Piggy bank using MFT’s Magical Friends

Hello again!!!

First you don’t hear anything from me for years and then I keep posting one project after another 😜. But I got these stamps a few days ago from Cloud 9 Crafts and I had to ink them up right away. They are from My Favorite Things (https://www.cloud9crafts.nl/collections/my-favorite-things/products/my-favorite-things-magical-friends-clear-stamps), a brand I have adored for a long time, ever since Inge Groot joined their team actually, but always found to expensive to import myself. I was so happy to find them now in a Dutch Craftstore and the lady behind Cloud 9 Crafts is super quick in shipping.... my second order has already been placed 😳😖.

Anyway, my crafting fiend Krista Huysman has never made it a secret that she’d love to own one of my projects 😘. So I decided to make this project for her gorgeous little lady Annalynn. I bought this piggy bank years ago to pimp but never used it.

 I was a little to late in taking a picture of my little pieces 😖.

And finally the back.

The Copic markers I used are:

Greens: YG97, G94, YG63, YG23, YG13, YG11, YG03, YG01, YG0000

Pinks: R89, R85, R83, R81, RV000

Skin: E21, E00, E000, E0000

Hair: E57, E55, E53, E51, E50

Cups: YR27, YR24, YR23, YR21, YR20

I hope you, and especially Krista, like this project.

Hugs,

Mariska

Hey everybody!

I made another card!  I colored and cut these pieces a long time ago but then didn’t finish my project. Since I’ve got a taste for crafting again I figured I’d finish this one first, even though it’s more of a Christmas image.

The gorgeous image is of course by Sylvia Zet for Wee Stamps. Available through Whimsy Stamps. Here is a close up.

And the little pieces that were used to create the image. There were some missing so I had to recolor some little ones to get the complete image.

I hope you like my card!!!! I’m already working on two new ones :). Stay healthy!!!

Hugs,

Mariska

Hi everybody!

It’s been years since I posted, I haven’t touched my Copics for such a long time that I didn’t even know if I’d ever use them again. But in this crazy time my girls asked me if we could craft together.... and it felt SO good. I couldn’t sleep at night because of all these ideas in my head..... the mojo was finally back! And this is the result:

I made a video about it that I posted on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uCwZtYdffwY.

Hope you like!

Hugs,

Mariska

Bunny with flowers on a birthday gift-box

Hi everybody,

Today I'd like to share a project with you that I created as a gift for my sister in law who's birthday is in a few days (I don't think she ever visits my blog so I should be able to post it here).

The box that I used (you'll see that it's a box in a few pictures) is actually a tea-box and the inside has three compartments but I'll fill it with other things then tea. The adorable image that I used is Bunny with Flowers by Crissy Armstrong. It's an image I have adored from the moment I first saw it and this is the first time I used it but I'm very sorry to say that it's no longer available. It was a digital image available from Whimsy Stamps but Whimsy Stamps no longer sells digital images because of new EU tax regulations. I hope you don't mind that I still used it though as I adore the image! I had to use spring colors for this project :) and it was a perfect excuse to use one of these adorable dies that my friend Tammy Cunliffe send me that she designed herself for Little Darlings Rubber Stamps. LOVE these flowers Tammy, can't wait to do a project with all of the dies from your fabulous set.

A close up of the cutest little bunny that I'm so sorry I can't link to as it's no longer available :(. But as always colored with Copic Markers and 3D paper pieced.

And a close up of one of the gorgeous flower clusters with fabulous Wild Orchid Crafts Flowers and of course those darling little flowers that I cut with Tammy's die with self adhesive rhinestones in the middle. The leaves that I used are from the tulips that I used in the other flower cluster.

A side view of the box so you can see it's actually a box :).

And a picture of the little pieces used to create the image.

Hope you like my gift box and aren't you so ready to get out your spring colors now? What a lovely change after all those Christmas colors we've had last month!! Have a great day everybody!!

