Mojo123

Hi there... Quick post for today. At last minute I decided to do the Mojo Monday challenge. Took me awhile to figure out which stamps I want to use. I ended up using this old Stampin Up! Feathered Hope set. It's one of my favorite. I also used PTI Petal Flowers, Hero Arts Dots and Flower, and the greeting is from Hampton Arts Celebrate and Thanks set.

Yesterday, I was cleaning my scrapbook room (although if you look at my desk, it doesn't seem like I do any cleaning) and get rid of stuff that I don't want to use anymore. But, I also found my old fiber stash. I used to love using fibers for little details. And that's what I did with this card. Do you see the worm? I used 2 piece of threads for the worm. It just a small detail, but enough to add a little texture and excitement to the card. :) I also add fibers for the border on top and bottom of the center image.

Do you have any old stuff that you used to use for your card or scrapbook that you haven't use? Maybe it's time to dig it out. :) Happy Sunday, everyone... Hugs, Vera.

I am grateful

You guys who are so kindly taking the time to visit my blog, you don't know how much your thoughtfulness means to me. Thank you all for your super sweet comments for my post yesterday. Everybody is so loving and supportive. It truly warms my heart reading all your comments. Karen's comment about her dad was so sweet. How true that we always remember the small everyday kind, loving things that our loved ones used to do for us.

Speaking about  being thankful and grateful, each year, as we're getting ready for the Chinese New Year, my mom usually do some kind of praying or meditation to thank God for all the blessings from the previous year and to say our hope and prayer for the coming year. This year, I do it with her since she's here with me and gosh, when you quiet yourself and just think of all the things you're grateful for, it's amazing how rich you feel.

At first, you think, I am grateful I have a job, I am grateful for my kind and thoughtful husband, then slowly you start thinking of all the little things. That I am healthy, I have a house, I don't have to worry about food, I etc. It makes you realize and appreciate what you have. That really most of us are very rich in so many different way, when we take the time to appreciate what we do have and look around us. Yes, if you compare yourself to the rich people, you might think I don't have enough money to buy this, that, etc. But, when you look to those less fortunate, that's where you hopefully realize that you're pretty blessed. That's my deep thought for the day. :)

And,  to continue with the gratefulness theme, here's my card. I want to say this more often to those that I love. To all of you who are so kind to read my blog, to those who always encourage me, stand by me, loving me, I am so grateful for you. Love, Vera

In memory of my Dad...

Yesterday, I as feeling a bit blah. It was 8 years ago on January 27, 2002 that I lost my dad. And when my  brother emailed me about it, well what do you know... I still cry my eyes out. Every year, we email each other and remember the good times. And being a daddy 's girl, I think no matter how old I am, I'd always miss him. He was a man who loves to joke around and have this big belly laugh when he laughed. We miss that laugh. And I miss going shopping with my dad. He's one of kind. A man who actually love shopping! My SIL told me how one time he went to visited them and she spent the day went shopping with him and all her friends were like, what?? I thought that was cool. :) Wherever you are dad, I love you and I miss you.

Anyhow, so I was dragging my feet the whole day. Just not feeling it, you know. Then, when I came home from work... guess what waiting for me on the front door? My new Paper Trey Ink stamps and my Nestabilities label die cuts!!! Yay.... Rush through the door and tore open the package.

That's my first big smile for the day. :) I've been drooling over PTI stamp for awhile and to finally have those stamps in my hand... heaven... LOL, okay, heaven on earth. Loved, loved the stamp. I bought 4 sets and already itching to get more.

I was so giddy, I don't know what to make. I am still brainstorming. Too many ideas. But, I did make this cute card inspired by Nancy's card here. The dandellion is cut with Silhouette in 2 different size. Cover the top one with diamond stickles. The butterfly also has some glitters on the wings. Background and butterfly are from Hero Arts. I love this background. Make everything looks classy instantly. I rarely do complete card inside out, but this is one. Use my new PTI stamp for the inside greeting. LOVE this set. The grass, did you see the detail on the grass? I cut the stripes so it has more texture. Thank you Nancy, for the inspiration!

This card is so springy, isn't it? This card reflect my dad's personality. Cheerful and happy go lucky. Thank you all for stopping by and again, any comments is sooo appreciated. Hope your Thursday is great and tomorrow TGIF!!! Hugs, Vera

Lucy's and Virginia's challenge...

I am in love, people!!! With a little birdie from Silhouette. This bird is just so darn adorable, I can't stop myself. :) First thing first, my source of inspiration is Lucy Abram. She has the most impeccable taste in card making. I love the clean look of her cards, yet her cards is very creative. Well, she made this card using some birdies with musical note and as soon as I saw it, I just know I have to make some birdie cards.

