Christmas in Summer & Giveaway Week 1!!

Hello!  Welcome to the start of my November Birthday Month Giveaways!!  More info at the bottom of this post, but, first, I have a summer Christmas card, especially for those of use who live near the equator and southern hemisphere.  I used "Just for You" Jolinne image and paper pieced her dress with Lily Bee's Jingle papers.  I'm glad to finally ink up this set that I've had for sometime {lol}.

Here are some close up pics:

Border die-namics Faux Crochet Border, and Oval Tab

MFT Die-namics Butterflies

My card is based on this MFT sketch:

And... here's the fun part - I've decided to start the month long of Giveaways today.  November is my birthday month, and I think it's a great time to celebrate by rewarding the readers of my blog.  It's very easy... all you need to do is comment on my posts the whole week and you will be in the draw.  Every week I'll be giving away different prizes and some weeks I might throw in an additional item.  I think it's more fun to be giving away smaller prizes rather than one big prize so more of you will have a chance to win something.

I am amazed that some of you are constant followers of my blog - I really appreciate your support & kind words.  When I started blogging, I never thought anyone would be interested to read what I have to share, so I thank you for taking the time to visit each time and for your fabulous comments.  It really makes my day, seriously.  Ok, I think that's enough talk.. here's the prize:

Since My Favorite Things is one of my favourite stamp companies, I'm going to give away this MFT stamp set to the winner this week.

And, if the person who wins is a follower of my blog (from the google or networked blogs list), the person will also receive a $20 gift voucher to use at the MFT store.  I guess you know what to do if you want both the prizes.. {grins}.  The Week 1 giveaway will close on midnight Sunday night 6 Nov (my time zone, GMT +8hours).  On Monday morning, I will pick a winner and announce it that day.  Don't forget, you need to comment on my every post the whole week long to qualify.

Enjoy the week!

Simply Believe

Hello Friends!  How's your week been?  I'm doing pretty good, making good progress with the Christmas cards.  Just have to share this one with you today.

This card was made using everything Simple Stories.  I love their 25 Days of Christmas papers and what better way than to use the matching stamps on the card!  The cute stockings are from this Itty Bitty set called Simply Believe - so adorable isn't it?

Can you pick out another stamp set I used on the card?  Yupe it's the numbers border at the bottom of the card, also another Simple Stories set named "A Simple Christmas".

Here's another look at the card:

Be sure to check out the Unity Blog for the list of all the Unity fans participating in today's Friends with Flair.  Remember to leave some love when you visit as you could win some Unity stamps.

And... please don't forget to visit me next week (starting Tuesday) as I'll be giving away stuff every week in November - yupe, birthday month.  You don't need to follow my blog to win the prizes, just join me for some fun.

Have a great day!

Season's Greetings

I know, it's another Christmas card, but I hope you'll enjoy this one.  I wanted this card to be a little special for a friend.  It's a smaller sized card, measuring 4.25 x 4.25".  Can you recognise the stamps I used?  They are Cameo Creations, Oval Classic Frames and a greeting from Compliments of the Season set.  The papers are from Lily Bee Design "Jingle" 6x6 pad.  It's a fairly simple card but it took a little effort to line up the stamps and finding the right size Classic Ovals dies.  The background piece was cut with the largest die of Labels 15, and the sentiment piece was cut using Labels 4 Small.   I added a touch of colour to the sentiment and the cameo frames with Copic Marker BG10.

The card was made following the sketch this week at Waltzing Mouse's challenge. Here's the sketch:

And, here's a closer look at the card:

Thank you for stopping by, and Have a wonderful Friday!

Fun Fold Christmas Card

Hello Friends!  At Inspired Stamps, we are focusing on Fun Fold Christmas cards today.  I haven't made a fun fold card in a long while, and after thinking about it for days I finally worked out one I was happy with.

I used the Inspired Stamps set Choir Boy/Angel and Nativity (sentiments) for the card.  The finished card measures 4.5x4.5".  Here are some pictures to show you how the card is folded and decorated.

Untie the silk ribbon, and open the top flap:

Open the horizontal folds, to the inside of the card.

