A New Challenge!

I know, I know... I'm a really lazy blogger! I promised myself I would have been more active on the blog with the new year but time flies so fast...

Anyway, I'm so excited because I made a card yesterday which I really like!

In January, I treated myself with some stamps from There She Goes: I'm a fan of Torico, one of their designers, so I decided I should have some of their stamps.

They finally arrived and I love them! The lines are so thin and perfect and the sheets have many stamps and sentiments, very versatile!

Yesterday, they posted their weekly challenge and this was the sketch to follow:

This is my card:

This stamp is Float My Boat by Torico and I colored it with Copics. I made the bunting with the flags of the stamp sheet and glued them with 3D dots.

I wanted to keep the color scheme simple and "clean" so I used this striped paper from Pink Petticoat and I added no glitter... I still think that the stars on the bunting would have been very cute with some glitter...

I'm entering There She Goes Sketch Challenge # 145 and... I start dreaming about summer!

Buried under Snow...

These last 10 days have one thing in common: SNOW!

In our region it doesn't snow too much, I remember years without snow for the whole winter. These past few years were quite snowy and this is probably the snowiest of all!

It all started on Tuesday Jan. 31: it began slowly but, after weeks of warm weather, we were quite happy to see snow. It ended after 48 hours: cars buried under tons of snow, school closed for several days, everything was a real chaos!

It stopped for a while but than again, the whole weekend was spent looking out of the windows: it seems that the last heavy snowfall here was back in 1985 and I don't remember it.

Well, this morning I opened my email and read that it was suggested to collect kids from school at 11.30 because from 12.00 a snowstorm will start for another 36 hours... no, not again!

My sister had a baby last week: she lives in Milan but the conditions of roads and trains is so poor that I haven't managed to meet my nephew yet and it seems that this weekend it'll be impossible to go there...

Luckily enough, the last two days were sunny so the postman delivered some of my orders, amongst which four sets of new stamps from Torico I ordered from There She Goes stamps! I was looking forward to seeing them and now I think I'll work with them during the weekend!

Talking about Torico, as a daily reader of her blog, I discovered that she is sponsoring a challenge and I created this:

I love these pears and they were perfect for this little magnetic notepad, useful in the kitchen, near the telephone or wherever you need to jot down notes.

I've put in on a new metal shelf I bought from Ikea for my craft table and it looks so pretty!

Maybe I'll keep it for me...

The image is a freebie from Birdie Brown on Etsy and I'm entering the following Challenges:

DYSU Challenge # 58 - LOVE

and

Delightful Sketches Weekly Challenge - LOVE

and

Sarah Hurley Challenge # 59 - LOVE IS ALL AROUND

Well... I think that right now I could say that Snow is all around rather then love but in a few days it'll be Valentine day so let's celebrate!

Today I'm for Pink!

This morning when I switched on my computer and spent some coffee time looking at Etsy listings I noticed that I was attracted by PINK.

Pink is probably my favorite color and I decided to make a Treasury list there dedicated to pink items.

This afternoon, I've managed to finish a card with a digi I colored a while ago which I did not manage to assemble into something nice for a while and the card turned out... PINK!

This digi is "Lovely Couple" from Birdie Brown on Etsy and I bought it last year as soon as I saw it in the shop.

It took a while to transform it into a card but now I'm so happy with the result! I painted the newly wed with Copics and added a touch of glitter in the roses and in the groom's hankie, then I used a DCWV background paper on a white card, a paper doily, a sheer organza ribbon and bow and a delicate pink rose. I even added a button on the groom!

They look so happy!

Have a nice Saturday night!

OOhh... How Cute!

A couple of days ago I found a lovely freebie in one of my favourite blogs Birdie Brown and I immediately realized I could make some tiny cards with them:

Aren't they sweet?

In 2011 I bought some stamps from her shop on Etsy which I used for party decorations but I did not send a picture to her to show them.

I've had these pretty mini cards and envelopes in various colors for a while but they are so tiny I couldn't find something suitable for them. When I printed the pears I headed for them all and chose this bright green: a bit out of the usual Valentine color scheme but perfect for my pears!

In addition, I've had ideas for cards and other sweet little creations with Birdie Brown stamps, so stay tuned!

The Paper Shelter DT Call

The second card I've made this week is for a DT Call:

I bought this digi stamp from The Paper Shelter around Christmas but it was too late to make Christmas cards. I fell in love with its sweetness and poetry. I used only a part of the digi here, it actually has two gnomes and a little mouse watching them.

As soon as I read that they were looking for new DT members I thought about making a card with this digi. Ehm... well, to tell you the truth, the very first thing I thought was that I could never become a DT for them but then I decided I had to try.

The main thing they want to see in applicants' cards is colouring and, fingers crossed, I did my best with my new Copics. As you know, I'm quite new to Copics and I'm still practising.

I glittered each and every light, the gnome's belt and the pom-pom on his hat... Oohh! How I love glitter!

I wanted to keep the colors simple and I chose this red and white color scheme: a red card, white and red papers, red dots made with paint.

Christmas is over and I should be making Valentine cards but I couldn't wait to color this gnome and I have in mind to make at least one Christmas card per week... well, maybe every two weeks....

This card will be entered in The Paper Shelter Design Team Call

and

in the ABC Christmas Challenge: A for Anything Goes

Fingers crossed for the DT Call, for the Challenge and... for I manage to make one Christmas card/week in 2012!

