Birthday Wishes

There are quite a number of birthdays to celebrate this month, so I've been busy with birthday cards.  And I had to make most of them in a great hurry.. yes, bit disorganised lately.. and hence, no photos.  But today, one card was captured by the camera before it got sent out.

Here it is:

I've been making a bunch of these easel cards for a friend, and just had to make one more.  The focal image was a stamp by My Favorite Things and coloured with copics (R81, R83, R85 (dress), B10 & B11 (background), Y15, YR15 (candles) and R02 and B02 & B00 (cake)).  The sentiment stamps are from an old Hero Arts set.  The blings are all the i-rock crystals. 

I'm off to make some wedding cards as well as another 2 birthday cards... wish me luck!

Have a good day!!

Stamps : My Favorite Things- You take the cake, Hero Arts CL139 Birthday wishes

Paper : Echo Park Paper - Sweet Summertime

Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Deep Lagoon, Copics

Others : Spellbinders Squares, Double ended Tags, organza ribbon, paper lace, i-rocks, Cuttlebug Embosing folder Seeing Spots  

Words of Life

Earlier this week, I had a wonderful time at lunch with two talented "crafty" friends.  We had so much fun chatting about everything and truly just enjoying each other's company.  I really treasure moments as such. 

I also had a lovely suprise when Christine gave me a beautiful book entitled "Words of Life" which had been given to her on her birthday some years ago.  She knows how much I love quotes and I was so delighted and honoured that she entrusted the book to me for keeps.  There are 1100 inspirational quotes organised by topics.  Here are some of my favourite ones on "Friendship":

Those are our best friends in whose presence we are able to be our best selves.

- Charles H Brent   

Today a man discovered gold and fame;

Another flew the stormy seas;

Another saw an unnamed world aflame;

One found the germ of a disease.

But what high fates my paths attend:

For I - today I found a friend.

- Helen Baker Parker

A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away.

- unknown

So, here's my card inspired by the quotes:

Have a beautiful day!! Thank you for visiting me and I really treasure all your comments.

Stamps : GKD Fine Furnishings Additions

Papers : Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety, MM Ledger paper, Hero Arts Latte cardstock

Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black

Others : Spellbinders Labels 8, Labels 9, Double ended tags, paper flowers, Zva Creative crystal brad, jute twine, Sakura white gel pen 

Praying for You

I was thinking about the floods in Queensland as I was making this card.  I've spent some time living in Brisbane before and I love the place.  It's sad that the flooding has caused so much damage and I hope the weather will improve very soon.  There's much to pray for.

This card (4 x 4.25") was a response to a challenge at StampTV using the emboss resist technique.  Instead of creating a focal image with the technique, I decided to create a background.

1. Using the stamp set Vintage Backgrounds, ink the text stamp and stamp on white cardstock using Distress Ink Rusty Hinge.  Leave it to dry or heat set it.
2. Stamp the Polka Dots background onto the cardstock with Versamark.  Pour clear embossing powder and heat emboss it.
3. Sponge Distress Inks Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass over the cardstock and you'll have a lovely background paper.
4. Use a border punch on the bottom of the paper as shown.
5. To finish up the card, add a teal satin ribbon and adhere the sentiment and floral image as shown.  Add some white dash lines around the card.

Thanks for stopping by.







Stamps : GKD Vintage Backgrounds, GKD You Are Not Alone, GKD Fanciful Tags
Papers : White cardstock, PTI Spanish Moss & GKD Cranberry Tart
Inks : Versamark, Versafine Vintage Sepia, Distress Inks Rusty Hinge, Shabby Shutters & Tumbled Glass
Others : Teal Satin ribbon, MS Border Punch, Spellbinders Scalloped Circles

Rainbow & Mushrooms

It's Friday here, and I can't believe the week has gone by so quickly.  I've been trying hard to do some spring cleaning around my craft space.  I'm such a hoarder - I find it hard to resist buying those gorgeous papers and I end up not using them because they look so pretty and I'm almost afraid to cut them up. Plus I have too many stamps!  I realised 2010 was the year I went crazy buying stamps, and some are still uninked.  Are you anything like me?

After reorganising the stamps, I decided to make a card using stamps which have not been inked.  Unity has a perfect challenge to help me along - making a card from the oldest and newest Unity stamps.  I pulled out my oldest (KOM Feb 2010) Unity stamp set and my newest one (KOM Dec 2010) and made this card:

I hope the card brightens your day. Have a good one!

 

Stamps : Unity KOM Feb 2010 (Sentiment) & KOM Dec 2010 (Image)

Papers : Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety, Hero Arts Latte cardstock

Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers

Others : PTI Baker's Twine, buttons, MS Border Punch, Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangles

Travel Photos Day

As promised, finally... I managed to sort out my photos from recent trips to Malacca.  Actually, I have so many from 4 separate trips but that will take an album to fill (lol!)

Some background : Malacca was an important port for spice trade some 600 years ago.  It was founded by Parameswara, a prince from Temasek in the late 1300's.  By the early 1400's, Malacca had become an important port in the spice route.  It attracted the interest of China's most famous sea explorer and diplomat Admiral Zheng He who visited Malacca in the early 1400's. (There is a lovely museum in the city on the life and history of Zheng He and his travels).  Later in the mid 1400's, in appreciation of the Sultan's tribute, the Ming Emperor sent Hang Li Po (allegedly a princess) to marry the local ruler, Sultan Mansur Shah.  Along with Hang Li Po, came 500 attendants who assimilated with the locals and later became known as the Peranakans (or Straits Chinese).

