Trio Pink Star Tulip Birthday Cards

 Hi friends. How are you all doing? It's been a while since I posted, since I haven't been crafting as much as I used to. Hubby and I took a trip to Iceland and it was totally amazing beyond our expectation. The landscape and nature of Iceland is simply breathtaking. From the many places I've visited, this was one of my favorite place.

Of course, with trip, catching up with work also comes with it. And, since I took like around 4000 pics, I was also busy sorting through pics and making album for our trip. Yes, I still scrapbook, though digitally nowadays. Anyway, this weekend, I finally spent a few hours in my craft room and just make cards for fun. I made this trio of cards using Altenew Pink Star Tulip set.

Altenew is definitely one of my favorite company. They have many gorgeous sets and I am guilty of hoarding many of them. I pretty much repeat the same step for all 3 cards. Die cut all the pieces from white cardstock and then just ink blend the colors on the pieces.

The first one I go with purple soft teal combination. Then the next one I went with fuchsia, orange combo.

Then for the 3rd card I did blue and blue combo. :)

When I feel stuck creatively, going back to clean and simple card always get my mojo going. It's my favorite kind of card. Well peeps, that's all from me for now. I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend. Till next time. Cheers. 

Playful Watercolor

Hi friends. Happy 2025! Hope you all started this year in a wonderful way.

For this year, my intention is to creat emore with sets that I already owned. I feel like I tend to focus too much on new sets. Meanwhile I have many older sets that I still love and I feel guilty of letting them just collecting dust.

So, as part of my intention, I want to start by sharing this duo that I made just for fun featuring Altenew Dynamic Duo Playful Watercolor set. I had this set sitting in my pile for a while and boy, once I start I could feel that this is the set that I could use to jumpstart whenever I have creative block.

I simply ink up the flower and the leaves in 2 color to create the color gradient. Then, I inked up some of the flowers, fussy cut it and adhere with foam adhesive to create extra texture.

 For both card for the sentiment I used an old sets from My Favorite Things. I believe this set was from 2016 set that I got when I was part of their challenge DT. Yep, it's that old. And, I kept it  because I like the sentiment design.

I hope you enjoy today's cards and hope I can inspire you to use the olders sets on your stash. I am contemplating of making this a weekly challenge to myself. Hah! Or at the very least every 2 weeks. I am being realistic here. Care to join? :)

That's all I have for today friends. I wish you all a year filled with good health, grace and blessings. Cheers...

Seasons Giving Blog Hop

Hi'ya everyone! Happy 2018!! I would like to wish you all a very happy New Year and may this year be a blessed, fantastic year for all of us filled with good health, prosperity and great things that makes you happy.

Welcome to the 6th annual Seasons Givings Blog Hop. What's fun & unique about this hop is every single blog that participate has giveaways. So, grab your cup of coffee and browse around. Stick around and you'll see my giveaways on the bottom of  my post. :) And, big thank you to my dear friend, Latisha Yoast who organize this hop.

2017 had been quite an eventful year for me. Creativity wise, I continue designing for SugarPea Designs, The Ton Stamps & Purple Onion Designs. In July, I get to join Honey Bee Stamps team and also guest designing for Altenew and Concord & 9th. I am very blessed that I get to work with great companies. Caring Hearts Card Drive have another successful year as we collected about 44,000 cards and send hundreds of card packages to nursing homes throughout the US, Canada and Australia.

Personally, 2017 was also a big year. We started building our new home in January and moved in in August. My husband is a builder and he's built hundreds of houses for others and after all this year, he finally able to build for us. So very grateful for this blessing. Then came Harvey. Thankfully we were spared from any damage. It sure was nerve wrecking watching the water rise. I also get to meet up with my whole family in Japan!! Including my li'l niece who I am so happy to spend time with. It's been a few years since I get to see my whole family together and it's a blessing to be able to vacation together. On top of that, my mom get to come back with us and she stayed here for about 2 months. 

My motto for 2018? Same as last year. The best is yet to come and to live life to the fullest. It's pretty much my motto for life. I also want to learn new stuff. I think it's always good to learn something new.

Now, as we started the new  year, I look back and want to share my top 6 favorite project from 2017. Let's get on with it right away, shall we?

I guess you could see that I love working with flowers and cute image. :)

Now, on to the giveaway. Cause after all that's why Season's Giving all about. I have 3 prize!

To enter the giveaway simply follow my blog &  follow me on Instagram (you can find me under: WIRIANTA). If you already a follower, please comment and let me know how long you've been following my blog or my Instagram. Easy peasy, right. Oh, and if you have preference on which package you prefer, please say so on the comment. :) You have till Saturday, 1/6/2018, midnight CST to leave a comment. I will announce the winners on Sunday, 1/7/2016.

