Miss You So Much

As this post go up, I am enjoying some quality time with my family. I don't get to spend time with my family as often as I'd love to, but when I do, I treasure every single moment of it. I usually go to bed late and wake up early just so I can spend as much time with them as possible.

Hubby got to go home a week earlier  than me due to our work schedule, while I get to stay for another week.  I do miss my furry babies, though.  I wish I could take them when we travel. :) 

Talking about missing the doggies, here's an I miss you card I made before I left for my trip for i {heart} papers.

I used the cute bear from Lawn Fawn Love You S'more set. The patterned paper is from Lawn Fawn Hello Sunshine paper ad. Sentiment from  Paper Smooches Word Salad set. Added subtle sparkle to the fire with Wink of Stella glitter brush in clear color.

Short post from me as I am still on vacation mode. 😉 Once I returned, I'll share some pics from our vacation, including cute pics of my niece. She is such a hoot!! Can't wait to share my stories. Stay tune!

CardMaker & Clearsnap Blog Hop

 Hi all and welcome to CardMaker and Clearsnap Blog Hop. Hopefully this post goes up without a hitch as right now I am in Bali spending some quality time with my family. :)

You should have arrived her from Tami Sanders blog. In case you missed any link please go to CardMaker blog for the complete list of the hop participants.

When I got my Izink package, I had to actually Google it to find out how to use them correctly. And, boy, they are fun!!

For my first attempt, I made this card. For the background I diluted the inks and brush them on the watercolor paper. The Izink has pretty shimmer to it, really gorgeous. Then for the tag, I saturated the watercolor paper with water and then drop and smear the ink. To make the ink spread, once I drop and smear the ink, I spray the tag generously with water. I speed up the drying time by using heat gun.

Material: Izink, Canson watercolor paper, Altenew OriKami set,
Reverse  Confetti & Wplus9 Spring Blooms set

I stamped all leaves and the sentiment once the tag dry and adhere it to the card. I made an extra tag just for fun. It's fun to watch the way the Izink spread on the paper and both the card and tag has really nice shimmer to it. I wish I could capture the shimmer beauty with my camera.

The Izink comes in many color. I highly recommend you give it a try. Start with one or two colors and see how you like them.

From here, please hop on over to Clearsnap Blog. Thank you for swinging by here and I hope you enjoy the hop. And... psst... you really wnat to stop by their blog as they're giving away 6 of the Izinks! Good luck! 

Floral & Stripe

Happy weekend everyone! Today, I am posting from the other side of the world as I am visiting my family in Indonesia. I originally planned for this post to be scheduled in advance, but that didn't happen as the last week before the trip things were just crazy busy.

During my flight to Jakarta, I found out that my Gallery Idol journey has come to the end. I didn't make it to the Top 5. It's been a fun ride while it last and I'd like to thank everyone for their support. As I mentioned when I started this ride, I'm just going to enjoy the ride and not stressing out about the outcome.

I am still happy with the result. Top 10 is pretty good place to be and I am glad at seeing how this experience had push my creativity to a new limit & that I had created one of my most favorite card ever, which was my card for Round 3.

Again thank you to all of you who've been cheering me on. I appreciate you!!

On to card. I made this card before I left for i {heart} papers.

The patterned paper is from Teresa Collins Save the Date 6x6 paper pad. The flowers and sentiment are from Wplus9 Fresh Cut Florals and More Fresh Cuts. And, of course I have to add enamel dot from Doodlebug Bumblebee Sprinkles.

Well, that's it from me this weekend. Bed time for me here as I am still having a bit of jet lag. Blog post for the next couple week will be sparse, of course. I will be spending most of my time enjoying my family. Have a blessed weekend everyone.

I Believe In Pink

It's time for new challenge at Riley & Company. This time the challenge theme is  "Terrific texture". Create any project using ribbon, burlap, fabric, lace, etc. 

Here's my card for the challenge.

I admire Audrey Hepburn. For me she truly is the icon of a classy lady and I simply love her word of wisdom. I hope you'll play along. Check out all the details & join us at Riley & Company blog.

Short post today as I still have lots of packing & errands to finish. And.... in case you haven't vote, the Gallery Idol voting time is still going on. I'd love to continue to the next round and I can only do it with your support. Thank you for all  the support. To vote simply click on the icon below. :)

Gallery Idol Round 4

Happy Monday. Today, I continue my Gallery Idol journey. It's been fun & a bit nerve wrecking. Luckily my work keep me crazy busy lately, that I don't get to fret too much. I have to say that the girls in this GI blow my mind with their creativity. Everyone really step up and create amazing creations that makes me feel so honored to be among them.

For this round the challenge is to use border stamp creatively. This is quite a challenge as my stash of border stamp is pretty limited. And, I know that I don't want to use border stamp just as border. I have seen quite a few tribal prints on shirts that I found interesting and use that as the base for my card idea.

Lucky for me, I have this triangle border from Studio Calico Darling Sentiments set that fit for the look that I want to create. Bold, colorful, tribal pattern.

Yep, that triangle border on the bottom translate into the pattern on this elephant:

                                    

There was a lot of careful coloring. Finger cramp, check. eyes crossed, check. Aching shoulder & hand, check. I had to do one for practice just so I can decide on the color combo that I want to use. Once that decided, on to the real thing. It took me awhile to finish coloring this card. Hah... I feel like I almost couldn't straighten my fingers by the time I finished. But, I think the end result is worth it.