On the inside left panel, I adhered  the Scripture sentiment and a tiny die-cut star decorated with a tiny i-rock glam rock.  The sentiment piece was sponged with Distress Inks Old Paper and Shabby Shutters and some faux stitch lines with a black pen.

On the inside right panel, I decorated it with die-cut snowflakes and tiny blings.

Here's a closer look at the stacked hearts and the cute HLO Choir Boy.  He was coloured with Copic Markers (Skin - E000, E11, E31, R20  Hair - YR23, YR24, Y21, E31, E35  Shoes & Tunic - BG000, B91, B93) and adhered with some pop dots onto the hearts.

For list of products used and detailed instructions for making this card, please click here for the download, if you are interested.

Thanks for putting up with this long post.  Please visit the Inspired Stamps Blog or click on the Design Team's names at the sidebar here, to check out what they are sharing today.  

Have a great day!

Have A Lovely Day!

I love simple sketches, because I'm just not good with anything complicated.  What about you?  Most of my card designs are pretty simple with one or two embellishments.  The only constant is I love to have my images coloured, most of the time.

Today's card follows the sketch at Lily Pad Cards which incidentally is by Nina Brackett.  And, I have used two of her stamp sets to create the card above - Lovely Birds & Timeless Tags (frame for sentiment).  The patterned paper is Pink Paislee's Nantucket & Lily Bee Design Picket Fence.

Lily Pad Cards is giving away four of Nina's stamps sets, and they are Awesome!  So, everyone should play along for a chance to win the sets. {grins}

I'll be back on Thursday for another Inspired Stamps inspiration.

See you!

Stamps : The Craft's Meow "Lovely Birds" & "Timeless Tags"
Paper : Pink Paislee Nantucket 6x6 pad, Brown cardstock, Lily Bee Design Picket Fence 6x6 pad
Ink : Memento Rich Cocoa
Copic Markers : Fence - E31, E33, E35;  Bird - BG11, BG32;  Sunflowers - YR24, Y15, Y17, colourless blender; Leaves - YG91, YG93, YG97; Bird house - E23, E21, E31; Background - BG0000
Other : Seam binding, Webster's Pages Sparklers

Woodland Christmas

Hi!  I'm making some progress with the Christmas cardmaking, aren't I? {grins}  Today's card uses stamps from my current favourite Christmas stamp set - Taylored Expressions' Woodland Winter.  I just love the forest animals, they are all so cute and a joy to colour.  Although I have to say I was wishing for an airbrush set to colour the background.

Here's the sketch the card was based on:

There's still time to enter for this challenge if you'd like to.  Just click here for all the details.  It's a great sketch.  If you are interested in the Copic markers and papers used, please see the bottom of this post.

Thanks for coming by.

Have a great day!

Stamps : Taylored Expression Woodland Winter & Wreaths of Joy (sentiment)
Paper : Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder 6x6 pad, Hero Arts layering paper - Grass
Ink : Memento Rich Cocoa & Tuxedo Black
Copic Markers : Tree (E27, E25, E21, YG05, YG93), Background BG0000, Deer & Fox (E11, E13, E27), 
Deer's outfit (YG03, YG17, B12, B14, R32, R35, R37, C1), Fox's outfit (YG01, YG03, YG05, R32, R35, R37)
Other : The Twinery Baker's Twine Maraschino, i-rock crystals

Warm Thoughts

Today, I have a card for the October Hero Arts contest.  The challenge is to make a Holiday card using non-holiday stamps or based on one of the sketches given.  I decided to give it a go and make a card which fits both the requirements.

My card is based on this sketch:

For the background, I pulled out all the tiny hearts I could find from all my Hero Arts stamps and a tiny star.  Using Versamark, I stamped them on a white cardstock and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.   For some colour, I sponged Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Crushed Olive and Scattered Straw.  Then I brushed some Perfect Pearls Blue Raspberry before the inks dry to give it a nice shimmer and set it with fine mists of water.  When dry, I distressed the edges with Distress Ink Vintage Photo.

