Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Crafter's Companion HSN Show Blog Hop

Hi all and welcome to Crafter's Companion HSN Show blog hop. We are getting ready for Crafter's Companion Sara Davies’ shows on HSN and what better way to celebrate it than by doing a fun hop! Sara will be part of the HSN 24-hour Day of Crafts on July 1st. Make sure you check your local listing for Crafter's Companion show time.

The show will be showcasing many of Crafter's Companion products, including the Spectrum Noir marker collection. So, for this hop, I am sharing my hummingbird card that showcase my favorite Spectrum Noir color combo.


Supplies: Crafter's Companion Tropical Nectar, 
Spectrum Noir: BT2, GT2, GT3, IB2, IB3, IG1, TB2, TB3, TB4, TB5, OR1,
Stencil: Sheena Distress Grid

Now, nothing make hop more fun than fabulous giveaway, right? For this hop, EACH of my teammates are giving away stamps or dies. So, make sure you hop along to everyone’s blog, and leave comments to win their fabulous prizes! 

And be sure not to miss the huge prize packs on the Crafter’s Companion US blog and over on Sara Davies’ blog! I am giving away the Tropical Nectar set that I use for my card.




You have till midnight, Wednesday, July 1st to leave comment. Winner will be announced on July 2nd.

Now, grab your favorite drink and hop along. Have fun!
Vera Yates <-- you are here

Monday, June 29, 2015

You're The Sweetest

There you go, I am officially have entering a  new decade of my life. I just want to say thank you for all the birthday wishes.

I started my birthday with lunch with my best friend the day before. We just hang out and as usual when we get together, we often end up losing our voice from talking too much. We don't get to get together too often, so when we do there's always like a rush of catching up. Then, hubby sang happy birthday right at midnight. Followed by facetime with my family early in the morning. My highlight? When my li'l niece said Auntie Ling to me for the very first time. That sounds so freakin' awesome. I wish I could record that moment. 

It's a very laid back birthday for me. I wasn't feeling too well for the past couple days, so I just want to take it easy. We went out to meet my cousins & nephews for birthday lunch and that's about it. I notice that the older I get is more about spending time with my loved ones. It's not about party or present, it just being with the people you care about. 

All in all it just the kind of birthday I like and again thank you for all the birthday wishes. This Purple Onion Designs card said it best. You're the sweetest! :)




May your week starts off wonderfully!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

The big 4.0

Well peeps, I am happy to say that I reach 40! Yay, me. I am definitively not one that like to hide my age. I never understand that. For me, every birthday is precious, because it's a moment to appreciate how long I have live on  this earth, that I still get to try new things, enjoy being with my loved ones, visit places I've never been, & just appreciating being alive. Life is a precious thing that we should never ever take for granted.


Me, when I was about 2-3 years old

Since I am entering a new decade, I've been thinking, evaluating things a lot. Just for fun. I want to share 40 random stuff that cross my mind. If you'd interested to read it, great. If not, that's okay, too. This blog is part of my journey.

1. The person that shape my life the most is my mom. No words adequate enough to explain how much she means to me. Pretty much, she's my everything.

2. I met hubby at work & 8 years, 3 companies later, we still work together. We make a good team. We balance each other out. And, he accepts me just the way I am, imperfect & slightly nuts. He's my person.

3. I always look up to my older brother, Jeff. When he risks his job to save a life, he became my hero.

4. My younger brother, Jerry, is only 11 months younger with me, so with him I always feel like almost twins. When he's happy, I am happy. When he's hurt, I feel the hurt double. I usually the one who cry when he's hurt.


My li'l  brother & me.

5. It's been 13 years since my dad passed away & I still miss him. When my dad passed away it was one of the most traumatic moment in my life. Losing loved ones hurt. But, this also the moment that made me see the love that my brothers has for me. Them following  me around so they could catch me if I passed out. I appreciated them so much more after realizing this!

6. I actually love myself more now. I no longer criticizing my myself the way I did when I was in my 20s. I don't beat myself for every failure, every mistake. I try to give myself some slack.

7. I think of my dog Eli as my heart. That li'l boy means the world to me. Heck, even in my dream where we could be devour by alligator (I don't dream often, but when I do it can be wild), I am more concern on how to save him. So, yeah, I love this puppy of mine with all my being.

8. My other baby, Abby, open the world of rescue dogs to me. Because of her, I become very passionate about dog rescue. She open a whole new life purpose for me.

9. My dream retirement life is being able to run a dog sanctuary/rescue, where every dog is welcome & loved. Well, maybe some other critters, too. Sigh, I should have worked at a zoo.

10. My SIL, Gina is the closest I have to a sister. I could talk about everything to her. My fear, my insecurities, etc. She's a good listener.

