Magnolia Mania #52: Twinkle little star ♥

Hiya friends and followers!
Welcome to my blog! Today I have a very exiting announcement to make.....
I´m not going to keep you in the dark with drumrolls and stuff because my headline kind of already gave it away ;)

A little while ago the wonderfully talanted ladies that runs the challengeblog Magnolia Mania was searching for three new crafters to contribute to their blog for three months as gdt´s. I thought well, I can always apply and to my big surprise they chose me! So I´m one of the lucky girls that is guesting them august, september and october togheter with Nicholchen and Jennifer.

If you have never joined any of their stunning challenges the time is now! We would love to see you there!
Now I´ll let you in on the theme for this fortnight and it is: TWINKLE LITTLE STAR!
I have been thinking I need to start off with this years chrissy cards for quite a long time now and this theme seemed to be the perfect excuse ;)
It feels a bit wierd to me though, summer has finally hit Sweden, and I had to sing "Jingle Bells" and pull my curtain down to get in the mood! ;)

I used one of the Tildas from last years christmas collection "Sweet Christmas dreams".
The papers are by Pion design and Tilda is inked with di´s on 300 g watercolorpaper. I used some Platinum stickles on various places on the stamped image and the circles are made using my spellbinders. So is the stars, they are just cut out on regular cardstock and then I added LOADS of glitter by Martha Stewart called "Smoky quartz". The big hugely lush flower is a gift from my cute friend Jane and is by Prima. I have been holding on to it for so long thinking it´s to nice to add to anything but it just seemed to be the perfect addition here ;) The rolled flowers are from Kort og Godt. The sentiment is stamped onto wellum paper and cut out using my banner dies from Spellbinders. Behind it is a heart I bought at Panduro Hobby.To finish it off I added to strings of pearl bling and some letters from Basic Grey. I also added loads of di crackle paint picket fence for a more shaby feeling. I have also sewn the edges.

I want to join the girls over at The sketchy challenges with this card :) They always serve us the most gorgeous skethes and the one Karen made for this fortnight is AMAZING! Love it that it´s not full of details so I can add to my own imagination. Here´s the sketch:

Thank´s ladies! Had heaps of fun with it!

Now don´t forget to head on over to the lovely Magnolia Mania challenge blog where the girls are showcasing some truly gorgeous work - all for your inspiration! Thanks for having me, ladies!

Thank you so much for looking in with me today!

I´m slowly getting my will to craft back, I tell you it´s hard to be seperated from Ella, even the slightest moment ;)

That´s probably why I haven´t been around your places to much...sorry! I will be again soon :)

Big hugs, Louise

MDUC: Alter or make a giftbox (picture heavy)

Hi there friends!

I´m so happy to see you here! Brings such a smile to my face :)
Tonight it´s time for me to tell you all about our new challenge over at Magnolia Down Under. I have a hard time believing how fast time flies by ;)
We would love for you all to share a little something diffrent with us this week! No cards aloud ;)
Your assignment if you chose to take it on is to alter or make a gift box.

I decided to make a giftbox and give it to myself - for a change ;) Ha,ha,ha!
I bought this big box at my local scrapstore quite some time ago and have just not gotten around to make something of it. This challenge really came in handy ;)
The lovely very summerlike dp´s are from Graphic 45 and is named "Baby and Bride collection". I´m so into pastel colours during summer so these papers felt perfect. I have painted all the edges with di crackle paint Picket fence for a more shabby look, the edges are also sewn. The handle and "lock" also got a toutch of the paint. The letters spells out Louises scrap and the box is filled with all of my most needed tools. For example scissors, pencils, eyelet makers, glue and so on. The cute little daisys are also from my local scrapstore. The big yellow lush gardenia is from the Magnolia store in Borås, as well as the green lace, the yellow ribbon and vintage blue lilys. All other flowers are WOC.The grungeboard is from TH and is also painted with di picket fence. (the key and the embellies on the side) On top I have placed a pearl swirl from Prima, some seam binding, one rolled rose from Kort og godt and a corner adornment from Melissa Frances. I love Butterfly Tilda from Magnolia and Tilda with gifts on the top is also one of my favs!

So what do you guys think?

Do not forget to head on over to the MDUC blog to take a look at all of the lush boxes that my cute and extremily talanted teamies made for you to inspire from!

Thank you all so much for being here!

Big hugs xXx

Little babygirl Ella is here ♥

Hi friends and fellow crafters!