For the tree, I stamped the die-cut pieces using non-Holiday stamps Flower Swirl Vine on the tree pieces, and the trunk with a stamp from set You Are The Best.  Then I added colour with Copic Markers YG91, YG93, YG95, R22, R29 & YG25 and assembled the tree by adhering the tree pieces onto the solid tree die-cut with pop dots.  I spritzed some Perfect Pearls Mist on the finished tree and then added some Glossy Accents around the edges and threw some fine glitter on it.

Here's a closer look at the tree:

The sentiment is from the stamp set, Find Joy which is also a non-holiday stamp.

As always, I look forward to read your feedback and comments on the card.  It's always so fun to read what you think.

Have a great week!

Stamps : Flower Swirl Vine & You Are the Best (Tree), Find Joy (sentiment), Background hearts from various different sets.

Inks : Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw, Crushed Olive, Vintage Photo, Perfect Pearls Mist -Sunflower Sparkle
Paper : Lily Bee Design Jingle 6x6 pad, Kraft cardstock
Other : Taylored Expressions die Trim The Tree, Spellbinders Classic Scallop Oval, Sakura Pigma Micron Black & White gel pen, Hero Arts gems

Unity Friends with Flair (21 October)

It's Happy Friday again!  What a busy week it's been.  How about you?  Time to chill out and see the fabulous inspiration from Unity Friends with Flair.  Enjoy the hop!

I've been pretty determined to make more Christmas cards..hehe. So here's the card for today:

Love the cute ticket stamps by Joslyn Nielson, Itty Bitty Ticket to Christmas!  I stamped it on white cardstock with Memento Rich Cocoa, and distressed it with Distress Ink Tea Dye.  The gorgeous patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas.  I cut a slit along the rays near the Santa image, just long enough for me to tuck the tickets underneath.  With some quick dash lines and a bow with a button, the card is done.
Here's a closer look :

That's it from me.  I can't believe we're coming to the last week of October already!  Here's a little teaser... be sure to visit me in November, because I'm planning some little giveaways as it's my birthday month.  So, I thought it would be fun to reward faithful readers of my blog.  Your encouragement means the world to me, and I just want to say Thank You from my heart.


Big Smiles...

Stamps : Unity Itty Bitty Ticket to Christmas

Paper : My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas, Gina K PLC Cranberry Cardstock, Brown cardstock

Ink : Memento Rich Cocoa

Other : Sakura White Gel Pen & Pigma Micron 0.1 Black, Red button from Gina K, Seam binding

Sing Praises

It's Thursday!  Time again for an Inspired Stamps inspiration.  This week, it's DT Choice and I decided to use a sentiment as the main focal image.  This scripture sentiment is from the set "Sing For Joy" - love this set because it's all about music and I can't imagine life without music and singing.

The sentiment piece was cut and embossed using Spellbinders Classic Oval, and while the die is still on the cut-out, I sponged the centre with some light purple & yellow inks.  The sentiment is then adhered on top of another two layers of die cut pieces.

The background is a piece of white cardstock embossed using a Sizzix embossing folder.  Towards the bottom part of the card, I tied a strand of seam binding (dyed with Distress Stain Milled Lavender) around the card into a bow.  Then I adhered some pearls, a mini rosette and a couple of pins and the card is done. 

Please visit the Inspired Stamps blog for links to view the wonderful projects from the rest of the Design Team.

If you love challenges, why not join the Inspired Stamps October challenge - you can enter any project using Inspired Stamps.

Thanks for visiting today. Have a great day!

Stamps : Inspired Stamps "Sing for Joy"

Inks : Distress Inks Scattered Straw, Jenni Bowlin Lavender Sachet, Distress Stain Milled Lavender

Papers : Simple Stories Generations 6x6 pad

Other : Zva Creative pearls, Prima flower, Maya Road pins, Spellbinders Classic Ovals & Labels Eighteen, MFT Die-namics Polka Dot Greetings

Taylored Expressions - Blast from the Past Blog Hop (October 19)

Welcome to the Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop!  Today's theme is Trick or Sweet... hmm... that's a hard one to choose.  Anyway, I had a little burst of inspiration and decided to go with both themes.

