Fancy Fold?

Heart 2 Heart Challenge asks that we add fancy fold to our project.  I've adopted a sketch from Clean & Simple to facilitate that:

I've accordion-folded the rosette for my card:

Folding the rosette may not be "fancy" but it is in fact quite challenging to hold it together.  I've put a scrap piece of circle on top and bottom of it with a lot of Liquid Glass to hold it in place.  Of course, the scrap circle cannot be shown so I've put a heart to cover it up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Doodling?

I rarely doodle.  In fact, when I was in school I hated those uncivilized readers who doodled on every page of a book that does not belong to them.

OLW asks that we add doodling to our project.  Tough.  Let me give it a try:

The doodling is the butterfly trail.  It's just a little, but trust me, this little trail represents a big step to me as I never doodle. Challenge accomplished and perhaps I'll try some more doodling in the future.  Honestly when I see others use gel pen or marker to doodle my eyes are filled with envy as it appears to be something I could never do. 

The butterfly was made in two steps.  First I cut out the butterfly outline and put it on top of the card, sponged it in yellow, then I cut out its layer and put it on top of the sponged butterfly and sponged further in pink.  Lastly I used some markers to outline those areas to define the butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Little Card Big Impact

Sometimes I think it is a bit boring to make standard size cards.  Yesterday I made a 6x6 card and today I'm making a small 2.5" x 3.5" card.  The sketch is based on this week's Freshly Made Sketches:

This little card made use of mostly cardstock, with just a strip of the retired Lucy paper:

The images all come from the A Blossom stamp set.  It is a small A size stamp set that costs only $6.95. This little stamp set has got quite a bit of mileage and is still running.  When I need a small card this is always on my mind.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yuletide Greetings

Merry Monday asks that we make a Christmas card with a focus on birds. 

I immediately thought of using the stamp set To You and Yours as I have barely used it.  I love that the bird gives me an opportunity to color:

The red panel is just a piece of red cardstock that I added random tone-on-tone stamping on it.  Making my own patterned paper is one of my faves indeed.

Thanks for stopping by!

One stamp two ways

I love to look for new ways to use a stamp.  Today I'm using the Pirouette stamp, or part of the stamp!

The card is based on this sketch from The Paper Players:

And I stayed true to the clean and simple sketch:

The card is a standard size card so if I used the entire stamp image it would be too large.  What I did was that I cut out the outer edge and just kept the circle.  The elegance of the image is maintained, nice!

Thanks for stopping by!

For Always - a Sneak Peek at the Spring/Summer 2013 Idea Book

My new goodies arrived a couple weeks back but I have yet got a chance to play with them due to sickness.  Contrary to what I normally do, the box of new goodies was sitting in a corner.  I'm so glad that I can finally play with some of the new toys!

I've chosen to use the For Always paper to participate the Color My Heart Color Dare challenge - black, white and a "pop" color.  The For Always paper is just perfect for this.  The sketch is from Mojo Monday:

My card added red as my "pop" color:

The one thing I like is the two white panels that were stamped in slate using a background stamp.  Because the For Always paper is a bit distressed, I wanted to give the two white squares some background to match with the distress look.

Thanks for stopping by!

Materials used (All Close to My Heart unless noted):
1.  For Always paper packet
2.  Black cardstock
3.  White Daisy cardstock
4.  Slate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad
5.  Diverse Background stamp set
6.  Dimensional Elements (Hearts)
7.  Brad Assortment (Black)

Seize the Birthday #2

Finally I am getting better to return to my craft area.  I thought I had gotten better, but the viruses are persistent and the next day I actually became worse.  So I have decided to take good rest and that means good rest.

What I feel the worst about being sick is that I had to stay home but was too weak to craft.  Well, I know that even if I made it to the craft area the end product will look as sick as my face.  Why bother?

Anyhow I am happy that I can get back to crafting and I've made a masculine card as challenged by Seize the Birthday:

I've flipped the sketch counterclockwise to make my card:

A lot of retired products used here: You Rock paper packet, Outdoor Denim Twill ribbon and the stamp set.  Sometimes I just like to pull them out to give them some love.  Even if they are old, they still work perfectly well!

