Darling, we all do.

Surprisingly enough, I did in fact not fall off the face of the earth. I’ve just been way busy with mundane stuff like making a living, you know? So at the moment I don’t get crafty a lot, but when I do, I can sometimes not be bothered to wait until there’s daylight to photograph my creation – but this time I did! And so, please meet two new cards:

(using my Silhouette Portrait, Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper Pad, SC Patterned Paper, some washi, Mr. Hueys, a leftover from a pink doily, twine and a badge from the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection)

Hope you’re having a great week!

Nina

P.S. Title from this lovely song by Brooke Fraser.

Hello everyone, how’s your weather? We’ve had snow last weekend (as Dana has pointed out as well), although only above 400m – which is a shame, really, ‘cos I love snow. Anyhow, back to the old rain/grey/cold weather, but hopefully with some nice and sunny ones thrown in! While dinner is cooking, I’m gonna show you some cards I made recently:

Why, of course I jumped onto the gold/glitter/feathers bandwagon, what did you think?!

For this classic wedding card, it was old and new and nothing blue, for the birdy stamp is from Basic Grey’s Urban Prairie Collection (remember that one?) and I think it’s just perfect, embossed in black glitter Zing!

The following, in no particular order, are some projects from this year that I hadn’t taken pictures of (so far) – yes, I still have them, that means they’re actually for nobody but for myself to keep! I’m fearless, people, I try new stuff even if it’s scary

That’s a mini album (using the MakeSomethingSplendid Tutorial [I had purchased the full kit, but I didn't take pictures of the one that I created with it]) which has all the photos and stuff from our trip to Munich last year.

That little number (oh Boy!) is just a tiny, stapled book to hold all the business cards I receive these days.

The idea came from the cute daybook Amy Tan(gerine) was carrying around. She just washi’d the memory tags and photos down, which I thought was genius, since if you only washi tape one edge, you can still lift up the tag to read what’s on the backside.

This layout and the following two are shameless CASEs from those beautiful layouts by Rahel Menig. They’re 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, quite an approachable size for a cardmaker

A more christmassy one. (In case you’re wondering, that’s sunlight on top of the page, not warped paper. Oh yeah we get sunlight. Sometimes.)

Yes, it is

And that’s a really simple card, more than just loosely inspired by this lovely creation from Kimberly Crawford.

Sooo, we’re coming to the end of the little show & tell and so here it is, last but not least, the pièce de résistance (after which I could indeed not resist anymore and had to start scrapbooking on 12×12 – like real scrapbookers do!! *gasp*):

It`s me! Holding up a 12×12 layout that I did all. by. my. self.
Except that it was a class taught by no other than the wonderful Amy Tan herself.
Aaaand she took an instagram picture of me! With my layout! And posted it onto her Instagram page! And *the* Céline Navarro commented on it! Telling Amy that she “knows that girl”! Eeeek. *nerd out*

Ahem. Yeah. Where was I? Oh right, that was all – for now.
See ya, ladies!!

Fire over the horizon

Hey guys! I know it’s been some time since my last post! Sorry I’ve got some stuff to show ya! First off, I wanted to show you a card I created, but I can’t find the file right now… Anyhow, the card matches this frame (it was the first time I made one, so I used these ones here from Alex Rath as a guide):

I had to take a night shift to finish it off, but that was totally worth it – the recipient liked it a lot.

So last weekend, we went to a lovely concert with this band:

And they were kinda surprised when the crowd turned their backs on them…

(It was their last concert in Germany, so the Crew had given out a written note to everyone of us, to do what you see on the photo as soon as the band would ask us to sing along.) We had a great time – the songs are much more powerful IRL and Valeskas enthusiasm on stage is just adorable. Also: she looks like a fairy.

Thanks to Wiebke, I managed to snag their autographs onto my new CD:

I really want to make a mini album about this weekend (even though I still have New Zealand, Munich and Fischermühle waiting in line… argh). Thanks Dana, for the drive and thanks to Marco & Wiebke for everything!

See ya!

P.S. The title stems from Sara Bareilles’ song “Carolina”.

