A little bunny says....

Happy Easter!

Alright I know it's not even Valentine's Day  but I'm already posting an Easter card.  But I really want to play with Easter Bunny, Stamp of the Month in February offered by Close to My Heart.

I like that there are three bunnies, and you could easily make them a happy family:

I also like that you could use it for other occasions such as Spring.  My card is very simple:

I dug out the retired paper pack, I think it's called Sophia.  I loved this paper pack and was hoarding it.  To this day I am still only willing to use it a little at a time.  Hahaha~

I also want to share that the Clearance section on Close to My Heart website has A LOT of new items.  My picks are My Legacy Black D-Ring Album, Designed Decor Red Magnetic Chalkboard, My Creations Kraft 3-Ring Album (I can't tell you how great this is and how many albums I've made using this!).  All items are offered at STEEP discount.  Go pick up what you need before they are gone!

My card is entering the following:
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations - Animal Magic
A Bit More Time to Craft - Anything Goes
The Ribbon Girl - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks

I'm sharing a Thank You card today that I am sending to my former co-worker F.  She left our office last September and I miss her dearly.

She is enjoying her retirement and is just as busy as she was working.  She shared her schedule with me last time she came by to visit and boy, was it fun!

From time to time we exchange emails and last Saturday she sent me one wishing me Happy Lunar New Year.  That is so sweet of her.  So I wanted to make a Thank You card for her.

I've used the retired Charlotte paper to match with the images of Adore You, the January Stamp of the Month:

The heart and the sentiments do suggest that it is a Valentine's Day set but it is NOT limited to love cards or Valentine's Day cards!

My card is entering the following:

Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes

Dragonfly Dreams - With Thanks

Get Creative - Anything Goes

Love to Scrap - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Slider card

Hello everyone!

I'm sharing an interactive card that I learned at Wild Cards from Online Card Classes.  Oh boy, it is quite a time consuming process but it's definitely worth it.

The card looks like this when it's in the envelope (or just outside of the envelope).

Then when you pull the tab the colorful images from below will be revealed:

Finally when the tab is fully pulled out:

I love it!  The results are so beautiful and stunning!

Yes it took me a lot of time.  In fact, I was using the template given in class to create this.  No guess work and not much creativity involved.  But I tried to be meticulous on everything.  When in doubt, I went back to the class video and watched that session again and again.  So happy that I succeeded in making it on first try!

I am enjoying this class a lot.  If you want to know more about it, click here.

My card is linking up to:

A Bit More Time - Anything Goes

Just Keep on Creating - Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Watercolor & Cat

I have been trying to play more with my watercolors these days.  Watercolor in card making has been popular for a while but it seems to be continue to be favored.  I have several mediums but I'm not good at any of them.  Oops. :p

So I'll keep practicing.  Coloring is indeed therapeutic.  I did buy one of those adult coloring books but I found it quite overwhelming.  In contrast I love coloring stamp images a lot more.

I colored the cat from Purr-fect Halloween, this months' Stamp of the Month:

Another easy Halloween card is made. :)  I'm planning to make several this year for kids.  Great opportunity for me to practice water coloring.

I'm entering this card to:
One Crazy stamper - Fall/Halloween
DRS - Monsters, Witches and Ghouls
Paper Creator - Keep it Simple
Crafty Catz - Anything Goes/Hat

Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween

Happy Monday everyone!

Today I'm sharing a Halloween card made with this months' Stamp of the Month Purr-fect Halloween.

I'm using one of my favorite sketches from Originals again.  See another one here.  The patterned paper came from the retired Taste of Summer paper from last year.  I used tone-on-tone stamping to create the pattern on the top orange panel.  Then I colored the cat using regular color pencils and fussy cut it out.

I love this set because you can mix and match the cat eyes and hats.  You can also fill the bracket shape with different sentiments.  Two step stamping is always fun.



I'm entering my card to the following:
Crafty Awesomeness - coloring
A bit more time to craft - anything goes
One Crazy stamper - fall/Halloween

Thanks for stopping by!