Malacca's sultanate declined in the 1500s and Malacca fell into the hands of the Portuguese in 1511, and the Dutch in 1641 and finally the English in 1798.  Today, one can see historic buildings and archeological findings of the many influences of Malacca's past.  At one time, Malacca was central to the spread of Islam as well as a place where the first non-european translation of the Bible was printed.  There are churches as well as mosques and temples of old in the city today. 

Here are the photos...  

An old fort built by the Portuguese

Clock tower, and the Stadthuys (Dutch Admin building)

A scene of the Malacca River

Church of Christ

Entrance to Church of Christ, lots of nicely decorated trishaws in front of the building

Malacca River

A cruise along the River

Following the Heritage Trail

The Cheng Hoon temple (translated as the Green Clouds temple)

Prayers at the temple

An interesting mosque with various influences in its architecture

Kampung Kling mosque (with a pagoda-like minaret)

the Corinthian pillars in the mosque

Beautiful tiles in the mosque

A typical Peranakan/Chinese house

Beautiful ornate doors and lanterns

Another view, round wooden door

A room in the house - today part of the house is now a restaurant

A shop house under restoration in Malacca

In the courtyard towards the back of the house

A view from the window to the back of the house

As you can see, the photographer is never in the pictures ;)  There's a lot more which I could and would love to share but I think it would take all the fun away, in case you visit the place oneday. 

Enjoy your day!



Happy Monday!!

After a long break from cardmaking, it's great to find time to piece this card together.  I love this stamp set from Melanie Muenchinger - Mugs & Kisses.  It's very fun to play with and paper piecing is great with it.

Here's my card:

It's quite a simple card using several new supplies - the black paper lace trim (a lovely gift from Christine), patterned papers from October Afternoon Modern Homemaker plus the Spellbinders Double-ended Tag die which I've been wanting for a long while.

I hope the New Year is going great and here's wishing you a wonderful & creative week!  I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of my recent trip.

Stamps : GKD Mugs & Kisses
Papers : October Afternoon Modern Homemaker, Hero Arts Latte cardbase
Copics : R39 & R0000 (for the little heart), R01 (tea label), E55 & E13 (tea), E30 (saucer)
Inks : Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Spun Sugar
Others : Spellbinders Labels 16 & Double-end Tags, PTI Baker's Twine, Black paper lace, White gel pen, Pearls

Name Seals

Life has been rather hectic as my sister is in town.  I've been taking her around and hence, cardmaking time has taken a back seat for a little while.  We did an out-of-town trip 2 days ago, visited a historic town, Malacca, which is about 2 hours away from Kuala Lumpur.  I'll post more about that later ;). 

While we were in Malacca, we decided to get some name seals.  I guess there's some history in the meaning of seals, and we thought it would be fun to have them.  The seal is made by carving into the stone the ancient Chinese character of one's name.  There's a choice of what I call debossed or embossed image.  A few years ago, I had one made but I felt it was a little large and I wanted a smaller one so I could stamp my name at the back of my cards.

So, here's some photos of the seals:

 As you can see the one on the far right was the larger one which I wasn't quite happy with.

I had 2 new ones made, the small square had my full name (embossed image), and the middle round one had the second character of my first name (debossed image).

The ancient seals are usually inked in red oil-based ink, so I've inked mine with Versafine Satin Red.  I'm really happy with the new seals and I shall have to stamp them at the back of all my cards now.

Sorry for this really quick post.  I thought it would be fun to show you the seals and I'll be back early next week to share a little more of the trip to Malacca.

Have a Happy Day!!

Making Brads...

I know this tool has been around for sometime, I've been wondering if it was worth buying, and after a long while, I decided to purchase it.  It's the i-top from Imaginisce.  This tool is a lot of fun, and for starters, I bought just the medium sized brad daddies and a medium punch.  There are so many fun accessories which one can make with this tool, like badges, headbands, etc.  Guess I'll try those after I've had more practice making brads.

i-top

i-top medium punch

i-top medium brad daddies

Here's a card I made, with my current favourite papers from Cosmo Cricket:

 

Made a flower with the medium sized brad & the flower petals were made with the i-top medium punch (see picture above).  I think it's quite addictive as one can make so many custom brads.

I hope you'll have a wonderful day!!

Stamps : Unity November 2010 KOM
Papers : Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934, GKD Cranberry Tart cardstock

Happy New Year!!

Wow, I can hardly believe it's 2011!  How did the year pass by so quickly?  As I look back on 2010, there are so many happy and some sad moments, but many wonderful things to be thankful for.  How about you?  I hope your New Year celebration was fun and memorable.

I took some photos of the fireworks seen from my house - this is our New Year treat every year.

I hope 2011 will be a fantastic year for each of you, may it be a year filled with wonderful memories, happiness and blessings and of course many happy creative moments.

Here's a card for you - just to say how thankful I am for friends all over the world.

Hugs & Smiles..
Kary

Stamps : Waltzing Mouse Roses in Bloom
Papers : October Afternoon Ducks in a Row & The Thrift Shop, GKD Cranberry Tart cardstock
Ink : Memento Rhubarb Stalk & Bamboo Leaves, Copic Markers
Others : Sakura white gel pen, ribbon, MS border punch