Instax fun

Hello Monday!

It has been a long time since I last posted work of my own.  In reality, I haven't been able to do much crafting (sobbing face inserted).

It's summertime and co-workers are literally taking turns to take time off.  It's usual except this year the supervisors/managers are taking extended vacation.  By that I mean it's a whole month!  I am looking forward to my own vacation and family reunion next month.  Another 3 weeks to go.

So I have been working crazily busy during the week and on weekends, I am doing research and planning for the family trip.  We had many exciting ideas when we first planned it but we decided to make it simple.  We have a big group of 8, with older folks like my parents and little ones my niece and my nephew, who just started walking.  My brother and I have to plan well enough to ensure things go smoothly.  If it was just me and my backpack, things would be much easier.  Family trips, however, require quite a bit of planning.  I am research the time it takes from point A to point B (and so nice Google can estimate that for different times of the day, and different days of a week), and closest restaurants next to certain sight seeing spots.  I am about to make reservations for lunch/dinner too.

It's fun.  No complaints (even though no time to craft). I'm grateful that everyone in my family is easy going.  Even if we have to wait in line, we will still be happy.  My dad, however, can be high maintenance sometimes.  Only sometimes.  One of the things he complains about us is that we do not travel light.  I don't know how he does it.  Be it a day trip or a month-long trip, he packs so everything in a carry-on.  Years ago he complained that my brother and I each had an SLR camera while he had a super compact digital one.

This time I'm not taking an SLR with me.  I'm going to bring, however, an Instax camera.  I'm afraid I'll make my dad's blood boil.  Oops.  Not that bad but you get the idea.  My niece and nephews have been "posing" for us to take pictures, but except for the mini-albums I made for them, I doubt if the pictures have ever been developed.  So I wanted to take this trip to show them pictures in their physical form.  I have even bought an album for them to put in the instax pictures.

I have never used an Instax camera before (isn't it embarrassing to admit this?) so I tested it out.  Immediately after that I've made a layout with it using the Magical paper:

It's a random picture so it was quite a bit difficult for me.  I used a sketch from Kelly Purkey's class at Craftsy.  Hers is a 8.5 x 11 layout, so I had to modify it a bit.  I used the Artbooking cartridge to create the tone-on-tone background, then I cut out the instax camera from one of the cut-apart sheet in Magical paper pack as an accent, I used the stamps from the current Stamp of the Month From the Notebook to make the tag, the lens of the camera "super".  I also added the stamp "real life" as part of the embellishment below the picture.  I love love love this stamp set.  Absolutely versatile!

So that's my first instax photo and the layout documenting the reason I got the camera. I'm entering this layout to Heart 2 Heart Challenges - Magical.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Calamari

Oh Boy!  It has been a week since I last posted.  Sorry about the silence here.

I do have another one-page layout using the cute Zoe paper to share today.

This picture shows the four of us sharing a small order of Calamari at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco earlier this year.  I couldn't take a better picture after my hands became greasy (and slippery too!)  The four of us meant to have lunch at Fisherman's Wharf but guess what?  We each had a different meaning of "having lunch at Fisherman's Wharf" in mind.  Eventually we had soup and sandwiches for lunch but we grabbed some snacks while strolling down Fisherman's Wharf.

I've mentioned countless times that I love Workshops on the Go offered by Close to My Heart, whether it is the scrapbooking kits or the cardmaking kits. I am the type of person who likes to spread out my supplies then choose from the pile when I create, so even though I enjoy the camaraderie at a crop, I often wonder how I can carry my whole craft area with me to a crop.  I used to spend a lot of time packing, then unpacking, and re-packing because I worried that I had forgotten something.  The time I spent on packing was no less than the time I spent at my friend's place.

Workshops on the Go kits make it much easier.  I just have to grab the kit, a few ink pads, the Zoe Complements and I'm all set to create layouts and cards while I am at a crop or my friend's place.  If you tend to go to crops a lot, I'd suggest that you try this out!  It will lighten your load by a lot and the time that would be otherwise spent on packing can be spent on creating!

