Cheers

Cheers to 2013! You've been a good year to us. And cheers to the new year, 2014! May we all be blessed on this new year. To all of you I wish you a year filled with many blessings and joy. May 2014 brings you good health, love & prosperity. May all kind of happy things come your way. Love to you all. :)

Count Your Rainbows

As the year ending, I look back on 2013 with gratefulness.

I am grateful that even though I live on the other side of the world from my family, I still get to see my niece first year through pictures and Skype. My family is making sure my niece knows me and I know her. There were tons of pictures and updates. An lots of Skyping. She is the only baby in Wirianta's family and to I love her tremendously.

My li'l sunshine, 1 year old. :)

Am also thankful that I achieved one of my dream, which was to take my mom on vacation to Europe. We went to Paris for a week and had a great vacation. Okay... we might suffer a bit from the cold weather as we didn't quite expect winter cold in Paris in mid May. But, we still make the best of it.

And, in 2013 our family grew from 4 to 5 then back to 4. We adopted a rescue, Abby in June. Then, sadly we had to let Ollie, our 15 year old pug went to the rainbow bridge mid of October. I was heart broken, but at the same time I am thankful for the time I had with her. She taught me responsibilities, persistence, and most of all about being a good doggy mom. :)

Abby & Eli love snuggling together. Seeing them together makes me happy.

A few years back, one of my wish was to work with good people who appreciate my work ethic and offer flexible hours. Well, that wish came true as well. I love my job and the people I work with. My boss can sometime drives me crazy and makes me want to bang my head to the wall, but he's fun to work with and he actually is a pretty darn good boss. I love that our office always aim for drama free environment.

Craft wise, 2013 been pretty awesome. I started the year with fun time at winter CHA and met some girls that become good friends. Then, I get to work with some fabulous companies and was picked as one of the winner for World Card Making Day. Most of all, I am so grateful for the friends I met through this hobby.

With that note, I want to share this card I made for i {heart} papers. Thankful that I get to work with this awesome company.



I made this card using Reverse Confetti Count Your Rainbows set and the cute fox from Lawn Fawn Into The Wood set. Also entering this card for Simon Says Stamp Bling It On challenge (the word "count" is covered with Clear Wink of Stella glitter pen and the green glitter paper is from American Crafts POW paper).

I hope this year been a good year for you all as well. And, I am sure we all have our up and downs through the year, but like my wise mom always said you need some hard times, so you can appreciate the good times. At the end, count your rainbows and your blessings and not your thunderstorm. Happy Monday, everyone!

Thanks A Bunch

Yesterday, I came home to happy mail. Got my goodies from i {heart} papers. I've been eyeing Avery Elle Thanks A Bunch set from the moment I saw it from their new release sneak peek. So, needless to say I wanted to play with it right away.

The patterned paper is from Carta Bella  Hello Again 6x6 paper pad. You can check out the Carta Bella collection that i {heart} papers carry over HERE. This is a super quick card. Take me less than 5 minutes to complete this.

Cut the patterned paper, stamp the images directly on it and cover the flower with clear Wink of Stella for some sparkle and that's it.

As much as I am excited for some new stamp, I have to admit, I've been struggling to create. I think all the holiday craziness just gets to me. All the commercialized side of the holidays was a total turn off for me. Maybe it just me, but this year, I feel like it's too much about sales, sales, sales instead of family, family, family. Then again, the holidays always makes me miss my family even more and even 18 years I've been in the States, that feeling never go away. So, maybe I am just feeling down. 

Or, I might have eaten too much sweet. I don't want to see anymore cookies for a while now. Yep... New Year resolution. Healthier lifestyle is in order. Okay... enough rambling from me. :) TGIF!!

Merry Christmas

Dear all, I just want to wish you all a wonderful Christmas filled with love and joy. May you all have a lovely time with your family and friends.

Despite the distance between us, I still get to celebrate Christmas with my family in Indonesia, thanks to Skype. My brother, SIL and my mom called before midnight and I get to chat with them and even see when my younger brother & his family arrived for the celebration.

