Merry Christmas everyone!

It's been a crazy month- as December always is- so there was no time for blogging. My time was split between work and chores, holiday crafting and festive cooking, Shimelle's Christmas journal and my daughter and hubby, without forgetting my old dog that insists that we should not be more than 50cm away. I was so busy that although I managed to make some handcrafted presents, cards etc, I remembered to make a picture of them only after I presented them to the recipients!

The ornament I will show you today, was meant for an aunt, but I liked it a lot , so I kept it and made something more traditional for her (a gourmet chest with a matching card, which she liked a lot).

I used a screw carton found in a cheap IKEA table that I bought, which I gessoed, embossed with golden zing powder, embossed it a second time with UTEE and finally sprayed it with Glimmer Mists. The shine is lost in the picture, but believe me, it has a very nice texture and a very festive color!

For the inside, I used several Tim Holtz items, as well as pieces of different Christmas projects that I liked. For example the tree is cut from a huge piece of butcher paper that I painted, sprayed and collaged last month, in an Art Journal class. The rossette is the first one I made, as an experiment, as I do not have the corresponding die-cut. The lamp post is from sfragidomania and I embossed it with black sparkling hero arts powder, and the wooden bird and flower are from a Carrefour clearance

For the sake of the days, as I do not play cards at all, I will submit to the following challenges:

- Simon says challenge

- Simon says stamp and show

- Crafty Croppers

Every Christmas I wanted to make an advent calendar, but it always felt so much work, that my daughter was getting one bought by the super market.

Last year I saw the one that Vicky Papaioannou made and I loved it so much, that I decided that next year I would have one of these for sure.

As always, I kept postponing it until I saw the Crafty Croppers challenge. I thought "it's now or never", so here I am with my new advent calendar, and a super cute story that the elves are filling every night the next day's box with something good or bad depending on my daughter's behavior.

Of course she is thrilled, so we put it over the fireplace waiting for the 1st of December when the elves will come.....

In the meawhile I will play at the following challenges:

- Crafty Croppers

- A spoon full of Sugar

- ABC Christamss challenge

- Die cut Christmas Dreams

- Winter Wonderland

It is 47 days to Christmas- it is the part of the year that we need to have a big supply of small gifts for all the loved ones.

Sometime ago, I made a post-it holder for my sister's desk and it went out really nice, so I decided to make a stock of them for small gifts to teachers etc.

Art journaling is a topic I always wanted to explore but was intimidated. So my hubby enrolled me in an art journaling class - not exactly a beginner's one. The first lesson was about sprays but although I ordered mine last week, they have not arrived yet. Fortunatelly the next lesson was "Acrylics". As you can imagine, I have spent all weekend playing with acrylics!

It was a commission on such a short notice. A wish book for a baby boy that is having his first birthday party. The idea behind it was to preserve his grandparents', godfather's and other family member sayings on their own handwriting. It is so moving!

When I talk to my daughter about my own beloved grandmother, I wish I had something like this. Something written from her own hand just for me. I only have a recipe! LOL!

I think that hubby would say that I am being overdramatic.... So, here is the mini:

I used Sliekje stamps, my promarkers and distress inks. Tons of glitter and glossy accents. And of course the binding is by Bind-it-all.






I will submit it to :

- Sweet Stamping
- The Secret crafter
- Teddy Stampers

The idea came from Elina Koutsouradi. The challenge was to use only one paper, either plain or designer.

It is a real challenge, as we tend to rely heavily on the different products the scrapbooking companies offer in abundance.

So, I started with a plain white canson paper and used the baby-wipe technique with Tim Holtz's distress inks. I distressed the edges with Cat's eye chalk and used some copper embossing powder for the border. Finally I sprayed with glimmer mists.

Usually, I built a page around a photo. This time I did the opposite. This is a picture of sunset as seen by our balcony in Crete island.

I needed some summer embellishments, but I had nothing good enough. So I used a combo of free digis and I painted with Promarkers.

Behind the photo is a tag - sorry I forgot to take a picture- with my journaling.

I just realised that I have post nothing, NOTHING since September.

I am not idle- far from that- but all my creations are gifts, that cannot be uploaded at the time I make them and I forget to upload them later!

So, checking my photo archives of October, here is a door sign I made for my daughter:

The other side of the star says "Enter" and is usually the case (thanks God she is still 7)!

This is a card was made for a classmate of my daughter's who is having a party. I used this super cute little dragon from Dustin Pike. He is one of my favorites!

I have many more to show you, but I am so tired from work, that I will postpone it for some other time!

