23.6.10

Hi There - Hero Arts June Challenge

Hi friends,

This morning, I watched the video from Jennifer McGuire about embossing, which you can also find in here. Love it and tempted to try it myself. Then when I came to Hero Arts blog, I saw the card made by Nancy about using the clothespin. I do have the stamp used on that card. So, after lunch, I made this card. Ohlala..., something went wrong. The Top Boss tinted embossing pad was flattened. How long didn't I use this pad? That long?? Oh no.. So, I opened the new one which is not tinted. The result was not good enough to share here..LOL. I tried thrice (though I don't have a Pearl to make it pearlized). I used Distress ink to color the green one. Here is the result.


CG 181 - Bird In Circle Stamp, CL Hi There, Cling Dot, Silhouette Grass

I stamped again twice the flowers and the birds, colored them with watercolor pencils and brushed them with little water. The first layer was quite flattened to the white image. The second layer was attached using foam tape. The bg was made using 2 stamps, dots and grass at the bottom. Then I added some gems and a pearl and tied the dotted ribbon.

This is the closer look on the details on the card.

Love this stamp. I am thinking of using this stamp again later.

Thanks for looking, my friends.
Hugs,

22.6.10

Cards of the day

Hi again, friends,

I managed to make these 2 cards yesterday. It kept on asking me to make a card to join OLW 9. Since last week, the image of the card has been flying on my mind. And I knew which clear stamp I really wanted to use. So I used the one from Grace Taylor. Here is the card.

I just stamped the flourish from Grace Taylor, added the sentiment from Hero Arts, then added two blings.

Last January, when I visited a craft store abroad and bought this clear stamp set, I knew I wanted to make a card just similar to the one given at the back of the clear stamp pack. I used the same ink for the flourish and the butterflies. I adapted the technique from Hero Arts, to lighten the color of the flourish. So this is my take. (I shall send this to a friend of mine, who'll have her birthday in a couple of day)

And at the end of this afternoon, I made this colorful card to join the DDSB Challenge #12 with their sketch given. Monika, the DT, keeps on encouraging us to join the challenge. And this is it.

Silhouette Grass, Cherry Flowers and the sentiment are from Hero Arts.

And before I left the gallery, I had a very short time to peep a blog of Crazy Challenge. Then I made a simple card using their theme: All Things Spotty. Here is my take.

Dot Cling, Girl Stamp and the sentiment are all from Hero Arts, Distress Inks (3 colors) for the cotty background, Copic sketches

Thanks for looking, peeps. Have a great day.

21.6.10

Birthday Cards From Friends & Coloring 'my face'

Hi everyone, nice to meet you again. Though my birthday was over, I think it's okay to show you some cards I received from friends and family. Here they are:

It's from my Mom, as usual, she wrote on a piece of a cardstock (she has bundle of it). She's 71 years old and her handwriting is still beautiful.

It's from my students. So cute with the bird cut and those flower stickers. A simple card but I was amazed.


It's from Jovita. This card won the challenge of May Cook Up A Card. The small card but pretty.

It's from Vera Rhuhay. That TGF image is soooo cute. The pp combo is pretty.



It's from Eva. This card is very cheerful. The TGF image coloring is so adorable and very neat.

It's from Derytary & Tanuri. Thanks guys, for the flowers, too. Never thought you would remember my b'day.

I also asked some friends to join the coloring challenge on 'my face', a custom stamp gift from Digi Doodle. Here are what the made for me.

By Vera Rhuhay. She made a 6x6 scrapbook. Lovely coloring, Vera..

By Susan. She made a digital scrapbook. Like all the details you put here, Susan. (..though expecting quilling in a real one..)

By Monika Reeck. She made a small scrapbook. The details are very pretty, Nika..

Thanks my friends. Love all your cards and scrapbookings. I'll treasure them by putting them on a board and displaying it on the wall in my gallery.

Thanks for looking, friends.

16.6.10

Teacher's Gifts - Card Set

It's almost the end of the schooling year of my DDs. I need to make something for each teacher and will give it to each of them on the day of the farewell celebration. Selin, my youngest Dd, goes to Nursery class. She is in Nursery 1. For her teachers, there are 4 in her class and 5 in another class but they help her a lot, I made sets of cards. Where did I get the idea? Here they are, ideas from brilliant crafting persons.

I came to Jennifer McGuire's blog last April and found the card set she made. Simple but, of course, adorable. So I decided to make cards similar to hers. I embossed each card. Then I used Hero Arts stamps for the girls and the sentiments, and Anya images (given by some friends). Here how they look.



Each set has 6 cards.

And for the wrapping? I do have clear boxes a lot, but they are bigger than the size of the envelopes. It won't look good. So I decided to make purses and boxes. For the purses, I was really inspired by the purses made by the customer of Becky Roberts here. It's Becky who has the pattern and sell it on her blog. Gorgeous purses. I wish I could buy one of her pattern but I can't just click "add to cart", since I don't have paypal or credit card...LOL. So I create the size of the purse and everything that goes with it. For the box, it's quite easy as I adore making boxes. I just cut the pp and the acetate for the cover. Here how they look, the purses and the boxes.





