craftee guiri

Lots of Thank You Cards

2012-01-16T04:12:00.003+08:00

A friend asked if I would be up to it to make 30 thank you cards for her. I told her as long as she is not fussy about getting 30 unique cards it shouldn't be a problem. And so I came up with 4 different designs. She had requested to make half cutesy ones while the other half to be more on the elegant side.

The first one I had in mind was a cute stamp by Penny Black. Stamped about 10 of them on a card stock and coloured them with Copics. It does feel a lot like a production line when you're making many cards of the same design.

All the stamped images being coloured the same way

Supplies: Penny Black Hello Friend stamp, Docrafts Woodland Friends sentiment stamp, EK Success Sentiment stamp (on the inside), Hero Arts Silly Scape Wood Mounted Stamp, Black embossing powder, Versamark inkpad, Memento Tuxedo black inkpad, Copic markers, Divine Twine, Glossy Accent, Yellow Stampin' Up Marker, Double sided foam tape.

The inside of the card says 'Thank You'. I added glossy accents on the headlights of the car and the windshield too :)

The second card I made I used 2 different Spellbinders nesties and some washi tape. Basically the supplies are the same, only with a tiny variance. Ooh, and since it's all stripy, I've decided to submit this to Simon Says Stamp's Challenge this week. It's been AGES since I submitted my cards to any challenges.

Supplies: mt washi tape, Cuttlebug diecut alphabets, Spellbinders nestabilities, AB rhinestones, white gel pen

Then I decided to come up with a masculine version too, and out came Tim Holtz's stamps and tissue tape :) I thought the woodgrain background stamp gave a really nice touch to the card too.

Supplies: Technique Tuesday Alphabet stamp, Tim Holtz Stampers' Anonymous, Hero Arts Woodgrain stamp, Fiskars Edge Punch, Tiny Attacher, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape, Versafine Onyx black inkpad, Distress ink in Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Versamark inkpad, Turquoise cardstock.

And finally, another cute card from the same Penny Black stamp set. I couldn't decide which one I liked better, with or without the faux stitching, so I made some of each.

Supplies: Penny Black Hello Friend stamp, Hero Arts sentiment stamp, Copic markers, pti impression plate, Basic grey flower stamp, Versamark inkpad, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black inkpad, double sided foam tape.

Which one is your favourite? :)

Joy

2012-01-07T01:06:00.003+08:00

Supplies: Stampendous Jumbo Cling Snowman, Purple puff paint, Water colour pencils, The Cat's Pajamas sentiment stamp, Rhinestones, Black enamel accent, White chalk ink, Versafine Onyx Black Ink, Kraft card.

Here's one of the CAS Christmas cards that I made last year. Since the card was completely one layered, I decided to add a bit of texture with the puff paint on the buttons, some rhinestones for the eyes and highlighted the mouth with black enamel accents. These type of cards are perfect to send by post :)

Till the next card!

Bonne Année à Tous! A Happy 2012!

2012-01-02T00:52:00.000+08:00

Wishing everyone a wonderful year ahead and may you be blessed with the company of your loved ones and lots of crafty moments!

It´s been a while since I last blogged, keeping up to my previous posting speed is really harder than I had anticipated. Not only that, I only managed to send out half of what I had wanted for both Christmas and New Year cards. With a growing belly, I´m finding it very difficult to sit long hours whether blogging, or doing anything crafty. Hopefully for the next few days I´ll be able to share what I managed to make just before the year ended.

Supplies: Hero Arts snowman stamp, Technique Tuesday Typewriter Alphabet stamp, lawnfawn Harold's ABC stamp, scrap patterned paper, Rangers stickles, Distress inkpad in Tumbled glass & Broken China, Jenni Bowlin inkpad in Soap Powder, Versafine Onyx Black Ink, Mini circle punch, Foam tape.

For several years I made only one-of-a-kind cards to send out. Unfortunately this year I wasn't able to spend the same amount of time crafting, so I had to repeat some of the designs with only a minimal change to be able to produce the most cards within the shortest period of time. And yet I still wasn't able to make enough for everybody. With little ones coming this year I hope I can still steal some time to craft now and then :)

Will be posting some more of my cards soon! Thanks for still visiting my blog :)

Happy Birthday SS!

2011-11-29T16:35:00.001+08:00

I feel really fortunate to have friends visiting my blog and leaving sweet comments even though I'm constantly missing these days. You guys are the best! If I could give all of you a BIG bear hug to make up for the lack of action on my side I really would. *MUACKS*

Here's a card I had originally plan to post this after my sister's birthday in December, but the "postman" (i.e. my other sister) couldn't wait to give it to the birthday girl because "It was too cute!". With an excuse like that, how can you blame her? ;)

Supplies: Stampendous Cupcake Numbers, All Night Media Say it with Stamps, Cork sheet, Copic markers, Uniball pigment markers, Zing embossing powder, Brads, Scrap patterned paper.

Julio & Carlos (the 2 pugs in that card - I know, I know, they look more like bull dogs) are basically my sister's favourite plush toy from Nici. They are hand drawn by yours truly and coloured with Copic markers, because my beloved printer was sent back for service, hence I had to see what was available online and attempted to replicate them on this card. And why they are 2 has to do with her personal love story which I won't tell here *snicker*.

Wishing everyone a great week ahead!

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with Strings

2011-11-23T22:41:00.000+08:00

...these are a few of my favourite things!

My flamenco dance maestro, Joyce organized an early gathering this year so that more would be able to attend. Normally she would have one close to Christmas or New Year, but everyone would already have plans or would be away for holidays. Frankly, I'm not really in the condition to attend any party, but I wanted to catch up with all my dance buddies... miss them so much!

The turnout was really good, and it was a fun party with lots of good food and good company. We also had a gift exchange session, and since I brought my DH along, we brought 2 gifts for exchange, and it's handcrafted and gift wrapped by yours truly.

Gift wrap supplies: Brown wrapping paper, Hero Arts Large Solid Flower Stamp, HA Friends Definition Stamp, HA Many Dots Stamp, HA Truly Appreciated Stamp, Fluid Chalk ink, Glossy Accents, Twine, Scallop Punch, Jenni Bowlin inkpad.

I used to spend most of my time making cards but never made an effort with gift wrapping, but I must say the results are always satisfying :) Somehow I underestimated the time required by the Glossy accents to dry, so in the photo it didn't really look as I've planned. It was just on the border of being dry completamente when I brought them to the party. Anyway, can you guess what's inside???

Rubber Stamps Used: Unity, Tim Holtz

Yep, they are books! Both handstitched by yours truly and then stamped on the outside with inspirational words. I'm so glad I still remembered how to do it, LOL. I'm not sure if I still remember how to do coptic stitching though, but I'll attempt it soon *fingers crossed* and see how much I can remember :)

Warmest Winter Wishes

2011-11-20T01:07:00.001+08:00

This is the first card I made for Cards That Care campaign organised by Vera & Jennifer. I haven't been crafting for a while, so I decided to go for a clean and simple look, just to warm up. It sure did the job, because after that I was continuously making 6 more cards! And all relatively simple of course :)

Supplies: Hero Arts Silly Scape Stamp (K5425), HA Wintertime Message (CL105), Stickles, White sand, White and Brown Chalk ink, Black embossing powder, Versamark ink, Stampin' Write pen in Crushed Curry.

We don't get snow here in Malaysia, so it's quite hard for me to imagine a white christmas. All we get here is some gimmick snow (mostly suds) occassionally inside the big shopping centres down town. It sometimes baffles me to see someone walk on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, anytime of the year, with boots! If I could speak for that pair of feet I'm sure they are dying to get some fresh air, LOL.

Anyway, I added some Stickles on the embossed Silly Scape stamp and sprinkled some white coloured sand to add on to the opacity and sparkle. And then I used the yellow marker to add lights to some of the windows of the buildings.

I think it's not winter yet, but has the weather gone chilly where you are? Here's some warm sunshine all the way from Malaysia! ;)

Happy weekend to all!

Is It Hot in Here....

2011-11-15T16:07:00.004+08:00

or is it just ALL those candles on your birthday cake???

I suppose it has to be the candles... with 33 candles all lighted at the same time I'm pretty sure it would have triggered the sprinklers even, LOL. That card with the cool cat on the back was sent by my sister and her BF all the way from the Land Down Under.

And so for my 33rd birthday on the 3rd, I received 3 birthday cards...how's that for a lucky number? :D On the bottom left is a card from Sandy, and on the right, my SIL who is already super busy at work, attempted to make me a handmade card (and I must say she is a pro at that too!) Thank you all for those lovely cards and wishes {{{{{{{Hugz}}}}}}

I've been struggling a little bit to get this blog going, not to mention some crafting action too, but it has been tough for me. Those days when I could multitask seemed impossible now. So I have to take tiny baby steps at a time. Just slightly more than a week ago I had to wrap up a wedding gift for a very closed friend of mine. You won't believe how long it took me to do even a simple thing like wrapping up a gift, but I was happy how it turned out.

Lyne was a very good friend and a good colleague when I was working in a pre-school several years back. We've been keeping in touch even after I left. Here's a photo of the bride at her wedding reception with some of the other teachers :)

Last weekend fortunately was a productive one for me. I managed to clean part of my crafting table and make 7 cards for Cards That Care card drive! It is organized by Vera Yates and Jennifer McGuire. Last year I managed to send in 3 cards and I'm glad I got to do it again this year with 7 cards! I'll be posting them in the next few days :)

Anniversary and Birthday

2011-10-13T16:57:00.001+08:00

Before I went on my crafting break, one dear friend commissioned me to make a wedding anniversary card and a birthday card for her hubby, as she is due to deliver her baby anytime and won't have time to go shopping for cards.

In my mind I had already the perfect stamp to use for this occasion :)

Supplies: Stampendous Cling Ranunculus Field stamp, Hero Arts Sentiment, White Embossing powder, Distress ink in Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Milled Lavender, Spun Sugar and Barn Door, Pink cotton twill, Gold organza ribbon, Pink Divine Twine, Bazzill cardstock, Heart shaped stud.

On the other hand, I was brain dead on how to make a masculine birthday card so I decided to make a cute one instead. I hope the blue card base will count as masculine, LOL. Maybe if her 4-yr old daughter love it too, the daddy won't mind getting a cute card for his birthday...hee hee... ;)

Supplies: Penny Black Hello Friend stamp, TCP Sentiment stamp, Copic markers, MME Bright Dots scraps, Nestabilities Wonky Rectangle, Pop Up Dots, Jenni Bowlin Soap powder inkpad, Memento Tuxedo Black Inkpad

Just when I thought I was fit enough to start on my crafting again, my body did not want to cooperate *sigh* But at least I managed to clean up 50% of my crafting area which was left in a mess since 2 months ago, LOL. Hopefully I'll get to clean up the other half and get creative again! :)

So Good to Be Back

2011-10-06T14:44:00.001+08:00

I can't believe it's almost 2 months already since I last blogged. Thank you all for the kind words you ladies left me on my last blog post.

Morning sickness has left me absolutely miserable for 2 months or so, and I did nothing much but plop myself in front of the TV or sleep. My house was in an absolute mess because I simply didn't have the energy to tidy up. DH has been nice and helped me a lot with the house chores...but most of the stuff was intentionally left lying around so that I could easily access them without moving much. I'm slowly getting my energy back, and s-l-o-w-l-y trying to get back to the previous rhythm. Yesterday my sis wanted my help to make a wedding card and wrap up a gift for her. That somehow got my engine roaring again :)

I don't have new stuff to share, but here's a card I sent to my dear bloggie friend Annie's birthday in August. I thought I had actually scheduled the post but I guess that didn't happen.

Supplies: Stampendous Blockart Tweet friends stamp, Lawn fawn Harold's ABC stamp, Hero Arts branch stamp and Curly ABCs stamp, Copic markers, pop up dot, Kraft card, Opaque gel pen

Hope you had a wonderful one, Annie! Sending BIG virtual hugs :)

M.I.A Until Further Notice

2011-08-13T13:17:00.000+08:00

Hey peeps, just thought I'd drop a quick message here before I go missing in action. I haven't been feeling exactly top of the world lately, so I've decided to take a break from crafting and blogging for a while. I might come by your blogs occassionally, but please don't feel left out if I didn't come to say hi. Hopefully I'll be back to my old self soon!

Big hugs to everyone,
Shirl

Books for a Good Cause

2011-07-29T14:00:00.000+08:00

Little Syam, my book-binding mentor, is collecting handmade books for KIWANIS charity mini bazaar this Sunday and as a contribution I made these 3 books. The covers are mainly handstamped and hand-painted, and I'm quite pleased with the final results. I think I can improve further on the book closure though.

From left to right (clockwise): A5 kettle-stitch book "the quieter you become the more you can hear", A6 kettle-stitch book "ART is a SHADOW of what a person is thinking", A6 coptic-stitch book "A dream is a WISH your HEART makes", (Rubber Stamps by Tim Holtz, Stampendous, Hero Arts & Unity)

Can't wait for weekend to come... I really need to get some quality sleep!

Painting with Embossing Powder

2011-07-28T15:00:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday Mommy! This card is for my mom who celebrated her birthday yesterday :)

I have been watching a lot of Fran's video on YouTube on how to paint with embossing powder. But most of the time she did it with a scene. I thought I'd give it a try using Stampendous Cling Jumbo stamps. Boy are they HUGE! I've seen lots of great projects using these, but I didn't have any in my collection. So I had to get at least one didn't I? (I got 2).

Supplies: Stampendous Jumbo Cling, Hero Arts Envelope pattern stamp, White embossing powder, Brown embossing powder, Glitter embossing powder, Tsukineko brush stix, Versamark ink, Memento Tuxedo black ink, MME Confetti Cardstock, Kraft cardstock, Bazzill Cardstock

First I stamped the flower on a piece of yellow cardstock, and then ink the surface with Versamark. Then I covered the area with white embossing powder and heat it. When the card has cooled down, using the Tsukineko brush sticks, I highlighted certain areas with Versarmark and sprinkled on yellow embossing powder and heat it again. And then I inked up the stamp with Versamark and tried to position it back on the card on the same spot and heat embossed it with another darker brown embossing powder. Finally I used some glitter embossing powder on the stamens of the flower before heating it again for one last time. The blue card base has a watermark of the very same stamp. It's not really obvious now that its covered with the yellow cardstock.

The heat embossing was quite tedious, but I love the results. And I must say I love these jumbo clings! I made another project with the same stamp and will share it soon :)

GD @ Crafty Creations Challenge - Christmas in July

2011-07-27T15:07:00.000+08:00

Sorry I've been rather quiet lately, only averaging a single post a week. It would have been helpful if I could be cloned, and all my clones share the same memories and can be individually activated as and when required. Then I can be in more than one place at one time right?

Anyway, here's my last post as GD for Crafty Creations Challenge. It has been an absolutely wonderful experience to work with Amy and co-designing with such a wonderful and talented team! My last project is a CAS card, that's all I could manage with my crazy schedule, and I really hoped to be able to contribute more than this!

Supplies: Stampendous Snowy Stacks, Cuttlebug Funky Circles Die, MS Doily Punch, Colour pencils, Fluid Chalk, Divine Twine

I can't believe it's already end of July! Where oh where did the time fly? I guess this challenge is a good wake up call, I really ought to start working on my Christmas cards soon!

Big hugs to everyone to make up for my absence in your blogs. I guess that's just what happens when I get a little too ambitious and try to do more than I can swallow :P Hopefully it won't be long before I get myself a little bit more organized!

Meanwhile, do hop on over to Crafty Creations Challenge blog and see the inspiration by other DTs and we look forward to having you play along with us this week :)

GD @ Crafty Creations Challenge - Seeing Double

2011-07-20T21:30:00.000+08:00

It's amazing how the time flies and it's already the 3rd week that I'm guest designing for Crafty Creations Challenge. This week the challenge is "Seeing Double" and we're required to use the same image twice in our creations. Boy, did that send my little grey cells working! I finally decided to make something other than card and this is what I came up with.