It is a card I made for my mother-in-law that had her birthday last week (and we forgot) and has her name day next week (fortunately we have google to remind us).

I did not want to make a typical birthday card, so I chose a seasonal theme. What better than autumn, that is unsure whether to arrive or not? Last week we had some rain showers but this week is so hot that feels like August.

I used an old Sarah Kay stamp, Autumn Bliss backing paper from Little Yellow Bicycle, my Promarkers, stickles and Glossy accent(I don't know how I lived without it), Cat's Eye chalk inks and Tim Holtz's distressing tool for the distressing. I colored the flowers with Glimmer Mists and the sentiment is an old stamp with unknown origins.

Although it is almost invisible in the photo, the window behind Sarah is the highlight of the card as it looks like a real window (with the help of Glossy accent).

I will play to the following challenges:

-Simon says challenge

- Simon says stamp and show

- Tuesday taggers

- Papertake weekly

- A spoon full of sugar

- Passion for Promarkers

- Praktical Scrappers

- Stamtacular Sunday challenge

- Sentimental Sundays

- Crazy 4 challenges

- Our creative corner

- All sorts of challenge

- Alphabet challenge blog

- Stamp something

On Sunday we have to go to a christening ceremony. It is one of my hubby's colleage's little girl, so I tried to persuade my husband to give a diaper cake as a gift. it would be fun to make an other one. He flatly refused, saying that it was too bulky and that he prefered a little bag with a traditional present - clothes etc.

So I bought clothes- blah, blah- and I made a card -yiupi!

I used a Sugar Nellie stamp that I have bought last year but never used. The background stamp is Artemio's, the papers are all scraps. I used my promarkers for the coloring, distress inks and glimmer mists as well as Stickles for the details.

As it is late at night and I just found a super blog - Challengemania - that posts about many challenges every day, I will use it and play to the following challenges:

- Passion for promarkers

- Papertake weekly Challenge

- My time to craft

- ABC challenge

- Whimsie Doodles

- Fab n' funky Challenges

- The stamp man

- Alphabet challenge blog

- Friday sketchers bolgspot

- Cute card Thursday

- Sugar bowl

- Sweet Stamping challenge

- Crazy 4 Challenges

- Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge

- Sketch Saturday

- Crafty Creations

I am compiling a "year book". It contains 30x30 layouts that document our year all over. From day to day events, to concerts and theaters and family gatherings and celebrations. Everything that made the 2010 worth to remember.

One of these events - a sad one- was the day that the hill over my family house in Vouliagmeni was burning. My sister and my parents live there now as I have moved more than 15 years, but it is still my home and the place I grew up. I know every little rock and tree on that hill, I have played in every inch of it, I was there in the last fire 17 years ago, I have witnessed the slow growth of the pines as the place was left on its own to heal its scars.

This time our help was not needed as the fire brigades and the helicopters were more than adequate, but the hill over our house has been burnt one more time, the villas "eat" little by little the tree space and the vegetation cannot "steal" some time to rebirth from the ashes.

This is the lo I made - more pictures and text than embellishments, but as it is the one and only lo that has no pictures of persons, I decided to upload it.

I used a Halloween paper combined with a fire overlay that I printed in a transparency, and a black Core'dinations with some Anita's acrylic paint on it, Tim Holtz's tissue paper , chipboard letters from The Girl's Paperie, a stamp of Hero Arts for the distressing as well as Cat's eye charcoal chalk ink - and that's it. The rest is pictures and feelings...

I know that is a little early for Christmas projects, but I was intrigued by the Simon Says Stamp Blog hop. The theme was "Holiday Fun". As in Greece we don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving, I decided to make something for Christmas.

I used a small canvas (7x8 cm) I had for ages, with Tim Holtz' s Santa stamp, some tissue stripe, my new Nellie Snellen punches, a Toga brad and my ever-present distress inks.

Here is the result, but I have to confess that I have never tried to stamp on canvas so I had some problems. At first I tried a Chalk ink as I wanted Santa to be somehow fade. The result was invisible, so I turned to StazOn. I know that the stamp is already distressed, but I was hoping to a more clear image! LOL...

I made a rather unfortunate attempt to add the pictures of my project in a Digi Christmass Layout. I just saw it and it seems that my entry is a layout and not a small canvas. So, I uploaded an extra photo to avoid misunderstandings, as I have already linked to the challenges the one with the background. And I will never ever again try to put a background in the photos of my projects.

I will submit the canvas and NOT the layout to the following challenges:

- Let's Ink it up

- Simon Says Stamp

- Crafty Cardmakers

- My time to Craft

- ABC Christmass Challenge

- Charisma Cardz Challenge

- Fuzzy and Fancy Friday Challenge

- The Stamp Man

- Crazy 4 Challenges

Sorry about the confusion I created!