Let me start off by telling you there really is NOTHING crafty about todays posting ;) Although I must confess I recieved some packages with stamps I ordered and they are sooooo calling out my name. ;) There are some really beautiful Magnolias lying here on my desk, waiting for me to work them ;) And I will, but I just have to share what has happened in our lifes this past week and tell you that as soon as I can I will get crafty again :)

 As some of you may know we have a five year old daughter named Signe and has always been the apple of our eyes! She is such an amazing little girl and I´m so proud of being her mummy. Being a mum is the most important job I always say and to be her mother is pure joy  ♥        When Signe was about two and a half years old, me and hubby started trying to concieve another little baby. However after trying for quite some time we noticed my health was deteriorating. Each month I had worse and worse periods with loads of pain and I started seeing my doctor. They diagnosed me with a common womans decease that is named endometriosis. I had never heard of it but to make a long story short you dont bleed all out each month but a certain amount of blood stays in your womb. After a while this blood starts clogging up and become cysts. On a scan they noticed I had one on my ovarie, it was about 10 cm big. I was listed for surgery and found out when I woke up they had to remove it and that the ovarie I had left was looking very infected too. A new time for surgery was booked and they had to remove that one as well. That meant I had no ovaries left = which meant no more babies, at least not the "natural way". Luckily enough medical science is amazing and we were told we could try IVF. Some of you might know all about that and the psycic preassure that means - at least it did for us. By this time I had found a great hobby which is papercrafting. I´m so thankful for that because I was so sad and being able to create cards was my rescue at many times! After many sorrows we found out we were ever so lucky!! We managed to concieve a baby again :) So...you can imagine how we both feel welcoming our latest additon into our loving family. Many that goes through life never gets to enjoy this no matter how much they want to so I´m feeling very humble and thankful! Sometimes we have a way of taking our loved ones for granted even though we don´t wish too, it just happends. I always try not too! Well, tears of joy are streaming down my face as I´m about to introduce you to our little miracle! She was born on july 17th at 18:28 and is now soon three days old. She weighed 3870 g and is 52 cm long. Everything went really well and even though I (naturally, everybody in labour does ;)) suffered great pain it was nothing compared to the feeling of harmony and unconditional love we now feel as a family of four. I´d do it again - anytime! If there was an Ella to meet at the end of it ;)  

I also want to share some photos: 

Ella 2 hours old at the hospital. ♥

Signe and Ella meet for the very first time ♥

Mummy, can I pleeeaaassse change her diaper??

Ella is getting all cozy on her baby blanket on her first day at home ♥

Signe is so proud of little Ella ♥

 Ella in her car seat at the way home today. ♥

 

Signe in the same car seat about two weeks old! They really look alike ha?

Thank you for being here!

I look forwards to coming over to your places again soon ♥

Big hugs xXx

The most beautiful MDUC surprise - and it´s for me!! ♥

Hi friends!

Welcome to my place! 

Today I have the honor of telling you I have been so surprised by my LOVELY teamies over at  Magnolia down under! I posted a card late yesterday evening thinking everything was as usual and then for a change I actually didn´t sit up during the middle of the night so I didn´t hurry on over to check out the amazing creations my teamies made. Since I´m pregnant that has been the case for a couple of saturdays now ;) Today I have three days left til my babygirl is due! In Sweden it´s not very common to throw baby showers but I have seen them on TV and I´ve been thinking: "That seems like loads of fun, I´d love to have one or throw one for a friend sometime" and whilst I was posting what I thought was the "correct" inspirational picture challenge card the girls had planned to surprise me for months! I swear, they are GREAT pros at this, I had litteraly no idea of what was going on ;) This is the inspirational picture they "assigned" me:

and here´s the card I made:

Here´s the GORGEOUS picure the girlies surprised me with and that is the CURRENT challenge at Magnolia down under:

(Photo courtesy of Pinterest)

This week the ladys are asking you to make a card or project inspired by the lush picture above with the theme SHABBY BABY in mind too :)

As I wrote before I had no idea about this and I became very anxious seeing this pink gorgeousness at our blog and then looking at all the pink lovelieness made by my teamies. My reaction was: My word! I have missed out and used the wrong photo!

And then I read Louise and babyshower and I realized they had outdone themselves in keeping this a secret!

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF MY ADORABLE TEAMIES FOR DOING THIS FOR ME

You all made me feel very special and I´m so honored to read all the beautiful words you used to describe me as a friend. They mean so much to me! I consider you all to me my friends too and even though we have never met in real life you guys are amongst the once that means the world to me! I´m so happy cyber exists and I have had the opportunity to be part of something so special! I have been on a little private blog hop just now and I had tears of joy running down my face every now and then. I love my MDUC dt group and I feel I honestly will never leave! This is more than a dt - it´s a circle of friends having the best time!

I have been feeling a loss for words when I visited you all today and I hardly ever do, the love you guys have been beaming at me are just so big!

