First Anniversary/Erster Jahrestags Blog Candy!

Heute ausnahmsweise ein Deutsch/Englischer Post, aus gegebenem Anlass!
Today I do a German/English post on the special occasion.

Blog Candy Time!

Juhuu! Beinahe hätte ich es vor lauter Küchenumbaustress und Hektik übersehen: es ist soweit! Mein erstes Jahr als begeistert werkelnde Bloggerin ist voll und ich möchte das mit euch feiern und euch auf diesem Wege für eure vielen ermutigenden Kommentare, die großartige Inspiration durch eure vielen schönen Arbeiten und die tolle Gemeinschaft danken, die es mir ermöglichen überhaupt so kreativ zu sein und so viel dazuzulernen.  Zu diesem Anlass habe ich ein "Candy" vorbereitet, das ich an einen derjenigen verlose, der auf seinem Blog  mit einem Link hierher über dieses Candy berichtet (wenn möglich aber nicht zwingend mit Bild dazu) und mir außerdem noch hier im Post einen Kommentar hinterlässt.   Follower zu werden ist nicht zwingend und solltet ihr natürlich auch nur, wenn euch auch gefällt, was ihr hier so bei mir seht, aber natürlich freue ich mich darüber sehr. (Die Google Friends Follower Funktion bleibt übrigens auch nach dem 1. Juli erhalten). Diejenigen, die mir schon bei der ersten Gelegenheit per Kommentar gratluliert haben (danke schön übrigens;), müssen nicht nocheinmal kommentieren. Die berücksichtige ich bei der Preis-Ziehung natürlich ebenfalls. Am 28. Juni um 22 Uhr Ortszeit (Wien, Österreich) werde ich unter denen, die dafür in Frage kommen, das Candy verlosen. Bitte, lasst mich (über euren Kommentar hier) wissen, wie ich euch erreichen kann, falls ich über euren Kommentar keine Kontaktdaten erhalte bzw. nicht auf euren blog gelange. Tja, wer hätte gedacht, dass sich das so entwickeln würde...aus einer Bestellung einer (natürlich) Tim Holtz Stempelplatte, Schrumpffolie und StazOn Stempelfarbe für ein Armband für meine Schwester.... das Armband hab ich heute noch nicht gemacht, dafür ein anderes für sie zu Weihnachten und viele, viele Stempel-Werkeleien, Altered Objects und wasweißich noch alles... die Möglichkeiten sind endlos und das Armband steht noch immer auf einer langen Liste ;) Mal sehen, was das nächste Jahr so bringt. Lieben Dank für eure Treue, auch euch weiterhin viel Freude, erfolgreich befriedigendes kreatives Schaffen und alles Liebe, die amelie aka Claudiaxx

Woohoo! As I promised you a couple of days ago, when I (by happy accident thanks to Alison aka butterfly ;) realized that I merely had missed my own first blogging anniversary, I finally managed to put some goodies together to give away to one of you, who enters the draw. Even though I thanked you already last week, I want to thank you all once more for your awesome comments which mean a lot of encouragement and joy to me! And for all your inspirational work that keeps me going. And for running all the great challenges, which often help me keeping Mr. Mojo by my side ;) I learned and won a lot during this last year: new techniques, a challenge blog ownership with a wonderful new friend, more new friends all around the globe, awesome artwork by doing some swaps with some amazingly talented people, acceptance, trust and encouragement and loads of inspiration! And it all started with one (Tim Holtz of course ;) stamping plate I ordered along with some Shrink foil and StazOn  stamping ink, because I wanted to make a bracelet for my sister, following a tutorial I had found in the internet.... (the bracelet is still waiting to be made, as discovering crafty blogland with that neverending source of inspiration on new techniques and stlyes kept me busy throughout the year - I made a different bracelet for X-mas, but this one is still on my list ;) To share a bit of the joy you all have been giving me so constantly throughout the last year I prepared a goodie-bag, which I hope you will have some creative fun with. Spreading the word on your blogs (maybe also by copy&pasting the candy image)  with a link and leaving a comment with this post (along with letting me know how to contact you in case you win the candy) will do the trick. Of course I would love you to become a (if you aren't already) follower (but of course only if you liked what you saw with my creative spot), but it is not mandatory to do so to enter the draw.  (...as I know winning a lot of new followers would lead to - let's say 250 - followers a lot sooner than I expected which would - of course - lead to another blog candy *lol...  ;).(The Google Friends Follower option will maintain duty after July 1st btw.!) Those who already congratulated me on my anniversary with the first announcement of my blogarversary some days ago do of course not have to comment again. I will add them into the prize draw. I will pick one lucky winner on June 28th, 10 pm CET, whom I will send the package to.  Big hugs to you all, die amelie aka Claudia xx

A Summer in Velden, 1927

The wonderful "Buttons"-challenge at SSSaS inspired me to do once more a project using some of my ancestors' photographs.

This time I chose a picture, that was taken in summer 1927 at a boardwalk in Velden at the Wörthersee.

Not only
the picture in the center is one of that series, but also the images on the buttons are taken from copies of these photographs. I glued the transparent buttons onto the copy using transparent glue and cut them out after it had dried.

I just love how they all look so happy :)
Shiny happy people having fun in the summer sun.

