Words of Inspiration

A handfull of men have become very rich by paying attention to details that most others ignored.

Henry Ford.

The Link Is Gone

Was about to submit my card to the sketch challenge at InStyle Stamp's blog - still within the deadline which is today 11:59 PST - and the link where one should submit it..... well it is not there?? Buhu....well was not hoping to win anyway, but I would like to have shown my attempt to doing this to the challenge.

The sketch looked like this:

My best friend's mum is turning 60 soon, and being a very crafty lady, she needs to get a card with Stella from Bugaboo :o)

By the way "tillykke" means congrats - thought it would be more suitable with a Danish sentiment, at the receiver is born in Denmark.

Little Bitty Mini Cards

There you have it - this week challenge over at the Waltzingmouse blog :o) After I finished a project that has to go in the mail tomorrow, I decided to give it a try. Often I have scraps left when creating my cards, and I just throw them in a bow as maybe I could use it someday.... the scraps have now outgrown the box. 

Used my SIZZEX die OWL to create... yes the owl, some of the thin ribbon you can buy just about everywhere (think this was bought at HobbyCraft), adhesive eyes from Tiger and then miniature stamp sentiments from the Sassy Silhouettes stamp set (STAMPENDOUS).

I might just have done it again - made something that I will have a hard time to part with.

Look What Was In My Post Today

...and it only took 5 days to arrive :o)

I have been following James Hancock's blog All the Buildings in New York for a while now, and am contantly sweeped away when I see his latest creations. Sweeped away to a city I love and sweeped away because his drawings are amazing. I could not resist emailing him my address when he offered to send postcard out to the blog's readers.

New York - first time I was there I arrived at night and very tired after a long flight. Next morning I walked to 3rd Avenue and was hit with the noise, very tall buildings and a lot of people - I felt at home from that moment and have loved that city ever since.

Next time I return to NewYork I will pre-order some of his drawings from his shop and bring them home as memento of New York. Now you are wondering - Why not just order them now? Well, now I got an excuse to go back to New York again ;o)

Year of the Forests

Are you thinkings: Is she going to live in a forest for a year? My answer is "No", but for 12 years I lived right next door to one.

UN has named 2011 as International Year of the Forests to create awareness about how to use forests in a suistanable an conservating manner. A way you can support this is to look out for the recycled logo when buying paper etc. Recycle the paper (and cardboard) whenever possible. Also look out for the FSC certificate when buing wood furniture - IKEA is using more and more FSC certified wood in their furniture and more companies are joing them in this effort to created suistanable forrests.

Did you know, that paper can be reused 6 times, if recycled?

When I create my cards, I use a lot of paper. Some of it are reuse of papers from magazines, books etc. Every scap not used (yes even the paperwaste from punching holes in to paper before putting it into binders), are collected in used envelops an tossed into the container for recycling paper.

Cookies On My Mind

A while ago, I started reading "The Christmas Cookie Club" by Ann Pearlman - which prompted a question from one of my fellow crafters in Paper Craft Planet's chatroom: "Are you going to start one?".... The idea is tempting, but how many people could I gather in December for such an event? And my appartment is far from big enough to host let's say 10 people.

Did a couple of Christmas cards those days, where I read a few chapters in the book - it was not hard to get into the X-massy mood despite that the world outside my appartments screams "SPRINGTIME!" - I can just hear people saying "I bet she put on X-mas music too!"

While reading a cookie recipe was running around in the back of my head. A couple of weeks ago, one of the free newspapers had a reacipe with healthy cookies. Healthy cookies - well that is usually a contradiction of terms. But this one was highly recommended as a dessert by doctors, especially for people with high cholesterol and/or overweight.

I suffer from neither, but am always on the lookout for better eating habits, and this is in sync with my MS Diet = lots of nuts and tried cranberries. And believe me, if you eat two of them as an afternoon snack, you will only have a limited appetite at dinner time.
Usually I have no problems with following a recipe, but there was something wrong with this one. Not enough liquid/moist to keep the ingredients together, so I had to add extra sirup. Wanted to publish the recipe for you to see, but since I have doubts about the how-to description, I will try to locate the original recipe in the book, from which the newspaper was inspired.

Bringin' A Bit of Easter To My Friends

Some of my dearest friends, a married couple and their two kids, have schedules, like mine, that are quite busy from time to time. Occationally it happens that we do not meet often, other times we meet a lot. This past couple of months have caused difficulties in alingning our calendars to schedule time fo a cup of tea, dinner etc. as we no longer live in the same city. Hence my wish to create a Easter card for them.

CPS sketch challenge # 211 this week provided a sketch that did not necessarily call for buttons, lace, brads - though one could use it if wanted:

Design paper from Handpaper World + an Easter bunny stamp from Torico's Etsy shop. Wanted to add something more... looked around my crafting area and spotted the sewing machine. The final touch was the sentiment from Penny Black.