A step in the right direction

Look alike hat for Maja

2012-01-30T22:24:00.005+01:00

A couple of months back Maja left her favourite hat at the dentist's waiting room. A week later, when I went to pick it up, it wasn't there anymore. It was just a shop bought pink thing with sequins on it, but she hasn't found a hat that she was happy with since, so I decided to knit her a new one.
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I have used Lille Rosin's pattern for the look a like hat from her blog: http://lillerosinquilt.blogspot.com/2009/02/look-like-lua-fra-vm-i-alpin-2009-det.html
(blogger won't let me highlight anything anymore, and that makes it hard to make the link look a bit nicer...) Hope the link works though.
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I cast on the same amount of stitches as the pattern said, but didn't increase as many stitches and made the hat a bit smaller than the pattern said, and it fits perfectly! Maja is very pleased, and I don't have a problem with getting her to wear a hat anymore....

House down...

2012-01-21T22:52:00.004+01:00

Today we decided it was time to eat the gingerbread house we made for Christmas. We were supposed to do it last week end, but we were so busy that we didn't have time.The girls really enjoyed the task... lol...
... and it's all gone to pieces... ;)

Even though it was very fun to smash the house to pieces, I think eating it was even more fun....

After eating all that gingerbread (we didn't really eat it ALL), we headed outside to play in the new snow... sooooo much fun. The girls played outside for over two hours. This was Susie's first time skiing this season.

She came home without her ski poles though... I think they dissapeared when the snow plow drove past where they were playing.... well, we might find them again when spring comes...

I cased my 9 yr old daughter's card....

2012-01-20T21:57:00.004+01:00

Last weekend we had two birthdays to make cards for. First, Maja was going to a birthday party on Saturday. She borrowed my stamp, Promarkers and Cuttlebug to make this card for her friend:
She was really pleased with her card, and I, too, liked her card so much that I cased it for the birtday card I was going to make for the birthday we were going to on Sunday.... This is what I came up with:

I have used a Pink Gem Designs digistamp, coloured with my Promarkers. I have also used an alphabet die that I borrowed from a friend to make the letters and the number.

...the inside...

Thanks for looking. Hope you all have a great week end!

Froggety frogg...

2012-01-17T21:40:00.005+01:00

This is my first card this year. I got a Cuttlebug for Christmas, but I didn't have any dies to try out, so a friend of mine borrowed me her dies to play with. I have made her this card as a Thank You...

The image is "Beach Baby Jayme" from Crissy's Digi's for Whimsy Stamps, and she is coloured with Promarkers.

Cards made in 2011

2012-01-07T20:59:00.012+01:00

Another post showing everything I've done since february... lol... maybe I should start blogging a bit more often again.... Well, this time I just want to blog all the cards I made this... ehm... last year.

For Christmas I needed a few small things to give away, so I made these small post it note holders. They were really quick and fun to make.

Here you can see all the postit note holders I made....

This card was for my sister in law's birthday. She plays the guitar and she had just done a project with spiders at school... The left picture is the front of the card, and the right is a peek of the inside...

My niece was one in October.... this is the card I made for her.

This mermaid was for one of Maja's friend's birthday.

...and another mermaid for Susie's friend.

It's always hard to buy prensents for people that have everything... so for my mum's birthday I made her a set of five cards for different occasions. When I think about it, this was probably a stupid thing to do since she is one of the few people that buys cards from me on a regular basis.... The set consisted of:

A wedding card...

a new home card....

a happy birthday card...

another birthday card....

and a card with no sentiment...

they were all decorated on the inside as well...

I think she was pleased with the present, and I know that she has already given some of the cards away.

The next two cards was for Maja's friends too...

And way back in january last year, I made this sliding pop up card for some friends of ours that had a baby girl.

Well.... this was kind of short and sweet... lol... I guess I should have added what stamps (companies) and materials I've used but I can't really be bothered listing all that for all these cards. And I think that would have made for a really boring post as well....

What happened next...?? 2011 in pictures....

2012-01-04T21:12:00.002+01:00

Oh, I guess it's been a while.... I'm not sure anyone comes "in" here anymore, but that's ok. I will do a quickish (or probably very looong) post about what's been going on since my last post just because I like to look back on my blog to see what and when we've done things... like a diary.... so I guess this post is kind of just for keeping the continuity of the "story" going.... (mostly for myself). I'll try to keep it short....;)

APRIL:

Just after buying the house here in Norway, we finally managed to sell our house in Scotland. So in April we took a trip over the pond to make our Scottish house ready for the new owners. It was a while since we visited last, so the grass really needed cutting.... I think hubby struggled a bit...

The girls really enjoyed beeing back in Scotland, especially Maja Siobhan, who miss Scotland, the house and her Scottish friends a lot.

We had a lovely "last" weekend in our house in Armadale/Bathgate, and we had some lovely years in Scotland, so it was very sad to say goodbye to our house....

Spring is a very nice time in Scotland.... just look at this marvellous tree....

MAY:

Packing everything in boxes.... need I say more....??

....and then unpacking the boxes....

Our new house has a loooovely garden, a huge decking and a couple of trees too many... I wanted these two trees to be taken down because they made the entrance to our decking too narrow...

... so my dad (with good help from Susie) helped us with our tree problem....

... it looks sooooo much better now don't you think....

My mother brought a couple of berry bushes... red currants and blueberries. I planted them behind the house in one of the already existing vegetable patches...

JUNE:

At the end of June we bought a new car. We got the car just in time for our holiday. And when I say just in time, I mean JUST in time... we only had a few hours to spare before the ferry left for Denmark.... It was nice to try out the new car right away.... driving through Denmark to Germany, where we, after a couple of days on our own, met up with my parents and their camper van. The girls and my parents slept inside the van, while hubby and I slept on an airbed in the front tent. Worked out great!

We had a great couple of weeks together, enjoying camping life, and especially the pool...

JULY:

Mid July, my mum and dad treated the whole family, incl. my brother, to a week in Rhodes, Greece. You'd think we'd had enough of each other during our camping trip... a few of our friends thought we were crazy spending almost all summer with my parents... lol... but you can't really say no to a free trip abroad.

The hotel was very nice. This is the view from our balcony....We spent quite a few hours in or around that pool. Thank you mum and dad for an absolutely lovely holiday!

Well, back home we had some work waiting for us... When we bought the house it came with a very nice, big play house in the garden. But the colour was all wrong, so we decided to paint it the same colour as the house. This is (almost) what it looked like before (hubby has started sanding the walls and putting up new window sills.)

....and here Maja is putting the final touches to her (and Susie's) house. Looks goooood:)

AUGUST:

You didn't think that was all the travelling we did this year, did you?? Well, if you did, you were wrong... Early August, the girls and I went to the north of Norway. I was invited to my cousins wedding. Hubby was working, and I couldn't get anyone to look after the girls while I went up north, so I brought them with me. Since they weren't really invited to the wedding (I could bring them if I was really stuck), I got my aunt to pick them up from the airport outside Harstad and take them home with her, while I took the bus a few hours further north... I was a bit concerned how the girls would take being stuck with my aunt that they don't know very well while I left, but I shouldn't have worried. She has a small, very cute dog, and that did the trick... lol...

After the wedding, I managed to visit my uncle for his 50'th birthday. He lives halfway between my aunt and the wedding place. And then I spent a few days with my aunt, her dog and the girls before we flew back home.

A few days after coming back home, we started doing up a room in our basement. Hubby has always wanted a bar at home, and we thought this room would be good....The bar will go in the left side of the top picture, and the sofa, beneath the window in the picture below... nice??Everyone is helping out...

SEPTEMBER:

After closing the cracks in the walls and painting them, hubby started laying down a new floor.

And this is how far we had come when the pressure in our central heater became too high and flooded the room with water....We had to take everything out, rip up the floor, leave the floor boards to dry and do it all over again... Hubby was not happy, and he has now cut the pipes from the central heating so they won't flood this room if the pressure gets too high again....

Maja also participated in her first riding contest this month. She was riding Lille Sky. Sooo much fun!

OCTOBER:

We're not quite finished travelling yet. We spent the autumn holidays at my parents cabin. During the first weekend, there was a market there with lots of little booths selling crafts. There were also different activities to participate in. One of them being stacking the most soda crates on top of each other.... Maja, being the daredevil she is, wanted to try this out... She came 2nd with 23 crates on top of each other... (She's crazy... lol...)

We also had time for some fishing.... the weather being quite wet didn't stop us. We didn't get any fish though.

October was also the month we, or rather Maja, got a pet. The sweetest, kindest hamster you've ever seen. He's called Dott.

We also finished the bar in October! This is what it looks like now when we've "moved in". Do you recognize the room?? We're so pleased with how it turned out, and we've spent quite a few evenings down there.

We got a sofa bed from one of my mum's friends, that we put in the bar as well, so now we can have people staying over. I think this is the only bar I know where you're not just allowed to sleep in the bar, but encouraged to do so too... lol...

NOVEMBER:

November came, and went without much more to say about that...

DECEMBER:
We had a sad ending to the year as my dear mother in law passed away. She was such a good person, always smiling and joking, and always putting other people before herself. We will miss you sooo much, Magda.

Well, life must go on, and Christmas is waiting for no one. We chopped our Christmas tree in our own garden this year! If you scroll back up and look at the photo of the vegetable patch with the berry bushes, you can see this tree in the background...

I guess that's about it... well, at least the bits I could remember....

Finally: Happy New Year to all of you from the four of us!

Ok, so this wasn't really a shortish post... If you're still here, thanks for looking:)

Gone shopping....

2011-02-08T20:53:00.003+01:00

Would you believe... We bought a house yesterday!! Eeeeek! I'm so excited! Oh, my gosh, yesterday was one of the most exciting days of my life... bidding to get my dreamhouse. I think there were a few people wanting this house, cos the price tag just went up and up... and just as I was about to give up, I had the highest bid, and got the house!!
The worst part of the whole shebang is that hubby hasn't even seen the house.... just the photos.... Ok, so I guess I'm a bit crazy, using a few million Norwegian kroner on a house that I'm the only person in the family that have seen on the inside.... but I guess they just have to trust me... lol... at least hubby will have a double garage for his motorbikes and the car...
And look at the humongous decking.... cant wait for summer barbeques out here....

Oh, and the kitchen..... say no more!

...it even has a fireplace! Just gotta love it!

And there is the most beautiful fireplace in the living room as well...

We'll be moving sometime in May, I believe.... can't wait!

Jessamine....

2011-02-04T23:33:00.004+01:00

Just a quick post tonight as it's getting late...
Main image is Twisted Sister "Jessamine" by Sweet November stamps. I just looove her. I think I'm in love with all of Amy Young's Sweet November stamps. Have to get me some of her princesses soon too.... Aaanyway... Jessamine and all the turquoise on my card is coloured with Promarkers. Flourishes on the background is by Panduro. I have also used a MS punch, some Tilda DP,and a little bit of bling. Oh, and some Stickles on Jessamine's tights and headband.

I'm entering this card into these challenges:

Sketch Saturday- challenge #140 - Sketch

Stamptacular Sunday challenge- #96 - Whateva!

I love Promarkers- #51- Anything goes

ATS Wednesdays Challenge- week 65- Anything goes.

Green and blue lion....

2011-01-24T18:43:00.005+01:00

As I said a couple of posts down, I was home from work with a poorly child for two and a half days last week.... that gave me a little bit of cardmaking time while she was sleeping the fever off...
I just love this little lion freebie by Meljen's design. Soo cute and perfect for baby cards. This time I have used my green/lime and blue Promarkers to colour in with. I also attempted a double slider card. This card doesn't open up like "normal" cards, but you have to pull that little ribbon above the lion, and two panels slide out above and below the image.... like this:

Neat, eh? See how it works on one of my other double slider cards HERE.

