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.

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!

Gallery Idol Round 2

Eeek.... It's time for Gallery Idol round 2. The theme for round 2 is die-cutting. And from  the moment I saw it, the first thing that came to my mind was shaped card.

After a day of brainstorming, I found my inspiration from Finding Nemo. After all, one of my favorite quote came from  that movie, "Keep on swimming".

So, here's my entry for round 2:

For the card base I used the largest balloon (turned upside down) from Simon Says Stamp Balloon dies set. The water line inside were also cut using the balloon die combine with SSS Curved Edge craft die. Flip the die for the bottom water line.

The seaweed were cut using the leave dies Wplus9 Silver Bells dies set. The fish are from Paper Smooches Briny Blue set. The big red fish were die-cut twice so I can insert a strip of acetate in between to make the fish move-able. See this second pic and you can see the fish swim to the left. :)

To create a glossy look, I die-cut the cover of the card from a piece of acetate, layer it on top and hold the whole card together with a tied bow string. You could barely see the piece of acetate, but if you click on the picture you can see it in larger size and you can see the outline of the acetate on the bottom right corner of the picture.

I hope you like my card and will consider to vote for it. I sure would love to make it to the next round. To vote for your favorite card go to: GALLERY IDOL VOTING

Thank you so much for stopping by here and if you do vote for my card, thank you, thank you, thank you!! And, a quick birthday shout out to my dear brother Jerry who is celebrating his birthday from the hospital bed. Happy birthday, Jerry. I love you, wishing you a very happy birthday and a speedy recovery. xoxo

I Admire You

So, yesterday I was pinching myself because of THIS announcement. Happy dance!!

I am so thrilled to be picked as the Top 20 for Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Gallery Idol. Last time I made it into GI was back in 2010. Pretty much it's the event that turned me into card making more seriously. In a sense that I made some awesome friendship from it and I was like, wow, this hobby is awesome. I have friendship that I wouldn't have met if it's not for card making.

I did try again for GI in 2011-2013 and didn't make it. But, I am glad that I never stop trying. Like they said for sure you won't get picked if you don't try. My attitude when I entered this year is whatever happen, happen. If it get picked, yay, if not, okay at least I made something that I am pretty darn proud of.

Quoting Christina from Grey's Anatomy, "If your goal and purpose is to win that award, forget it,  you will never win it. You do what you do because you love it, because it means something, not for the award." Something like that. When I heard it, I was like hey that's great words to live by. Yeah... I am deep like that, getting lesson of life through Grey's. Hah... Go Grey's! ;)

Anyhow.... I am so honored to be among such talents. Seriously, some of the girls are among my favorite card makers! Like Iwona Palamountain for example, oh my word.... that girl has created some amazing work that totally blow my mind. Amy Kolling, one of my favorite! I love her style &I was rooting for her last year. Erin Lee Schreiner has such cool & trendy style. In short, I am excited to be sharing this journey with all 19 girls. Whether it'a short ride or long ride.... I'll just enjoy it.

With this note in  mind, this card is how I feel of my fellow contestants. You all are so awesome!

I'll be brainstorming for the next round, so wish me luck and may you all have a safe & memorable Memorial Day weekend!

Washi Tape Bird

After spending way too much time on 2 cards for my Gallery Idol entry, today I have a card that's simpler and pretty quick to complete.

Actually, this is the first card that I made for the open audition. It's more my usual CAS & sweet style. Not graphic at all. I am using my favorite image of all time. Birdie!!

Except for the sentiment, everything on this card made with washi tape. I use it as border as well as to create pattern on the bird. Even the beak is made of washi tape.

For the bird. I first cut the shape using Silhouette and then lined up Prima Marketing doilies washi tape to create the perfect round doilies background pattern. Then using a knife I trim the tapes following the bird shape. For the wing part I used Freckled Fawn Random Writing washi tape and repeat the process like I did on  the birdie. Adhere the wing with pop-dots.Repeat the same process for the beak.

At least it's not as much cutting as the other two cards. Looking back, I guess I could say that one thing I am pretty good at is cutting details with knife. I wonder if it has anything to do with knife accident I had when I was a kid. I accidentally cut my finger when I was like 7. It wasn't super big cut, but blood was everywhere and I was crying my eyes out and showing it to my mom. And, I remember her saying, well, now you know why I keep telling you not to play with knife. My mom not the type that freak out when her kids get injured. She's practical and calm.