Pkg 1

Pkg 2

Pkg 3

Are you ready to hop? Here's a complete list of the participants. Enjoy and Happy New Year!!

Lawn Fawn

Technique Tuesday

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

Reverse Confetti

MFT Stamps

Neat & Tangled

Winnie & Walter

Hero Arts

CAS-ual Friday Stamps

My Sweet Petunia

Paper House Productions

Verve Stamps

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Catherine Pooler

Indigojade Art

A Jillian Vance Design

Kelly Creates

Latisha Yoast

Kimberly Crawford

you are here --> Vera Yates <--- you are here

Nichol Spohr

Chari Moss

Audrey Tokach

Zsoka Marko 

Teri Anderson

Wanda Guess

Amy Tsuruta

Lydia Fiedler

Laurie Willison

Jenn Shurkus

Debi Adams

Cindy Lawrence

Lori Craig

Lisa Henke

Dina Kowal

Laura Bassen

Jessica Frost-Ballas 

Kelly Lunceford

Dana Joy

Tracey McNeely

Margie Higuchi

Laurel Beard

Janine Tinklenberg

Sean Fetterman

Christine Meyer

Heidi Blankenship

Debbie Seyer

Libby Hickson

Gracie Chavez

Julee Tilman

Karen Baker

Lee Murphy

Yvonne Van De Grijp

Leigh Penner

Marcie Sharp

Patti Gilliam

Barbara Anders

Bunny Vance

Kyra Sanders

Giovana Smith

Jillian Vance

Ceal Pritchett

Neva Cole

Celebrating Parents Blog Hop Winner Annoucement

Hi peeps. Thank you all so much to those of you who joined our Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop. As promised, I am giving away a $30 gift card to the store to one lucky commenter.

Without further delay the winner from my blog is: KAREN B

Congratulations, Karen!! To claim your prize, please contact Altenew at winner@altenew.com by 6/30/2017 with the subject line Altenew Celebrating Parents Blog Hop Winner from ____'s Blog.

Also, three winners of a $50 Altenew gift certificate will be announced tomorrow, on Tuesday, May 2nd at 5:00 pm EDT on the Altenew blog.

Additionally, in case, you would like to donate your Mother’s Day & Father’s Day cards to the card drive, here are the guidelines:

• Cards may be for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Sentiments should be generic – a specific greeting such as “so happy you’re my dad” wouldn’t really work.
  
• Please sign your name on the inside of each card. You may also include a note and where you are from!
  
• Include an envelope for each card you send, and make sure they are not sealed.
  
• To be eligible for the giveaway, please include a post-it note with your name and email address. (one post-it note per package, please.)
  
• We would love for you to use Altenew products, but of course, your cards may use products from any companies!
  
• Send cards to the following address by May 3rd:
  Altenew
  ATTN: Card Drive
  222 Teall Ave,
  Syracuse, NY 13210

If you have any questions or would like Altenew to send cards to a local shelter or nursing home near you, please email us at support@altenew.com with subject line Celebrating Parents Card Drive.

Altenew Celebrate Parents Card Drive Blog Hop & Giveaway

** For my SugarPea Designs post please scroll down or click HERE **

Hi peeps and welcome to Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop & Giveaway. If you've been following the hop order, you should arrive here from Svitlana Shayevich blog.

Celebrating Parents Card Drive goal is to send cards for the elderly that lives in nursing homes or shelters to let them know they’re not forgotten. As you may or may not know, I have run Caring Hearts Card Drive for years and brightening the lives of the people that lives in nursing homes is something that's close to my heart. Celebrating Parents is just  like Caring Hearts, but we send the cards for Mother's and Father's Day. Please check out the Celebrating Parents Card Drive and join this great cause by sending in cards.

Now, for today's post, I have made 2 cards. Here's my 1st card using Best Dad Stamp & Die Bundle.

My husband is the inspiration for this card. He's a home builder, so all these tools totally reminds me of him. And, yes, he is also an amazing dad to our furry kids. :)

Next up is my 2nd card using the beautiful Best Mom set.

This set is such a gorgeous set & I love practicing  my watercolor on it.

Special Offer:

35% Off Best Dad Stamp & Die Bundle
30% Off Best Dad Die Set
25% Off Best Dad Stamp Set
Offer valid from April 19th through April 22nd at 11:59 pm EDT. No coupon code needed.

