Peep-tastic 2

This post marks my last day with Avocado Arts. Like many things in life, sometime changes just need to happen. And Avocado Arts have many exciting things planned behind the scene, so I am sure you'll see many crafty goodness from them. 

Through AA I have met some girls that I consider as good friends and I am grateful for that.

To Michelle & Lisa thank you so much for the opportunity you have given me. It's been a pleasure working with you both. With that note, here's my card for AA:

The big bunny peep is one of my favorite from AA. I think he's fun and hey, guess what?? He's also sugar free. So do the mini ones. Hah....

Check out what the Pit Crew has created for you today.

Ashley Harris

Cristal Hobbs

Connie Mercer

Teri Anderson

And, I have another card to share. The 1st of the month also mean it's time for new Some Odd Girl's March sketch challenge. You can find the challenge HERE and you have one whole month to play along. Here's my card using the cute daschund from Preppy Pups set.

After pulling out my chalk sets earlier this month, I kind of loving using the chalk technique to color my puppy. It  totally cut the coloring time. :)

Have a fabulous Friday everyone!

Trendsetter

Hm.... did you see THIS announcement? Yep, still pinching myself. The fabulous There She Goes Stamps has graciously invited me to join their team and to say I am excited is to put it mildly.

I love their cute sets and their sometime "naughty-make-you-laugh-out-loud" sentiment sets. Just wait till you see their March new releases. I promise they will make you snort! ;) I am looking forward to this new adventure and will have tons of fun inky projects to share.

Want to see a couple of my favorite TSG sets?? Warning... if you have drink in your hand you might want to put it down. ;)

Funny how thing works sometime. I literally just took a step to close one door and then out of the blue a new door appeared. A door that I've been looking at for quite a while and thought would be hard to open. I don't take things for granted. I am thankful for all the blessings & opportunities that happen to me. Lately some doors closed, but in return a few lovely things just showed up and I am thankful for every single one of them.

And, here's a card I made using TSG stamps as published on Paper Crafts March April edition (the digital version one).

Thank you for letting me sharing my happy news.

Peep-Tastic

Last day of February! Imagine that, we already passed 2 months into 2013. Where did the time go?

I guess time flies when you have tons of things on your to do list. March is going to be a super busy month for me. Lots of exciting new stuff coming up. Paper craft wise and work wise. At work, we have quite a few new constructions going up. So being the only office gal I know my boss going to pile lots of stuff on me. Not complaining though. I love my job and even though we're only a small team we all work well together.

Now, for today I have a sweet card to share with you using Avocado Arts Spring Medley set. I already finished the card when I thought that I should have at least do one yellow peep. 

Does this makes you crave some peeps? :) Hope you have a peep-tastic day.

Ashley  Harris

Connie Mercer

Cristal Hobbs

Teri Anderson

Faux Stitching

Quick post today, just want to share this quick & simple card. This is one of those rare card where I actually use black for background. 

No real stitching for me. Well, I would if I could just figure out how to use my sewing  machine to sew on paper properly. I am so not good with sewing machine. Hand stitching, yes I could manage that, but too darn lazy. ;)

It's always good to have thank you card on hand, because you just never know when you'll need one. And, speaking about thank you, I want to say thank you to everyone who has left kind words regarding my post "Saving A Life" HERE. 

I think my brother didn't even realize the impact he made when he made his decision. Yep... still bursting with pride. :)

Paper Made Bakery

Hello, it's my day at Paper Made Bakery today. Here's a sneak peek of my card.

Please check out the project at Paper Made Bakery. Thanks so much. :)

SPARKS Challenge

Happy Monday everyone. I am back today with a new SPARKS Picture Perfect challenge. Here's the inspiration pic:

Pretty cute inspiration picture, isn't it? With the kissy, kissy in mind, I created this:

Simple and to the point. Sometime love just doesn't need any word. :) Check out what the SPARKS team has created for this challenge HERE. Have a fabulous Monday everyone.

