Day 78 - Simplicity - For you

Happy start of the week, my friends..

I just managed my time to go over the blogs that I really adore. I came to Susan Raihala's blog, and scrolled down and found this challenge OLW 99. It's so much fun. One layer with the inspiration from the ones she gave us.

This has inspired me:

Then I made this card:

Source: CB Heart embossing folder, Copic R85, PTI sentiment stamp

I feel good, making this one layer card again, after so long... I'm still impressed with Susan's dedication to make one layer card. So simple and easy, moreover, it never consumes too much time to make one.

Join the challenge, and have fun, friends..

Thinking Of You for Nature

Happy Sunday, friends..

I managed to make one card yesterday and just have time to post right now. I stamped the Silhouette Grass from Hero Arts with the Mango Madness Ink color. The stems were colored with Zig. This is the nature I love to see whenever I travel near the countrysides. Especially when the sunlight was on the background. So lovely.

Well, however, yesterday I heard over the radio, that our own "nature" will come out when we are in pressure. When life goes on as it is, our nature won't come out. When a pressure comes, then our nature will show up, whether it is negative or positive reaction. Then I was thinking about it deeply and I said yes in my heart. I quite agree with that.

Okay then, this is my card. This is for Simplicity: OLW with Nature as the theme.


Indeed, nature seems to be the inspiration for most of us. Both the grass and the sentiment stamps are from Hero Arts.

Thank you for looking....

Three Flowers Plus One

Hi friends,

Today I made several cards. These two used the watercolor technique. That's what I like most. I didn't sprayed the water, as I couldn't find Mister Mini to spray..

This one below is for Simplicity OLW 20: Three Plus one. Three images plus one sentiment.


And this one is for Paperplay Challenges Week 37: All shapes and sizes.

All stamps are from Hero Arts. The markers are from Zig.

Thanks for looking... Have a pleasant start of the week..

Hello Sakura

Hello friends,

It's Monday afternoon here. Oh.. I feel more than ages that I haven't connected to the internet for the past 4 days. It's an Eid Mubarak holiday, so the kids are at home, and I prefer to be with them rather than be in my gallery. That's why I haven't posted anything until today. I even missed the announcement from Hero Arts, telling us that my friend's work, Ayu's, was on HA blog. Congrats, Ayu...

This is my card for Simplicity challenge: B&W with a Spot of Color. Talking about B&W, I remember my youth, with photography as a hobby, hunting for funny or beautiful moments to catch, then processed the negative into B&W photos. Fabulous time..

This is my card.
The sakura branch clear stamp is from "Asian by Design", Inkadinkado. The sentiment clear stamp is from "Doodle Wings", Stampendous. Sakura shape used Carl punch.

Thanks for looking, friends. have a fabulous day...

Let's Go Green

Hi friends,

It's late Thursday here... The weather is fine. And I just remember to make this card. Digging in the stamp drawers had made me find this tree set stamp and the bamboo stamp. The theme this week in OLW Simplicity is Trees... So here are my takes.

The card below used Hero Arts. The sentiment is my hand writing. The slogan has been announced so well everywhere. Do we go green by using papers for our cards? Eh...


The other card is lovable. I love this bamboo stamp. It's from All Night Media. The sentiment is from Hero Arts.


I enter this bamboo card to join DDSB this week: Write Me a Message.

Thanks for looking, friends....

OLW - Border

Hi friends, meet again.

I seldom use border stamp. This is a real challenge. Because the cards below are the result of the 10th and 11th attemps!! LOL... The Simplicity - OLW 17 this week is using boder stamp.

The card with green lace border was the 10th attempt. I added the blings there.


Then I thought of stamping with the lace facing down with brown ink and half pearls on it. So this one below was the 11th attempt...


Which one is okay?

Sources: Border stamp: Ribbons & Lace from Limited Edition. The sentiment: Merci from hero Arts.

Thanks for looking, friends. Have a nice day and happy stamping...

Simplicity - A Scene of Friends

It's a late afternoon here. And just clicked the adorable blog. Never want to miss this OLW challenge. This time the theme is Stamp a Scene. Just click and you'll find fabulous card made by Susan R.

Well..well, it's time to use my very brand new (but bought long time ago) stamp, called Tree Swing, designed by Grace Taylor from Grant Archival. This is the only scene stamp that I have. Hmm, next time I have to look for more, because scene stamp may give us many things to think of what that scene is about. That kind of stamps may tell stories. Do you agree?

