Christmas competition!

Hi Guys!

Just a quick note to announce a competition! I have reached over 100 subscribes on YT and also Christmas is coming, so it ia perfect opportunity to have a little competition.

To take part, simply create a Christmas postcard. If you are struggling with ideas, have a look at my latest YT video by clicking on the second still frame from the top on the YouTube strip (blog's main page).

Here are the rules of the competition:

1) Your entry needs to be a postcard
2) It has to be Christmas related
3) Submit your entry by posting a link to the photo of your postcard under the YT video available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18H79ARAhBI
4) The closing date is 29th November 2009

The competition prize is very "christmasy":

You na win Dovecraft 8x8 winter papers
2 DCWV Christmas stacks
3 ink pads by Studio G and
a 3D punch (Angel).

If you don't fancy making a postcard, you can still win a little Christmas pressie (set of 3 sticky ribbon pacs). Simply comment on the competition video for your chance to be "randomly generated" ;)

Hugs,

Anna

New cards and tutorials

It has been two months since my last post and as usual, a lot was happening. First - my holidays, long awaited, first break since 2006. Went to south coast of Italy for a week and then to Rome for 4 days. Loved it! After coming back home, work got very hectic (which is brilliant!) and then I had to struggle with a seasonal cold for two weeks. It is only now that I feel much better.

Ok, enough about this, lets go back to crafting. Here ate two cards created recently, one for my to-be-father-in-law, another for fast approaching Christmas. Both cards have tutorials on YouTube and you can find direct links to these on the left hand side of my blog.

:)

Very exciting!

Why am I so excited? Well, here are the reasons:

1) I won a competition organised by one of the crafty magazines. Yes, I won again and I'm happy and proud of myself and really, really extatic. It was a ribbon competition and I entered this card.

2) I am going to Manchester tomorrow and will attend the Creative Stitches and Hobbycraft show on Saturday. Last time I've been to this show it was in Birmingham and what feels like ages ago.

3) My partner Mark is going to US next week and will bring me lots of crafting goodies!!!

Could anything be more exciting than this? Ok, maybe... here are some cards I made recently (if you facy to see the creation process, visit my YouTube channel, videos are listed on the right side of my blog). Both cards were created basing on Kazan's and Laura's sketches from 2 sketches for you.

Yay!

2 Sketches 4 You - Kazan's Sketch 33

Last night I suddenly got inspired and created a card according to Kazan's sketch (2S4U). So here is my humble entry. This has been created using DCWV papers, Papermania cardstock, K&Company die cuts and mulberry flowers. There is also some embossed chipboard, ribbon and Prima flower. :)

New video

I have been crafting away for the last few days to finish the card order I've received. Apart from that I've made two new videos and posted them on YouTube, have a look at the video bar on the right hand side of the main blog page.

New cards

Here are few cards I've made recently. As you cans ee, I'm fascinated with the StampinUp! products! :)

After the long absence - Laura's Sketch 30 (2S4U)

I know, I know. I haven't posted anything for ages and my YouTube channel is kind of empty (although I did post one video recently, just because I had to make a card for my friend's birthay so I filmed the process and posted it on YT). But otherwise I've been quiet. There are few reasons behind it:

1. I kind of lost it for card making. I have those phases when I just don't go to my craft room for few months and then cannot stop crafting again... At this very moment I'm sitting in my little studio so I hope this is a good sign.

2. I've been ill for a while and felt sorry for myself therefore my favourite thing was to stay in bed, read my book (Sookie Stakehouse novels, love the books, hate the TV series) and playing my new toy - Nintendo DSi. BTW, did you know that I work in the computer games industry? Yes, really :)Very few women and plenty of men...just like at Uni (I studied Computer Science). Now, going back to being ill - on weekdays, in the evenings I watched TV wrapped up in the blanket (just in case you are wondering - yes, I did go to work, I generally don't do sickies unless I have a cold just because I believe there is no need to infect everyone else with my germs) and on weekends it was by book and my games.

3. I wanted to spend more time with my partner. Crafting takes a lot of time and we kind of stopped seeing each other in the evenings even though we live together! ;)

But I'm back, at least for now. And Germaine, if you read this - I'm really sorry for being so late with replying to your emails, I know I've been useless but I hope you forgive me and I can still join the craft club :)

So anyway! Here is my card for this weeks sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You. I hope you like it!

I won!!!

After slighlty hopeless few weeks finally something nice happened - my "My Prince" card won a reward in the Fairy Tale Challenge organised by one of the craft magazines. Fantastic! Now I'll be waiting for my goody bag reward. Yay!