11. I hope to be able to travel to new place every year. Greece is on my travel bucket list.

12. I always know that when I get to have my own dog, I want a pug. I just do. I am like love, love, loooovvvveeee pug. :)

13. I think watching good crying movies or series (gotta love Grey's Anatomy) is a good way to release stress. I am currently on Grey's binges.

14. I am a late bloomer. I was super shy, awkward & I owe it to my friend Debbie to change me for the better. She's a strong, opinionated person & I learn to speak up for myself because of her. Sometime we butt head, but we don't take our friendship for granted.

15. In my 30's I realized that I actually prefer bright colors over pastel.

16. Last week, I just added blue purple highlights to my hair.

17. I tend to think with my heart, which gets me in trouble sometimes.

18. As I grow older, I appreciated my cousins more now. I realize now that my crazy family is pretty awesome.

19. Growing up, 2 things I prayed for was to get taller and for God to make me less sensitive. Now, I am happy with my height. 5 foot even. That's okay. However, I am still the same sensitive person. I just finally accept that God made me the way I am for a purpose.

20. No, I don't know what that purpose is yet. And, yes, I still cry & feel like throwing up when someone yell at me or being mean to me. So, yeah, no clue why God make me so sensitive. It gave me acid reflux.

21. I am afraid of gecko or lizard. Once, one landed on top of my car and I sat in my car for the longest time to make sure the gecko have a chance to get off before I dare to get out.

22. I am a crier. I cry easily. Now & then, even when I accept it, that prayer to be less sensitive.. yeah, I still pray for that. Being too sensitive is hard.

23. When I get super emotional and can't say things, I would write letters. I do better with putting words in paper.

24. I am very much an introvert.

25. Because of my dad I love the oldies song. I grew up listening to Freddie Fender, Anne Murray, The Beatles, Elvis, etc. We used to call it our breakfast music because we get to listen to this music when my dad took us to school.

26. Because of my mom, I appreciate family picture. My mom always keep albums for each of us. So, my love for scrapbooking come from her.

27. I am not good talking on the phone. Weird to  think as teenager I could gab for hours on the phone. Now, not so much. I prefer talking face to face.

28. I pray that my niece will know me even though I live on the other side of the world.

29. I still have Christmas card that I got from my mom from 1983. It has pictures of deer, bunnies in the forest. I have quite a few of my childhood stuff that's still in good condition.

30. I am always interested in charity work, kids & elderly. I used to write to the UNICEF leader to learn about their program.

31. My younger brother, who's a photographer & graphic designer was the first person that ever said I should go for design school. I thought I wasn't creative enough.

32. Used to ask my mom if I made her proud because I grew up not knowing what I want to be. I have a brother who always know he's going to be a doctor and one that's so good at many fields. All I know I want to help those less fortunate. And, I am thankful that never once my mom compare any of her kids to one another.

33. One advise my mom  gave me that stuck with me is to make sure no matter how successful or how rich you become, always make sure the humanity part of yourself come first.

34. When I was scared and don't think I can go on, the word that gave me strength was my mom's word that I am her daughter and therefore I could do it. I always see my mom as the strongest, wisest person I know.

35. I am thankful for all the blessings I have received. For my life, my family, my babies, my job. I am just plain grateful and thankful.

36. Thanks to my mom & my foster dad, I learned to see the glass half full.

37. I keep debating whether I want to get another dog or not. We have 2 and I keep feeling tempted to grow our family.

38. Right this very moment, I miss my family pretty badly. Living on the other side of t he world from your from your family can feel pretty sucky. Especially during special moment. Last year, was the first time I celebrated my birthday with my whole family in 19 years.

39. The best lessons my parents taught me is to be kind to others, do your best, be fair, be polite, stand for what you believe in & that life is not fair, but you just keep going.

40. I hope I get to live a fulfilling, meaningful life.

Well, that's my 40 rambling. I am a bit of a mess right now, because I always feel a bit sad that I can't be with my family on my birthday. This happens every year. I am looking forward to what the 40s will bring. I hope it's a great one filled with many great things. Like my brother said welcome to club 40! Rock on 40!! :)

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Crafter's Companion Scruffy Little Kitten

As I mentioned yesterday, this week Crafter's Companion is releasing 12 new sets from the Scruffy Cat series. There's several cute boys & girls set to celebrate the kiddos in your life.

Today, it's the girl turn & I am playing with Scruffy Little Kitten Lettie.

Crafter's Companion supplies: Scruffy Little Kitten: Lettie,
Sentiment from Sentiment set in Crafter's Companion Issue 6 Spring Edition,
Spectrum Noir: BT3, BT3, CG1, CG3, CT2, DG4, EB3, FS4,
HB2, IB1, IG1, IG2, OR1, PP3, TN1, TN2, TN3, Blender

This is such a fun image to color. And, you see how the scruffy kitten has matching flower on its collar? Seriously, this year, is the kitten year. I have made more cards featuring cats on my card than I ever did. Actually, come to think of it, before this year, I don't think I have any card that has cat on it. 

