ART NOUVEAU

Good morning Everybody!

How are all you ladies?? Did you have a good nights sleep?? Or did you toss and turn and go to the toilet about 3 times in the night????? Ha, ha.....I had the latter because I am over 50 and it is caused by a terrible disease called menopause....I could go on about this disease, I might do some other time but I wanted to talk about more cultural things to be specific - about ART NOUVEAU ( I looked up the spelling and I think this is right!)

Anyway I made these lovely cards that I thought were in the art nouveau style....my daughter studies history of art and I was talking to her and I said I made 2 cards in the "art deco" style and although we were talking on the phone I could see her eyes rollling when she said " No mom Art deco is an architectual style, Art nouveau is for art" Yes my dear I understand!

Well anyway I went to have a look on Wikipedia - I would't be a librarian if I wouldn't do a bit of research on the subject so: Art Nouveau is a style of art, especially applied and decorative art,  that was developed in Europe between 1890 and 1914. It is characterized by organic, especially floral and other plant-inspired motifs, as well as highly-stylized flowing curvilinear forms! The word "Art Nouveau" is French, Germans call it "Jugendstil", English "modern style or style liberty (refering to the Liberty store in London), in Spanish "modernismo"..etc. etc... I love the style because there are so many lovely little decorative things from that time that you can find in antique shops like broches, all sorts of other jewelry, parfume bottles, belts...

I think this picture characterizes the style:

It is so beautiful isn't it?? Anyway my cards are not anywhere near as beautiful as this but I tried to get close...

Here is my interpretation of  ART NOUVEAU:

The lovely Easter egg is a digi stamp from Bugaboo stamps, I colored it with glittery watercolors, I used a  Martha Stewart punch for the butterfly, colored with Copics and added a bit of glitter. Because I wanted the egg to pop out there is no special background paper, I just used a bit of black so it went with the strong lines of the egg ! 

The challenges I want to enter are:

The Color Dare ( color combo green, pink and black - one of them ownes up to that combo)

Everybody Art Challenge (Easter)

Our Creative Corner (Easter) and

Paperplay Challenges (Easter).

Daring Cardmakers (Easter eggs)
That is my rambling for today!

Hugs,

Cardarian

Running a Marathon and how we could rule the world!

Good evening everybody!

Yesterday was a marathon WOYWW, I tried to comment on every blog, sorry desk I mean but my eyes were dropping at nr. 50 so I did the rest of the gals this morning....Julia (by the way I saw your spring card and the "how I know it is spring" - very good and very funny) thank you so much for bringing us together like that - it evolves every Wednesday, people make friends, support each other, exchange ideas - it is becoming a wonderful social club! I think women can be such an amazing positive force , ha, ha  actually we could change the world if we put our minds to it! So I am looking forward to the next week and I am sure all the other ladies are too....anybody reading my blog please go and support Carmen  at her dieting - I have been through so many diets in my life and I know you need a lot of support if you want to stick to a diet so be supportive ladies!

On to the normal cardmaking things I have finished and sent off my Mother's day card and my mom has recieved it and was happy with it, she probably would have been with anything I sent her but I am glad I made an effort!

So here is the card.....

As you can see it is a lovely Hero Arts Cling called Engraved flower - I think it says everything that a mom is! I am sure all you ladies know! I am not entering it into any challenge because it was for my mom!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there! May every day be a happy Mother's Day for you!

Good night and sleep tight - see ya all soon again!

P.S.: Don't forget to think about Paula and send her positive thoughts!

Cardarian

WOYWW 24th March

Good morning Ladies!

How are all my crafty friends out there?? Enjoying the lovely spring?? We had a brilliant sunny day yesterday, but it is just so sad that us working folk have to sit in the office all day instead of enjoying the sun....still I did catch a little bit of the sun in the afternoon when I went to the Library Association meeting and had to park so far away I actually had a nice walk to the library where it was held! I guess sometimes when you can't find a parking space it can actually be a blessing! 

I came home late last night but I had this great idea for a card I was going to make for my mom - it is Mother's Day in our country tomorrow ( 25th March), so I started on it straight away - doing all the printing and cutting and punching and.......in the end I put all the pieces together and I will say this bluntly - IT WAS CRAP!!!!!!!

Does this happen to you ladies sometime?? No matter how much I was turning the stuff around nothing worked! In the end I just walked away because I couldn't finish it......soooo this morning I got up at 5.30 and started a NEW card and I think this one will work...

I have taken photos of my messy desk and you can have a look at all the remnants of yesterday's and this mornings's work. I looked back at some of my posts from before and I think I haven't shown you the mess I can make yet ha, ha... I was going to show you a lovely craft room because on Saturday I had my spring cleaning and I sorted out the room quite nice - should have taken a photo then...eh well you will have to wait for my next post....I still owe you some photos from my Italian shopping but I am trying to figure out how to take a photo of clothes that would look nice - I should ask the lovely photographer Maria Medeiros from Cozycomfycouch to give me some advice on that! 