2 Sketches 4 You - Kazan's Sketch 27

In orange mood this time. :) I bought some K & Company tags and was looking at ways of incorpo- rating them in my card- making. I quite like the result, seems like all my cards these days are very experimental! ;)

Also, exciting news - I have received my MM Slice. I'm yet to decide if I like it, it is my second cutting machine after Cricut and I decided to buy it as I simply had enough of this big chunky machine Cricut is. What I have noticed straight away though is that Slice does not cut all the way through the thicker paper. I've adjusted the blade but still have problem with this... I'll report back as soon as I decide if I like my new machine or not :)

Have a look at 2S4U

This is very exciting - 2 Sketches 4 You is celebrating the first year if its existence therefore:

"On June 1st we are going to launch The 1st Annual 2 Sketches 4 You Ulitimate Card Showdown and it is going to be the biggest and most fantastic card challenge competition imaginable."

This is extremely exciting and I personally can't wait! :) Follow this link for more details.

2S4U Laura's Sketch 26 "AnnaW is a rebel"

It was quite funny yesterday. I spent the whole evening making the card and followed the sketch exactly. When card was done I've decided it was too big and the size didn't work so I cut the whole piece in half and fixed it so that everything fitted. After that I've changed the ribbons and embellishment and added flat back pearls and...here we go, the result is as per pictures. I'm yet to decide if the whole thing works but every time I look at this card I'm intrigued so I hope everyone looking at the pictures will feel the same :)

"Remembering Moments" card and tutorial

Another weekend, another card and tutorial. this time something different - green and brown card with colorful feature - stamped Tilda by Magnolia on a snow white cardstock. I quite like this card although if I did it again I would change some of the elements. :)

On a different subject I ma ekstatic about making the top 5 in the last week's challenge on 2S4Y. I could not believe it and I am so very happy! Also, my YouTube audience has grown and this is equally exciting. I'm so glad that the videos are well received and I'm starting to receive first comments and ratings.

New name, new card and new tutorial

New name - my YouTube tutorials have a new name - "A day in a week with Anna W". I really like it! It has been suggested by one of the ladies from the papercraft forum and she got herself a lovely set of stamps this way. :)

New card - as per picture. I absolutely love the colours and this card is another interpretation of Kazan's latest sketch. Same layout, very similar products but no acetate anymore. Just pure paper.

New tutorial - I have filmed the cardmaking process and you can find in on YouTube!

2 Sketches 4 You - Kazan's Sketch 26

Here is my interpretation of Kazan's sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. I love creating cards on acetate and it seems that out of all my YouTube videos, the "Clear base card" tutorial is the most popular one.

I took these pictures this morning and I'm not sure about them. The weather isn't great today, no sun, bit of rain so the picture in natural light is quite dark and grey. Because of this I've decided to take aonther one, this time in artificial light. If the weather gets better this afternoon I'll have another go. :)

Weekend

Weekend was nice but much too short. I watched StarTrek (loved it), created my very first stamp with Imagepac (ok, results were not great mainly because of my printer) and entered a card competition. Here is my humble entry, I'm quite proud of it!

Competition for the best name of the cardmaking tutorials

I could not come up with the name myself so I'm asking you to help me :) The rules are quite simple - please put forward an idea for the carmaking tutorials name by 15th May and author of the best idea will receive alphabet set of stamps by See D's.

Please put your comments either under this post or on YouTube under the cometitition video.

YouTube link

2 Sketches 4 You - My interpretation

Here is my
interpreta-
tion of Laura's sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. I run back home today to make sure I'll catch some daylight to take a picture. Ok, I didn't run...but I cycled. VERY FAST! ;)

To the world...

...you may be one person but to one person you may be the world. - Bill Wilson.

This was intended for my friend to give to her future husband on their wedding day but...well, lets be honest it is slightly too pink for a guy ;) I really like the colours though. There is one more thing left - I am thinking of putting some Swarovski crystals in the middle of the flower. At the moment the center looks quite bare...

Olive card

I've recently made a post on Facebook comparing card made 2 years ago with the recent one. I'm glad that I've been taking pictures of most of my creations as I can now see what progress I've made.

For some people card making is just a hobby, something to do in the evenings. For others it is a form of expressing their thoughts, moods, feelings for other people. Some always stay in their comfort zone and rarely challenge themselves, others try new things, learn new techniques, are not afraid to try something they have never tried before.

It took me a while to accept that I'm not naturally talented. I can't draw (even though my Mum is extremely talented) I can't paint, I'm terrible at taking photographs. I do have an eye for shapes, colours and symmetry though. I know I will never be an amazing card maker, but I want to be as good as I can and challenge status quo.

So here is yet another example of me getting outside of my comfort zone. Because I won't try to get comfy anymore :)

Moving my blog

I have decided to move my blog from my website to the proper blogging site. This is mainly because I can't link my website blog to YouTube and few other sites. so here we go, new beginning :)

To start with here is the provcess of creating the card below. The whole process took me 3h but I quite like it!