Purr-fect Halloween

Let's take a look at the great Purr-fect Halloween stamp set, which is the Stamp of the Month of August:



I love that you could mix and match the images to personalize it!  Imagine you could put the different greetings in the label, different hats and eyes for the cat.  How fun!

Let's look at these great examples made by Close to My Heart Corporation:

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrate

I hope everyone had a great crafty National Scrapbooking Day, and a great Mother's Day!

I did spend some time crafting, despite the fact that I should focus on a million other things.  I told myself I had to carve out as little as 15 minutes on crafting because hey, it's National Scrapbooking Day!

A few layouts were made.  The most happy part was to re-live the memories of those little moments.  I am the kind of scrapper who likes to tell everyday stories rather than documenting events.  Certainly birthday parties, vacation, trips to Disney are worth documenting, but if my album shows these bigger events only, I'm afraid I might forget my everyday life, which constitutes a much bigger part of my life.

I also tried to make a few cards.  I said "tried" because I didn't finish them over the weekend.  Oops.  But I'm happy to report that I finished one today.  It's a birthday card:

This card looks familiar to you?  It's very similar to one of the cards in the Kaleidoscope Workshop except I'm using Celebrate with Cake, this month's Stamp of the Month. :)

This card will go to a Taurus girl by the end of this month.  I mentioned that I have many cards to send out this month and I'm still catching up!

My card is linking up to the following:
Seize the Birthday - birthday and/or coloring
Fussy and Fancy - birthday
Coloring in Scrapland - Celebrations
Crafting from the Heart - Anything Goes
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Our Crafty Corner - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Dinner at Ikko

Last July, I had the opportunity to enjoy a nice Japanese dinner at a restaurant called Ikko.  I took many pictures of the food, despite the dark interior of the restaurant.

I have finally developed the pictures to create a scrapbook page:

I had to make two layouts - one for the food and one for the gluttons.  This one is dedicated to the food.  Sorry about the glare.  I wish I knew how to take better pictures without background lighting.  Note to self:  try taking pictures during daytime instead.  LOL.

I'm entering the challenge at Heart 2 Heart.  The theme is Photo Op.  For me, I'd love to capture all those little moments in life - those with family and friends are the precious ones, even if we are not doing anything special.  Years later, these photos/layouts will help us remember what happened.  I've specifically added two camera motives onto this layout.

Those cameras come from Life in Pictures, this month's Stamp of the Month.  There are only a few days left to get this cute stamp set.   Camera images can be used for cards and layouts. I've made a card here.  It was just one image but with different colors, the camera image makes me smile.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

April is here!

Happy Friday everyone!

Anything happened on April Fool's Day yet?

Today, I'm sharing a card that used only two stamp images.  I used one of the cameras from Life in Pictures, the Stamp of the Month in April 2016 to create a colorful background, then stamped it in black, added the greeting "smile" to finish up the card.

The colors I've used are: Sunset, Canary, Lagoon, Crystal Blue and Thistle.  The colors are arranged in rainbow order, so they coordinate nicely. :)

A friend of mine is going through some difficulties.  I hope this card will bring a smile to her face.

My card is entering the following challenges:
Simply papercraft - Anything Goes
Kittybee - Friendship
Stamping with Dragon - Anything Goes
Creative Fingers - Anything Goes
Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
A Beautiful Mess - Anything Goes

I'm off to spend the weekend with my lovely niece and nephew.  Have a great weekend!  When I return I'll share more about the April specials. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Birdies

Have you seen Sunshine Birdies, stamp of the Month at Close to My Heart?

I've made a card with it using a sketch I've used a million times and am still in love with:

You may be thinking that the birdie on my card does not look the same as the one you see on the website.  No worries, your eyes are perfectly fine.  When I fussy cut it out, I realized that he is a tad bit too big on the card, so I trimmed off his tail.  And yes, I cut out his feather on his crown too.  I figured that it would look odd with just one feather after I've cut it out, so removing it would be the easiest thing to do.

I've used the music notes in the stamp set to create my own background.  Tone-on-tone technique is my favorite trick to add subtle interest to an otherwise plain cardstock.