I'm entering this card in these challenges:

A Spoon Full of Sugar- challenge 135 - blue & green

Stamp Something- Cute something challenge

Allsorts challenge blog- week 87- male/boy

Our Creative Corner- Three musketeers Colour challenge
Creative Craft World- Cute & Cuddly Card Challenge

Thanks for looking!

Made in 2010!

2011-01-21T20:36:00.013+01:00

After looking through my blogposts for the last year, it looks like all the crafty stuff I've done is making cards... but that's not the case... I guess I've just forgotten to blog about all the other things I've made. Most of my cards are made for some challenge or other, and have to be blogged right away... other things have to wait... but not anymore. Here are some of the things I made in 2010:

Some new outfits for my girls' Barbie dolls. I have made a few more skirts and blouses, but I don't have a photo of them. I found all the patterns HERE somewhere.

Back in March, I knitted some mittens for my mum and for Maja. I also made some for Susie, but they were never shown... but here they are. Susie picked the colours herself, and she has used them a lot.

I've had this white yarn in my stash for ages. I inherited three full balls and two used ones of this when my grandmother died 16 years ago. This yarn must be quite old. It's called Annie, and is made by L/L Hovland Ullvarefabrikk. The factory was dismantled in 1989, so my "guess" is that this yarn is 22 years old... probably older....

After being in my stash for that long, I thought it was about time I used it for something. I decided to knit myself a Dream Shrug. I used this quite a lot over my strappy tops last summer. I have also made one of these for Maja/Susie (they had to share one), but again, no picture.

I'm not sure these frames are worth showing, but here they are anyway. They are made of a piece of cardboard, old newspapers, glue and some acrylic paints.... Quite fun to make actually!

My cheap laundry basket from IKEA was falling apart last summer, so instead of buying a new one I decided to rip off the old plastic basket, keep the frame and sew a new fabric "basket". I love it! (before on the left, after on the right...)

I have also been digging into my stash of beads. I have mostly made knitting markers, but I sold or gave them all away before I managed to take some pictures... silly me! I managed to take some really bad photos of a couple of earrings I made though... I gave these to my hubby to use as a gift in his work's advent calendar.

I started knitting this scarf back in April, but never finished it until November... Scarves are sooo boring to knit! Love the pattern and the colours of this though. I found the pattern for this at Ravelry.

This is a project that took even longer to finish.... I'm not quite sure exactly when I started knitting it, but I know I still lived with my parents... I moved out back in 95.... so it has taken a few... ehm... years to finish. I must say to my defense that it was stuffed away in a basement with all our other stuff in Norway the 8,5 years we lived in Scotland.... but still....

I have also made a reusable, reversible Swiffer cover. I was tired of buying new ones all the time, and this is more environment friendly as well. It's made from acrylic yarn as that tends to create static that makes dust and hair cling. It was fun and easy to crochet, and it works really well. I'm definately going to make more of these! This is also a Ravelry pattern.

The last thing I'm showing is a new dishcloth for my kitchen... Nice and bright colours, 100% cotton. Pattern is HERE.

I think I've already blogged the baby blanket I made for my new niece... didn't I? *opening a new window to check*... Yes I did. (I have made another one of these blankets for a friend at work, but I'll show that later... guess I've shared enough today....).

Well.... that's all folks... as they say in the cartoons... lol...

Friday Sketchers #137

2011-01-19T22:16:00.005+01:00

I've been home from work with a very warm little girl today and half of yesterday... last night her temperature reached 40 degrees... poor little thing. She's a little bit better today though. I find it really hard to stay home from work at the moment. I just started in my new position, and I have a thousand things to think about. How will the pupils get all their homework when I'm not there to sort everything out...? lol.... Well, I hope the person that have to take my class tomorrow will understand the plans I've written for her...

This card is for these challenges:
Friday Sketchers sketch #137
I love Promarkers - #49 - keep it sweet and simple
Stamp Something - anything goes

The image is a digi freebie by Meljen's designs. I thought it was perfect for a "Welcome baby girl" card. I have used Promarkers to colour in, and there is some stickles around the edges of the image and text panels and also some on the flower petals.

Thanks for looking!

Christmas cards....

2011-01-09T23:00:00.004+01:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all my readers (if there's still anyone coming around). I know... I've been a really bad blogger the last few months... sorry...

I never got around to blog about the Christmas cards I made for Christmas.... so, better late than never, right? (Click on picture for larger view.)
These first three were coloured with watercolours. It's been ages since I played with my watercolours, and I had lots of fun. The stamps are by Panduro.

On the next three, I used my Promarkers to colour in. I also stamped some of the backgrounds (hearts, snowflakes and swirls).

I have used Promarkers on the left one here as well. Stamp is one of the twisted sisters by Sweet November stamps. The right one is made with different stamps, all by Panduro.

Then I ran out of time, and had to make a batch of quick cards...

I used the same lay out as on my previous card, paper from the same set, and there's no colouring in on these ones, just stamping to make everything a bit quicker. I didn't have enough cards to send to all the people I wanted, so I guess I have to start earlier this year....
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Christmas was spent with my parents in Kristiansand. The girls really enjoyed being with them for a longer period of time. We even got to spend a couple of days more than intended as I got the flu and wouldn't even think about sitting in a car for over four hours to get home on the day we had planned... so hubby took all the presents with him in the car and drove home to go to work, and the girls and I stayed a while longer and flew back home.

I guess flying wasn't the best idea, really.... because when I got home, I got a really bad ear ache, and I have been almost deaf since new years eve.... I think my hearing is a bit better today, but can't say for sure since the house is all quiet....

Spider Henry for Nicklas

2010-12-03T22:50:00.006+01:00

Susie is going to her "boyfriend's" birthday party next week, and she wanted Spider Henry on the card.... Image is coloured with Promarkers. Text is handdrawn by me and the web in the background is a freebie from Tiddly Inks I downloaded a while back (can't find the url for it though).

I'm entering it in
Sketch Saturday challenge 131 - sketch
Cute Card Thursday- challenge 141- the blues

Happy news: I'm an aunt!

2010-11-28T21:50:00.005+01:00

On the 21st October my brother and his girlfriend had their first baby! A sweet little girl. It's all so exciting! And I'm finally a proper aunt. My hubby's nieces and nephew are all grown up, so it is really fun to have a baby in the family again.
I have knittet a blanket for my little niece. The pattern is from Garnstudio, and you can find it HERE. I have used 100% meriono wool for this blanket, and it took almost 5 balls of yarn to fininsh it. It was really fun to knit with all the different patterns.

Of course I had to make a card too.... I know my brother and girlfriend doesn't really care for pink, but there is no way one can make a "welcome baby girl" card without any pink on it, is there?? (please agree with me on this one... lol...)

I didn't want to hide the blanket in the wrapping, so I just wrappet a piece of craft paper around and tied it with some shiny ribbon....

I really hope they can use the blanket, and I wish them all the best with the new little one! What an exciting time they are going through....

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Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately. After I started working every day, I just don't have the energy.... and I don't want to spend my short evenings on the computer. I even forget to check my e-mails every day too....

Pearl Tidepool

2010-10-11T23:51:00.004+02:00

Just a quick post to enter this card in the Papertake Weekly Challenge - Your favourite challenge from the past 3 years. I have used sketch #27, which I felt was perfect for this cute mermaid image by Sweet November Stamps. I'm also entering it in The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #104 - distressing.

Well, I'm off to bed as I'm gettin up early tomorrow for work. Sorry for the bad colours... it's so hard to get it right in lamp light... Thanks for looking.

Crochet flowers

2010-09-25T12:35:00.004+02:00

A few people have asked me how I make the crochet flowers I use on my cards, so here's how:

You only need a few metres of yarn for each flower.

I use different size hooks for different size flowers.

ch: chain (luftmaske)

sl st: slip stitch (kjedemaske)
sc: single crochet (fastmaske)
dc: double crochet (stav)
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ch 4, join with sl st to first ch to form a ring.
Round 1: sc in ring, *ch 3, sc in ring*, repeat * to * 3 more times, ch 3, sl st to first sc to join = 5 ch-3 loops.
Round 2: *sc, ch 1, 3 dc, ch 1, sc* repeat from * to * in each ch-3 loop, sl st to first sc to join = 5 petals.
Fasten off, and your flower is done!

Hope you understand my pattern. If it's unclear please let me know and I will try my best to help you out. Please don't post my pattern anywhere else, make a link back to my pattern instead if you want to share...
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I would LOVE to see a picture if you make and use my flowers on a project... (just leave a link in my comments).

Another mermaid

2010-09-24T20:14:00.003+02:00

Autumn is officially here. It has been pouring down all day today, and it's cold. Brrr... It's a good thing we have warm tea/coffe, paper and stamps!
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I've had time to sit down and play with my new mermaid stamps again. This here is Current Ebbtide and her little pet fish Anela. Aren't they the cutest?
Ebbtide is another one of Amy Young/Sweet November mermaids. Don't know if I love her or Shimmer Redkelp the most.... lol... and I have another mermaid, too, that I will try to get inked up over the weekend. Image is coloured with ProMarkers (Mandarin, Pumpkin, Apricot, Vanilla, Blush, Dusky pink, Blossom, Amethyst, Lilac, Lavender, China Blue, Cornflower, Blue pearl, Black, Cool gray 2 +4 and Blender) and is mounted on 3d foam tape for dimension. I've also added some "pearls" and some ribbon. Border is punced with MS punch, and I have used a black pen to draw a bit around the edges of the papers.

This card goes into these challenges:

Oh, Alice: Chapter 31 - Use crowns and/or mythical creatures

Charisma Cardz Challenges: #38 - Anything goes!

Thanks for looking, and I really appreciate your comments!!

Shimmer Redkelp & Otto...

2010-09-22T10:07:00.009+02:00

Finally some time to sit down and do some blogging again... I had the house full with visitors this past weekend. My mum and dad, and my auntie too, came friday afternoon and stayed until monday afternoon. It was good to see them all again. We talked a lot, ate a lot and drank a lot.... ehmm... a little bit of red wine.
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The only downside of having them, was that I received some much wanted mermaid stamps (by Amy Young /Sweet November Stamps) just before my visitors arrived... and I had to put them away the entire weekend - the stamps, not the visitors;P -and be social instead... lol... and then I had work on Tuesday, so it wasn't until last night I got to sit down and play with my new stamps.
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It was hard to decide wich one I wanted to try out first, but I decided on Shimmer Redkelp and her sweet otter Otto. Isn't she the most gorgeous stamp? I'm sooo in love with these mermaids (I got a couple more that I haven't played with yet...). I knew from the first time I saw them that I needed to own a few...

I have used Promarkers to colour in with (Cocoa, Cinnamon, Blush, Vanilla, Dusky pink, Ivory, Blossom, Cool aqua, Duck egg, Mandarin, Pumpkin, Apricot and Blender). The sentiment was sent to me in the post a while back, so I don't know anything about it. I've also used a MS punch, some ribbon and brads. The flower is made with one of my crocheted flowers (it's so much fun to crochet these, and it only takes a few minutes. I can write down the pattern if anyone is interested), some torn and distressed book pages and a brad.

I'm entering this card in these challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches: #60 - handmade flowers

Passion for ProMarkers: week 70 - make your own flowers

The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge: #101 - anything goes

A Spoon Full of Sugar: #122 - anything goes.

Thanks for looking!

EDIT: You can find the pattern to my flowers HERE.

Miss Anya again...

2010-09-15T21:13:00.002+02:00

Just a quick post tonight...
Image is Miss Anya by The Greeting Farm. She's coloured with Promarkers and so is the scalloped oval border. I don't own this stamp myself, but she was so much fun to colour up that I'm wondering if I might have to buy one for myself.... lol... I have used one of my crocheted flowers again, but making it a bit more interesting by adding some torn bookpages coloured with Promarkers (Duck egg), a brad and some ribbon.