Like this stamp, I was thinking of my childhood, swinging and playing with neighbor friends. The swing was hooked on the branch of a mango tree. What a wonderful neighborhood...

Here, I also (again) used my Shapeboss to emboss the word 'friends'. How come I have forgotten this fabulous tool... So, this is my card.


Thanks for looking, friends...

Joy in Yellow and Blue - OLW Simplicity

Hi friends,

It's been a while that I don't post anything here. Today, I managed to make some cards. This is one of them. The idea is from Susan R in Simplicity OLW 15: Unexpected colors. As I saw Susan's image on her card, I remember that I have a stamp, an almost forgotten one. That's the one from PSX and I believe it is not available in any stores now.. This stamp is one of my first stamps that I owned. This is my take.


I also used my Fiskars Shapeboss.. It's also an almost forgotten tool, since I have possessed the CB machine. The ink pads are like the one shown in the pic. I got it from a scrapbook package. The ink is good enough.

Thanks for looking...

Happy Birthday in Outlines

Hi friends,

I did have some hours spent on my craft table this afternoon. I managed to make three cards as choices for the next month DT (pssst..wait for the recipe next August 1..).

Then, I tried to make the one that kept playing on my mind: using outline stamps. Oh boy, it's not as easy as I thought. The dew drop chalk ink didn't work out so well. So, again, I used my fave, those Zig brushes. They didn't even come better.. (well, blame it on the brush..LOL). Or maybe the Poly clear can't go with these brushes..(now blame it on the stamp..LOL).. This card is my fifth attempt...Haha.. So here is the result:

I enter this card to join two challenges: Simplicity OLW 14: Square Outlines and PaperPlay Challenges Week 30: Anything Goes.

Supplies: Hero Arts stamps Delicate Blossoms and Live It Up; Zig brushes.

Thanks for looking...

Christmas in July - OLW

oHi friends,

Oops..almost late for the challenge. I hope not... Olw 13.
Thanks for looking..

Hibiscus - OLW SImplicity

Hello friends,

What a morning! I started my day with a chocolate milk and later ended up in front of my laptop, looking for Simplicity blog. And...found the challenge is the one with my most favorite technique... Ahay...: some form of watercolor. Love it so much. And I was inspired not to make only one but five. I'm showing only four, because the other one got a little 'accident'...LOL. I automatically grabbed my most favorite stamp, the Hibiscus. I love this kind of flowers. I do have some pots of this flower in various colors. So much in love with Hibiscus.. See here for your knowledge about my love for Hibiscus.

Here are the cards I made.

I used Penny Black Stamp, my magic ZIG brushes and the fabulous Ranger Mini Mister to spray the water. The sentiments are from Hero Arts.

Thanks for looking, my friends. Have a pleasant day.

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.

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.

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...

(...another) Quick Card To Make - One Layer Wednesday

Last Saturday night, I happened to open Donna Mikasa's blog. Her blog is always surprising and full of fabulous creation of hers. I found that she joined One Layer Wednesday by Simplicity. The theme is overlapping. That means, the sentiment is overlapping the image. Then, my mind directly worked on what to do. This afternoon, after teaching my little students, I had a very little short time to make one card...

(..though I ever mentioned that I wouldn't be able to post anything on my blog for a couple of week, still... I COULD....Ohlala..)

Here is my take for One Layer Wednesday card.

It's very quick to make such card. I just colored my stamp from Penny Black with markers from Versamark, sprayed it with my Mini Mister from Hero Arts, and then stamped it on the card. The last thing was to stamp the sentiment from My Sentiment Exactly, overlapped the image. The result somehow looks like a painted image.

Below is another card, using the same stamp. After stamping on the first card, I just sprayed the used stamp and stamped on the second card. The color is brighter. Here is the result.

Which one do you like most?

Some blogs might have ever promoted this technique. However, the person who directly taught me first about this technique was the one from HA store, JDA, S'pore. Thanks to him. This is the technique I like most in stamping.

I do hope I can get that short little time again and again.., between my tight "schedule". That's between teaching my kids for the tests and the preparation for the retreat. (..and actually is also between teaching my students and cleaning my craft room - which is still in a big mess...LOL)

Thanks for looking...