Addicted to CAS Challenge #139: Girl Power Take 2

On a similar idea of Girl Power, it comes from the motivation and drive to be who we are wherever our adventure takes us. Even in a new environment, it's not always going to be smooth sailing. It's about building resilience to continue to be the person we are and continuing to care for those around us. Wherever is spelt incorrectly as "Whereever" to indicate the idea that things will not always go according to plan and it's about being flexible to adjust to our surroundings while still continuing to uphold the values that make up who we are.

Addicted to CAS Challenge #139: Girl Power

It's been a lonnng time since I last participated in a card challenge...I guess card making took a long pause with the busyness of work. Since it's now summer vacation for me, let's get back into it :)

Since the code word is Girl Power, I thought that one of the biggest indicators of Girl Power is love. Without caring for one another, we cannot help ourselves and others grow to be the best version of self.

Magic in the making

It's been a long time since I've entered into a card challenge but seeing other's creativity can often spur the inspiration and motivation.

I'm entering my card for The Paper Player's recent challenge to use an autumn treat. 

Without any food type of stamps, I decided to create the pumpkin by cutting out a stencil. I used 2 different stamps to stamp in the yellow and orange texture for the pumpkin. After I added some Perfect Pearls for that extra sparkle and hand wrote my first association with pumpkins, "Biddidi bobbidi boo." :) 

Sushi Birthday

Yet another birthday card-that's the 4th one this week! I promise to give it a rest after this one :)

I'm celebrating my friend's birthday with an all-you-can-eat sushi dinner tonight. 

I thought this card would be fitting.

This is probably the biggest quilled object I've made. It took awhile to make it but it was well worth it. I love seeing cute things (especially if I made them :)) I'm so glad I tried it out. I also finally used some handmade Japanese paper as it seems to go with the whole theme.

 

Looking forward tonight :)

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Challenge:

City Crafter Blog Challenge: Happy Birthday

Birthday Card

There seems to be lots of birthdays around this time. This is a card I made for a friend.

 

Since I haven't been cardmaking as much as I would like for the last while, all the items on this card have been hoarded for at least 6 months+....washi tape, uninked stamp, ribbon, and the designer paper. I'm really happy about finally figuring out a use for the ribbon...it seems to add a softness to contrast the chevron washi tape and designer paper flower. 

Challenges

CAS-ual Fridays: Chevrons and Flowers
City Crafter Challenge Blog: Happy Birthday

3 Cheers

Last night I met up with some old friends to celebrate one of my friend's birthday. I don't know why I'm up at 5:30am this morning...better make good use of this time... Anyway, it's been awhile since I've been out with friends just on my own (my daughter went on a date with her dada-so cute!). We had a whole lot of fun and laughter just going to a Korean restaurant and dessert afterwards.

 This is the simple card I made for my friend.

 

I ended up using an unused clearance stamp I picked up from Micheal's ages ago. The stamp said "Cheers to you" but I just masked out "to you." It was a little tricky trying to stamp straight with a wooden stamp (hence the last cheers being slightly not aligned :( )...Also, I just ran out of the yellow cardstock so this had to do.

 I embossed it and also scored a few underlines. I'd like to enter this card into CAS-ual Fridays' Long & Short challenge this week.

Use It Tuesday

Let's welcome the new design team over at Use It Tuesday along with their inspiring creations for this week's challenge: 

Stay Calm and Sparkle. 

And with that, I'd like to say thank Use It Tuesday again for a wonderful, fantastic first design team term. It was so much fun and I've stopped buying craft supplies for about 6 months now :)

  

Thank You

I made this simple thank you card a while back but never got a chance to post it. It was made to give to an interviewer when I got a job interview. While I didn't get the job, I'm glad to have gotten a chance to see and learn more another school. I feel that preparing and going to a job interview always broaden my  horizons.

All the items I used happened to be from my stash (I think I've caught the Use It Tuesday bug after being on their team :D). Other than letting my daughter use the washi tape, I've never got to use them on a card til this one. The stamp is unlinked and the thank you sentiment was previously stamped and cut but never got used for anything but lying on my craft table. 

I'd like to enter this card into this week's thank you theme challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays.

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.

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)

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 # 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.