This card goes into these challenges:

ICSketches - sketch #83

Sketchy Colors - challenge 38- Red & Turquoise

Hooray for you!

2010-09-13T20:44:00.007+02:00

I guess I was on a roll, and then it stopped a bit.... maybe due to the fact that I'm working again! Yoohoo! I'm back to the same place as before... same school as Maja attends. It's sooo good to be back "in business", even though it's only 3 days a week... but can't spend my days making cards and playing with my stamps anymore... back to night time stamping... hahaha....

I needed a card for the girl next door who turned 8 the other day, and came up with this. Maja, who will be 8 in three weeks time, chose the image; a bratz girl printed out from one of those "print and colour in" pages for children.
Image is coloured with Promarkers (I didn't make a note of which ones) and mounted on 3d foam tape. Sentiment is a freebie from Create with TLC (tons of freebies on there:)) I have also used some scraps of paper and some bling...
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I sometimes wonder what other card makers do to the inside of their cards... so I thought maybe other people would be interested in seeing what I do to mine (most of the time anyway...).

I usually only add a one layer panel to the inside. Sometimes I punch one edge with a border punch (if I've used it on the front of the card), some has a stamped image on the panel and sometimes, if I don't have a coordinating stamp, I draw an image. I usually also add a thin, black double line around the edges of the panel and use my Promarkers to add some colour outside the line, and sometimes I just use an inkpad (like the one top right). Clean and simple, that's what I like...

Thanks for looking!

Hedgehog on a balloon...

2010-09-07T22:25:00.003+02:00

Oh well... I'm on a roll! Another card! Already! I'm even surprising myself... lol... Guess I've got too much spare time on my hands being without a job and no children at home...
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I made this card this morning whilst the children were away at school/nursery. Isn't that the cutest hedgehog? I've got a feeling that balloon's gonna burst any minute though... lol...
I don't know who the stamp is by... I stamped the image with my friend's stamp while I was there last week (and was, of course, too busy talking to notice any brand names...). Anyhoo... image is coloured with Promarkers (Cocoa, Cinnamon, Dusky pink, Blush, Vanilla, Ivory, Cornflower, China blue, Blue pearl, Cool grey 2 and 4. I also used the colourless blender to blend the shadows beneath the balloon. And I used Lime green and Apple for the scalloped border). I have used my promarkers along with Hero Arts shadow ink (baby blue) on the edges. And I have also distressed edges by scraping them with scissors. Sentiment was made with an alphabet stamp set, it says "happy birthday!"
I'm entering this card into these challenges:
2 Sketches 4 you - Laura's Sketch #60
Creative Cottage challenge - #22- Celebrations
Stamp something- Something cute
Crafty cardmakers- #29- Clean & simple
The Paper players- #14- Clean & simple

Two cards

2010-09-06T14:40:00.004+02:00

Monday again... I think Monday is becoming my favourite day of the week.... Maja at school, Susie at nursery, hubby at work, and me at home - alone! So I let housework be housework and dig out my papers and stamps instead! Today I finished this card:
Again, I have borrowed a stamp - one of the Gorjuss girls- from Renate. I have coloured her with Promarkers (Cocoa, Cinnamon, Dusky pink, Blush, Vanilla, Blossom, Ivory, Duck egg, Cool aqua, Red, Rose pink and Cool grey 2). Image panel is mounted on 3d foam. I have used Tilda papers and a MS punch. The edges is distressed by scraping a pair of scissors along the edge and I also added a bit of ink around the edges.

I had fun, the other day, crocheting some small cotton flowers. I have used one of them on this card. I put the bead from a decorative foam flower through the middle hole in the crocheted flower before gluing it to the card....

I'm entering this card into these challenges:

Sketch Saturday - Challenge #119 - a sketch

Stamptacular Sunday challenge - challenge 75 - Distress it!

Secret Crafter Saturday challenge - challenge 99- Clean and Simple

I also have a second card to share with you today... woohooo! That's not like me, is it? Two cards in one post... hehe... I made this card last week while visiting my friend Randi. I know, I know... two cardmaking visits in one week! Lucky me! It's so much fun meeting up with friends to talk and make cards and share stamps and ideas.

I have borrowed the Henry mouse stamp from my friend. Isn't he the cutest? He was coloured in (with Promarkers) while I was at my friends house, and I was too busy chatting away that I forgot to make a note of what colours I used... Papers from Nille, and again I have used some of my chrocheted flowers. I tried colouring one in with a Promarker, but I'm not sure about the effect.... Sentiment is made with a couple of different alphabet stamp sets and says "Hooray for you". Edges are distressed with scissors and I have also drawn a couple of lines round the papers with a pen.

Thanks for looking & have a great week!

Green Miss Anya

2010-09-03T12:30:00.005+02:00

Oh, it was sooo cold this mornig... I was seriously thinking about lighting a fire in our fireplace....It turned out to be a very beautiful, sunny day though, but still a bit chilly where there's no sun. I don't want summer to be over just yet, but I guess there's not much I can do about it really... lol... At least cold weather means more time inside and that will in turn lead to more time to craft...

Yesterday I met up with Renate, a lady I met here in blogland. Turns out she lives just "round the corner" from me (it took me no more than five minutes on my bike to get to her house...). She makes the most beautiful cards, and I've been following her blog for a while now, so it was really fun to meet her in real life. I brought some of my stash, and we spent the entire morning talking and making cards. I guess I did a lot of talking because I didn't even manage to finish one card while I was there.... I finished it at home last night though...
I have borrowed Renate's "Miss Anya" stamp by the Greeting Farm (such a cute stamp) for my image. It's coloured with Promarkers and mounted on 3d foam. Butterfly border is a MS punch. Black DP is by Dovecraft - Amethyst Floral prints. The green DP is something Renate gave me, so I don't know who it's by... The green heart is handmade... I cut a piece of card, covered it with glue and sprinkeled some glitter on.

I didn't add any flowers on my card because I thought the flowers on the DP were flowers enough.... and I also think I have a thing for simple cards at the moment...

Thanks for looking!

Super hero

2010-08-29T21:15:00.004+02:00

I have always admired the Whiff of Joy stamps, they are all so beautiful, but I don't have any myself.... well, I didn't until I found this cute freebie of Henry the mouse as spiderman a while ago.
I have coloured Spider Henry with Promarkers (True blue, Sky blue, Red, Cool grey 2, Rose pink, Blossom, Cocoa, Cinnamon, Vanilla and Ivory). DP is from the Black and white prints paper stack (8x8) by DCWV . Sentiment is computer made and the cobwebs are hand drawn. Image panel, sentiment and webs are mounted on 3d foam. I have also tried my hand at some distressing of the edges... that is something I rarely do, but I quite liked the effect... and there's a bit of tulle added to one side.

I'm entering this card in:

Challenge #86- Jane's sketch at Whiff of Joy Challenges.

Challenge #37- Anything goes at Bee Crafty.

Thanks for looking!

Sweet sweet baby!

2010-08-23T16:50:00.007+02:00

Instead of spending the morning out in the sun today, I sat at my kitchen table playing with my papers and stamps... You gotta have your priorities right... lol...
This card would be good for either a new baby or a christening, I think. I have used a stamped image that I won in a candy a while back. I believe it's by Whiff of Joy, but don't shoot me if I'm wrong.... Image is coloured with Promarkers. Of the top of my head, I can't remember the colours I used, and I can't be bothered to go downstairs just now to check... I have made the flowers myself.... the big one is made by two circles and a corner rounder punch and the smaller ones is made with two punced flowers. Leaves and swirls are drawn by hand. Image panel is mounted on 3d foam.

I have used this weeks sketch at Cute Card Thursday for this card.

I'm also entering it into challenge #45 -Anything goes, at Stampin' for the weekend .

Oriental delight...

2010-08-18T13:43:00.004+02:00

It was kind of hard to get up this morning to get Maja to school.... too many lazy mornings during summer holidays... This afternoon I'll take her to her riding lesson. THAT is something she's looking forward to! It's good to be back to "normal"...

I managed to make another card yesterday evening. I think that must be a record... two cards in one day. I'm so slow when it comes to picking the right papers and embellies and stuff, so most days I don't have time for more than one card. Well MOST days I don't even have time for cardmaking at all... lol... Anyway, here's my card:
The oriental girl image is from the "Four dolls" set by Hero Arts and the sentiment is by Kort og Godt (it says Good Luck! in Norwegian). The girl is coloured with water colour pencils and I've also added a bit of shimmering water colour paint on top (it doesn't show wery well in the photos though). Punch by Martha Stewart. I used the same punch for the "ribbon" as for the bottom of the DP. I just cut a 1" strip of paper, coloured it green with the same colours that I'd used on the girl and then punched the border from both sides of the paper strip. Easy peasy!

I'm entering this card in two challenges:

2 Sketches 4 You - sketch #59

One Stop Craft Challenge - Challenge 93 -Oriental delight
.

Thanks for looking!

Friday Sketchers #115

2010-08-17T15:36:00.006+02:00

Well... that's it then... tomorrow school starts again, and I guess everything goes back to normal... It doesn't seem like I'm getting my job back after summer after all.... the school has hired another teacher that is more suitable... I guess beeing an arts and crafts teacher isn't really the best option for a primary school. Never mind, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Today I have been home all alone for the first time in.... forever! Hubby is at work, Maja is visiting a friend and wee Susie is in nursery. I kind of didn't really know what to do with my time.... too many choices... tidy the wardrobes, unpack the suitcase after being away for the weekend, hoover, empty the dishwasher.... and the list goes on... so I settled on making a card!
Maja and I had been playing around with my Spot's botz stamps (Stampendous) yesterday, so the image was ready to put on the card... it was just a case of finding the right papers.... The sketch I have used is from this weeks challenge at Friday Sketchers.

The 'bot is coloured with watercolour pencils. It's a while since I used them last and I had almost forgot how much fun it is colouring in with them. The green backing paper is made by stamping a few of the bits from the robotz stamp set with green ink repeatedly on a piece of green paper. I feel like there is something missing on the card.... don't really know what I can put on it to make it look a bit more finished... I tried with some buttons, but I didn't have the right colour and size...

Well.... thanks for looking anyway. Hope your day is goooood!

Our summer holiday!

2010-08-10T21:29:00.006+02:00

Summer is almost over, and I guess there will be a bit more time for blogging in the months to come...

For our holiday this year, we borrowed my parent's camper van and drove through a few countries in Europe, seven to be exact (not counting Norway). We started off taking the ferry from Norway to Denmark. While there, we visited Legoland and this was the only day thorugh our three week long holiday we had rain...!! Then we drove through Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium to get to Maubeuge in France, where we visited some friends we hadn't seen in 12 years. After staying with them for a lovely weekend, we drove back to Belgium and then through Luxembourg to get to our dear friend, Edith, in Switzerland. We stayed with her for almost a week before we decided to start making our way home again.

We spent some time in the Rhine Valley (Germany) and also a couple of days in Denmark before taking the ferry back to Norway, where we visited my parents and met up with friends and family before we had to leave the camper van with my parents and take our "normal" car home.

That was the short version... hehe... don't want to bore you with all the small details... but instead I'll show some photos to tell you what we did...:

The girls would take every opportunity to have a bath in the hot, hot weather....
and we would take every opportunity to drink some good wine. The wine in the photo is a bottle we found in Edith's basement. I think it had been there for some time... the wine is even older than me (unfortunately it wasn't good anymore.... what a shame to waste such fine wine....)

we saw some farm animals/birds....

...and some wild animals/birds (stork)

We took a lovely boat trip on the river Rhein...

... where we saw some fantastic castles. There were sooo many of them!

We ate delicious food...

.... used tons of sun screen lotion

... did a bit of sight seeing

Not all the camp sites were crowded....

We even had time to sit down with a coffee and a good book...

and, of course, some more swimming!

What a great holiday!!!

Ahoy matey!