Supplies: MME Bright Dots paper pad, recycled gift box, sponsored digi image by Hope Jacare, adhesive tape, Copic markers, White acrylic paint, Vellum

Yes, it's a little tealight holder! I altered a used gift box to make this. On two sides of the box I cut an opening and positioned on the window, the image that was printed on vellum and coloured with Copic markers. And, since this is made entirely out of paper, I didn't put in an actual tealight, but those cute little ones that are battery-operated. It actually looks really cool in the dark :) I probably could add 1001 embellishments on the outside but I've decided to keep it simple.

Why not hop on over to Crafty Creations Challenge and see if our talented DT can inspire you to come up with something of your own :)

De-Stash the Past Challenge

2011-07-19T15:05:00.000+08:00

Sometime in June, Thanh from Yummy Creations started a challenge. She challenged the participants to use the stash that she would send to them to come up with anything at all. I was the first to sign up! (Just tell me where freebies are and I'll be first in the queue, LOL)

I got my mail approximately 2 weeks after it was sent to me, and patiently waited (NOT!) for the weekend to come so that I could play with them. They looked so yummy, I ended up making a card the very same night I got those goodies, and made another tag during the weekend using some of the scraps from the first card. Still have plenty left of those goodies for me to create with :) Thanh is very very generous!

Here's my first project, a card.

Supplies: Penny Black Hello Friend clear stamps, Stampin' Up Ice Cream Parlour papers and stickers, SU Ribbon, Nestabilities, Pop Up Dots, Water soluble pastels used as water colour, Flowersoft

And the second one, a tag, using the same stamped image but coloured with Copic markers instead. Both the PB images were coloured just the week before, waiting to be made into a card, or in this case, a tag :) And this tag is already on the way to a bloggie friend!

Supplies: Penny Black Hello Friend clear stamps, Hero Arts sentiment stamp, Stampin' Up Ice cream Parlous paper and stickers, Manila tag, Jute, Blue ribbon, SU ribbon, Blue twine scrap, Pop Up dots.

I noticed that it actually took me much lesser effort to come up with both the tag and card when I was given a set of matching papers and embellies. Saves all the thinking for me :) Of course it also helped that I had some pre-coloured images that matches very well with those papers!

Thanks for looking! Hope you'll get to play along Thanh's next de-stash challenge :)

I'm also entering this into Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes.

GD - Crafty Creations Challenges - Boyz to Men

2011-07-13T21:30:00.000+08:00

Hello Hello! It's time for another challenge over at Crafty Creations Challenges again! We are sponsored by LOTV this week, and the cute images are so much fun to colour! This week's theme is Boyz to Men, so I decided to keep my card as simple as possible and refrain from using any flowery, frilly stuffs, LOL.

Supplies: LOTV Happy Times stamp, PTI text styles II stamp, Colour pencils and baby oil for blending, Tsukineko fantastix, MME patterned paper, cotton twill, brad, pop up dots, White chalk ink

The image was printed on a piece of white cardstock, coloured with colour pencils and blended with baby oil. The sentiment banner is by yours truly :)

Hope you'll play along with Crafty Creations Challenge this week! Hop on over to the blog to be inspired by the rest of the talented DT!

Good Things Comes in Slower Packages

2011-07-13T04:44:00.000+08:00

Ok, I made that up.

Just an excuse for my lateness in sending a birthday card. One fine evening just before I went to bed, I opened up my little birthday club book to see who I was supposed to send a card to this month and Sandy's name was staring back at me. Dang! Her birthday was the very next day! How could I have missed it???

I already have a card ready in the box to send, but that just wouldn't do, because I was already late. And so I scrambled to make her a belated birthday card. (Hah! I knew that snail stamp in my stash would come in handy one day) In the rush I made a little boo boo when stamping the sentiment, oops!

Supplies: Inkadinkado Belated Birthday Stamp, Lawn Fawn Harold's ABC stamp, MME damask paper, Jenni Bowlin inkpad in Seed Packet and Brown Sugar, Versafine Onyx black inkpad, pop up dots, colour pencils and my beloved sewing machine.

I've scheduled this post so that Sandy will hopefully receive it first before it goes live.

Happy Belated Birthday Sandy! So sorry this got to you late, but it's fun to still receive cards way after your birthday right? *wink*

Book Binding Workshop and Some News

2011-07-10T01:20:00.000+08:00

Some of you may have seen the quirky handstitched journals by http://angelicquirk.blogspot.com/. I've bought several from her, both as gifts and for myself. Being a DIY person, I was curious on how she made them.

I finally signed up for Little Syam's Book Binding Workshop to discover it for myself. And I'm so glad I did! Syam is such a patient teacher, and very generous with her knowledge too :) On the first day we learned the japanese stab binding and kettle stitch. I couldn't attend the 2nd day of the workshop (coptic stitch) as I have something else planned, but I'll make up for it end of this month.

I must say that I'm very very proud of myself! I wouldn't have imagined being able to handstitch a book! During the class I made the book with elastic band closure, while this afternoon as a practice I tried making one using ribbon and charm as an alternative to the elastic band. I love the pretty fabric and the cute birdhouse charm :)

On another note, I did mention about working on something last month, which got me quite occupied. I have been contemplating about holding a workshop to make cake pops, and I've finally braved myself and took the big step! Thanks to a great friend of mine who helped bridge the link, so it's finally happening. In just less than 2 weeks after mailers were sent out, the class was fully booked! It was a pleasant surprise to know that so many want to learn to make these cake pops :)

Here are some of the cake pop designs that I'll be teaching at the workshop in 2 weeks time. I've taught my sisters and a few close friends before, and this will be my first time demonstrating it to strangers. I'm so nervous! Keeping my fingers crossed all will be well!

Happy weekend everyone!

GD @ Crafty Creations Challenges

2011-07-06T21:00:00.000+08:00

Last month Amy from Crafty Creations Challenges sent me an email to ask if I would be interested in Guest Designing for July. Of course I agreed! I feel absolutely honoured to be working together with a talented team like CCC! Guest designing can be soooo fun!

For the first week we get to work with BlackLeaf Designs - using some Paris images! Something that is close to my heart, because of the many memorable things that happened to me while I was there several years back. Out of the 4 months that I spent in France studying the language, 1/4 of the time I was in Paris.

The challenge is to make anything but a card and I'm altering a used tub of ready-made frosting. Ah, look...there's Polka, she loves anything sweet!

And here's what I came up with! (3 different angles)

Supplies: Empty frosting tub, BlackLeaf digi stamp, American crafts flowers, i-Top brad, paper doily, alphabet stickers, EK success sentiment stamp, Glue dots, Adhesive runner, MME pattern paper, Diecuts courtesy of Sandy Ang, stickles.

I printed the Eiffel tower and postage stamp on a piece of MME patterned paper and wrapped around the tub. And then I added some paper doilies on the lid and the sides. After that I fussy cut the sign and the poodle that was printed on a separate piece of glossy paper and layered it on the patterned paper. I found that it was too empty for my liking, so in the end I added some flowers on to the lid as well as some die cuts I found in my stash (thanks Sandy!).

Hope you'll play along Crafty Creations Challenges this week!

My New Stamping Partner

2011-07-03T22:29:00.000+08:00

Meet Polka, my new stamping partner.

Bought a sewing kit from Pupurin fabrics collector last Saturday at the Supplies Surprise Bazaar just for fun, and worked on it almost immediately. I name this little bunny Polka and she'll be my stamping partner from now on! You might even see her playing around with my tools later too, LOL.

Meanwhile perhaps I should let her watch YouTube and learn the polka dance ;)

The Frog Made Me Do It

2011-07-01T20:17:00.000+08:00

Ok ok, it's not entirely the frog's fault, but I'm looking forward to winning some Hero Arts stamps over at Lily Pad. *wink*

Well, what are you waiting for? Go become a member for a chance to win a collection of Hero Arts stamps. Contest closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday, July 15!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-21T12:03:00.000+08:00

Ahh... just realised that I haven't blogged for more than a week! Where did the time fly??? Yes, I have been crafting, though not much, but I couldn't squeeze in the time to blog about what I've done. It's funny but sometimes the time I take to write a post can be as long as the time I take to make a card. Trust me, it's looooonnnggg, LOL.

I think I need to run several hours on the treadmill to burn off the calories I put on last weekend. On Saturday, we had a Japanese buffet with my DH's family to celebrate Father's Day and both his and his twin brother's birthday. And then on Sunday morning we had a round of Dim Sum buffet with my family for Father's Day too. If I go on eating like this I'm going to need to shop for new clothes soon, LOL.

Just to share a card I made for my darling daddy. There was supposed to be a special image dedicated to my dad inside but there were just so many things happening lately that I didn't have time to add it in. Maybe I'll make a separate card with that image later.

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, thickers chipboard alphabet, Close to my heart number stamp, Alphabet stickers, Washi tape, MME journaling card.

Again I've been lagging at commenting, sorry! I'm recently working on something new and I'm really excited about it. I'll share the news with all of you soon...and will be coming round your blogs to leave some ♥ too :)

Embellish Background Stamping Challenge

2011-06-12T22:26:00.000+08:00

Hey peeps, I've had a relaxing weekend, hope it's the same for all of you! Just dropping in to share a quick card I made for Embellish magazine's challenge. I was lucky to have received some new stamp sets on Thursday and patiently waited till the weekend to play with it. I

And here's my card

Supplies: Penny Black airmail clear stamps, TCP sentiment stamp, Stampin Up markers, Fluid Chalk, Distress ink in Tumbled glass, Archival ink in Jet Black, American Crafts ric rac

I repeated the barcode and the flower stamp from the PB set on the bottom of the card, hope it will still qualify as background stamping.

Ciao bella!

Tilda Fairy Granting Your Wish

2011-06-07T23:48:00.000+08:00

While making this card just now it dawned to me that I've been using a lot of kraft cardstock lately for all my projects (including those that I haven't posted). It seems to be the first thing I reach for, must be a seasonal thing.

Anyway, don't let this photo fool you because the card's really tiny. It's a mini card measuring only 3"x3". So for those of you who loves Magnolia stamps, you can imagine how teenie weenie this fairy stamp is :) Just too cute for words!

Supplies: Mini Tilda Fairy stamp, Ki memories sentiment stamp, Copic markers, MME pattern paper, GEOpunch lace border punch, Jute, Prima music script stamp, Fluid chalk ink, Memento Rich Cocoa ink, Scallop punch, Paper rose

This card is again out of my comfort zone, and it's my first time ever using a 3D paper rose. As you can see I've only used one on this card because I'm not used to overloading my card with a lot of bulky embellishments, flowers or not. I've seen a lot of gorgeous cards adorned with beautiful flowers and tried to do the same for mine, but it simply didn't work for me. I guess I'm really not that girly girl after all, LOL.

I'm submitting this to the following challenges:
1. Magnolia-licious Highlites (June) - Use a Mini Tilda
2. The Official Magnolia Inspiration Challenge #1- Make a Birthday Project

Gosh, Tuesday just flew by me and I can't believe it's already mid of the week in less than 15 minutes! Hope the week's been great for everyone so far :)

Happy Birthday and Watercolouring Technique

2011-06-06T14:32:00.000+08:00

I saw Shari's latest video on Hero Arts blog for water colouring using distress inks and that immediately rekindled my love for it. Sometimes we are just too busy trying out so many techniques out there, that we often forgot the ones we used to love.

On this card I stamped the leaves on a piece of vellum and then coloured it with my aqua brush and distress inks. Then it was diecut with Tim Holtz label die. I thought it would look good layered on a piece of patterned paper but I couldn't figure out how to do it without adhesive showing through.

I finally decided on stitching, which I think was a stupid thing to do. Especially when the paper was odd shaped like this! Just please don't try to zoom in and look at my stitching ok?

Supplies: Hero Arts Real Leaves Stamp CL457, HA Happy definition stamp CG269, HA Sending Smiles sentiment CL490, Tim Holtz label diecut, HA wildflowers stamp, Distress inkpad in Tumbled glass, Broken China, Shabby Shutters, MME polka dot pattern paper, Memento in Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa, molded Sculpey clay rose

And the flowers at the bottom left? It's from one of my failed experiments. I was playing around with water colour stamping, and didn't like the end result, but I decided to still fussy cut the flowers out and kept them. In moments like this I'm glad I kept those scraps.

The pink/white flower was made using a mold I got from moldmuse on etsy. I really have to share this embarassing experience I had with this oven-baked clay. The packaging says that the clay has to be baked at about 275 °F. Not realising that my oven settings were actually in Celcius, I baked my roses at 275°C instead of 130°C. I walked away for less than 5 minutes and came back to see some noxious fumes coming out of my oven. No fire, but imagine my horror! I turned off the oven immediately and removed those roses.

These were supposed to be pink & white. Just look at their colour now after they have cooled down. I guess its not too bad, I could still salvage them and pretend that they were originally brown anyway, LOL. I'm sure they'll look good on vintage cards. The one on this card is from a new batch that I've baked using the CORRECT temperature.

Thanks for reading this long post all the way to the end....and I hope you like my card!

I'm submitting this to Hero Arts June Challenge and Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge #59 - Anything Goes

De-stash the Past Challenge @ Yummy Creations

2011-06-02T23:26:00.000+08:00

Hey peeps! Thanh is organizing a challenge over at her blog Yummy Creations. The twist to this??? She provides you with the materials that you'll need to work with! How cool is that? You get free stuff to make your project while she gets to de-stash, making more space for herself. Win-win situation!

She's only selecting four person to participate for the June challenge, so why not head on over to her blog and sign up by leaving her a comment? :)

Card Chain Challenge @ Lily Pad Cards

2011-06-01T00:07:00.000+08:00

Just thought I'd join the fun Card Chain Challenge over at Lily Pad Cards this month! One of the best ways for me to de-stash and make new friends, don't you agree? :)

I bought this cute stamp while I was visiting my sisters in Brisbane. It came in a set together with all the other woodland creatures, but this is the only one that I've inked so far. I'm looking forward to colouring the rest of them.... they are just TOO cute!

Supplies: Docrafts Woodland Folk Porcupine stamp (it's probably a hedgie...I can't tell them apart, LOL), Hero Arts sentiment stamp, PTI text background, Cork sheet, Hemp cord, American crafts ric rac, Pop up dots, Copic markers, White gel pen, White embossing powder, Versamark ink.

Linking up my card now...I wonder who's gonna be the receiver of this card? ;)

Water Colouring Effects

2011-05-29T22:48:00.000+08:00

Happy Sunday everyone! But for those who are on the same side of the globe with me, Sunday is almost over, and I should really say Happy Monday instead ;)

Blogger has been such a pain in the A** lately. I'm not sure how many of you were affected, but I've been having problems logging in to blogger to post a comment. Just as I was trying to catch up on my blog commenting, blogger decides to throw a tantrum. No matter how many times I tried to login, I was anonymous and it kept sending me back to the login screen. GRRRRrrRRRR...The funny thing is the problem only appeared on some blog, and certain times I'm not even able to see the comment box. Weird.

Anyway, just to share a card with you that I had posted on Flickr for Hero Arts May Challenge - Fabulous Flowers, but yet to post it here. A very quick card using Amos Silky Crayons (similar to the Faber castell's gelatos - not sure what are the quality difference though since the latter is not available here in Malaysia).

Supplies: Hero Arts CL380 stamp, Hero Arts CG170 stamp, Amos Silky Crayons, Archival Ink in Jet Black, Kaiser Pearls, Mini mister

I simply rubbed the crayons over the rubber stamp directly, misted it with water and stamped it directly onto the cardstock. It looks like the flowers have been water coloured. Love the soft and subtle effects.

As soon as the card was dry I added the pearls and stamped on the sentiment. Easy peasy.

