Week 45 at Sketch Saturday!!

A lovely good morning to you all!!

It's Saturday and so that to me means SKETCH SATURDAY!! It is already week 45 and this week is hosted by my lovely Design Team friend Tracie! Next to being very talented Tracie is also a very sweet person, so sweet in fact that for this challenge she herself is giving away two super cute Penny Black stamps!! Now how sweet is that? Check out the Sketch Saturday blog for further details.

Now onto Tracie's (pink :) ) sketch: Isn't that lovely? I loved working with this one. I decided to use the last stamp from the Pink Cat Studio Sweet Pea Plate 2 that I hadn't used yet... the Cowboy baby. This image could of course be used very well for a little girl but I wanted to do a boys card so I tried to keep the card a bit manly. Here goes:

As you can see I used a sentiment for the flower on the sketch (this sentiment is also in the Sweet Pea set) and I've used this gorgeous... how do you call it?... ribbon that I got in a Card-Art kit instead of the scallopses on the sketch. Here is a close up of the paper pieced baby.

I hope you like it!!

This week we are joined by the very talented Brocelaine as our two week Guest Designer. Welcome to the team Brocelaine!! Can't wait to see your creations. Be sure to check her blog and don't forget to check out the card from my Design Team buddies!!

Have a wonderful weekend everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

A very late card for Sketch Saturday week 44

Happy Sunday everybody!!

So I promissed I'd finish my card for Sketch Saturday week 44 and I have finally :). The sketch is posted in the post below this one and here is my card: Just had to use this cute little bumblebee outfit for the Sweet Pea dress up baby from Pink Cat Studio. The little bee I used on the bottum of the card in the circles is also in this set and the sentiment with the slightly larger little bee belongs to the also brand new Sweet Pea Plate 2. Here is a close up of the little cutie with the sentiment.

As you can (hopefully) see I have layered both Sweet Pea in his outfit as all the bees on the card. All the paper I've used were little pieces of scrap paper and cardstock from stash. The ribbon I got as part of a very generous gift from my friend Helma who sells the gorgeous ribbon in a lot of gorgeous colours in her shop Stamping Corner. Helma is also a Dutch reseller for Pink Cat Studio stamps (which is how I actually met her) so for my Dutch friends you could also buy this cute little Sweet Pea through Helma, she has both sets in stock!

That's it for me today. Sorry to keep you waiting for this card but I hope I've made it up to you ;). Have a great Sunday everybody!!

xxx

Mariska

March Pink Cat Studio Challenge hosted by ME

It is my time to host a challenge for Pink Cat Studio. This challenge is a little different then the earlier challenges by the Design Team since it is hosted on the Pink Cat Studio blog. Here are the details:

The Either / Or / Or And Challenge

The challenge means you have to make two choices:

1. What kind of card are you going to make:

There are two happy occasions to celebrate at Pink Cat Studio this month. The first one you already know... we've gotten ourselves a little one!! The second is that Pink Cat Studio celebrates its fourth year this month!! I thought both of these occasions would deserve a card but which one to use for my challenge.

YOU DECIDE!! Create EITHER a birthday card OR a card to celebrate a new baby

2. Either layer your image and/or use stitches:

I thought it would be nice to let you use a technique I like to use myself. The two things that I use frequently on my cards are the layering of an image and stitches. You can use one of these techniques or both, that's up to you, as long as one of them is used.

With the layering of an image I mean stamping your image several time and cutting out little parts to pop up on your image. You can do this with all kinds of materials like pop up glue, foam cubes or pop up glue dots. It's really making 3D cards with your stamps. On the bottum of this post I have posted extra pictures of the making of my card for this challenge to show you how I layer my images.

I think stitches on your card should speak for themselves. You can use a machine or by hand, you can do straight lines or you can embroider, just use REAL stitches please. If you decide to stitch by hand (as I always do) my advice is to first make little holes with a piercer

YOU DECIDE!! Use 3D layers in your stamped image AND/OR use stitches

Date the challenge ends:

Monday, April 20th, 5 pm EST

Requirements:

A Pink Cat Studio stamp must be used as the main stamp on the card. It is okay to use stamps from other companies as well.

To be eligible for the prize you must leave a comment on the Pink Cat Studio blog in the contest post. In your comment provide a link to your card. Your card can either be displayed on your blog or in an online gallery. You may enter only 1 project for this challenge.If you have questions about this challenge, please post them as a comment on the Pink Cat Studio blog in the contest post.

Prize:

This contest will be judged by the design team. Since this is my challenge, I will select my 3 favorite cards and then the DT will vote for a winner. On April 22nd, the winner will be announced on the PCS blog. The winner will receive a grab bag of Pink Cat Studio stamps. Some cards from the challenge may be displayed on the PCS blog.

And here is my card for this challenge:

Of course I had to use one of the stamps of one of the new Sweet Pea sets. I just love this cute enchanted Sweet Pea. Remember the new sets can be found HERE. And since Melissa has set the deadline very far away you could order these stamps for yourself and use them for the challenge as well.

As promissed here are my pictures of the layering of the image:

First I stamp the image several times and colour different parts that I want to cut out and pop up. Then I cut everything out. Next....

I take a black marker and colour the edges of the paper. I hope the picture above is clear about what the difference is between coloured and uncoloured edges. The flowerleaves on the left are coloured and the once on the right are not. It takes a bit of time but believe me, when you layer the image this does make a big difference.

Here are the different cut out pieces.