Last week I received some new wooden stamps. Since my old box was full, I made a new one yesterday. I kept it simple, as I hate 3d embellishments and overhanging objects when I have to stack boxes in my library.

So, here it is:

I will enter it in the following challenge:

- The paper player

- Stamtacular Sunday Challenge

- Pile it on

- CES Challenge Blog

- Crazy 4 Challenges

- All sorts of challenge

- Our creative corner

And here is the lo I made for our family visit to Cretaquarium

Sorry about the pictures - I used my mobile as my camera is out of batteries.

The most amazing candy- a thousand papers candy. It is unbelievable!

Although I never post entries about candies in my blog, this one worths it!

You have still time. Check http://athousandsheetsofpaper.blogspot.com/2010/08/1000-sheets-for-thousand-sheets.html

I have been far from idle this week.

I am thrilled to say that I received my first orders for a diaper cake. Believe it or not - and was hard for me to believe - I received two orders : one for a newborn and one for a christening.

Although I was very busy at work, I made both cakes ahead of time - it was really fun!

One for a boy and one for a girl. I believe that the boy's is rather simpler but girls are so much girly, pink and fluffy!

So here they are:

I had to make a last minute gift to my cousin Mary, who visited yesterday for my daughter's birthday.

So I presented her with a basket of home-made products (forgot to shoot a photo of it) and a mini-album with some great recipes. It was a fun project and less time- consuming than the jarred tomatoes I was making simultaneously!

As my kitchen and my office are practically one room divided by a kitchen bench, I managed to combine cooking with scrapbooking successfully! Sometimes I am amazed of how we manage to steal some time to spend on a favorite activity even by combining two conflicting tasks!

Here is my mini-book cut by Sfragidomania . Τhe recipes are from Οι συνταγές της παρέας all tested and very yummi! The stamps and some of the papers are from Kars. The distressing and the flowers are made by distress inks by Tim Holtz and all the rest are from my stash.

Second post for the day! Wow!

Yesterday my dear friend Dionysia, gave birth to her second son, after 9 very difficult months. Today the child is already out of the NICU! Congratulations guys! You fully deserve to be parents!!

It is time for me to upload the diaper cake I made for the baby.

As the baby was expected to arrive a bit prematurely, I had made the cake last week, but did not want to celebrate before the baby's birth.

The time has come

It is my first diaper cake, but I like the procedure, so I will make them more often! As soon as I find an other baby I mean! Ha, ha...

I have not post any work for ages.

I just received the alphabet mask of Tim Holtz's and I was dying to use it, so I made an experiment and I rather liked the result. Instead of making little cards, I will attach the tags to the presents I will give on Sunday.

As I have not participated in any challenge lately, I will submit the left tag to Simon Says Challenge .

I used:

- Stamps: Ship by Artemio and Swirls by Tim Holtz

- Paints: Distress Inks, Glimmer Mists and Mica Pigments

- Mask: Alphabet by Tim Holtz

Hi, it is my first day back in Athens, after 3 splendid weeks in Crete. It was so amazing that Athens looks worse than usual! Lol!

I missed you all, as well as my crafting tools.

It looks like I did nothing all this time, but in reality I made several layouts plus 2 minibooks - not really stuff for the Internet as they are full of pictures of my daughter and my niece.

It is a nice month for crafting as friends and relatives are on vacation, and my daughter will be away to her grandparents, so I will be just me and my hubby.

Unfortunatelly, we are both the only ones remaining at work during August, so the amount of work we will have, will be enormous!

I hope that we will survive.....

So everybody, make some diving for me too and see you at September!

I don't know a single person that doesn't like gifts and surprises. But I, everytime I receive a gift, I feel like I am child again opening birthday presents.

This morning, I started my day at the post, getting Elina's blog present. I left the package (unopened) at the car, until I returned from work. So, with full ceremony and a day's anticipation I opened the box.

And here is the big surprise. There weren't only a bunch of fabulus papers and two bags of embellishments, but also the unexpected: a very sweet card with a touching message.

Thanks Elina!!!!

Some time ago I won the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge with the step card I made for my sister's birthday.

The prize was stamps from Shirley's 2 Girls. It is a small stamp company that has fabulous stamps and sentiments. As they are going digital at the moment, they have all their acrylic stamps only 2$ each. And here is what they sent me:

They are all so cute! I can't wait to use them!