2010-06-21T23:35:00.008+02:00

Can you believe it's only tomorrow left, and then this school year is over? Wow, time flies! It's going to be very sad to say good bye to my pupils... I hope I will be able to work with them after the summer... better get on with that application...

Over to my card; I have used another of the digi images I won recently. "Captain Jack" by Pink Gem Designs. I have paired him with a freebie background by Dustin Pike that I downloaded ages ago (I used only half the original background).
Both digi images are coloured with Promarkers and Captain Jack is mounted with 3d foam on a panel which is also mounted on 3d foam.

This card is for the following challenges:

Everybody Art Challenge: challenge #95 - Sketch

Simon Says Challenge: Pirates
Die Cut Dreams Challenge: Green and blue colour combo for a teenage boy

One Stop Craft Challenge: Week 85 - One for the boys

Creative Inspirations: Challenge 65 - One for the boys

Crafty Cardmakers: Challenge 23 - Cards for men

Raise the Bar: Challenge 23 - What a special guy

Sweet fairy on a cloud....

2010-06-18T16:21:00.003+02:00

I can't believe it's almost summer holiday... just this weekend and then two more days at work and then I'm off all summer. I don't even know if I have a job to go to after the summer hols are over... But I found out yesterday that the school I'm working at are looking for more people, so I'm going to put in an application one of the nearest days, and hopefully I'll get to stay in the job I'm already in.... cross fingers!

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. Married for 11 years... I haven't made hubby a card though... so I'll have to show you another one I made. This one is for Maja's best friend's birthday on Sunday.
I have used one of my new digi images that I won for commenting over at Passion for Promarkers Weekend workshop last week. The image is from Pink Gem Designs. I have altered the image slightly by removing the stars that were next to the girl. I have used my Promarkers to colour the image, the heart border and to lay a shadow around the edges of the papers. I have also added a bit of shimmering water colour to the girl's dress, wings and crown. I guess you can see the shimmer a bit better in the photo below (click on picture to see it bigger). The sentiment is computer made, and it's mounted on 3d foam tape.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

The Pixie Cottage: Challenge #23- Sketch

I love Promarkers: Challenge #19- Bears

Thanks for visiting and for all your lovely comments.

A small brown pony...

2010-06-05T21:06:00.000+02:00

Oh my... what happened...? Two posts in two days... lol...

This morning I took Maja to her riding school for her first... ehhh, don't know what it's called in english (Rideknapp)... it's kind of a skill test where she shows that she knows how to handle the horse, brush it and such things. And then, when she passed, she was given a certificate for her wall and a wee pin for her shirt (or helmet or whatever). So I thought that my latest card was kind of appropriate.... This one I have made for one of her school friends that she also rides with...
The horse is a digi image I found on a colouring in page ages ago, and the sentiment is computer made. I have used Promarkers to colour in with. And I don't think it turned out too bad this time. I used the blender pen for the spots/dots on the horse (you might have to click the picture to see it better). The image and sentiment is mounted on 3d foam.

I'm entering this card into these challenges:

Sweet Sketch Wednesday: Sketch #52

Charisma Cardz Challenges: Challenge #22 -Flowers

Stamp Something: Digi Day Challenge

Anyone for Anya, sketch #10

2010-06-04T21:36:00.004+02:00

So, it's been a while... still haven't found my blogging mojo even though I should have plenty of things to blog about... like Maja started playing with the school band, the school strike, our national day and so on... I just don't really feel like it.... The creative, card making mojo has to a certain degree found its way back though.

I stamped and coloured the image on this card for last weeks Anyone for Anya challenge, but never made it into a card in time to enter that challenge (which was "double trouble"), so I decided to use the ready coloured image for this weeks sketch on the same blog instead....
The images are from The Greeting Farm's "Wonderland" set. I masked Alice and then stamped the mushrooms. The image is coloured with Promarkers. I'm not too pleased how the colouring turned out on this one though. I guess I still need a lot more practice. Sentiment is handwritten, and the flower is homemade.

Image is popped up on 3d foam.

Just a card....

2010-05-14T09:02:00.003+02:00

Good morning! It's been a while since my last post... I don't really feel much like blogging lately. Don't know what it is... I guess I just feel like I don't have anything to say/write about, and second there is soooo many nice blogs to read out there, so I spend a lot of time reading other blogs....

I haven't done much card making lately either. Only one card the last couple of weeks... where did my mojo go?? For the firs time in, like, forever I've made a card that isn't for a challenge. A while ago I saw a really cool flower digi stamp somewhere. I can't remember where, and I couldn't find it again, so I decided to draw my own flowers resembling what I think those flowers in the digi looked like....
I've used my ProMarkers to colour them in with. The flower panel is mounted on 3d foam.

I also wanted to try to make my own flower embellishment. I used a circle punch to punch out a few circles from an old book. I then tore off the edges to get different sized circles and also to get a rougher edge. I crumpled the circles and then added a bit of colour with a felt tip pen. Then I layered them and fastened them with a golden brad. After I had fastened them together I spritzed them with water and then crumpled the whole thing together and left it to dry. The water also made the felt tip run a bit and therefore softened the colour. I think the flower turned out ok, and it was good fun making it.

Well, I better go and do a bit of dusting and grocery shopping... my inlaws are coming to stay for the weekend, and also spend 17th of May (Norways national day) with us. The girls are all excited to see them again, and can't wait for them to arrive.

Friday Sketchers #99

2010-04-29T22:29:00.005+02:00

Oh, that's my weekend started already... It's so nice not working fridays... Don't know where this week has gone though. Time flies too fast. I can't wait until tomorrow night when my parents will come for a visit. The girls are soooo excited!

Maja is going to a birthday party this saturday, and I made this card for her to give to her friend. I'm also entering it into the Friday Sketchers challenge no 99.
The image is coloured with ProMarkers. I made the flower in the corner with a couple of punced daisies for the top flower and then I made the bigger one in the back from a couple of punced circles and a corner rounder, and then added a gem for the centre. I also used my ProMarkers to colour the flower.

Thanks for looking!

CPS- card sketch #163

2010-04-24T11:01:00.005+02:00

Oh, it's a nice day out there today, so I'll be quick. I want to go outside with a book, a cup of coffee, my girls and their bikes and enjoy the sunny weather. We've been indoors for days since my girls haven't been feeling well most of the week... and it's been snowing as well this week, but today it's all good!

My card today is for this weeks sketch challenge over at CPS (Card Positioning Systems). I've done paper piecing for the first time on this one (the dress), and I'm quite chuffed how it turned out.
Image is by Panduro and is coloured with ProMarkers (blush, dusky pink, lemon, canary, apple and forest green). Image is also mounted on foam tape for some dimension.

I made the flower using two punched daisies that I coloured with ProMarkers, folded the petals and glued together. Easy peasy and very nice....

Have a nice day, everyone!

Two more robots...

2010-04-19T22:26:00.004+02:00

I'm having so much fun with my Spot's botz stamps... I just had to make some more cards with them. I made this one for Maja to bring to her friend's birthday party the other day. I used the Pixie Cottage challenge #14 - buttons and a sketch.
The metal button is something I found in my stash... and I thought it was perfect for this card. The ric rac and the bot is coloured with ProMarkers.

This next card I made for the Stamp with Fun challenge no 52... a while back.... just forgot to blog it.... Gave it to my mum for her birthday at the end of march...

I guess I should have blogged a bit from our easter hols, but I don't feel like I have the time and energy to be blogging much at the moment...

Card Patterns challenge 57

2010-03-29T17:07:00.004+02:00

I just really enjoyed playing with my new Stampendous Spot's botz stamps, so I had to make another 'bot card... I have used sketch no 57 from the Card Patterns challenge blog for this one.

Image and sentiment are mounted on 3d foam for dimesion. The bot is coloured with Promarkers (Cool Grey 2, Blossom and Rose Pink)
Thanks for looking, and HAPPY EASTER to all my readers!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #38 and some robots

2010-03-26T13:20:00.005+01:00

This card is for the Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge this week.
The 'bot is coloured using my new Promarker pens (apple, forest green, china blue, cornflower and some cool grey 2 for the shadow under his feet).

Isn't that robot the cutest?? I have used my new Stampendous Spot's Botz stamps for him. I just bought them the other day, and I can tell I'm going to have lots and lots of fun with them, making different robots.... This is what the stamp set looks like;

Just bits and pieces so you can build your own robots. Here are some more 'botz I've made up (click on the picture to view it bigger);

The bottom ones are coloured with my new ProMarkers. I'm still a newbie to these and I can see that I need a LOT of practice... the top one is coloured with watercolour paints (no, not my trusted pencils...)

Friday Sketchers #94

2010-03-24T09:58:00.002+01:00

We just had some more snow this morning... can't really say I like it... but the word is, that it will dissappear before this week comes to an end. Can't wait to put on some lighter shoes and not put on so much clothes...

Made this card for challenge #94 at Friday Sketchers. I used a few new things on this one... The scalloped edge was made with my NEW Martha Stewart Scallop Two Dot punch and the pink flower border was made using my NEW Martha Stewart Daisy border punch on each side of a 1' strip of paper. I also coloured the flower borders with one of my NEW ProMarkers (can you tell I had my birthday not too long ago...??). The stamp isn't really new, but I've never inked it up before, so I count that as new as well...

The image is mounted on 3d foam for some dimension and I've added some extra flowers for added interest.... oh, and I've used my trusted watercolour pencils for the colouring in (I didn't have any paper or ink that worked well with my new Promarkers....)

Thanks for looking!

A crocheted necklace and some mittens

2010-03-21T21:19:00.004+01:00

I've wanted a fairly long necklace for a long time now, but haven't been able to find one I liked, so when I saw this "Coral" pattern over at Ravelry, I decided to crochet myself a necklace....
I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out so I just grabbed some old old old old wool from my stash to start with. It turned out I didn't have enough to make the necklace as long as I wanted it to be, so I had to dig through and see if I could find some more of the same. I found a wee bit in a darker shade... never mind. I think I like the necklace anyway... even though it's not as long as I wanted it to be. I might even have to make another one. A longer one. I have some shiny yarn I bought years ago that I think would look nice...

I have also been knitting a bit lately. Another Ravelry pattern.... These are called Aili's mittens. They were really easy and fun to knit. And I do loooove lime and turquoise together. The mittens are also very thick and warm.

Knowing Maja, it was only a matter of knitting half a mitten for myself before she wanted some too.... So she got to choose colours for hers. Pink and dark blue.

And now Susie has started asking about when she will get mittens like that too... I better take her wool shopping sometime next week....

Sketch Saturday week #93

2010-03-10T21:00:00.002+01:00

I think spring must be right around the corner... the weather has been brilliant for days now. Today I took my coffee and a book with me outside, so I could sit and enjoy the sunshine while Susie was playing in the big heaps of snow still in the car park outside our house. And it was actually sunny all through Maja's riding lesson this afternoon. Weeheee! Maja's class has just started galloping now (2nd time today), and I don't think I have ever seen anyone with a smile as BIG as Maja's when the horse picks up some speed... lol...

Well, over to my card... The sketch I have used is from this weeks challenge over at Sketch Saturday.
The image is a digi I found on the net a while ago, I didn't note down from where... It's coloured with watercolour pencils.

Thanks for looking and taking the time to leave me a wee comment!

Friday Sketchers #91

2010-03-05T00:36:00.001+01:00

Finished this card just in time to enter it into the Friday Sketchers challenge this week.
This is just a quick post as I need to find my bed now... nite nite!

Happy birthday, Susie!

2010-02-18T22:23:00.000+01:00

Three years ago I had a baby girl at 22:23....I can't believe she is 3 already! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUSIE!

Papertake Weekly Sketch #34

2010-02-15T18:33:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post from me today. I made this card last week for my neighbour who was 5 on Saturday. I used this weeks sketch from Papertake Weekly Challenge blog, and have until tonight to enter it into this weeks challenge....

