birthdays. Well I made the card for Erwin, I missed the second birthday but I HAD to make a card for the third because today is the birthday of my sweet hubby Marco. Here is the card I made him:
I used this weeks Sketch Saturday sketch (they are already at #107!!, boy does time fly) by the brilliant Jo, I loved working with it sweetie!! The papers I used are all from stash, not sure what companies they are from, if anybody wants to know just ask. The image is a combination of two different stamps from the Roll Call Kit by The Greeting Farm. The main figure is Jeremy but the face is from Dylan, I thought Jeremy looked way to crumpy to resemble Marco but his hair looked the most like him and Dylan had this cute cheeky smile Marco has :). If you want to know how I altered the image check THIS tutorial on the Club Anya blog; I loved doing this and will for sure try this again. Coloring was completely done with my Copics and as always the little guy was 3D paperpieced. Here is a close up:
Well hope you like!! See you all soon!!

xxx
Mariska

Card for little Tim

Hi girls,

Still no baby news but the project I did with the new PCS release last week did kick start my creative braincells a bit. Tomorrow is the birthday of a very cool little man named Tim and since I know his mum does enjoy my cards I decided to make him one. I bought the Amazing Duo stamps by The Greeting Farm a while back (I actually bought them from my friend Nikki from Bunny Zoe's and she has them on sale now HERE) but of course hadn't gotten around to actually using them so I decided Tim's card would be perfect to ink them up. The papers are from the Rough and Tough line by Fancy Pants and I thought they would match the stamps perfectly. The big star where Super Ian was glued on are two stars I punched with my new star shaped Nestabilities and that were attached to the card with foamcubes, the background was embossed with a need little embossing tool I got ages ago at my local bookstore, I used some Dew Drops Starlight Black ink to distress the paper and the edges (one of my favorite inks for doing this). The sentiment was computer generated and the free font is called BadaBoom. Here is a close up of Super Ian:
He was colored with my trusted Derwent Watercolor pencils and Copic markers, his belt was done with Liquid Pearls Pewter and he was sparkled up with some stickles (Orange Peel and Crystal). The little guy was 3D paperpieced to give him extra dimension.

Well hope Tim likes my card and of course hope you guys do too. I don't know when I'll be back with another one but I have to tell you Melissa is drawing up some absolutely cute images and my hands are itching again to color them up so who knows :).

Have a great weekend everybody!!!

xxx
Mariska

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

Gift with card with TGF Cake Topper

Hello everybody,

One of the first sets I bought from The Greeting Farm (and I bought a whole lot of sets since :S) was the Cake Topper set. I fell in love the moment my eyes saw the set, so gorgeous and romantic. I haven't been able to use it yet though. Of course part of why I haven't inked it up yet is what most of probably find, so much stamps and so little time to craft. The other reason for me is that I haven't had a wedding since I bought them. But FINALLY two people decided to tie the knot :) so that gave me an excuse to put this gorgeous set to work. Here is what I made:
I already knew this set would become one of my favorites and I was so right What a joy! Let me show you the box I made:

The box came in a Card-Art cardkit a couple of months ago. I knew it would come in handy and this seemed like the perfect time to use it. We bought the couple in question two rather funny just married aprons so the box would be the perfect gift wrapping. The box is ready to use and decorate so how easy can you go :). The papers and the sentiment on the box are also from a older Card-Art cardkit and they are from Dream Street Papers. I used my new Leaves punch by Mc Gill's and the gorgeous white and pink-ivory roses are by Mulberry and I bought them from my friend Helma at Stamping Corner. Finally I used some gorgeous green and peach pink cardstock that was in the same cardkit as the design paper and a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Here is a close up of the image:

As always colored with Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Copics and 3D foamcubes for extra dimension. Here is a close up of the sentiment on the box:

Isn't that gorgeous? It is also from Dream Street Papers and there was a whole gorgeous sheet of these in the cardkit mentioned. I thought this one was just perfect for this wedding gift.

As for the card:

Very simple. The same papers, punch, embossing folder and roses as the box. The sentiment is included in the Cake Topper set. I stamped it with my Top Boss clear embossing ink and dusted it with golden embossing powder. The ribbon was actually attached to a gift basket I received when my youngest daughter Amy was born... I never throw anything away :).

This is the inside of the card and you can see the envelope underneath the card:

Again the same green paper and the same Cuttlebug embossingfolder. Congrats is one more sentiment that is included in the Cake Topper set and again it was stamped with Top Boss clear embossing ink and dusted with golden embossingpowder.

As for the envelope:

I only inked up the top of the stamp and embossed it again with my golden embossingpowder. I forgot to clean the stamp properly though so there is still a bit of black ink on the bottom of the impression where there is no embossing but I don't think that's all that bad. I think it's a gorgeous envelope and I love the set.

Hope you enjoyed!!!

Take care!!

xxx

Mariska

Edward bookmark

Hello again!!