Earlier this year, I took an online class taught by Kelly Purkey at Studio Calico.  In the class, Kelly shared her awesome sketches and the contributors shared their take of those sketches.  It was a wide opening experience to see how expert crafters interpret the sketch and use it on traditional scrapbooking, cards and pocket scrapbooking.  Don't get me wrong.  I love the patterns in our How-To programs, and I continue to consult with them whenever I have a creative rut.  For me, I really enjoyed to see how others understand and interpret a sketch and make it their own.

Back to my layout here.  I've used one of the sketches learned from the online class.  Unfortunately, I pretty much followed the sketch closely without much personal interpretation.  :P  I first used Slate Ink and the smaller stamps in the Zoe Workshop on the Go to create a tone-on-tone effect on the background.  Then I put on a large piece of the Sweet Leaf patterned paper in the middle as the focus.  I added a Sorbet pattern strip and photo mat behind the picture, and some Zoe complements around it.  Below the picture are a few Cricut cut outs from Artbooking cartridge.  I cut out the title using the Artiste cartridge and finished it with my journaling.  I noticed that the vellum complements might not stand out enough so I added some white cardstock to make it pop more.  I like this sketch and I'm hoping to add more personal touch to it and make it my own!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I have been having a lot of fun playing with the Close to my Heart Zoe paper.  Love the colors and the patterns!  They are easy to work with and very versatile.  Because of that I have been making layouts with it non-stop.  Thus far I have made 5-single page layouts and I'll be sharing them here on my blog and pinterest.  Stay tuned!

Today I am sharing a card that didn't make use of the Zoe paper.  Instead, I was inspired by the color scheme of it.  It's a birthday card for my dad:

I've used Pear cardstock as the background, then used the stamp from the Zoe Workshop on the Go to fill the background.  Tone on tone is one of my favorite stamping techniques!  It adds interest but doesn't make it too busy.

The sentiment was one that I designed on Cricut Design Space using the Cricut Artfully Sent fonts.  I first created an open circle, then lined up each letter to the circumference of it.  It was quite a bit of work but I totally love it!  Further, the designed shape can be scaled up or down and used for many many cards! I cut it first in Slate cardstock then three more times in White Daisy cardstock.  The cut outs are stacked to create some three dimensional effect.

"Dad" was created similarly, except it is a lot easier.  The font used was from Cricut Artbooking.  I like to weld the letters - it's much simpler to stick one word then one letter at a time.  This time I have two "Dads" stacked up.  I like that it is not on the same level as Happy Birthday.

Another source of inspiration was from Freshly Made Sketches.  I've used its sketch as a starting point:

I'm also linking up my card to:
Cards Und More - Clean and Simple
Ruby's Rainbow - It's a Man's World
Retarte - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Blossom Mini Album

I've promised that I will share the album I made with the retiring Blossom Paper and which was shared at the Close to My Heart Convention in July.

Thanks for your patience!  I am finally ready to share the highlights of the album.

Caveat:  Even though I'm only showing the highlights, it's a lengthy post that's picture-heavy!

Let's start with the cover:

I want to mention that I love the mini-album pages created by the Close to My Heart Artbooking cartridge and there are many pages in this album that were made using that cartridge (very few of them are included in this post though).  For me, however, I always prefer a sturdy cover for my albums and thus I've inserted my pages inside the Kraft 3-Ring Album.  I do not embellish the cover that much because I don't want the decorations to be crushed.  As seen in my album, I just have a sticker and a few rolled flowers from Close to My Heart Art Philosophy cartridge.  If I were not going to use this album, it would probably be very different.  But most of the albums I made will become gifts for family and friends, and I want them to be able to use them, thus functionality and purpose were always on my mind when I was making my albums.  Another advantage of the Kraft 3-Ring Album is that the user can re-arrange the pages as they please, which give them a lot of flexibility compared to a bound album.

