Citizenship & Hero Arts Glitter Challenge

First thing first... Yay, I just passed my citizenship test and next week is my citizenship ceremony. I will officially become a US citizen!! I answered all the test question correctly, including who wrote the Declaration of Independence? Name 3 of the original 13 colonies, etc. Am excited. A bit sad, too. I am very proud of where I come from. And in my heart I will always love my birth country. But, I don't see myself going back  there to live. For vacation, of course and to visit my family. It just felt like I'm letting go part of myself by changing nationality. I  think as far as culture and all the positive things from my culture, will always be part of me and I am hoping that when I have kids I can raise them to appreciate both the Eastern and the Western cultures. My swearing is next Wednesday!!!

Now, let's talk card. I love glitters! I think I used glitter on almost all my cards. They add just the perfect details to cards. This week, HA challenge is all about glitters. So, of course I have to play along. :)

Again, I am using Hero Arts Warm Wishes set. I opted for simple card. I covered the lacy round frame with stickles glitters and did the same for  the scarf and the frame for the greetings. And for the background, I stamped random snowflakes and embossed them with irridescent embossing powders. And for fun detail, if you see closely under the penguin, for the snow mount I used Liquid Aplique, so it looks like he stands on real snow highlighted with a little sparkly.

I am still learning to take better pictures, but in real life this card is really fun and very sparkly. :)

Well, that's an achievement for me to actually posted 2 cards this week. Hopefully I can play some more.  Hugs...

Vera

Mojo Monday 111

I love this week Mojo Monday sketch. And I am glad I get to play this week. It's been awhile since I get to do any sketch. I've been sick a lot and on top of that doing lots of home improvement. So, I am super duper excited to make some cards. Okay, okay, so far it just 1card. :) Here you go.

The stamp is from Hero Arts. I love penguins, so this li'l fella is perfect for me. Beside Mojo Monday, I am also doing this for Hero Arts color combo challenge. Please let me know what you think. Short blog for now. Trying to get more card done and getting ready for my mom's visit from Indonesia.

My mom will be here in 2 weeks (I'm counting the days) and she'll stay with us for a couple months. That means I get to eat some good, yummy Indonesian food. That's it for today and hope you're getting ready for an awesome week ahead.

Vera

Owl card

Yay.... card!! I finally have a card to post! :) It's been awhile, isn't it? I made this card for my husband who's thoughtfulness continue to make me feel so lucky and blessed to have him.

I used the stamp set CL309 from Hero Arts. Love the owl. For the eyes I used tiny black beads. Then I hand cut all the hearts for the tree and popped some of them on pop dots to make them stand out. Covered all the heart with stickles. Can't do heart without the glitters! So, what do you think?

I really need to start working on Christmas card. How time flies, it's almost November! Yikes... Really, really hoping I can get back on making a bunch of cards again. I still dizzy all the time and going to have my eyes check out tomorrow to see if maybe that's the cause. If not, then on to next check. I swear I am making the doctor rich this year. :(

Well, that's all for now people. Have a great evening. Hugs....

Vera

In My Room...

That's the title of my brother's latest book  that he launched on Oct. 22, 2009 in Jakarta, Indonesia. I am so very proud of him. For this book he photographed about 100 famous, influential people from Indonesia in their most personal space. Some of the people, are the people that I grew up reading about in magazines or newspapers. And here, they allowed my brother into their very private place to show a glimpse of their  life behind the door. That's just so awesome!
When I see my brother, I don't see him as the famous photographer that everybody's talking about. Instead I see the guy who works hard (and play hard) to get what he wants. The one who believes in my creativity and talent even when I questioned myself. I see the guy who knows how to enjoy life, who has huge sense of humor and definitely the one person who can look at me and make me laugh without saying a word.  Most of all, I just see my little brother and my mom's baby boy. Granted he's taller than me, but he's still my little brother. :) I am without a doubt is my brother biggest fan and supporter.

So, this blog today is dedicated to my brother, Jerry, to let him know how proud I am of him and all that he has achieved. You can check out  his blog here at Jerry Aurum. If you click on his blog banner you can also see his previous blogs & photos.

He has lots of awesome photos, from landscape, to animal, to human emotion, he tried it all. He's my source of inspiration. For me, his photography is more than just picture. They tell stories. Some makes you laugh, some makes you think, some just simply takes your breath away because of their beauties. Like his underwater and travel pictures, may of them just simply breathtaking. I could stare at them for hours. He also has a fan page on facebook where he also posted quite a  few of his work. So, please check it out when you have a chance.

And Jerry, here's to you. Hope you continue touching people's life through your art and creation. Well, that's all for today and please keep checking back. :) Hope you have a great week.