Prizes:
Altenew is giving away $50 gift certificates to THREE lucky winners. Be sure to leave comments by Sunday, April 30th, 2017 at 11:59 PM EDT for a chance to win! Winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew blog on May 2nd, 2017.

Also, from my blog, I am giving away a $30 gift certificate to our store. I will announce the winner on my blog on May 1st, 2017. From here, please hop on over to Therese Calvird blog. In case you're missing any link, here's a complete list of the hop participants.

Altenew

Joni Andaya

Sveta Fotinia

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Virginia Lu

Emily Leiphart

May Sukyong Park

Jung AhSang

Natalia Zubkova

Nicole Picadura

Kristina Pokazanieva

Erum Tasneem

Barb Engler

Hussena Cal

Svitlana Shayevich

Vera Yates

Therese Calvird

Nichol Spohr

Lydia Evans

Altenew’s 3rd Anniversary Blog Hop + Giveaway

** For SugarPea Designs release please scroll down**

Hi peeps and welcome to Altenew 3rd Anniversary Blog Hop! We are on day 3 of the anniversary celebration. I am so excited to be part of this celebration since I am a big fan of Altenew from their first release three years ago. If you are following the hop, you should come here from Eunyoung Lee blog.

Originally, I was going to just make 1 card, but once I start, I ended up with 2 cards. For my 1st card, I used Beautiful Day set. I heat embossed the flowers and then color them with ZIG Kuretake Watercolor Brush. For each flowers I used 2 colors to create the color blend.

Here's a close up look of the flowers. To each flower I added white dots just for fun. :)

Once the first card get going, my mojo went in full gear and I made this 2nd card using Best Mom and Magnolias For Her. I used the same technique as my 1st card. I colored the flowers first in 1 color and before they completely dry, add the second color and gently blend them.

For the sentiment, I used Bold Alphabet Die set and die cut the "xo". I was debating for a long time whether I should get this dies set and decided to get it  because they're also great for scrapbooking. I do still dabble in scrapbooking and make pages whenever I could. Here's a close up look of the magnolia. I just love this flower & the way the coloring turned out!!

Special Offer

FREE U.S. shipping with code HAPPY3RD or $5 OFF international shipping with code ANNIVERSARY at checkout. Offer valid from April 11th through April 16th at 11:59 pm EDT. Not valid on prior purchases. Cannot be combined with other promo codes.

Prizes

Altenew is giving away $50 gift certificates to FIVE lucky winners. There are also 12 awesome companies who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

Spellbinders: Three $100 Gift Certificates
Online Card Classes: Three Class Spots
My Sweet Petunia : Mini MISTI
Pretty Pink Posh : $30 Gift Certificate
WOW! Embossing Powder : $30 Prize Pack
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L : $30 Prize Pack
Tombow USA: 1 pack of 10 Dual Brush Pens
Chameleon Pens: 1 Pack of 5 Chameleon Pens
Butterfly Reflections Ink: $25 Gift Certificate
Ellen Huston LLC : $25 Gift Certificate
Freckled Fawn : $25 Gift Certificate
Simon Says Stamp : $25 Gift Certificate

Be sure to leave comments by Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 11:59 PM EDT for a chance to win! 15 WINNERS will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew blog on April 28th, 2017.

That's all from me today. Thank you for stopping by here. From here please hop on over to Stephanie Klauck.

In case you miss day 1 and day 2, you can start your hop for day 1 HERE and for day 2 HERE. And, here's a complete list of today's hop participants:

Altenew

Agnieszka Malyszek

Tracey McNeely

Butterfly Reflections Ink

Eunyoung Lee

you are here --> Vera Yates <-- you are here

Stephanie Klauck

My Sweet Petunia

Emily Leiphart

Kim Stewart

Freckled Fawn

Lilith Eeckels

Kathy Racoosin

Stamping For Autism Awareness

Hi peeps! Happy Saturday and welcome to Stamping for Autism Awareness Blog Hop. 

I am thrilled and honored to be here today, to be joining this special hop organized by my dear friends Veronica Zalis and Tenia Nelson to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day! 

I am doing this hop in honor of my mom who used to volunteer her time at school for autistic children and for my foster brother who dedicated his life teaching at autism center. 

Without further delay, here's my card which kind of inspired by the rainbow badge.

 

I used the fox from Altenew Hug Me stamp set and colors the balloons blue as my way to represent Light It Up Blue. I hope this card would bring smile to whomever received it.  If most blog hop have prize, this time we don't offer any prizes. Our goal is really to focus and bring more awareness to autism, for greater understanding and acceptance.