Hugs,

Materials used:
Image: Bunny with Flowers by Crissy Armstrong (no longer available)
Sentiment: Stampin' Up Perfectly Penned I have the rubber version of this stamp set but in my friend Durvina's shop I see it's now only available as a digital download set.
Dies: Little Darling Darling Square Die Set (used the adorable flowers, designed by Tammy Houghton Cunliffe), Spellbinders circle, no idea what brand the backing for the circle is from, Stampin' Up Framelits Apothecary Accents (to cut the sentiment out with).
Other: Stampin' Up Paper Piercing Pack Essentials (for stitching around the rectangles and inside the die that I used to cut out the sentiment with), Stickles Diamond and Platinum, paper doily (used in the corners) from stash, distress ink Frayed Burlap.
From Wild Orchid Crafts:
(you can enter the codes behind the description in the search box on the website to quickly find the products):
Baby Pink Cherry Blossoms (MKX-049)
Mixed Pink Tone Hip Rosebuds (GST-014)
Mixed Pink Tulip Flowers with Leaf Stems (MKX-302)
Mixed White/Cream tone Trellis Roses 35mm (FM-00377)
Yellow Open Roses 25mm (FM-00468)
Pink Open Roses 15mm (FM-00005)
Baby Pink Sweetheart Blossoms (FS-00061)
Self Adhesive Rhinestones Pink (MKX-516)

Margaret Fae

Hello everybody!!!

Today I'd like to show you a card I made with an artist I found out about not so long ago. She was showing an image she had colored on the Kit and Clowder Facebook page (which I talked about in earlier posts) and I was surprised that I had never seen the image she had colored as I loved it. Then I found out she also was the artist who drew the fabulous image so had to get a couple of them. Her name is Amanda S. Byron and her digital images are for sale in her Etsy shop Faery Ink and her rubber stamps are for sale through Sweet Pea Stamps.

Don't you adore her? I love her big eyes and her pretty hair. I did struggle a while with the card layout though. I really wanted to use the Louvre Ornamental Frame Cut Out that I had ordered from Wild Orchid Crafts a while back with this image and to be honest, just the dark green card with the ornamental frame behind it were already very pretty, I'm sure there will be people who would have stopped there but I really wanted to add some flowers as well. I think I've been getting out jars of flowers and papers and stuff for an hour or two but in the end I'm really pleased with how the card turned out.

A close up of pretty Margaret Fae. As always colored with Copic Markers and 3D paper pieced.

A close up of the gorgeous flowers and rhinestones.

And finally a picture of the little pieces, taken with my phone with very bad light but at least you have an idea of the pieces I've used :).

Hope you like my new card and have some time to craft for yourself!! The weather has been very inviting to do so here, lots of wind and rain. Have a great day everybody!!

Hugs,

Materials used:
Image: Margaret Fae by Amanda S. Byron (digital image / rubber stamp)
Paper: Basic Grey Green at heart 6x6 paper pad (old collection), white and kraft cardstock
Dies: Spellbinders
Other: Stitches by hand, frantage, Diamond, Star Dust and Platinum Stickles
Materials used from Wild Orchid Crafts:
Self Adhesive Rhinestones-Lilac (SP-00031)
Self Adhesive Rhinestones-Purple (SP00030)
Mixed Purple/Lilac Cosmos Daisy Flowers (PM-00136)
Lavender Open Roses 25mm (FM-00429)
Mixed Purple/Lilac & White Sweetheart Blossoms (MKX-639)
White Trellis Roses 35mm (MKX-682)
Green Rose Leaves-40mm (MKX-446)
Louvre Ornamental Frame Cutout Set (GST-085)

Merry Christmas blog hop for Alyce

Merry Christmas everybody!!! But most of all, Merry Christmas Alyce Keegan if you hit this blog!!

Now if this the first blog you hit with this hop then you may want to start at the beginning of the hop which is Mari's blog. If you are doing the hop you should have come here from Nini's blog and I'll tell you your next hop at the end of this post.

By pure coincidence I told you about the Kit and Clowder classes and community yesterday.... well, this hop is for the chief of Kit and Clowder, Alyce Keegan and it's supposed to be a complete surprise. The blog is to wish her a very Merry Christmas and a fabulous 2015. Alyce, if you read this, I haven't signed up for your classes yet but if I do decide to follow a class it'll be yours, I've seen some amazing improvements to people's coloring over the past months so I have already been convinced about the quality of your lessons. I just need to be sure I'll have time to actually do the lessons before I sign up. But even without following your lessons I love the community you've build around Kit and Clowder. I already said yesterday on my blog that it has been a joy to see a community where the main focus is appreciation for each others work and a shared love for crafting, there is WAY to much negativity going around on some of the other pages online but non to be found on the Kit and Clowder one. Thank you for creating such a welcoming community for all!! I haven't been able to get your address but if you want to receive this card I'd be happy to send it to you if you PM me your address.

In preparation of this blog hop we've all been asked to join a Facebook page especially made for this purpose. On this page a few artists have been kind enough to give away some free images for participators to use and I decided to work with the one that Alicia's Cute Shop donated. Alicia thank you for letting us work with this cute digi! I've seen some other really cute digi's in your store so don't think this will be my lost work with your images.

