Pretty Queenie

No, I did NOT watch the Royal Wedding on TV today ... but I thought this might be a good day to make my ATC for the ARTchix lottery themed "Queen for the Day"!
In the background you can see some of the papers I´ve made during the last days: a book page dyed with egg dyes at the bottom, embossed and sanded glassine paper in the middle, another paper dyed with egg dyes on top, and on the left I´ve stamped on the hand made paper I´ve told you about in my previous blog post.

Hand papermaking

These are two papers I´ve made from old newspapers.
First you have to tear the newspapers, then soak them overnight with water, stirring and chopping it up until you get this sort of pulp.
Put a plastic net in a frame and dip your frame in the pulp, then disperse the pulp and take it out with your frame.
Put a second plastic net on it and press out as much water as you can.

Turn your frame over on a handkerchief, remove the frame, then cover with a second handkerchief and press again.

Remove the first net, then turn over and remove the second one.

Let your paper dry. That´s it!

A Busy Weekend

I´ve had a busy Easter weekend with my sisters here in Bremen. Yes, we´ve been searching eggs in the garden, sitting in the sun, and we took a walk in the lovely Rhododendron park. But moreover, we´ve tried some new techniques ...
First we´ve made our own stamps using a kit my sister had found on Ebay. Here´s my finished stamp with the foil covered photocopy that I´ve made as a first step in the process before the photosensitive material was exposed to light.

And the next photo shows the papers we´ve dyed, painted and stenciled with the remains of our Easter egg dyes. If you want to see more of the process, have a look at the video my BIL made.

Next, we made our own paper from old newspaper. Look at my next blog post to see the necessary steps.

Altered Eco Embellishments

These are thin Chipboard shapes that I´ve altered for the latest ARTchix swap themed "Altered Eco Embellishments". Once you´ve started, you´ll have a lot of ideas for decorating these blank shapes.

Grungy Monday: A New Dimension

Here´s my Foamboard ATC with a niche for this week´s Grungy Monday challenge themed "New Dimensions" - have a look at Linda´s blog to find all the other entries using this interesting Tim Holtz technique.

Hoppy Easter!

The theme for our monthly Zetti 4 x 6 page is Easter this time, so my Zetti page makes a lovely SPA Easter card, too. Wishing you all a hoppy Easter!

Video about ArtSpecially Event in Zeist

Have you seen my photos taken at the ArtSpecially Event in Zeist/NL last week? I wouldn´t have been able to get there without my BIL who drove me and my sister. And of course he made a film there for all of you who couldn´t attend that great stamping convention. -You can go to my Youtube page and have a look at the new video here to get some impressions.

Finished Seaside Swap

Here´s the complete batch of ATCs for the By the Seaside swap.

London Calling: Big Time Box

"London Calling" is this week´s theme for the Wednesday Stamper´s challenge - love that song!
And here´s a little box illustrating the theme; I´ve called it "Big Time".

Grungy Monday #4: Texture Fades and Distress

What an interesting technique Linda has chosen for this week´s Grungy Monday challenge: using Distress inks directly on your embossing plates is something I hadn´t tried before - especially as I don´t own a Cuttlebug yet. But as I´m with my sister right now, I could use hers and liked the results though I found it difficult to use them in a card. If you go to Linda´s blog you´ll find the link to Tim Holtz´ video demonstrating this fun technique.

By the Seaside

With the bright spring sun shining here in Germany, I just couldn´t resist joining a swap themed "By the Seaside" - here are my first three ATCs made for it. Looks like this will be a cheery, colourful batch of cards ...

Looking Forward to Easter

From Easter on, I´ll have a few days off work and much time for stamping and collaging, so I´m really looking forward to it - as is this bunny on my Moo card made for the Make a moo or two challenge.

No Time Left

What an interesting weekend this was. I´ve been to the Dutch stamping convention in Zeist yesterday for the first time, and it was great. I´ve met a lot of German and a few Dutch friends

and even got to know some stampers that I had only met online before. And of course I´ve purchased some new stamps - though I´ve been in a money saving mode, I couldn´t resist all those beauties that they sold at the 42 booths ...

Maybe you´ve missed new posts here but I didn´t have much time for stamping and won´t have until next week; with Easter and three art/stamping conventions in three months this is a very busy time of the year.

Let´s talk about Eggs ...

As I´ve won the last ARTchix Sisters Lottery, I´m hosting the latest lottery themed "Egg-sactly" (a theme that I´ve chosen because I´ve recently missed a swap with that theme and would have loved to participate). Here´s my ATC for that lottery ...

Imagine

I couldn´t resist playing with the beautiful images my friend Mary from Green Paper uploaded for her April challenge. Have a look here, fetch her collage sheet and have fun with it!

Grungy Monday in NYC

I´m almost late for the first Grungy Monday challenge, but here´s my card using Tim Holtz´ technique for this week. I´ve tried to make a rather clean, pure card according to my NYC theme.

Vintage Text

Have you already noticed that Carole has taken over the Make a moo or two challenge blog? This week´s theme is Vintage Text, and it´s a good opportunity to use all those little scraps lying on your desk - hope you´ll join us!

Mommyisms

Hope you can always hear her saying this - aren´t those mommyisms funny? When I´ve read this week´s SPA challenge theme "Mothers" I immediately knew that I wanted to use this mother stamp together with a mommyism, it just wasn´t easy to choose one ...