Hope you like it! I'll be coming round your blogs as soon as blogger resolves the commenting issues :)

Little Darlings

2011-05-27T00:22:00.000+08:00

When I got home from work today, there was a package waiting for me!!! I knew immediately that it was the Little Darlings stamp that I ordered from Love to Stamp just a little more than a week ago. My mom and sister were curious and asked me what it was because there was a HUGE smile on my face and I was hopping like a kid who was just given a candy :D

I was trying very hard to contain my excitement and save her for this weekend, but 2 days is a LOOOONG wait. She has to be inked...like now, LOL! And here's the result of my late bed time.

Supplies: Little Darlings rubber stamp, lawn fawn bannerific stamp, HA sentiment stamp, MME Lime Twist Fly a Kite PP, Copic markers, Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas, Glossy accents, Divine twine, Jute, Rhinestone, White gel pen, Distress inkpad in Walnut stain, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Archival Jet black ink, Pop Up dots.

I stamped her twice and cut out the balloon, girl, and basket separately so that I could pop it up on a different layer to show dimensions. The top of the balloon has 2 pop up dots stacked on each other to create more depth. Not sure if you can see it from the photo here. Unfortunately with all this pop up layers its not going to be postal friendly :P

I'm submitting this card to Little Darlings 1st Challenge.

Ok, bed time for me. Nite nite!

Life is a Dream, Realize it

2011-05-23T23:18:00.000+08:00

My mojo has been very kind to me lately. Again today I was hit by another inspiration while in my shavasana pose @ yoga class this evening. As soon as I got home I realize the image that was playing in my head and this was the result.

Supplies: White cardstock, Unity Wishstick rubber stamp, Unity sentiment stamp, Distress ink in Tumbled glass, Broken China, Shabby Shutter, Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo, Archival Jet Black ink, Buttons

I've recently fallen in love with Unity stamps and bought quite a few kits already. But I've only managed to ink up approx. 10% of what I bought (naughty me). I'm happy that I manage to ink up 2 new ones on this card :)

I'm linking the card to these challenges:
1. All Things Unity #31 - Stamps never used

2. My Unity Place Challenge #3 - Single layer cards (only one DP/cardstock)

Thanks for dropping by, and have a great week ahead!

*Updated June 02, 2011 - This card won at My Unity Place! Yippeee!

Smile

2011-05-22T22:54:00.000+08:00

It has been a great weekend for me, hope it's the same for you too :) Managed to alternate my house work with crafty moments and overall it was very relaxing. I guess that explains the sudden inspiration I had when I opened my eyes this morning. I had originally wanted to sleep in, and perhaps wake up in time for lunch, but my brain just wouldn't let me. Leaving my DH still snoring in bed, I climbed out and went straight to my crafting table.

And then I took this out.

What is it, you ask? It's actually an old piece of glass pane that I refuse to throw away. And I don't know why I felt like doing alterations today and this was the first thing that came to mind. Using my glass cutter, I cut it into postcard size to work with.

I really like it that the glass has 2 sides with different texture, smooth on one side (I made this the front) and grainy (and this as the back) on the other. Using the Hero Arts open flower and versamark ink, I stamped it on the smooth side, and covered it with black embossing powder. I know glass can get quite hot, so I placed it on a mini easel before using the heat gun. Even at this stage I like my project already.

Then I stamped the same flower on a piece of blue tissue paper and filled it in with Copic markers. On a few sheets of torn yellow and green tissue paper, I stamped the HA solid flower with fluid chalk after aligning them to fit the glass (hope I'm making some sense here).

On the opposite side of the glass, i.e. the grainy side without heat embossing, I covered it with Serviettenlack (you could probably use Modpodge/Claudine Hellmuth multi medium, but I only have this). I placed the stamped yellow/green tissue paper on it, and top up with more Serviettenlack. After that I layered the blue tissue paper at a different position so that it could be seen from the front. And because the glass is about 5mm thick, the front embossed flower looked like it was raised. This is how the glass look like after it was dry.

At that point, my DH woke up, just in time for lunch, and I showed him what I did. Of course, I was obviously fishing for compliments then (because I really liked it), but instead he told me the colours were a bit dull. Speak of anticlimax, LOL. I pretended not to hear and suggested we go out for lunch...hehe..

When we got back, it dawned to me that I could add some bright coloured words to compliment the "dullness". And indeed it does look much better! I showed to my DH again, and this time he only smiled :) I'll take that as a thumbs-up, LOL. I also painted the sides (not visible in the photo) with gold plaka paint so that it would look more "finished". I'm planning to put this in my living room.

Supplies: Glass window pane, Hero Arts Open flower, Hero Arts Solid flower, Thickers, Blue, Green and Yellow tissue paper, Kaiser pearls, Versamark ink, Fluid Chalk, Memento Tuxedo black ink, Pelikan Gold plaka paint, Copic markers, Pelikan Serviettenlack

Also I tried adding a butterfly, but I'm not sure if I like it there. What do you think? Should I remove it?

I'm linking this to Hero Arts May Challenge - Fabulous Flowers and Dutch Dare Card Challenges #113 - Altered Art

Thanks for dropping by!

Chevron Chic

2011-05-21T02:52:00.000+08:00

Yayyy! It's weekend again! Which means I'm allowed a super late bed time and I can sleep in tomorrow morning :) It's almost 3am here, and I just had some midnight supper to calm my growling tummy, LOL.

This card is inspired by the Chevron Chic challenge at Moxie Fab World and a sketch by Lucy Abrams on Lily Pad Cards. I got to play with some Sculpey clay & a mold from Mold Muse and the result is a cute rose that I used for this card. I'll share my hilarious experience on the clay-baking in my next post.

Supplies: Lawn fawn Sew Lovely clear stamps, Lawn fawn Bannerific clear stamps, Hero Arts sentiment stamp, Rose made from sculpey clay, Rhinestones, MME fine and dandy Tickled pink PP, Zig brushables marker, Distress inkpad in Tumbled glass, Scattered Strawn and Spun Sugar, Pop up dots, Staz-on Jet black, Clear acetate.

I used the dressform stamp from lawn fawn to create a custom background with distress inks, then stamped it again using Staz-on on a piece of acetate/transparency. Then using some pop-up dots, I aligned it on the white cardstock base. The dimension is not really clear in this photo, and the pop dots are hidden under the banner, rose and the blink on the corner. I would say the card actually look much better IRL.

I'm also submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Sparkle & Shine.

Time for me to get some beauty sleep. Thanks for dropping by and have a happy weekend everyone!

Lucky Tilda

2011-05-19T00:15:00.000+08:00

She's the one on my card today. Why lucky? Because she was saved from having to go into the bin, along with all the rubbish that I was clearing from my craft table. Last night I had an urge to clear my craft table as it was getting out of hand, and I was getting mental blockage just by looking at it. I used to clear my table after every card, but recently I've been too ~~lazy~~ busy to do housekeeping. And so I found this Tilda that was stamped on a piece of scrap kraft paper. I never had the intention of colouring it and was about to throw it away - until it crossed my mind that I had never tried Copic markers on kraft before. The rest is history.

Erm, one other thing: Just pretend that you didn't notice that Tilda is sitting on a slope, OK?

Supplies: Bon Voyage Tilda Stamp, Papertrey ink Argyle background stamp, Make it Crafty Lasercuts, Copic markers, Colour pencils, Fluid chalk ink, Rhinestone, Walnut stain distress inkpad, Black enamel accents, Glossy accents, Nestabilities Wonky Rectangle

Instead, you should notice the beautiful laser cut chipboard on two corners of the image! They were from Zoe! You can buy them from Make it Crafty, there are so many designs to choose from. She was soooo generous and gave me plenty of those to play with! These babies are so intricate, not to mention delicate as well! Just add them to your card and immediately you get a whole new look! You can paint them, emboss or even ink them - just customize it to your liking :) As you can see my card is almost free from embellishment except for the 2 pieces of lasercuts which I added some rhinestones to match my card :) Oooh..and I love that argyle background stamp by Papertrey ink too!

I'm submitting this card to Make it Colourful Challenge this week - Dotty backgrounds. It's been a while since I participated in a colouring challenge.

I'm also submitting this to
1. Stamp Something Challenges - Anything Goes
2. Creative Craft Challenges - Distressed/Vintage
3. Cute Card Thursday #164 - It's so Distressing

Thanks for dropping by!

Sending Smiles

2011-05-17T14:34:00.000+08:00

Do you like making people smile? I know I do! And I certainly appreciate those who made me smile too! Yesterday I had a huge smile plastered on my face when I found out that my card won Scrap-it-Lah's 2nd Anniversary Challenge #6 on Jessy's blog. Thanks to all those who sent me a message to let me know about my win! :)))

Today I'd like to share a card that I made using washi tape... yes, my obsession with these beauties are not quite over yet, LOL. I had lined the tape on a piece of white cardstock, and then using my Cricut Expression I cut out the silhoutte by Hero Arts. Fun fun FUN!

Supplies: HA digital die cut (Dancing with flowers), HA sentiment stamp, HA envelope pattern rubber stamp, Distress ink in Vintage photo, Black embossing powder, Tim Holtz Styled labels die, washi tape, American crafts pewter brads, White chalk ink, Kraft cardstock

Just want to wish everyone a happy, smiley day today!

I'm submitting this to the following challenges:
1. By the Cute And Girly (May) - Anything Goes
2. Crafty Creations Challenge #118 - Anything Goes
3. Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge - Get Sticky (I used washi tape)

Happy Birthday Papa!

2011-05-17T13:56:00.000+08:00

It's my daddy's birthday today!!! And I finally got his pressie wrapped, hehehe.... I had his card prepared weeks before as I had to bring it over to Brissy for my sisters to write their messages in there too.

Supplies: Penny Black Stamp, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Core'dination cardstock, Sandpaper, Fluid chalk ink, lawn fawn Harold's ABCs stamp, TCP Happy Birthday Sentiment, Copic markers, Double sided foam tape

I'm really loving all these simple to make CAS cards. Takes away the stress when you have your hands full!

Ciao!

Flashback Friday Challenge 11.0

2011-05-14T18:24:00.000+08:00

Here's the first wedding card that I posted on my blog, made when my tools and supplies were at its minimum :) I still had to use the rolling pin to emboss the paper then, LOL. The doodles of the bride and groom was done by yours truly... my brother in law no longer have that big curly hair though...hehe..

The original post can be found HERE. I'm submitting this to Flashback Friday Challenge 11.0.

Thanks for dropping by!

Thinking of You

2011-05-10T22:53:00.000+08:00

I really don't know what's causing all this lagging, I'm so behind time in everything! House chores, blog commenting, wrapping my dad's birthday present (which is this Thursday) and posting pics from my recent Brissy trip. The problem is I don't have a proper checklist, so everything is jumbled up in my brain and I don't know which one I should do first, LOL. I guess I should start by posting a pic of 2 lovely girls? *wink*

Weeks before I went to Brisbane I told Zoe that I was coming and asked if she'd like to meet. She was excited about it, and so was I, and the day finally came! My itinerary was quite tight, but still we managed to squeeze in a lunch. Zoe is simply the SWEETEST gal and so much fun to chat with too! For those of you who follow her blog you would have seen a pic of us together, so I thought I'd post a different one where it is a little bit more candid! Zoe, please don't kill me for posting this pic :P I know you haven't got a chance to tidy the hair and all, but I thought you look really gorgeous!

Time just flew by when we busy discussing all crafty stuffs and places to visit, until my sisters had to remind me of the time. Thanks Zoe for a great afternoon, fabulous recommendation to Maleny and Kondanilla Falls, and also for all the Make it Crafty rubber stamps and lasercuts! Hope to see you in Malaysia soon!

And next...to share a card.

How many times have you bought papers that are simply too pretty to be cut or even used? As a solution to this problem I normally buy a minimum 2 of each (aren't we all guilty when it comes to hoarding???). One to keep, and one to be used. And yet so often I find myself in a dilemma on whether to use or not to use the extra sheet of paper.

The stamped image on this card was given to me by Shanti (thanks girl!), and since I wasn't sure if the paper could take Copics, I decided to colour it with pencils and blended it with baby oil using q-tip (a tip from Heaney, thanks!). It's my first attempt of blending colour pencils with baby oil and I must say I'm quite pleased with the results.

Supplies: Stamped image from Shanti (can someone enlightened me with the name of this stamp?), MME Penny Lane Tiny Dancer pp, Ki memories sentiment stamp, Adhesive lace, Old shirt cloth, Kaiser pearls, Tim Holtz Tissue tape, Bazzill cardstock, Colour pencils, Baby oil, Blending stump, MS Scallop Dot punch, Scrap grungeboard strips, Distress ink in Tattered rose & Vintage photo

Normally I would colour my image first with whatever colour that comes to mind, and then struggle to look for a paper that matches. This time I was LUCKY! It took me less than 5 minutes to find the perfect one! But then I battled with myself for 30 minutes on whether or not to use it , so pretty I want to keep it to myself (even though I had 2 sheets of them).

Does anyone recognize this piece of fabric? It's from my DH's old shirt and I've used it HERE before

Perhaps some of you may notice that this card is really not my usual style, I would say its a wee bit too girly, a little shabby... so unlike me, LOL. That's why it took me quite a while to put everything together, mixing and matching everything I laid my eyes on before I was satisfied. I've lost count of the the number of drawers I've opened and closed (sometimes even the same ones), looking for the right embellishments. I like what I see though...maybe I should work on more girly stuffs in the future! ;)

I'm submitting this card to the following challenges:
1. Bunny Zoe's Crafts #12 - Lace
2. Paper Take Weekly - Fancy a Punch?
3. Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything Goes
4. Clear it Out Challenge - Ribbons/Trim

Thanks for dropping by!

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-09T12:44:00.000+08:00

How did your Mother's Day go? On Saturday my DH and I had a dinner with his family, followed by a durian session, LOL! And yesterday my sister and I cooked up a storm for my family. My kitchen was in a total mess after that, but my bro and sister helped out with the dishes. Imagine that, my brother doing the dishes! Very good at it too :)

Just to share with you a card I made for my mom for Mother's Day.

Supplies: Kraft cardstock, TCP Clear Stamps, Hero Arts Envelope Background Stamp, American Crafts Rub-on alphabets, Copic markers, adhesive lace, Glossy Accents, Memento Tuxedo Black inkpad, White gel opaque pen.

This card is submitted to the following challenges:
1. Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
2. Craft Us Crazy #7 - Mother's Day
3. Wee Memories Scrapping Saturday Challenge - CRAFTS

Sorry that I'm a little behind with my commenting, but I'll be coming round your blogs soon! :) Thank you for all your sweet comments for my cards!

My Mind's Eye New Arrivals

2011-05-08T14:43:00.000+08:00

UPDATED 9 MAY 2011 - I accidentally posted Lime Twist Out of the Blue 6x6 paper pad for sale. It should be Fly A Kite instead. New information updated HERE.

To all my Malaysian friends who are interested to purchase MME designer patterned papers/cardstock at a fraction of the retail price, please click HERE. There are some 6x6 paper pads that are from the latest Spring release, Lime Twist.

Your Kindness is Truly Appreciated

2011-05-08T12:15:00.000+08:00

Hi Peeps, another quick post here. I've been wanting to participate in Scrap-it-lah's 2nd Anniversary blog hop, but never found the time. I always struggle when it comes to scrapbooking, but this round Jessy hosted a challenge to make a card using her flower tutorial. This is definitely right up my alley so I knew I had no excuse not to play along!

Supplies: Hero Arts Large Open Flower stamp, Hero Arts Truly Appreciated Sentiment stamp, Kaiser pearls, scrap embossed paper, scrap snowflake diecut, scrap pearlized greeting card, White cardstock, Circle punch, Scallop circle punch

This card was super easy, super quick to do. Jessy made her flower tutorial really simple to follow, and though she suggested to use double-sided patterned paper for this technique, I thought I'd try something different, using some scrap embossed paper that I have left over from another card. And the green base is actually punched out from an old pearlized greeting card.

Ta for now! And a Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! :)

I'm Home!