You could also join World Autism Awareness Day on Facebook. And, in case you're interested and would like to learn more about autism, check out this article A Shift from Autism Acceptance to Appreciation.

There are quite a few of us who join this special hop, and I hope you will join us and hop along. Thank you for stopping by here and may your weekend be a fabulous one!

An InLinkz Link-up

Altenew - Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop

** For The Ton Stamps Spring Release Sneak Peek Day 1 please scroll down**

Hi and welcome to Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop. You should have arrived here from Altenew Blog. I am honored to join Altenew on this card drive hop. When Altenew planning this card drive, they reach out to me since the goal of his card drive is just like my Caring Hearts Card Drive. But instead of collecting holiday cards, Celebrating Parents Card Drive goal is to send cards for the elderly that lives in nursing homes or shelters to let them know they’re not forgotten. What a great cause, right?

You can check out all the details about the card drive HERE. I hope you will join us and send in some Mother's Day ad Father's Day cards.

For this card drive, Altenew is releasing a special collection of 3 new stamp sets (Best Dad, Best Mom and Penned Rose) which would be perfect for creating Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards. They are available in the store starting today. These stamp sets were designed especially for the Celebrating Parents Card Drive and 20% of the profits earned by Father’s Day will be donated.

I made a couple cards for this hop. First up is this soft beauty using the new Best Mom set.

In person, this card has a very pretty shimmer to it since I used Spectrum Noir Shimmer on all the flowers and leaves. Here's a close up look that showed some of the shimmer.

Next is a Father's Day card that I made using Ori Kami & Invisible Alpha set. I can't believe how long this alpha set been sitting in my drawer. I bought them with the intend to use them on my scrapbook page, but I haven't get to my scrapbook page, yet, so it's been sitting there waiting to be used. And boy, it is fabulous!

Altenew is collecting the cards till April 26, 2016. So, you still have plenty of time to join. Let's make this card drive a successful one. Thank you for your support and thank you for stopping by here. From here, your next stop is Svitlana Shayevich blog.

  

Of course, no hop is complete without prizes. There are TWO $50 gift certificates up for grabs. Winners will be picked randomly from the comments left on the Altenew blog by Thursday April 8th, and we’ll announce two winners on Sunday, April 10.

Also, on my end, I am giving away a $30 gift certificate to Altenew store. Simply leave a comment here and I'll announce the winners here on 4/10/2016. Good luck and happy hoping!

Altenew Blog

Vera Yates <-- you are here

Svitlana Shayevich

Yana Smakula

Agnieszka Malyszek

May Sukyong Park

Lydia Evans

Nicole Picadura

Sveta Fotinia

Sending Hugs

 Hi peeps. Just want to pop in to share this watercolor card I made using Altenew Persian Motifs.

I don't normally use purple, but since I have this purple strip laying around, I decided to base my card on this little strip of color. The watercolor purple background turned out into pretty nice purple. For me personally, purple is such a hard color to work with. Any color that based from the jewel tone color, I struggle with them.

But, compare to marsala, pumpkin or hunter green, I'll take purple any time over those colors. LOL, those that knows me, know I freak out every time  I have to work with jewel tone colors. Just can't do it. ;)

Well, just a card and a rambling. Does anyone even bother to read blog post anymore? 

And, to all my friends who celebrate Ramadhan, happy Idul Fitri. May this Ramadhan brings you man blessings.

Persian Motifs

I finally, finished my card that I made using Altenew Persian Motifs. I had this set in my pile for a couple of weeks, before I finally get to play with it.

Sometime, I want a set so badly, then when I got it, somehow my mind just went blank. So, just to get me going, I decided to recreate my old card HERE, only this time using the Persian Motifs. I am not normally one to repeat a card design, but hey, as long as the design is pretty, why not, right?

Hah... Only after I am almost done with this card, that other idea of what I can do to varies the design came up. I don't feel like re-doing the card, so I'll try that other idea on the next card. For now, I stick with this.

In case you're wondering what I used to color this image, I used Kuretake Clean Color Real Brush. I got this set about 5 years ago at summer CHA and it still works wonderfully. I created the original card with this pens as well.

That's all for today. May your weeks starts off wonderfully!

You Are My Happy

Hi ya'll. How was your Super Bowl Sunday? I honestly not one to care about football. So, for me, it was a Sunday just like any other Sunday. I did watch the half time. Hah... My whole time in the States, this was only the 2nd time I ever catch the half time.

I did spend some time in my craft room and working on some DT works. I am trying hard to get things done in advance instead of waiting last minute. And, I am also trying to be better at using supplies that I have in hand instead of just letting it sit there.