Thanks for stopping by!

Monograms Stamps - a Personal Touch

Have you ever wondered what we could do with the monograms stamps?  Let's watch the video below to learn some more!

Whooo's Your Valentine?

Whooo's Your Valentine promotion is almost coming to an end.  You only need to pay $10 when you make a qualifying purchase of $35 to receive the kit!  Some of the products are sneak peak to the new 2013 Spring/Summer Idea Book.  Check it out:

About two weeks left

In just less than two weeks, you will be able to read the *NEW* Close to My Heart idea book online and order the new products!  Are you excited? 

However, that also marks the end of the the time that you could order the January Stamp of the Month.  Its images are so romantic and I think they are very good for making Mother's Day cards and various birthday cards.

Don't forget the Whooo's Your Valentine promotion.  It will also end on January 31, 2013.

Basic Stamping Techniques

Today's video focuses on generational stamping.  Let's check it out!

Keep Warm

OLW's theme is Keep Warm and I can totally relate to this as I am fighting a bad cold.  At one point I thought I was getting better but I guess I was wrong.  While I am at home, the heater is cranked up high and I have extra layers of blankets, just in case.

I've used this stamp set that says "You Warm My Heart" for the challenge.  To give it a little interest, I've used Liquid Applique to mimic the layer of foam.  It is three dimensional and is pretty cute in person.  I like it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stay warm and stay away from germs!

A Christmas card that takes no time

I am quite a big fan of making CAS cards.  I'd love to make sophisticated ones, of course, but only occasionally because between my job and my other committments, crafting is quite a luxurious activity for me and I do not want to put myself under pressure!

I saw the sketch at Merry Monday and I know I could make a Christmas time at no time.  The sketch is of course, CAS:

I stayed true to the sketch and finished this card in about 10 minutes:

I like to whip up cards quickly.  Do you?

Thanks for stopping by!

Sending birthday wishes

There is a new challenge in town!  It is called Seize the Birthday.  It has a sketch every two weeks - the first week is a girly card and the second week is a manly card.

Its very first sketch looks like this:

I've used the retired Roxie paper to make my card:

 

What I like most about it is the "patterned paper" in the middle - I used bamboo ink to stamp the same flower randomly then used cocoa ink, a darker ink to stamp the focal flower and the sentiment.  Honestly that was not my plan.  My original plan was to stamp the flower and the greeting on the cream-colored paper which is currently the background piece.  However, I've messed up the stamping and that was the last piece of paper I had.  Oops, it's time to make do and that's what I came up with.  Fixing mistakes is an opportunity to test our creativity and I think I've passed.

Thanks for stopping by!

I {HEART} YOU

I {HEART} YOU, said a little owl.

I love owls, especially when they are on a stamp.  They are simply irresistible.

I whipped up a quick little card for two challenges: OLW - Hearts and Color Dare #25 Ruby and Indian Corn Blue.  This card took me about five minutes from cultivating idea to finishing the end product, which is something I love!  Imagine you need a card for everyone in the class.  This will be my go-to card:

Perhaps I'll change it to "let's be friends" for the classmates.  I think either one looks good!

Thanks for stopping by!

Enjoy the Ride

It's a birthday card.

"Enjoy the ride" means two things.  One, as it suggests, enjoy life.  Two, the recipient is going to a theme park to celebrate, so I hope that he will enjoy the ride(s). 

I turned to the musculine Victory paper for this card.  The plaid pattern and the color combo are just perfect for a musculine card.  The stamp set "Enjoy Life" remains one of my faves.  To tell the truth because it will soon be retired I bought another Enjoy Life set just in case any one of the stamps gets lost or ruined.  Crazy?  I agree.

Let's take a look at this card:

The sketch is one provided by Mojo Monday:

Thanks for stopping by!

Sharing

I've got Susan's permission to put a link of her post on my blog.  Please check it out here!