2011-05-03T15:33:00.000+08:00

So good to be back in my comfort of my own bed last night. My holidays in Brissy was AWESOME, thanks to my lovely sisters! Unfortunately I brought back an unwanted souvenir, which was the flu bug. That made me a little lethargic, though I really should be quite well recharged after this trip. I'll write more about my trip when I'm feeling better. Am missing blogging so I thought I'd post a quickie here. :)

This stamp from Hero Arts has got to be my new favourite :) Inspired by Kathy, I embossed the flower on a piece of vellum with white embossing powder, and then filled it in water colour. It's my first time painting on vellum. I loved the effect so much that I made 2 cards!It was also because I still had some paint left and I didn't want to waste :)

Supplies: Hero Arts Happy definition stamp, Hero Arts Large Flower stamp, Hero Arts Envelope stamp, HA sentiments stamps, Cuttlebug butterfly die cut, Pentel watercolour paint, White embossing powder, Button, Twine, Cricut label cut, Vellum, White and grey cardstock, Distress ink in Peeled paint & Broken China, Versamark inkpad

I'm submitting the cards to the following challenge:

1. Sweet Stampin Challenge - Try something new

2. Dream Valley Challenge #6 - Flowers

3. Lexi's Creations #39 - Friendship

Thanks for dropping by. I'll be coming by your blogs soon!

Hey Honey!

2011-04-22T13:55:00.000+08:00

Oh thank goodness it's Friday! And I'd like to wish everyone a blessed Good Friday too!

Just to share one quick CAS card that I made using my stash of sticky fabric tapes, and just like the washi tapes, it has become a fast favourite for me :)

Supplies: TCP Stamp set, Fabric tape in pink and lemonade, Archival ink in Jet black, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Copic markers, Pearls, White cardstock, Stickles, Double sided foam tape.

I'm submitting my card to the following challenges:
1. Crafts and Me Challenge #31 - Pink and Sweet
2. Cupcake Crafts Challenge #138 - Lots of Layers
3. C.R.A.F.T Challenge #99 - Flowers
4. Paper Sundaes Challenge #65 - Textures

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend ahead!

You're the Best

2011-04-20T12:48:00.000+08:00

It's funny how I was running dry on mojo just the week before because of my PC crash, and suddenly I was making cards almost every night before I sleep. I guess it has something to do with me receiving happy parcels, LOL! Something that I bought online took slightly more than 2 months to reach me. I had almost given up and thought that perhaps it got sucked into the postal black hole, and then one day I'm home to find a nice big fat parcel on the table! And then Evelin, my enabler, got me some Papertreyink stamps and impression plate from the US and that made me even happier! I'll schedule the posting of the cards to make up for my disappearance next week...I'm off to visit my sisters in Brissie! *happy happy*

Supplies: Tim Holtz on the Edge Townscape die, HA sentiment stamp, HA happy definition stamp, Fluid chalk, Versamark, Embossing powder, pti Polka dot impression plate

This card is made mostly from scraps, the embossed piece was actually part of another card that I made a boo boo, if you turned it over you'll see some messy stamping on the back :) The townscape die cut was also cut out from scraps of white cardstock, odd shaped after a stamped image was cut out, but it was just the right size to fit the die. I had inked up the happy definition stamp with various chalk colours and stamped it on the townscape.

I'm submitting this card to the following challenges:
1. Hero Arts April 2011 Challenge
2. Creative Craft Challenges - Embossing
3. Claudia & Company #80 - Clean and Simple

This card is also dedicated to all of you who are always here to leave sweet comments on my blog. You guys are indeed the Best!

Ta for now! :)

Birthday Muffins

2011-04-16T19:18:00.000+08:00

Thank you so much for your kind words with regards to my PC crash. Still a long way to go for my data entry work, but no worries, I'll get there. I've finally accepted the fact that there's nothing much I could do about the crash... which of course turn my mood to a happy one to craft!

It's my MIL's birthday tomorrow, but because 2 of the family members are down with chicken pox, we couldn't have a family dinner together. She loves my rum raisin muffins, unfortunately I don't make them often enough (I'm a bad bad DIL). So I thought I'd bake her some for her birthday :)

[Recipe HERE. Just replace the Oreos with approximately one cup of raisins soaked in rum]

And then I got a plain cake box from the local bake shop and decorated it with washi tape! I really like how it looks, especially the corners where I created pleats using the washi tape to follow the rounded corner :)

Can you see the pleated corners?

And since I didn't make her a card, I created a tag to go with the cake box. I used the same washi tape to create a matching tag and added a lace trim. The cupcake stamp was given to me by Sandy, thank you so much! I coloured it with some pigment ink markers and added finishing touch with some glitter pens. (Unfortunately it's not obvious in the photo)

Supplies: Patterned paper, mt Washi tapes, American Crafts Lace trimming, Cricut Tags and Boxes cartridge, Imaginisce sentiment stamp, g studio cupcake stamp, Versafine black inkpad, Zig Coloured markers

Voilà the muffins in the decorated cake box and wrapped with a gold organza ribbon

I'm submitting the tag to ABC challenge - S is for Sugar and Spice

Thanks for dropping by and hope you'll have a beautiful weekend!

You're Sweet

2011-04-13T23:00:00.000+08:00

But I'm an idiot. I guess that didn't jive with the title of this post, did it? I'm really sorry, it's just that I'm just very angry with myself. I needed to vent it out somewhere, and if you'd just lend me your ears (well, eyes in this case) I'd be very grateful. Anyway, I'll save that bit for later in this post so that you can choose to skip my rant. Meanwhile I've got a very sweet card to share :)

Sometime in March I got a happy mail from Sandy, an adorable easter card with some clear stamps for me to play with. {And just yesterday I received a surprise prize pack for winning her challenge in March!} When I get happy mails like this I usually like to reciprocate with what I'm given, and so I made a card for her using one of the stamps.

Supplies: g studio Cupcake stamp, All Night Media sentiment stamp, Liquid Applique, Versacolour inkpad, Pearl embossing powder, Squareart acrylic mosaic tiles, button, Fluid chalk, Memento Tuxedo black ink, White cardstock

Thanks Sandy! Compared to yours, this is only a simple card but I hope you like it :)

Back to my rant, feel free to skip this part, I won't mind, really.

My PC at the office crashed on me about 2 weeks ago. And being an IT grad myself, I should very well know that computers are not to be trusted and you should have a good and up-to-date backup of your data at all times. And can you believe that I didn't backup a single thing??? Well, I did, on a thumb drive but it was a year ago. I took for granted that my PC was relatively new (less than 2 yrs) and I've had many hard disk failures before but data was always at least 80% recoverable if not all.

Unfortunately for me, it was a major failure this time, and none of my data could be recovered the conventional way. The only option was to send it to a data center who will dismantle it in a dust free environment and they will try to recover what they can at a cost of a new PC (maybe more)! The hard disk is still under warranty though, and I can get a replacement from the manufacturer at no cost, but data recovery is not included. And so I have to choose between sending it to a data center and void my warranty or sending back to the manufacturer to get a replacement. I chose the latter. And THAT means, for the next few weeks I'd be bound at my desk doing data entry of what I've lost for the past one year. {I just found out that my only thumb drive backup, even though outdated, has gone missing}

If that's not gonna numb my brain, I don't know what will. Sorry if I'm a little lagging when it comes to leaving some love on your blogs. I'm sure you'll understand.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go bang my head on the wall.

Mini Mag and Shocking Pink

2011-04-09T16:36:00.000+08:00

I'm actually NOT in a mood to make anything at all this week, but the mini magnolias that I ordered (and totally forgot about) arrived on Thursday and brightened my evening (well, that's when my mom passed it to me). Boy are they tiny! While my family is having a nice chitty chatty session after dinner, I retreated to my craft room to ink them up.

Supplies: Bazzill basics pink cardstock, Mini mums fabric tape (you can get them HERE or HERE), Distress ink in Tattered Rose, Mini Magnolia fairy stamp, Ki memories sentiment stamp, Fluid chalk, Copic markers, MS doily punch, Carl's circle punch for the corners, White acrylic paint and dry brush, stickles

I thought I'd play along with Make it Colourful's challenge this week - Colour with Bright colours, so I coloured Tilda's dress with Shocking Pink (RV04) colour, one that I've not touched since I got my 72 markers set because as the name implies, it's simply too shocking for my liking. [Anyway, I had mistaken the deadline for this challenge, so I missed the boat :P]

Even these babies are small, the stamps are as detailed as those biggies! On one hand, its suppose to be quick to colour since they are small, but on the other it can be quite a challenge to get into the tiny spots because I'm always too heavy handed with my Copics. But I still love them! Seeing lots of possibilities using these minis!

I'm also submitting this to Papertake Weekly Challenge - Anything Goes, optional something new

*pls excuse the quality of the photo... I left my new camera over at my mom's place, and I had only my old compact camera to compromise...will replace the photo as soon as I get my hands on my new camera again.

Colour Splash

2011-03-28T14:41:00.000+08:00

It's been quite a while since I last created a card that is not square or rectangle, so I decided to challenge myself to making something different this time round. Pun intended. I had actually pieced the dress form a while ago, but my mojo was running low so it was kept in my ready-made embellies drawer. And it became the perfect centerpiece for this card :)

Supplies: lawn fawn Sew Lovely stamp set, Fluid chalk ink, Vintage photo distress ink, Basic Grey lime rickey paper, Wrinkled ribbon distressed in Peeled paint ink, Rhinestones, Paper doily, Kraft paper.

I'm submitting this to the following challenges:

1. Lawnscaping Challenge #6 - Colour Splash
2. Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Mother's Day/Girlie
3. Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes

Colouring Background at Make it Colourful

2011-03-26T18:00:00.000+08:00

This is my last post for Make it Colourful as their Guest designer this month. I must say I've had lots of fun colouring with the team, a chatty one too, LOL! Thanks again, Zoe, for inviting me :) The DTs have been a great inspiration, their colouring are simply GOR-JUSS!!! You should really head on over to their blogs and see for yourself. There's never once that I'm not amazed by their works :)

And so, this week we are to colour backgrounds! You know sometimes there are a lot of standalone character stamps out there that would look great with a scene behind them. And Make it Crafty has a good selection of digital scene objects, landscapes to pair with your favourite stamp! They've just released a new set of Carnival stamps! Soo fun! Go check them out HERE!

Supplies: Make it Crafty Wonky House on a Hill digi & Flying Balloon Chair digi, Magnolia, Bon Voyage Tilda, Unity frame and sentiment stamp, Autumn Leaves alphabet stamp, Copic markers, Bazzill cardstock, Washi tape, Mini pegs

Zoe was the one who gave me my first Magnolia stamp, which I have inked up so many times, coloured in distress inks, Copic markers and colour pencils. And this one here is one I've bought myself to add to my collection, and I have another one on the way {SyyHHhh....you didn't hear that}. I've paired her with MIC's latest flying balloon chair, and Wonky house on a hill digi. I combined both digi using MS Word and tilted the chair a little so it looked as if it was flying!

My greatest challenge with colouring this was to create the right perspective. The house obviously had to look smaller, and I was doing some research online to see how I could make the house look like it was far away, and found that most of the time, far objects are a little washed out. So I experimented with that even before the digis were printed. In MS Word, I increased the brightness of the wonky house digi by 10%, and printed it out that way.

Screen capture from MS Word

While colouring, I also tried to use lighter colours and more cool grays to shade and colour the background, hoping to achieve the right effect, while I kept the colours bold for the chair and Tilda. I'm not sure if the effect is clear in the photo, but I'm quite pleased with the outcome. Will need to experiment on the shadows and highlights to make this look more realistic.

This is one of the biggest card that I've attempted to make, also because the original Tilda is already quite big and I had to proportionate the rest of the image to fit her in :) I had to crop away quite a bit of the original image too.

Before cropping

*Phew* that was a long post! Glad you're still here! Now hop on over to Make it Colourful to see other DTs' work of art, and join us too if you can! Magnolia-licious is the generous sponsor for this week's challenge :)

A Cute Birthday Card

2011-03-25T23:21:00.000+08:00

This is my second post today. Just a quick one to share a simple birthday card I made for a friend using twine from my stash.

Supplies: Penny Black Stamp, TCP sentiment stamp, Divine twine, MS tree stamp, Liquid applique, Sticky back canvas, green rhinestones

I'm submitting this to Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday challenge teamed with Lawnscaping - Cute and cuddly (sponsored by lawn fawn)

Flashback Friday Challenge 9.0

2011-03-25T15:01:00.000+08:00

Time to walk down the memory lane :) This round at Flashback Friday Challenge 9.0 we are required to re-post our first card with windows. I recalled making this for Michelle using the RAK that I got from her :)

If I had remembered correctly, this was also the very first of my cards that were featured :) Imagine my happiness then when that happened! Many thanks to Avril from Lil Red Wagon challenge blog! I wonder if I'm gonna get lucky again with this card, LOL!

Wishing everyone a Happy Friday!

Free as a Bird

2011-03-23T14:38:00.000+08:00

I like it a lot when one stamp set coordinates very well with another :) In these 2 cards I have used Unity stamp set along with Tim Holtz's, and another one with sentiment from Hero Arts. Again both cards varied only by the choice of tissue tape, sentiment, and ink for the bird cage.

While making cards for the RJ charity drive, I had challenged myself to create as many cards possible within a short time frame, using supplies I already have. And here are my last 2 cards :)

Supplies: Unity Stamp, Tim Holtz Tissue tape, MME Damask paper, TH birdcage stamp, Distress inkpad in Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain, Archival ink in Jet Black

I must say I'm quite pleased with myself. For this project of 13 cards, I managed to break out my stack of MME Best of Damask and Bright Dots paper (otherwise just sitting there), played with my washi tapes and TH tissue tape, put some of my ready coloured images (while playing with my Copics) to good use, and also inked up some of my never used before stamps. I really should do this more often ;)

Oh my, where has the time gone...it's already mid of the week! :S

Make it Colourful - Blending Green & Yellow

2011-03-19T17:00:00.000+08:00

I'm back again with my 2nd post as a guest designer for Make it Colourful this month :) This week our challenge is to blend the colour green & yellow, feel free to use any colouring medium that you are comfortable with! For this project I used my copic markers and colour pencils.

Supplies: Make it Crafty Park Bench for 2 digistamp, Crissy's Sweet Sarah digi, Copic markers, Colour pencils, Grosgrain ribbon, Basic grey brad, lawnfawn Bannerific Clear stamp, Ki Memories sentiment stamp, Tim Holtz Flourish stamp, Tim Holtz tissue tape, American crafts lace, Green embossing powder, Versamark inkpad, Ikea photo frame

Isn't Sweet Sarah just the perfect pairing with Make it Crafty's park bench digi? Since the bench can fit 2, you can also include another character to share the bench with Sarah, a boy perhaps?? *wink* When I was colouring the image I didn't really know where I was heading. And when I finished, I wasn't in the mood to put her on a card, and decided to frame her up instead :) I think this will make a great gift!

Inspired by Tammie Wilson at Stampendous blog I decided to try heat embossing on the frame, and I ♥ the results! I think it gives a really nice touch to the frame, don't you think so?

I hope you'll colour with us at Make it Colourful this week! Crissy is the sponsor for this week's challenge - she's got lovely digis as well as rubber stamps!

I'm also entering this frame to Sandy's Challenge #3 - Photo inspiration

Thanks for dropping by!

Inspirational Sentiment Cards

2011-03-18T22:43:00.000+08:00

I must say I really admire those of you who can multitask, juggling between personal life, crafting, blogging, and yet still be able to constantly leave comments and love to the other bloggers out there. I really don't know how to express my appreciation to those who are always hanging around and leaving their footprints here while I fail to return the favor so very often. My dearests, thank you so much!

This month I'm trying very hard to catch up on blogging, but in order to do that I must first make something right? However, there are several things on my mind lately, making it very difficult for me to concentrate let alone churn out new ideas. So most of the work that you'll see me post are works from the past. Here are 2 more from the recent charity card drive.

Supplies: Unity sentiment stamp, MME bright dots paper, mt Washi tape, butterfly cutouts (thanks Evelin!), Tsukineko Tuxedo Black ink.

