Wednesday 30 September 2009

Showcase for Cherry Wings Challenge #1

It's the last day of September today. (Where has the time gone?!) And it's our showcase time to share the results of our very 1st Cherry Wings Challenge- Mid Autumn Moon Festival Card. So here they are!

This is the card which my friend Erin came up with:


I love the warm autumn feeling from the orange, the yellow and the brown colours of her card. I especially love that backing paper. It does create that Moon Festival mood. When I asked her where she got that paper from, it turned out that it was only a leaflet from Starbucks. It just shows that you can use anything to make cards with your imagination! The love birds stamp, I believe, is the free gift stamp from the February Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine issue 62. (I know that because I have that stamp set too!! dog mall) And don't you just love all that glitter reflecting the bright moonlight and shining everywhere! I love it!

Now.... here is my card or I should said cards:


I have to be honest, this has been a very hard challenge. I certainly needed the whole month to come up with this pair of cards. From the very beginning I knew I wanted to make a circular card, as it resembles the big round moon of the Moon Festival. I also knew that I wanted to use 9 gem stones to represent the 9 suns. But what image to put in the middle of my card I surely hadn't got a clue. Until one day, I came across these two Chinese figurines from a magazine and that was it. Everything seemed to come together so easily.

The small rounded moon behind the lady was punched out from a beauty magazine too. And I just couldn't resist sneakily placing my Jade Rabbit on the card with its fluffy tail. There is a saying in Chinese that people miss their family and friends even more during special holidays or festivals ("每逢佳節倍思親"). Therefore, I thought the "Miss You" sentiment suits the card well.

Once I made the card with the Chinese lady, I just couldn't stop to make another one with the Chinese gentleman. The only differences between these two are the main yellow backing paper and the colour of the gem stones. I ran out of the lighter yellow colour paper so had to use another deeper colour yellow paper! smileys And to give the male card more of a masculine feel, I decided to use the strong red colour gem stones.


Well, I hope you have enjoyed seeing our 1st challenge results. I truly enjoyed making them. Please do come back tomorrow to find out what's in store for our 2nd challenge for the month of October.

Hugs,



Tuesday 15 September 2009

Gorjuss Girl

Got some time to take up another card challenge last week. Actually I finished the card over the weekend but just haven't had the time to post it on the blog. Luckily I am still in time for entering The Sugar Bowl Challenge 19- Marlene's Sketch and this time you will also need to include the colours pink and brown.



I love the combination of pink and brown. They just look so yummy together! Reminded me of a chocolate cupcake with pink icing! (Even better with a cherry on the top! smileys) So here is my card:


I have had this sitting Gorjuss Girl stamp for a while and I finally found a chance to use her for the very first time. The sketch is easy to follow and I am very happy with my colouring by using Copic Ciao markers. (Just on the dress and skin though. I only got a few of the pink and skin colours so far. I need more marker pens in my collection!! scuba diving newsBut for my first attempt, not bad colouring huh?!) I have also made my own little beaded pink and brown flower to decorate the card. It is my friend Jai's 40th birthday on the 21st and I hope she will like it.

Thanks for looking.

Monday 7 September 2009

Elzybells Birthday Card

Just want to share this card with you all.

I have used my winning "Life's a beach" stamp set from Elzybells to make this birthday card for my brother-in-law Marvin. There are a lot of stamps in this set but I just can't resist using this cute starfish stamp as my main image. I have coloured the starfish with chalk and added some shining gems. I have also raised the flower with foam pads to give more dimension. Finally the starfish has been layered on to another light blue card and on to a torn brown paper. The yellow flower boarder was created by using one of the stamps from this set too. Little drops of white opal Liquid Pearls have been added to the center of each flower. I have bought the FUN tags from my local store and I think they go quite well with this card.

I hope Marvin does like this card since my husband doesn't think that it looks like a man's card because of the flowers!! What do you think?


Hope you like it!

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Cherry Wings Challenge #1

Me and my craft buddy decided to set up a monthly challenge. A way to keep our hobby going and an excuse to make more cards. As we are both very busy mums, I think we shall be able to cope with one challenge a month! Hee hee! animal smileys

So here you go, our very first challenge- make a Mid-Autumn Moon Festival theme card. First challenge set by my friend and... gosh! It is a difficult one. For those of you who are not familiar with the Moon Festival, here is a brief description from Wikipedia:

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, or in Chinese, Zhongqiu Jie (中秋節), is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese people and Vietnamese people. In Malaysia and Singapore, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around mid or late September in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomeloes together.

There are several traditional stories that go with the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival such as Chang'e, the Chinese goddess of the moon, the kind Jade Rabbit who lives at the Moon Palace, and Houyi the Archer who shot down nine suns.

This will be a very interesting challenge. I will be updating and sharing our cards soon when we have completed them. If this challenge tickles your fancy, you are very welcome to join us. You have the entire September to complete this challenge. If you ever participate, please do leave me a message below, email me your card or send me a link of your blog. We will definitely love to see what you have come up with!

Better get brainstorming and come up with some ideas.

Talk to you all soon.

Tuesday 1 September 2009

You are growing up fast!

I can't believe that my friend Erin's little boy is 2 years old now. Time just flies! He is such a sweet boy and his facial expression is just amazing. When it comes to crying, he is definitely an actor! Ha ha!

Instead of using stamp images, I thought I would use die cuts this time. I used Ellison Design- Teddy Bear #1 die by Stu Kilgour for this card. I have also used the same flourish backing paper to die cut teddy's tummy. (You can see the pattern on his tummy is the same as the flower on the left hand side.) As usual, you will find the personalised name at the bottom of the card.


The card was made based on the sketch from Friday Sketchers blog week 64 design.


I quite like this sketch. You can interpret it in different ways. Instead of keeping the card in square shape, I cut the front card into a semi-circular shape, as shown in the pink area. When you open the card, it reveals the 2nd teddy bear and the greetings.

I have also decorated the envelope by using Ellison Design- Balloons #2 by Stu Kilgour.

Apparently my friend said her son loved it so much when he received it that he wouldn't let go of the card. He nearly tore the teddy off from the front which was propped up by foam pads. Glad he loved it so much as I do! ^_^

Have a nice day!