In case you are wondering, the sketch came from Make it from Your Heart Part I.  There are many card and layout sketches on the internet, but this book is truly awesome.  It is affordable and jam-packed with pictures of beautiful projects.  Every time when my mojo is low I will be instantly inspired just by flipping it through.  Furthermore, I like that it has dimensions and cutting guides provided.  No guesswork at all!  I wll be honest that although sometimes I like the adventure to use sketches only as a reference guide, I do not always like the end product that I made because something seems unproportional.  There are moments that I did it right the first time and was extremely excited about it but I'm afraid it does not happen that often.  Thus I truly appreciate the dimension and cutting guide of the How-to books offered by Close to My Heart.

This card is going to a very dear friend of mine, who helped me a big time.  I can never thank her (and her family) enough.  I didn't want to send a thank you card, because a card like this will be more special.

I'm entering my card to the following:
Kitty Bee Designs - in the garden
Crafting with Dragonflies - Girly cards
Crafty Calendar - Special female

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Colorful birthday card

A quick post here to share a kid's birthday card.  I used Balloon Animals, the current Stamp of the Month and Brushstrokes to create this card:

Because the balloon giraffe is a solid image, I think stamping it in black against a colorful background would make it pop and sure it did!  I used the brushstroke image with a rainbow of colors: Pixie, Sunset, Canary, Pear, Glacier and Gypsy.  Oh yes, there are only six colors in my rainbow.  That is a better proportion for the giraffe!

My card is linking up to the following:
DoubleClick - Happy Birthday
Seize the Birthday - Birthday themed
Brown Sugar - Anything Goes
Chocolate, Coffee and Cards - Anything Goes
Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
Heart 2 Heart - Party Animals

Happy Crafting and have a great weekend!

The Year of the Monkey

Hello everyone!  Today is the first year of the Lunar New Year.  I gave up making Lunar New Year card long time ago as most supplies available, except for red and gold cardstock, are not really helpful to make one.  This may be the only occasion that I buy store-bought cards.  Trust me, it hurts me to do that because I'd much rather be able to make a decent one.

For those celebrating it, I wish you a year of health and happiness.  :)

I'm continuing my Thank You card journey:

I've used a retired paper packet and Stamp of the Month from Close to My Heart.  The sketch is one from Wishes.  Though these products were retired, the card still looks fine to me.  Typewriters are still in, aren't they?

My card is entering the challenge at
Crafting with Friends - Anything Goes
Simply Papercraft - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Hip!  Hip!  Hooray!

I'm back today to share my card using Balloon Animals, Stamp of the Month of February of Close to My Heart.

I had many ideas in my head but I couldn't resist using another sketch from Make it from your Heart II.  These how-to programs are time-savers!   They are also my source of inspiration when I need it. :) I can't help but using the Zoe paper packet.  The fun and bright colors are perfect for this party/celebration themed stamp set.  It turned out cute and I hope you like it too!

My card is linking up to the following:
Creative Knockouts - Birthday wishes
Seize the Birthday - Birthday
QKR Stampede - One for the kids
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' - Add an animal
Amusing Challenge - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes
Addicted to stamps - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Gratitude

Happy Monday everyone!

I'm sharing a card that uses some of my new goodies:  The new Workshops Your Way: Charlotte Scrapbooking Kit and the January 2016 Stamp of the Month Beloved Bouquet.

At first glance, the Charlotte paper speaks love, Valentine's Day, or wedding to me.  But I assure you that it is not limited to these theme.  My Workshops Your Way: Charlotte Scrapbooking Kit is almost used up and I didn't make anything in those themes at all.

I do want to tell you something new about Close to My Heart's Workshops Your Way kits.  Do you know that you could download instructions to make beautiful scrapbook and Picture My Life layouts and from Close to My Heart website?   For instance, you can find Charlotte's layout instructions here and here.  Don't know what to do with the leftovers?  We have planned it out for you!  You will find card ideas and the additional supplies needed here!  It is really convenient, isn't it?  Since I started focusing more on scrapbooking last year, I have always been looking for more layout sketches to try.  These layouts with cutting diagrams and instructions by Close to My Heart are really the best!