Thanks for looking!

Sketch Saturday Challenge #89 & Charisma cardz wk 6

2010-02-11T20:28:00.002+01:00

Ahhh... I just put the girls to bed, and it's already quiet! Bliss!! I had to bring Susie with me to Maja's riding lesson today, that may have tired them both out... lol...

The challenge over at Charisma cardz this week is "Think male" and I have used this weeks sketch from the Sketch Saturday challenge blog for this card. It's for my brother's birthday on Saturday. Hope he doesn't look at my blog before then... I should have mailed something to him a few days ago, but you know how it is... leave everything to the absolutely last minute... I'll put it in the post tomorrow...
I usually find it really hard to make cards for men, but this one came together surprisingly easy, for a male card that is...

Just a detail of the card. I used silver gel pen to make the line on the black flowers and around the circle and sentiment. The sentiment and image are also popped up on 3d foam. The blue paper is pearlescent, so it shimmers real nicely in real life...

Thanks for looking. And I really appreciate all your nice comments.

Kellie's candy

2010-02-07T15:50:00.002+01:00

For a chance to win these gorgeous stamps, go and have a look at Kellies blog HERE. You have until 18th feb to enter the draw (my Susie's 3rd birthday!!).

Friday Sketchers #87

2010-02-03T08:45:00.002+01:00

A morning post for a change. Maja is at school, Per is at work and poor Susie wasn't feeling well yesterday and is still asleep. Better use my time well though 'cause she'll probably wake up soon...

Work is still fine even though some days are really challenging.... Teaching isn't always a walk on the bright side... Well, enough of that... here's my card for the Friday Sketchers challenge this week.
I finally managed to ink up my "Me Time" Anya by The Greeting Farm. I won the "Me Time" set on a blog hop at Amy's blog (you better go and have a look, she's awesome!) ages ago and have just waited for an opportunity to ink her up....

I used some shimmering water colour for the foam and her head band and slippers. I guess you see it a bit better on the bottom picture.

Stampin for the Weekend Challenge

2010-01-26T20:57:00.008+01:00

Oh gosh! I can't believe how long it has been since my last post.... Sorry! With my new job I don't feel like I have the time and energy to blog anymore, or to make cards or other things for that matter.... I'm sure it's just for a short period of time until I get used to spending so much time away from home... lol.... With that said, I must admit that I enjoy my new job as a teacher even though it's very challenging. It's soooo many new things to think about...

Maja was invited to a friends birthday party this week, and I thought that would be a good opportunity to join a card challenge again.... For this card I used Fionas sketch over at Stampin' for the Weekend.
The stripy paper is the backing of the packaging of some stamps I bought ages ago... Recycling is goooood! I think the ribbon is recycled from something as well, but I've had it for so long that I can't remember from what it came from anymore.... The Skipping girl image is a rubber stamp I bought off ebay a while ago but haven't inked up before. I don't know who it's by... The cat and the sentiment is mounted on 3d foam for dimension.

Thanks for looking. And I'll try to post a bit sooner next time.... ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2009-12-31T18:12:00.005+01:00

I just want to wish all my readers and followers a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope 2010 will be a good one for all of you!

Here is Susie and Maja Siobhan just before we went out singing for the neighbours yesterday... (aren't they the cutest....??)
I also wanted to share a couple of pictures of what my world looks like on the last day of this year - a sunny and crisp day (about minus 14 degrees Celsius outside):

I love the snow- isn't it just beautiful?!

Some new and some old knitting....

2009-12-11T10:29:00.005+01:00

I've been knitting... I always have some knitting lying around for times when I need an excuse to sit down and do very little, but still look like I'm doing something, if you know what I mean. I'm not very good at blogging my knitting though. I tend to start using my knitted stuff as soon as it's finished.... like the beret on this photo.... I knitted it over a year ago, and I've used it loads... I didn't even have a picture of it... sheesh... I used a free pattern from Garnstudio for the beret, you can find it HERE.

I thought it was a good opportunity to blog my beret now with my NEW fingerless gloves. I used the same yarn on them as I used for the beret, so now I have a set.... The yarn is from my stash. It's really oooooold... it was something I got after my late grandmother, and I 've had it for years and years (gran died in 1995, so I guess I've had it since then.... and I'm sure she had it in her stash a while before that...) Lol...

The free pattern for these nice gloves is made by Ruth/Ullhedina. The gloves are a perfect fit. They're knitted on two needles back and forth, so they're really easy to knit up. I'm already planning on making some more of these. Ohhh... and look what hubby brought home.... a Nespresso machine! Wow... I'm luuuurving it! It was supposed to be a shared Christmas present from him to me and from me to him, but we couldn't wait until Christmas to start using it.... lol...
Well.... off to make myself a coffee....

What a cute mouse!

2009-12-03T11:26:00.002+01:00

I went to a friend of mine on Tuesday to make some cards together. It's been ages since I saw her even though she lives just a ten minutes walk away.... Anyway.... It was so nice seeing her again and we were chatting away so much that I only managed to get one card finished.... not that I ever manage to make more than one card in one day. It takes me forever...
I borrowed the stamp from my friend, and forgot to find out who it's by... silly me... The mouse is coloured with watercolour pencils.

Create4Fun Challenge week 47

2009-11-26T16:41:00.002+01:00

This Christmas card is for the Create4fun Challenge week 47. It's the second week in a row that I use their sketch for my card...
The santa and presents are coloured with watercolour pencils and the trimmings on santa's clothes is painted with shimmering watercolour paints. One of the presents is mounted on pop dots for some dimension. Stamps from Anitas and sentiment is Hero Arts.

Today was Susie's first day in nursery. Hubby and I were both with her the whole time (two hours) and she seemed to settle in fine. She'll go back tomorrow for another short day to get used to being there, and I think we'll have to leave her alone there for a wee while.... wonder how she'll take that.... ach... I'm sure she'll be fine (it's probably worse for me...lol...).

Maja has got the cold.... pretty badly... she stayed home from school yesterday, but she seems better now. I think the worst thing about being home sick was that she couldn't go to her riding lesson in the afternoon either.... At least we got her to go to school today, but we picked her up early to go and get the swine flu shot... all four of us... so hopefully we won't get the flu now...

Charisma Cardz challenge #46

2009-11-22T22:52:00.003+01:00

I've had this Christmas tree coloured in for weeks now, but not gotten around to using it... so when I saw this weeks sketch at the Charisma Cardz blog, I thought it would be perfect for my tree...
I have coloured the tree with watercolour pencils and then used some of my sparkly watercolour paint on the stars, hearts and the blue background. The stamp is a freebie that came with a magazine I bought.... last year, two years ago?? Can't really remember. I guess I could go through all my magazines and find out, but I can't really be bothered...

We went to the opening of the new nursery, where Susie will go, yesterday. The mayor was there for the opening, and we were able to walk around and have a look inside. It wasn't quite finished yet, but I don't think there were too much left to do. I certainly hope not since the children will start on Thursday.... Ohhh, I'm so excited... and a bit anxious... my baby is starting nursery.... how will I cope without her with me all day every day... Well, looking at the bright side, it might give me time to do some Christmas shopping.... lol...

Create4Fun Challenge week 46

2009-11-19T10:16:00.004+01:00

Yay! 'nother Christmas card done! I used the sketch from this weeks challenge at the Create4fun challenge blog.
The two backing papers are free downloads from a scrapbook site, but I can't remember which one... guess I should start writing the url on the back of the papers so I can find back if I want more of them.... The stamped image is from Panduro, and I've painted the snowflakes with my shimmering watercolours. Glittery heart from Nille.

Maja had her 3rd riding lesson yesterday. I think she is having so much fun (I'm actually a bit jealous on her.... I want to ride horses too....). I'm really impressed on how relaxed she is around the horses and how well she is riding already.... Poor wee Susie isn't feeling well today... guess I better go downstairs and pamper her a bit...

One card - three challenges...

2009-11-15T15:54:00.006+01:00

Wooohoooo.... finally a Christmas card! I guess I better get properly started on my festive cards soon...

For this card I used the sketch from the Friday Sketchers challenge #78. And after I started making it, I found out that this card would fit into this weeks challenge at Charismacardz too... #45- Merry and Bright.
Oh... and I used some sparkly watercolour paint on the angel, some pearlescent paper and a glittery star so this card fits challenge #86- Glitter me Silly at Cute card thursday as well.... You can see the glitter/shimmer a bit better on this picture (Sorry about the dark pic, but you couldn't see the shimmer when I lightended it... click pictures to see them bigger).

The angel image is from and old set of Christmas stamps I've had for ages by Anitas and the sentiment is Hero Arts. The red paper is some yummy Tilda paper I just bought and the turquoise paper I printed off some scrapbook page (can't remember wich one though).... The star is from Nille and ribbon from stash. Image is coloured with watercolour pencils and then painted over with some sparkly watercolour paint.

Here we have already had some snow.... it didn't last long though... It's been raining all day today.

Mojo monday challenge no 111 and some exciting news...

2009-11-04T22:01:00.006+01:00

Boy, do I have some exciting news today.... I've got myself a JOB!! Woohooo!! Nothing's on paper yet, but the headmaster at Maja's school promised me a job, starting January. I'll contact him a bit closer to Christmas and work out all the details, but he has promised me work 3 days a week. I'm sooo excited! On the other hand, that means I can no longer spend my whole days with Susie... I can't remember if I already mentioned that she has got a place in a new built nursery (it's not quite finished yet...), anyway... she is starting nursery at the end of this month (if the nursery is finished by then...lol...) or beginning of December. So this is going to be a big change for both her and me... and for the rest of the family too, of course, not having me at home all the time....

Well, over to my card. This card was made using sketch 111 from the Mojo Monday sketch blog. You're probably bored by the stamp I've used by now.... I know... It just happens to be my favourite at the moment...Image is coloured with water colour pencils, and I've matted the image on some soft pink pearlescent paper... the off white strip to the right is also same type of paper. I think you can see the shimmer in those pearlescent papers a bit better on this pic...

It's really hard to photograph my cards at this time of year... not much daylight, and lamp light gives the photos the wrong colours... ach well, you get the idea....

Halloween witches and some cute cards (not mine)

2009-11-02T10:45:00.006+01:00

Just thought I'd start with sharing a picture of my ehm... scary.... witches. They were going to a halloween party for the first time, and had a great time. And I don't think we'll have to buy them sweeties for a while.... lol... they were both over the moon with all the sweets people were giving them... they got so much they couldn't eat it all.
Maja was so thrilled when I told her that I'd found a card challenge for children. The greeting farm blog had no less than three challenges for those under the age of 13 last week. Maja entered the Colour challenge with this wedding card.

She chose to use the couple from the caketopper set for this card, but she really wanted to use Alice from the Wonderland set too, so she entered the Bling challenge with a card with Alice on.

She did almost everything herself... the stamping, colouring, choosing the papers and layout. The only thing I helped her with was cutting the papers to the right size and punching the leaf border on the Alice card.

Susie didn't want to miss out.... so I helped her stamp some images that she could colour in and gave her some pieces of paper. She did all the colouring and gluing by herself... she even punched the hearts out herself. She needed a bit help with getting the excess glitter off the card though... I think it turned out quite good for her very first card. She entered this in the Bling challenge.

Well, have to keep this short... I've left Susie downstairs watching a film... don't think it will be long until she notices I'm gone....

My first Halloween card -ever!

2009-10-25T20:12:00.006+01:00

Ooohhh... I'm on a roll... two cards and two posts in two days... Yay!

I made this card for two challenges. I used sketch #16 from the Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge blog. And over at Stamping for the weekend this weeks challenge #21 is "A Haunting Good Time"... so I thought I'd combine these two and use this cute halloween image that I got in that goody bag from Ida.
I used water colour pencils to colour in the image, and here you can have a peek inside the card where I stamped a couple of pumpkins.