Saving A Life

This is the most worthy story that I ever wrote for my blog. No card. This is just a personal, true story that I feel worth sharing.

I  translate this directly from what my younger brother Jerry Aurum wrote:

A seamstress laid in the ICU room of a certain hospital in Jakarta. He was taken there by his employer. A young doctor checked on him and found out that this man had a heart attack and they need to do a coronary stent, that cost hundreds of million in rupiah (thousand of dollars in US currency).

The employer said he couldn't afford the cost and they couldn't contact the patient's family. Dealing with heart attack, each minute counts. In fact within the 15 minutes the patient was in  the hospital, his heart stopped 3 times, but each time the doctor was able to revive him.

The doctor asked his colleague what should he do. If they don't do anything, the patient will die. The colleague said well it is what it is, what can we do. Unsatisfied with the answer, the doctor went t the hospital director. Same answer. As a doctor he's facing the dilemma, if he takes an action without the permission from the family and the hospital and no way to know how the patient going to pay for the procedure,  he is facing a high risk that could cost not only his career but his own life (being a doctor is his life).

At the end, the doctor decided to do the coronary stent on his patient who is dying. Without any way of knowing who would cover the cost for the procedure, without any back up from his colleague or the hospital. And if he failed, he would be the one that being accused by the family as being responsible for the death. In his mind he only think of 1 thing. This patient is only 32 years old and who will feed his little children if he passed away?

With God's blessing, the patient survived. When the patient's wife arrived (she's only a maid with low income), she was so thankful. And the doctor was able to convince the hospital to not charge anything to the patient and asked the employer to help with the cost of the medicine that the patient will really need to stay alive and get well.

A few hours later, this story go around the hospital and became hot topic. Some nurses cried and thank the doctor even though they don't know who the patient is.

When I heard this, I told the doctor, there's moment in life that show a doctor his quality as a doctor and there's also moment that show a doctor his quality as a human being.

This young doctor name is Jeffrey Wirianta, a well known cardiologist in Jakarta who loves being a doctor more than anything. And me, Jerry Aurum, is his younger brother who is so proud to have a brother who truly dedicate his life to his work and even more his dedication to other human being. ~

You see, the cardiologist in this story, Jeffrey Wirianta is my big brother. When I read this post on my younger brother's Facebook wall, I found myself crying with so much love and admiration. And true to his style, when I  told Jeff how proud I am of him, all he said that at that moment all he could think of is saving this man's life. And that he was afraid. Afraid of what "might happen". 

And that makes me even prouder. That he was afraid, yet he did it anyway. That's what courage is. To do the right thing even when you're afraid. The world need more doctors, more people like him. He always wanted to become a doctor since he was only 5 years old. That's the only answer he ever gave when people ask him what he'd like to be.

In high school, my mom asked him why he wants to become a doctor and he said to save life. To this day, despite all his success, he stay true to his reason and I know my mom is one proud mom at this moment. If you ask my mom, I know she'd said she reached her life goal, which is  to raise decent human being.

Mom, I  think you did an amazing job in raising us. Especially with Jeff as he became such a good role model for us to follow. To Jeff, thank you for making me believe that there's still good people out there. That there's still real doctor out there who really about saving lives.

Right now, I  feel like my heart would burst with so much love and admiration. Jeffrey Wirianta, I am so blessed and proud to have you as my brother. You are the best! Love, love, love. 

Pixie Dust

Another day of fairy cuteness from this month Some Odd Girl clear stamp release. This one is called Pixie Dust.

The name Pixie sounds very spunky to me, so I decided this fairy likes to stand out and thus the teal hair color. You can check out more samples from the design team HERE. Thank you for swinging by here.

Paper Made Bakery Day

It's Tuesday and that's my day at Paper Made Bakery. Here's a sneak peek of my project over there.

The materials are all from this kit:

Please stop by the store blog and say hi.

Fairy Magic

Happy Monday. I am lucky that this past weekend I get to spend it with some stamping friends. Trinh Arietta & Lisa Alonzo came over and we spent the whole Saturday chatting & stamping. It's always such a treat when we're able to get together, because my close friends doesn't do stamping at all. So, it's nice when you have someone who can share your excitement over new stamp sets or technique, etc.

