Let's Celebrate

Hello there!

Quick post today. I just want to share this card I made a couple of days ago.

Male cards are often difficult to make. I believe clean and simple is the trick! I used the Free Spirits stamp set from Paper Smooches for this card. No fuss, just simply stamp them directly on the card. This is probably one of the few fast cards I have made! ^_^

I don't know, maybe certain inks are just not made for solid stamps (I mainly use Memento dye inks and Brilliance pigment inks). Some are better than others. The champagne glass here turned out to be very blotchy. I also figured out that with some inks wiping across the solid stamp works better than tapping or dabbing on the stamp. The ink seems to go on much better. By wiping, it also gives you this nice fine line effect. This can be clearly seen on the far right hand side bottle. Anyone have this problem? Is it the ink or the stamp? Maybe I should invest in some better quality inks or should the solid stamps be treated in someway so that it takes the ink better?? Love to hear from all you crafty friends out there. 

 

I will be linking this card to the following challenges:

• CAS(E) this Sketch! #125   
  
• Paper Smooches SPARKs: May 31- June 6 Anything Goes (wk5) challenge  

• Craft Your Passion Challenges #264- Always Anything Goes
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes  

Thank you for stopping by. See you soon.

       

Happy Mail For You

Hello peeps!

It's a long Wednesday for us today. My daughter had a minor operation on her teeth today. We arrived at the hospital around 7:15 this morning. All the check ups, waiting, talking to various people including: the housekeeper, play specialist, nurses, aenethtist and surgeon and of course the anxiety of the actual operation were just draining. We are glad the operation went well and she is feeling well and not too painful. We managed to leave the hospital around 5 this afternoon and I think that is long enough for all of us.

Anyway, I think I have just over an hour to enter this card at Make The Day Special Stamp Store: April Theme Challenge -  Tic Tac Toe.

I picked the very bottom row: Stripes, Die Cuts and Feminine for this simple and clean card. I made this for a very good friend of mine, a crafty friend too!! Here is the card:

I used these "invisible tapes", which I bought last Christmas from Paperchase, to create the stripes. They are plain coloured tapes and are thin and look almost see through. When you attach them to a white card stock they become very pale soft colours. I love them! I wanted to try this camouflaged die cut technique for a while. See here for a great You Tube tutorial from Papertrey. This is where I got the inspiration from too! I used the Happy Script Creative Cut from Mama Elephant for this technique and I think it turned out pretty good. Here is the close up photo of it:

As I am never good at sending cards on time, especially overseas mails, I created this message for the inside of the card. I used the same invisible tapes on white cards and used Cole's ABC's Dies from Lawn Fawn to cut out the word Sorry. The cute turtle image is from Party Posse stamp set by Paper Smooches and the envelope on its back is from Pandamonium stamp set by Mama Elephant.  

I hope that you like this card as much as I do. Well, my friend certainly love it!! ^_^

 

I am also entering this card to this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple.

 

Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week. See you soon! 

    

      

Happy New Year!

Hello there!

Hope you all had a great Christmas and a very happy new year!

I was busy preparing Christmas and New Year and didn't have the chance to blog much in December. However, I am here today with my first card and first blog post for 2015!

 My new year's day was quiet and relaxing and I was in the mood for card making. So I decided to make a new year card to wish everyone a "Happy New Year! May your 2015 be better and filled with love and prosperity!" 

 

I just loved this Pandamonium stamp set from Mama Elephant. These pandas are just so cute! I've also used the little sparkler stamp from Mama Elephant's In My Heart set, but only inked the tip to create the colourful fireworks. The stand alone Happy Script die, also from Mama Elephant, has the most beautiful font. It just makes the card look so elegant! 

 

Here are a couple more close up photos:  

These Pandas were fuzzy cut and then attached by using foam pads.
To make all lanterns shine, Stickles glitter glue has been applied.  

"new year" stamp is from The Big, the Bold and the Happy set by Winnie & Walter.
This has been stamped and heat embossed in white.

This card was inspired by using the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch #104. I flipped the sketch 180 degrees.

  I am also entering this card to:

• Pixie's Snippets Playground: Week 156 & 157 - Pandas were stamped and cut from a snippet of white card and 'happy' word was die cut from a nail polish packaging! 
• Sweet Stampin' Challenge: Anything goes
• Simon Says: Anything goes

I hope you like the card and thank you for stopping by. If you are having the 2nd of January off, like me ^_^, then enjoy your long new year's break!

    

      

Clean and Simple Birthday Card

Hi Peeps!