I think because she didn't freak out, I never get traumatized about using knife and instead learn to use it carefully. Can you imagine, crafting with no knife. Well, I couldn't. It's part of my essential tool.

Well, we'll see how this goes. Last time I made it for Gallery Idol was back on 2010. Cross my finger that I can make it again. If not, well at least I had fun challenging myself to make something awesome. :) Have a blessed week everyone.

Brightness

I finally finished my second entry for 2014 Paper  Crafts & Scrapbooking Gallery Idol open audition. Let me just say that the making of this card is as colorful in language as the card itself. Hah... My patience was sorely tested for this card. You'll see why...

Get your sunglasses out:

So, the first time I did this, my plan was creating the word by cutting, remove the washi tape and replace with another color washi tape. I was already on my second "L" and almost done before I realized that I  miscalculate my space and do not have enough space for the "O". So, all the frustration of carefully cutting and changing the color and have those tape sticking to  my fingers... I was like acckk..... colorful language, then breath in, breath out and decided to start it all over again.

The second time, I decided the word in colors is too much, too busy. So, again, I gently lift up the cut out part and decided to leave it white.

Let's see.... all in all... this one took me almost 2 hours or maybe slightly more including the breathing and calming down part. Hah... I am just glad I didn't give up. The result is quite worth it. And, no, I don't think I will repeat this again.

Anyhoo.... since you could enter 3 cards, I think the next one would be pretty simple.  See you tomorrow.

Bold & Graphic Design

So, it's time for the 2014 Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking Gallery Idol. I decided to try my luck and throw my hat into the ring.

The open audition theme is to create card using washi tape. So, after some thinking I decided to go with bold, graphic design with a little hint of gold.

I used Recollection washi tape collection and adhere them diagonally. To keep the line evenly in between, I laid a short piece of washi tape at each end and use that as my guide on where to lay the next tape and just keep repeating the step. Yep, this whole card was made with no ruler whatsoever! Simply hold the tape taut when you adhere them and you'll get a straight line.

To create the diamond pattern, where ever the tape overlaid one another, I gently use a knife to cut & lift up  the pieces to reveal the black background. And, for added visual interest, I kind of move around some of the colored washi tape diamond.

I think all in all it took me about 90 minutes to complete this whole card. It did take a while to cut those little pieces carefully as to not cut the cardstock itself, but the result makes me happy. 

Now, crossing my fingers and wait. Enjoy your weekend, everyone. 

Birthday Wishes Train

Hi everyone! I am back in town. After 8 nights in the city of love, hubby and I are back at home and currently as I am typing this post, my baby boy is snuggling on my lap. LOL, I think he was sulking a bit last night as at first he refuse to sleep by my side, choosing to sleep by  my feet instead (which he never did). But after a few hours, he finally forgave me for being away and back to snuggle by my side.

I have tons of pictures, which I still have to sorted through. So, most likely those pics won't get shared anytime soon as right now I have lots of homework. :)

But, before the trip I know I want to try out for Paper Crafts Gallery Idol again. I made this card before I left. 

Lots of details in this card (click on the pic to see it in larger details). I first cut out the train shape using my lovely Mr. Q (my oldie but goodie Silhouette SD). For the back of the card, I simply removed all the train elements and cut only the outline.  Then I assembled all the front train pieces one by one and for fun and trendy addition I used sequins for the center of the wheels.

You know me and my love for cute animal stamps, so of course I have to add some to this card. There comes the giraffe and purple hamster. And since I love using banners and bright colors add  those to the mix as well.

Then, I was like, hmm... choo-choo train without smoke is not quite complete. So, I die-cut a cloud and attached it to a skinny strip of acetate and adhere the cloud die-cut so it looks as if steam coming out from the train. Voila.... my card for 2013 Gallery Idol audition.

What do you think? Do I stand a chance? All I know I have a blast creating this card and that's one thing that I want to always remember. To have fun. When you love what you're doing and enjoy it, it'll show. Now all I can do is cross my fingers and hope for the best.

With that note, I think I'll take a nap. Jet lag settling in. :) It is so good to be home again. Travel story coming soon.