Here's Trick:

We don't really celebrate Halloween in Malaysia, but since I had some Halloween themed papers, I thought it would be fun to make a card.

The My Mind's Eye paper (Mischievious 6x6 pad) is so cute, and so all I had to do was adhere the Pennants (cut with the matching Pennants Border die set) and a sentiment (pennant & sentiment are from the set Pennant Parade), and... the card is ready!

Here's my second card:

For this card, I cut out the front of the cardbase with a scalloped oval die.  I embossed a piece of white cardstock with the Clouds Impression Plate and inked some Distress Ink Tumbled Glass over it.  Then I cut a piece of patterned paper for the bottom of the embossed cardstock, and adhered to the card as shown.  The cupcake base was from the little platform on Life is a Circus set, stamped on a piece of white glittered felt, and the cupcake was cut using the Keeping Tabs die and folded.  For some interest and texture, I spritzed the Shimmer Goosebumps over the cupcake.  The balloons were coloured with Copic Markers and adhered just above the cupcake.  The tiny cupcake and the sentiment are from the Stamp set Pennant Parade (a special free set from Taylored Expressions).


Here's a closer look:

Thanks so much for visiting today.  Be sure to check out the list of everyone participating in the BFTP blog hop today.




Enjoy the hop!

Stamps : Taylored Expressions Life is a Circus,  Pennant A la Carte, Pennant Parade

Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Tumbled Glass, Memento Potters Clay, Jenni Bowlin Speckled Egg, Copic Markers (BG13, BG15, BG18, YR04, YR07, YR09, R22, R24, R29)

Paper : My Mind's Eye Mischievious 6x6 pad, Jillibean Soup Watermelon Gazpacho 6x6 pad, Studio Calico Autumn Press 6x6 pad, Yellow & Cream cardstock

Other : Sakura clear glitter pen & white gel pen, i-rock crystals, Copic Multiliner 0.3 Sepia

Praying for You

This month, all over shopping malls in the city, there's booths and programmes to promote Breast Cancer Awareness.  I can't help but think about all the people I've known or read about who have suffered from cancer, some survived and others who didn't. It's a dreaded disease and I believe it takes all of us to join hands to find a cure.

This stamp set is dear to my heart because it's my favourite Pure Innocence character and it's aptly named Have Hope.  The inspiration for the card came from the MFT sketch below and the recent blog hop Swimming for Katie.  Although I've never met Katie, I am deeply touched by her story and the amazing support of fellow crafters for her at this difficult time.

The PI image was coloured using Copic Markers (Dress & Socks - RV91, RV93 & RV95,  Heart & Shoes - RV23,  Skin - E000, E11 & E31,  Hair - YR21, YR24, Y38).  The stamped image was cut out using Classic Ovals die, and layered on the Oval Decorative Doily.  To string the seam binding and the Open Bracket border, I used a craft knife to cut slits around the fishes so that they stay on top of the seam binding and border strip.  The seam binding was dyed with Distress Stain Milled Lavender.
Here's a closer look at the card:

Thank you for coming by today.

Take care,

Stamps : My Favorite Things PI Have Hope

Paper : Pink Paislee Nantucket 6x6 pad

Ink : Memento Rich Cocoa, Copic markers, Distress Ink Spun Sugar, Distress Stain Milled Lavender

Other : Seam binding, Die-namics Oval Decorative Doily & Open Bracket Border, Glam rocks, Spellbinders Classic Ovals.

Thanks!

Today's theme for the Waltz is Gratitude/Thanksgiving.  I love this theme as there is so much to be thankful for - family & friends, good health, peace and small joys like having a hobby I enjoy.  My card is a simple one today, for I ran low in inspiration and been a little busy.

My stamp pad somehow did not cooperate when I inked up the stamps and so the images came out pretty distressed (sad!).  I used three stamp sets for this card, Gingham & Co polka dots background, Eat Cake set for borders and cake and sentiment from Say It Loud set.  Lots of things didn't go right with this card somehow which made me a little sad.  I thought of not posting this but then decided well, everyone has good and not so good days... so here it is.

I look forward to check out all the fabulous projects from everyone who is waltzing today.  You can check out the list here.

Have a great week!