Next week I’m going to a party for my mother’s parents in law. They both turn 80 and inspired by the card me and Jennie made for Malin, I decided to give them a 3 in one card.

Here’s the front, I used the sketch from this week’s Freshly made sketches challenge #86 to make a Dalarna inspired card. They both enjoy spending time in their house in Dalarna so I figured it’s one, among other, thing they both like.
The background is dry embossed and slightly sanded, the card looked so flat and boring before I decided to try that technique.

Here’s the inside of the card, one page for Britt and one for Rolf, I tried to use colors, stamps and patterns they might like. I hope they like it. I know Britt like green and purple and she makes jam and lemonade in the autumn, delicious! Rolf is a carpenter and he likes to fish so I thought both the stamp and background might work.
These two cards are based on the current challenge at seize the birthday

Instead of cleaning and taking a walk I made a last card for the pink gem challenge #80. It became a wedding card, I realized all my colored humans are brunettes so I decided to practice on coloring blondes. I found this lovely stamp from wee stamps in my stash and I played around with different light brown and yellow nuances. I think I need to purchase more nuances fit for blonde hair.
I’ll add a sentiment later on when the stamps I’ve lent out to Jennie are returned, it would be a shame to ruin the card with my horrible handwriting.

Here’s the pile after my cutting spree (I had a few copies of some of the papers which I kept in original size among a few weird patterned ones)

This almost doubled my existing collection of 6×6 and I realized I need a few projects badly.

I managed to make two cards this weekend and I got to use a few of my newly cut 12 inch papers and other stuff in my stash, a few new ones I got from a sell out. Awesome!

I made this card inspired by this week’s Mojo Monday challenge #291

This morning I made another card inspired by one of my cut papers, it’s a transparent/vellum like paper with some flowers and fruit and I got to think of my new magnolia stamps.

I got to use one of my new prima flowers and wooden embellishments. I also used another piece of one of the border stickers I purchased. I’m such a mindless shopper!

I made the card for the current Magnolia challenge which was to use a Magnolia stamp and vellum, perfect for my rediscovered paper!

I spent hours and hours googling, asking around, googling some more and collecting inspiration from everywhere I could find it. I watched movies, searched for celebrities from that era and watched a documentary about Abba. I visited a bunch of stores to see what they had to offer (I don’t like second hand items from unknown people so I didn’t visit any stores of that kind, silly, I know). Unfortunately the current trends seems to be too much 80′s, might have worked if I aimed for a really late 70′s look. Since I completely missed that you were ”allowed” to wear clothes from the 60′s too my focus was a 100% on the 70′s and after a while I decided to go for the disco look. I’m not very fond of the hippie style that ruled both the 60′s and the 70′s. I’d rather go for the trends of the 50′s if any, which I suppose also appeared in the early 60′s.
Anyway, I bought a slightly 60′s/70′s  inspired dress as a backup if my upcoming plans didn’t work out. I started sketching on a suit with tights legs and wide cuts, lots of glitter and shiny materials. After some research I decided to go for a deep halterneck top in a shiny fabric together with my sequin ruffled flared legs (is this even a proper name for them?) and the cherry on top: the afro wig. I had some glasses and bracelets at home and I also happened to have this wide, golden belt and large earrings. It couldn’t get any better than this! The shoes might have been the least 70′s inspired part of my suit but at least they were looking like a combination of sandals, clogs and plateau shoes.
The fabric hunting was also interesting, I happened to find the sequin fabric in a store i Östersund while on a customer visit for work. I was worried that I didn’t buy enough for both flares and a top, so I found a shiny fabric here in Stockholm which was just perfect for what I had in mind! The pattern I used for the top was a combination of two Burda patterns found in two of my magazines I still keep from 2006 and 2007. I used to have a subscription on that magazine for a few years and I still keep all the issues and the random ones I still buy every now and then. One of the patterns was a halterneck top and the other a tank top with a deep neckline, it is a bit big and the fabric quite stretchy but it worked fine for one night.
When I was finished with my clothes for the evening my last challenge was the make up part (soooo happy I bought a wig and didn’t have to think about the hair too) which didn’t go exactly as I planned. Youtube and google told me pastel colors, eyeliner and orange lips were the trends of the 70′s. Lavender eyeshadow, thick cat eyeliner, pale pink lipgloss and fake eyelashes. And of course: glitter and shiny eyeshadow as a highlighter all over the place! It was decent but I was disappointed with the colors. I should have used more eyeshadow to make the color pop but I mostly used the glasses anyway so it doesn’t matter that much.