Like I said I didn't make anything love-themed with my Charlotte kit.  I've made several layouts that feature family gatherings and this card:

I've used scraps from the kit and a sketch from Make it from Your Heart to make this card.  I want to give my mom a Thank You card and this one fits the bill.  Sometimes I do not want to just say Thank You on the card front, so the sentiment "You mean so much to me" in Beloved Bouquet is perfect.  Apparently I can't say enough "Thank You" to my mom and she definitely means a lot to me.  I think she'll like this card!

I'm linking the card to the following:
Crafty Calendar - Something New
Crafty Friends - Something New
Inkspirational - Thank you with something new
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes
Crafting when we can - Something New
Fashionable Stamping - Thankful/Gratitude

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

Quick and easy Christmas cards

I have a flip card to share today!  It's a Christmas card:

Who doesn't love the WOW factor of a flip card?  If you want to make quite a lot of flip cards, no worries, the Artiste cartridge has many flip card designs for you.  All you need is to place the paper on the mat, then with a push of a button, the flip card is done. :)  This cartridge can help you make a ton of party flavors and 3-D items.  When I first got it I was a bit worried that it might not be "my cartridge" because I don't throw parties at home, but I always reach it for the flip card designs.  Those designs alone won my heart.

I have left the rest of the card very simple.  The flip part is a circle, so I looked for some stamps then I found these perfect ones in Twinkle, the current Stamp of the Month.  I cut out a circle to stamp the two star-lined circles, but I fussy cut the smaller one that reads Christmas Love.  This way the outer ring of stars can be seen more clearly.  The final step was to line the card base with some lovely patterned paper.  I chose the one with snowflakes and holly in the White Pines paper packet.

So there you have it.  This flip card came together quickly and easily, yet didn't lose its elegance and wow factor.  Love it!

My card is entering the following challenges:
Hiding in My Craft Room - Any Holiday
Christmas Card Challenge - Anything Goes
Amusing Challenge - Anything Goes
Heart 2 Heart Challenge - Cricut

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

A Quick Christmas Card

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Last Saturday was World Card Making Day.  I got two cards made - one Christmas and one for a 3 year old boy's birthday.  But I managed to finish two mini albums.  Yay!  One of them was made to document part of the family trip last year; another one was made for my friend's son who is turning six month's old.  They are going to be gifts, which are perfect for the approaching holiday season!  Guess what, after I'm done making the albums, I keep looking at them and I know when the holiday season arrives, it will be difficult for me to part with them.

Even though I didn't get to keep the albums, I did have lots of fun making them.  :)  That's why I didn't get much time to make any cards on World Card Making Day.  In fact, I've already mailed out the little boy's b-day card without even taking a picture of it.  Urgh!

As for the Christmas card, here it is:

It is extremely simple a Christmas card.  I like that it is easy and quick to make and if necessary, I could mass produce it within a short time.  Don't get me wrong, I love personalized cards.  But when it comes to holiday season, things might get too busy (and crazy!) so I'll grab supplies and make cards wherever I go.  For instance, if I were to mass produce this card, I will first cut all papers then I'll likely grab one stamp mount on the block, Smoothie ink pad and the stack of cut Smoothie cardstock.  I could also bring the smaller stamp mount on a 1" block, Desert Sand ink pad and the prepared Kraft pieces.  The main panel, however, will be done at home.  The big green ornament was stamped using the rock-and-roll technique - where I first inked it up in Sweet Leaf and rock the edges of the stamp on the new Fern ink pad to create a bit of depth.

When I was looking for inspiration to create this card using the Stamp of the Month in October, I flipped through my Originals - a How to program by Close to My Heart.  This sketch always helps me out and this time is no different.  Oh, if you click on the link to see how this book looks, you'll see that the card on the book cover was created using the same sketch as my card too!  What a coincidence!

I'm linking up my card to the following:
Craftyhazelnut's Christmas - anything Christmas
Card and Scrap - use stamps
Sisters of Craft - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

One Stamp Two Ways

Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to get the awesome stamp set Paper Garden, which is the Stamp of the Month in September.  You can buy the stamp at its regular price of $17.95 or make qualifying purchase of $50 and get this stamp for $5!

