Blessings of 2012

It's unbelievable how quickly a year can pass. I can still remember last New Year's Eve as if it was yesterday. My husband and I finally arranged a date night and went to a Mexican restaurant where we ended up ordering way more dishes than we could finish. We had a nice, long dinner which is rare for us as parents to a young one. My husband drove back through the dark countryside sprinkled here and there with a few lights as I enjoyed the peace we don't always get in the city.

edit: Whoops, apparently that happened 2 years ago in 2010 and my memory is quite vague of last New Year's Eve. lol.

As 2012 comes to an end, I'd like to think about some of the highlights and my blessings of this year and the hopes that come with it...

• My daughter-She's grown up so much and I find myself often looking back at her younger days trying hard to hold on to those memories while knowing perfectly well that she will have to grow up. Her language development amazes me everyday and she says the funniest things. I've tried to keep track of some them through fb. I've had some many wonderful times with her...visits to the ROM, Kindermusik times, visiting early years centre, a few playdates, her first birthday party with a friend her age, going to paint lounge with her. Some of my best magical moments are all the times I get to spend at home with her and sometimes coming up with creative and imaginative things to do. There were also frustrations with potty training too but she had a sudden major breakthrough in Sept and now she's almost potty trained. She also went to preschool for the first time but too bad she soon grew tired of going and didn't enjoy the company of the other kids there. We'll see how 2013 goes of my little girl.
• My husband -My husband is the sweetest guy I've ever met and he continues to hold that special place in my heart. He's the most supportive person in my life and spoils me way too much (yes, I feel like a little princess). There has been ups and downs especially since we have virtually no dating time but we have a lot of magical family times...our new normal as parents. We do manage to go on some dates and it's been nice (he spoils me again by taking me to my favourite one of a kind/handmade shows). He also takes really good care of me and is my true soulmate. I hope to spend more time with him and really cherish the moments we have together.
• My family- I've been very lucky to have some many close family who care about me and my daughter. My aunts and cooking uncle have always been there to take care of my daughter when I had to work, get something done, and even to go on a date. My brother is always taking care of the house and been helping here and there. I hope to return the favour somehow. 
• Work-Ever since graduating teacher's college, I haven't had much classroom teaching experience. At the beginning of this year (which was the end of the school year), I had the opportunity to teach Art and English. It was busy but a great learning experience. I met really nice teaching colleagues there. I worked at a camp where I discovered my face painting ability. :) I also returned to a tutor centre just 10 minutes away from my house to work which still gives me a lot of time to spend with my daughter. It was also really fun that I got to supply teach at a preschool program-lots of inspiration for things to do with my daughter. I've yet to figure out what I really want to do but I'm happy right now working part time.
• Health-After 3 weeks of the flu and bad cough recently and a food poisoning incident, I'm more than ready to welcome the New Year with some good health. Throughout this year, I've had a lot of chance to go to different yoga studios and I just love the inner peace and de-stressing element I get into. The last yoga studio I visited was back in September and while I didn't really de-stress from the experience, the challenging workout kickstarted me into 5 weeks of Insanity workout every morning. At the time, I felt so more energetic and alive. Sadly, I've let that go in the last 2 months. I really hope to get started on a good fitness routine in the New Year and go back to yoga (I miss it so much!)  
• Arts and Craft-This year I discovered a whole world out there in the blogosphere for card-making and creative people. I revisited my craft supplies and took a dive into cardmaking every few nights (at one point, almost every night). It's been such a fun experience being inspired by others, creating my own cards, and then getting feedback. I also got to be in a design team, won a few neat giveaways, and possibly being published in a magazine (I won't know till they send the magazine sometime next year). In terms of Art, I had the opportunity to go to Paint Lounge where it reignited my passion for painting and creating art. It's been such a passion fulfilling experience and I hope I'll have more time to create more in the New Year-whether it's cards or art. 

The future is a blank canvas, ready for us to make our mark.

2013 here I come!

Dashing Thru the Holidays

Based on my card from here, I made a quick rendition of it to give to co-workers and my employer.

 My little batch of cards...

I'd like to enter this card in CAS-ual Fridays-Dashing Thru the Holidays (I love their clever titles) and 10 Minute Dash (Holiday theme)-took 8 min 57 sec for the first card...gluing the tiny beads took some meticulous work and a little more time.