After poking the buttons' holes from the back and through the paper I glued them on, I fixed them to the card using wire. I left long wire ends with some of the buttons to fix some chit chat stickers later. The tickets were stamped using Tim Holtz stamps and black jet archival ink.

One of the sides of the Kraft core which I used as a background, was dry embossed and sanded afterwards to add some more texture.





I hope you like the image and leave you with some close-ups as usual.
Thank you for stopping by! :)

die amelie x

I just realized that today is my bloggaversary too....

..when I read Alison's (butterfly's) post where she celebrates her first blogging year 
- and then I remembered that my first year of blogging should have been completed some time around today...first I thought I had missed it (due to two horrible weeks filled with  a lot of hectic and things not working and me being tired all the time...) but it IS today....!!!

Typical me - forgetting about my own bloggaversary and then finding out that it is today by reading about one of my most admired crafting friends in blogland having HER anniversary today. Here's a picture of her awesome candy she is giving away on this occasion:

Huge congrats, Alison! 

Your journey has been so fantastic! Keep going! ;)

(If you want to know more, dear readers, just click the image to get to Alison's blog post).

As I am still very busy (cleaning up a horrible mess after two weeks of "camping" in our flat without a kitchen and two days filled with working noise due to the new kitchen being set up), I hope I will find the time to organize an "after-anniversary-blog-candy-thingie". Well, let's see...

But today I definitely want to thank you all, my dear readers, crafting friends, design team mates, followers old and new, for constantly giving me so much confidence during this whole year by leaving all those wonderful comments with my blog. I really had no idea where my journey would lead me, when I started blogging one year ago...
I want you all to know that - even though I am a rather lazy and inordinate comments writer myself (I promise to do better in the future!) - I find so much inspiration with all of your blogs. You are amazing, so many talented people out there! But what amazes me most is the community that is so strong and caring... encouraging here, giving comfort there and being happy for each other whenever there's an opportunity to be ;). That's definitely something I have never before seen with an internet group of interest so far.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
You are fantastic! Keep on doing all your awesome stuff, so I can come snoop visiting!!

Hugs,
die amelie x

"My friend, my hero, my DAD!"

Hi there and welcome to another  

TryItOnTuesday challenge! 

This fortnight we want you to create something 

"For the Men".

As this month's prize sponsor are Dilly Beans Stamps, we were all invited to create something using some of their digis - which actually led to my first digi stamp creation ever! And as I really love this special stamp I had a lot of fun using it and creating my tag for your inspiration:

 

This stamp is called "Me and Pops" and it was the perfect choice for a Father's Day themed tag. 

I printed the image on a sheet of white card and coloured it using my brush felt tip pens. Next I mady a copy of the image, cut it out and used it as a mask for the coloured image while stamping the damask flourish from Redlead using Distress embossing ink over the whole tag. Then I heat embossed the stamped background using Ranger Ultra Fine clear embossing powder, to make the white of the tag's card resist the Distress inks I blended the tag with. 

After that I stamped the words onto some slightly darkened card using my HeroArts alphabet stamps, cut them out and blended the edges using DI "black soot". 

They were fixed to the tag with sticky foam pads I cut to size. 

The skull balloon was made by die cutting the Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers "skull" from white card and cutting the bones off afterwards. 

Then I coloured the skull with "mustard seed" DI and green dots using a felt tip pen again. The edges were blended with DI "aged mahogany". A piece of wire was bent to shape and fixed along with the skull to the tag using sticky foam pads. 

The fab barb wire ribbon you already saw with this tag previously came in handy again and made a perfect match after some blending with "black soot" DI. 

Done!

Thank you for stopping by and I would love you to hop over to TryItOnTuesday to see what my fab teamies made for you! If you are also interested in this fortnight's challenge over at FunwithATCs, please scroll down to the previous post :)

Don't forget: each entry that follows the challenge rules counts in with our prize draw and may win some fab Dilly Beans digis. 

I look forward to seeing a lot of awesome entries soon!

Hugs,

die amelie x

FunwithATCs - "Underwater"

June seems to be my "underwater month" as Underwater is not only the theme of SanDee&amelie's Steampunk challenges but also over at FunwithATC's challenge for this fortnight :)

As I LOVE underwater and everything deep sea I had to make two ATCs this time - both by using my awesome brand new Oxford Impressions "The Deep" stamps!
I hope you like them!

With this ATC I first stamped the man in his diver's suit to a piece of paper, cut the shape out and used it to mask the area where I wanted him to be in front of the kraken. So I stamped the kraken first and the diver afterwards, using DIs "chipped sapphire" and "faded jeans". The words were stamped, cut out and edges blended with DI "broken china".

For the second ATC I first stamped the two fish and the "sea" onto some sticky labels while still on their sheet using archival black jet ink. Then I coloured the background using the acrylic bloc, felt tip pens and water technique (= applying some colour onto the acrylic bloc using felt tip pens, spritzing the bloc with water and pressing it onto the paper).

After some drying time I applied the single labels onto a prepared background and drew some bubbles using white and blue gel pens. Done!

I would love to invite you to hop over to our FunwithATCs challenge blog and see what my talented teamies made! I look forward to seeing your entries with our challenge soon!

Hugs,
die amelie x