Ok then here is my mess of a desk......

Have nose around ladies and be sure I will be snooping around your desk!

Wishing you all a lovely spring day!

Hugs from 

Cardarian

Sweet Chick

Good morning Everybody!

I hope you all had a nice and relaxing weekend and are all ready for a new week of challenges! 

Last night I was ready to go to bed when I saw this sketch on Sketch Saturday and the bug was bugging me so I had to make this cute little card....

Papers: Forever Friends With Love...

Digi Stamp: Cuddly Buddly

Punch: EK Success Scallop Diamond

Glitter : Grape Ice Stickles

I really like the chick it is so Easter and so spring-ish..

I am going for the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday (sketch)

One stop craft challenge (Let it shine - stickles does that!)

Sweet Stampin (Spring)

Secret Crafter (Spring)

Daring Cardmakers (Tweetie Pie)

Stampin for the Weekend (Easter)

So there another Easter Card done, about 15 more to go ha, ha...

Have a lovely day, see ya all soon,

Cardarian

Hello Spring!

Hello Everybody!

It is officially spring so spring cards and Easter cards are the in thing. I had big plans this weekend to make loads of cards but so far only one has materialized and I was really lucky to get this one in....My daughter was visiting and then my brother came round with his kids and the day soon goes so I ended up with this one card...

 I have made it for the following challenges:

Penny Black (sketch)

Allsorts (spring)

Crazy 4 challenges (spring)

Our creative corner (Easter)

The recipe for the card: 

Background paper Pink Petticoat Wild Blossoms digi papers, the other paper I stamped with Stampabilities Polka Dot background - I used various inks to make it more colorful and match the flowers on the other paper...Spellbinders Nesties were used for the scalloped circle!

The stamp is a Penny Black , the flowers and leaves were made with a Woodware punch, a little bit of glitter glue and a few Dovecraft gemstones and ribbon from my new italian stash!
I am trying to get a more crisp photo of my cards but whatever I do (you should have seen me juggling about 3 of my lamps trying to get it right) they are just not what I want - I guess I will have to start taking photos in the morning outside on my terrace - luckily it is light in the morning before I go to work now!

I think that is it! I am so slow with these Easter cards....need to get into 5th gear otherwise....

Have a lovely evening ladies, will be back soon!

Cardarian

Trendy blue, spring, a few cards and WOYWW!

Good morning everybody!

I am back from my weekend of travels and from my cardmaking low! So let me recapture the last few days...

Friday I went to Italy - Trieste for a bit of a shopping esprite with my daughter and a bit of a look around at what is the buzz in fashion - well ladies it looks like we will be wearing BLUE this spring....lots of blue, denim...soooo I bought a few blue things but I will blog about that later on - I have to take some photos...

I did take a photo of my new stash though - I always go to this little shop in Trieste where they have all sorts of stuff for sewing - material, all sorts of embelishments and tools for sewing but also RIBBON....I always buy ribbon there and this is what I bought on Friday...

I especially like the blue ones in the back....

Saturday and Sunday I spent at my moms.....we had a nice peaceful weekend - lots of chat! Spring is definitly here so I took a few photos of the little flowers that are coming up in the garden 

I came back late Sunday evening ( over the weekend I have done about 400 miles (600 km) of driving - that is about the diagonal of our country!ha, ha) and Monday it was back to work - as it was my nephews birthday I needed to make a card for him, also it is my brothers and my uncle's (he is 85!) nameday on Friday - St. Joseph so I needed to make cards for them - luckily my mojo came back and I have been at work for the last 2 days and here are the results of my work...

This is a card I made for my nephew - he was eight and all the info is on the card...I used  some paper that just said Scrapbook paper on the package so no special make - the zig zag in the middle was made with a Martha Stewart punch, the lovely digi stamp is from The Wild flower patch store - it is called Scater Sage!

I put some string on instead of a ribbon and a beetle/ladybird charm! Hopefully he will like it he is getting it with a few pressies so I guess he will be happy! Auntie loves to give away presents...I hope I captured "boyish" on this card....I am entering it into the Cards for men challenge which is birthday card!

Here are my other 2 cards....I used Hero arts lovely stamps Sillhouete Spray and Sillhouete Burst....a bit of Ice Stickles - Grape Ice and Arctic Ice -  ribbon from stash - purple one is my new one from Italy, and papers on the lilac card are Cuddly Buddly and Pink Petticoat! I am enterring the lilac card into the Card patterns challenge of this week which is a scetch I think I have followed!

and now WOYWW......have a nose ladies - I have a very messy desk - from doing my blue cards...and also I wanted to show you my punch drawer - I think I am becoming a right maniac for punches - ok I admit I am becoming a maniac for anything to do with crafts! Ha, ha....I have punches in this drawer, I have them in boxes,  on my desk - everywhere! I am having my spring cleaning over the weekend and I hope to put some order to my craft room too so next week I can show that off ( ha, ha might not happen! How can you do crafting and not have a mess???)