Fun Filled Weekend

Hi lovely peeps! How was your long weekend? I started mine early, by leaving work early on Friday to pick up Laurel Beard who is in town for a few days. We went to check out the Archivers, where we met up with Gretchen and then because she's not feeling well, I took her back to my place so she can chill out. That whole afternoon, Laurel was nauseous due to her migraine med side effect and we basically drove around with her holding a plastic bag, which thankfully she didn't have to use. :) 

The next day, I spent the morning at the dog park with hubby and Eli the puppy. It's just so much fun watching him trying to keep up with the big boys. In the afternoon I went up to north Houston again  to pick Laurel up, this time for some pampering time. We got a pedicure with matching colors. Yes, we are cheesy like that! :) I seriously, just love having her around. She's so bubbly and she makes me laugh continuously with her no nonsense respond. And, her hubby, just as nice as can be. 

Here's a couple pics from our weekend.

Laurel finally get to meet Eli.

My favorite pic. No, I wasn't being camera shy, but the camera was
about an inch away from my face and that's just way too close. :)

Sunday, totally chillin' out day. Picked up some flowers from Home Depot and hubby panted some colorful flowers & started a little veggies garden on our backyard. I don't have green thumb at all, so I am leaving the gardening stuff to hubby who enjoys doing those kind of stuff. Monday, went to see Man In Black 3. Missed Frank the pug, but if you see the movie, you'll see a few reference to Frank. And... I want the pug puppy poster just like on J's house. Yes, I am a bit obsessed with pug. Ha.. :)

Then my girlfriend came over in the afternoon with her sweet toddler, Mia. Let just say, Mia and Eli enjoy each other company. They played non-stop all afternoon. As I typed this, Eli is totally crashing on the pillow, snoring softly  now & then.

Of course, I made some cards, too. Quite a few actually. And, one of the card is this fish ribbon card, which is my last entry for Paper Crafts 2012 Gallery Idol. And, I know right away that for the encouragement sentiment I want to use the mantra "just keep swimming" from Finding Nemo. It is one that I often repeat to myself when things get a bit rough. 

I partially embossed the top part of the panel and added American Crafts glitter POW paper behind the fish.

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend and yay... for short work week!!

Lily Pad Cards Star Challenge

Happy Friday, everyone! Quick post as I have quite a long to do list for today. We have a new challenge at Lily Pad Cards sponsored by Simon Says Stamp. The challenge is to create any project featuring star. 

And. here's my card using the fabulous glitter POW paper from American Crafts. This paper is so gorgeous and no flaky glitter either.This card is my fourth card that using stuff from my girl get together. 

Seriously, getting together with crafty friends was just what I needed to get out of creativity block. :)

Have a fabulous Friday, everyone!

Flower or Bird

As promised, I continue to make cards using the images that I stamped or created from my weekend get together with the girls. When I was at Brenda, she let us play with her Memory Box dies. They are pretty cool. Trinh and I were definitely cranking the die-cut machine a lot that night.

One of the die is the Piestra border die. I managed to repeat the border side by side to create this beautiful background. I wanted to use it as a mask with the spray mist. And, that's exactly what I did with my first card, which I made for Young Crafters Unite Challenge # 10.

 

The beautiful flower is from W9Plus set that I won from Stamping Royalty. I love W9Plus stamp. I think they are gorgeous and stamp so well. I plan to get more sets from this company. The sentiment is from another company that I am not familiar with, called Flourishes. The set which this sentiment come from is gorgeous, but a bit too serious looking for my taste, but I just love, love the sentiment. I haven't get a chance to check out their collection, but plan to do so when I have a chance.

Since I love the card so much, I had a duh...  moment when I realized I only cut one Piestra background. I wish I had cut more so I can also use it for more cards. Then, my Mister Q (aka Silhouette) came to the rescue. I found out that they also have this background. Awesomeness. So, for my next card, I kind of repeat the same design, and this time I am using the cut out background directly on the card and the bird from Memory Box.

Which one you like better? Since, I love bird, I kind of a bit  more partial toward the second card. Love the sharp contrast of the white and the colors. But, love the softness and the flower of the first card. Hm...

So, any plan for Memorial Day weekend? I am guessing I'll be spending a lot of time crafting, and most likely go to the movies as well as I want to see Johnny Depp's Dark Shadow and also spend some time with Laurel Beard who is coming to town today!! Yippeee...

Enjoy your Thursday....

Faith

Last night as I snuggled with hubby and the doggies, I was reminded how blessed my life is. Granted it's filled with many ups and downs, after all that's what make life a life. You can only fully appreciate the good things in life when you have experience bad stuff as well. And, I have went through some bad moments that makes me appreciate my life now very much.

And, one thing that I've learned to do through the ups and downs is to pray. Not only in bad time but in good time as well. I truly get this from my mom. You cannot only pray for when you needed help, you also need to pray when life is good. Praying saying thank you is just as important as praying asking for help, don't you think?