Seriously, amazing how far technology has come. It means so much to me to be able to see their faces, including my super cute & adorable niece who now can give me kiss bye. :) Of all things I treasure in life, my family relationship is what I treasured the most. I am blessed and so thankful to have such a close knit family.

I hope as Christmas come and goes, you keep  your family close at heart as well and keep the CHRISTmas spirit in your heart all through the year.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours. :)

Naughty Or Nice?

Hi everyone. It's been quiet here on my blog lately, isn't it? I've been struggling to create. My mojo decided to skip town without telling me. Like everyone else, I go through the up and down of creating. There's moment where I can create like crazy and then of course, moment where I just sit there on my desk and for the life of me, couldn't come up with anything.

 

However, I did finished my Christmas cards. Like I mentioned before, I don't normally do repeat design, but I love this one, so am repeating them, and to keep things fun, I either change the critter or the sentiment.

 

You can see the original card HERE, where I used the polar bear. Since, many of my family members are doggy people, I have to make some cards with doggies of course. Here's the first one.

 

 

The wreath was made using Wplus9 Woodland Wreaths set. The cute dog is from Sisters Stamps, Santa Hat from TSG Pugalicious and sentiment from Papertrey Ink. For extra texture, I added liquid applique on the white of the Santa's hat.

 

On this one, I used the sentiment from Mama Elephant Winter Wonderland set.

 

Bunny... gah... I love bunny. I guess because I was born on rabbit year, bunny has special place in my heart. Hm... who am I kidding. LOL, I love animals in general. This cute bunny is Buttercup from Purple Onion Designs.

 

You couldn't see it on the pics, but all the wreath and the bunny hat has soft glitter on it. I used Wink of Stella clear glitter pen, which is so awesome. Love this pen!

 

Well, there you have it. This is my Christmas cards for this year. I think this year Christmas would be very low key for us. Nothing big, just family dinner on Christmas day and that's about it. And, of course there's Christmas presents for the doggies as well. And yes.. our doggies totally behave like kids. I have to keep the presents away from them, because if they see it, they want to play with it right away. I mean... they'll do what I call the war cry, which is actually excitement/demand cry asking for us to give things to them.  Nope... our kids not spoiled at all. Ha...

 

Enjoy your holiday season......

Paper Smooches Special Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to Paper Smooches Special Blog Hop!

Kate (owner of i {heart} papers) suggested an idea to Kim Hughes to create a stamps and dies to support our rescued furry friends. They worked together to create some really fun dog rescue products! A portion of the sales will be donated to Home for Good - http://www.homeforgooddogs.org. Kim asked us to share these fun products with you, through our projects.

I am so excited to participate on this, as dog rescue is a cause that I support with all my heart. After all, I've been blessed in my life to be the lucky mom of a couple rescue dogs. If I could, I'd rescue as many dogs as possible. I truly believe dogs are the most loyal, loving animals. They enrich my life in so many ways and they  bring me so much joy and happiness.

Let's take a peek at my card. I am using the smiling doggy from Paws For A Cause set and the sentiment is from Lucky Paw set.

The fun patterned paper is from Studio Calico Here & There collection. Check out i {heart} papers for other collection from Studio Calico.

To add extra fun to our blog hop...we are offering up a prize! § TWO winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs.
§ The prize - A Lucky Dog stamp set, Paws for a Cause stamp set and Dog Icons dies.
§ Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed for your chance to win! (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your chances) 
§ You have until midnight MT on Wednesday, December 18th to leave a comment. 
§ Please check the IHP Blog (http://www.blog.iheartpapers.com) on Friday, December 20th to see if you are one of the TWO lucky winners.

From here please hop on to the talented Wida Miller. In case you miss a link, here's a complete list of the hop participants:

Kate/IHP

Sarah Gough

Lori Tecler

Judy Rozema

Deb Felts

Vera Yates <-- you are here

Wida Miller

Stacey Schafer

Lindsay Amrhein

Sparkle & Shine

Well, I finally have a pile going for my Christmas cards. And, what I love about my cards this year is the fact that I get to combine stamps from different companies in 1 card. Love it when the images works together.