These are submitted to the following challenges:

1. Samuel Taylors Crafts March Challenge - Butterflies (ending March 25th, prize: 4 sets of Crafty Individuals stamps)

2. The ABC Challenge - Q is for Quote

Can't believe another weekend is here! Hope you'll all have a fantabulous one! I'll be back with another post tomorrow!

Korean Clay Modelling

2011-03-17T21:32:00.000+08:00

I'd like to share 2 of the clay animals that I made using some Korean lightweight modelling clay sometime in 2008 for my twin sisters birthday. The photo is not very good, I'll just have to blame it on my photography skills then :P

You probably can't see it clearly from this photo, but I made the udder for this dear cow too, LOL!

I've made a few more clay animals after that, much improved ones of course, maybe when I get the chance I'll share them with you all too. These clay are very easy to use, just model, left to air-dry, and they are done! The funny thing about these clay is that they are very light and bouncy, and I mean really bouncy....hehe... I actually tried it on these animals and they bounced as high as a tennis ball could!

I'm submitting these to Sandy's Challenge #3 - Inspirational Photo

Of Sweets and Cards

2011-03-15T14:12:00.000+08:00

Two weeks ago I met up with some friends and they ordered macarons from a local café. These colourful tiny treats are huge sugar bombs. I must admit I don't have a penchant for sweets (I do have a soft spot for ice cream/sorbet though) and only tried one before the sugar rush got to me. We did discuss however, about how difficult it was to make them , and I love a good challenge ;)

And so last Sunday I got to make my first batch of black sesame and nutella macarons! Only half of the batch I made was successful, but you've gotta take my word that they were yummy-licious, even to someone who aren't into sweets like me (I'm probably tooting my own horn, LOL)

Crisp on the outside with a soft center and heavenly nutella filling - Recipe from What's for lunch, Honey?

I wasn't as lucky with my second try - it look and tasted just as good, but somehow it breaks when I try to remove it from the baking paper. Don't know why, but I think I'll give myself a small break before making another batch or my sister is going to have an overdose of sugar when I keep churning out desserts for her! :P

So here is another set of cards I made for the RJ Charity drive. Again, my love for washi tapes from Aska can be seen here. Bless Aska and her family who are currently in Japan; she managed to reply that she was alright when the earthquake happened, but Tokyo was still suffering from the aftershocks. Unfortunately for them, now they have to worry about the nuclear plant meltdown. My thoughts are with them.

Supplies: HA sentiment stamp, Penny Black stamp, MME bright dots paper, mt Washi tape, Black Embossing powder, Versamark Ink, Copic markers, double sided foam tape

I'm submitting the cards to the following challenge:

1. Paper Sundaes Challenge #60 - Keep it Simple

2. Simon Says Stamp's Challenge - Anything Goes

3. Wee Memories - Spring is Near, Green is Here

Clean and Simple

2011-03-11T15:47:00.000+08:00

I'm quite happy with the rate I'm posting so far. Only a third of the month has passed and I've done more than I did last month. Hope I can keep this up. Here are 2 more cards I made for the charity card drive, using 2 images that I've coloured using Copic markers long long time ago. Totally clean design with lots of white space.

Supplies: Penny black flower stamp, Glossy Accents, Divine Twine, Copic markers, HA sentiment stamp, Cuttlebug Argyle Embossing folder, Bazzill cardstock

These are submitted to the following challenges:

1. Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

2. Art Impressions - Embossing...Either Style

3. Totally Ladybug Tuesday #18 - Spring Colours

4. Southern Girls Challenge - Use Flowers

5. Craft Your Passion #48 - Anything Goes

6. Wild Orchid Crafts #18 - Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping by!

For A Good Cause - Part 2

2011-03-10T15:03:00.000+08:00

Same same but different. Here are 2 cards I made for the RJ charity drive that are almost a lookalike twin if not for the different embossing folder and sentiment used. That just shows the endless possibilities that we can achieve with the same stamp/papers - and yet, why do we need so many different ones in our collection? Beats me. LOL.

Supplies: Tim Holtz ticket stamp, HA sentiment stamps, Unity Flower Stamp, Prima Script Stamp, TH Sizzix Textured Fades Embossing folder, Distress ink in Walnut Stain, Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, MME Damask paper, Tiny attacher, White gel pen.

I'm submitting this to Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes Challenge this week.

For A Good Cause - Part 1

2011-03-09T00:00:00.000+08:00

This is really embarrassing, but I thought I'd share with you what a mess my craft workspace has become (really, it's not usually like this) early this month when I tried to whip up a bunch of cards in the shortest possible time.

I'm amazed I can find anything at all under this pile of mess!

Anyway, sometime last month I created a poll on how much one would pay for a handmade card, and it was definitely an interesting find. Only 10 people participated in the poll and out of the 10, 3 person said that they would not pay more than US$1.50 for a handmade card while another 3 person said that they would pay more than US$5.00! Speak of contrasts, LOL. That's like 33% on both end of the spectrum.

I'm not quite ready to step into a business selling my cards yet, but I'll probably start putting some on sale when my stash gets a little to much to fit in the shoe box (yes, that's where I keep all my handmade cards). At the moment, I don't think I even have enough time to churn out cards to send, much less sell! :P

However, Annie did inspire me to make some for sale. She was involved in a fund rasing drive for Rumah Jaireh, a home for women and children with HIV and I thought I could contribute a little by donating some of my cards for their jumbo sale. I whipped up some quick CAS cards, creating an almost identical twin (or triplet) of each with a slight variation - which is good for unhoarding my stash, and also debuting the use of washi tapes given to me by Aska!

In total I've made 13 cards (lucky number, huh?) but I won't dump it all to you now. A few cards a day will keep my blog busy :) Here's 3 for starters.

Supplies: mt Washi tape, Bugaboo Elephant digistamp, Tiddly Inks Dog with balloons digistamp, Fairy digistamp (sorry I forgot where I found this), Ki memories sentiment stamp, EK Success Sentiment stamp, Copic markers, Double sided foam tape, Kraft paper, Colorbox fluid chalk.

I'll put up more of these cards in another post. Thank you so much for dropping by!

Birthday Club

2011-03-07T15:37:00.000+08:00

Early this year, I bought a handmade book by Evelin @ Angelicquirk and I said that I'd turn it into my Birthday Club book. That of course was to help me de-stash so that I'd have a legitimate reason buy some more, LOL!

Here is how the book looks now with the added tabs :)

Tabs created with acetate sheets, and lined with washi tapes (book is handmade by Evelin, tabs added by moi)

Thank you so much to those who sent me an email to be part of my BC! I even received one email from an old schoolmate of mine, little did I know she was following my blog too! It was definitely a pleasant surprise :) Karen, your card will be on the way to you very soon!

Insides distressed with alcohol inks and stamped with one of my fav stamp sets by Tim Holtz

Just to share, most of the emails I received were from Summer and Autumn babies! Well, there was one late Autumn/early Winter baby, and another Spring (my old schoolmate), but that was it. That got me wondering if most of the crafters are Summer/Autumn babies? Anyway, I just know that I'll be quite busy in summer making birthday cards, LOL.

I wonder if there's anyone else out there who would like to help me fill up my Winter and Spring sections? Shoot me an email, OK? ;)

My First GD Post!

2011-03-05T18:00:00.000+08:00

Sometime last month, Zoe asked if I would be interested to Guest Design for Make it Colourful for the month of March. Of course it was a BIG YES!

Quixotic Paperie is the sponsor this week and our challenge is to colour with shine. That certainly got me in quite a fix. I searched my stamp collection (clear, rubber, digi) and finally found this cute digi freebie from Pollycraft that I had downloaded a long time ago. She is holding a watering can and I thought - hey, that can be shiny! And I could try to make her shoes shiny too ;) A perfect match for this Petals and Palings digi scene from Make it Crafty!

Supplies: Make it Crafty Petals and Palings digi, Pollycraft Flo digi, Tim Holtz Odds and Ends Ticket Stamp, TCP Sentiment Stamp, Copics, Washi tape, Crinkled paper ribbon, Prima flower, button, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Tiny Attacher, Colorbox fluid chalk, Opaque white gel pen.

I had a few tips from Marianne Walker from I Like Markers on how to colour the clouds and also some tips on colouring shiny metals. The small image somehow added to the difficulty in making them look shiny. It's just me probably - I definitely need a lot of practice with the shine on the watering can and shoes. I might just print out another larger version to colour again ;)

And oh, did you notice those gorgeous washi tapes I used?? I was just toying with the idea on layering those washi tape as a background, and I ♥ how it turned out :)

Hope you'll join us at Make it Colourful this week!

Bunny Birthday Card

2011-03-03T23:00:00.000+08:00

I wonder if my inclination to make a bunny card has anything to do with this year being the rabbit year, LOL. Here's one card that I made for my SIL for her birthday this year. I downloaded these bunny images when it was a freebie at Bugaboo Stamps last year, but never got round to using them.

Supplies: Digi by Bugaboo Stamps, Bazzill cardstock, Stampendous White flock, Glossy Accents, Copic markers, double sided foam tape, Buttons, Sentiment stamp by All Night Media.

This card is quite big, measuring 5.5" x 8.5". Big enough to fit in well wishes and greetings from all the family members! One big happy family :)

I'm not sure if you can see the flocking properly from the photo, but in real life they give a really nice texture to the card :) If it wasn't as messy as handling glitters, I would say flocking can be quite addictive...hee hee..

I'm submitting this card to the ABC Challenges - P is for Pink

Thanks for dropping by!

I Have Been Naughty...

2011-03-02T13:26:00.000+08:00

...and neglecting my poor blog last month. Not intentionally of course. I only posted less than half of what I did in January, and yet February was only 3 days shorter :P Hopefully I'll get to make up for it in March! :D

First of all, my sisters along with their boyfriends were back from the Land Down Under to celebrate CNY together. And then of course our trip to Japan (darn, I've yet to upload my pics to my Shutterfly account). Then towards the end of the month we were busy planning for my nephew's 2nd birthday. Being the only kid in the house for now, he gets ALL the attention! His current muse happen to be Agent Oso, so my sisters suggested that we make Agent Oso cake pops for his birthday!

1)Agent Oso Cake Pops 2) Agent Oso Cuppie Cake

It was definitely a lot of fun, but when it was all over I was a depleted Duracell bunny. My sisters (except 1) have since returned to Brissie, and the household is a bit calmer now. Which of course gives me time to concentrate on other stuff...like crafting! *wink*

Just to warm up my engine for now, I'd like to participate in the Flashback Friday Challenge 8.0. This round we are to post our first 3D project! For me it was an altered egg carton, with the original post HERE.

I still have this displayed on my shelf. It was supposed to be my rhinestone container organizer, but I finally decided it was too pretty to be used. So it's only a display item now, LOL.

I think you'll have time until this Friday, March 4th to submit to this challenge. Why not play along?

You're Sew Lovely

2011-02-23T00:40:00.000+08:00

Yikes, it's almost the end of February and I've only posted half of what I did in January. Doesn't help that the month is so much shorter as well :P Anyway, here's a card I made for Lawnscaping Challenge #4

I've always loved the effect of paper piecing, and yet I'm just too lazy when it comes to fussy cutting. Just thought I'd make it an exception for this one. Actually, I doubt this would be considered as paper piecing, but I'm playing along anyway...hehe...

Supplies: Lawn fawn Sew lovely stamp, Crumpled paper ribbon, Vellum, White embossing powder, MME be.loved PP, MME fine and dandy PP, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Bazzill cardstock, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Versamark ink

Thanks for looking!

Born to Fly

2011-02-21T01:38:00.000+08:00

I'm feeling much better now, only with a little bit of cough now and then, and Pixie is back to her old self again. Thank you so much for all your well wishes. And it's time for me to get crafty.

Make it Colourful posted their new challenge yesterday - to colour smoothly with gradients. And when I read Zoe's note about making it a personal challenge to create a gradient between different colours, or better still, create a rainbow, I decided to play along. Plus, I have been neglecting my dear Copics for quite a while now.

Choosing the right image was difficult. What image would allow me to create a rainbow out of it? That's when I remembered about my Unity Stamps (my new found ♥). Can you tell how many shades of Copic markers did I use for the card? (make a guess and I'll let you know at the end of this post)

Supplies: Unity Stamp - Bevy of Butterflies & life becoming, Tim Holtz Flourish Stamp, Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink, VersaColour Laurel Leaf, Copics, Rhinestones, White cardstock, Corner chomper

In order to create a smooth transition between colours, I had to really saturate the paper with one colour before adding on the next one, and then going over the border of the two with the first colour again. I was successful with some colours, but the rest you'll notice that the gradient isn't really too gradient :P But overall I'm still quite happy with what I achieved :)

This card is submitted to Make it Colourful Challenge - Smooth Gradients.

[Answer: I used 13 shades of Copics to colour all 4 butterflies]

Thanks for dropping by!

No Cards Today, Just Ramblings

2011-02-17T15:37:00.000+08:00

My life's been a bit of a topsy turvy ever since I got back from my vacations. I thought I had it back on track last weekend, until I caught the flu bug from my sisters. It made my last few days completely miserable. Runny nose, coarse throat and it not help that my poor Pixie was suddenly ill too.

Since Sunday she was refusing to eat, and suddenly on Monday morning she had bloody poop which got me quite worried. Thank god the vet assured us it was nothing serious, she must have swallowed something she wasn't supposed to, or contracted some disease from unvaccinated dogs. Since Pixie gets prompt vaccinations every year, whatever got to her was probably not deadly, and discharged her with some medications. The vet was right, and Pixie is much much better and running around happily now, but there's still a few course of medicine that she has to finish, and that is one of the hardest thing I have attempted - to administer those meds to her. Without my DH to hold her down, she would run far away from me as soon as she sees me with something in my hand *sigh*

As for me, I've been a stubborn as a mule, refusing to see the doc or take any meds, and prefer to let the virus run its course. Which meant that I had to endure the mild fevers, sometimes runny and sometimes blocked nose, scratchy throat, and occassional coughs. That completely took away my interest in everything, including playing with the new Valentine gift that my DH got for me. I had a boost of Vitamin C last night, and sweating myself to sleep with no fan and no AC. I guess the sweating helps get rid of the toxin from the body, which in turn made me feel much better this morning (at least good enough to write this long post, LOL).

Anyway, just want to share also some of the items my friend Asuka got me while I was in Japan. I had asked her where to get washi tapes before, and knowing I won't have enough time to shop with my cramped itinerary, she bought these for me!

mt Washi tapes! Don't these babies look just too pretty to be used?

She's really the sweetest friend one could ever have. Both of us were the best of buddies while studying French in Chambéry. She still spoke the language fluently while it was all rusty for me. I was struggling so hard to find the vocabulary that was once at the tip of my tongue. Asuka accompanied us on 2 of the days that we were in Tokyo and on the last day, she gave me this:

Good luck charm made with orange, cloves and cinnamon powder

And here's a photo of the super-sweet Asuka with me and my DH at the airport. She's wearing the batik scarf I got her from Malaysia :)

Alrighty, I think I have bored you enough for today. I hope to be able to post some crafty stuff soon!

I Have You in My Heart

2011-02-14T15:11:00.000+08:00

Happy St Valentine's Day, my lovelies!

This weekend has been all about laundry and unpacking from the recent holiday trip, so I haven't got a chance to craft. But I'm glad I got at least 80-90% of what needs to be done, DONE.

Since its a lovey dovey day today, I thought I'd share a lovey dovey card too :) Here's one I made while I was experimenting with my DIY stamp press.

Tools and materials used: Tim Holtz Tiny Textures stamp, Hero Arts sentiment stamp, EK Success Foam Heart Stamp, Distress inkpad in Shabby Shutters, Versamark Pink and Red Inkpad, Clear embossing powder, Elephant epoxy sticker.

I was playing with some masking techniques for the polka dot and heart stamp :) It's not very clear in the photos, but I've also heat embossed the heart.

Isn't the elephant sticker just the cutest thing???