By the way I want to mention an other new small company. It is called sfragidomania which means "stamps' mania" in Greek. The owners are two very friendly girls, Efi and Katerina, that are dedicated scrapbookers themselves- so they know their staff.

They can make whatever you wish - I currently ordered a Greek alphabet, as everything I can lay my hands on, is in Latin. I also bought some mini- books and when I left I had my a bag full, as the girls gave me many presents as well. Thank you girls!

I had the Africa napkins for a long time and was planning to put them in canvas for a corridor decoration. However, I decided to use them in an Ikea mirror. I want to make two of these, but I have not decided about the second one yet. Sorry for the glimpse of myself in the mirror, but I could not make a clear picture from an other angle.

I couldn't resist, so I submitted it in

Craftalicious Challenge

Finally, we came to the end of the school year. My daughter is in first grade and is of mixed feelings: she would like to play all day but she doesn't want to lose her friends and her favorite teacher.

We were lucky this year to have a great teacher, so I had to make a thank you card for her. As we also have to go to a birth ceremony and a party, I spent my Saturday night making cards and I enjoyed it.

Unfortunatelly , in our busy lives there is rarely time to spend without disturbances: children, chores, telephones etc. Saturday night is the only night that I can stay up late, as I do not have to go to work next day, and is late enough for all the others to forget my existence and let me spend some time in peace.

So I made the card for our teacher using the fabulous papers that my scrap friend Melenia sent me.

Stamp: Stampendous the monkey and SeeD's the rose

Inks & markers: Tim Holtz's Distress and Promarkers

Papers: Core' dinations and Melenia's gift

I will enter to the following challenges:

- Pollycraft Monday Challenge

- A passion for promarkers

- A spoon full of Sugar

- Creative Card Crew

- Simon Says Challenge

- Cute Card Thursday

- Saturday Challenge

- Create4fun Challenge

- Crazy 4 Challenges

- All sorts of Challenge Blog

One of the procedures that get on my nerves is the measuring- cutting of small pieces. So I did it once for both cards.

I used:

- Papers: My mind's eye Bloom & Grow and Core'dinations

- Sarah Kay stamp and Papermania Fairy Prince

- Distress Inks & Promarkers

- Everybody Art Challenge

- The ABC Challenge

- Quixotic Challenges

- Creative Inspirations

- Crafty Creations Challenges

- Craftalicious Challenges

- Totally Gorjuss

- Anyone for Anya

And finally a quick card for a party for a boy:

I used:

- Plain Cardstock

- Digi stamp dragon and sentiment with Hero Arts

- Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations

- Stamp something

- Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge

The telephone daemon striked again! I have to leave straight away as they take my dad to the hospital. So goodbye for now!

Yesterday, arrived my monthly packet of crafting goods.

I try to shop only once a month , with no success I should admit. Every time I shop, I promise myself that I will not buy anything else this month, but I always "need" something more.

l have seen this stamp a long time ago, but it seemed to slip away from me, in exchange of something more fancy or pressing etc.

Last week I bought it and I couldn't let it in the drawer even for a day.

I used:

- Clear Stamp & papers: Coolkids by Kars

- Cork pad and wooden star

- Tim Holtz's Distress inks and Promarkers

- Palm tree and castle are hand drawn

I will submit to the following challenges:

The Pink Elephant

Everybody Art Challenge

Cupcake Craft Challenges

Papertake Weekly Challenge

Stampavie and More

Polycraft Monday

Crafty Cardmakers

Stampacular Sunday Challenge

Passion for Promarkers

A Spoon full of Sugar

Little Red Wagon

Delightful Scetches

Creative Inspirations

Stampin' for the Weekend

It all started with this picture:

It is a small cafe in Areopolis near Gythio. We were there, a week after Easter, for a two-days excursion. On the road to Diros caves, we stopped for a coffee.

Baked under the strong golden sun of Mani, the town was like a medieval dream! I made a lot of pictures but this one is a full recipe : new and old, golden and white, the dried summer plants with their still green edges... Magic!

As I could not capture the colors on paper, I printed the picture in both paper and acetat. I made several attempts - the plain acetat was almost the real image, but I left it for a week and it didn't dry. The inkjet printer acetat dried at once, but the colors lost their brilliance. I wish I had one of these professional printers, but, alas, I have a cheap HP (I don't compain-it does its job decently most of the time).