 

Let's take a look at the card first.

 

 

Now, the wreath is from Wplus9 Woodland Wreaths set. I simply draw a circle and then layered the holly and the pine leaves to create the wreath. The cute bear is from Purple Onion Designs, colored and fussy cut. The hat & scarf are from There She Goes Stamp Pugalicious set. And the sentiment is from Mama Elephant.

 

This is the basic design and while I am not a fan of doing a repeated design over and over (because I tend to get bored real quick), right now time is of the essence, so all my Christmas cards will basically have wreath this year.

 

I do change the critters for variation. I'll post all the variation, soon. Right now, I am just having fun coloring and cutting all the critter images. I'll have puppy, bunny, deer, etc. Yes... cuteness overload. :)

 

I give myself till the 15th to finish my stash! How's your stash going? Or yours already mailed? Heck.. I haven't even done Christmas shopping. Is there more than 24 hours in a day???

Caring Hearts Card Drive Prize Winners

This year Caring Hearts Card Drive received over 3600 cards!! This definitely break our previous years record. And we received cards from all over the world, including Qatar, Japan, Mexico, Germany, etc. How amazing is that??

All of us from Caring Hearts Card Drive would like to thank all of you who generously supported our card drive. Every year this card drive growing bigger and bigger because all of you. Your kindness and generosity really means a lot to us. Thank you for sharing your creativity, thank you for helping us in brighten the elderly holiday season, thank you for being awesome.
 

And, of course big, big thank you to all the sponsors. Your support has been amazing and I am so grateful for all your support.

Below is the list of all the winners from this year card drive. Congrats to all. I’ll be contacting you.

Avery Elle	$30 GC	Linda Ralph
Cleary Besotted Stamp	Framed Sentiments, Thinking of You, Nuts For You with coordinating dies	misy murphy homeschoolers
Elise Blaha Cripe	3 stamps of choice & quilting e-course	Dori Yannatone
Ellen Hutson	$25 GC	Masami Tada
Fresh Squeezed Stamp	1 free stamp set	Kristie Goulet
Hero Arts	5 cling stamps	Pam Elliott
I {heart} papers	$10 GC	Susanne Vargas
Inspiration Emporium	$25 GC	Cindy Groh
Lawn Fawn	$25 GC	Josephine Moyer
Li'l Inker Design	$15 GC	Lisa Lahiff
May Arts	3 spool of ribbons	Carol Longacre
MFT	$25 GC	Marilee Winiarski
Neat & Tangled	$25 GC	Sarah Bailey
Newton Nook & Design	$20 GC	Terri Barlage
Online Classes (Jennifer)	2 classes	Ria Montefalcon
Paper Crafts magazine	4 special issue	Cheryl Yamashita
Paper Smooches	$25 GC	Susan Garner
Secret Sponsor	Assorted Products	Theresa French
SSS	$40GC	Tracy Baker
Studio Calico	3 months subscription	Maureen Wong
Tim Holts	Goodies pack	Ashley Gohl
TSG	$15 GC	Hazel Cue
The Twinery	$40 GC	Barb Ghigliotty
Latina Crafter	$30GC	Teresa Godines
Gina K Design	Petite Border set	Andrea D. LaVigne
Ren Yi	Sequins package	Cheryl Hutcherson
Waltzing Mouse Stamps	$30 GC	Sulma Warner
Sweet Stamp Shop	$10 GC	Katrina Hansen
Crafters Companion	$20 GC	Dawn Erho
Spectrum Noir	2 - 6 set markers	Ann Kikuchi
Melissa Bickford	3 PTI set	Lindsey Larsen
Canuk Craft	$25 GC	Caroline Bredeson
Uniko Studio	15 poundsterling	Cindy Phelan

Wplus9 Monday Mood Board #24

Hi all. How's your weekend going? Mine been quiet with lots of packing, cleaning & organizing. I finally finished packing and mailing all the cards from Caring Hearts Card Drive. Then it's time to clean up the guest room that's been used as storage place for all those cards. :)

I managed to find some time to work on some cards as well. Here's 1 of the card, which I made for Wplus9 Monday Mood Board challenge #24 using Woodland Wreaths & Silver Bells set. Both sets available from i {heart} papers.