Have a lovely day!

Hugs 

Cardarian

Charisma Cardz Challenge and a weekend of traveling!

Hello Everybody!

I still haven't been doing much but I managed to make a card for a 3 year old....it is quite similar to the one I made for her 5 year old sister but smaller - I think you have to be carefully to give siblings approximatly the same things otherwise they might think you prefer one from the other....anyway I am entering this card into the Charisma Cardz Challenge - they want butterflies and I have a few on this card and they sparkle!

So here is my little birthday card...

This is the recipe for the card: Card basis is Anitas shaped cards - the round one! The pink paper is from the Creative cardmaking magazine ( I cuttlebuged it with the swiss dot folder) , so are the letters, the tag and the cake which I have blinged up a bit with glitter and some gems, the ribbon is hobby craft, the paper with the colorful circles is a digi download and the butterflies are punchies also blinged up with gems....

So that is it.....

I am off to Trieste - Italy for a bit of a snoop around shops this afternoon - I need to see what the spring trends are - also if I fancy something I might buy it - why not? I deserve it! Tomorrow I will go visit my mom - another 200 km drive! It will be a busy weekend I will report about my travels Sunday evening!

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy life!

Cardarian

WOYWW - March 10th

Hello my dear snoopy friends!

I said I would be back with photos of my mess.....so here is nr. 1......SHOOOOOOCK!!!!!

This is what my desk lookes like the morning after crafting....I was so tired I couldn't clean up in the evening... I forgot to take a photo of  the floor which was an even bigger mess, papers, cuttings, cuttlebug ( I don't have room to have cuttlebug on my desk although I use it a lot and should make room for it but where????????), punches.....

I tidyed up a little bit since but yesterday I printed off some easter digi stamps which I will hopefully turn into cards with my magic ( if it ever comes back) and today a package of papers and Penny black stamps arrived so I put it all on my desk to say to me "come, play with us, make some beautiful cards" - sorry, sorry, not hearing anything yet! I must be deaf!

So here is something for your eyes as you don't need to hear anything ha, ha.....

Oh yes I was playing with my scissors too so that is why they are all spread out there....yes and I managed to take a picture of my finger - there on the left....

and here is my last photo with the whole lot.....

I hope you enjoy snooping around - wish me luck with my mojo.....I must start making cards I must start making cards I must start making cards.....my manthra these days.....

Hugs to all of you lovely ladies

Cardarian

What is art and what is a challenge????

Hi Everybody!

It is Wednesday already, time for WOYWW and I will post some pics of my mess later but I just want to ramble a little bit about sketches and challenges......I am always in a dilema what to do ...do I make a card first and then look for a challenge that fits my card or look at challenges and make my card according to the challenge! Some may think what is the difference but I think there is....if you make a card with your own inspiration it is art  - it comes from your heart....if you follow a sketch or some other challenge - it is a challenge because sometimes it is really hard to make what a challenge (or sketch)  wants - but is it art???  Do you ladies think of your cards being art?? I think of this lovely work we do as a big amazing power of art! I would like to hear some of your opinions on this my dear ladies!

Ha, ha I am not having a very productive week that is probably why I am thinking about these things!  Strangely when you have sooooo much to do ( I have about 8 birthday cards and 20 easter cards to make) I just can't do anything....empty, blank - even with all the inspiration from all the blogs,  you just can't do anything - is this some cardmakers crafty disease????Ha, ha...

Ok enough of this rambling....

Have a lovely day everybody - I will be back with you later in the afternoon with my "haveasnooparound" photos!

See Ya!

Cardarian

Hello Everybody!

I was wondering why the date and time on my blog was coming up wrong all the time - I posted something on Monday and it showed Sunday - I couldn't figure it out for ages - well I finally did - I had the drop down on PACIFIC TIME!!!!!!!!!! Ha, ha that was a bit of a laugh.....well I think I have fixed it now but I must have an eye on these things! I am a "baby blogger" still  but I am growing ha, ha... Unfortunately I still haven't figured out how you make a direct link to your card if it is in the comments! I will have to research that - if any of you ladies have the know how let me know!

See ya later this evening with a new card or maybe two...

Bye, bye

Cardarian

We have another lot of snow coming ( uhhh I am fed up with it) so I thought I would put a little "pick me up" photo I took last spring on my blog...enjoy!

Monday morning, sunshine and a flower!

Good morning everybody!