Have you read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer or have you seen the movie? I am sooooo hooked! I've seen the movie like ten times now and I keep reading the good parts of the books. A couple of weeks ago I was visiting the The Greeting Farm blog (a site I visit daily) and I was soooo happy to see a little Wild Sprout called Edward. The owner of The Greeting Farm is a very big Twilight fan too and she has created the main character of the book and movie as a stamp. A must have as you'll surely understand. I coloured my Edward with his golden eyes, he has a much to friendly face to be hungry :) and it had to become a bookmark so I used a tutorial I found on the amazingly talented Inge Groot's blog. Here is how mine turned out: And here is a close up of Edward with his untidy, bronze-colored hair, purplish, bruiselike shadows under his strange ocher, darker than butterscotch eyes. I have tried to keep his skin pale but since he has just eaten he has some colour in his face :).

Isn't he cute!!! As instructed by Inge I have also done the inside of the bookmark:

And here is the bookmark in my favourite book:

Hope you like!!! Have a great day everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Card Art July card kit and TGF Teacher Anya

Good morning everybody!!

I promissed to show you the card I did for my daughters second teacher as soon as the Card Art card kit was distributed and I think everybody has received theirs by now... so here it is :). Remember with this card was the same jar of candy we gave to Dyanne's other teacher.

For this card I used The Greeting Farm Teacher Anya and the Card Art July card kit, that's all. Carmen (the boss :) ) isn't a big fan of sales pitches but I just want to have mentioned one time that these kits are the best. I'm a member now since Februari of this year and I was on a waiting list for about three months before that. Carmen knows like no other how to put together a kit with cardstock, design papers, ribbons, embellies and sometimes crafties or stamps. There is a permanent waiting list but believe me... you NEED to be on that list if you don't have the kit yet. That's all I'm going to say about it! The design papers in the July kit are by Cosmo Cricket.

Here is the front of my card: Don't you just LOVE that Teacher Anya? I think she was one of the first stamps I bought from The Greeting Farm and I was so happy to have a chance to ink her up. I loved colouring her! Her is a close up:

Colouring as always with Derwent Watercolour Pencils, Copics and 3D effect with foamcubes. Since the card was wrapped up with a jar of candy I thought I'd use this yummy -howdoyoucallthese- thingy that was also in the card kit, as was the thingy where you can write your message to the teacher:

And when you do the inside... you need to do the back as well.. at least, that's what I think:

The personalized stamp I bought from my friend Nikki at Bunny Zoe's Crafts. These stamps are made of a new material to me but they leave a perfect print.

Well, that's it as far as this schoolyear is concerned. I did two more cards with the July card and I'll try to post one tomorrow and one Wednesday. I'm very busy at the moment doing a larger project with the August Pink Cat Studio Release (there isn't going to be a July Release) and I'm so excited about that one... but can't show you yet :S. These new cuties Melissa made are going to end up on top of your I NEED THEM!! list I'm sure.

Have a great day everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

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

Debbie's DT week at Sketch Saturday

Hello everybody!!

I hope you are all doing well!! It's a schoolvancation week here in The Netherlands so I'm having both my husband and my four year old at home (my one year old is always at home so that doesn't have anything to do with the vancation). I love that they are around but it doesn't really motivate me or give me a lot of time to craft let alone to check out your blogs. So sorry, I'll try to make up for it next week. It is Saturday though so of course I have something to show you with this weeks sketch for Sketch Saturday.

This week is Debbie's Design Team week and she has given us this lovely sketch to work with: As I told you in the post below I have received some gorgeous new stamps to work with and some of those are from the new release of The Greeting Farm. I was one of the lucky girls who got the chance to buy them in the presale. Here is my card:

The stamp I used is from the new Hope & Grace set and I think both these characters are soooo cute! Here is a close up:

Hope you can see there is again a lot of 3D on this image. All the papers I've used are from (I believe) the april Card-Art kit as are the pins I've used and the pearls. The nestabilitie behind the image is the Peony and I've used my new Fiskars punch on the bottum. The little green dots on the nestabilitie circle are what was left after punching the paper. The flower and the brad were again a gift from my mystery SS friend who I received last weeks charm from. The ribbon is from stash. Here is the inside of the card:

The orange flower and the sentiment are also in the Hope & Grace set.

I hope you like my creation for this week. Don't forget to check out the blogs of the other Design Team members and this week I have the pleasure to tell you we are joined by the very kind and sweet Jacqui Dennis aka Cats Whiskers. I love Jacqui's work and think she is one of the kindest people in blogland and I am so pleased that she agreed to join us this week and the next!!

Now, after checking out the blogs, join us with this weeks sketch. This week is sponsored by the Whimsy Stamps and they are donating to very cute stamps so check out the SS blog for details, join and keep your fingers crossed!!

Have a great day everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

Sheetload Challenge

Hello everybody,

I have just finished this card for the April Challenge at SheetLoad. I saw about this challenge on the Greeting Farm blog and figured it was the perfect excuse to finally use one of their gorgeous fairies again. Here is my card: And this is a close up of Fairy Cloe:

The first time I saw this little cutie I knew I had to give her red hair. She is so lovely!! Again I used a lot of foam cubes to give her extra dimension. The papers I used are from the Light of my Life Page Kit from Kay Miller. My SS DT friend Tracie got me hooked on these kits, they are so gorgeous!! I have printed everything on pearlescent papers which was an idea I got from my SS DT friend Ria (thanks sweetie!!). I have added two shades of green cardstock and some flowers from stash and a lot of stickles. The sentiment is from Pink Cat Studio from the Enchanted Lily Set.

Have a great day everybody!!

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