Easter tree with Scandinavian balls and eggs

I love Easter time. All around is so fresh and cheerful, the days are getting longer, there's more daylight, it gets greener and trees go into bloom. Shame Easter days last so short. Since I have a thing about cosy knitted Scandinavian things I usually have my knitted theme as a part of my Easter decoration :) So this year for Easter I arranged this tree:

On the tree went on all my Easter knitted balls and most of the knitted eggs from the previous years, including the 4 new one from the previous blog post. All these knits come from Arne and Carlos' books.

Under the tree I put a white porcelain hare surrounded by even more fair isle knitted eggs. Well, let's make it cosy this year, shall we?! It can still get cold, you know! ;)

And this is the view of the tree from my sofa :) I'm really pleased with my knitted collection, which by the way, still keeps growing. 2 years back I didn't even think I would be able to make such things by myself :)

So how is that? :)
Thank you for your opinions x x

Time to link to the Handmade Monday blog hop no. 165 tonight at Handmade Harbour. Do join in for some blog hopping fun and go round visiting others.

Christmas cards 2013 (15) - Leftovers - Santas

Hi all. Again a few weeks of blog silence. This is due to some unforeseen circumstances. January 2014 turned out to be a horrible start into the New Year. The list opens with the 2 cats ill with the cat flu, costly vet treatments, my broken tooth filling and frequent trips to the dentist. Also, we have had the members of the bf's family hospitalized because of their age and condition, two distant relatives died and one person, a very close and dear to us, has been diagnosed with a progressive terminal illness. This was a very upsetting and devastating news for us. It has obviously put me off blogging and crafting too. I'm trying to take it all in and process this new situation inside me but it's very hard. Unfortunately the world doesn't stop just for us and our miseries and the show must go on. What can we do? Just to be strong, supportive and make sure each day is lived out to the full and treated as a bonus 'cause you never know what's round the corner... and let's not waste time anymore. I'm really waiting for some brightier, sunnier days...

Blogging backlog, as usual. I still got some xmas stuff I have never shown on my blog. Sorry this is way out of date. Just a quick look at the last batches of my festive cards, if you're not bored yet.

I really enjoyed myself making these cards. Stamped background, tartan patterns, vintage santas...

And how has your start into the New Year been? Hope you are all ok and happy. x X x

(Early) Christmas Cards 2013 (10): Knitted jumper style (1)

Hi all. Long time no blog post. I know, it has become very quiet here. Two of my friendly readers asked me in their comments if I was ok (thank you Judith and Amy. Very thoughtful of you x x) I am ok and alive :) Well, a few things caused my absence. First, the kitten who is quickly growing up, requires attention and keeps very active most of the time, which in turn it keeps me active too. Secondly, my blogging mojo has somehow evaporated and I temporarily lost my interest in blogging (a blog burn-out perhaps? or maybe some sort of autumnal depression/laziness?) and thirdly lack of time and work stresses successfully got me out of my crafting mood (oh! perhaps I should blame the 50 Shades of Grey ebooks too!) I've been trying to hand-make something throughout all that time but it's not much, I must admit. Not very productive. However, I'm hoping to be back to my regular blogging now :) The build-up of the blogging material has been on my mind all the time. Time to get on with it. 

Undoubtedly, Christmas is approaching fast and although I haven't been blogging much for the last month one thing is certain: I've been shopping for some red and white Scandi stuff and oh God, how I much I've been enjoying it! Roaming from a shop to a shop I've been buying Scandi-themed cups, bowls, platters, bed covers, napkins, kitchen towels, candles, Christmas tree decorations (being in my element!). Nowadays the choice in the shops is so huge and the Scandi theme is still on! It must me the 2nd or 3rd winter when the Nordic patterns reign among the Christmas products. I still dream of lidded a mulled wine pot with a tealight warmer with a Scandi theme :) I just ordered a lovely set off eBay. I've already stocked up on some bottle of German mulled wine :)

Back on the craft frontline, here are some of my new cards. Embossed jumper-style with lots of white and frosty blue colour. (I really love this embossing folder from Sizzix!) I tried first with the square version and a decorative band from a lovely Dutch scrapbooking paper. It glitters and sparkles but I don't think the photo really shows this.

Then I went for the version with the rounded edges...

and some other decorative bands:

I really enjoyed making those cards. The cosy knitted theme is so Nordic'y - I so love it!. More cards and more crafty news to come soon. I shall keep you posted. Promise :) Will be catching up with your blogs soon too! Been wondering what you have been up to.

Hope you're all having a good week and thanks everybody, whoever stops here, for their comments. Missed blogging for you. xxx

Background builders

This week in the evenings I've been busy making (again!) some more vintage Scandinavian Christmas cards as well as making my own stamped backgrounds using my inks and stamps. This is such fun! I'm thoroughly enjoying myself at the card making paper production. There's a new trend in the stamping world - a new type of stamps sometimes called "background builders" or "backgrounders" - these are sets of stamps coordinated in style/theme that are used to build your own scenery on a card. They allow for the personalization of a card - you choose where and how to stamp and in what order and how much. So I've had those 4 gorgeous stamps sets with the Nordic theme from The Waltzing Mouse Stamps and the knitted pattern stamps from  WPlus9 Studio Design and it was a perfect moment to put those stamps into practice. So this week I've been stamping these:

I experimented with various colours and shades. By accident, using a thick chalky ink that didn't stamp too crisp, I discovered how to achieve a shaded knitted pattern by stamping two patterns - one on top of  the other. One fills it with a faded colour, the other gives it a defining outline. I thought the coffee brown knitted pattern will look cosy and warm on my cards ;) I really look forward to making cards with these impressions. 

I was very pleased with how these images came out on card as it can be tricky to get a good even impression from the big-sized stamps. I had to use super long acrylic blocks for these borders. I also used some stamping advice from the stamping expert The Waltzing Mouse website and it did work for me this time. I'm going to cut those papers up into smaller backgrounds and perhaps use some cutting dies and punches on them. The thing I love about those background builders is that there are so many possibilities with these stamps. You can make monochromatic patterns as well as multicoloured ones. You can use the papers as backgrounds, punch various shapes out of them or simply cut them up into decorative borders or create your own gift wraps too!