These purses are for four teachers in Selin's class. Each purse contains 6 cards and 6 envelopes. I put each of their names on the tag. The tag was embossed with the word "Danke" which reminds me of my friend in Munich...

These are the closer look of the purses :




Five boxes are for the teachers in Nursery 2, who happen also to care for Selin and will be her teachers next term. Each box contains 6 cards with blossom shape.

I'll make two more sets for teachers of Kezia and Priscilla. For them, I'll stamp some flowers and butterflies.
Making all these really made me relaxing, since the period of tests of my DDs and other compulsory activities are over...LOL... Really love this relaxing moments...

Thanks for looking... Enjoy your day, peeps...

11.6.10

Retreat Result, Thank You card - OLW

Hi everybody. It's Friday morning here. It's been a week that I didn't blog.

Well, the retreat went so well... The theme was: "Is there a place for Jesus in your heart? There's a victory in Jesus". My Facebook status that day was : "I wish... whatever I do prospers". And, yes!!
God has given me a big surprise. I thought it didn't go so well on the first day. On the second day, when Mr. Frans and his crew came and gave so much to us, wow!! That's wonders! At the end of the second session, nobody wanted to leave the venue. They seemed to wish to have more and more. And when I spoke a bit how I met Mr. Frans, which I believe was not a coincidence, well, everybody gave an applause (surprise..). When the committee spoke after me, he said, "Mr. Charles, please let me give credits to your wife. This event will not happen without her efforts. We know God has been working in her during all the process to make the retreat happen." Wow, I, aka Mrs. Charles, was flushed into red cheeks ( I guess).. Is that what they think about me? Oh, that's the most wonderful thing I ever heard. I really thank God for making what I have done prospers and for making everything possible.

And the card for today is still the simple one.



It's the challenge from Simplicity and the theme is about masking. So I used my nestie, then masked around it, sponged with distress ink. As I can remember that Susan Raihala, Simplicity blog owner ever mentioned that she tried hard not to use pink, so I used light purple for the flowers. The stamp for the flower and the sentiment are from Hero Arts. I colored the stamps with Zig brushes and sprayed then stamped.

This thank you card will be given to each member of the committee, to thank them for the effort and support they had done (..the vice-chairman was my DH..LOL.. Will he be happy with this card? Hope so lah..)


Ok, everyone, thanks for looking. As the retreat result said : "Keep smiling and don't complain", I want to say to all of you, that each day is made for you and me to choose and decide what to say and what to do. So, I choose to smile and not to complain (that's a struggle..God bless..)

Happy great weekend, everyone.

4.6.10

Thank You - One Layer Wednesday

Hai..hai.. happy Friday, everyone... It's the first Friday of the month.

My dedicated friends and I were tremendously busy preparing for the retreat. We'll go tomorrow morning. There will be more than 100 persons, using 4 buses and 6 cars, to go to Puspanita, 5-6 hours traveling. I know it will make them get bored along that long way. So, we prepared for the snack boxes, lunch boxes, and some candies. I myself surprisingly will give each of them a small book containing not only everything about the retreat but also two dozens of gospels that we can sing along the way. Thinking of singing together on the bus makes me thrilled. Wow.. that's the experience I will treasure, as I did it the last time when I was still single. (around twenty years ago.. Well, am I that old now? Oh..no... LOL..)

And here are some more one layer 'jobs' I did last night, bookmarkers with the Bible verses on it. Of course, it is in Bahasa Indonesia... It's one layer overlapping. I made 106 pieces. I printed the versed on the papers and stamped them. With Ivy leaves, I stamped one by one. With Silhouette Grass, I stamped twice at a time. I used Distress Inks this time. They were laminated. They come in 2 colors of cardstock and ribbon.

Ok, that's all about me and the retreat.

And just now, again, I could 'steal' a little time to make this simple and quick card with my fave technique.... I think one layer is the most simple, the easiest to make, the most efficient but still beautiful way to make cards. And for me, at this time, one layer is the best way to join many challenges (though this time only one..)

This time, the OLW is about Repetition, that means stamping small object repeatedly. On this card, I also repated the flowers thrice, without re-inking the stamp. I shall give this card to Sister Lenny who takes care the place where we are going to have a retreat. Here is my take.

All stamps for the bookmarkers and the card are from Hero Arts.

Thanks for looking and happy weekend. See you next week, everyone...

2.6.10

Cook Up A Card - June Recipe

Hai, we're back with June Recipe in Cook Up A Card.

The theme is WEDDING, with the recipe:

3 DP / PP

2 Rings
1 Vellum


Here is my take on that recipe:



Don't hesitate to join.... See you then.. Thanks for looking..