For example, this butterfly stamp from Altenew.

I can't believe this Painted Butterfly set been sitting there waiting to be used. I wanted this set the moment I saw the sneak peek, so I  was kind of surprise myself that I didn't use it right away. Sometime, things just came up.

I've been trying to balance my time better. Paper crafting is a big part of my life, but at the same time I don't want it to consume all my free time. :)

That's all for me today. May your week starts off wonderfully.

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Magazine Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking farewell blog hop. Card makers from all over the world are participating today to honor the dedication and remembering the inspiration that PC&S has brought to the card making community.

You should arrive here from MAYURI blog.

I am really not quite sure where to start with this post. It still hard to believe that PC&S will soon close their door.

PC&S have opened so many doors for me. Started with Gallery Idol 2010. Never in a million year, I thought I'd get picked. This event literally change my life. I met some girls that has become such dear friends to me that I'd otherwise wouldn't have met and it marked the point of my journey into card making world.

Then, when I went to CHA in July 2010 I experienced first hand, how warm and kind the PC&S crew are. Mind you, I am very shy and I often find it hard to chat with people I just met. Not, with this crew! They chatted away and make you feel like you've known them forever! I was so geeky, I actually asked them all to sign my Gallery Idol Top 5 card. I know, super cheesy and nerdy. But, what can I say, I was so ga-ga over meeting them for the first time.

Thank you for the fun memories!! Yeah, the last picture was from a super fun late night gathering at CHA.
Best night, ever! 

One of my most memorable moment was when I got my first happy email from Susan. I was jumping up and down! I had 3 cards as a newbie and it was a moment to remember for me. I was grinning ear to ear when I saw my 1st published card on Card Creations Vol. 9 (2011).

Thank you, PC&S for this honor.

With their submission calls and various competition, PC&S challenge me creatively. They make me want to create better, step out of my comfort zone, to think outside the box. They also know how to lift up your spirit. Like, when Susan told me that this card below was her favorite card from the whole Card Creations Vol.12, she totally made my day. To this day, an email or note from her always makes me smile. Seeing any of PC&S crew at CHA always a delight.

PC&S brought so much joy to my card making journey. When I first found out about the magazine ending, I didn't craft for like a week or so. I just suddenly loss the appetite to create. It such a big part of my card making. I feel at loss. However, at the end, I realize I should honor PC&S by celebrating the experiences that PC&S has given me. Be thankful that I have those experience to remember.

I am celebrating & thankful for the friendship with PC&S crew. I am celebrating all the happy email, joyful moments like when I found out that I made it for Gallery Idol (twice), Stamping Royalty, WCMD winner, etc. I am celebrating all the opportunities that I have experience that I probably wouldn't have experience without my exposure with PC&S.

To Jennifer, Kerry, Holly, Susan, Matt, thank you for the memories. Thank you for all the fun, creativity, opportunities, etc. And thank you for supporting my Caring Hearts Card Drive from the very beginning. You helped promote it and sponsor it. It means so much to me to have your support.

Please know that I am thinking of you as you're embarking on new adventure. Sometime bad thing happened, so bigger, better things could happen. You all are such special people and I appreciate you so much. 

I made this special card just for the PC&S Crew:

There's so much I want to say, but I hope Jennifer, Kerry, Holly and Susan knows how I feel about them. This is definitely not goodbye as we'll see each other on FB. I wish you all the best for the future. Again, thank you for your dedication to card making industry, for making it such a fun community to be part of. 

From here please hop on over to CONNIE MERCER blog. And, big shout out to Taheerah Atchia for organizing this hop! You totally rock. 

Simon Says Stamp Designer Spotlight

  

I am so loving November. The pretty, cooler weather (okay, not today as today our forecast is thunderstorm), my card drive is in full swing and am excited to share that I am guest designing for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for this November. Pinch me!

Simon Says Stamp is one of the generous sponsor for Caring Hearts Card Drive and I am so glad to have this opportunity to guest designing for them.

And, we kick off this month challenge with thinking of you theme.

Supplies: Altenew Painted Flowers, Altenew Super Script, SSS Best Mom Ever,
Mama Elephant Sweet Lilac

I love the way this card turned out. The color combination is just so yummy, don't you think? At first, I was thinking to use fall colors, but except for in nature, I am not a fan for fall colors, so I decided  to try using my new Mama Elephant Sweet Lilac ink pad. It's very rare where I used purple, but this purple is sooo pretty!

I hope you will play along. There's fab prize for the challenge and you could be the lucky one to win the $50 GC!