Another note is that I love 4x6 prints.  I honestly do not have the time to sort photos then choose what size for which photo.  I normally upload hundreds of pictures and select 4x6 for all of them.  Again, I love those 3x8 pages made by the Artbooking cartridge but I don't see myself using them for holding photos.  I would normally use them for journaling.  Speaking of which, I am really itching to buy a photo printer.  If you have any recommendations, please let me know! :)

Now that you know why I prefer using the Kraft 3-Ring Album, let's look at some of the cute pages. Let's start with this one with a pocket and an accordion album:

The size of this page is 6x6.  I used a Memory Protectors Flip Flips 6x6 as the sleeve.  To make the spine sturdier, I stuck a half inch cardstock to the closure of the flip flap.  In fact, the cardstock also makes it easier to punch the holes to fit the album.  I decorated with two tags cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge (p.41 and p. 29) which were tied to the page by some Glacier extra thick twine and see the Smoothie flowers at the bottom?  They are negatives of a PML card cut from the Artfully Sent cartridge (p.31).  Oh the Sunset flowers on the cover of the accordion are the negatives from another PML card as shown on p. 17.  Let's just say I'm good at recycling, or better yet, upcycling. :)

Another favorite page of mine involves many "hidden pages".  The front looks like this:

The Glacier top is decorated with the Carnival Washi Tape pack and stamp images from the Blossom Workshop on the Go kit (sadly, it is out of order).  I've added a paper clip cut by Artfully Sent cartridge (p.45) and I've stamped a tiny floral image from Finding the Words on it.  And yes you can use the little clip to open the top page:

Then you'll see this when you turn this page over:

Again it is decorated with the Carnival Washi Tape Pack and I've stamped "DOCUMENTED" from Instalife stamp set.  This flap can be opened too:

The circles were stamped with the same tiny floral image from Finding the Words.  I have an overlay of circles from Artbooking (p.40) so I have to up-cycle the circle cut outs.  The page is tied to the page protector using a piece of Slate Diagonal Striped Ribbon.

An album isn't complete without tags, don't you agree?  This page is smaller that keeps two tag:

And the back of it:

I have been asked many times whether I have used the fuse tool to create the page protectors.  The answer is no.  Instead, just like everything else in this album, I either recycle or up-cycle the materials  For most pages, I started with one of the regular page protectors (except for some I started with a flip flap), cut it at 8" (because the album is that long) and I would use the rest of it for another page.  For example in this particular page, I have used Memory Protectors Design 5.  If you look at it closely, you'll recognize that this page is the left most column of the Memory Protectors Design 5.  But the top 4" were cut and I've turned it horizontally (counter-clockwise 90 degrees) and punched holes on the left to fit in the album.

Both tags are cut with the Art Philsophy cartridge (Smoothie tag on p. 70, Kraft tag on p.60).  The glacier butterflies on the Smoothie tag were also cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge (p.55) and the journaling lines came from Documenting Moments stamp set.  The back of the Kraft tag was decorated with some (leftover) Sweet Leaf cardstock punched with the Scallop Border Punch.  The front of it was filled with circles of various sizes.  I've also added pinked circles from Art Philosophy (p.61) and a circle stamped "Way Cute" from True to Life stamp set.

Now, how about a three dimension page?

The Smoothie page on the left was cut from p.48 of the Artbooking cartridge.  The bottom of the right page is a PML card cut from the Artfully Sent cartridge (p.19).  The Sweet Leaf on top is decorated with the cutout from another Artfully Sent PML card (p.11).  The label is an image from True to Life stamp set cut by Art Philosophy cartridge (p.25).  

Be patient.  The three dimensional portion is here:

The tag on the left was a Art Philosophy cut on p.48.  Simply shrink the card to become a tag, how fun is that?  So cute!  The three dimension part was made purely from cardstock and Blossom paper.  No Cricut cut was involved.  I have two 4"x8" pieces of Sweet Leaf cardstock folded in half, then put them in an "L" shape, stuck them together to create this flap.  

Let's take a look at another page with lots of flaps.  The front looks like this:

This page was made using the Memory Protectors Flip Flips 6x6.  I added a strip of Sunset cardstock punched with the Scallop Border Punch.  You could turn the page over with the Pear arrow (an image from Have a Happy Day).  