Right before the party I watched a few dance tutorials on youtube for the John Travolta dance from Saturday night fever and picked up a few funky moves. It was awesome.

Here’s a picture of the outfit for the evening and one where you can see the makeup slightly better.

A closer image of my fake flares. I didn’t sew complete pants, just the flares and put some elastics on the top to make them stick right below my knee. I just wore a pair (or two, it was cold) of shiny leggings and put them over my shins.

I just have to show you the decorations for the party. My handy mother and husband made the fence with flowers and the table decorations! I helped her cut the smilies with my Big Shot, the other decorations are made of some sort of mdf board.

I also cut out these wine glass tags with my Big Shot, both orange and yellow paper and my mother added all the guest’s names on them.

The bags are something I got from some kits and they’ve been lying around for a while now.. happy to get to use them and some other stuff in my stash!
I found some fun challenges to enter with these bags too!

The Ladybug crafts challenge: Anything goes
Alota rubber stamps #103: Springtime
Crafty creations #215: Easter
Magnolialicious challenge: All about spring
I love promarkers: Spring is in the air

A few of the items from my stash: the shaped buttons (helicopter and police car), bubble stickers and a butterfly sticker I found in Berlin at Karstadt I believe.
The buttons were a part of the Christmas calendar I got from my mother last Christmas, they have this ring on the backside which I cut off and that caused the button to fall apart! Glued it all together again and adhered it with some glue dots.

A closeup on the bunny, colored with pro- and flexmarkers. I colored the bow with a darker blue first and added a brighter shade on top, gives a nice touch!

And here is the birthday card for my other cousin who turns 14. Inspired by the Sweet stop sketch #204
So happy I got to use both some alphabet stickers and a few brads from my stash.

Least but not last I also finished off some cards to go with a few angels my other aunt ordered.

I do feel that something is missing in the background but I’ll just leave this as it is, there’s just too much to do both at work and at my spare time this week, that’s life!

The colors do look slightly darker than they are, me and my crappy photos again! I guess the lightning in my closet is worthless for photos.. Could have figured that one out earlier to be honest! One day I’ll make myself a lightbox or something similar, when I have the time.

I managed to create one Easter card, it feels like something’s missing, I just can’t figure out what so I’ll just leave it as it is. Inspired by the I love promarker challenge #158: Anything but square I made this egg shaped card.

Maybe a few butterflies would do it, I might take another look before sending it, there’s still time to make improvements!

This card was inspired by the Fab Friday Challenge #13.
I do feel more pleased with this one, maybe it’s the familiar shape and bold colors. Or the fact that it’s a small card, a creation fit for this lack of inspiration I’m suffering from at the moment.
Another thing I’m happy about is the fact that I managed to use two of my cardboard decorations I’ve somehow collected over the years. It was one thing I thought I could go for as a goal this weekend (if everything else fails).
When I found these brackets in my forgotten drawer, I thought they were extremely boring, pale and.. cheap. While looking at them I just kept hearing Jennie telling me ”you can always emboss or color boring things, I do that with brads sometimes. And use color/mists on boring papers!” I gazed at my color shelf, imagined them all, one by one on my black brackets.. And suddenly my I found it; my black diamond stickles! I looked at the brackets, back to the stickles tube, grabbed it and went nuts. Love it!

And as usual I manage to take the worst pictures.. I  just have to get that lightning right.

This one is for my granny who turns 79 this year! Inspired by Mojo Monday #282 and Ladybug crafts current challenge.
The numbers are actually colored with chalk mist since I only had bigger white letters and numbers that would fit. I have a few other colors but I never ever have a card where they match with the colors.. but they are nice to look at!

I made this for my brother who is turning 23.. And now when it’s finished it feels more fit for a kid than a 20 something so I might add it to my growing pile of cards and make another one for him, more fit for his age.

Inspired by Seize the birthday #8 and 2 sisters challenge #133

I love promarkers: Four legged friends
Sweet Sunday sketch challenge

Mojo Monday #281

Casual Friday CFC 91 – Hi ho silver