We have a lovely sunny Monday morning but as I can see there is a cold wind blowing - unfortunatly I have to go to work so I won't enjoy the lovely day....still before I drive off to my library I have a new card for you to look at and judge! Your opinion is very valuable to me! So the card is for the following challenges:

Get sketchy (spring card, shape)

Crafty Calender Challenge (flower power)

Creatalicious Challenge (create a little something)

Dotties world (pastels or brights)

 

  

So to explain what I did : the card is an Anita's flower shaped card as you can all see I cut some K&Company Sparkly Sweet DP with my Cuttlebug and Nesties, the swirls were cut with a punch, the lovely rubber stamp is Cuddle Buddly "A basket of Tweets". The little colorful pearls are from stash...Oh yes and it the image was colored with Copics and it was all distressed with Mementos....so that is that!

OOps getting late now I better rush off to work!

Have a lovely day my ladies !

See ya

Cardarian

Saturdays, the market and green challenges!

Good morning everybody!

Saturday is my favourite day - you wake up no rush anywhere, you go to the kitchen make a tea and then go back to bed and read or just do a bit of blogging ha, ha.....

We have lovely sunshine and luckily I made the card I am posting yesterday so today I can enjoy the sun which we don't see that often as winter is still showings its voracious teeth! I intend to go to our lovely market and buy some nice winter veggies from the farmers so I can cook something to warm the body and the soul....ha, ha that was a bit poetic wasn't it??

Well back to the card - I made a "green" card that is right for all of these challenges

- Crafty Catz (green)

- Prarie Fairy Friday (green)

- Cute Card Thursday (green)

- S2G Challenges (green)

- Charisma Cards (fairies)

- Papertake Weekly (blinge)
- The Pink Elephant Challenge (green)

 

  

 

I could probably do more but I think you just can't keep up with it all if you have too many challenges! So this is my humble tribute to St. Patrick's Day!

What have I used on the card.....the lovely fairy is a Garden Fairy from Cuddly Buddly which I colored with COPICS with all the shades of green I had, the paper is from stash but I stamped over the flowers with Memento pear tart ink and the stamp was from Hero Arts Cling Blosssoms which are becoming my favourite! All the bling - varios green pearls are also from stash, I used glitter on the fairies wings and on the 4 leave clover. The ribbon is from Sir Stampalot - no actual make on it! The lucky coupon is also a Hero arts stamp! 

There I think I have done it all....now breakfast and off to the market!

Have a lovely day everybody!

Cardarian

WOYWW

Hello all you snoopy ladies!

I am back with a post with WOYWW . I have something new....a little Hello Kitty chest of drawers....I think it is not really something an old bat like me should have on her desk but my daughter saw it in the shop the other day and thought it would look "funky" in my pink craft room...As you will see I use it to store my many digi papers which I buy and then print out and.....well maybe sometimes use..Also I have bought more stuff for my stash...bling, glitter, little mementos and ribbon all in pinkies and yellows and greens for my Easter cards and here on the right I have printed out a new copics color chart as I have not worn my glasses (naughty girl!) and didn't color in the right squares so I have to start a new....eh old age......anyway have a snoop my dear ladies...I just love Wednesdays... so much fun this snooping.....

My new chest of drawers

Here is what is hidden in the drawers.....digi papers....

 

  

And here is my new stash.....

 

  

Copics color chart waiting to be colored...

  

And another view of my mess

Have a lovely crafty evening!

Cardarian

Lexi's creations challenge

Hello everybody!

I am back with a card I made for a little girl called Tamieka....it is her 5th birthday and you can clearly see it on the card...I was thinking what to do about it as such small children probably appretiate more the colorful and blingy side of a card than they do the art! Soooo almost everything I used on the card comes from nr. 12 of Creative Cardmaking as the issue was dedicated to birthday cards....all their issues are full of free papers and sentiments so I used that, just added glitter to make it more interesting! I am entering the card into Lexi's creations challenge where "anything goes"

 

  

  

This is post nr. 2 for today....I will be back with WOYWW in a jiffy!

See ya Cardarian

New challenge - The Creative Cottage Challenge Blog

Hello Everybody!

I am back blogging after a week of lazying around and doing nothing.....well I did do lots of thing which I will report about later, also I have done a birthday card and noo I haven't taken a picture of my desk yet - that will all happen in the afternoon as some of us have to go to work! Still I have good news for all you crafting ladies..there is a new blog on the block called The Creative Cottage Challenge Blog! Their first challenge will be in 2 weeks and as a starter offering they are giving away this candy:

 

Go to their website and find out more details!

I will be back later with photos and a card!

bye bye

Cardarian

Oh dear, I was looking at blogs of my followers and did something and now I am my own follower - terrible, looks so narcistic! I don't know what I did but I don't know how to fix it! does anybody know how to undo this??? Please let me know! Thank you!