My first blogging award

... has been given to me by Anne: the Kreativ Blogger. Thanks Anne, I feel honoured!

Here are the "rules" for this award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for the award.


2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.


3. Link to the person who nominated you for the award.


4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.


5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.


6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.


7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they've been nominated.

I'll start with listing 7 things about myself that others might find interesting:

1. I like gardening and try to rescue plants that have been removed from other gardens. Apart from weeds, of course! Today for example, I picked up a Hibiscus shrub. Not sure if it will make it - it might have been out of the soil for too long already - but I think it's worth trying.

2. I try to use my bicyle instead of motorised transport on all trips under 40 minutes (cycling time).

3. My favourite food is Sushi.

4. I'm one of the (few?) people who actually like chocolate which contains 99% cocoa (although it's not sweet). That doesn't mean I would say no to a nice chocloate truffle whatever the content of cocoa is in those...

5. I once spent a weekend cooking for a whole film set (actors as well as the crew). That was in an old farm kitchen - I think they did have a dishwasher, though.

6. I have been around a race track on the back of a motorbike.

7. When I was about 15 years old, a friend intoduced me to Danish cross stitching. We proudly exhibited our efforts in a glass cabinet outside our class room.


Next, I am to nominate 7 other blogs for the award. Here is my choice, in no particular order:

World of Sarpreet
First of all, rather than nominating a well-known blog that has already received awards, I would like to encourage a new blogger. I found Sarpreet's blog when she had won a sketch challenge - it's always interesting to see the people behind their cards. Sarpreet has a nice personal style of writing and her blog already has many more followers than mine ;) so maybe this award is the next step of motivation? Keep posting, Sarpreet!

Nellie's Nest
Diane not only does stamping and card making but also makes quilts and lovely gifts in attraktive packaging. Her ideas are very inspirational.

The Paper Yard
Lori makes interesting and original cards, often romantic in style, sometimes with a modern flair. I greatly admire her sense for details.

Forever Momories for You
I enjoy looking at Tina's 3D cards, it seems she really has mastered her craft robo, and I'm so looking forward to see her hot-foiled cards!

The Pink Elephant Challenge Blog
I can recommend their varying weekly challenge and also the clear tutorials - you can find all sorts of crafty advice and ideas here.

Skissedilla
This is the first norwegian scrapbooking challenge blog! Luckily, you don't need to understand Norwegian to enjoy their creative layouts and take part in the challenges - there is a translating function on the blog's sidebar and you can comment in English.

Stamping Mathilda
Godelieve's blog is inspiring, I like her amazing projects and tutorials - and she's an apt photographer, too!

I hope you'll take a moment or two to stop by these blogs (including Anne's!) and maybe leave a nice comment. Thanks!

A window in Edinburgh castle

I admit the motif is probably a bit unusual for a birthday card. This stained glass window displaying Saint Columon can be found in St. Margaret's Chapel in Edinburgh castle.

I like the effect of the coloured light on the wall so I wanted to incorporate my ribbons in an unobtrusive way.

Hopeful birdsday

This one is probably my first attempt to use a pun on a card. I have seen others doing this sort of thing all the time and not only do I quite like the results, I also believe that funny cards have a big audience. Now we just need to work a bit more on our jokes and puns, I suppose...?

The rising goose is another one of my brooches, it can be removed and worn again. The vintage image booklet from Carla came in handy again, and I just happened to have a green glittery plastic bead in my stash to complement the eggs. I tried (not very successfully) to split it into halves - I wonder if any of you has any advice on how this can be done? Maybe with a heated wire? If you do, could you please let me know - thanks.

By the way, I have recycled the white button from a shirt that had reached the end of its life. This, if nothing else, should qualify my card for the "Go Green" challenge over at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday (FTTC9) (see the Flourishes newsletter).

Black woman brooch card

Today I finally got round to making a card with this lovely brooch - I had been looking forward to that! It can be removed from the card to be used for its original purpose. As usual, I have bought not just one but quite a few of these brooches. I am intending to make sample cards for my whole stash, so keep watching this space if you like jewellery cards.

The background is textured with a piece of flocked fabric with a gold shimmer. For the picture frame, I have embossed brown card, filed away the brown layer on the embossing and applied a light layer of bronze acrylic paint on the whole card. The background for the lady is a piece of matt gold paper.

Sparkly rainbow baby card

I have drawn my background using water colour pencils without water. Afterwards I glitzed up the colours of the rainbow with some glitzy ribbon - the sort that resembles knitting wool with the colours running into each other.

Craft space

A while ago, I saw a play in which one of the characters made the point that women were always interested in other women's kitchens. I think it's the same with crafting spaces. Some are absolutely gorgeous and probably professional working spaces, while others let you sigh with relief when you notice that you are not the only untidy crafter in the world... It can be good to know that there are others out there creating wonderful things in a tiny corner of their bedroom or at the unused half of the kitchen table.

In any case, you might pick up some good ideas from the way other crafters organise their crafting space. This can be quite an important subject matter if you consider that for some strange reason, our stacks of crafting supplies don't actually go down with every year of crafting - instead they grow... even if we are not normally shopaholics!

Nest with bird brooch

I would like to dedicate this layout to Carla who kindly sent me the vintage image pad I have used here, along with some other marvellous crafting goodies.

I have left the brooch intact so the recipient can detach it from the card and use it.

The flowers are Clare Curd Signature Range, coloured with bronze and brass acrylic paint.