Now I can´t wait to show you all pics of little miss bubba! If she cares to join in on our festivities anytime soon ;) ♥

As you all can probably tell I´m feeling extra curious in what you are creating this week, pls join in! Baby themed stuff are so much fun to make and maybe someone else in your circle of friends is expecting a baby girl too soon? You never know! Otherwise you can just keep it til someone does and you can pass the surprise along!

Big hugs! xXx

Louise

♥ ♥♥ ♥♥♥

MDUC Inspirational picture

Welcome friends! 

Time for a new challenge over at Magnolia Down Under tonight :) This week we want you to get inspired by a lovely picture. Here it is: 

Isn´t it beautiful? They girlys did a great job finding it :) Love that it is so sheer and pretty and at the same time it leaves a lot to your own imagination :) We would be thrilled if you wanted to join in! Please, grab your gear and show us your version of a Maggie creation keeping our picture in mind :) 

I decided to make a birthday card for my hubby, he is celebrating his 37th birthday on july 31st! Wow, time flies, he´s getting old ;) Ha,ha,ha! 

So of course I wanted to have a go at a more male card. To tell you the truth that´s really not my cup of tea but..well..sometimes the mojo still grabs hold of me and I could use the practise ;) 

So I chose to work with an Edwin that was released very early on but he´s one of my favs because he is really in a festive mood! And that´s what birthsdays are all about, right? I created a scene with some balloons and the Happy Birthday sentiment also from Magnolia. The arrow and the two gorgeous stars are grungeboard from TH that I firstly painted with di crackle paint Picket fence and then added some glue to and some truly gorgeous glitter from Martha Stewart. The papers are from Kaiser Kraft. The speech bubble is made with a die from Magnolia. I have added some alphabeth stickers from Making memories too. 2 buttons and some pearls later and it´s a male card...or at least a fairly male card ;) Ha, ha, ha! 

Do not forget to jump on over to our challenge blog to see all of the stunning creations my lovely teamies has created for this one! They are amazing! 

Thank you so much for looking!
Big hugs xXx

Just LOOK at what I got!!

OMG!!! I feel like the luckiest girl in the whole wide world :) My life is so exiting at the moment! Our little babygirl is due in only five days (I don´t feel the teeniest tinyest little indication of her wanting to come out though ;)), I´m going out for dinner with a lovely friend tonight, just awaiting the new Maggiestamps I ordered to come in the mail AND look what I got!!! It´s almost to good to be true ;)

You know how we all have that special person in blogland that we deeply admire? It´s usually more than one but then there´s that ONE. Ha,ha,ha! After me starting off doing cardmaking in 2009 it didn´t take me long to find her AWESOME blog. Her name is Camilla Stöen Bakke and she lives in Norway. Since then I follow her every step and I´m ALWAYS so amazed of her stunning, stunning work :) Look at that coloring - it is divine! So shabby chic and very inviting for the eyes, right! Besides this I have also found out during the years she is a fantastic person that I have come to treasure a lot as a friend :)

Therefore it was a dream come true to find out she had picked my entry as her personal favorite in the TOMIC anniversary celebration challenge with the theme anything goes a while ago. If you where picked you could win a card made by someone in the Magnolia DT. I would have loved to recieve any of them beacuse they are all so beautiful!

Here´s my entry:

And look what I won! The most stunning of cards made by lovely Camilla!

I borrowed this amazing picture of Camilla Stöen Bakkes amazing creation from her own blog, Cards by Camilla!

Isn´t it just the most gorgeous thing you´ve ever seen??
And I can tell you it´s even more beautiful in real life!

So if you by any chance have missed out on Camillas beautiful blog you just click any of my links up here and you´ll come right there!
She is an amazing crafter :)

Thank you so much dearest Camilla for doing this! YAY!!

I promise to be back with something I made again real soon ;)

Big hugs xXx Louise

More Saturated Canary!

Hi friends and followers!

Welcome back to my place! I was so happy when I logged on this morning because I noticed I know have 440 followers! Wow! That is HUGE :) You guys make me feel like the luckiest girly in the world :) I can also feel some candy coming on ;) So stay tuned!

