Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Sailboat Sympathy


One week ago, there was a horrible gas explosion in my home town. Yesterday one of the injured men, a 43-year-old father of little twins, finally died by his burnings. He was a passionate sailor and a sailing buddy to one of my neighbours. So my neighbour asked me to create a sympathy card with a sailing theme.
I used this wonderful old Stamps Happen stamp, but cut away the sentiment. I watercolored it with shades of grey and black, added the sentiment ("With heartfelt sympathy", by Stempelkeller) and a ribbon.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Sad day, sad card...

A sad day today... The father of one of the nurses in my office just passed away. Exactly one year ago, she already lost her husband. It's impossible to find the right words for that.
I used Saturday's inspiration challenge for my sympathy card. My inspiration piece was this beautiful poster:




Here's my card:



The leaf (Stampendous) was stamped with StazOn Stone Gray, Memories Soft Celery and Versamagic Hint of Pesto, the flower was stamped with Versamark and embossed with black detail powder. Sentiment (with deepest sympathy) by Stempelkeller.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

On Your First Day At School...


A little girl in the neighbourhood is going to have her first day at school soon. In Germany, children are given a cardboard cone filled with sweets or small presents on their first day at school. I didn't have a stamp with a girl with such a cardboard cone, so I used this little boy stamp by Stempelbar with a pink-violet color scheme and hope the little girl will like it nevertheless...

The image is colored with Karisma pencils and Sansodor (Gamsol Magic technique). Design paper by CreaMotion. Background stamp unknown.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Good Old Times


This is for this week's Splitcoast Inspiration Challenge. I used these little shoes as my inspiration piece:



The sentiment on my card says:

Now are the good old times to which we will long to return in ten years.

Oh, so true!!! LOL!

Swirl stamp by Rhonna Farrer, sentiment unknown (maybe by Der Bessere Eindruck), brad by Panduro.

Swedish Poetry - Javisst gör det ont...


At Splitcoast, they had two wonderful challenges this week. The Ways To Use It Challenge was about to use text in the design, and the Limited Supplies Challenge wanted us to use text in a foreign language. I was long time thinking about which language to use - I decided to use neither English (though it is of course a foreign language to me) nor German (though this would be a foreign language to most of you).
So I decided to us a Swedish poem by Karin Boye for my text element. For those who are interested in the poem, here's the text and its translation:

Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister.
Varför skulle annars våren tveka?
Varför skulle all vår heta längtan
bindas i det frusna bitterbleka?
Höljet var ju knoppen hela vintern.
Vad är det för nytt, som tär och spränger?
Ja visst gör det ont när knoppar brister,
ont för det som växer
och det som stänger.

Of course it hurts when buds burst.
Otherwise why would spring hesitate?
Why would all our fervent longing
be bound in the frozen bitter haze?
The bud was the casing all winter.
What is this new thing, which consumes and bursts?
Of course it hurts when buds burst,
pain for that which grows
and for that which envelops.

I like this poem - what do you think about it?

I stamped the text (HeinDesign) with Versamark onto violet cardstock and embossed it with white powder. Then I stamped the rose (Stampin'Up) with versamark onto white cardstock, embossed it with violet powder and colored the rose with Stargazers Palette metallic watercolors.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Wind In My Hair

I bought a fascinating stamp last week at a second-hand stamp market. Unfortunately, I don't know the manufacturer as I bought it unmounted. Now I used it for the first time - I thought it would be perfect for the SCS Inspiration Challenge. As my inspiration piece I used this wonderful chocolate package:

And the card I created referring to this inspiration piece is this one:

I sponged and brayered several shades of Ranger Adirondack ink onto Chromolux cardstock, then overstamped the image with StazOn Jet Black. The sentiment is by Penny Black and stamped onto black cardstock with Ranger Adirondack Snowcap White Pigment ink. I added some rhinestones and a small jewellery piece.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Cards To Say Goodbye

I was asked to create several farewell cards for a colleague who is going to leave our town. I wanted to mirror the different personalities of the people who ordered the cards, so I created very different cards - from cute to monochromatic.


This would have been the card I would have chosen for myself. I sponged the background with several shades of Adirondack inks, then stamped the plane (is it by B Line Designs? I'm not sure.) with Espresso Adirondack ink. The swirls (by Rhonna Farrer) are stamped with two shades of Adirondack inks. I added highlights with a white gelly pen.



For this one I used a very classical Penny Black stamp, colored the rubber with Tombow Markers, sprinkled it with water and stamped onto watercolor paper. Simple, yet I like the technique. I added some glitz into the center of the flowers, but you can hardly see this on the photo.

For this image I used a VERY old HeroArts stamp and watercolored the image. The background is stamped with Adirondack Sandal ink and a Rhonna Farrer swirl stamp.



Who doesn't love good old Riley by Hanna Stamps? I stamped and watercolored him, the sentiment on the banner ("farewell") is handwritten. I added some Diamond Glaze onto the plane to give it dimension, but this is unfortunately invisible on the photo.


Now tell me - which one is your favorite?