Snow Day Take 2

After yesterday's little 15 min snow day adventure, we went to the backyard today for some more snow day fun-this time we ended up staying outside for an hour (a big improvement for a non outdoorsy person like me). I finally managed to make a little snowman for my daughter out of the non packing snow. She says it's Frosty and wanted to stay outside with him to make sure he's not lonely or sad. Such a sweet heart <3

Winter Wonderland

Winter is here!

I think it took us more time bundling up than playing outside. Oh well. :)

Use It Tuesday Term Projects

I thought I'd make a little photo roundup dance of my projects during my term as a design team member at Use It Tuesday...just for memory's sake :)

  

 

 It's been a fantastic term. Not only have I used up some of my stash, I stopped spending on craft supplies for about 6 months now (hooray!). I've also learned more about my style based on the wonderful comments from the talented design team and fellow bloggers. 

It seems to be clean and simple with a touch of elegance or cuteness.

:)

We'll see how my style evolves in the coming year but I do hope I'll have time to craft even if it's just once in a blue moon :P

Use It Tuesday #46: All About 2013

It's Christmas Day! I can't believe it's here already.
With Christmas here, that means New Year's is just around the corner.
Time to use up the old and ring in the new 2013 over at Use It Tuesday!

What better way to welcome the New Year's than with your loved ones over a glass of champagne :)

For this challenge, everything was from my stash. This includes a hardly used tag die cut (1.5 yrs ago...I had the idea that I'd be making a lot of tags but apparently not), uninked sentiment stamp (5 months...I seem to have a lot of uninked stamps), unused embossing folder (5 months), ribbon (3 yrs), glue pen (8 months), glitter (no idea how old...1 yr?).  My attempt to use glue pen and glitter ended in a glittery mess in my craft space. Next time, I'm sticking with glitter glue.

This is my last post as a design team member over at Use It Tuesday. It has been so much fun and helpful as I tried to destash some of those craft stash I've been slowly hoarding. I had a wonderful first design team experience working with such talented ladies. I will surely miss the team but busyness calls on my end.
Don't worry though-there's lots of excitement coming up with the new team ;)

Let's see you use up some old craft stash as we welcome the New Year over at Use It Tuesday. Challenge closes Jan 4th and don't forget to mention your hoarded items. 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Use It Tuesday #45: All About Christmas/Hanukkah

Let's use up some craft stash at Use It Tuesday!

I'm finally back with a project this week. I apologize for being MIA the previous week but my family and I was going through a food poisoning nightmare :S Anyway, this week it's all about Christmas/Hanukkah. With the celebrations already here or just around the corner, we'd better get cracking on some holiday cards.

I've had this idea since what seems forever (actually from last Christmas). It's inspired from a card I saw in the Nov/Dec 2010 issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. In the card, masking tape was used and then coloured in with marker to form the Christmas tree. That's why when I saw the green washi tape (from a year ago), I thought it would be perfect. Unfortunately, my card idea has been hoarded till this Christmas :o) I decided to add some quilling accents.

Other hoarded items include Japanese line paper for the card base which was too pretty for me to use (over 6 months ago), coloured paper for quilling, and craft string bought from the dollar store ages ago.

I hope to see your project when you link up over at Use It Tuesday. Challenge closes Dec 21st and don't forget to mention your hoarded items. 

Happy Holidays Folks! 

Challenge

Neat And Tangled (Holidays)

Happy December

Hiya Folks, I'm finally back. The last few weeks have been busy especially with a food poisoning incident :S

I thought I'd wish everyone a Happy December.

I love taping things all every over my daughter's playroom wall (it's a wallpaper of artistic chaos). I decided to make a tree with my daughter at the beginning of this month. That way, I can incorporate some calendar and number learning throughout the month ;) We used flyers as that's the most economical and environmentally friendly option of paper for the size I needed. Everyday, we added an ornament with the date number and then counted.

Hope that sparks some ideas for home preschooling parents. :)

Use It Tuesday #43: All About being Thankful

Time for some craft stash decluttering at Use It Tuesday!

This week it's all about being thankful. 