Sorry for the messy Christmas ornaments behind the card. There were so many and they were so heavy that I decided to just shove them aside to take the picture.

Adore this cute little lady with her big heart. Maybe not your first thought for a Christmas card but I think she works perfectly in traditional Christmas colors and besides... this blog hop is also to give back some of the love Alyce has been giving us :).

A close up of the pretty WOC embellishments :). And had to use my Whimsy Stamps stamp sentiments with the "because you've been nice" on it :).

And finally a picture of the little pieces used to make the image. As you can see there is some gorgeous frantage on the base part and as always my coloring has been done with Copic Markers.

Hope you like my card! To continue the hop your next stop is Laurigami (http://monchatbyscrap.blogspot.fr). Hope you are all having a fabulous Christmas everybody!!! And since I think this is my last post before the new year I want to wish all of you the most AMAZING 2015, make it the best year yet and stay safe if you are going to do fireworks please!!! You'll need those hands to craft!!

Big hugs!!!

Materials used:
Image: Heart by Alicia's Cute Shop
Sentiments: Holiday Mini Postage stamps by Whimsy Stamps cut out with the matching die
Papers: White, green dotted and red cardstock and design paper from an old line by Basic Grey
Other: Frantage, platinum and star dust stickles, Frayed Burlap distress ink, stitches by hand with help from a Stampin'Up paper piercing tool pack that I bought from Durvina. Floral Ovals die from Spellbinders and Snow Flurries On the Edge die by Tim Holtz Alternations. Golden ribbon from stash. Magnolia Knick Knackery's (the smaller pearls).
From Wild Orchid Crafts:
Mixed Red Tone Mulberry Paper Trellis Roses 35mm (MKX-090)
Green Rose Leaves 40mm (MKX-446)
Pearl Flourishes Self Adhesive Sticker (MKX-208)
Red Christmas Berry Spray with pine cones (MKX-326) (not in store as I type this, you may want to check out MKX-354 instead)
Mixed Red Tone Hip Rosebuds (GST-015)
Mixed Green Tone Hip Rosebuds (GST-163)
White Mulberry Paper Open Roses 25mm (MKX-013)
White Cosmos Daisy Stem Flowers (MKX-119)
White Self Adhesive Pearls 5mm (MKX-496)

Secret Santa Card for Kit and Clowder with Maya Angel with Star

Good morning everybody!

Christmas is almost here! Hope you are in to another Christmas card? I made this one for another Secret Santa swap I entered. This one was on the Facebook page of Kit and Clowder, for those of you who haven't heard of Kit and Clowder, they offer online coloring classes for both alcohol markers and distress inks. Now I haven't done any of their classes yet though I am very intrigued by them, especially the animal one. Anyway, next to offering their classes they have built a really friendly and supportive crafting community especially on their Facebook page. Everybody is welcome, not just students, and it has been a joy to see a community where the main focus is appreciation for each others work and a shared love for crafting, there is WAY to much negativity going around on some of the other pages. But BACK to the Secret Santa swap :). I got to make a card for Radostina Eneva who is a VERY talented lady from Bulgaria who is now living in Switzerland. And this is the card I made for her.

I made this card using Angel Maya with Star by Whiff of Joy. White, blue and gold were the colors I wanted to use, maybe not your first choice of Christmas colors but with the gorgeous little Angel I wanted the pure of the white and the blue and added the gold for the festive feel.

A close up of the image, as always colored with Copic Markers and completely 3D paper pieced, with a bit of pretty frantage around it, stitches by hand and pretty plantinum stickles.

And a close up of some of the embellishments. The Wild Orchid Crafts Trellis Roses are absolutely my favorite flowers, they'll make any card or project shine. And the berries from the Gold Christmas Berry Spray were the perfect festive touch to these gorgeous flowers.

Finally a picture of the little pieces that I cut to make the adorable little angel.

This is the absolutely GORGEOUS card I received from my Secret Santa in this swap Silvie Zahradnickova. As always pictures really don't do this beauty justice but I think you can see how pretty it is. It stands proudly on the mantel on my living room. I LOVED being part of this swap.

I hope you have all your Christmas shopping and stuff done by now! I have one more post before this year is done so I'm not going to wish you guys a happy new year yet but I do wish all of you a very warm and loving Christmas, hope you all get to spend it with the people you hold closest to your hearts!