Trinh stayed with me and we spent the first night chatting and since it was PTI release day, hah.. of course we squeeze in time to place an order. It's fun because we can bounce off our ideas or talk each other out from ordering something that we might only use once or twice. Like, I almost order a flower set that I think is pretty (but I always struggle with flower stamp) and Trinh said yeah, I could see you using it once. And, thanks to her I ended up ordering something else that I will definitely use more often.

And... it's always feel like shopping spree because we can check out each other stamp collection and try out the sets that we don't have or maybe have thought to buy. Thanks to Lisa, now I know for sure I like the ikat print pattern that is such a trend right now. And Trinh is so awesome she let me borrow some of her sets. I simply love my weekend. Now, if only they live closer so we can get together more often!! :)

Oh yeah.... I do have a card to share with you. After all, it's clear stamp release time at Some Odd Girl. Let me introduce you to Fairy Magic. There's just something about fairy images that I love. 

This card came together pretty quick. Love it when it happened. And, yep, I fussy cut this fairy and let the wings hang off the edge of the card. Fussy cutting is relaxing for me. What about you? Do you like fussy cut?

Check out Some Odd Girl for more samples from this new release. That's it for me today and have a fabulous Monday, peeps!

A new release to DIE for from The Greeting Farm!

** For my Avocado Arts Hop post please scroll down. **

The Greeting Farm is moving in a NEW direction, and we are so excited to unveil what you may have seen bits and pieces of after CHA!  Yes, the rumors are true!  While TGF will still continue to bring you the cute characters you've come to know and love, but they are expanding and bringing you a new collection of clear stamp sets that come packaged with....drumroll...... MATCHING DIES!

TGF took its time testing them until they found the perfect fit and we think you will love them!  They will work in any standard die cutting machine (Cuttlebug, Big Shot, Grand Calibur, etc.) and come tucked in with their matching stamp sets for an amazing price of only $10.50 per set!  Your papercrafting adventure just got a little more exciting, right?  The possibilities with these sets are endless and you'll see just what we're talking about when you hop with us today!

To celebrate this exciting news, The Greeting Farm has invited SIX guest bloggers to the party today, including yours truly. To say I am super excited over this awesome invitation is to put it mildly!! I love cute and CAS stamps. Thank you for the opportunity, Jessica. :)

Let's get on to the projects so you can see what I'm talking about! First up is my card using "Mini Cupcakes w/ die". Love, love, love how easy the whole things work. This set has various cupcake top & bottom designs that allow you  to create lots of different cupcake.

I just had to add candle for a little extra oomphh. ;) There's just something about having something stick out of the card.

Next card is using "Mini Flower w/ die". This set comes with various leaf that has different pattern. My favorite is the one with heart of course.

The 3rd set is "Mini Butterflies w/ die". There are 5 butterflies on this cute set and all can be used with the die of course. I used 3 of the butterflies on my card. Do you notice a trend by now?? Yes... I am ready for spring. Look at those pretty springy colors.

Then on my desk I found some rectangles that I cut out from patterned papers and in an effort to clean my desk from scattered paper I ended up with an extra card to showcase the other butterfly from the set.

Now, last but not least "Mini Clouds w/ die". I decided to use the cloud as non cloud though. Hah... In fact, I decided to pair it up with the cupcake bottom and create a hot air balloon. I add a bird that I cut using Silhouette and cover it with glitter for finishing touch.

Phew... quite a long post, isn't it? So, what do you think of these new sets from TGF? Please leave a comment & share your thoughts.

Be sure to stop by The Greeting Farm's blog once you complete the hop and enter for your chance to win ALL FOUR new stamp/die sets!  We cannot wait to see all of the super creative ways you are going to be able to use these new sets and will keep this contest open until NOON CST tomorrow so grab some snacks, have fun getting inspired on our hop and enjoy our new release that is simply, to "Die" for!