Inside this page, you'll see the sunset page stamped repeatedly with Botanical Backgrounds.  The label was a Artist cutout (p.66) stamped with the word "Love" from Finding the Words stamp set and you know you can turn this flap over, right? 

That's when another PML card from Artfully Sent (p.17) is fully exposed.  

The last page I'm sharing here is truly a favorite of mine.  It is fully of goodies:

This page made use of the Memory Protectors Design 5 again.  Did you see the top left one is titled "A Book"?  It is a mini book:

It was very easy to make.  Simple fold two sheets of cardstock in half, punch holes in the spine then thread the Glacier extra thick twine to tie them up.  

The top right journaling card is made with cardstock only, where a Art Philosophy tag (p.55) was used, matted with Smoothie cardstock.  The bottom part in Sunset was again stamped with Botanical Backgrounds.  

The tag on the bottom left is another favorite of mine.  I simple added the zip strip to the side, then added a few circles and a pinked circle stamped with images from the Blossom Workshop on the Go Kit, then top it off with a banner stamped with "Smile" from Documenting Moments stamp set.  The PML card on the bottom right was cut from Artfully Sent (p.32).

So these are the special pages in the album.  It was a lot of fun to create it and I'm sure I'll be making more and more albums.  They are great gifts for those who rarely craft but want one for a special event like graduation, wedding, etc.

Remember there are many other "rather ordinary" pages in my album, with the help of the Artbooking cartridge, Memory Protectors and different types of flip flaps.  I encourage you to use these tools to explore your creativity!  The possibilities are endless!  Further, even if you don't have "everything" it will still be fun to challenge yourself to be resourceful to complete a project.  I didn't have the fuse tool, for instance, but various types of Memory Protectors did the job just fine.  To tell you the truth, my Sweet Leaf ink pad was extremely dry, so I used Pear ink pad instead.  It's a shade darker than I wanted, but did you notice that?  Alright if you do please do not tell my recipient of this album, okay?

I had "functional" and "purpose" in mind when I created my album.  If you'd like full-blown embellishment, go for it!  Have fun and create whatever that makes your heart sing!

This is indeed a very lengthy post. Thanks for reading along.  Happy Crafting!

Hello Deer

It seems that it has been forever since I last entered any card challenge.  I miss challenges!  I miss my craft desk!  There has been quite a few impromptu visits from friends and relatives and thus I have not been able to sit at my craft desk and create.  I'm back, even though it will be a short window between now and Thanksgiving.  Are you ready for the holiday season?

I have not got everything ready but I have decided that that if I can't finish everything, everything will still be just fine.  This season is about being thankful for what we have, not about focusing on what we forgot to prepare.  I am thankful that everyone in my family feels the same way.

Now onto today's card.  I wanted to make a Christmas card and started with the sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge:

Do you see the subtle stars in the background?  That got me into thinking what to do for the longest time.  I first wanted to use a stencil but most of my stencils are too small.  I thought about using patterned paper but I couldn't decide which one to use.  Finally I thought I could use one of the overlays in the Cricut Artbooking cartridge.  I tried out the star overlay and it worked very well!

I've added a deer die cut from Maggie Holmes Open Book collection.  When I bought it I could never imagine that I would be using it at all.  I like everything else in the die set but that deer.  How nice I could put it on a Christmas card!  That reminds me to go through my stash again because what I didn't like before could make me feel different now.

I tied the ribbon in a way that there wasn't any knot.  I punched two holes on the front then loop the ribbon through from the front, and criss-crossed it at the back, then thread it through to the front again.  I used to do it a lot on invitation cards but I doubt that I ever did it on other cards.  I guess I will do it more often though, I really like that I adds quite a bit of dimension but not as much bulk as a regular knot or bow.

In addition to entering my card to Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, I'm also entering it to the following:
Crafty Calendar - It's all about Christmas
CHNC - Getting Ready for Christmas
We Do Doobadoo - Christmas
My Perfect Life - Christmas
Stamping Sensations - Simply Christmas

 

 

 

Christmas!

I was flipping through the *new* Close to My Heart Annual Inspirations and found a card that I really like.  It was made with the *new* Artfully Sent Cricut Cartridge. 