And, when things seem so bleak, I think as human being the one thing that help us keep going are hope and faith. As long as we have faith, we'll keep trying, keep going. Have faith that thing will gets better.

Oh, before any of you wonder if something happened to me, nothing is wrong. Ha... sometime I just go through one of my mood, where I just feel reflective and pondering about life. I am deep like  that... sometime. LOL. Other time, I am just plain goofy. :)

Stamps from Hero Arts & Papertrey Ink.

I just love this card. Trinh, see... I used the stuff that I stamped from our weekend get together. From all the stamped images that I made this past weekend, this is one of my favorite. The color is soooo me.  I think with it's soft colors it will brighten anyone's day and  the sentiment hopefully will give encouragement for when they need it.

I am entering this card for Paper Crafts 2012 Gallery Idol.

Another note, if last weekend I get to hang out with the Texas' girls, this weekend, I get to hang out with my Florida girl, Laurel Beard. I am so excited! I miss this tiny girl (hah... I don't get to say tiny to others that often) and this time our hubby will get to meet each other, too. So, looking forward to this weekend!!

Congratulations

Happy 4th of July, everyone! Thank you to our troops and the family who made it possible for us to enjoy the freedom we have.

This weekend, I've been spending my time on the computer a lot and playing in my craft room a lot. I do have good excuse. It's so darn hot outside. :)

Anyway, one of my favorite site to browse is Pinterest. Best source for inspirations. If you're not familiar with it, it's kind of like virtual pin board. See something you like on any website, you can pin it to your board. Like clipping a pic from a magazine and pin it to your cork board. You can check out my board HERE.

My favorite things to pin are travel pictures and pretty things, including wedding related stuff, just because they're so feminine and girlie. And... the wedding cake. Yumm....ie and inspiring. With that, I was inspired to do a congratulations card.

I love, love the dimension on this card. The whole decoration kind of come up accidentally. At first, I was going to use lace ribbon, but it didn't seem quite right. Then, I was looking at my printed digital paper that has this aqua flowers and paisleys  with a bit of red that match the cake.

Luckily, I was crazy enough to fussy cut, intricate image. I stick with straight border for the cake as well, so it has a bit more contemporary feeling, which I like. This card will definitely go to someone special. Here's a close - up of the 3D effect.

Yep, you guess it, I am entering this card for Paper Crafts 2011 Gallery Idol. Last entry. :)

Hope you enjoy your visit here and thank you for stopping by. Have a fun and safe "Independence Day!"

Birthday Recap

I have the sweetest blogging friends. Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes. Some left the birthday wishes on my post here, some on the Flickr group, and many on Facebook. Thank you so much for making my day. I really appreciate you all.

Hubby took Monday and Tuesday off. He needed the break from work and we did a staycation. Monday, we went to the zoo. I know, it's so nerdy, but we love it. At the zoo's store, I saw the cutest giraffe stuff animal and hubby got it for me. :) Didn't I tell you, I have a bit of Peter Pan syndrome? I think part of me would never fully grow up. LOL, I do love stuff animals, especially the cute & soft one. Then we went for late lunch at Benihana, which is one of my favorite place to eat, and finish the day chilling at the house.

On my birthday, I woke up and hubby serenaded me with the Happy Birthday song. He's really good at doing the little things that just makes me feel so special. I chatted with my mom for quite a while and then my in-laws called and they're so sweet, they serenaded me with a duet.

We went and saw Mr. Poppers Penguins, which is pretty entertaining and the penguins are soooo cute! Then we decided to do happy hour. And hubby got me my favorite dessert, cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. All in all it was a low key, but sweet birthday. Now, next year, if my family reunion really happening, hopefully I'll be celebrating my birthday in Bali with my whole family! Crossing my fingers. :)

Okay, enough babbling. On to card, shall we? I have this congrats card to enter to this year Paper Crafts Gallery Idol. This year, there are more participants and entries, so, I can only hope that I can be lucky enough to get pick again. :) Here's my card:

 

For the text background and sentiment, I created it myself, using  Microsoft Words. The skyscraper image is from Echo Park Sidewalk Chalk set (from Jessicasprague.com).

Chapter 36 has officially started and I am looking forward to hopefully fill  this chapter with many good things. Again thank you to everyone for your sweet and kind wishes. If I could hug you in person I would. :) Enjoy your day.