So, I made this super duper cute cards, if I may said so myself, for Lucy's glitter challenge. And, guess what, turned out this card would be perfect for Virginia's Beat the Winter Blah challenge. Virginia is another talented lady from the Hero Arts flickr group. I have unlimited source of inspiration.

I found this digital musical paper online, printed them out, and put my Silhouette to work. I was trying to put some glitters only on the musical note, made a boo boo and ended up just spreading the glitters all over the birdies and it turned out cute! If I could squeal..., I would. I am so delighted with the way this card turned out. Hubby would be the lucky recipient for this card, since he always so appreciative of my cards. :)

Please leave a comment if you swing by here. I love reading your comments and really appreciate your input. Good night and may your dream be a sparkly one. I am so giddy right now. Amazing what a cute card can do for a girl. LOL. :)

Vera

Hope your day is full of sunshine...

That's my wish for all of you. :) How are you all doing today? I am in that dangerous shopping mode. Been itching to get some more new stamps (not that I need more stuff in my scrapbook room). I am debating myself on which stamp I should get. I am  thinking of getting some from Paper Trey Ink, since I don't have any of their stamp, yet. But, theirs are pretty pricey. So, we'll see as I continue my search. What's your latest stamp purchase? Share your ideas, anyone???

Meanwhile, last night I got this digital butterfly stamp from Hero Arts. I could so see myself get hook with the butterflies. Awhile back I was hook on birds, then the girly Ketto line, now it's the butterflies and dragonflies. They're just too cute. And the awesome thing about digital stamp, you can resize them to any size you want. I printed a bunch of different size butterflies, colored them, took them to our living room, so I can watched TV with my mom, and cutting away the butterflies. That's what I call productive multitasking. :)

Here's my first card I made using the digital butterfly. It's pretty simple, but I think it turned out pretty cute.  Love popping that butterfly. Can you see that I love blue from all the cards I made? LOL, I need to branch out more and try more different color combo.  Now, I need to catch up with some works. You all have a great, wonderful day. Hugs,
Vera

Dragonfly...

After my previous card, I think I fall in love with vellum all over again. Vellum is so perfect to create soft fluttery wings. This time, for Mojo Monday challenge, I go with blue and light blue vellum. I have this Magenta dragonfly stamp for the longest time and I think I only used it once before??? I bought it, because I love the way it looks and afterward, just never quite get the inspiration to use it. But now.... I'll find more ways to be creative with it.

Here's my card and the upclose of the dragonfly. On purpose, I only glue part of the body, so the end tail and the wings just flutters. I stamped the dargonfly on light blue and blue vellum. I layer the light blue (just the body part) on top of the blue vellum to create some layers. Also, the thickness of the layers, allow the tail to curl and kind of bouncy for 3D effect. Please leave a comment here if you stop by. I'd love getting to know you all that take the time to check my blog. I really appreciate it all. Have a great weekend everyone. Hugs, Vera

Monochromatic green

Monochromatic green
Originally uploaded by Vera, Ling's Design Studio

Lucy's challenge really get me going with the monochromatic theme. There's something to be said about using monochromatic color. It just looks pretty. So, I made 1 more monochromatic color card.

As I continue to use up my scraps, guess what I found. My old vellum. A few years ago, using vellum was the trend. This scrap is at least about 10 years old. Hah... I've been scrapbooking since '96, so this scrap was part of my beginner years. :)

Vellum always fun to use, especially for wing related items. They create the soft and elegant look. And talking about old stuff, the stamp I used is from Magenta. Not sure if the company still around, but I remember in early 2000 I used to find their stuff at the scrapbook expo, etc.

How to:
1. Using Cuttlebug, I dry embossed the vellum paper for background. Attached to card. I only glued the part that's behind the circle.
2. Cut a circle from soft green cardstock and stamped with the old writing. I used Versamark olive green ink.
2. Attached the 1st circle to the scallop circle.
3. Attached a strip of ribbon before you attched the circles.
4.For the dragonfly, stamped it twice on a piece of vellum, cut both stamped image following the shape. Glued one of top of one another, to create dimension. Only glued the body part and creaed the wing part so it looks like it flutters.
5. Stamped greeting and add button. Voila... you're done.

I might have to give the vellum more try. It was fun to be able to use old stuff for something new. Thank you all for stopping by and please leave a comment while you're here. Hugs..., Vera.

Lucy & Sweet Sunday challenge ...

Do you have a bunch of scrap papers? I have boxes of scraps and as much as I try to sort through them and thought of throwing some away, I have a hard time parting ways with my scraps. First of all, I don't like to waste stuff. I am into saving the planet. And second, I feel challenged, too.