I'm submitting this to
1. Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge - Live, Laugh, Love
2. Papertake Weekly - Have a Heart
3. A Spoonful of Sugar - Let's See Some Love

I still haven't got time to upload the photos from my recent Japan trip, but I'd like to share one wacky photo that we managed to take while we were wearing the yukata that was provided in one of the hotels. Unfortunately my nephew was not feeling well that day and was resting in the room, so together with him, my bro and SIL are also absent. I'll share some more photos when I'm done with sorting out 808 photos from my DH's camera and another 100 or so from mine!

Thanks for dropping by!

Hoppy Rabbit New Year!

2011-02-10T13:31:00.000+08:00

It's good to be home.

I hate post-holidays syndrome... don't you? Just got home from a trip to Japan with my family last Sunday, and now I'm stuck with a load of laundry to wash and iron. Icks! I'm saving it for this weekend - I think I have enough clean clothes to last me till then, LOL. The trip was good, I'll update it a little later once I get myself a little bit more organized.

And certainly, I haven't forgotten about you all. I'll come by your blogs when I get to sneak some time out between turns in our yearly rummy games. Once a year, my siblings and I try to win each other's ang pow money in the games, LOL! This year however, I'm on a losing streak :P Hopefully my luck's gonna improve before the Lunar New Year ends!

Tools and materials used: Penny Black clear stamps, Black embossing powder, white felt scraps, Divine Twine, Bazzill Basics Cardstock, Copics, White Opaque Pen, Nestabilities Label One

Here's a mini card that I made a while ago after being inspired by Kathy's colouring skills. I'm entering this card to Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge - Dust Your Scraps (created with scraps of silver card stock for the sentiment and scrap white felt)

*Updated Feb 14th, 2011 - this card got honorable mention at Wee memories, yay! :)

La Lluvia Revive

2011-01-31T14:35:00.000+08:00

For the past few days it has been raining continuously, with no indication on when it would stop. When I woke up this morning, it was still raining, oh how I wanted so much to just sneak back in bed and forget that today is still a working day, LOL.

It's funny how the weather affects our mood. It hadn't showered like that for a long time now, and a bit of rain was definitely welcomed. But as it drags on, the cloudy grey skies, and infinity stretch of pitter patter can make you glum. It's no wonder why people associate rain with sadness, tears, etc. But when we look at the other end of the spectrum, the rain brings life, revives and reenergizes.

Tools and materials used: My Mind's Eye Andrea Victoria PP, Bazzill cardstock, Dress hang tag, American Crafts Premium Ribbon, Metal Studs, Glossy Accents, Black pen

La lluvia revive (pronounced lah-yoo-bia-ray-bee-beh) means the rain revives in Spanish. Have you noticed how much fresher and cleaner the air is after the rain? How the greens and the flowers awake at the touch of the rain? I just thought that this would make a very good encouragement card; as grey and gloomy as the cloud may be, after the showers a new life begins! :)

Geez, looks like the long pouring rain is also getting me all sentimental, LOL.

Here's to wishing all my Chinese friends a 恭喜發財! May the year of the rabbit brings you and your family good health, abundant of joy and great fortune!

Pre-holiday Stress

2011-01-27T18:15:00.000+08:00

That must be it!

It has to be the explanation why I'm feeling so lost lately. Sometimes, I get a little too ambitious and try to complete 1001 things at a time. Unfortunately, when it gets too overwhelming my grey matter simply protests and retreats into the black hole. I probably won't be able to make any Chinese New Year cards this year. Had some ideas on what to do initially, but now they are just in a blurry state. Only less than a week till CNY hits me right in the face. Bummer.

Last night I decided to do a bit of coaxing before my bed time, and see if I could get my mojo to work. I started with simply ONE stamped image, ONE aqua brush and ONE distress inkpad. And slowly I worked my colour on the image. I almost gave up when I realised that I was a little to heavy handed on the face. But I persisted. When I finished, it looked like this.

She does look at little darker than what I would have preferred, but it was alright. It might have looked better (I think) if I used 2 shades of the distress inks instead of one. I wanted to redo the colouring, but my mind and body simply weren't cooperating with me. Oh well, I just had to make do with this one and used her to make a little tag.

Tools and materials used: Magnolia Tilda stamp, Distress ink pad in Black soot, Aqua brush, Momoyo brads, Prima & Imaginisce flower, Bazzill cardstock, Divine twine, Black web ribbon

I'm submitting this card to Make it Colourful Challenge - Vintage monochrome, Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes and The Stamp Man Challenges - Distress

Thanks for looking!

*updated Feb 14th, 2011 - this card got honorable mention at Wee Memories, yay!

May Joy Always Find You

2011-01-23T23:15:00.000+08:00

I wonder how many of you start making a card imagining it one way but end up in a totally opposite direction? It happens to me all the time, LOL. Fortunately, most of the time it always look better :D

I received my package of Unity Stamps few days ago and I totally fell in love with them. I think they will be my new favourite line of rubber stamps (did I mention that I have many??)

Tools and materials used: Unity Stamp Bevy of Butterflies & the Right Words, Basic Grey Lime Rickey PP, White cardstock, Tim Holtz tissue tape, Versacolour inkpad, Versafine Inkpad in Onyx Black, Kaisercraft Pearls, Double Sided foam tape, Marvy Uchida Scallop Punch, Distress inks in Faded Jeans and Walnut stain

I was really anxious to break them out from the package ...they looked really good! Oh, btw, I got them from Limelight Papercrafts, thanks to heads up from Amy :) . They are having a closing down sale with very very very good price on Unity Stamp, Lawn Fawn, Stampendous stamps and many others. Not many sets are left though, so hurry up if you want to grab a good bargain!

Back to my card, apart from breaking out my new stamps, I also wanted to use up some of my patterned paper stash. Ok, maybe this card is not that effective in using up my stash, but it's a good start, LOL. We start small, right? ;)

The cut out butterfly layered on top of Tim Holtz tissue tape

I had originally wanted to put a round circle under the butterfly, but I couldn't find a paper that could match (of course I didn't search through the thousands of pieces of paper that I have, but that's beside the point :P ). While I was rummaging my little drawers containing all my paper scraps I saw the TH tissue tape. And I thought...hmm, why not give that a try? And, I simply love the end result! :D

I'm entering the card into the following challenges:

1. Top Tip Tuesday - All Sentimental
2. Challenge Up Your Life #35 - Clean and Simple

Cards aside, today I went to klpac Open Day to support my KL swing friends, and also to support Evelin of angelicquirk, who has a craft stall there! I bought a gorgeous handmade notebook from her :) She makes beautiful cards too! Just visit her etsy store and you'll know what I mean!

Can you see how she had painstakingly tied those beautiful ribbons on every single ring of the binder? It also comes with an attached book thong! Super cool!

I've decided to add on some tabs for different months of the year, and make this my Birthday Club booklet!

Who wants to be in it???

Some of you have received birthday cards from me before, so you know you are already on my list :) For those who haven't and would like to receive birthday cards or an out of the blue just-because cards from me,
this is what you need to do:

Email me with your birthday and mailing address (use the Contact me form on the right side bar if you don't already have my email)
Let me know about your favourite past time (eg. cardmaking, scrapbooking, baking, sewing, hiking, or even just napping, LOL)

That's it! This is one of the personal challenges that I'm setting for myself so that I can use up my stash and buy some more, LOL! Of course it's also a good way to know more about my lovely blog readers, right?

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and wishing everyone a great week ahead!

Playing with My Colour Pencils

2011-01-18T00:00:00.000+08:00

I've scheduled this post so that you all won't be overwhelmed with too many of my cards just before the weekend start :)

On Friday evening I was suppose to pack for my out of town trip. Just as I was about to put away all my stuff on my craft table, I thought I'd sneak a little bit time and experiment on colouring on kraft card. I'll have to put the blame on Annika and Dorcas. Both of them were so good at colouring on kraft that I couldn't resist giving it a try! I've already experimented Honey Tilda with Copics HERE and HERE, and with distress inks HERE. And I decided it's time to colour her on kraft.

Tools and materials used: Faber Castell watercolour pencils, Magnolia Honey Tilda Stamp, Kraft paper, Prima Music Script stamp, Versamark Watermark Stamp pad, Black enamel accents

My intention was only to stamp and colour, and if she turns out badly, I'll just throw it away and head straight to bed. But one led to another, and I ended up with her as part of a card. I ♥ one layer cards! I'm not quite satisfied with the colouring of her costume, but I won't be too hard on myself for a first try. Blending with CP is also very tiring compared to using Copics and distress inks.

For the moment I'm keeping the card sentiment free... maybe I'll add on some Valentine's sentiment later :)

Happy Monday and I'll come by your blogs to leave some love as soon as I'm back! :)

Twine flower

2011-01-14T22:14:00.000+08:00

Here's a super duper simple card I made using twine flower. I've shown how to make this flower before using yarn HERE. Super easy, even a 3 yr old can do it :)

Tools and materials used: White cardstock, TCP Oh, Baby sentiment stamp, MME fine and dandy PP, iTop brad, white prima flower, MS doily punch and of course, Divine Twine

This will be submitted to Wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge #38 - Design with Twine

A short post as I need to go pack. I'm off to Cameron Highlands tomorrow to attend my cousin's wedding, I'll try to be a good girl and not fuss over no crafting for 2 days ;)

Happy weekend everyone!

Flashback Friday Challenge 7.0

2011-01-14T21:51:00.000+08:00

Woo hoo...it's another Fun Flashback Friday time...for version 7.0 we are to re-post our first glitter project or card. I thought I'd play along since it really doesn't require much effort on my side. Plus it gets me comments for projects that I posted when my blog was less visited, LOL.

As I was tracing back through my blog, I found my first set of Christmas cards for 2009, but was posted only circa March 2010.

Christmas cards of 2009 - the present and angel one uses glitter

It was only when I was browsing through my blog that I realised I'm not much of a glitter person. I didn't have that many posts and yet it took me a while to find a project that uses glitter, LOL. Shimmers and bling, yes, but glitter, almost NIL, nada. I did fall in love with rock candy stickles recently and is using more of it now :)

So ladies, why not play along with the Flashback Friday Challenge 7.0? You might discover something about yourself which you never noticed before....like I did...tee hee hee...You have until February 4th to link up! :)

Beauty Lies in the Eyes of the Beholder

2011-01-13T00:28:00.000+08:00

Last weekend a few of my girlfriends came to my house for a get together, also to pass me my belated birthday present. Every year, I can't decide what I really wanted, so they would just get me some fancy toiletries. I didn't want anymore of those fancy stuff this year so I gave them my wish list, and they got me crafty goodies from the internet! One of them is the Suze Weinberg Melting Pot - yippeeee!

No doubt the girls were very curious and fascinated by all my crafting tools and wanted to see what I've been up to...hehe. I took out the box containing all my cards and tags and showed them. As expected, they commented, "Hey, you could actually start a business selling these cards!".

I hushed them and said it wouldn't sell in Malaysia and the cost to ship them out of Malaysia would be more expensive than the card itself. They were very nice about it of course, and said that these cards are soo pretty and that they WILL buy if I were to sell, and believe that there are many more out there who would be willing to pay for a handmade card. And so I posed them this question.

"How much would you be willing to pay for a handmade card?"

Everyone perceives beauty very differently, something that may appeal to me, may not be attractive to you, even though the craftmanship is impeccable. Which is why some art can sell for thousands and even millions of dollars, while some can't even cross the $10 mark. Of course there are other factors to it, but that aside, I asked only a simple question, and that set everyone thinking :)

"Hmm.. RM10?", while another said "Maybe even up to RM15 if I really like the card...you know, shops are selling those printed ones for as much as RM20!"

Frankly I have no idea how much those ready printed cards are selling these days. I never bought anymore cards since the day I started making my own. But it would be interesting to find out how much one would spend on handmade cards, if I ever decide to make cards to sell.

Just out of curiosity, I've set up a poll on my sidebar till the end of January, hope you can all participate. I believe that the result may be a little bias in the end, after all, we crafters sets a very different price tag on the precious value of a handmade card :)

Oh, Baby!

2011-01-11T23:36:00.000+08:00

I belong to the age group where most of my friends are welcoming a newborn into their family :) Every now and then I would receive good news from my buddies that they'll be parents soon. So I thought it would be cool to make a bunch of CAS baby cards on standby, LOL! Then when it's time to get them a gift, I could easily attach one of these cards with it!

Tools and materials used: Kraft paper, TCP Oh, Baby! Stamp set, Archival Jet Black Ink, colour pencils

They were really easy to make, and it took me only a few minutes each to stamp and colour. Even though they are very simple one-layer cards, I thought that they actually look vewy vewy cute :)

I'm submitting these to Simon Says Stamp Challenge - New Beginnings

Hello Minnie

2011-01-11T02:00:00.000+08:00

I remember when I was a little girl, I loved to collect stickers. I would save some of my pocket money and visit this little shop near my school and pick out my favourite Sanrio sticker sheets. And even when I didn´t have any money, I would visit the shop just because. I never used those stickers though. I kept them in a folder, and every evening I would take them out, admire them, and put them back into the folder again. I still have that folder. Some of the stickers have lost its adhesiveness, some have changed colours, while some looked just like the day I bought them. I don't think I'd ever use them. Perhaps my daughter (if I'm ever blessed with one) will get to inherit them.

Last month, my DH and I went to HK Disneyland and we were given sealed mystery gift envelope each for our purchases at their souvenir store. Mine revealed a baseball cap, while my hubby got a set of stickers. We exchanged the gift of course, LOL. I really didn't know what to do with those stickers, but while I was experimenting with my "new" stamp press yesterday, I found a use for Minnie. It wasn't planned, but she simply matched the colours I used for my card. What a pleasant coincidence!

Tools and materials used: EK Success Sentiment Stamp, Tim Holtz Tiny Textures Stamp, Minnie Mouse Sticker, Fluid chalk, Versamark pigment inkpad, Clear embossing powder

Has anyone used a stamp press before? There's one in the market called Fiskars Stamp Press. When I first saw it, I was curious what it was. I didn't think I needed one before, but when I saw videos on YouTube on how it works, it went straight to my wish list. Just imagine, no more crooked stamping! Each time I thought I had positioned my stamp correctly, when it goes down the paper my hand will shift. Darn! Just terrible hand-eye coordination I suppose. And yes, I ~~wanted~~ needed that stamp press quite badly. Unfortunately, I thought the Fiskars one was too expensive with unfavourable international shipping rates. I simply had to improvise.

DIY Stamp Press

With the help of my DH *muacks*, I got a piece of A4 clear acrylic from a local shop that makes tags and signboards for only MYR9.00 (less than USD3.00). And then I cut out some sponges which costs me less than MYR0.50 (or USD0.15) and stuck it on 4 corners of the board. Voilà my very own DIY stamp press for less than MYR10.00! My DH simply shook his head in disbelief, and I did a demo to show him how it works, LOL. He asked me, ¨What about the guide ruler like the one on the original?" I told him I'll draw on it with a permanent marker later :P Using this stamp press I managed to stamp the background on the card perfectly! :D

I'm lovin' it!

From Our House to Yours

2011-01-10T01:45:00.000+08:00

When I first discovered Copics last year, I was like a child who discovered colouring pencils for the first time and couldn't stop colouring. I downloaded many digital images to practice, including colouring some of my own digis, and also some rubber stamped images. Most of them are still lying in my folder, with no purpose. My enthusiasm with Copics sort of fizzled out a little, as I was also trying out other colouring mediums e.g. distress inks, watercolour, and colour pencils. I still love my Copics of course (after all, I did spend a lot of money to own a set! :P}, but I'm not neglecting other mediums too :)

Here is one of the image that I coloured but was never turned into a card. I won this gorgeous digi from Make it Crafty last year. Coincidentally, Zoe is hosting a new colouring challenge at Make it Colourful - Warm or Cool Colours, and when I searched through my folder of coloured image, I went AH-HAH, just the right one because it was coloured with predominantly warm colours.