The skull charm is actually something I cut off of my summer shoes when I had to throw them away due to wear and tear. Sometimes it comes in handy to collect everything and never throw away anything that might come in useful some day....

The "ribbon" is a bit of purple/blue tulle that I've had for years and years stashed away from a previous sewing project (I never throw anything away...lol). I sewed a couple of lines of orange shiny yarn on to keep it folded and for the added effect of the orange lines, of course.

Thanks for looking, and I really appreciate the nice comments you leave.

EDIT; When I was submitting my card to the Tuesday morninng sketch challenge I found out that I could enter it in a challenge at the TSG blog too.... they have the same sketch... Brilliant!!

Truly scrumptious - Challenge 18

2009-10-24T21:10:00.007+02:00

The children are in bed sound asleep.... finally some time for blogging. I think they both were pretty tired after last night... Maja had a friend staying over, and they were giggling away till waaay past their normal bedtime. Poor Susie woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep because of all the monsters in her room.... in the end, I had to let her sleep between me and hubby... and even then it took her ages to fall back asleep... she was too busy telling us all about the scary monkeys (was it monkeys, not monsters?) in her room and the cows in our ceiling....???. Lol... the joys...

I decided to join a challenge to see if that would help me find my card making mojo again. I found a great sketch over at the Truly Scrumptious challenge blog. This weeks challenge was a sketch AND a theme. The theme was Autumn, and here's my card.
The main image was in that goodybag I got from Ida a few weeks back, so I don't know who it's by... anyone? The pumpkins and the corner stamp I won in Maria Therese's candy a while back. I think they're WOJ, but am not entirely sure. Images are coloured, as always, with water colour pencils....

Here you can see a bit of the inside. I stamped the pumpkins inside with VersaMark ink (and the text on the front too)....

Oh... almost forgot to say that the main image and pumpkins are mounted on pop dots (never a card without pop dots...lol...)

A wedding card

2009-10-19T20:48:00.003+02:00

I don't seem to get into blogging again after the summer hols.... a week or two between posts.... not good, not good at all! And everything I post about is stuff that I made a week or two before I got it posted... hrmph... I'm gonna try to improve....

Anyway, here's a card I made weeks ago... not for anyone in particular, just wanted to try out a new technique. I masked a heart shape on the card and rubbed ink directly onto the cardstock and stamped some swirls on top... so no fancy papers here....
I used the wedding couple from the Caketopper set by The Greeting Farm, the sentiment is from Kort og Godt and the swirls and butterflies from.... hmmm... can't remember what company right now and can't be bothered to go downstairs to check it out....

The couple is coloured with water colour pencils and mounted on pop dots for dimension and the butterflies are only glued down in the middle so that the wings stands up a bit....

Thanks for looking and a big thank you to those of you that still checks in and leave nice comments even though there is so little news in here...

Generous people!

2009-10-11T22:06:00.001+02:00

Sorry for not posting more often... but I've been so busy lately... well, not really busy, but not able to use the computer much or do any crafty stuff. The girls and I spent the entire autumn holiday week at my parents house, apart from the last weekend when we went to my parents cabin at Bortelid. When we got home from our autumn break, I had to prepare Maja's 7th birthday party.... We had 14 noisy girls around... and we had good fun. Then I had to organize a friends group evening for some of Maja's school friends.... and this weekend my parents came to see us... and hubby is off work this week, so he's keeping me company in the evenings... so not much computer time....

Since I haven't crafted much lately I thought I'd show some of the lovely things I've won! Some people are just soooo generous... I love entering blog candys but don't really expect to win... but then a couple of weeks ago I won this fab journaling stamp set from Monica/Lottens lille scrappeverden :
And this very generous surprise from Ida/Littles stash & dash was waiting for me when I came home from my autumn break...

And some people's generousity really surprises me... I've been following Sipusa's blog for a long time and a while back she'd knittet a really cool pink skirt that I commented on. I said something like that I liked the skirt and wouldn't mind having one like that myself.... and guess what.... I got an e-mail back from Sipusa where she said I could just HAVE the skirt if I wanted it!!! I mean, she'd knitted it for herself, it wasn't a blog candy or anything, and then she just gives it away to a person she's never even met... What do you think? Isn't it just the coolest?

A bit THANK YOU to Monica, Ida and Sipusa. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm so lucky to have such good blog friends.

Butterfly card

2009-09-30T18:17:00.001+02:00

Just a quick note today as I'm away on autumn holiday at the moment. I took the girls with me to see my parents in Kristiansand for the week. Hubby had to stay at home and go to work unfortunately...

Just before I left home, I had the foresight to upload this card to my blog, just in case I had a spare moment to sneak off to the computer...
This card was commisioned by my aunt a month or so ago. She needed a card for a 50th birthday she was going to.

A peek of the inside and details of the card.

My mind has gone totally blank as to what companies the different things in this card are from. If anyone really wants to know, I can find out as soon as I'm back home again. I also used a sketch from a challenge blog, but can I remember from which one...?? ehhh... no.... I think this autumn holiday and no crafting for a whole week is making my head go numb... lol...

A gift bag

2009-09-22T20:36:00.003+02:00

Well... here's another thing I made a couple of months back that I haven't posted about here. Just before school started back in August, Maja was going to a birthday party for one of her school friends. I had this cute pink paper bag that was the perfect size for the prezzie... so I wanted to use it, but thought it was a bit plain, so I found my (then) new Wonderland stamp set from The Greeting Farm and some letter stamps and made a bag topper... (if there is such a word... I've heard about card toppers...)
You just have to love that little rabbit.... The rabbit and sentiment are mounted on 3d foam and the images are coloured with water colour pencils.

Thanks for looking and taking the time to leave me a wee comment. Oh... and I just wanted to remind you that I finally have got a "follower button" to make it easier to follow my blog if you like it.... hint hint....

A couple of birthday cards

2009-09-17T21:08:00.002+02:00

Here's another couple of cards I made recently. The little boy next door turned 4 a few weeks back, and my girls were invited to the party, so I wanted to make him a card. Boy, is it hard to make cards for boys!! I don't really have any boyish stamps.... only fairys, butterflies, cute girls, hearts etc etc... Then I found this star in my stamp box... It works, doesn't it??
The star is mounted on pop dots for a bit of dimension.

Then, less than a week later, his little sister turned 2. Of course I had to make her a card too. I just thought this little rabbit from The Greeting Farm was perfect for a wee girl.

Here I have mounted the name on pop dots. And I've distressed the circle behind the rabbit with some shadow ink from Hero Arts and stamped a swirl on top with the same ink.

Well... that'll have to do. I think I'll have an early night tonight... I'm having a bad cough and runny nose, so I guess lying down in bed with my book will make me feel better... I hope....

Oriental card

2009-09-15T10:26:00.006+02:00

Just a quick post this morning as I'm off to toddler group with Susie in half an hour...

I made this card for the oriental challenge over at Simon says stamp challenge blog. I used sketch #68 from Sketch Saturday. So I'll enter this card in both challenges.
The oriental stamps are from Hero Arts. Images coloured with watercolour pencils. One fan and one of the lanterns are mounted on 3d foam. Oh... and I've used an eyelet to hold the corner down... haven't used those in a loooong time (almost forgot I had any...)

Thanks for looking!

A wedding card

2009-09-12T21:46:00.003+02:00

I have totally forgot to show you the wedding card I made for my cousin's wedding this summer... I had been wanting the Caketopper stamp set from The Greeting Farm for absolute ages, but couldn't really afford it... So when I got the invitation to the wedding, I was so thrilled to have an excuse to buy this stamp set.... It came in the post just in time for me to be able to make the card before I went away on holiday... so if the card seems a bit simple, it's just because I had to rush it a bit....

Well, without further ado, here it is:

Again, I've made a pop up card. It's so much fun to make these cards.... I don't seem to be able to stop...

You just pull that flap at the top... and voila... up it goes! I was in such a hurry to get this card finished that I forgot to put on the ribbon to pull out the card at the top... would have made it a bit easier to pull out... ach... never mind, it's too late now anyway. I have also stamped a greeting on the "pull out flap" (or whatever it's called....) It says "Beautiful Life".

Apart from the Caketopper stamps from The Greeting Farm I used a few other "old" ones. The image is coloured with water colour pencils and the sentiment and bells are mounted on 3d cushions.

Lucky me!!

2009-09-12T11:14:00.004+02:00

This is the way to start the weekend! Look what I found in the mailbox this morning.... (Susie insisted on taking the photo.... the toes aren't part of what came in the post though...)

A few days back I was the lucky winner of Maria Therese's blog candy. Here's a better picture (without toes in it...)
I'm sooo thrilled to have won this. I hardly ever win anything, so this was fun. Thanks a million Maria!

Friday Sketchers #68/ birthday card

2009-09-10T11:35:00.006+02:00

Here's my entry for the Friday Sketchers challenge this week. It's been a while since I did any challenges, so this was good fun.
I also needed a birthday card for Maja's friend this afternoon, so it won't be staying with me for long...

The stamp is from the Wonderland set from The Greeting Farm, and patterned paper from Dovecraft. The green paper is pearlescent (even though you can't really tell from the photo) and is from my stash.

Holiday crocheting...

2009-09-08T22:48:00.003+02:00

I guess this hasn't been much of a crafty blog lately... too much else going on... like holidays and anniversaries and such... but that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing any crafty stuff!

Just before going away for the summer, I crocheted some summer hats for the girls.

I had some lime green cotton lying around from a previous project, and made a hat for Susie with that. Then, of course, Maja wanted one too. She chose the purple cotton herself.

I can't be bothered making two identical hats, so I changed the "holes" a bit....

During our drive to the north of Norway, I needed something small to do... Pot holders!!
They're nice and thick, and I just love the lime colour at the moment... so I must say I'm quite pleased with the result even though I made them without a pattern (which isn't really like me....)

I've also got a few cards to show... but it's getting late... will do that another day!

Summer holiday no 2 - North of Norway

2009-09-01T21:03:00.008+02:00

WARNING: Picture heavy post... I feel that the best way of describing this holiday is to let the photos speak for me. I took tons of pictures on this trip so I had a really hard time picking out just a few to put on here.... (click on the photos to see them bigger)

So here it is, as promised... my post about my 2nd summer trip this year. (You can read about the first trip here.) This time, the girls and I, hubby had to stay at home and work... went to the north of Norway. I have a lot of family up north, and I hadn't been visiting any of them since 1998... so I guess it was about time.We travelled together with my parents (and their camper van).

We went far north... past the Arctic circle....

... up north, to where all the beautiful mountains are...

...and to our first destination: my cousins wedding.

During the wedding the girls were at their best behaviour and in their best dresses looking gorgeous! Well... at least before dinner...

...after dinner they were - still in their best dresses- running around, climbing trees...

...swinging in the monkey bars...

...and jumping off the swings... I think they had a GREAT time!

After the wedding we headed further north to visit some more family, with the ultimate destination being my brother and his girlfriend on Andenes.

We did lots of different things during our 2 1/2 week trip. Like...

...picking sea shells, playing with them and sorting them... enjoying all the different colours and shapes. Maja even found this beautiful sea porcupine (is that what it's called?)...

...playing in the white sand at the beach and enjoying the sunshine....

...swimming in the (ice cold) sea...

...and fishing.

The mountains and the colours in the north has always fascinated me...

Look at the bright turquoise of the sea together with the vivid pink flowers... isn't it just lovely?!

...even the mist can be beatiful...

...and not to forget the midnight sun! Here it's almost "touching" the sea... wow... It blows my mind every time I see it... It's just so beautiful the photos can't do it justice, it has to be seen!

We even met some trolls on our way... and the girls weren't scared at all... haha...

That's the end of my trip. There is still much to say, and photos to show, but I think this will do. If you haven't had enough, head over to this post on my mum's blog to see/read some more.

Doh!!!