EMILY BRANCH

KIMBERLY CRAWFORD

AJ OTTO

KRISTINA WERNER
VERA YATES < --- you are here

LATISHA YOAST

JESSICA DIEDRICH

SUZANNE BIER

ROSEMARY BRIDGES

ANITA MADDEN

RACHEL PARYS

ANDREA ROSENSTIEL

JODI STANISCH

JO THOMPSON

PEGGY TOOLE

JONI WILSON

TGF BLOG

Special Delivery

Before I have doggies, I have bunnies. Well, I mean we have family dogs, but my very first pet that belong to me was a bunny. And, I was born in the year of the rabbit, so I guess I will always be partial to rabbit. Besides, if you ever watch Bambi (I love, love, love Thumper), how could you not love bunny??

Why are we talking about bunnies you ask? Well, it's because I am sharing a sneaky peeky look at the upcoming March set from Avocado Arts. And, literally my bunnies are peeking from the postage frame.  

I think so far this is my favorite Avocado Arts card. Very happy with the way this card turned out. Plenty of white space. Check. Fun color combo. Check. Bunnies. Check. :)

And guess what??? It's the 15th, which means today is also Avocado Arts blog hop day and we're giving away these cute sets.

Simply check out what the Pit Crew has created for today's hop and leave comment along the way.

Ashley Harris

Emily  Branch
Emily Leiphart

Julie Masse

Kelley Eubanks

Pinky Cristal Hobbs

Teri Anderson

Two Peas Valentine's Day Sale

Just a quick post to let you know that Two Peas has Valentine's Day sale going on from now until February 20th. All Valentine's products are marked down 25% off the retail price. Simply click on the button below and it will takes you straight to the sale. :)

In case you're wondering why I am promoting this, well I am an affiliate for Two Peas, so whenever you click through me I get commission. A girl needs to fund her crafty addiction somehow, right? If you shop at Two Peas through me please let me know, so I can  thank you. :)

Happy 1st Anniversary Jerry & Dena

Happy Valentine's day everybody!

A year ago, on this day my family and I were busy getting ready for my brother's wedding. And it was the rare time where all of us were together and able to celebrate Valentine's day as a family. It was a sweet moment just because all of us were there.

Then, came February 15th when we welcome a new member to our family, my awesome SIL, Dena. (I really should post this on the 15th, but I have a couple post already scheduled for tomorrow and besides I figure the 14th noon here is equal the 15th in Indonesia). 

I mailed them this card that's published on the current Paper Crafts Creative Card Challenges (for using butterfly in your card). It's one of my favorite card. 

Here's pic of the happy couple on their wedding day.

Just look at their big smiles.

These 2 are just a couple of my favorite pics from their wedding.I actually have lots of favorite. I mean their wedding was truly the best wedding I've ever attended. And it was fun as well. Beautiful & fun just like the couple.

My brother said just like they said in romance novel, when
he danced with her it's as if there only the 2 of them in the world.

My goofy, wild, but romantic brother found his match. And.... a year later, they are now mommy & daddy to a precious baby girl, our li'l sunshine, Shakira. As the proud auntie, I may be a bit bias, but I think she's super cute! I love her big, bright eyes. That eyes totally combination of the parents. The shape just like my SIL's, but the glint of those big eyes totally my brother's.

To Jerry & Dena, I wish you both many happiness and may your marriage always be blessed with love & joy. And as you go through the up and down of marriage may you always be filled with enough love to be understanding to one another and be willing to forgive. And thank you for giving me a beautiful niece. Good job on  the production! ;)

You  know as I was browsing through the pictures from the event, I also realized how much I love my extended family. I mean the wedding was also our big family reunion with my aunts, uncles, cousins from Germany, Malaysia, Australia coming down for the occasion. It was a blast. And part of me truly wish I can hang out with them more often, getting to know them better.

With my girl cousins & aunts.