And here I have mounted them together, this shot shows the layers and the next shot...

Shows the image from above, mounted and ready to be used on my card.

Hope some of you will find these pictures helpfull :). Can't wait to see what you do with my challenge!! Have fun!!

xxx

Mariska

The Sweet Pea stamps are here!!

Aren't these cute!! You can now buy them HERE!

I'm sorry for the late post and sorry to my Design Team friends over at PCS for not visiting them yesterday. I promiss I will try to do so asap but since yesterday I have an infection of my organs of balance (I didn't even know that was possible) which causes me to be very dizy and sick. I feel better now then I did yesterday so I'm hoping to feel much better soon but for now it's very hard to concentrate on my computer monitor.

I'll be back soon though!!

xxx
Mariska

Pink Cat Studio Sneak Peeks Day Two

Hello everybody,

Boy did I have a lot of fun blog hopping yesterday. It was so much fun to see what my fellow Design Team members had created with the Sweet Pea Dress Up stamps! And did I say to much? They are very sweet right!!! Well, we've got another treat for you today!! As I mentioned before tomorrow there will be two sets with our new little baby Sweet Pea for sale; the Dress Up set we Sneak Peeked yesterday and this gorgeous set we'll be showing you today. The set contains of four very cute large stamps featuring our little baby and some very cute sentiments that will work perfectly with both sets. I have the pleasure of showing you two cards featuring two of the stamps. For the other two stamps (and more sneak peeks of the two stamps I'm showing) be sure to blog hop over to my fellow Design Team members (links on the right) and our Guest Designer for this month Sparkle Smith.

Now onto my first card:

Don't you love it? This image was so much fun to colour!! I love everything about this stamp from the cute giraffe to the little bear that's riding along with Sweet Pea. Love it!! And when the card is open:

You can see one of the sentiments that is included in the set. Here is a close up of the image:

So adorable!! And so is the second stamp I'm featuring today:

Aren't you in love? Again this stamp is so much fun to colour! As you can see I've used exactly the same design on both cards but since I used completely different papers I think this is no problem at all. I just loved making these cards so much! The little butterflies are part of one of the sentiments included in the set which you can see when you open this card:

I have stamped the sentiment twice and cut one of the butterflies out and mounted that on the other stamped sentiment with a little foam cube behind it. And again a close up of the main image:

I have added some stickles to her and the black lines on the flower peddles I've added too. In both images (the giraffe and the flowerpot) parts were cut out and raised with foam cubes to give the card a bit more effect. The green sparkly border on the flower pot card (Doodlebug sparkly cardstock) was also raised with foam cubes behind it, as were the butterflies.

I can actually not imagine anybody not loving these stamps, they are so adorable!! And good news for you because just one more night and they'll be for sale!!

Melissa has a contest up on the Pink Cat Studio Blog, Who will be the next Cutie Patootie??, be sure to check that out and who knows, maybe you'll win a set of PCS stamps (you can pick your favourite!!). The contest runs until tonight at midnight EST so hurry up!! And remember, don't forget to check out the blogs of my fellow Design Team members and our Guest Designer for this month!!

See you back tomorrow for the release!!

xxx

Mariska

Pink Cat Studio Sneak Peeks Day 1

Hello everybody!!

Finally the first day of the Sweet Pea Sneak Peeks is here!!! Today we all get to show you two cards with the first set that will be released next Thursday, March 26th, the Dress Up Sweet Pea stamps!! After the Lily and Billy Dress Up kits now there is going to be the cutest little baby to dress up. You can make Sweet Pea into a boy or a girl and he or she has got a bunch of gorgeous accessoiries to dress up and play with. Each of the (Guest)Design Team members have picked a couple of different accessoiries so if you blog hop the different Design Team blogs you'll see all (or at least most of) the cute stamps the kit contains (I myself can't wait to see what my Design Team friends have created).

Now onto my first card:

And when you open the card I wanted to show that you can use the stamps for more than just baby cards. This card would be perfect for a little boy's first birthday. On the box (where I've masked off the 'Special Delivery' sign that's normally on there could be any text from just the number 1 to Happy Birthday. The possibilities are endless. The Surprise letters were cut with a Coluzzle template and it is actually chipboard with Design Paper on top. I wanted to use chipboard because I thought that would go well with the cardboard box the baby is sitting in when you open the card. Here is a close up of the cute little Sweet Pie:

The box, the balloons the baby and the little party hat are all in the set.

Onto my second card:And a close up of the baby:
Isn't she lovely? The big flower hat, the dress, the t-shirt underneath the dress and the rattle are all in the set. The sentiment is actually from the second set that will be shown in the sneak peeks tomorrow so you've actually got an even sneaker sneak peek there :). I've stamped the sentiment on ribbon. Just like with the baby in the first card I've layered the baby to give it a bit of a 3D effect. The card is very small and would be perfect to give with a gift or something but would of course also be very cute to send in the mail. I've used my cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder to give the pink cardstock some texture and I've cut the white cardstock and the Design Paper with my Nesties.

Hope you like these. I'll be back tomorrow with two sneak peek cards with the second set that will be released on Thursday. This month we are joined by our Guest Designer Sparkle Smith (I love your name Sparkle!!). I've checked out her blog and she displays some absolutely stunning cards on there so I can't wait to see what she comes up with for this release. And while you are hopping, don't forget to check out the blogs of the other Design Team members (links to their blogs are on the right). Have fun hopping!!

xxx
Mariska