2009-09-01T20:46:00.002+02:00

I'm sooo slow!!! I just realized this morning how easy it was to convert my old type blog, where you had to do all the html thingies for the sidebar yourself, to this new layout type of blog... I thought I would have to start a new blog and change the url for the blog to be able to get one of the "easy" types.... doh! Anyway.... Now I'll be able to add stuff in the sidebar easily. Wohooo! I've got quite a few awards that I haven't blogged yet... they will probably go in the sidebar... and blogcandys will also go in the sidebar from now on! I'm soooo chuffed! (and slow....)

giveaways....

2009-08-29T23:38:00.004+02:00

This is just too good to be true... Leanne is giving away a Gorjuss girls stamp set. If you want a chance to be in the draw you have to head over to her blog Fluttabyz Crafty Haven... you'll find the rules there. Giveaway ends 1.sept.

Stephanie is having two giveaways over at her blog Stamping & Sharing... Hurry up for a chance to win! Giveaways ends 1st and 8th sept.

I'm working on my post about our 2nd trip this summer.... sorry I'm taking so long...

Summer holiday - Sweden and Denmark

2009-08-22T21:10:00.001+02:00

It's been a loooong time since my last post, and I apologize for that. The reason is that I've been away almost all summer. 5 1/2 weeks away, divided into two separate holidays... with only two days at home inbetween to wash our clothes, unpack from one holiday and get ready for the next one...

Our firs holiday, was a family holiday, where all four of us went camping in Sweden and Denmark for 2 1/2 weeks. We started out driving to Gothenburg in Sweden where we met up with my brother and his girlfriend for a couple of days. The girls had never been camping before, and we'd bought a new (BIG) tent and camping equipment, so they were all excited. The weather in Gothenburg was irreproachable, almost too hot, but there was a nice beach close to the camping, so we were saved... during the day, that is. In the mornings the tent felt like a bakers oven inside... almost to hot to breathe...
While we were in Gothenburg, we "had to" go to Liseberg, a big amusementpark with lots and lots of fun rides and rollercoasters.... We all had a fun time there. Here we have the whole Johnsen-klan in Liseberg, enjoying the sun:

After a few days in Gothenburg, we moved further east to visit Kolmården Aquarium one day and Kolmården Zoo the next.

I can't really say that I enjoyed the weather there as much... It was raining and it was cold... especially the evenings were freezing. And with nowhere else to go inside than a tent (with no heating), we had a few early nights... snuggling in our sleeping bags reading books in torchlight... well, I was warm enough in my sleeping bag, but hubby had only brought a thin summer bag, and it was too thin for the cold night temperatures....

So we decided to move on to Denmark to see if the weather was any warmer there... but no luck (the first few days anyway). But we didn't let a bit of rain stop us from having fun. Legoland (Billund) was next on our to do list.

In spite of the weather, I think this was the park we all enjoyed the most. There were so much to do and see.

Or, maybe Djurs sommerland was equally good... Here we are in front of "Piraten", it's rated the 5th best rollercoaster in the world! It was awesome!!! wow!

The girls were to young/short for that rollercoaster (Maja was actually really disappointed that she couldn't go on it) so they went for something a bit slower and a bit safer....

There were other rollercoasters for big and small children though, so both Maja and Susie got their chance for some action too. Susie wasn't to enthusiastic about rollercoasters (or things with too much speed) though.
I think feeding the rabbits, here at Family Farm Fun Park ouside Hjørring, was more down her alley...

The last few days of the first holiday was spent with some friends from Norway at a farm in Lørslev, not far from Hjørring (Denmark). This was the most wonderful place, and the people running the farm/guesthouse were really wonderful people. They had a small strawberry patch, and they'd left some strawberries for the children to pick.... much to the girls' delight... In this photo they're on their way to pick some small red ones....

These last days were really lazy days... talking, laughing, enjoying the sunshine, swimming and, of course, wine drinking...

We then took the ferry from Denmark to Norway, spent a night at my parents house before we headed home to get ready for the next trip. I'll write another post about that trip in a few days... I think this post is long enough already...

10 year wedding anniversary!

2009-06-20T23:03:00.005+02:00

Yesterday, 19th June, was our 10th wedding anniversary. It's so strange to think about that I've been married to my lovely husband for that long. We'd been together for 10 years before we got married as well, so that brings us up to 20 years together... phew... That makes me sound very old, doesn't it...?? (I don't feel that old though)

I still have my wedding bouquet.... This is what it looks like now.... 10 years after... and if you look closely, you can see the caketopper in the bottom right corner.

...and this is what it looked like back then (sorry for the bad scan);

I also still have my wedding shoes. They are the same as my mum got married to my dad in, back in 1971... so they have turned a bit yellow.

They're still in their original box....

...and if you look closely, you can see how much you had to pay for a nice pair of wedding shoes 38 years ago... 39 Norwegian kroner (that would be about £3.90 or $ 6.20)

And here we are 20 years after we met... still happy together...

A giraffe and a couple of challenges

2009-06-15T21:14:00.006+02:00

Maja needed a card for her best friend's birthday party today, so I made one (of course....) And the best thing about this card is that I managed to enter it into two challenges as well... I'm so chuffed!
I used the sketch from the Stamp Something Challenge Blog, and the challenge over at Stampin' for the weekend is to use a digi stamp. The giraffe is a free digi stamp that I found HERE. This was my first time using a digi stamp. I think I prefer "normal" stamps, but that may just be because the printer didn't very much like the paper I wanted to print on... The letter stamps are from the "Flower Power Alphabet" from See D's. The letters and the tip of the giraffe's tail is mounted on pop dots for a 3d effect. And as usual... everything is coloured with water colour pencils.

If you pull that little ribbon at the top of the card, the giraffe and letters pop up and reveal a space to write your message on underneath.... It's been a while since I made a pop up card, so I felt it was about time....

Well, this'll have to do. Have a few things to do before my brother and his girlfriend arrives. They've just started their holiday and will stop and visit us on their way south....

Two in one...

2009-06-08T22:27:00.009+02:00

Well, this time I've managed to enter two challenges with one card! Yay!

The very first challenge over at the new challenge blog Stampin' for the Weekend is "From Dusk to Dawn" using the colours purple and yellow. And I have also used sketch #54 from Sketch Saturday for this card.

All the four triangles in the corners and the mats behind the girl and sentiment are the same paper. It doesn't really look the same on the photo, but it's a pearlescence paper and it was really hard to capture in the picture.

The image is from Whiff of joy. I don't own this stamp myself (wish I did though) but I was so lucky to be able to stamp some images when I was over at my friends house making cards the other day. Thanks a bunch Randi Anita. Image is coloured with water colour pencils...

This is the sketch I used:

2sketches4you - 1st Annual Ultimat Card Showdown - week 1

2009-06-06T11:21:00.008+02:00

The challenge blog 2 sketches 4 you is having their first annual ultimate card showdown... and they've got great prizes so I thought I'd give it a go! Here is the card I made using their sketch...
Thought I'd make a summer card. The stawberry is a free stamp I got with a magazine ages ago, and I've used the flower border from HeroArts "Four dolls" set for the green background.

A close up of the strawberries. They're coloured with water colour pencils (surprise surprise...) and one of them is mounted on pop dots.

You might get a better look at the pop dotting on this picture... and also a little peek of the inside.

Sunny days and Sketch Saturday challenge #53

2009-06-03T20:57:00.006+02:00

Would you look at that.... my counter has passed 10 000... wow! A big thanks to everyone that pops by to say hello.

We've had a few REALLY nice days here over the week end. Hubby was off, for a change, and we spent the days together outside. One of the days we went to a park not too far from where we live, where we could look at farm animals and "play" with the goats. The girls loved stroking the goats and feeding them grass.As you can see, the weather was perfect for a day out...

We brought a barbecue and some sausages.... that way we didn't even have to go home for dinner....

The girls have had their first swim in a small lake not far from here too... and, to my surprise the water wasn't too bad/cold either... I hope summer is here to stay...

Although the weather has been really nice I've managed to squeeze in some card making (late in the evenings, after the sun has set and the girls have gone to bed...). I found it so fun to do the Sketch Saturday challenge last week that I decided to have another go this week. Here is my contribution to this weeks sketch.

I couldn't resist using this bright yellow after all the sunshine... Again, I've used my new "spring girls" stamps from Panduro. Coloured with water colour pencils.

The sentiment is mounted on pop dots, and I added some gems for a bit of "bling"...

And look... I managed to add my signature... (got it from here)

Sketch Saturday Challenge no 52

2009-05-26T21:06:00.004+02:00

This card is for this weeks Sketch Saturday challenge. It's the first time I participate in this challenge.
I've used one of my new "spring girl" stamps from Panduro. The bucket of flowers is from the same set. The image is coloured with water colour pencils, and one of the flower buckets are mounted on pop dots.

This was a fun sketch to work with. Hope I've done it right... I appreciate your comments. Thanks.

Ida's blog candy

2009-05-26T20:34:00.003+02:00

Ida over at Little's Stash & Dash is having a giveaway. She will add things to her candy depending on how many comments she gets so hurry over and join. You have until 15th June.

I was so excited when I "found" Ida here in blogland as she lives really close to where I live. Most other bloggers are so far away and it's good to know there are other people with similar interests in the area....

God sommer

2009-05-23T23:19:00.009+02:00

Ok... so I have bought some more stamps... I just had to have these stamps... they were on sale, and you can't just leave reduced stamps back in the shop now, can you? (Does it sound like I'm furiously trying to justify buying more stamps here...??) It was a set of five "spring girls" and I have used one of them on this card I made last night. She looks more like a summer girl to me, but hey, who cares...

The turqouise flowery background was a piece of card I had lying around from trying out a resist technique with Versa Mark ink, glossy paper, a flower stamp and some felt tip pens... It turned out all right and it was a real fun technique.

This card wasn't made for anything special... just playing with my new new stamps... The sentiment is in Norwegian and means good summer/happy summer. Image coloured with water colour pencils. Girl mounted on pop dots.

And before I forget.... some more blog candys... (I need to get my blog updated so I can put things in the sidebar easily....)

Imagine, create, inspire has this candy to give away. Ends 29th May.
Smells like homemade is giving away these goodies. Ends 15th June.

Paper hugs has a giveaway. End 25th May.
Paper crafting in cocoa has this to offer. End 25th May.
Inky wings has a giveaway too. Ends 31st May.

What a wonderful day!

2009-05-18T22:13:00.003+02:00

Yesterday was Norway's national day. It's a "big" day here and everyone is out celebrating. People get dressed in their national costumes and there are parades, bands playing, fun and games all day long. I just wanted to share some photos from our lovely day...

Here we have my youngest,Susie, in her little costume, ready to go and watch her big sister in the parade.
And here is Maja, ready to walk in the parade with her class mates. I was quite amazed that so many children had national costumes. I had kind of forgotten, since it's almost 10 years since I last celebrated 17th may in Norway. The last 3 years were spent in Edinburgh on this day. At least there is a parade and some sort of celebration there... when we lived in Inverness there were nothing....

And this is the ONE picture taken of me yesterday.... I guess I'm always the one holding the camera...

And what a novelty... hubby had time to join us for the parade before he had to dash off to work...

Ice cream is compulsary on 17th May...

...and so are hot dogs, fizzy drinks and more ice cream... and fun and games like sack race, walking on stilts, throwing balls at tin cans etc etc...

After driving hubby to work, the girls and I went for a BBQ at a friends house. We had a good day... the girls really enjoyed themselves and so did I.

More candy...

2009-05-15T10:11:00.005+02:00

I'm just letting you know that Debbie/Passion for crafts is having a great blog candy... Ooooohhhh I REALLY want this one. I love those stamps she's giving away. Head over here for a chance to win. Ends 23 may.