Hugs,

Materials used:
Image: Angel Maya with Star by Whiff of Joy
Papers: White and kraft colored cardstock, star paper is an old line from Magnolia and corrugated kraft cardstock.
Other: Frantage, platinum and diamond stickles, Frayed Burlap distress ink, stitches by hand with help from a Stampin'Up paper piercing tool pack that I bought from Durvina. Antique Gold Pearls from FWAB and Prima Say It In Crystals rhinestone swirls.
From Wild Orchid Crafts:
Gold Christmas Berry Spray (MKX-351)
White Mulberry Paper Trellis Roses 40mm (MKX-682)
White Mulberry Paper Trellis Roses 35mm (MKX-682)
White Mulberry Paper Open Roses 25mm (MKX-013)

Shadowbox with Dyanne by Wee Stamps

Hi everybody!!

Today I have a special project to show you. Last April my friend Sylvia Zet and her husband Michal came to visit us in The Netherlands. When she visited us she brought me the most precious gifts, drawings of my children that she made from pictures I had send her over the past years.

This is the picture Sylvia took of them before framing them for me. As you'll be able to see below each of the portraits she made of my children she drew a Wee figure, based on the personality of my kids. So my oldest daughter Dyanne is the dreamy girl with long hair who can spend hours picking flowers. Amy is my laughing curly haired who likes nothing better then to play with somebody else but has a harder time playing on her own. And Leon is my tough guy who likes real guy things like cars and super heroes :). The Wee figure of Leon is actually based on a picture I send Sylvia of Leon sitting in his miniature Ferrari. As you can imagine these gorgeous portraits are up on my living room wall and are never coming of :). But I told Sylvia that the Wee characters she drew were really way to cute to just have as sketches on my living room wall. I for one would love to use them on cards as well. So earlier this month the images Sylvia drew for Dyanne and Amy were released as rubber stamps and a few days ago also as digital images. The image she drew for Leon will be released soon as well.

Anyway, for my birthday Sylvia send me the rubber stamps of Dyanne and Cuddly Ride (or for a link to the digital versions) (which is the name of Amy's image as there already is an Amy character in the Wee Stamps store) and of course I had to ink one up.

Since Dyanne is my oldest I decided to go with her image first. I have to admit that I started out making a card but then when I was halfway done I was so happy with how it was turning out that I decided to decorate a shadowbox (that I have had in my stash for ages) with it instead. The box was a bit to deep so I filled it with a few layers of cardboard first.

A close up of Dyanne. Purple is Dyanne's favorite color so there had to be purple in the image. Her hair was a bit challenging to paper piece but I like how it turned out.

A sideview of the shadowbox. Dyanne (the original) had decided that this one has to go on the wall in her room so her daddy is going to hang it up for her sometime this week.

To accentuate the whimsical feeling of the image I used my pretty vine dies from Whimsy Stamps and wanted to just add some random flowers in sort of a swirl around the image. I think Wild Orchid Crafts' sweetheart blossoms come closest to the flowers Sylvia drew in the image but also added some roses and cosmos daisies. A few random placed rhinestones did the finishing touch for me :).

The little pieces that I used to create the image.

I hope you like my new project. Sorry for all the text and pictures but like I said, this one is special to me and had to share the story behind it :).

Hugs,

Materials used:
Image: Dyanne by Wee Stamps (rubber/digital image)
Papers: White, orange and craft colored cardstock and a scrap of design paper of which I don't know the name.
Dies and folders: Vines die set by Whimsy Stamps, circle dies by Spellbinders Nestabilities and Cuttlebug Embossing folder for the dotted paper.
Other: Distress ink Frayed Burlap, stitches by hand with help of a paperpiecing tool by Stampin'Up. Stickles Diamand and Platinum. Frantage.
From Wild Orchid Crafts:
Mixed Purple/White Cosmos Dairy Stem Flowers
Mixed Purple/Lilac & White Sweetheart Blossom
Mixed Peach/Orange Open Roses 25mm
White Sweetheart Blossom Flowers
Self Adhesive Rhinestones Lilac
Self Adhesive Rhinestones Purple

Secret Santa project Make it Crafty

Hey everybody!

Last month I entered a Secret Santa swap on the Facebook page of Make it Crafty. I had to make a card for Rita Edwards, a talented fellow crafter who lives in California USA. This is the card I made.

The image that I used is Jinkles the Elf and it's my the first Make it Crafty image that I used.

A close up of Jinkles, as always colored with Copic Markers and 3D paper pieced.

And a close up of the pretty flowers and berries that I used from Wild Orchid Crafts. With my card I enclosed a bag of Wild Orchid Crafts flowers and a bunch of the berries and pine cones that I used on this card plus a pretty butterfly die by Noor!, hoping that since Noor! is Dutch she wouldn't have that die yet.