With many of us scattered all over the world, it truly makes me appreciate the time when we're able to get together. Heck, some of them I just met in person for the very first time last year. One was maybe 20 years ago? It just that looking at the pictures, I am reminded of how blessed I am with our big family. Some maybe crazy (hey no family is fun without some dysfunction or crazyness, right?), but bottom line it's a good family to belong to. I really do appreciate  my cousins. They're pretty darn awesome.

My big family (from my mom's side)

Okay, enough rambling from me. I was feeling nostalgic. Have a beautiful and lovely Valentine's day. Share the love people!! :)

You Are Simply The Best

Since Valentine is tomorrow and Chinese New Year celebration still going on, I thought this card is a perfect combo to celebrate both occasions. :)

This cute stamp is from my Sister Stamps and I just love their cute images. 

Hm... it might be super late for either occasions, but I think I'll be sending this card to my mom because she is my best person.

Who would you send this kind if card to? Who is your simply the best?

Paper Made Bakery Day

It's Tuesday and that's my day at Paper Made Bakery. Here's a sneak peek of my project over there.

The materials are all from this kit:

Please stop by the store blog and say hi.

SPARKS Sketch Challenge

Hi'ya peeps! Happy Monday. Time for a new sketch challenge from Paper Smooches SPARKS. Here's the sketch:

Well, to be honest it took me a while before I figure out what I want to make. Somehow this sketch stumped me and I have to remind myself that the square doesn't have to be a square. The banner doesn't have to be a banner. It could be something that stick out. And from that point of view, came this card:

I love my animals. :) And sure do love stacking them up for a pose. The cheerful colors of this card makes me smile. I love bright, cheerful card.

Please play along and for more inspiration check out what my SPARKS team mates has created for the challenge HERE.

Happy Chinese New Year

Made a couple cards to play along with Papertrey Ink birthday sketch challenge. I followed 2 of the sketch.

The 1st card using sketch #4 which caught my interest right away.

And here's my card using Pretty Peonies set.

Then I made another card using sketch #5.

Instead of circles I decided to use the hexagon stamp which I have had on hand for months and only now using it. So, I am pretty happy that I finally got to use it.

Yep, spent my morning making cards even though today is Chinese New Year. A day that used to be a big deal for me when I was a kid. We'd all get new clothes and I always pick one with red on it. Then we'd start the morning by going to the temple, and then we went out to visit family & friends. The tradition is the younger person visits the older person or family.

Now that I am in the States unfortunately I don't  really celebrate it anymore except in spirit. It's not like I have people visiting us since none of my friends here celebrate the day and among my cousins family here, I am one of the younger ones, so I supposed to go to them. 

At least this year there' a bit of excitement. I get to Skype with my whole family including my niece Shakira who is about 7 weeks old now. This is her 1st Chinese New Year and she dressed up to the 9. I just have to share her cute pic here.

She is such a smiley baby and sometime I could feel my heart ache for not being able to see her in person, yet. But, I made my mom & brothers promise to tell her about me. And am hoping that by the end of this year I'll get to meet her. With that note, to all my family & friends who are celebrating the Chinese New Year I wish you all a very happy New Year. May the year of the snake brings you joy, health & prosperity. Cheers...

PTI Birthday Celebration

I have several stamp brands that I do love. One of them is Papertrey Ink. This year they are celebrating their 6th anniversary and to celebrate they have challenges & giveaways throughout their new release time.

This time the challenge is to create some type of wrap, tag or gift packaging project that inspired by a pic you found on pinterest or other site. I found this pic from pinterest:

And, I have this PTI set that I haven't get to play much with and decided it's perfect for this challenge. I love the wood and brown tone of the picture and took it for the base of my tag. Although, since I love colors, I have to add some extra colors to my tag.

Am also entering this to Simon Says Stamp have a heart challenge.

That's it. Just a quick post while waiting for skyping time with my mom and my brothers to celebrate the Chinese New Year. My family is gathering for New Year lunch at my mom's place and I get to join via skype. So thankful for technology. :)

You Make Days Brighter

Yesterday was a  good day. I was swamp at work, but as I finished off my work I did a quick check on the email and... booyah.... my day becomes brighter. I got happy email from Paper Crafts magazine for 3 of my projects.