I keep thinking, surely there's something I can do with them. :) Anyhoo... that's what I do with this card. Strictly made with leftover stuff. I stamped the birdies  on my white scrap papers. With my white paper, if there's space to be stamped, you can bet I'll try to utilize it. The background also leftover paper and the ribbon, too. On the background paper, I stamped only 1/3 of the bottom with Hero Arts Flower & Dots stamp, then I glued a strip of cardtsock to cover the transition area and add ribbon on top of the strip for extra texture.

I made this card for Lucy's card challenge (she's one of my favorite, favorite card maker) and also for Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday challenge. And hey, it's Wednesday, so I shouldn't miss my dateline like my previous try. :)

Do you guys love challenge? Who's challenge do you usually do? Please share the link. It's always fun to find new challenge. That's all for now and may your day be a blessed one.

Brrr...

Oh my gosh, this morning it was 26 degree here. That's the lowest I ever experience since I moved to Houston in 1995. For those of you who's used to winter you probably think it's only 26. Heh... Come on, I am a tropical girl, so this is super cold for me. If it's gonna be this cold, I'd at least would like to see some snow (I have a feeling, my mom doesn't agree with this...).

To make me forget about the cold, I made this cheerful owl card. Stamp is from Rachelle Anne Miller collection. I colored the owls with Copic markers. Add stickles glitter to the caterpillar and the snowflakes. Really love this sentiment "Anytime Message" set from Hero Arts. This set is so versatile and have lots of message for all kind of occasion.

So, what project are you working on now? Me... hopefully my family scrapbook. I've been slacking big time on my scrapbooking. My new year's resolution for 2010 would be to do more scrapbook pages. Hopefully to go through at least through the pictures from 2007. Yes... I am that behind.. :( Please share..., new project, new year's resolution? I hope you all know how much I appreciate you take the time to check my blog. Hugs,

Vera

Sweet Sunday Sketches

Finally... I get my groove back. :) After the hectic card making schedule during the holidays, I took a short break from making cards. Also, I have my mom here, so I try to spend as much time with her when I am home from work. But, when I saw Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketches for this week, and I just have to play . I love her challenge, but usually tend to miss the dateline. Yeah... I am one of those people that sometime wait till the last minute before deciding OK, let's do it. LOL...

Note, posted after I published the blog: Yep, just found out I missed the dateline again. Aarghh... Oh well, it's still fun to make this card.

Here's my first card for 2010!

I love this possum stamp by Tina Wenke. Sooo cute. What do you think? Perfect for Valentine? I know it's not red or pink, but it's very cheerful. :) This reminds me of my husband and I. We like to goofing around and I think this card reflect how I feel about our relationship. Oh, and that strip paper, is left over of the old KI Memories paper when they first came out. I do love that paper. Okie dokie, that's it for tonight. We have record breaking low temp here in Houston, so I am ready to bundle up and snuggle. Y'all stay warm. Hugs,

Vera

Happy New Year...

Happy New Year, everyone!! Hope you all had a great time welcoming the New Year. We had a pretty quiet New Year's eve. Went to Galveston in the afternoon for my MIL's late birthday celebration, then we swing by Joy's place for an hour or so. By ten at night, we were home and comfortably watching TV and I welcomed the New Year with my mom, my hubby, and our 4 legged babies, Nick, Ollie, & Coco the hedgehog. :)

On top of the Christmas hustle and bustle, my MIL and my mom both have their birthday close to each other, right after Christmas. So, this past month, I've been busy working on an album for each of them. For my MIL, I made an 8x8 scrapbook and for my mom I made an 11X8.5 scrapbook. The one for my mom was kind of hard for me to work on it without her knowing. She comes all the way from Indonesia and I don't want to just ignoring her by keep working on the album. Besides, she'll get suspicious. :) One night, hubby also get involved and keep her company and watch Hotel for Dogs with her, just so I can finished up the album. Love my hubby. So... thoughful and kind. :) Like my mom said, I am very lucky.

My mom's album is basically about her trip to the US this time (except for the cover page & I put one of my favorite poem about mother). So, I printed out the photos from Thanksgiving and our Disneyworld trip and just make a pretty simple album. I decided simple but done is better than fancy but only 2 pages done. Here's a couple of the pages from the album. (I actually tried to load 5 pages,  but somehow the other 3 keep coming up the wrong way).

Well, things still a bit hectic, but one of my New Year's resolution is to maintain my blog more consistently.  Hopefully, I can do much better this year. And, I do like to domore scrapbooking this year. My boxes of photos is growing and I better catch up.

Here's to 2010. May this year be filled with joy, peace, happiness and beautiful  blessings for all of you. Thank you all for your support and kindness. This blog is keep going and growing because of you all.

Love,

Vera