Monthly Archives: December 2012

Dec 31

2012 card favourites, part one

Seeing as it’s the last day of the year, I thought I would follow the trend and share my favourite creations of 2012.
I haven’t done it before, I reckon it will be good fun and a great opportunity for retrospection… brace yourselves crafty peeps, here goes!
(click on the photos, to be taken to the relevant posts)

In January, seems like I was on a cameo kick and enjoying it… hmmm, it’s a tie-breaker between these two!

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February brings these three… yep, I’m terrible at making choices!

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March wins with this collage-style card. These are not my usual colours or style, I like it when I challenge myself and succeed 🙂

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I love these April cards… the second one shows just how much I like it when I do a decent colouring job, from time to time. Somehow. Hmmm.

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May… I like the “bam!” effect on this card.

And finally, June. LOVE this Waltzingmouse stamp set.

I’ll be back tomorrow, for Part Two.
How did you like today’s picks? Are there any other cards that you’d rather see in this line-up if you were to compose it?
Hope your last day of the year turns out GREAT!! See you in 2013…

Dec 29

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge 129

Welcome to the last Waltzingmouse Sketch for 2012! I’ve had such a great time working with this year’s sketches, and I’m looking forward to the exciting changes *hint hint* that 2013 brings on the WMS field 🙂
Here’s a little number for you, a sketch from Edna:

The highlight of my sample card is the gorgeous Dainty Doilies 2 set, that I had the immense pleasure to ink up and colour (Copics) for the first time. I paired it with Compact Sentiments and Very Vintage Labels No. 18.

A bit of DP behind the panel, belongs to an older My Mind’s Eye collection. The inking was all done with Memento inks - Espresso Truffle, Pear Tart and Teal Zeal. I adore the zesty pairing of lime and teal!
As you can see, I not only turned the sketch sideways, but I also took some creative license with the design. I hope the layout is roughly recognizable… 🙂

Visit the Waltzingmouse Sketch blog, to see more from the Mischief Makers and link up your entry. Be sweet!

Dec 27

CASE Study Challenge #122

We’re closing the year 2012 at CASE Study today, with the last challenge featuring our December Muse, Windy Robinson. Yet again the challenge will run for two weeks, so that you all have plenty of time to play. We’ll be out for a vacation ourselves, until the 9th of January, and a day later another challenge and a new Muse/Guest Designer will greet the pages of our bloggie. In the meantime, are you ready for today??

I’m glad that I’m becoming less rigid regarding the use of colours in my paper crafting, and purple is one of the prime examples. One of the colours to avoid under any circumstances, it now often becomes my conscious choice.
Especially when paired with grey or slate, it becomes extra stylish.

I pulled out the gorgeous, giant Hollyhock stamp from Stampendous. It was waiting for a good couple of months for its virgin inking. I guess it was waiting for the right occasion.
I stamped it in Memento Elderberry (same for the sentiment from Penny Black), and filled in with Copics (BV20, BV23, BV25, V12, V06, plus C1 for the background)
The slate card base was stamped with woodgrain pattern (Hero Arts) in light grey.

The Design Team prepared more goodness today, for your inspiration, so make sure you’ll check out their blogs as well!

Windy Robinson - December Muse
Amy Wanford
Andrea Ewen
Christina MacLaren
Clare Buswell
Debby Hughes
Jean Martin
Jeanne Jachna
Maureen Plut
Teneale Williams
Wida Miller - December Guest Designer

Should you wish to join us, you will find the challenge details at CASE Study!
See you later, crafty folks 🙂

Dec 27

PTI December Blog Hop

I didn’t adhere to the rules like I should, but here it is anyway. Gold sparkly embossing powder, grey ink and a touch of N0 Copic marker on the flowers. Pearls, lace trim, Cuttlebug embossing folder and scoring. The stamp set is PTI’s Year Of Flowers: Daffodils.

I hope you spent a wonderful time with your families and friends at Christmas. I’ll be back in two hours, for a bit of a CASE Study fun.Smooches,

Dec 24

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Christmas Eve arrived in Australia… Soon there will be hustling & bustling in the kitchen, enjoying the heavenly smells, table-decorating and carol-singing.
For me as a Pole, Eve was always the most important day of Christmas, with its great traditions, and more importantly the air of love and excitement that I always look forward to.
This year will be even more special. My mum & dad are here and it’s going to be the first Christmas spent together in the foreign land and also in my domain, my house. Each side of the family will hopefully experience something new and precious, when the cultures and traditions meet. I wish there was snow, but having both parents in for a Polish-style Eve is well enough to make up for the soaring temperatures 🙂

Certainly, food is always a staple in today’s routine and it’s the more awaited, since these delicacies come only once a year. We’ll have ‘Greek fish’ (ryba po grecku — nothing Greek about it, though); beetroot soup (borsch, barszcz); sauerkraut & wild mushrooms dumplings (pierogi), just to name a few.
Apart from a cheesecake and poppy seed cake that will make it to our table this year, I usually make a walnut & honey cake which is a favourite with everyone. Mazurek, as it’s called, is traditionally made for Easter but with its earthy, rich flavour it fits Christmas just as well.


Walnut cake

Base
200g (7 oz) unsalted butter
3 cup flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
2 tbsp natural honey
1 egg + 1 yolk

Knead briskly together, layer the bottom of 28 cm (11″) tin. Slight variations in size are fine.

Coating
250g unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
30g (1 oz) walnuts
2 - 3 tbsp natural honey

Preheat the oven to 180C (356F). Melt butter in saucepan, add sugar, honey and walnuts (broken into med-sized pieces). Stir on medium heat for 5-7 minutes. When the mixture starts bubbling, pour it on top of the base. Bake for 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

*Please note, that all measuring is given in Australian standards.
1 cup = 250ml
1 tsp = 5ml
1 tbsp = 20ml
Make sure you adjust your measures, if you use British or American standards. Thanks!

Wishing you all a VERY MERRY Christmas 🙂

Dec 23

Jay Gee’s Nook - Thanks

Happy pre-Christmas weekend! What are your plans for today? We have a few cakes left to bake and barszcz (beetroot soup) to prepare tomorrow. I’ll see if I can share the recipe for my favourite walnut cake (mazurek) a bit later in the day 🙂

I’m sharing my last Jay Gee’s Nook DT card for this year, we’re taking a break until Sunday the 13th of January.

I’m still in the mood for WPlus9, although this time I pulled out one of their beautiful dies, Quilt Cuts 2. I’m mesmerized by the look of the dainty border between the pieces. I can see fantastic stained glass-like designs done with this die, even using the border alone can produce great effects I’m sure.

I’ve got SU! Lucky Limeade for my card base and the die cut/sentiment, and a panel of PTI Enchanted Evening. I applied Versa Color Cyan ink to the die cut pieces, using ink cube direct to paper. Love using them for this purpose.
I cut the sentiment with my Cameo, and scored around the die cut with ScorBuddy. A length of decorative trim and a rhinestone brad, finish the card.

Here’s my inspiration, ric#26:

Hop on over to the JG’s Nook blog, to see more from the Design Team.

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