As most of you know by now me and hubby are expecting a baby, she is due on july 18th so she still has 10 days to please mommy ;) Cross everything you have so that I don´t have to go past due date. My wish is a little early :) As I´m waiting..and waiting I have decided to take things slow relax and suddenly my crave to craft is huge as well. As you read in my latest posting I recently tried to work those Copics again because I have found a new stamp label that I´m soooo into! I´m truly loving them :) They are Saturated Canary and is illustrated by the AMAZINGLY talanted Krista Smith. So if you´re into digi´s and for some unbelievable reason missed out on these hurry on over and get your self one :)
In the post I wrote up on friday (scroll down) I´m telling you all about an amazing giveaway that is arranged by my lovely friend Angie Hunt. She is the owner and creator of the lovely Little Darling stamps and her store named Little Darlings is going to be the first to stock the Saturated Canary stamps in rubber. This will happen sometime mid july and until then she has decided to give away three never seen before S.C rubberstamps. All you have to do is to join the Little Darlings facebook group
So do that and I´ll see you there!

I have made a shaped card this time, I used the large dies by Go Kreate! to achieve the shape. The dp´s are by Pion Design "Grandmas old schoolbook" and Melissa Frances "Fifth Avenue". The saturated canary is called Circus Trixie and is in my opinion like the cutest - EVER! ;)
She is inked with Copics and I´m kind of happy with this result as well. However I was sweating like a pig inking her hair...man, that was tough and I´m not nearly satisfied, going to take a lot of pratice but at least I dare show it off now ;)
Flowers from WOC, Prima and Magnolia. The lovely pebble is from Websters Pages and the heart tag is by Magnolia. I have stamped some circular sentiments by LOTV on there and in the upper right corner of the image. Some faux lether string from Panduro Hobby togheter with a cute strawberry charm that I bought at the Magnolia store in Borås.

I´d like to enter my card in the following challenges:

I followed the new sketch over at the gorgeous sketchblog called The sketchy challenges. They want us to create after this amazing sketch this fortnight:

Thanks girls I loved working with it!

Over at one of my fav challenge blogs and also a past dt position for me, Deep Ocean challenge, they have chosen a complete fabby theme for this fortnight which is SEA OF LOVE.

Papertake weekly want us to create pretty much anything ;) It´s an ANYTHING GOES challenge this week :)

And over at Bunny Zoe´s it´s a theme of GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS!

Thank you so much for checking in with me today!

Big hugs xXx Louise

My first ever Copics card! And finally a Saturated Canary

Hi everybody and a warm welcome to my place!

My word! Today I´m asking you guys to be extra gentle (not that you´re ever saying anything bad ;)) but I´m so nervous publishing this! You wouldn´t believe!

I have had Copics for about a year now and in the beginning I practised the hell out of those...but nothing helped, I couldn´t seem to get anything right - ever and my waistbasket got full very quickly ;)

In february I decided to sell them since I just stored them but nobody showed any intresst. Exept for the Ciao once that I managed to sell. I regret that now! ;) I guess theres a meaning with everything because I have been lurking around the Saturated Canary shop for ages now wishing I could try one. They are so gorgeous don´t you think? I truly adore them all! They are illustrated by the supertalanted Krista Smith, thank you sooo much Krista for bringing us these amazing images! I have been thinking I´d wait a while because my friend, Angie Hunt, will work togheter with Krista and will be the first stockist of the Saturated Canary stamps - IN RUBBER! This will happen sometime in mid july but I simply couldn´t wait ;)

I will be the first one to run into Angies online store Little Darlings where she also sells her own supercute line of stamps named just that! I have had the luck to be invited to join her team for LD last summer and unfortunatly my term with them was way to short since we found out we were expecting another baby and I felt like rubbish those first few month. I miss them all!

AND! DONT MISS THIS:

ANGIE IS ARRANGING A GIVE AWAY FOR EVERYONE OF THOSE WHO JOINS THE LITTLE DARLINGS GROUP ON FACEBOOK! ONCE THEY REACH 500 MEMBERS SHE WILL KINDLY GIVE AWAY THREE NEVER SEEN BEFORE OF THE SATURATED CANARY IN RUBBER!! JOIN THEIR GROUP HERE FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN!

Hope you do and I will see you there!

So...back to my own project with this gorgeous digi called Ellies birthday :) She is soooo adorable :) I inked her up with the few colors (42) I had left which wasn´t the easist thing to do. The weather is really cloudy in Sweden today as well so I´m so sorry for the bad pics. :(

I paired her up with the amazing dp´s from Bo bunny called Country garden collection. I follwed the amazing new sketch over at CLP Challenges, it looks like this for the month of July:

Amazing ha? I had so much fun :) Thank´s you guys!

And...I also thought I´d upload my very first Saturated canary card to their challenge blog which you can find here: Saturated Canary challenge blog. They want us to bling it on this week so I also added a Prima bling swirl and some star dust to the gorgeous Ellie. Besides that I have added a bling string to the very buttom of the card. 

 

Thank you so much for checking in with me today and pls...be gentle! ;)

Big hugs Louise xXx (whom now has 12 days left til the baby is due ;))