Awhile back, my employer's wife give a gift to my daughter when they returned from their vacation in Paris. It was so kind and thoughtful of them to get something for my daughter.

 Not only am I thankful for their kind gesture, I'm really thankful and happy to have this part time job 'cuz it gives me the chance to still spend a lot of time with my 2 year old daughter. Of course, I was inspired to make a thank you card in return. 

I've realized there's inspiration everywhere in card-making.

My hoarded items include:

 pink cardstock (Micheal's sold a 1 lb pack of scrap cardstock for about $1 but I've hardly used it), gold embossing powder (over a yr ago), yellow ribbon (may recognize from the ribbon project), uninked flower stamp.

I can't wait to see your projects when you link up over at Use It Tuesday. Challenge closes Nov 23rd and don't forget to mention your hoarded items.

Mums

 

I love chrysanthemums-they grow despite the cold 

(not that today was that cold-beautiful spring weather).

Happy Fall Day!

Design Team Call

Love shopping for craft supplies? Can't seem to use up all of them?

Ending up with lots of hoarded craft stash?

Now you can have a chance to use them up over at Use It Tuesday.

They are having a design team call and it'll be a perfect opportunity to start decluttering some of those age old craft supplies you have stashed everywhere ;) Check out the details over here.

A Droplet of Child's Play: Paper Towel Bats

With Halloween around the corner, I made a little bat craft with my little 2 year old. I saw this simple and creative idea over at this blog.

Since I didn't have coffee filters, I had to think of something else to use-paper towels! Just ink it up with markers, spray with water (my daughter's favourite part), watch the colours do its magic, and voila!

After that, decorate some clothespins, allow paper towel wings to dry, put it together, and hang it up!

Happy Early Halloween Everyone!

Use It Tuesday #42: Use Orange

It's time to use up some stash over at Use It Tuesday!

This week we are bringing the colour of fall-ORANGE! into our craft projects. 

I had intended to make a Halloween card but because of the disorganization of my craft space, I couldn't find the stash I needed to go ahead with my original idea. Soo...I improvised and came up with a totally different idea! That's what crafting and art is all about-the process! The inside is left blank so it can be easily customized for whatever occasion.

My hoarded items include: Stampin' Up orange cardstock (garage sale from over a yr ago), craft string (dollar store years ago), uninked bird stamp and border stamp

Let's see some of that nice bright orange when you link up your project over at Use It Tuesday. Challenge closes October 23rd and don't forget to mention your hoarded items. Oh, and of course, check out all the beautiful inspiration from the design team!

Happy Autumn Everyone!

Use It Tuesday Challenge #41: All About Fall

It's time to get crafty again over at Use It Tuesday!

Whether it's the fallen leaves or the cool breeze, one thing is more sure-autumn is here. This week we are making projects all about fall.

For me, fall is all about the beauty of the leaves.

While I didn't capture the beautiful colours of the fall season in this card, I did incorporate the theme of falling leaves. There is something about kraft cardstock that I really like (as you may have noticed from my previous posts using kraft cardstock) and I think it reminds me of the fall too.

My hoarded items include: Uninked tree stamp (a few months ago), leaf stamp (a yr ago and previous to that, have only let my daughter play stamping with it), craft string (yrs ago from dollar store), washi tape (stray piece lying my my desk)

Come link up your project with your list of hoarded items over at Use It Tuesday. Challenge closes October 19th. Happy Fall Days!

Challenge:

CASology Week #14 (Leaf)

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving over here in Canada and although I'm getting sick AGAIN after recovering from a 2 wk cold, I'm still thankful for a lot of things. 

-My beautiful daughter who amazes me everyday with how much she's growing 

-My loving husband who puts myself and my daughter first before himself

-My supportive family whose been there to help take care of my daughter when I'm working or need some extra time for things

-My understanding friends who have made a point to keep in touch after all these years

-A roof over my head and being able to raise my daughter in the house that I grew up in. Also being given the freedom to turn my dining/living room into my daughter's playroom. 

-The happiness, health, and safety of my loved ones

-The precious shared moments with my husband and daughter

I have so much I'm thankful for and I feel very lucky to be me.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Use It Tuesday Challenge #40: Use Your Scraps!

It's a new challenge over at Use It Tuesday!