These days I seem to be making more cards than I can blog and share!! I am in the card making mood these days. I love to show you all but I just need more time to post them on blog. You just can't win and can't get everything isn't it! ^_^

Here is a card which I made for my colleague and friend Jenny's birthday last Thursday.

I finally got the chance to play with my new Lawn Fawn Argyle Backdrops stamp set. As Autumn is here I thought of creating an Autumn theme (cute acorn) and colour (brown, green, yellow and orange) card.  The card layout is based on last week's sketch from CAS(E) this sketch! #95 which sadly I wasn't quick enough to post it online and miss the deadline! But hey~ making card is about fun and not just for entering on challenges right?! : P   

The acorn, arrow and row of hearts stamp images are from Lawn Fawn's Into the Woods stamp set. The sentiment is from the Sentiment Sampler set by Paper Smooches.

The little smiley acorn has been stamped, coloured by Copic Ciao marker pens, fuzzy cut and then adhered by using foam pads. I love the simplicity of this card but it still has a lot of details such as the tiny gem for the dot on top of the "i", the peach colour heart embellishment and glitter glue added on those solid hearts. I believe these little details enhance the card design and made this CAS card interesting! Hence, I will be happily entering this card to Virginia's View Challenge #8 - Clean and Simple.

I hope your weekend continues to be wonderful and I hope I will be able to find some time to blog in the next day or two. See you soon~

      

Cute Foxy Card

Hello Peeps~

Hope you had a good start to the week! ^_^

I made this birthday card for a good friend of mine at work. It's her birthday today and the card has already been dropped off at her house yesterday! Hooray!

I really enjoy making clean and simple style cards these days and trying to learn to like the white space. But Gosh! It is not that easy. It is a torture not to add anything at the top of the card. It looks bare and I really wanted to wrap a twine around it!! I forced myself to stop right there and try to  enjoy the white area of the card. I guess it wasn't that bad after all. After staring at it for a short while, I really like how it leads your eyes to focus on the main image rather than having too many other elements to distract you.

I wanted to highlight the little fox image, which is from Lawn Fawn's Into the Woods stamp set, so I cut a circular window in my card. I also used the Grassy Border Die from Lawn Fawn to cut two different tones of green grass. One I adhered to the card base itself, the other I raised up with foam pads to give dimension.  

I used Copic Ciao marker pens to colour the image and highlighted the stamp images with Stickles glitter glue and Glossy Accents.

Inside of the card simply echoes the look and the colours from the outside. The red dotted washi tape is adhered at the same height as it  is on the outside of the card. This creates a continuous look. The sentiment is from Avery Elle:Cake & Candles set. To continue the look inside, I stamped the two little hearts in the same orange and yellow colours from the outside. I hope you like the card!

 

The following challenges inspired me to make this card:

• CAS(E) this Sketch #93 : Beautiful layout!
  
• Lawnscaping Challenge- Critters Galore: Used the little fox image from Lawn Fawn. 
  
• The Cutie Pie Challenge #78- Cute with Shades of Autumn: I used a cute fox image with autumn colours of red, yellow, orange and purple.

Love to see you here. Thanks for popping by! ^_^ 

 

Edited: I am one of the Critters Galore Honorable Gnomes at Lawnscaping Challenges.

      

Let's Shell-Ebrate!

Hi Peeps!

I played with my newish Paper Smooches- Party Posse stamp set yesterday. Paper Smooches is a new company to me and I just love their quirky, cute images. So here is the card:

Water colouring effect is a hit at the moment so I thought I would give that a try too. I used Memento inks in Dandelion and Bamboo Leaves, Brilliance ink in Pearlescent Sky Blue, with a little water to create the watercolour look background. The pearlescent ink is brilliant. It gives a subtle shine to the background which my photos here just do not do justice. Trust me, it does look pretty in real life!

I also love this sentiment- "Let's Shell-Ebrate" which comes with the stamp set. It's a fun saying! ^_^ I coloured the little turtle with Copic Ciao marker pens, fussy cut and adhered it on card with foam pads.

Green coloured cotton thread, white sequins and crystal Stickles glitter glue were added to embellish the card. At the last minute I decided to add some Glossy Accents on the turtle's toes. This makes it look like the turtle is wearing nail varnish! Ha ha! ^_^

I am entering this card in this week's Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge Blog: Anything Goes.

Also, I am taking this card over to the Sketch Saturday Challenge Week #325 where there is a choice of sketches to play with. I chose sketch #283 below for my layout.

I love this card. Or maybe I should say I started to love the "white spaces" on the card. Maybe I can do CAS (clean and simple) cards too?! Hooray!!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you like the card too!