And a picture of the little pieces used to create the image.

Hope you like my card and glad to say it finally arrived at Rita Edwards so that I get to show it to you guys. The postal services had me worried for a while because it should have arrived on November 22nd but it never arrived at her house so had to fill in missing package forms. But the parcel turned up again thankfully!!

Hope you have a great day or what's left of it (in my case).

Hugs,

Materials used:
Image: Jinkles Elf digi stamp by Make it Crafty
Papers: White and red cardstock and an older design paper line from Basic Grey
Other: Stitches by hand, distress ink Frayed Burlap, Diamond Stickles, Stardust Stickles with Viva Eiskristall on top.
From Wild Orchid Crafts:
Mixed Red Tone Trellis Roses 40mm
White Open Roses 25mm
Mixed Red Tone Hip Rosebuds
White Hip Rosebuds
White Self Adhesive Pearls 5mm
Star Shaped White Pearl beads
Red Christmas Berry Spray with Pine Cones and Holly Leaves

Lullaby for SisterArt Creation

Hello everybody!

I purchased some gorgeous chipboard shapes from a Facebook-store named SisterArt Creation a while back. You may remember that I have already used some of them on these two creations "Snowflake Dancer", "Wish upon a Star" and "Well Rounded Thank You". The company is owned by two sisters, one in Indonesia and one in Germany. They have photoalbums full of shapes to choose from, if you want one or more of them just leave your name under the picture and Merry, the sister in Germany, will contact you. Merry asked me a while back if I wanted to be their guest designer for December and naturally I said yes. This is a card I created for them.

The pretty image that I used is Lullaby by my sweet friend Sylvia Zet from Wee Stamps. She's available as a digital image directly through Wee Stamps HERE and as a rubber stamp through Whimsy Stamps HERE (it's sold out in rubber as I type this but knowing Denise from Whimsy it'll be back in store soon enough). I used three beautiful flourishes and the Merry Christmas sentiment by SisterArt Creation. The flourishes received a coating of Inka Gold golden and the Merry Christmas sentiment was painted using a white paint dabber by Tim Holtz.

A close up of Lullaby, colored with Copic Markers and 3D paper pieced. The snow on the branch got a bit of fluffy paint on it to give it a real snow effect. And the hair and wings have some glitter.

One of the corners of the card with the pretty flourish by Sister Art creation and of course pretty Wild Orchid Craft flowers. I cut this flourish in pieces to make it look like a corner. The chipboard is of a very good quality and will let you cut and paint it very well.

And the little pieces Lullaby was made with :).

Hope you like my latest Christmas creation. I loved working on this one. And hope you'll take a look at the gorgeous chipboards from SisterArt Creation. Have fun!!!

Hugs,

Bella with Rose

Good morning everybody!

Back with another card. When I noticed Conie Fong had released a new image with the adorable little bear Bella I had to have it. So here is my new card with Bella with Rose.

Isn't that image precious?

As always colored with Copic Markers and 3D paper pieced. I'll add the markers I used this evening because I have actually taken them down this time. Just in a hurry this morning but will take time to do it tonight.

Gorgeous Wild Orchid Flowers to compliment the pretty image.

A bit of a side view so you can see the layering better.

And of course the little pieces little Bella was made with.

Copic Markers used:
Purple rose and accents to shoes: V25 (just a really tiny bit), V22 (again just bits), V20, BV0000, CB
Purple clothes: V28, V25, V22, V20 and when that was dry over that with V17, V15, V12 and V0000
Bear: E55, E53, E50, E0000, CB
Inner ear: R22, R20, R00 and then when that was dry a bit of W1, W0 and W00

Hope you like my new card!! Have a great day everybody!!

Hugs,

Materials used:
Image: Bella with Rose by Conie Fong for Sweet Pea Stamps
Paper: White cardstock and Maja Design Fika paper (starting to run out of some of the designs which is a shame because it's SO pretty
Other: stitches by hand, Stampendous Frantage, Stickles Platinum, Distress ink, Butterfly edge die by Noor Design for Joy Crafts, Floral Ovals die from Spellbinders. Butterfly from Etsy Store.
From Wild Orchid Crafts:
Mixed Purple/White Cosmos Daisy flowers
Mixed Purple/Lilac tone Trellis Roses 35mm
White hip rosebuds
Mixed Purple/Lilac and White sweetheart blossoms
Mixed Pastel tone Apple Blossoms
Purple Lilac Self Adhesive Pearls 3mm (not in stock as I type this but please check back later)