Well, just want to pop in with  this card, since I did promise to share more card from the latest Crafter's Companion new release. Thank you for stopping by here. :)

Floral Fusion & Roses

Today, I h ave the pleasure to bring you the new color challenge from My Favorite Things. Here's the fabulous colors for your inspiration to use any way you want.


For my card, I chose to play with the Floral Fusion dies and using ink daubers added the various colors.




It has kind of a funky vibe, isn't it? Me, likey. Check out what my team mates have created for this challenge HERE and join us, will you?

Now, since I am in the mood to play with flower theme, I made another card just for fun. After my roses card on my post yesterday, I just have to make another one. That rose background stamp is simply gorgeous & so fun to play with!



This card is inspired by another card of mine that I made a couple years back for a publication. I love stamping on patterned paper, especially when you have the right patterned paper that just complement the image so perfectly.

Well,  that's it from me for now. Hope you  have a fantastic Thursday! Cheerio...





Wednesday, June 24, 2015

SugarPea & StampNation

For My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge post please scroll down or click HERE.



Hi peep. This week, SugarPea Designs is excited to be joining forces with StampNation & sponsoring their latest challenge. Fun stuff, right? In case you're wondering what is StampNation, go check it out HERE.

Our challenge is to create a project based on this  inspiration pic.




I used the colors from the pic as the inspiration for my card. You can see the full card HERE.




Of course, with fun collaboration like this, we can't do it without fabulous giveaway. We're also giving away two fabulous prizes.

Hop on over to StampNation to see the full challenge details and for loads of inspiration using SugarPea Designs clear stamps & dies. Play along with StampNation's chalenge and you could WIN a $50 gift certificate to SugarPea Designs store.

And, Catherine from StampNation has generously provided us with a prize of 1 Month Subscription to StampNation to give away to THREE lucky SugarPeeps! To win, simply comment on the SugarPea designers blog listed below.

Vera Yates <-- you are here

Hope you will join us and play along! 

Happiness Is Trying To Catch You

Hi peeps. It's time for new My Favorite Things sketch challenge.



I've been wanting to play with this roses background and so excited that I finally get to use it. I heat embossed the roses with gold embossing powder and only color some of the roses (to represent the circles on the sketch) and leave the rest blank.



I am totally loving this Sno Cone cardstock combine with the gold. It balances out the boldness of the gold. Check out what the MFT Challenge team has created for this challenge HERE. Can't wait to see your project!



Little Monster

I realized that I don't do enough boy cards. On my stash there's only maybe 4-5 of them. Time to fix that, right? Lucky for me, there's several new cute sets that  will be coming out this week from Crafter's Companion.

Here's a peek into one of the set, called Freddie.


Crafter' Companion: Freddie, Spectrum Noir: BT1, BT2, BT3,
CT3, EB3, FS4, IG1, IG2, TN1, TN2

A boy in a cut monster outfit? How adorable is that? I am saving my boy cards for my nephews because when I saw this set, it totally made me think of them.

The funny thing, my puppy, Abby actually have a Halloween monster costume that look just like this costume. Hah... Not that I could make her keep it on her. When we put it on her, Eli immediately tried to pull it off her.:)

Hope you enjoy this sneak peek. There's a lot more cuteness from Crafter's Companion and I'll share another one tomorrow. Stay tune as today I have more post scheduled. See you in a bit!

Monday, June 22, 2015

SugarPea Designs Color Challenge 2



Hi folks. It's time for new color challenge from SugarPea Designs. Above is the fun color combo and here's my card using Let's Fiesta set:




I have lots of fun practicing no line coloring with this image while sticking to the color combo. Skin color counts as neutral color of course. 

The SugarPea team has created some fabulous project for this challenge. Go check it out HERE and come play along. We'll choose random winner from all the challenge entry and you could win a GC to the store. 

And..., today, Newton's Nook Designs is featuring yours truly. I am thankful that I get to guest design for them this month. Here's a peek of my card that they feature today:




You can see the full card at Newton's Nook Designs blog. Well, tat's all from me folks. May your weeks starts off wonderfully!

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Kimono Beauty

I am still enjoying playing with this Butterfly Silk set from Crafter's Companion. On today's card, I am happy that I found the perfect patterned paper that complement the kimono beauty on this card.


Crafter's Companion supplies: Butterfly Silk,
Spectrum Noir: TN1 TN2, CG1, CG3, CR8, FS4, HB1, HB2, PL2, IG8, IG10

Love the way the strip of bamboo pattern paper added a look of texture. Hah...because of this set, I ended up getting another Asian theme set. I haven't get a chance to play with it yet, but I will soon. And, when I do, you know it, I'll share it here.