Heartfelt Christmas Wishes

Hello there!

Remember what I said in my last post?! I love the brilliant sketch from Seize the Sketch #9 and I think I may just have to use it a few more times!

So here it is! Another card using the same sketch. In fact, it is very similar to the card I made last week (see here). Since the main image is not as busy as the last one, I decided to add some sparkle by using Stickles on the embossed background (hopefully this shows up on the photos) and some red gems. I also added a red washi tape across the bottom of the card and a larger frame for the sentiment.

I have used foam tape on one of the gloves and on the sentiment frame to create dimension. The  two photos below should show the dimension better and, hopefully, you can see the sparkles on the card too! 

 

 

Challenges to enter:

• Less is More Week 148 - Made with Sparkle
• Craft Your Passion challenge 191 - "We Washi You A Merry Christmas" (Add some washi tape to your Christmas creations.)

Haven't really counted how many cards I've made for Christmas this year. Will it be enough? I bet I will still have a mad rush this weekend!! ^_^

3D Poinsettia Card

Hello Hello!

An early post for me today or should I say a late past midnight post actually!! ^_^ It will be a quick short one today as I should have gone to bed by now. Just want to share this card I made last Sunday. Yes, what else, another Christmas card!

 

I've accidentally found two packets of Craft Creations Gold Label Peel-off stickers. God knows where they have been hiding! You wouldn't believe this. I bought them about 4, 5 years ago when I first visited the craft show in the NEC Birmingham. I totally forgot about them! Now they have been discovered, I'd better make good use of them.

 

I stuck each four-petal peel-off sticker on acetate then roughly followed the outline and cut them out. As they were on clear acetate, any imperfect cutting will not really show. Then, I simply shaped the petals and used glue dots to stick them on top of each other. There you have it, a pretty 3D poinsettia flower. Here are a couple more photos: 

 

 

I love the fact that these are glittered peel-off stickers. This will save me from adding it!

 

The layout is from CAS(E) this Sketch #54. It is an easy and simple to follow sketch.

  



     

I also decided to use the recipe from Crafts 4 Eternity R#150 - Tic Tac Toe. I chose 3 from the last row- 'Christmas theme', 'Stickers' and 'Red'. In fact, apart from the poinsettia, the strip and frame are all stickers too. Yep, another item which I had for a long time and neglected it!! Hee hee! Naughty! ^_^

Alright, it's meant to be a short post, but turned out.... not so short?! Anyway, hope you have a great day!

1st Christmas Card for 2013

Hello Blog Friends,

I am here to share my first Christmas card for this year. I am never organised when it comes to Christmas cards. I am always rushing. The person who is still making cards at the last minute will be me! Maybe it will be different this year? ^_^

So here is the card I made this weekend. Starting simple for my 1st Christmas card.

 

The colour pallet at 10 minute craft dash challenge #28 inspired me to make this card. These colours just reminded me of Christmas.

Colors: Lipstick Red, Turquoise, Olive Green

 

I've punched out a circle shape from white card and embossed it by using Cuttlebug- Snowflakes embossing folder. I recently bought a big bag of red and green buttons and did think it might come in handy when making Christmas cards. Buttons were stuck around the circle and a turquoise bow attached at the bottom to make a cute wreath. Finally, I curved and stamped my clear sentiment stamp to echo the round shape and applied Stickles glitter glue on the snowflakes. All this took me 8 minuets 50 seconds!  I am well impressed!! ^^ 

 

Here is a close up look of the wreath.

 

I am also entering this card to:

• Craft your passion challenge #184: Add Some Embossing - I think I just made it in time. Only a few hours left before the challenge will be closed!! Phew!
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Christmas/ Happy Holiday

When it comes to Clean and Simple (CAS) cards, I am never quite sure about them. I guess I really have to learn to like and get used to the white spaces!!

Hope you all had a very nice weekend!
 

Daddy's Day

Hi Blog World!

Gosh~ When was the last time I blogged??? Naughty, naughty, naughty!! I'll need to try to work on this a bit harder!

Anyway, did everyone have a great time with the dads yesterday on Father's day? There is this quote that I think is so true:

"Anyone can be a father but it takes someone special to be a dad!"  

And I just love this quote!

We had a pretty normal day yesterday but it is being together with him and spending time with him that counts!! The girls made cards for their dad and here is the card I made for him- A clean and simple card.

I am joining the card challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch! #32 and here is the picture of this week's sketch.

 

I will also be joining at A Gem of A Challenge #84 - Father's Day.

 

A short post and hope to see you soon again!