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge

Hey everyone!
Just a quick post before I jump into the pool again – here’s the card I made with lovely inspiration from the folks at Papertrey Ink:

And here’s my card:

On the card you’ll find all of the above colours (plus a little black thrown in for contrast) and some of the gorgeous Papertrey products.
I used the following: Harvest Gold Cardstock, Background: Newsprint stamp set, Bitty Box patterned paper in Summer Sunrise and Twill Ribbon in Chartreuse as well as Solid Satin Ribbon in Melonberry.

Thanks for looking!
I’m off – you’ve gotta enjoy the sun while it’s there! *whee* B)
See ya!

P.S. And, of course, credit where it is due: the card idea is from this lovely number (3rd card) created by Dawn McVey
P.S.S. Apparently the sun is making me all dizzy – I shouldn’t forget to mention that this die-cut was made and given to me by my lovely friend Dana, thanks girl!!

Hi, Canon!

So yesterday my boyfriend got me a new camera.
My old one was driving me crazy ‘cos there was a spot on the lens that would of course show up in every single photo. Not dramatic, but annoying all the same.
So now I’ve got a semi-professional camera, a Canon Ixus 310 HD.
It’s compact and produces really cool photos, even in auto setting.
This one here, for example, is not even processed (except for adding my watermark):

Cool, huh?
So yeah, this is a card I made some nights ago after a long day full of translating marketing stuff  The “sketch” for this one is Dawn’s adorable card following the release of Studio Calico’s new kit.
Random insert: Okay, this is weird, a soap bubble just came in through the tilted window and floated onto my desk to pop. Um yeah… where was I?

Ah right, I wanted to show you the whole card. Tadaa:

The composition is similar to her card, except I used different materials (also: no die-cut machine) and I decided to tilt the tag. I really love how this turned out and can’t wait to try the other designs from her post.
So if you’ll excuse me now, I’ve got to get my paper out

Something old, something new

Lookit what I got…

Wheee This is my new but old little treasure. I have wanted a functioning typewriter for quite some time now and when I saw photos of this lovely mint-coloured, well-designed Consul typewriter, I knew I had to have one. I just bought a new ribbon and ta-daa…

I’ve already used it to write on cards made from scraps lying around on my table and it’s perfectly imperfect:

I just can’t stop using my new wood veneer paper - it’s super thin and therefore easy to use with paper punches. I had tried my hand on 2mm balsa wood, but it starts to crumble away when I try to cut into it.
Anyhow, hope you have a nice week
Talk to you soon!

Everybody gets a second chance

Hey y’all! How’s life treating you?
Over here, major changes are  underway since I graduated from Uni two weeks ago.
Yep, you read that correctly – my student life is now officially over I still can’t quite believe it – relieving and exciting all at the same time. What now? I’m going to apply for different kinds of jobs (mainly for translating/interpreting, natch) and I’m going to continue doing small translating and interpreting assignments. We’ll see where it’ll lead
My colleague from work recently had a birthday and I made some sweet treats (tried my hand at Cake Pops for the first time, they turned out great, but I know each and every single one of them has about a gazillion calories, oh boy ^^)…

Chocolate/Vanilla Cake Pops, first take

And, of course, she got a birthday card (I made the paperclip, using some My Mind’s Eye fabric and a common paper clip – I need to get hold of some fabric stiffener, that would prevent the fraying and I’d be able to make cute embellishments like those bows)…

… and this Accordion/ Leporello album made from scratch (using this idea with different measurements). My album measures 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 and I am particularly proud of taking the courage to stamp on fabric – I test-stamped on a leftover swatch and found that Stone Grey Staz-On didn’t show up too well, but Palette Hybrid Ink in Noir Black made a nice impression.
I was really happy to finally use my newly acquired Tim Holtz stamp – it is sure to make an appearance in future projects as well since I am totally in love with the font treatment

Here’s a little collage showing you the insides of the album:

If you have any questions, let me know

P.S.: The title of this post is, of course, the title of a favourite song by Mike & the Mechanics, but currently the tune playing in my head is Mayer Hawthorne’s “A long time” – an appropriate title as well ;D

Ein kleiner Frühlingsgruß

Hey there!
How’ve you been?
I’m at home, getting the apartment in shape for some guests and baking strawberry cake
Just wanted to stop by and show you some stuff I made recently.