A Droplet of Upcycling: Envelopes

There is a fantastic challenge over at LESSology where we're supposed to incorporate envelopes into our creations. Knowing me and my saving random papers habit, I do have lots of envelopes lying around. Security envelopes are fantastic as patterned paper so think about saving up those envelopes!

This is what I created. :)

 I finally tried this technique: Colour the heart with Copic marker, go over with Versamarker, then clear emboss it. You end up with a nice little gloss over what you want to emphasize.

 I'm really happy about finally using the circle die that I won a couple months ago too (it took me this long to get an adapter for the Vagabond). Looks like I'll be making a lot of circles for my future cards :)

I'd also like to enter in the retrosketches challenge and Moxie Fab's Asymmetry Challenge.

Splish Splash Fun

I haven't participated in a card challenge in awhile. Here's a little card to join in the splish splash fun over at Cas-ual Fridays.

I finally received my first order from Simon Says Stamps and while it did take awhile to get here (since I'm in Canada), I'm very happy with shopping online there. I tried out their Circle Border die and it unintentionally caused an impression of dots onto the white paper I had under the blue cardstock. This is the result! :)

Use It Tuesday #37: All About School

The challenge over at Use It Tuesday is All About School!

It took me awhile to think about this one as I never gave or received any back to school cards before...but I got thinking and I'm sure there were teachers who have given cards to me.

Wouldn't this be a sweet card to get on the first day of kindergarten? I think I'll be saving this one for another 2 years and give it to my daughter :)

A few weeks ago, I finally got the quilling tool but I haven't used it till now. For the past year, I've been quilling with a toothpick and boy, what a difference this tool makes! If you're interested in getting into quilling, check out this wonderful tutorial from the talented quiller, Sandy Diaz. Other hoarded items include: black cardstock, coloured paper I bought for cutting into strips and quilling, Copic marker, even the lined paper (had it since I was a kid!)

Then I thought my best memory about going back to school is always the 

back to school 

SHOPPING!

Just a fun way to slip in some $ for a little shopping :)

Everything on this card is hoarded. One hoarded item is the Copic markers that I got a few months ago but never use enough of. Since I don't have too many stamps and certainly not a backpack stamp, away I went with drawing out the backpack and still learning how to use these markers.

To help keep the money inside the backpack, I made a little pocket out of an old envelope.

From the corner of the envelope, I cut it into a rounded shape to fit behind the backpack and taped together the open end of the envelope (would be left side of envelope in the picture).

 Then I glued the envelope behind the backpack and then to the card (sorry forgot to photograph last step!) Hope that makes sense. I would also like to enter the backpack card into the Fun with Envelopes Challenge over at Lessology.

Whew, and that ends my lengthy post. Come play along with us at Use It Tuesday and dig up some of those crafty stash! Don't forget to mention the hoarded items in your creation. I can't wait to see what you create! Challenge ends August 24th. 

Christmas in July...err, August!

I've been meaning to participate in Isha's Challenge over at Do More for Less where we're making a project based on packaging as well as using a masking/distressing technique. I have so much packaging saved for this challenge but it looks like I only have time for the one card for now.

This was packaging from way back in Christmas but I guess we just never finished these crackers -_-

And this is what I created!

 Inside the card...

 The trees are made from DIY washi tape and the tree stumps are actual washi tape. I'm also happy to say that I used my only winter sentiment stamp hoarded from 2 years ago (came free with my only copy of the Paper Crafts magazine).

I'm also finally participating in the challenge over at Friday Mashup (Christmas in July). I've been following this blog for awhile now and I really like it. There's two topics or techniques but also an option to mash it up the two topics together-brilliant!

Happy August Everyone! :)

Black cardstock

I finally got to use my stack of black cardstock again. CAS-ual Fridays is using black card base this week and I'm joining in :) I'm also inspired by the sketch over at retrosketches.

The paper behind the bag is a piece of beautiful Japanese paper I got from the art store months ago. The bag stamp and flower stamp are from the blog candy I won months ago too (thank you Kymberlee from The Paper Midwife!). Lastly, I finally used the crop-a-dile for the little eyelet on the Japanese paper. I would say I'm really getting into the mindset of using up my craft stash which is exactly what Use It Tuesday encourages (I'm still drawn to buying more craft stash though :S). Come join me again tomorrow for a new challenge over at Use It Tuesday.