It took me forever to try the distress stickles, but I sure do love it! The glitter is not as fine as the regular stickles, but I guess that's what  make it super sparkly?? I covered the bells with it. The string is May Arts ivory rope twisted burlap. 

Well, one card down several more to go. I still have a long way to go to finish my Christmas cards. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening.

Joy

I am way behind in making my Christmas cards for family and friends. Yep... I am still working on my cards. Nothing like last minute pressure. :)

 

Last night, I made this card using some goodies I got from i {heart} papers.

 

 

I used Avery Elle Laurel set for the wreath and the sentiment is from Wplus9 Silver Bells set. To add some festivity to this card I used Diamond Stickles on the leaves so it's all sparkly. Nothing say festivity like some sparkle, right?

And that cute birdie is from Studio Calico that I colored with Hero Arts dauber. Loving those daubers!

So, are you done with your Christmas cards or are you like me, hustle at the last minute kind of gal? Either way, enjoy your holiday season.

Oh, update on the card drive. We broke our record. This year we received about 3600 cards. We are sorting and packing all the cards at the moment. We will pick winners soon. So, stay tune!

Happy Birthday Eli

Today, we are celebrating my baby boy 2nd birthday. Yes, we're talking about Eli, my puggy boy. He's truly mama's boy. He'd follow me around the house. Pretty much where I am is where you'll see him. And, yes, most likely he'd be on my lap.

He is my boy with many name. I call him baby boy, Pikachu, E, snuggle baby, pumpkin pie, chunky monkey, my li'l sunshine, etc. He brings so much joy & love. Truly, I could have a bad day, but he could make it better with his cute face and snuggle. I just love this boy so very much. 

Let's went down memory lane a bit. This is him when he was about 2 months old.

 Best snuggling buddy there is. Love that soft, pudgy puppy belly.

And,  these are a couple of his latest pics. Last week, at Petco we found a bunch of Halloween costume for only $1 each, so we bought a bunch of costume just for fun. Of course, Eli treat them more like a toy and just want to shake it and play with it.

My handsome boy.

Do I look like a giraffe??

To Eli, happy 2nd puppy birthday. Yes, I'll be known as the crazy pug lady and that's okay because I am so lucky to have you.

Now that I have gushing enough about my baby, let me share a card for my i {heart} papers post. 

Since I need to work on a bunch of Christmas card for family and friends, I whipped up this Christmas card using Echo Park This & That 6x6 paper pad (they are out of this pad, but they have plenty of other Echo Park paper pad available) and Wplus9 Woodland Wreath set.

I am loving everything Wplus9 lately. They have many fabulous sets that just match my style. I am also entering this card to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

Well, that's it from me today. Thank you for swinging by here and have a fabulous Tuesday!

TSG Critter Christmas Challenge

Happy December! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with your loved ones. We had a lovely dinner with the family, ate too much (there were 4 different dessert for us to choose from including creme brule, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cake with chocolate mouse) and all in all just enjoying a good family time.

The rest of the long weekend, I just enjoy being at home and do lots of cleaning. I also get to meet up with my dear friend, Trinh, for a breakfast and spent some time with my cousin and my super cute nephew. So, it was really a pretty great weekend.

Now, back to work. Hah...  And, can you believe it's already December?? Yikes... Felt like this year just fly by.

Anyway, this week I get to pick the challenge theme at There She Goes Stamp blog. Since I love animals, no surprise there I pick a challenge that involves critter. Yep, my challenge is to create any Christmas project using critter image. And, here's mine using the adorable moose from the newly released, Merry Christmoose set.

I love this set! The moose is cute & fun to work with. A quick coloring and some fussy cut later, I have this CAS card done in bout 20 mins. Love it when a card can come quickly like that. You have 1 week to play along. To play along and for the prize detail please check out TSG blog.

That's it form me today. May your week starts off wonderfully!