This house seems to be really intimidating to colour when you first look at it, but when I finished, I was absolutely pleased. One thing though, I didn't fix where the light source was coming from, and I just added the shadow and highlights at random places. But I'm giving myself a break here, because my guess is the recipient is probably not a colouring expert and wouldn't have noticed anyway, LOL!

Tools and materials used: Make it Crafty digital image, Tim Holtz Odds and Ends stamp set, TCP Sentiment stamp, MME bloom and grow PP, White gel pen, Bazzill cardstock, Tiny attacher, Distress ink in Antique linen, Tea Dye and Walnut Stain, Copics, Nestabilities Label One, Crop A Dile Corner Chomper

I wonder how many of you are a miser like me? LOL. If you look at my card above, you'll notice that I have that orange patterned paper as a mat to my image. Don't you just hate wasting a piece of beautiful PP like that? The image covered almost 90% of the PP, and yet, without the PP, the card may have turned out differently. So how do I salvage this? I actually cut out a square from the center of the PP, which measured approximately 2.75"x2.75", so that I could reuse it for another project :D Paper savings! Yay!

Cutting out the center of the PP that will be covered by the image to be reused on other cards

Hope your weekend was good! I had some friends over today to bring me my belated birthday present (due to shipment delay). More crafty goodies...happy happy! I'll share it with y'all some other time. :)

Thanks for dropping by!

Altered Carton Box and a Colour Chart

2011-01-08T01:58:00.000+08:00

My mom recently bought a new sewing machine. It came with a cover, but she didn't think that the cover was enough to keep it from dust, and so she used the original carton box that came with the machine as an additional protection. I thought the carton box looked ugly on desk (forgot to take a photo of it), and so I offered to make it look better. We shopped for some fabric and Kamdar (that was a month ago), and I finally came up with this.

The box was first covered with white paper as a base before wrapping it all around with the cloth. The joints are all handstitched. Initially I had prepared some ruffled organza ribbon to go round the box, but because I used double sided tape to keep the ribbons in place, my sewing machine jammed several times before I finally gave up and just resorted to a simple satin ribbon. It still looked a little plain, but at least it was better than the original brown box. I plan to add on some embellishments a little later (if my procrastination don't take over).

I had even added a handle on the top so that she could pick the box up easily :)

I'm submitting this altered carton box to Sugar Sweet Paper Treats January Altered Challenge

Here's another thing I've been working on for the past 2 days. Kathy of The Daily Marker created a colour chart for her distress inks. I thought it was a brilliant idea! All this while I had never thought to make one for easy reference. I've only relied on the colour indicated on the inkpad cover, or the reinker bottle, and most of the time it is not very accurate.

Distress ink Colour indication on the box

I chose a flower stamp to make my chart ... BAD choice. Especially one with so many petals. I was cursing myself as I was cutting out those flowers. I have the worst patience when it comes to cutting detailed images. Should have chosen just a round image or a square, it would have made my life so much easier, LOL. Thank goodness I didn't have as much distress inks as Kathy did. :P

Can you see from the photo below that some of the colours are spaced a little farther from the rest? Those spaces are meant for colours that are next on my wish list, LOL! Well planned, huh?

I'd like to thank Kathy once again for the inspiration!

Inking My Way into 2011

2011-01-01T16:26:00.000+08:00

A very happy new year to all my sweet, crafty, creative bloggie friends...did you all have a grand celebration to welcome 2011??? Somehow I feel like I'm growing too old for crazy parties and booze...and had a really calm and quiet countdown with my family members, and then watching the fireworks from the balcony of my brother's place. We all retired to bed immediately after, and woke up early this morning for a morning hike at Gasing Hill with a few friends. What a healthy start to 2011!

Tools and materials used: Manila tag, Distress ink in Tea Dye, Broken China, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick & Walnut stain, Silver brads, Tim Holtz Birdcage die, TH Flourish Stamp, TH Tissue Tape, Watercolour paint, Rock Candy Crackle paint, Grungepaper, TH Odds and Ends Stamp, TH Ticket Strip Die, Jump rings, Leaf charm, Glass beads, Headpins, Craft wire, Tiny attacher, Mini misters, Hammer, Double sided foam tape, Organza ribbon, Perfect pearls in Interference Red, Scissors to distress edges

I was refraining myself from any crafting for the past 10 days or so, but then on the eve of New Year's Eve, I received a mail with all the items I ordered during the Christmas sales (got myself some really cool deals - definitely well justified purchases with all the saving I made, LOL).

And so, just like a little girl opening her presents on Christmas day, I was simply too excited and couldn't resist to play with them immediately. I managed to sneak some time just before the family dinner to work on a tag, which I'm also submitting to the Compendium of Curiosities #25 challenge - Scribble Stain Distress and All Things Tim Yahoo! Group. I had a tough time scrubbing my fingers and nails clean just before we ate, LOL!

A dream is a WISH your HEART makes

While I was working on this tag, I can't help but think about what this little birdie dreams about. He must be longing to be free from the cage, just as sometimes we yearn to let our creativity loose and just create. I had originally wanted to put the cage layered on the top but decided against it and kept the bird outside instead.

Year 2010 has been an interesting one for me. I've set aside and put on hold many things in anticipation for something which in the end did not happen. Fortunately, instead of being upset about it, my attention and energy was channelled to something else - CRAFTING. I'm also thankful to have been able to "meet" and know so many friends, who are not only talented but also very sweet. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for making 2010 a great crafting year for me :) I certainly hope there will many more of years like this to come!

And guess what, in just a short span of one year, my clear/rubber stamps, tools, inks, papers not only doubled, tripled but have quadrupled! I've stopped buying shoes and clothes so that I could have enough $$$ to buy crafting materials, LOL! I'm seriously thinking about selling some of my cards and tags to justify my craft shopping. That may well just be one of my projects for 2011! Vamos a ver! (We'll see!)

Thanks again for dropping by!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2010-12-22T14:27:00.000+08:00

I've just finished wrapping all my Christmas gifts for my family (added video below)... and put away my non-stick craft mat, cleaned my craft table (not exactly squeaky clean but it's neat...I think), and relaxing while I let the holiday mood set in. Will resist anymore crafting until after the new year *fingers crossed* and spend some quality family time! We had an early celebration with my hubby's family last weekend with lots of pressies for the children, and this week my family will be coming over to my place for a steamboat session ....yay!!!

Since it's impossible to send Christmas cards to everyone, before I go on my hibernation I'll attempt to hop to every blog that I follow and send some holidays greetings :)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Grungy Clear Card

2010-12-20T02:30:00.000+08:00

Would you believe it if I told you it took me a little more than 1 week to complete just 2 cards? I started by dry embossing 2 pieces of acetate, and I got stuck. Then several days later I took out my nestabilities and cut out some label shapes, tried to position it on the card, and I got stuck again. I laid out every thing I thought I would need, and those items simply did not communicate with me. So I left them alone, and went mojo hunting.

Tools and materials used: [Merry Christmas Card] Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Tiny Textures, Red Glitter embossing powder, Peeled Paint Distress Ink, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Prima Music Script Clear Stamp, Icicle Stickles, Grungeboard, Candy Cane embossing folder, Acrylic paint, Sand paper, Alphabet Stickers, Nestabilities Label One, TH Townscape die, Double sided foam tape [Bonne Année Card] Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Tiny Textures, Clear embossing powder, Broken China Distress Ink, fine and dandy scrap patterned paper, Acrylic paint, Crackle paint, Frosted Lace stickles, Alphabet Stickers, Nestabilities Label One, Rock Candy Stickles, Double sided foam tape

I decided that I'd turn them into Tim Holtz inspired cards. I didn't have enough items to create any more tags (I could probably create one more, but I'm using 'brain dead' and 'insufficient material' excuse not to do them now), so I thought I'd attempt 2 challenges - one at Studio L3-Rock Candy Distress Stickles, and one at Simon Says Stamp and Show-Show a Lord of Tim Holtz Technique.

And so I embossed 2 pieces of the nestabilities with embossing powders, red on one, and clear on the other. Then I distressed them both with different colour inks. So far so good... before my mojo went for a walk in the park again. This was not good. Left them again, went out for lunch and dinner, and then {light bulb} AH-HAH, I can do something with my grungeboard and Townscape diecut!!! Ran the grungeboard through my Cuttlebug, divided the houses to 2 portion, dry embossed one on my candy cane embossing folder (similar to what TH for his Day #1 tag with the Rickety House) and on the other I used crackle paint.

First part of the townscape - embossed with candy cane folder, painted with acrylic paint and sanded to reveal the grungeboard

Second part of the townscape - painted with acrylic paint, layered with crackle paint

Rock candy stickles on the background - looks like snow, doesn't it?

So here's 2 different versions of card using similar items. I must say the Townscape die is really versatile! I can already think of a few other ways I can use them!

Side tracking a little, look at what I won from 2peas in a bucket Thinking Inking Week 7 for this card HERE!

Patterned cardstock, rub-ons, clear stamp, stickers, flags, flowers - all nicely packaged and arrived in mint condition, thanks to 2peas and their sponsor Imaginisce! An early Christmas present for me :))

Will be submitting this to Glitter is Glam Challenge in the Moxie Fab World too! You have time till Jan 3, 2011 to participate!

Thank you so much for dropping by!

More Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas - Day 9

2010-12-11T02:18:00.000+08:00

I know TH already posted his Day 10 tag today, but this is the Day 9 tag that I started making yesterday, and didn't like leaving it unfinished before I work on a new one. I didn't have all things TH, so I could only improvise and replace whatever I didn't have with something from my stash.

Tools and materials used: Manila tag, Prima Clear Stamp, My Mind's Eye Paper, Thickers, Chocolate brads, Buttons, Tulle, Distress inkpad in Tea dye, Walnut stain and Spiced Marmalade, Organza ribbons, beads, jump rings, twill, Perfect Pearls, Mini mister, Hot glue gun

For a start, I didn't have that gorgeous tinsel he placed behind the rosette flower, so I replaced it with a scrunched organza ribbon. Also I didn't have the trimmings, so I used the white twill that was in my stash and distressed it (somehow it doesn't absorb the ink as good as the trimmings Tim used so its a bit dull, but they will do). And to distress the alphabets, I used my emery board instead of a sanding block, LOL...the tulle...there's a story behind it...I don't just hoard tulle for no reason...this was actually part of the tulle that was used to decorate my wedding car 3 years ago! Yes, I still have them, all of it, in my safe keeping, and I thought it was alright to cut out a small piece to decorate my tag ;)

Thickers distressed with emery board - love how it looked so I didn't add on the glossy accents

Of course if you look at Tim's tag, you'll notice that there are many other things that I have substituted with whatever I have or made myself e.g. rosette flower, brads, background stamp, buttons... but I think everything turned out alright. As Tim says, the 12 tags are all about being inspired.

Some of the charms from my stash - did you notice the musical note I added to match the background?

I'll try to do the Day 10 tag tomorrow once I'm done with the boring house chores!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas - Day 8 Masking Technique

2010-12-09T02:02:00.000+08:00

I've always been fascinated by Tim's inspirational 12 tags of Christmas. He is very generous in sharing his knowledge of turning something plain into something wonderful. I still remember discovering his works last year, when I first started my craft blog. In the learning process I've been accumulating a lot of tools and materials which proved to be very useful in my paper crafting moments.

Tools and materials used: TH Stampers Anonymous Tiny Textures, Psychedelic Grunge Stamp, Distress inkpad in Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Dusty Concord and Walnut Stain, TH Idealogy Timeworks Mask, Dymo label maker, Cricut Tags and Bags Cartridge

Frankly speaking I would love to make tags just like him, but sometimes it's just not possible because I haven't hoard enough of his stuff yet, LOL. And so I have to improvise. Take smaller steps. Instead of trying all the techniques he introduced in one single tag, I tackle one at a time. And I can try the rest later when I'm better 'equipped'. Here's one I made using the masking techniques he introduced in Tag #8.

Hope you like them :)

Happy Holidays

2010-12-07T01:01:00.000+08:00

Thank you so much for all your sweet comments for my tag yesterday. You girls are the kindest souls and the best blogger friends one could ever ask for. The tag does look much better this morning, but I was still not quite satisfied with how the flourishes were. Really, I need to give myself a break.. LOL!

I had wanted to make another pull out card this evening, but somehow my mojo just wasn't there. So I worked on some holiday cards instead.

Tools and materials used: [CARD 1:] Kraft paper, HA Snowman stamp, Coloured pencils, MS Scallop border punch, Archival ink, White Chalk ink, divine twine [CARD 2:] Kraft paper, HA Snowman stamp, Coloured pencils, Divine twine, Archival ink, white chalk ink

I'm submitting these cards to wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge - Holiday Music Inspiration (this is inspired by the song Frosty the Snowman)

This Oughta Teach Me...

2010-12-06T01:42:00.000+08:00

...not to make anything when my brain is already half asleep. This tag turned out to be a complete mess, and I have no idea where I was heading when I started. I actually prepared those puzzles early last week using the double distress technique from Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiousities, but haven't got a chance to make them into something. And I think I've just wasted them on this tag :(

Tools and materials used: Manila tag, Grunge paper, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Distress Inks, Rhinestones, Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous stamps, Paper crimper, Perfect Pearls, Glossy Accent, Cuttlebug butterfly diecut, Organza ribbon.

Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow morning I will see it in a different light, and that it will look better.

I'm entering this tag to the following challenges:
1. Studio L3 Challenge #23 - Double Distress
2. Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Tag

Shutting down.

Flashback Friday Challenge 5.0

2010-12-05T23:41:00.000+08:00

I can't believe it's already more than one year since I craft-blogged. Thought it would be fun to reminisce on some of the cards that I created during the infancy of this blog and play along with Amy's Flashback Friday Challenge 5.0. For this challenge we are to re-post the first card uploading using a new-to-me technique. So here's my very first easel card, with help from a tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.

I think I've made only one other easel card other than this one. Somehow I've not made as many because I thought it uses up too much paper. It's a great way for your recipient to display your beautiful creations though :)

Thank you so much for dropping by!

What a Short Weekend!

2010-12-05T22:47:00.000+08:00

I can't believe that the weekend is almost over :( There are still so many things that are left unchecked on my todo list! *PANIC*

Anyway, I got to meet up with Evelin on Friday evening, and boy did we have a long chatty time...LOL. We do have a lot of things in common, don't we? And then yesterday I finally completed my SpongeBob cake pop order together with my little kitchen helper :) More details on my other blog HERE.

SpongeBob Cake Pops

I don't have any paper crafts to show for now, but I'll blog again if I can squeeze in something before the day ends. Shower time first!

Happy Birthday Sis!

2010-12-02T22:00:00.000+08:00

Did y'all miss me?

Sorry I haven't been going round to leave some love. Last weekend my hubby and I went to HK for a short holiday. It's my first and probably the only vacation this year, because I had other plans which however did not materialise in the end. My hubby still have several days of his annual leave to clear, so we bought last minute tickets to HK and we went to Disneyland! I thought holidays were suppose to be a re-energizing and yet I come home feeling totally exhausted. Hopefully by next week when my schedule is not so crazy I'll have time to upload some pics.

Meanwhile, here's a card I made for my youngest sister's birthday. It's her birthday today! She loves the Tazmanian devil to bits, and her collection of Taz of Warner Bros has taken over half her bed space! So there's nothing better than a Taz card for her :)

Tools and materials used: Taz digital image, Bazzill cardstock, Shabby Princess digital paper, Sticky back canvas, Distress ink in Tea Dye, Lawn Fawn bannerific stamp, TCP sentiment stamp, Copics, Nestabilities Label One

Thanks for dropping by! As soon as I'm more organized I'll come by your blogs :)

Let's Party!

2010-11-24T13:04:00.000+08:00

My youngest sister will be arriving from Brisbane tomorrow morning at 6:10am...and I'll be the one to pick her up from the airport *gasp*! She's having her term break and will be in town until after Chinese New Year..HOORAY! A good reason to par-tay!

