Serene Scenery Paper Stack - oh the possibilities!

If you've been following me on Instagram you may know that I am trying to use up the supplies I get in. It is so easy hoarding all your pretty paper and embellishments but that is not really why I bought them. I bought them to make pretty things with that put a smile on the face of the people I send them too. Cause really that is why I make and send cards: spread the love one card (or letter:-) at a time.

And so when I got the really cool Serene Scenery Paper Stack, with 48 papers in 12 different designs I was determined to use them up:

I particularly liked the photo-realistic ones and was lucky to find this video by the talented Patty Bennett to help me make my first dent into the stack. She made about 50 cards, now that is some serious using-it-up! I was inspired to make couple myself:

Not too bad but I think I love my latest pairing most: 

For the card on the left I fussy cut the stamped images of From Land to Sea and arranged them on top of the weather wood paper from the Serene Scenery paper stack and I love how it turned out. On top of that I used the Banner and sentiment from Badges and Banners. This card went to a fellow demonstrator. I decided to swap half of my paper stack with  her so I wrapped it up nicely with a shield from the Banners and Badges set.

What do yo think? What else could I make with this? I was thinking some Project Life cards for sure.

We have landed in Portishead: a little introduction

Well hello People, so nice to meet you. My name is Sonja Gortzak and June 2016 I arrived in Portishead, North Somerset with my English husband and our 7 year old son. It has been sad to leave all my friends and family and our beautiful (spacious!) Amsterdam appartement behind but I am ready for a new adventure. And North Somerset is a pretty good place to go to. It is so beautiful, I feel blessed to have moved here. I mean just look at that view:

So after the initial unpacking of many many boxes (and putting the rest, about half, of them) in our garage I finally had some time to make a creative space. That was such a good day. So much tension was relieved the night I said down at that big white desk and made a Project Life layout again for the first time in ages....

Now that I have a desk again and all my supplies at my fingertips I have been in a creating boom. It is too much to create blog posts for but I post most of it on Instagram so be sure to follow me if you're on there as wel: sonja.gortzakhughes .  Some of the things I have been doing:

 I am really into sending snailmail: I love cutting up magazines and the likes and turning them into decorated letters to send to penpals:

I have finally started in my Heidi Swapp Memory Planner. I write a little bit into every day and I really enjoy it. I do some decoratinig with stickers and washi tape and add some stamping and colouring or a photo here and there. So enjoyable.

Our son is not a big crafter, he loves cyling, running, music and cars. So I try and get him involved in crafting by making stuff he can use with his cars:

And then of course there is Stampin' Up! I have been making some cards with the new Serene Sceneries Card Stack from the 2016-2017 catalogue. These were inspired by this video from Patty Bennet and are on their way to their recipients:

I have also used some retired embellishments and stamp sets on this one. One of my goals is to use up the supplies I bring in so I feel like I have made the most of the money I have invested (and there is always room for new stuff:-) So I will be working more in bulk I think and make some more projects with this versatile stack. Next project with these will likely be some Project Life cards. What would you make with these:

Well, have a lovely day and hope you enjoyed this post!

xx

Sonja