I totally forgot that I've never shared anything made with it and to compensate for that, I'm sharing two cards that used the same stamps but look totally different.  First up is this monochromatic one:

I inked up the flower and the sentiment in Goldrush, layered it on Kraft then Chocolate cardstock on a cardbase.

Then I wanted to make it super colorful:

I used the new and fun watercolor paints to create the background, then inked up the flower and sentiment in black.  Black silhouette image on colorful background is one of my favorites!  In case you are wondering, the sentiment comes from the stamp set called Finding the Words, which is a great set where you can make different combination of words to create your own sentiment!

Today also marks the last day to get the Exclusive Hello, Life! stamp sets.  You can buy any of the stamp sets for $13.95 or if you buy all three, it is only $34,95!  That's more than 15% discount!

I'm entering the colorful card to the following challenges:
Tuesday Throwdown - Clean and Simple
Addicted to Stamps and More - Clean and Simple
Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes
Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!

Watercoloring (faux painting)

My mom asked me to prepare some Birthday and Thank you cards for her last week so I have the perfect reason to craft and practice more watercoloring techniques. 

I'm trying to do some faux hand painting:

Does it look like it was painted?  In real life it doesn't look like it was stamped but in fact in was!  I used distress inks to blend the colors and created shading. 

When it comes to making a card like this, I almost always want to start with the sentiment.  I hate it if the sentiment is not well stamped the whole card would be ruined, then I have to start all over from the "painting" of the rose.  How can I let the portion that takes the least time to ruin the project?  This time, however, I forgot to start with the sentiment but it wasn't messed up so I could put it to use.  To fill in the empty space I gave a little splash of the remaining distress ink on the card.  I like that the splatter fills in the space and makes it softer and gentler because the white space was too cold.  I don't recall doing it before and it's certainly fun as the results are so unpredictable.  This will become one of my favorite things to do on cards! 

I'm linking my card to the following:
Less is More - Flowers
Suzy Bee's Bloomin' - CAS
The Paper Players - Clean and Simple Floral

Thanks for stopping by!

Watercoloring a stamped image (Part II)

I'm sharing part II of watercoloring a stamped image today where the image was colored with watercolor pencils.  I think this one is quite elegant:

While I was searching for outline stamps for coloring, these rose images came to mind.  I like that they are very elegant and the images have some built-in shading to give me guidance for coloring.  After all, I am not a coloring professional so any help would mean a lot to me.

I have always been intimidated by coloring and I don't even try to expand my comfort zone until I got these watercolor pencils.  They are good for novice like me!  Just like regular color pencils, we could color directly on the image.  The intensity of the color can be easily controlled by adding more pigment or water to it.  Mistakes can easily be hidden or fixed.  These watercolor pencils work like magic for me!

Now that I have taken these watercolor pencils out I am going to color some more........

Before that I am linking up my card to the following:
The Cupboard Trilogy - Flowers
ALBC - Flower Power
A Sprinkle of Imagination - Anything Goes
Feeling Crafty Challenge - One for girls/ladies

Thanks for stopping by!

Watercoloring a stamped image

One of the things that I didn't think I would try was to stamp an image with Distress ink then watercolor the image.  Distress inks react with water so why would I stamp an image with it then watercolor it?  Wouldn't it mess up the image and muddle up the colors?

Maybe not.

This is my first attempt and I fell in love with it!  One thing I like a lot about this card is that it is gender neutral (don't you find it difficult to make a masculine or neutral one?)  The other thing I like is that by strategically stamping the image many times on the card front, I get a focal image while
the remaining ones do not seem too repetitive.  Yup, only two stamps are involved on this card - the Thank You sentiment and the one with a main branch, few leaves and an apple.  Of course I like how my first attempt turned out - the image is still very clear and the colors are not messed up.  It looks very much like a painted/watercolor picture while I've stamped it and colored it.  How nice!

I'm linking up my card to the following:
Just B Creative Crazy - Anything Goes
Sunshine Mail - Anything Goes
Sister Act Card Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!