The result is the following:

I used:

- Stamp set: Tim Holtz "Travel"

- Papers: Core'dinations and I believe the patterned is Rouge de Garance Aile ou Fleurs #4

- Distress powder "Aged Mahogany"

- Sticker: Karen Foster "Adventure Awaits", letters from Upikit

- Tim Holtz's Distress inks

- Glitter Dusts

I will submit it to the following challenges:

Crafty angels

Crafts and Me

Simon says Challenge

Sweet Stamping Challenge blog

Quixotic Challenges

Practical scrappers

Delightful Sketces

I had won the seagull stamp at an ebay auction last month, but as the stamp had not arrived, I thought that it was lost at the post. But yesterday, I received the parcel at last, so I had to use it asap.

I made a summer birthday card, as many of my beloved are summer-born and I am always in short supply!

I used:

- Inkadinkado Seagull Stamp, and sentiment

- Promarkers, Tim Holtz distress inks and distress embossing powders

- Marabu metallic liners and Cosmic Shimmer for the sparkling part

- The chipboards are from a summer packet - I don't remember what and when - that I have never used before, but is really nice.

I will submit it in the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge

SophistiCat Challenge Blog

Practical Scrappers

Dare U2 Digi Stamp

Crafty Angels

Simon Says challenge

I am compiling a scrapbook album for all the special moments throughout the year. However, as we did almost nothing for the Easter celebration this year, I have left the the layout for "sometime later".

So, yesterday, I finally decided to deal with it. I thought to keep it simple - no designer papers, no new fancy stuff, just things from my stash and a breeze of fresh spring air for a day of cosy family relaxation. The important thing of the day, anyway, is the unique feeling you have when four generations of the family gather together to enjoy each other's company.

I used:

- Plain Cardstock

- Promarkers, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Marabu Liners

- Martha Stewart "Spring" punch

- Artemio background stamp, Sugar Loaf floral stamp

I will submit the layout to the following challenges :

Crafts and me

Saturday Challenge

Sweet Stamping

City Crafter

Fab n' Funky

The Crafty pad

Charisma Cardz

Doodle Palace

Craft your Passion

Pile it on

Moving along with the times

Papertake Weekly

Passion for Promarkers

Crafty Ann's

Lexi's Creations

It has been a busy week ...I was very pressed at work and so full of different obligations that every night I was totally exhausted. Yesterday, however, I made a card for the birthday party of one of my daughter's friends Lydia.

I used:

Papers: Core Color "Core'dinations", Basic Grey "Green at Heart"

Stamps: Suger Nellie "Daisy & Dolly", bird, butterfly, flowers and sentiment I think Inkadinkado

Inks, markers: Tim Holtz and Promarkers

Glitter: Stickles, Marabu and Hero arts sparkles

Charm: Shrink Plastic white

I think I mentioned everything. So I will participate to the following challenges:

http://craftyangelsonline.blogspot.com/2010/05/week-34-one-for-girls.html

http://www.theshabbytearoom.blogspot.com/

http://craftyannschallengeblog.wordpress.com/

http://thesecretcraftersaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/

Not bad for a beginner- what do you think? To tell you the truth, after I made the card, I just found a blogger that has participated in all the above challenges and many more with just one card. So I checked some of the challenges and participated in those, that my card fitted with!

I am a constant follower of Vicky Papaioannou blog as I really like the stuff she creates. So, I got inspired by the picture of Santorini she posted- it could be any Greek Island but I like to dream of Santorini. Altough I have never participated in any challenge, in my first attempt I combined two challenges (Cropstop and Clips-n-Cuts) and here I am participating in both.

I used:

Papers: Core Colors Nostalgia, Basic Grey's "Green at heart"

Inks & markers: Tim Holtz Distress Inks Stormy sky, Tumbled Glass and Wild Honey and Promarkers.

Stamp: Artemio Voyage

Tag: My Minds eye "Breaking Free"

Chipboard flower: Giraffe

Είναι μέρες τώρα, που κάτι θέλω να "δημιουργήσω"! 'Ομως, η γενικότερη κατήφεια που επικρατεί σε ότι έχει σχέση με την Ελληνική πραγματικότητα αυτές τις μέρες, με έχει αφήσει χωρίς έμπνευση.

Θα αναρτήσω, λοιπόν, μια κάρτα που έφτιαξα την προηγούμενη βδομάδα για την μανούλα μου, που έχει τρεις γιορτές μαζί και της αξίζουν όλες οι αγκαλιές του κόσμου και πολλά παραπάνω!

Μμμ... Μάλλον πρέπει να βγάζω τις φωτογραφίες με φυσικό φως και χωρίς φλας. Next time...

Τα μελάνια είναι Tim Holtz Distress, η σφραγίδα Sugar Nellie "Daisy & Dolly", και είναι χρωματισμένο με promarkers.

Hello, out there!!