Mum's Birthday

It's mum's birthday this month. I've made an early card (gift) for her. 
I had decided to try out the tri shutter card.








Label : Stella Rose 'Mother' Title
Paper : Red, off white, pink card stocks, MME Fine & Dandy Tickled Pink (6x6 paper pad)
Ribbon : Grosgrain olive green
Punch : petaled flower large and small
Writing : Rub ons (white)
Accessories : White glittered brads

Selamat Hari Raya

Wishing all my Muslim friends and relatives a happy "Eid-ul Fitr" or Selamat Hari Raya Puasa. This is the first card I ever made for a raya season.

I want to make greeting cards for a change, rather than spending all that time (choosing) and money. Although it probably costs a bit more on materials, the same ingredients can produce more than 1 card and of different designs. It's just fun :D!

Design 1

I have used satin ribbons for weaving the ketupat (my method may not be exactly right). They are too smooth for weaving but it was challenging and its shine stood out. Then, there were the brads. I am so happy that I managed to use them, I love them so much. The patterned paper was also very appropriate (Cosmo Cricket - Upcycle Collection - 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper - Refound : link below). 

Once again, Selamat Hari Raya!


http://www.qbaroo.com/cosmocricketretail/largeImage.cfm?type=1&subcat=46&product=536 

         

                                                                                            Design 2

Tri shutter album

    Here's an attempt to make a tri shutter album. I have chosen to make this for our daughter because I could not find an album that I wanted and I was not planning to scrap her photos and unfortunately, most shops sell scrapbook albums if you were looking for something better than just ordinary photo albums. So, I thought that I might as well scrap something myself such as this tri shutter album. (You can find many tutorials in YouTube.) Unfortunately, shopping for materials is no easy task, even with a full pocket.

    There are so many many colours and designs that I did not know where to start from. I had a theme, I wanted polka dots, 5-petaled flowers, pink and crimson. I really liked the papers and embellishments as they are but I got a little disappointed when they came together. Here's what I ended up using - (you'll need) 2 nos. 12x12 card stocks, 1 reversible designer paper and I used the strip (of green polka dots) at 1 of its edges by using a flower punch (shown 3 in a line) and the Stella Rose label for the album front. 

    I also got some loose 6x6 reversible DP's just in case. I used it for journaling, cut them to the desired size and corner punched them.  Finally, the lovely pink grosgrain ribbon (from Yee Button Sdn Bhd - good enough range of grosgrain ribbons at an affordable price). 

Thank you for reading and I hope you have something to share as well.

Being Banana

It has really been a crazy week. Last Friday, my son gave me a circular from his kindy that there would be another theme day in a week (previously was about insects).  It's a non-uniform day but lessons proceed as usual. Today is the day. 

This time round it's about local fruits and vegetables. And of all things, he wants to be a banana. Googled for images and ideas. Found some costumes on kids whereby the banana end hung down to the floor. Looked less obscene and easier to make. Who wouldn't like to cut down on hard work (you'd be happy if it works, that is). As I couldn't find any food costumes sold in this part of our region, I had to get fabrics and batting and start sewing. Contrary to my mother who can make a frock as spontaneously as I can craft a card, I was panic-stricken for almost a week. I had absolutely no idea how to even shape a banana with fabric! How do you cut the fabric of the different sides of the banana? 

There was quite a bit of hunting work, like for the colour and type of fabric, threads, batting to shape the peel, a long sleeves shirt of the banana flesh colour (close enough) and unfortunately without a hood. Good thing though, we still have the yellow overalls from last year's kindy concert. 

Finally, all was done last night, turned out or not. My boy was really happy that I bothered and excited to put it on. That's all that matters. :-)

Graduation Congratulations

1. As a beginner, what do you do when you want to craft a card as pretty and perfect as scrap booking and card crafting demonstrators? I made sketches. Ha! And I did not follow them :-)

2. What do you do when you do not have scallop punches and stamp sets with lovely greetings?  I googled for images of greetings or you can print from your office word file in any shape you want. I found a phrase in a circular form of which I thought I'd never use, as well as a single-word wish of which I thought I would most likely use. And I also found an image for the theme.

So, what came out of all these? Ta daa... -->>

There a few things and thoughts that inspired this card which I'd like to share, although it looks so simple. This card is for an aunt who loves purple so much regardless of any tone, even for her house! The purple scallop around the phrase was an idea from the Andrea Walford Sunny Stampin' Studio (refer to the link below). I used a heart shape punch, cut the heart in half to use the curve on top of it and stuck to the back of the phrase just showing the curved top of the heart. While each heart has 2 curves on top, I only needed 4.