First off, this little thing I made when one day I felt the sudden urge for owning a piece of art featuring a fox of some kind. So I made this, using a really cheap plastic frame, black spray paint, old french newspaper, a template for the fox and American Crafts Chap paper.

Didn’t you hear – foxes are the new owls

Tomorrow, a good friend of mine is coming back from her trip to Goa. Said strawberry cake and this mini album will greet her upon her arrival:

I was inspired by all the mini albums and cards from Rahel Menig (and the envelope album from Liz Kartchner), so naturally I had to use my new sewing machine, bakers twine, washi tape and colour mist splatters. Aaand Crate paper

It did get a little too thick, to be honest, next time I’d probably make a real spine. But she’ll only be adding photos anyway and the pink ribbon helps keeping it all together.

I put together a little collage showing the insides of the album:

And since it took me quite some time to finish this little gem, here are some favourite detail photos:

Here’s a look at what is inside the pockets/envelopes:

That’s it for now, I hope the recipient likes it just as much as I do
If you have any questions, let me know!
See ya soon!

The Power of Love

… is what I hope will guide my boyfriend safely through his surgery. Two very experienced chiefs of medicine and their competent team will do just as well. Anyhow, I’m sitting here, waiting for a call. It’s what I’ve been doing for the last um several hours. Let’s hope for the best.

You’re my hero <3

On another note, it’s my best friend’s birthday today and so I’m going to share two of the birthday cards I’ve crafted recently using my brand-spankin’ new sewing machine. Enjoy!

The title, as usual, is a great song by Huey Lewis & the News, (as heard in “Back to Future”).

See ya and please keep your fingers crossed for Nico.
Thank you.

ETA: I just got the call I was waiting for – the surgery went well and he is doing okay So relieved. Thanks to everyone who sent thoughts and prayers. Xoxo

I’m already out of foolproof ideas

Hey everyone,

long time no post, eh? Well, I’ve always meant to write something, but then… I never did.

So anyhow, this is just a quick update to let you know I’m still there, concentrating on university stuff, on jumpstarting my career and such. I’m still making cards and now that I’ve got a new sewing machine I’ll try to do more of that as well.

Here are some recent projects using the Paper Heart Collection from Crate (love!!):

This one was given to my Valentine this year –  a shaker card (total CASE of this lovely number by Julie Campbell) made by stampig those Hero Arts people (man & woman) on the inside of the card, tracing the outlines with an Xacto knife and glueing a thin acetate sheet onto the cutout area (for a general shaker card how-to, look here). The sentiment is handwritten.

In the background you can see the Red Velvet Cake I made for my boyfriend, courtesy of this recipe from Bakerella (no, I do not own a cute cake stand, total breach of blogger cliché, sorry. But look, cake!). The cake is delish, but I must warn you: there’s more sugar in one slice than a person should eat in like a week or so. Next time I make this (there will be a next time, ‘cos this cake is super moist and tasty), I would use less sugar in the cake batter and I would half the ingredients used for frosting since I had quite a big batch of leftover frosting. All in all, the cake is very sticky – it will stick to a greased pan as well as to parchment paper, so I don’t know how you get this off the pan nicely. But thanks to the frosting (which is NOT white, since it’s made from equal parts cream cheese and butter), noone will notice, believe me.

This card was made with the same collection, some washi tape, bakers twine, stamping, faux stitching and splotches of Mr. Huey’s Lemonade, Overdue and Shine. Oh and the layout was taken from this lovely card by Dawn McVey.

And since it was Valentine’s Day yesterday, I’ll leave you with a photo of cute pink roses (a special variety from Strasbourg):

See ya!

P.S. The title of this post is from a great song by the ever-so-lovely Sara Bareilles (
http://www.tape.tv/musikvideos/Sara-Bareilles/Uncharted
 - the video is um… innovative?).