The bottom border was created using the chevron border from Lawn Fawn Chevron Background set. I stamped the chevron border twice, off setting the second one so it create diamond pattern border. Then color all those tiny spaces with Copic markers.

This card is definitely bold & colorful. And, there's also a hint of gold. I outlined the elephant shape with gold metallic paper.

I am very thankful that I have made it this far. I really, really appreciate your support & kind words & your vote. Wouldn't be here if not for your support. This Gallery Idol has definitely push my creativity, made me step up my work and I couldn't be happier with the cards I made.

If you love my bold & colorful elephant card, I'd love to have your vote. You have till Thursday morning to vote. Thank you so much and may your week be a blessed one.

Pug Love

This morning, I  found out that I made it to Gallery Idol Top 10!! Yay.... Thank you, thank , thank you to all of you who votes for your support, encouragement & kind words. I am excited and so honored to be able to continue this journey. So, back to brainstorming for the next theme. Cross fingers that i can come up with something good.

While waiting for inspiration to struck, let's get on with the post, shall we. So, what a pug lover to do when you see a cute pug digi stamp? You snatch it right away, of course. A few weeks back, I saw Lorraine made a super cute card for her daughter using this image, so I immediately got the stamp and made this.

That expression is so like my Eli. Eli always standing on his hind legs to check out what's on the table. Whether it's dining table or my craft table. Like hubby said, this mama boy love stamp, papers & ribbon just like his mama. He's curious and always want to check thing out. If he couldn't completely see the table, he's smart enough to wipe his paw and see if it touch and swipe anything down to the floor.

Yes, I love my pug. He's my sunshine, my joy. And, no I am not obsessed with my pug at all.. :) Hah... Happy Friday!!

Bunny Love

Besides doggies, bunnies is another critter that has special spot in my heart. Part of it maybe because I was born in the rabbit year. The other part, I simply love animals. Especially when they're cute, fuzzy & adorable. I used to have a whole family of rabbit when I first moved to the States and I loved them.

As I mentioned on my previous post, I was super excited when I saw Lawn Fawn Hello Baby new set. Gah.... that set is just pure cuteness. Here's a card I made for i {heart} papers & Lawnscaping embossing challenge using the adorable set.

I heat embossed the bunny and the balloon and keep the rest of the design simple as I really want that li'l bunny to shine. For fun detail, I added the light blue twill ribbon and enamel dot from Doodlebug Bumblebee Sprinkles.

Want to see more cute stuff? Today, I am also up on i {heart} papers blog. Check it out will you. Here's a sneak peek of my card. 

And, in case you haven't vote for Gallery Idol, voting is still open till Thursday morning. If you love my entry for the Top 15, 'd love for you to vote for my card. Thank you so much for all the love & support.

Gallery Idol Round 3

This round started as a real challenge. Of course I have used stencil before, but I want to come up with something that's outside the box. Friday passed with no inspiration whatsoever. Saturday, I had a couple ideas, but worried one might be too complicated. So, I tried to make this colorful geometric panel instead andddd... ditched it. Although, I did end up using that card for other assignment. Nothing go to waste. ;)

Then I went back to that idea that I thought was too complicated. I was thinking about creating a painting like image using stencil. I ran my idea to Trinh, who's been my sounding board through this journey (and the previous GI journey back in 2010) and when she said yes, that's cool, I went to work and came up with this.

Seriously, I am so proud of this card. From, what was I thinking, you're nuts, (took me 5 times to get it right) it has became wow, I can't believe I actually did it.

I made my own stencil for the whole thing. Using Silhouette I made stencil of the girl silhouette, the butterflies and the diagonal stripes. The honey comb stencil is from Memory Box. 

I start by tracing the girl stencil on the card panel, just the hair part, so I know where to place the butterflies. Then I inked the butterflies with various color ink using make up sponge. Once I inked all the butterflies, I stamped some with  a fine detailed flower from PTI Pretty Peonies set and some with Stampabilities Faded Text Background.

Then erase the pencil line, placed the girl stencil back on and using the mini sponge dauber inked the silhouette with Rangers Antique Linen, Spun Sugar, Shabby Shutters (mixed with Memento Pear Tart). Then without removing the stencil, stamp the Pretty Peonies. Added some small splatter details using the ink splatter from Mama Elephant Fair Feathers set. Here's a close up of the card. Click on the pic if you want to see it in larger size.

Once that done, I decided the panel still need a bit more umph..., so I decided to make a couple of the butterflies pop by adding an actual butterfly die-cut and add a bit of texture to the panel using Memory Box Honey Comb stencil & embossing paste. While waiting for it to dry, I stencil the diagonal stripe on one side of the card base and wiped solid ink on the other side. Finished by adding the sentiment & adhering the panel to the card base.

The whole thing is so pretty and bright. It totally makes me happy. I sure hope to make it to the next round. At the end, I am just thrilled that this challenge has made me create a project that I am proud of. Yes, it took hours and hours to get it look the way I want it, but the satisfaction when you accomplish something that you thought might not be possible is so worth it.

If you love this card, I'd so love for yo to vote for it. Thank you in advance for your vote & support. You all are awesome!