Why had I decided to use the circular phrase? I was trying out on sponging the edge of the paper so that it could hide away the imperfect cut of the circle. I am also trying to finish off the white paper flowers (previously used for the note card, and sponging it does not quite work) and it seemed to fit in the circular phrase perfectly, and pinned it with a brad. Just love the brads! :D 

Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading this and hope you can share something you've made.

Credits : I'm most grateful for the above ideas from the Sunny Stampin' Studio (Andrea Walford) and the Scrap Bug studio (Miss Goh SC).

Note : I am aware of the 'colour' of the flower. Alternatively, anything of any colour could be a replacement.

http://andreawalford.com/shes-all-that-card-mini-tutorial-on-creating-an-oval-scalloped-edge

1st card with proper DP.

My hands were itching to craft another card, after buying some loose 6"x6" designer  papers

(DP). I used both sides of this paper (from My Mind's Eye - Fine and Dandy series) because I really like its reverse (below) pattern and it looks wall papery. Then I was craving to use some brads and I thought 2 were enough because they are glittered. Unfortunately I do not have any stamp set for the occasion - wishes for a new home. I do not mind it the way it is, but I may add a tag eg. words or doodle of a house, if I do find something appropriate.

http://www.mymindseye.com/Fine-and-Dandy/Fine-And-Dandy.asp 

...2 birthday wishes and a note card.

Left: For male. Found embossing tool and used the leaf pattern, on a shimmery paper. Really need some circular punches, and a different ribbon colour.

Right: For a 1st year old birthday boy. Used stickers to replace stamping.

Experimental. From paper scraps, flower pattern punches, sponged flower with ink (will be using coloured flowers in future), glittered brad, rubber stamp. I'm happy with the outcome, will make another and will be sending it to a friend. Hope that'll turn out (almost) perfect.

...here's something for Dad.

I shall honestly admit that this idea was taken directly from Andrea (Walford)'s Sunny Stampin' website, but I used alternative materials because I still have scraps (for some parts of the card).

I did drop by a craft shop to look for designer papers. I found this 12"x12" paper on which the reverse side had 2 vertically lined and framed spaces like a shopping list note pad, each with a different design. I thought that this would be great for my son to write his notes on. I didn't mind the swirly patterns on the front to be the border. The gold glitter really helped brought out the 'No.1' medal and cheered up the card.

...I paid a visit to Scrapbug.

It's a scrapbooking store with supplies and classes, located on Level 2 L2-046 in Sutera Mall, Johor Bahru. As I am looking for a few basic items in order to be able to get my craft work started, I thought of this store of which was founded by a friend ... or 2.

This is a humble-looking store with plenty of work space inside. Some of the items sold are at an affordable price which is a plus for beginners, and I think it's very encouraging to start a new hobby.

The samples displayed are very creative and inspiring. As I talked with the founder, she was extremely helpful and I'm sure that her classes would be just as worthwhile.

Do check it out! For more info, try out the link at the end of this page.

...I crafted a card.

After shopping for a baby gift for our niece's baby boy's full moon, I window-shopped along the way. I was hoping to find some discounts on older products in craft shops. But I still had rubber stamps in mind. With that, craft shopping was unsuccessful.

Being an occasional crafter, I do keep a lot of scraps of papers and ribbons. And so, when I do not feel like spending on a card be it handmade or manufactured, I would craft my own.

So finally, I took out my scraps and made a little card, and here it is...

...my latest curiosity and interest...

...is stamping. It all started from my brother asking me if I wanted anything from Adelaide, as what he would always do a month or so from his flight home for his annual break form work.

This is a self-adhesive bookplate.

Since I managed to find what I wanted for my first request, I thought really hard what else I wanted, something that I couldn't or difficult to find here. I thought of bookplates. I've always loved them ever since I first saw them in Melbourne.

Now that I had something in mind, I started hunting in ebay as well as etsy. As one thing led to another, there are even rubber stamps of bookplates (normally they are self-adhesive decorative sheets).

Discovering the stamping world, I also came across some highly viewed YouTubes of the Stampin' Up series by Andrea Walford, along with other wonderful crafters giving tips on using the crafting instruments.