PS: this card won't be for sale in my Etsy shop until later this year. Should you be interested in it, please let me know and I'll list it.

New Cards!

Well, my New Year's resolutions regarding my craft room are vanishing... it's such an overwhelming amount of work I prefer to go out and do something else.

I did manage to reorganize something but I should do that at a quicker pace.

In any case, I entered my craft room and, without looking on the left side where the most of my clutter is, I reached my seat and created some new cards.

The first one is this:

I've had this adorable lamp for a while and I've always wanted to make a card with it and finally I've found a simple layout in sweet white and pink tones.

This lamp is a digi stamp from Meljen's Designs which I mounted on a white card embellished with a striped pink paper from Pink Petticoat and a satin ribbon. A sentiment et... voilà!

I'll enter my first challenge this year: Meljen's Designs Challenge # 92 where "Anything Goes"!

I'm so happy I did manage to find some time to create new cards, I always miss it when I do other things!

In Desperate Need of Order

Now that holidays are over here too, I definitely need to start decluttering my craft room...

I used to reorganize it at least every two years with some quick clean up in between but now it's been a while since my last deep cleaning and clutter has increased without control.

Less time and a change in my craft habits mean that I need to do it with lots of attention and dedicated work.

I used to be a painter and my craft room was organized so that I had wood pieces easy to be found, paints well in order, brushes on the table, water always available, rugs ready for a quick clean of my brushes and spots, painting books divided by author.

A couple of years ago, I closed my eBay shop and decided to move towards card making: now I have cards, inks, stamps, papers, Copics, glitters, embellishments... to store and space is still the same.

For this reason, a quick after-Christmas clean-up is not enough. I need to take boxes down from the shelves, open them and take some difficult decisions: some things need to be thrown away. I still keep some books and notes from my high school and university years, paper work from my previous jobs, books and teacher's material from my teaching years, old photos, magazines, cross-stitch books from when I still lived at my parents' and spent hours stitching with my mom.

Even if some of these things may still be useful, some other are now out of fashion or out of my current taste or simply can be stored in the basement.

I have taken a few photos of my craft room at the moment but I'm so ashamed of its state that I cannot show them on the blog! I can hardly walk in or put a ladder in front of the bookshelf to take things down...

In any case, I've some clear ideas on a few things:

1.I don't want - or need - to buy new containers for storage

2.I don't want to drill holes in the wall

3.I want to part with all the things I don't like

4.I could reduce my stash: keep some items for me and sell/give away the exceeding amount

5. If I ever have an idea to create something from items I find during the cleaning process, I must write it down so that I won't forget it. The same with storage containers I may find along the way which can be revamped and be more pretty!

I'm a bit overwhelmed by the amount of work I have to do and by the amount of dust. When I have a look at those incredibly organized craft rooms full of containers, boxes, vases, jars, etc. I wonder how frequently they dust. Dust is my worst enemy, I really never conquer it!

Happy New Year

dear readers and followers!

I know, I know I've been a bad blogger in December but I've been busy creating cards, invitations and favors for my daughter's birthday party, making and looking for gifts, decorating for the holidays...

BUT

I'm planning great things (at least for me) for these first months of 2012: I'm already making my new year's resolutions which include taking my brushes out again and paint a new line of pretty plaques for the home, making new cards, creating photo albums and... cleaning my studio.

This last will be a very hard task to accomplish, it's in such a mess! But I I need to learn to let things go and this will probably be the most difficult of things.

I'm planning to post my progress here on the blog: I discovered a few blogs dealing with decluttering and found lots of inspiring crafts studios on the web and somehow I look forward to starting this adventure.

Holidays here in Italy have an end on January 6, when we put decorations and Christmas things away. School will start on January 9 so, until then, I don't think I have time to start.

Meanwhile, I'm also thinking about new cards for my Etsy shop and I'm avidly waiting for new realeases in digi and rubber stamps.

One of these new releases is going to be from Tiddly Inks: have you seen the new badge on the sidebar? Isn't she cute? I really look forward to seeing Wryn and her friends!

Well, that's all for now!

HAPPY 2012!

DigiStamp Boutique Customer Competition

In November I took part in DigiStamp Boutique monthly Challenge and I'm amongst the three lucky - VERY LUCKY - winners!

I LOVE their digis and it was SO hard to choose the images!

And what about the new December digis? They are ADORABLE!

While waiting for my new images to arrive, I made a card for this month Challenge with one of my "Oldie but Goodie" images:

I made two or three cards last year with this lovely Marty and Matilda digi stamp and they are all gone so I decided it was time to make another batch of cards with them.

I've kept the pastel colors of one of my previous versions of the card, added a sparkly ribbon and two pearls in the mistletoe which is glued with 3D dots for a dimensional effect.

The sentiment is attached with a snowflake brad.

I'll enter this card into the following Challenges:

DigiStamp Boutique December Customer Competition

and

Abc Christmas Challenge: Y is for Yipeee - Christmas is almost here!

That's true... Christmas is almost here and there's still SO much to do....

Cyber Monday Sale!

My very first Cyber Monday Sale is going on in my Etsy shop:

10% off your entire order (shipping excluded) with Coupon Code CYBERMONDAY10.

You have time until Tuesday, Nov. 29.

Happy Shopping!