Sadly, I don't have the cartridge yet, but I wanted to make something similar so I explored my cartridges and found that I could create an overlay with the Artbokking cartridge and made a simple card:

This card is not as nice as the one shown in the new Annual Inspirations but very similar.  My guess is that the overlay created by the new cartridge was made specifically for cards while this overlay on my card was made for scrapbooking layouts or mini-albums so the size look a bit different.  I used last Christmas's Sparkle & Shine paper pack, the red shimmer trim and washi tape for the banners.  The sentiment came from the cardmaking workshop on the go and I put it on an Artbooking cut label shape.

Five more months till Christmas.  I gotta catch up with Christmas cards more diligently!

Thanks to the following challenges that I'm linking my card to, making Christmas cards in the summer seems more fun:

My Bestie Norge - Christmas in July
My Perfect Life - Anything Christmas
Completely Christmas - Anything Goes
The Glory of Christmas challenge - Anything Goes
The Squirrel and the fox - Christmas in July
Aud Sentiments Challenge - Anything Goes
Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes
Creative Moments - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Wonderful

It has been quite a busy week and before I know it, it is already Thursday but I haven't got a chance to post my projects finished over last weekend.

This card is one of my faves from last weekend:

I like the Skylark paper a lot and that lends to part of the reason that I like this card.  Interestingly I first had this card upside down (the doily was in the top right instead of bottom left) but I accidentally turned it this way and liked it better, so I carefully peeled off the sentiments and rotated them to this way.

Do you see the Sweet Leaf circle mat inside the Lagoon doily?  It is actually a recycled piece.  When I first made the card I cut the doily in Sweet Leaf cardstock but I didn't like it that much.  I cut the same doily in Lagoon, much better.  I still wanted to use the Sweet Leaf doily somehow - so I cut out the circle and used it as a mat and the outer rim of the doily is trimmed into pieces that are scattered on the card.  I guess this is quite a good way to recycle it. :)

I'm linking up my card to:
Heart 2 Heart Challenges - Color Challenge (Sweet Leaf and Lagoon)
Creative Moments - Anything Goes
Crafting Musketeers - Monochrome

Thanks for stopping by!

Smoothie

It has been a while since I last played at the Color My Heart Color Dare challenges.  This week the challenge is Smoothie:

I quickly glanced through the paper packs I have but don't think I have any patterned paper in Smoothie.  So for today's card, it was made purely from cardstock, with the help of some washi tape:

I just knew that Smoothies goes very well with Slate so I decided to use it as the card base.  Then I wanted to have some background and texture on the card base, so the overlay was cut from Artbooking cartridge at 6" real dial size.  It is a bit narrower than a standard size card but I think that's ok.  I mounted a panel of Smoothie cardstock but it might be too boring.  What about adding a strip of slate washi tape?  Much better.  I finished up with two clear buttons to add some dimension.

The words Thank You were colored with a blending pen.  I used a blending pen to pick up some color from my Smoothie ink pad then I colored it directly to the image.  How fun!  Sometimes I use this technique to pretend I am the greatest artist of all.  Shhh~

I'm linking up my card to the following challenges:
Color My Heart
Clear it Out Challenge - Thank you card, buttons
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Inky Chicks - Anything Goes
Cards und More - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Coloring again

If your kids are older and tell you that it is a waste of their talent to color the wreath and owl from yesterday's card, try this one:

The images on this card are apparently more complicated - they can play shades, mix of colors and go really creative in coloring the gingerbread house!  I certainly had a lot of fun coloring the images and fussy cutting the gingerbread and candy cane, but honestly this is not a card that I would mass produce, unless someone will do the coloring and I only need to do the stamping on the Artiste cut shape!  LOL.

The sketch came from Sketchbook Saturday challenge:  Check out Iwona's Christmas card and the other participants' entries.  I like to draw inspiration there. 

My card is entering the following challenges:
Created with Love Challenge - Christmas Reds and Greens
All Sorts Challenge - Christmas Cheer
Card Mania Challenges - Anything Goes
Craftin Desert Divas - Anything Goes
The Paper Nest Doll - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing with Cricut

After I saw this sketch from Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge, I took my time to incubate ideas for my card. 