We're using up our scrap papers this week. If you're anything like me, you would have saved them here and there from other projects and somehow ended up with a pile like this.

I had the delusion that I would come up with an ingenious idea to use it all up but I guess I was just dreaming. :P Instead, I decided to choose the piece of scrap paper that's been in this pile the longest and has been there because I really didn't like it. lol. This was the piece.

Back in July when we had our embossing challenge, I had embossed a small pile of paper. I ended up inking this one with distress inks and then I made the mistake of misting it with water which made the paper all warped and lost a lot of its embossed-ness.

So here's my solution...

 

...a little circle die cutting, distressing to the the edges, and embellishing with some hearts all made from scrap paper. My hoarded items are everything on this card that are from scraps and the stamp is the newest item (about a month old) but still uninked. The oldest item would probably be the decorative edge scissors I used to cut the border back in my pre-card-making days (picked it up from the dollar store years ago).

Sooo...let's see you digging into that scrap paper pile! Come link up your project over at Use It Tuesday and don't forget to mention your hoarded items. Challenge closes October 5th.

A little birthday card

 My little cousin turned 21 earlier this month. I remember her ever since a baby. It's always feels odd to me how little ones grow up so fast but I still think of them as kids. I've had so many great and funny memories with my cousin. Now that I have a family, I don't have the same time to spend watching movie marathons, stashing up on snacks, and going on fooding adventures with her. I find that I don't know her as I used to but deep down though, she's still that little girl I know that still loves her stuffy toys :)

The card is made with all hoarded materials (you may recognize the patterned balloons from this post). I find myself trying to really use and appreciate what I have (and with my few recent craft purchases, I've sort of vowed to stop buying anything till at least Christmas or 1 year from now-wish me luck!). If you happen to have lots of craft stash or craft items you really haven't used much of, try to make use it up and link it to Use It Tuesday's challenge this week.

Use It Tuesday Challenge #39: Anything Goes!

 Welcome back to another challenge over at Use It Tuesday!

This time around, it's anything goes! So if you've got lots of age old craft stash hiding about, time to break it out for some crafting fun :) Every challenge I try to use as many hoarded items as possible; the only thing new was the sentiment. This is what I made.

The least used and oldest hoarded items would be the butterfly diecut and the scrapbook paper for the butterfly from a year ago. The stamp was uninked (month ago) and the American Craft rub on transfer was unused till now (couple months ago). 

I also used clear emboss powder and VersaMarker  (a year ago) on the butterfly to try to embellish the butterfly a little bit more. 

I can't wait to see what you make! Link it up over at Use It Tuesday and don't forget to mention your hoarded items. Challenge closes September 21st. 

---------

Challenge

Moxie Fab Asymmetry Challenge 
CAS-ual Fridays (Embossing)

A Droplet of Child's Play: Backyard Splatter Painting

After our little messy painting experiment with watered tempera paint indoors (see here), my husband had the brilliant idea of splatter painting in the backyard instead. It sure beats cleaning up all over the floor, walls, and toys. :)

This beautiful little masterpiece is now hanging up in our kitchen. 

Love it!

Happy Sunday!

What a beautiful sight on such a beautiful day! 

Happy Sun(ny)day Everyone! :)

Use It Tuesday Challenge # 38: Use That Ribbon!

Time to use up some ribbon stash over at Use It Tuesday!

I've bought a few rolls of ribbon here and there in case I ever needed it to finish off a card. I realized I rarely use it. So this is my attempt to really use up some of the ribbon I have had since last year.

Everything on the card is hoarded: Washi tape, ribbon, embossing folder, circle die, distress ink, as well as card stock and black pen (in my stash but I always use these). I'm very happy to be finally using the circle die (won it back in this post). The only reason I didn't use it was because I had to order a thin die adapter for the Vagabond machine which finally arrived in my first Simon Says order a week ago.

The middle of the flower was made by die cutting a circle, embossing it, distressing it, and finding the ink too strong, I ended up taping washi tape over it. The ribbon was then adhered to the back with glue in a flower pattern. I'd like to enter my card into the Moxie Fab Asymmetry Challenge as well.

Can't wait to see what you create with your ribbon stash! Come join in at Use It Tuesday and don't forget to list your hoarded items. Challenge ends Sept 7th.