Birthday card

2009-05-13T20:28:00.005+02:00

I made this card on Sunday afternoon... just in time to enter it into the HeroArts weekly challenge. I just haven't had the time or energy to blog it before.
I used my new Four Dolls stamps from HA on this card too. The background and the sentiment strip was made with Whispers words stamps from Docrafts. On the bottom picture here you can see that the girl and two of the lanterns are mounted on pop dots/3D foam.

I also wanted to share another giveaway with you... Head over HERE for these goodies (ends 15. may):

New stamps

2009-05-09T15:28:00.005+02:00

I finally got my new stamps... bought on Ebay... and sent from the USA, so it took a while from I bought them till I had them in my hands... Anyway... the two sets of stamps I got are the "Four dolls" from Hero arts and "Butterfly beauties" from Stampendous. Aren't they gorgeous?
So the last couple of evenings I've been playing with my new stamps (of course...) and I made this card:

I made this card for the weekly challenge at the Hero arts blog. This weeks challenge is to make a card inspired by a card from the "win a day at the blog challenge", and my card is inspired by this card made by alnette.

The girl is mounted on pop dots for some dimension. The background paper is from Dovecraft. In addition to the HA and Stampendous stamps, I have used a background script stamp from Kort og Godt.

Just a few more blog candies....

2009-05-07T22:54:00.009+02:00

I just wanted to share these links for some great giveaways....

Crafty moments is giving away these goodies (ends 20th May):

All glued up has these goodies (ends 8th May) :

Doing life is also having a great giveaway (ends 8th June):

Crafty cat is also having a blog candy (ends 31st May): Dragonflytime is giving away this (ends 18th May):
Well, that's it for today... Good luck!

A forgotten treasure... or not...?

2009-05-04T20:27:00.004+02:00

I was rummaging through some old boxes the other day, looking for something else when I came upon a big pile of cards that I had (almost) forgotten I'd made... These cards were made ages ago, we're talking years here (for some of them, not all)...
I couldn't put a picture of each of them in here, so I just made a collage (click on photo for larger view). I'm not sure all of them are nice enough to use, but I should be able to give away at least one or two of them... All the cards are stamped and coloured by me and a few of them have some dry embossing on them as well. What a treasure... or not...

I also just want to let you know about a great blog candy/giveaway... pop over here for a chance to win a lot of goodies... these gorjuss girls (below) being part of the prize....

Another slider pop up card

2009-04-30T12:53:00.007+02:00

As I said earlier, there are a lot of birthdays these days... I have made another slider pop up card... this time for one of Susie's friends. (The white underneath the card is the envelope, if anyone was wondering....)

I really enjoy making these cards... sooo much fun, I'm sure there will be more. Ssshhhh... I'll tell you a little secret... I've bought some new stamps on ebay... and hopefully they're in the mail finding their way to me as we "speak"... Can't wait to get them... and make lots of new cards with them...

What I did this easter...

2009-04-25T21:10:00.004+02:00

Easter this year was spent at my parent's cabin at Bortelid... it's always good to sit down and do crafty stuff there... this year I just brought some wool- and some cotton knitting yarn. And knitting needles, of course... (I guess it's about time I blog about this as easter is already almost a faint memory.... haha...)

First I knitted a... don't know what they are called in english... it's kind of a flat, warm cushion for bringing along in your backpack when out skiing (or hiking) for sitting on in the snow... This picture shows it before felting...
... and this is the finished product. It became nice and thick after felting it two rounds in the washing machine.

I also made a couple of new Ballband dishcloths.

...and a new set of pot holders. I guess by now you have figured that my favourite colours at the moment is lime, turquoise and blue...

I think this set will cheer up my kitchen.

Double slider card...

2009-04-18T20:53:00.006+02:00

Another one of my already stamped, coloured and cut out fairys has been used... This card, like the previous one, is for one of Maja's school friends. There are a lot of birthdays these days...
I found it so fun making interactive cards, that I wanted to try another style too... When you pull the ribbon on this card, a piece of card slides out from both the top and bottom of the main card..

Like this....(press play to see the card move):

Just a couple of close ups of the sliders...

You can pull the sliders quite far out of the card, so there was plenty of space for Maja to put her greeting above the snails...

Slider pop up card...

2009-04-05T19:50:00.002+02:00

I promised to show the card I made with the stamped and coloured cut outs from my previous post, and here it is: Tadaaa... (the colour is all wrong... the card is more purple in real life, not blue as here)
If you pull that little ribbon at the top, the card topper will slide and pop up to an upright position... like this...
If I show it from the side, you can see the "mechanism"...

And here is one of the little fairys that I stamped, coloured and cut out a few days ago... I mounted her on 3D foam tape to make her stand up from the base...

I have stamped a "happy birthday" greeting in the space that is revealed when you pull the topper up... this is also where Maja put her message to her friend...

Card toppers

2009-04-01T20:46:00.003+02:00

I've been playing around with my stamps and new watercolour pencils again... Stamping, colouring and cutting... It's always handy to have a few card toppers lying around for when I want to make a card...

The watercolour paper I used this time wasn't as heavy/thick as the last time I was stamping and cutting (for these cards here...) and that made the cutting part much easier... I'm not sure which paper I prefer though... the heavier paper made it harder to cut out small details, but then again it made the cut outs more sturdy...I've used one of these cut outs for a card already... I'll show you that another day... (I don't want to show it before the receiver has got it...)

Barbie has got new clothes as well....

2009-03-24T20:51:00.005+01:00

I've been looking for sewing patterns for Barbie doll clothes for ages, but couldn't find any... Knitting and crocheting patterns, no problem... but I wanted to sew something. Then my blog friend Eileen found out, and was really kind and sent me lots of sewing patterns for Barbie... old patterns. They were so much fun to look at... She sent patterns for dresses, skirts, blouses, trousers, swim suit and lots more. It was really hard to choose which one to make first. But my choice was this long dress...

The fabric I used is a bit shiny... and I sewed some flower sequins along the top edge and at the waist...My next choice was this cute dress...

...and I found the perfect fabric for it in my stash... it's the same pattern on the fabric I used as the picture on the sewing pattern... fun! And Maja had the perfect shoes for this dress in her box of Barbie things... I also hand sewed a "pearl" necklace on the dress. I figured it was better to sew it onto the dress, that way it won't get lost (or eaten by certain small people in my family...)

Maja fell in love with the indian dress... so, of course, I had to make that one too. Complete with a paper feather that Maja coloured in...

This was sooooo much fun, and there are plenty of more patterns on the sheets I got, so I'll definately make more clothes for Barbie!!

New clothes for the dolls

2009-03-21T15:05:00.007+01:00

I've been thinking about sewing doll's clothes for ages... so when I had a piece of a fleece blanket left over from a previous project, I thought that would make some nice clothing for Maja's dolls. I liked the edge on the blanket and wanted to use it for something... It was perfect for the bottom of a doll's coat....

I saw a nice doll's coat in a book and wanted to make something similar, but the pattern for that particular coat was too small for any of the dolls we have. So I altered a pattern for a doll's shirt that I found in another book, and made this coat. It even has a wee collar...

I didn't have any Velcro for closing the coat, so until I get some, I've just used some pins....

After making the coat, I still had some fleece left, so I made a little outfit for another doll as well...

This little suit has a zipper and a hood... I found the pattern for this outfit in "Sy dukkeklær" by Anne Grethe Gaaserud.

Maja was very pleased with her dolls' new clothes.

A frog and a butterfly

2009-03-12T21:16:00.005+01:00

I've made a couple of birthday cards. I wanted to try out my new water colour pencils that I got for my birthday, so I stamped a few images on water colour paper, coloured them in and cut them out... and made them into a couple of cards. It's always nice to have a few spare cards lying about....

On this one I've used the Versa Mark ink for the shooting star background and for the flowers on the yellow stripe. I like the Versa Mark ink.... it gives such a subtle colour... and it always matches the colour you're stamping on. It kind of makes a water mark on your paper/cardstock.

Here you can see it a bit better. I also used a paper with some shimmer in it for the lilac circle.

And of course, the images are coloured in with water colour pencils and gone over with a wet paintbrush afterwards.
The froggy card is already in the mail on its way to someone... Here I've used a lilac Hero Arts shadow ink for the shooting star background.

Both the butterfly and the frog are mounted on pop dots... I like them too... gives the card a bit of dimension...

Thanks for the lovely presents!

2009-03-08T20:50:00.004+01:00

Woops... it's been over a week since I last blogged... time flies when you're having fun... and the fun this week was that it was my birthday.... and look at all the goodies I got! (Photo is not even showing everything...)

My 6 year old daughter had written a looong wish list for me. She'd worked on it for quite a few days... "Muuum? Do you want any fabric for your birthday??" and other similar questions was regularly asked during the weeks before my birthday. She took my hubby out shopping for almost everything on the list...

Look at the cute fabric she picked out for me... and she also picked out these stamps...

I'm going to have so much fun with my prezzies... thanks a bunch!

Spicy dishcloth

2009-02-27T20:56:00.003+01:00

I knitted myself a new dishcloth last night. Just a quick and easy thingie, no pattern, just made up as you go... Made from 100 % cotton so it's nice and soft and will absorb water well.

It goes well, colourwise, with the spices on my worktop, don't you think?

I used knitting needles 5,5 mm so the cloth is a bit loose, not too bad though... I think it'll work anyway.

(Note to self: I cast on 25 st for each sqare... that made the dishcloth a tad on the small side...)

Winter holiday

2009-02-23T23:06:00.002+01:00

Last week was winter holiday at Maja's school, so the girls and I spent the whole week at my parents house. The girls really enjoyed spending time with mormor and morfar (granny and granddad)... especially when mormor would read to them.

And I had plenty of time to finish my knitting....

New slippers for Susie...

Same slippers as Daddy's, just another colour.

They were a bit too slippery on the wooden floors though... so they weren't used that much... I'm now making another pair... for Maja, this time. These slippers were really easy and so much fun to knit that I might even have to make a pair for myself as soon as Maja's slippers are done...

Susie had her 2nd birthday while we were away on holiday. My mum made her a cake and I made the chocolate decorations... teamwork is always good...

I'm wondering where the time went though... How did this little poppet...

...become this little girl in just two years? (Susie insists that she is three though... and a baby...)

Something new on the needles and slippers for hubby

2009-02-13T09:57:00.005+01:00

I've got something pink and blue on my knitting needles at the moment.... what will it be?
I just finished knitting these slippers:

Two tones of blue sports yarn. They were going to be slippers for me, but the gauge was all wrong... so they turned out too big...

... and now they're slippers for my husband. They'll keep his feet nice and warm.

Since my last post was about how much snow we got last saturday, I thought I'd end this post with a photo of what the world looked like the day after, on Sunday... even more snow... I spent the best part of two hours trying to dig my car out... (compare this photo with the 3rd photo down on my previous post to see how much difference one night made....)

... it still looks like this.

I won't be around much the next week or so. I'm taking the girls to see my parents... Unfortunately hubby has to work, so he can't spend winter holiday with us... maybe next time...

I gave up....

2009-02-07T21:39:00.006+01:00

It's not often I give up doing anything, but today I had to... I was going to walk to the post office to post a parcel, it's only a five minutes' walk, but I had to turn around before I was half way there because of the snow. Maja had brought her skis, so she was ok. But I'd put Susie in her push chair (in the hope that she would fall asleep)... bad move. The pavements weren't properly cleared of snow, and it was absolutely impossible to push the pushchair through it...

So we turned around and went home... I still needed to get Susie to sleep though, so I was pacing back and forth in front of our house for half an hour until she finally closed her eyes. The neighbours must have thought I'd gone mad.... Maja was happy though... playing in the snow and having a ball....

Just to show you how much it has snowed today... This was my veranda at 14.45...

...and here it is at 21.05... You can hardly see the banister...

There are some more photos from today in my facebook album if anyone is interested... (don't know if I have to add you as a friend for you to see the photos... if so, let me know and I'll be happy to add you.)