Even more Nordic Spring cards :)

Yes, yes, yes, the cards again :) I still keep making them as it's great fun to mix and combine all those stamps, inks, punched shapes, papers, backgrounds and die cuts together and it's also a perfect opportunity to stretch and exercise your imagination and creativity (the sky is the limit, so they say) :) I usually make one or two cards after hours, in the evenings and then I end up with a few by the end of the week. Here are my recent Nordic Spring cards for this Easter season.

The "Norwegian sweater" style eggs on aperture cards - my idea for Easter 2013 and one of my favourite type of cards. I tried to keep them simple - the knitted pattern speaks for itself. Pastel colours are a must here! 

In the card below I had an opportunity to use my new polka dot embossing folder :)))) Been looking for one for a while!

All 4 apertures together :)

I've also made some pink/purplish cards with folky eggs, they have been inked and shaded with the blending chalks.

And side by side :)

A couple of aperture cards in yellow-green-orange colours:

And one with a cute yellow bunny :)

Voila! It has been a very crafty week! :)

Well-deserved Hand-made Monday blog fun! 

Easter Cards (2): Nordic Spring

We all know very well those Norwegian winter jumpers famous for their characteristic geometric patterns and coziness. I had a very Nordic Winter last Christmas full of these Scandinavian patterns and loved it a lot! Why not  prolong the feeling and have a Nordic Spring then? 

Since I've been in love with the Scandi culture for some time now, this year I decided that my Easter cards will have the folky Nordic accent too. Christmas greens and reds will be replaced by the cheerful Eastery pastels - whites, yellows, oranges, blues, fresh greens and pinks. As far as the colours and patterns are concerned, the main source of inspiration for me has been the "Easter Knits" book by Arne and Carlos where you can find a bunch of projects bursting with springy colours, yet maintaining their Scandinavian feel.

These are my first "Nordic Spring" cards I've made. They will participate in The Nordic Spring Card Swap on facebook :) These are mostly stamped cards with various coloured inks and decorated with some simple punched shapes. The stamps I used to make them is a mixture of The Waltzing Mouse stamps, Noolibird stamps, Craft Fun stamps and W Plus9 Design stamps. 

The hopping bunny stamp from Noolibird has been my favourite this season! In the card above, I tried to stamp with one stamp but with 3 different inks at the same time. It worked quite well, I think.

The well-known Norwegian stars featured in so many knitted jumpers, hats and scarves, here embellish my cards in forms of decorative bands. Can't imagine Nordic Spring cards without them! They are undoubtedly my favourite motif.

All 4 together :)

More Nordic cards on their way! Keep on checking! :-*
Joining Hand-made Monday tonight at a lovely blog Handmade Harbour and off to do some blog hopping.

Easter Cards (1): Folky stuff

As the days are getting longer now (finally! yipeee!) and there's more sunlight I begin to sense something "springy" in the air and start to long for all that freshness, energy and vibrant colours spring brings into our houses. I even spotted today some snowdrops popping out on the grass near my place. Now, since spring is just round the corner I thought I'd treat myself to some great Easter stamps and simply start my Easter stamping. This is great fun and I always look forward to it.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably know I'm a big fan of all folksy designs and trends and these inspirations show clearly in my cards. This year I'm planning to make my Easter and spring cards with lots of stripes, dots and gingham combined with folky stamps. The cards are to be fresh, joyful, vibrant and simple. Simply naive, just like the folk art. Here is my first batch of Easter-themed cards. These fabulous stamps I used on them come from Noolibird and Lemonade Stamps.

I started with this card first but when I'd finished I came to the conclusion I had overdone it a bit. Too much doodling, I think. Well, I forgive myself this bodge card :P it's my first Easter card this year anyway ;)

Then the better ones followed...

I wanted to try out blending two or three colours on a stamp at the same time hence some Easter egg images are double and triple coloured.

 Stripes are so folky... I dug out all my stripey papers from my craft stash.

Very pleased with this card below. Love this Lemonade stamp and it's a typical pattern seen on some wax-decorated Polish Easter eggs.

But most of all I've been pleased with this card below. It's a pretty big card - I managed to put as much as 5 eggs in a row onto it. Martha Stewart's Deep Floral Vine punch has been used on it too - my favourite design.

And the cards in group photos...

Easter cards to be continued...

Join up the Hand-made Monday tonight. Do head over there to see what other crafty people have been up to recently. 

Woohoo!

Last week the Amazon shop made my day - they had emailed me about the new book of Arne and Carlos being on pre-order and released sooner than I expected. I was delighted at the opportunity of not having to wait until February 2013 for the English version of "the Easter project book". A few days later this fabulous book arrived at my doorstep! Woohooo! So long and impatiently awaited and finally mine! 

Voile! Easter Knits. Eggs, Bunnies and Chicks - with a fabulous twist by Arne & Carlos - famous Scandinavian knitwear designers and authors of knitted balls. 

 

And this is what you can find inside the book - knitted Easter balls, eggs, bunnies, cosies and chicks. All fresh, vibrant with colours and bringing freshness and joy to your spring house. I shall surely be knitting those Easter balls and eggs away as soon as the Christmas season is over :))) Can't wait!!!

Oh! I can't wait to knit those eggs!

Isn't that tree with Easter balls and eggs great? :)

On the Christmas frontline - I'm obviously working on my next few Christmas balls and the Nordic stocking sampler. A new line of cross stitch has been added - the line with the birds ...

... and I started to stitch the new line of Christmas trees.

Now, the bottom part of the stocking is starting to emerge.. Still plenty to go!

Back to my knitting. Hope your weekend is going well. x x x

ps. Welcome my new likers :)

Easter Egg Hunt. 6 Scandinavian style cross stitched cards.

I found this lovely series of Scandinavian style cross stitch charts in the April issue of CrossStitcher magazine and I knew straight away I’d stitch them all! I love folky themes so I also added  the gingham background to my stitches. Each egg is a small project that can be stitched quickly and you simply can’t get bored with it!

And this is what the whole collection of my cards looks like...

I’m thinking of stitching some more of them but in my own colours! Easter is just round the corner!

Easter Cards 2011

Recently, I must have caught a some sort of cross stitch bug :) (Lucky me!) coz I’ve been stitching away like crazy, whenever I manage to sit down and do some needlework.  It always takes much longer to make one cross stitched card than a stamped one but I’m determined to make some nice stitched ones this year so I started much earlier than usual :) The Cross Stitcher and other mags have so many lovely seasonal designs! I simply can’t resist them!

I even stamped my own little signature at the back of my cards! :)