Tools and materials used: Colour construction paper, Kraft paper, Ki memories sentiment, MS green embossing powder, Cuttlebug diecut, doublesided foam tape

And so my little kitchen helper is back...LOL...she can help me with cake pops next week...need to make a batch of Spongebob Squarepants!

Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Birthday Marlene!

2010-11-22T16:00:00.000+08:00

Had this post in draft until I was sure that the card was already well received! :) Didn't want to spoil the surprise *wink*

Few weeks back I received a marketing brochure in a form of a pull out card. I thought the idea was really cool so I kept the card, even though I wasn't interested in whatever they were promoting.

Here's a card I made after dissecting the brochure to analyse how it was done.

Tools and materials used: Plain white cardstock, Bazzill cardstock, Digi paper by Shabby Princess, craftee sketch of Marlene (by moi of course), Nestabilities, toothpicks, Distress ink in Tea Dye, Adhesive tape, Copics, Glossy Accents

Marlene has always been my favourite snarky card maker, and so I thought on her birthday I'd make her something snarky too as a treat :) Frankly, this is an area I seldom step in, because some people just don't have a sense of humour and may take the joke wrongly :P But I'm quite sure Marlene would know how to appreciate this, right hun?? Sentiment's not mine though...but the cute drawings sure are!

She prides herself of her big hair, LOL, just wish I have half as much (think I'm balding too young :P) so I tried to doodle something to look like her, smiling sweetly. Then when you pull the card out on the side...TAH DAH!

It reveals another doodle of Marlene with a few teeth missing, LOL

I think I should have written "while you still HAVE teeth" rather than "HAD"....LOL...coz I'm quite sure she still has all of them! :P I spent decades making this card, ensuring that all my measurements were correct and nothing were peeking out the wrong places. But I definitely had a lot of fun and I think I'll be making another pull out card soon....minus the snark. Ooh..and what do you think of my scroll? I couldn't decide how I should put my message on the front, and finally settled for this.

Do drop by Marlene's blog to leave her some love... you might find yourself a good laugh too as a reward while you're there...she's responsible for my daily dose of laugh :)

Happy Monday everyone! :)

Little One

2010-11-22T00:33:00.000+08:00

How did your weekend go?

Mine was quite good...managed to get a few things checked off my to-do list...LOL. Sent Pixie for vaccination yesterday(was supposed to get it done last week), then came home to make a few cards before having dinner with a friend who was visiting and left for London this morning, a great morning hike today with my parents, and then got home and finished a card before I had a sudden splitting headache which forced me to take a siesta. Then just earlier this evening both my DH and I had dinner with his family and his nephew who was visiting from the Land Down Under. *phew*

Anyway, I'd like to share a card I made a while back...

Tools and materials used: MME be.loved paper, Bazzill cardstockTim Holtz Rubber Stamp, Imaginisce sentiment stamp, Staz-On Jet black, American crafts jewel brads, Chain, Copics (to colour the chain), Distress Ink, Acetate

I'm submitting this to Simon Says Stamp and Show - Whatever Makes You Happy! (all babies makes me happy...as long as they don't do the whining siren on me! LOL)

Thinking Inking Week 7

2010-11-18T13:16:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a holiday here in Malaysia, and it's just the perfect time for me to catch up on my crafting! And coincidentally I saw this thinking inking video by Jennifer Mcguire on twopeasinabucket so I thought I'd make some cards based on some of the techniques shown using Perfect Pearls (one of my favourite items!)

Tools and materials used: Rhonna Farrer Double Daisy Stamp (thanks to Michelle), Tim Holtz Tiny Textures stamp, Ki Memories sentiment stamp, Staz-On Opaque White Inkpad, Perfect Pearls in Iridiscent Blue, Iridiscent Green, Iridiscent Red and Perfect Pearls, Colorbox Fluid Chalk, Watercolour, Distress ink in Mustard Seed, White gel pen, Black Embossing Powder, Aquaflo brush (♥ this), Nestabilities, Double sided foam tape.

I love the shadow effect of the raised stamped acetate. I think it really gives a nice touch to otherwise a plain white background. And then I tried to imitate Kathy's style by adding white dots on my painted flowers. It's definitely nowhere as gorgeous as her works, but I thought it was a good try. I've always admired her bold colouring and superb layering and she's a great inspiration!

Flowers and the acetate sheet were popped using some double sided foam tape

I painted the flowers using watercolour mixed with Perfect Pearls and Aquaflo brush (my new toy *giggle*), which was soooo sooo convenient. I didn't have to prepare a container to clean my brush, or add water in between my painting. All the water was simply in the tube! And I just had to rub off the colour on a piece of scrap paper until its clear before I switch colours.

Can you see the shine from the Perfect Pearls? It's so hard to photograph them but they look really good in real life!

The Perfect Pearls on the acetate really gives wonderful results, but I personally thought it was a bit messy :P Because the powder is so fine, they tend to get everywhere when you are dusting them on, and unlike embossing powders, its quite difficult to get them back into the jar (I don't like wasting). I like mixing them in my misters and use as a pearl mist though... even more fun when you add a drop or two of distress inks! :))

Thanks for dropping by!

A Productive Weekend

2010-11-16T00:30:00.000+08:00

This is gonna be a long post to make up for my silence for the past 1 week.

Last 2 weeks has been a little crazy for me, with practices for the dance exam, making cake pops and then rehearsing our dance routine for a performance at one of our girlfriend's wedding on Saturday. Some of the girls really liked my cake pops and had suggested that we make them as wedding favours for our girlfriend. And so we delegated our tasks: I had volunteered to teach 3 other girls how to make the cake pops, some volunteered to design and print the tags, and one fine day we gathered and put everything together. From the preparation till the actual wedding day was an extremely fun get together... maybe I'll put up a small clip of our dance a bit later too if you are interested :)

Wedding Favour Cake Pop

And on Sunday, I had a nice luncheon with a friend who was visiting from the UK, and as soon as I got home, it was raining cats and dogs. Zeus was probably having one of its tantrums, as the sound of the thunder was soo strong that I had to unplug my modem, just in case. The last thing I need is a blown modem.

Well, what do you do when you are homebound with no internet connection for hours? Make cards of course, LOL!

And so, I broke out the stack of MME papers (Best of Damask) and the Kindly Cards PDF file that I downloaded some time ago from Amy Butler Designs (under free patterns category) and started creating. And in that very short afternoon, I created 4 cards! I haven't been this productive in a very long time! I'm going to share 2 of it here :)

Tools and materials used: (Card 1-top) MME Best of Damask papers, Pearls, Divine Twine in Green Apple, Adhesive Runner, Bazzill cardstock, Adhesive backed pearls by Kaisercraft. (Card 2 - bottom) MME Best of Damask papers, Cricut Accent Essentials Cartridge, Frosted Lace Stickles

Did you see little centerpiece I created with the divine twine? I thought it looked like a lollipop when I finished! I was actually experimenting it on some scrap die cut circles...and I simply {heart} how it turned out. I created a few more in different colours...so yummy!

And I'm submitting the first card to Sandy's 1st Challenge here! This is based on the Home Girl frame, don't you just love the green and red/fuschia/pink pairing? I thought the colour combo looked very Christmas-y, so I made a Christmas themed card :) Just as the pretty girl on the card has a homecooked dish, I have a homemade "apple lollipop"! LOL!

Thank you so much for dropping by!

A Little Teaser

2010-11-15T10:22:00.000+08:00

Haven't got time to write a long bloggy post, so here's a teaser on what I made last weekend. Will be posting more pics soon!

My {mini} Driver

2010-11-09T00:09:00.000+08:00

Here's an LO I made as a birthday gift for my brother. I thought my nephew look really cool in that mini car! He loves to play with steering wheels and was in complete control the moment my brother placed him in one of the cars at the showroom. It must be a boy's thing!

Tools and materials used: My Mind's Eye Abbey Road paper kit, die cut and chipboard, buttons, canvas, Hand punch, Autumn Leaves Wordplay stamp, Thickers, Fluid chalk inkpad, buttons, Blopens, computer printed logo, Glossy Accents.

This layout is 9x9 so that I could fit it nicely into an Ikea shadow box frame.

Also to my dear Malaysian crafters who are interested in purchasing some divine twine (baker's twine), I have them HERE.

Thanks for looking!

Little Things that Make Me Happy :)

2010-11-04T16:04:00.000+08:00

A year older, a year wiser. I know I turned a year older yesterday, but I'm not so sure about the latter. Over the years I have changed (hopefully for the better!), but there is one thing that I really need to work on is my temper. Ask my DH and he'll tell you all about it, LOL.

Anyway, yesterday I had quite a calm day...I took leave from my work yesterday to sit (not exactly the right term since we were on our feet the whole afternoon!) for my flamenco dance exam. And while a few of us were in the exam room, my sweet maestra Joyce had the rest of the girls sing "Happy Birthday" to me in whispers so as not to disturb those being examined next door. Wished I had it in video..they were all sooo cute :)))

Joyce, Irene, Clea and me (3 of us are going for the Segundo curso exam)

My family celebrated my birthday a day earlier so that I could have a nice dinner for 2 with my DH on my birthday. We had a nice buffet and stuffed ourselves silly yesterday. And what did my DH get me for my birthday? Well, nothing. After 13 years, he finally learnt his lesson, LOL. Almost every year he gets me some expensive gift that I don't need, and I was never appreciative. Told him its best to just give me the cash so I could put it to better use. And so this year, I got nothing, nothing except this thoughtful card that brought me to tears.

It's HANDMADE and birthday greetings in the 5 languages that I can speak :)

I won't be sharing the love letter content with you all *grin* but I can share something that he drew inside for me. It's a sketch of Pepper and Pixie, our 2 pooches at home :)

He's quite an artist, don't you think so?

I guess he was motivated by his sister, who gave me something handmade too! I made my SIL this early this year, and she reciprocated with this!

A mini handmade calendar (it's her first try at something crafty!)

And it contained beautiful photos taken from our last trip together to Europe like this:

And some crazy photos like this:

I ♥ them soo much!

My sisters on the other hand, ordered something from US and had their friend shipped it back to Malaysia because the shop won't ship internationally. I've been eyeing it for months, and when I got it last month as an early birthday present, I was simply ecstatic!

Check out the Zoku Blog here!

Thanks for dropping by, all your sweet comments really make my day. But I'll be quiet for the next few days (which means no cardmaking), since I have to concentrate on making cake pops as wedding favours for another friend this time!

Ooh..almost forgot...Happy Deepavali to all celebrating this festival :))

Is it Bricks or Gold in Your Bag?

2010-10-31T23:48:00.000+08:00

Oh yeah, I get that a lot. Anyone who attempts to pick up my handbag is bound to ask that. For them that's the only explanation why my bag can be so heavy. That I must keeping either bricks or gold bars in it, LOL!

Tools and materials used: My Mind's Eye Laundry Line Paper, Provocraft et cetera chipboard, Thickers, various alphabet stickers, Bazzill cardstock, Distress inkpad, Opaque white chalk ink, glue dots, paper doily, MME Life Story journal card, Autumn Leaves Wordplay alphabet stamp, pigment ink pen, highlighter, Cricut Cuttin' Up Cartridge

It's a complete shoulder workout for me each time I carry it. This 10lbs (4.5kg) load follows me to work every day...well, almost (yeah, I've got muscles all right, nicely sculptured deltoids too). It's a jungle in there! I have problem locating my phone each time it rings, LOL. Frankly, this load is already a shrunk version. There are some mails, and old receipts in there which I'm too embarassed to show. And occassionally I will also carry my netbook (2.5lbs) with me which can also be squeezed into this amazing bag - just like the Doraemon pocket.

I like this effect I created by stamping lines to resemble the bricks :)

What's in my bag: Wallet (stuffed to the brim), coin purse (already weighing 2lbs on its own), Canon Ixus camera, mobile phone, water bottle, lipstick, lip gloss, pen, MP3 player, nail clipper, name card holder, membership cards holder (also full), soluble Vit C, mini measuring tape, dental floss, tissue paper, powder (to keep my feet dry), multi toolkit (you never know when this might come in handy)

You want to know why I'm exposing this to the world? Erm, well, there is a challenge over at Scrap-it-lah this month. And I thought it was a FUN challenge. So fun it took me an entire month to come up with an LO. I'm pathetic, I know. And I'm submitting this just in the nick of time. Took me approximately 2 hours to complete this LO after dinner at 9pm today and another 45 mins to blog this (I need to work on my time management!). Alright, I still have 10 mins left to submit this. Over and out.

Thanks for looking!

Gift Bag

2010-10-30T22:46:00.000+08:00

I had the FUN-nest time at Papier today for their 8th Anniversary Member's Party :) Well, I wasn't a member, but Heaney was, and she generously let me go on her behalf since she won't be able to make it. Thanks Heaney! There were lots of games and prizes, and I got to meet so many talented crafters that I've only known through the blogging world! Super sweet ladies!

And of course, I couldn't leave empty handed, so I bought myself a set of mini alphabet stamps! It was of great value! Can't wait to use them :))

Several days back I was experimenting with some inking techniques I saw at Jennifer Mcguire's blog. And I made these tags.

Inked the stamps, sprayed with Mini misters, stamped on a piece of cardstock, and layered with script stamp before distressing further with distress inks. So simple to do, that I had to make a few more of these tags to keep. They'll come in handy, I know! And I used one to decorate a gift bag!

Tools and materials used: Tim Holtz Stamp, Prima Script Clear Stamp, Label One Nestabilities, Core'dinations Cardstock, Distress ink in Dusty Concord, Fired Brick, Tea Dye and Spiced Marmalade, Memento Tuxedo Black Inkpad, Ink Blending Tool, Mini mister, Sanding block, Kraft paperbag, Cuttlebug Swirls Embossing Folder, EK Success Sentiment Stamp

I still have 2 more projects I'd like to do before the month ends. I hope my mojo's gonna be kind to me tomorrow!

I'm submitting this to the following challenges:
1. Cuttlebug Spot - Welcome Fall (used fall colours)
2. Wee Memories Challenge #29 - Free for All

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

Caring Hearts Card Drive

2010-10-28T00:21:00.000+08:00

I can't remember when was the last time I actually played with my coloured pencils. Ever since I had my Copics, my poor coloured pencils were neglected. Until I saw this and this video I wasn't convinced I could achieve beautiful effects with coloured pencils too!

Tools and materials used: Stampendous Snowy Short Stacks Stamp, Hero Arts CL105, Prima Clear Script Stamp, White Chalk ink, Colourbox Fluid Chalk in Dark Brown, Versamark, Coloured pencils, Liquid Applique, Heart Punch, Glossy Accent

Coincidentally I had the same set of clear stamps that I bought last year! I was planning to use Copics on them, but I changed my mind and decided to try the technique as demonstrated in the video. I must say I'm super pleased with the results. I think I'm going to use my coloured pencils more often now! :)

Ooh I really love the plaid patterns on the winter jacket! The colour pencils gives a nice texture to the reindeer too! And can you see the fluffy white collar? It's liquid appliqué... unfortunately the photo doesn't show it too well but in real life it's really cool! A nice 3D touch to a flat image :)

What do you think of the scarf?? I wouldn't have thought colour pencils could achieve this effect!

The little heart window with a message on the inside of the card :)

I'm submitting these to Scrappy Saturday Challenge #28- Cute Holiday Cards and I'm sending the little penguin card to Caring Hearts Card Drive organized by Vera (Ling) !

Thinking of You

2010-10-26T15:00:00.000+08:00

My mojo's not back yet, so here's a scheduled post.

Inspired by my talented bloggy friend Cindy, I started submitting my cards to publications (fingers crossed each time) several months ago with hope of getting published. Of course, I haven't been successful yet, or you would have seen me yelling across the blogosphere announcing the big news, LOL. Obviously, there are only a handful of publications available, and yet we are overwhelmed with so many talents out there. Guess I'll just have to keep trying!

Here's one that didn't make the cut.

Tools and materials used: Bazzill cardstock, Cuttlebug Just My Type Embossing Folder, Cuttlebug Funky Circles Frame Diecut, Button, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Thanks for looking!