Hope you have a beautiful weekend.

Friday, June 19, 2015

MFT Summer School



Hi all. Have you been enjoying My Favorite Things summer school? This whole week, the MFT team been sharing various lesson in design. Today, our lesson is all about white space.

For many CAS designers, we love white space. Now, when we talked about white space, we're not necessarily talking about white as in the color white. In CAS design, white space = blank space.

Blank space doesn't mean boring. Often, the white space give your eyes a place to rest the eyes, area that give your design a pleasing openness, a pleasing balance. And, no, it doesn't mean it's simple card either. You can add lots of layer and be fancy, but by leaving some blank space, it keep the design from becoming overwhelming.

For my card today, I did go with white for my white space, simply because I do love the color white and I want my penguin to shine bright like a popsicle! :)




How adorable is this li'l guy? Pair him with blue polka dot swim trunk, he's ready to impress. Hah!

Well, today's lesson is definitely one of the most popular subject. Many member of the DT participating in today's class. Please swing by to the main class at MFT blog and check out what teh girls has created for this lesson. So, grab a cup of joe or tea and enjoy the class. TG



Thursday, June 18, 2015

You Are My Happy Thought

In case you don't know, I love animal. I love learning about animal (gotta love Discovery & National Geography channel) and I respect the animal kingdom. I grew up having dogs, bird, fish, bunnies and squirrels (my brother found them as babies & ended up rescuing & nursed them). My mom used to shake her head when she found out my brother & I would sneak the squirrel to our bed & nap with them. So, yeah, I love animals. I think they're awesome.

As you can guess, my love for animal goes into crafting as well. Give me anything that related to animal and I am happy.

When I saw Wplus9 Happy Mail & Party Animal set, swoon... that was love at first sight. I was going to say especially the giraffe, since I have like 5 giraffe stuff animal and one of them like 4 ft tall, but who am I kidding. I have several bunnies & bear stuff animal as well. And, I didn't  mean when I was growing up. I mean now. as adult. Hah!

I am very excited to share my first result of playing with these adorable sets.




I was inspired by Joni Andaya's card HERE. I love her style and her works are amazing. I made this card with my niece in mind. What a cute gathering, right? Makes me think of children storybook that I used to read. Out in the meadow, the animal gathers & have a little party. 

Here's a close up look of the gathering. :) I used Kuretake Clean Color Real Brush for the watercoloring.



Entering this card to Simon Says Stamp Challenge to create project using your favorite technique or products. This card is it! Watercolor & my favorite stamp sets.

I am super giddy with the way this card turn out. Will be sending this out to my niece. She's only 2,5, but I hope later on she can appreciate the card. Hah,.. I'll make her daddy save this card for sure. So much work & love goes into this card.

That's all from me today. I hope you have a beautiful day. Enjoy the little things.

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Newton's Nook Designs June Release Day 2

** For my SugarPea Designs post or MFT Sketch Challenge post please scroll down. **


Hm... Is this the day I'll see pig fly? Hah! Three posts in a day. Very, very rare for me. Anyhoo.... How excited are you over the Newton's Nook new set? Well, today the cuteness continue.

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I am a big time dog lover. Supporting various rescue group is my passion. Needless to say, I squeal when I saw this cute "Fetching Friendship" set.

The lab on this set reminds me of our Hank who crossed the rainbow bridge a few years back. Hank was hubby's first baby and he has a very special place on our heart. Here's a peek of my card:




Oh, I sure do love doggie set stamp. You can see the full card on Newton's Nook Designs blog.

And, guess what? We're giving away a set of "Fetching Friendship" to one lucky winner. Here's how to win: Comment on the NND blog and Design Team and Guest blogs (see list below)! The winner will be chosen at random from the collective blog release posts. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Wednesday, June 17th at 9pm CDT to comment  -- winners will be announced on the blog post on Thursday, June 18th

Go check out what the DT has created for this new set. They are one talented team, so I am sure you'll fu=ind plenty of inspirations.

MFT Sketch 233

Good morning, sunshine! Well, I am scheduling this post ahead. Hopefully, we do have sunshine today. It's time for new MFT sketch challenge. Here's the sketch:


And, here's my card:




Yep, at first, I wasn't going to get this Modern Blooms set. But, after seeing my team mate's work (Veronica... ahem... enabler), I ended up getting it. We all could use more flower sets, right? ;) I am also entering this card to Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is to use your favorite technique or product. My favorite at the moment is watercoloring, which is the technique I used to create the background on this card.

This is a fun sketch  to play with, so I sure hope many of you will play along. You can check out what my team mates has created for this challenge HERE. More post coming up in a bit. Cheers...





Spellbinders' March Stitched Die

Hi there creative peeps. Happy March. I want to pop in today to share my Spellbinders' March Stitching Die Club card. Spellbinders has l...