Merry Christ-moose/Nice Rack/Nordic Borders Blog Hop Challenge‏

We at TSG love our holiday sets, and we love our animals, too…so whenever they can combine, we are THRILLED.  The new Merry Christ-moose set from Torico is no exception!

Merry Christ-moose is a 4x8 set that includes a total of 18 stamps and will sell for $18. It will be released on Saturday, November 30th at 11pmEST. Made to go along with the Merry Christ-moose stamp set, Nice Rack has all those sentiments that may be a little bit naughty, but are definitely nice. Nice Rack is a 3x4 set that includes a total of 7 stamps and will sell for $9. It will be released on Saturday, November 30th at 11pmEST.

Torico has also created this GORGEOUS Nordic Borders set as well, which will add a finished, homey feel to any of your creations.  Nordic Borders is a 2x6 set that includes a total of 3 stamps and will see for $3. It will be released on Saturday, November 30th at 11pmEST.

Would you like to win the new Merry Christ-moose/Nice Rack/ Nordic Borders sets? Here is what you need to do-visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post. 

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday, November 30th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

Be Merry Blog Hop

Our second set from new illustrator Danielle Lounds find’s us celebrating the holidays with her unique style of combining handwritten sentiments, with super cute images. I love that the words can be colored, and the tag image will be perfect for cards, and gift giving.

Be Merry is a 4x8 set that includes a total of 9 stamps and will sell for $18.00. It will be released on Saturday, November 30^th at 11pmEST.

 

Would you like to win the new Be Merry stamp sets? Here is what you need to do- visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post.

 

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday, November 30th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

Tis The Season Blog Hop

** For i {heart} papers sale code please scroll down. **

A full set of fun from artist Wendy Leach, features our favorite sock goblin, but lots of other winter accessories to go along with it! This whimsical and fun holiday set is sure to be a favorite.

Tis the Season is a 6x8 set that includes a total of 12 stamps and will sell for $24. It will be released on Saturday, November 30th at 11pmEST.

  

Would you like to win the new ‘Tis the Season set? Here is what you need to do-visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post.

Am also entering this card to Simon Says Stamp anything goes challenge.

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday, November 30th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

i {heart} papers SALE

Hi everyone! i {heart} papers is celebrating Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a 20% off store-wide coupon (in stock items only and not valid on gift certificates) on all orders $50 or more, valid through 12/2, Cyber Monday. Use coupon code Black20DT13 at checkout. All orders will ship on Tuesday December 3. Enjoy!

Dare To Jump Blog Hop

This winter sports silhouette stamp is perfect for the winter enthusiast in your life. Not only will it make amazing cards, but it will ROCK for scrapbooking, too.

Dare To Jump is a 4x6 set that includes a total of 9 stamps and will sell for $15.00. It will be released on Saturday, November 30^th at 11pmEST.
 

Would you like to win the new Dare to Jump  stamp set? Here is what you need to do-visit the Trendsetter’s blogs that are participating in each of the blog hop challenges below and comment on their creations as you go. One of the Trendsetter’s blogs (from each hop day) will be randomly chosen as the ‘it’ blog and a winner will be picked using a random number generator from the comments left on that Trendsetter’s Blog Hop Challenge post.

You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning new stamps! The Blog Hop Challenges will be open until 5 PM Eastern Time Saturday, November 30th with the winner being announced during the release party chat.

Winter Wonderland

I fell in love with Mama Elephant Winter Wonderland set from the moment I saw it. It took me a while before I got it, but I finally did and I just love the serene, sweet look of this set. And love the font combo on the sentiment.

Here's my first  card using this set. 

I have tons of Christmas cards to make and this set makes it so easy to create gorgeous simple card. I lined the bottom of the card panel with stickles for some soft glitters. This card goes to Caring Hearts Card Drive.

And, peeps this week is the last week to send in your cards for Caring Hearts Card Drive. If you plan to send in your cards, please do so. Our record was roughly 3500 cards. Would be great to break  that record. We appreciate your support and thank you for making this drive successful every single year. Hugs, xo