And then, when I get home and browsing around, I found out that my card made it as one of the card being shown on Paper Crafts blog, HERE.

Pic borrowed from Paper Crafts blog. :)

This card is published on Paper Crafts Stamp It 3 Way (available in stores right now or you can get it HERE).

When I first got the assignment, I freaked out a bit. I was paired with Julie Campbell and Chun Yuan, who are both super talented and whose works I admired. On  top of that, when I got the stamp set, I was at first stumped on how to use it. This set has so many itty bitty images.

Yep... I was in panic mode. But luckily my mojo was nice to me at the end and I ended up with a sweet card that I love.

Thank you for letting me share  my excitement here and thank you to all of you who kindly cheering and supporting me with all your kind words on FB and here. Thank you all so much for making my days brighter. :)

Just For Fun

Somehow I am always easily pulled by sweet images. I think the kid part of me will always like cutesy & sweet stuff. I've been debating whether I should get this cute Wryn images from Tiddly Inks or not since I first saw it. Well, I finally gave in and got it and give it a whirl.

Sometime when I am feeling overload, it's fun when I get to create just for fun. No DT requirement, no submission, just making card for fun.

Challenge: Simon Says Stamp - have a heart

Currently loving making card in size 3 x 4.25. Love the small space, yet it's still provide enough space to allow your creativity to show. :)

Shy Fairy

Since I was a kid, I always love reading mythical story. I wasn't a big fan of princess story or anything like  that. But, when it comes to anything that has fairies, unicorn, or Greek mythologies, I love them. And, yes I even have this gorgeous fairy tale book that my mom bought me when I was in 6th or 7th grade and it has beautiful illustrations and I still have it! And yes, it still in pretty awesome condition. I do treat my book collection very well.

This interest continue even now. Have you read the Fable Heaven series by Brandon Mull? It's a series that has fairies, unicorn, elf, troll, etc. It's a tween series, but I love it. Recommended by my niece. :)

Now, speaking about fairies, I also love it when there's cute fairy images to work with.  Like this new release digi stamp by Some Odd Girl.

I think this one fairy has a pretty sweet expression and I have lots of fun playing with it. Check out SOG blog to see all the new releases. 

Paper Made Bakery Day

Hi'ya everyone. It's my first day at Paper Made Bakery today. Here's a peek of my project.

And, here's their February "How's the Weather" kit.

Please stop by the store blog and say hello.

May Arts Valentine's Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to May Arts Valentine's blog hop week. All the Ribbonista are participating in this hop to provide you with a week of inspirations.

For today, there are 5 blogs that you can visit (see links below), including mine. Since it's Valentine theme, I go with pink for my card.

For this card, I used May Arts solid reversible stripe ribbon (ME17) and sheer dots ribbon (JD22). 

 pictures courtesy of May Arts

At first I was going to use just the stripe ribbon, because it is so pretty already on its own. On one side it's soft pink, dark pink, soft pink and on the other side it's dark pink, soft pink, dark pink. Love double sided ribbon. However, since the ribbon width is 3/4" I'd end up with pretty thick/big bow. Not in proportion with my card. So, I decided to layer it up with the sheer dot one.

I simply cut a slit on the the fold of the card and thread the ribbon through it.

The patterned paper is from Carta Bella, die cut & emboss with Spellbinders frame die. And I distress the edges a little bit with distress ink. Then, die cut and stamp the key (from Papretrey Ink - Key To My Heart set) and add it to the layer and finish by adding a banner stamped with sentiment.

Simple but still elegant & romantic. 

I hope you will join us and hopping along. As always May Arts is very generous with their giveaway. The lucky winner will get 4 spools of ribbon of their choice. Please check out what the other Ribbonista has created and leave some love along the way. Thank you for stopping by here and may your week starts off wonderfully!

• Virginia Fynes
• Karen Baker
• Lalo IK
• DeeDee Catron
• Vera Yates