I almost went ahead to use flowers on my card like the sketch suggests.  But I have cards that have many flowers and I truly want to make something different.  So I tried to think really hard what can be used to replace flowers in the sketch.  It took me a long time to figure that out but I think it is worth it. 

Clouds.  I used both the positive and the negative from the die cut for the clouds panel.  The panel is matted with one of the overlays in the Artbooking cartridge as I want to create some "shadow" or overcast.  I tried using a piece of gray cardstock but it was too dark.  An elevated overlay beneath the clouds is just right to achieve the effect.

I've used the sun to replace the ribbon but I kept the sentiment in the same place.

This card was a lot of fun to make and is entering these challenges:
Paper Creators' Craft - Pink and/or blue
My Sheri Craft - A little comfort
Avenue 613 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Wishes

Does "Merry Wishes" sound cute to you?  It certainly does to me!  I think it makes it cuter on a card with baubles, or ornaments.  That's the card I'm sharing today:

I've combined a couple of requirements for this card.  First off is the one from Bitten by the Bug - overlay.  With my Artbooking cartridge where there are a lot of overlays, the hardest part was actually picking one to use.  As I wanted to make a Christmas card, I naturally picked this one with a lot of hanging ornaments.  Using just one color is too plain, so I cut it out in New England Ivy and Cranberry cardstock then with a simple surgery I've combined the two making it more Christmas-sy.

Next up I saw the color requirements at Merry Monday challenge:

Out of the five colors I've already used Red, Dark Green and White, the remaining ones are Pink and Light Green.  How should I incorporate those to the existing overlay?  I decided to use a lighter green as a background, then used pink to stamp a snowflake in one of the outline ornaments and the sentiment.  There it is!  I tried a couple versions for the background but I liked this one the best.  I have used different background stamps including one that has the word "Merry" in various fonts.  I thought it would be very cute and conform to the Christmas theme but I was wrong.  In this case, less is more and I think having a plain background would make the center panel even more outstanding.

My card is entering the following challenges:
613 Avenue - Anything Goes
Challenges 4 everybody - Anything Goes
Craftin Desert Divas - Celebration
Make it Monday
The Glory of Christmas - ornaments

Thanks for stopping by!

Card size

What is your favorite card size?  Standard A2?  A7?  Shaped cards?

Normally I like to make A2 cards because of a couple of reasons.  First, I can maximize my cardstocks.  Second, they tend to be the standards for tutorials, challenges and so forth.  Finally, for those cards that I am donating to OWH, they require cards to be in A2 size.  So A2 has been my standard size.

However, when I am asked to make a card for a special occasion, for instance if my co-worker asks me to make a card big enough for many people to sign, I will make it an A7 size.  I'm sharing one of those today:

The sketch from the card comes from Just Us Girls except that I have substituted the oval with a tag.

Whenever it comes to a manly card I just have to struggle with a lot of things.  I guess many of my supplies are girly so making a masculine card is challenging to begin with.  A manly card tends to have few embellishments.  The only non-paper embellishment is the black hemp on the tag.  Without embellishments, it is quick tricky to make a card, a manly card, interesting.  So I opted to use different fonts.  "Dad" was cut with Art Philosophy.  I welded the three letters and made sure it is wider than the tag.  Having it hanging off the edge does make it pop some more.  Then I used Artbooking cartridge to cut "BIRTHDAY".  Finally I stamped each letter of "HAPPY" and cut it out.

Colors?  No pink or yellow for sure.  I've used the patterned paper from Dakota for the background, which is a nice wood grain pattern on Whisper. Then I have a horizontal panel in Slate and the words in Barn Red.  The pattern on the tag?  It is in Whisper again - bright enough to be seen but subtle enough to serve as a background.

My card is entering the following challenges:
CCEE Stampers - Birthday card
Cards for men - Tag it
Color My Heart - Slate, Whisper & your choice
Sister Act card challenge - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Creative Fingers challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!