I found Susan's blog accidentally and started to play the One Layer Wednesday's challenges last year. Susan's cards are stunning.  We do not see a lot of layers, embellishments or patterned papers, but you will be amazed by her talent and creativity and power.  Yes, power.  The seemingly simple card draws your attention, so strongly that you keep looking at it with awe.


Her post today is titled "Whats Makes You Unhappy? Part I".  Don't be discouraged to check out her blog because of the word "unhappy".  Her post focuses on certain things that make us crafters feel overwhelmed.  As I am searching for a more concrete crafting goal this year, her post is enlightening.  Her post reminds me that crafting is a fun hobby and I should seek joy, but not pressure in it.  

I think you'll find it inspiring and perhaps therapeutic.  Hope you enjoy reading her post. 

Elements tied together

I love background stamps because there is so much we could do with them.  Let me share a card where I tied all pieces together by a background stamp.  All the pieces were stamped with the same background stamp:  the grey tag and the red heart were stamped tone-on-tone, the black banner was stamped in Versamark and the image was then embossed with clear embossing powder.  Finally, the little white banner was stamped in the third generation hollyhock.  That gives a sense of unity and that's what I like about this card:

Needless to say, I also like the sketch provided by Retro Sketches and the color combo challenge presented by Pals Paper Arts:

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Embossing and Stamping

Did you know that embossed images resist ink? Learn this fun trick to ink the areas around your embossed images to make them really stand out!

Guilty?

Don't get me started to describe how I got to my craft area.  I was unpacking my luggage then........

this card was made:

This card is entering the challenge at OLW - asking us to create a project that represents what we do on a snowy day.  Stamping, I guess?

This is also entering the challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges - Snow much fun!

Gotta go back to where I was at......unpacking.

Stella

I'm just back from a short vacation.

I missed my craft area while away but it is super difficult to get back to it while there are chores awaiting.   I was able to whip up a quickie to share with you though:

It is based on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches:

The card was made with the Stella paper packet and the Bohemian Assortment embellishment, which will both become unavailable soon.  If you have been wanting them you'd better act fast!

Thanks for stopping by!

Random Stamping

Want to learn Random Stamping?  I do!
Let's watch the video produced by Close to my Heart Corporate!

Friends

I'm playing along Mojo Monday this week.  The sketch looks like this:

I'm choosing the square card to work on.  My card uses the Avonlea paper packet:

The Pirouette stamp is one of my favorites.  It is such an intricate image that carries a lot of elegance!  I really like the Avonlea paper packet too, but in retrospect I think I have not given it enough love.  I was probably carried away by all the Christmas cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks

Just want to share a super simple Thank You card with you today.  I need to make a bunch of them and so I had to find a simple way to finish them quickly. 

I have used the retired dimensional elements for this one (and for other ones) and love that a little effort on these cute little embellishments is adding quite a lot of visual impact on the card:

No, this is not a color scheme that I would come up with.  It is quite beyond my comfort zone.  I'm challenging myself to take the challenge at Sunday Stamps:

Believe it or not, I'm using this color combo for all my quicky Thank You cards.  Thanks to this challenge I've learned something new!  Be sure to stop by its page to see what other participates have prepare.

Thanks for stopping by!

Every Day is an Adventure

I'm sharing another project using the Lucky paper today.  (Someone hasn't cleaned up her desk after yesterday's project........)

I love the Lucky paper, as I said yesterday and I just can't make more cards with it.  This card uses it and the retired It's Your Day stamp set.  I like the bicycle image and the sentiment "Every day is an adventure" is such an inspiring and encouraging one:

This card is based on the sketch at Walzing Mouse Sketch challenge:

Sadly, it appears that this sketch challenge will be its very last one.  I thank the design team for their fabulous work and my best wishes for your future endeavors.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013!

I am certainly super excited to welcome 2013 as I will be taking a vacation!  It feels a bit like extending the Christmas and New Year celebration.  Yay!

Have fun on the first day of 2013!