Vera

Bookworm

Hi there people. How are you all doing. I know I have been such a slacker lately. Once you're out of the swing of things, kind of hard getting back into it. :) Still trying to figure out what's really wrong with my health, but live goes on. While I was down, I use it as a chance to start reading again. I LOVE reading. Since my brother introduced me to adventure books when I was in 3rd grade, I've become a book lover.

Recently, my SIL and my niece were raving about the Fableheaven book. So, I start reading that since I love Harry Potter type of books. Then, in the middle of reading that, my niece started to read Percy Jackson & The Olympians, saying it's even better than Fableheaven.

So, that's what I've been doing this past month. Even in good days, when I feel okay, instead of making cards, I've been reading like crazy. There's 4 books in Fableheaven series so far and 5 on Percy Jackson. I am on the hunt for Percy Jackson last book. And I think after that, I can go back to my card making. :)

Been trying to scrapbook, too, but scrapbooking is a slow process for me, since I keep changing my mind of what paper I want to use. I am t rying to branch out, but I keep coming back to my clean and simple style. Anyhooo... enough babbling, I will post card this week for sure. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Monday!!!

Hello there...

Yes, I am still alive and breathing! My poor blog been neglected and I haven't made any cards lately. Sigh.... not that I don't want to.

See, I've been sick a lot this past month. Finally, one dr said that I tested positive to have stomach bacteria and gave me a bunch of antibiotic. First of all, I am not a fan of taking medicine. I grew up with my mom giving me natural remedy or Chinese herbal stuff.

Well, right on the day for my husband's 40th surprise b'day party, I had pretty severe reaction to the meds I was taking. My head felt like it's being squeezed and my whole jaw, ears just in pain. I was curled up in a ball crying. Hubby thought we're just going to his sister house for a visit and was ready to cancel going there seeing my condition. Of course, I couldn't let that happen. My father-in-law flew all the way from Illinois to surprise him. Anyhow, we made it to the party and hubby was very happy with his surprise. And thank you Joy, Les, and Billy for sharing this moment with us.

Come next day, which was hubby's real birthday, my condition worsen. Start to puke and went back to the dr, although I swear this one dr just want my copay and could careless that I am puking allover the place. Long story short, had to cancel hubby's birthday dinner. SORRY HONEY!!! :(

I decided to stop the meds and figure out different way to deal with my healt issue. My brother-in-law knows a great herbalist, so I might check that out. Keeping my fingers crossed that soon I don't have to deal with feeling nauseous all the time.

Meanwhile, please bear with me and I hope you will keep checking back to my  blog. I know you'd like  to see new creations and believe me I want to play, too. I would like to start making Christmas cards, so let's hope that my body will cooperate and I can get well soon. Thank you for stopping by. :)

Mojo Monday Week 105

Hi there. Did anyone miss me?? I hope so... :) Sorry that I haven't been really good at updating my blog lately.  I have some health issue lately that I spent lots of my free time just laying on the coach. The medicine that my doctor prescribed me has side effect that cause severe drowsiness. I actually tend to just take half of the dose just so I can at least stay awake and finish house chores.

Anyhoo.... I am hoping that I can get back to normal again. I hate being sick. I feel like my time get wasted when I'm sick. :)

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN!! She's my lovely sister-in-law. An awesome knitter and super cool gal. For her birthday, I  made an 8x8 album in the shortest time ever! See, I've been wanting to make an album for her birthday, but I kept procrastinating. Never quite decide on what type of album or what size, etc. Then on Wednesday evening myhusband told me that Thursday evening we need to go to Kristen's place to surprise her for her birthday. I was like, whattt??? It's tomorrow? Panic!! Look at the stack of pics that I want to use and low and behold, survival instict came up. I do work quite well under pressure. LOL....

Pretty much finish  putting together the album in 3,5 hours. Thank goodness for my Cricut! Make decorating a snap. And my week just get better. I made a pretty cute card for Mojo Monday Week 105. Yay... Here's the card. Let me know what you think. Thank you for stopping by and I'll try to update the blog at least once a week. Have a great weekend!

Taylored Expression Birthday Bash 2

I made another card for Taylored Expression birthday challenge. Again, I combine several challenges in 1. I thought it would be fun to see how many challenge can I combine in 1 card. Break my record, 4 challenges in 1. For details of each challenges click on Taylored Expression birthday bash icon on the side bar.

For Denise's chellenge, I love the colors on the picture. The pink, orange, and brown combination just looks so cool. Then the sketch is from Karen Giron. The buttons border is inspired by Sankari and the faux stitching plus the button stitching is part of Jackie's challenge. I'm embarassed to say that I do have sewing machine, but I honestly don't quite know how to use it. :) I will learn it soon!!

OK, short post today. Don't want hubby to feel ignored. Hehe... been spending my weekend  playing with my stamps. Hope you like the card. Let me know what you think. Happy Labor day....