Back To Reality

Hi peeps! Today we're back to reality. Back to work. Yesterday, pretty much I spent the whole day just cleaning up my emails and working on DT projects. And, of course going through the 700 plus pics that hubby and I took during our Seattle/Vancouver trip.

LOL, we're both into photography. Although hubby more into clicking away and I thought more of composition, etc. :) We're both influenced by my brother, Jerry, who's the actual professional photographer. I wish I had him with me during our trip, because my photography skills just couldn't capture the magnificent beauty of the views that we saw the way he could. I am not keeping all 700 pics. I only keep the very best ones. I sort it by thinking will I put this in our srapbook? If the answer is no, then I delete the pics.

Okay, on  to today's card. Nothing get me to get back in the swing of things like CAS style card. I saw the FTL # 97 from Clean & Simple Stamping and it just inspired me to create. As always, this Hero Arts Poppy stamp always do wonder for me. This card also goes to Jenny's Wee Memories Challenge 13.

This is a one layer card. I colored the flowers with Prismacolor pencils. The nice thing about working with color pencil is that I don't have to worry about ink showing up on the back side the way it does with markers. Added Stardust stickles and butterflies and it's done. Pretty quick & simple.

Hope you like it and again thank you all for your kind words & encouragement. It means a lot to me. Hugs, Vera.

Gallery Idol Final!

Happy birthday to me! B'day gal in da house! :) One of my favorite day. Heh... yes, today I am turning 35! Don't feel like it, though. LOL, I am such a kid at heart, I think I'll stay young because of that. Let me warn you today's post gonna be long cause of all  the yummy details of my card.

On  top of celebrating my birthday, today is the start of the final round of Gallery Idol. It's been such an amazing experience. My creativity has been pushed all the way and I get to create beyond my wildest imagination. And thank you to all of you who always encourage & supported me. You know what my birthday wish would be, don't ya?? Please, please go check all  the final entries HERE, and vote for your favorite. Hopefully you'll vote for  my pop-up accordion fold card. :) This card has every thing that I love!

Here's the inspiration pic:

And here's my card. This pic  below shows when the card completely folded. The inspiration picture, makes me think of picnic time and I took the color combo of red, white, green, and orangey yellow. And since it's my birthday I thought birthday picnic bash is very approriate and the pic inspired my strawberry shortcake that the little mouse is carrying. :) I also want to represent my Gallery Idol journey from Top 10 to Top 5.

Stamps: Hedgehog & mouse Penny Black, all the other critters & tree Lawn Fawn,

tree stump Hero Arts, sun Tiffany Doodles digi stamp,

sentiment Papertrey Ink & Verve Stamps (hidden message).

From round 1 Creativity Heals theme, I took the tree and the swing. Remember my 1st card? Beside when  you send someone a birthday wish, it's because you're thinking of them, right? Then from round 2 of item found in a garage, I used sand paper for the rocks around the pond. From round 3 of creative use of ribbon, the pond. Isn't the pond looks so pretty like real water? Here's how the card looks half open. I love it that with every stages, you can get different look of the card. And all the critters start to pop up! You discover more treasure as you open more. There's even hidden message!

Duck, cattail, fence, cloud, & grass were cut using Silhouette.

Pond & rocks freehand cut. Layered ribbon

for the water.

Seriously, this card has so many goodness that I love. I love animals, I have a hedgehog pet named Coco, I used to have 2 pet squirrels, that's why there's 2 squirels in this card. I used to have a yellow lab, Hank who is now in doggy's heaven and yes he loved tennis ball, and you guessed it, I had rabbit pet, Thumper who gave a bunch of baby bunnies back in the day. I love snail image (the real thing?? not so much).  Oh, and the cake... The inspiration pic is overloaded with strawberry, make me thing of strawberry shortcake! 

On top of all those yummy goodness, I get to used all my favorite stamps from  all my favorite stamp company. I used Her Arts, Lawn Fawn, Papertrey Ink, Penny Black, and Verve Stamps in this 1 card. Here's the view when  the card all open.

There's a hidden Irish blessings

that you can see when the card is open.

The cool thing is I think this card still has my clean style even with all the details. And one of the main thing, I want people to be wow, yet know they can do this, too. It's all about stamping a bunch of stuff & cutting. The only tricky details is doing the pop-up, but still very do-able.

Here's the close-up of the apple tree. All the "apples or berries" are made of thread tied in french knot tie.

I love animals (and stuff animals). And since I have great imagination, I like to think how cool would that be to be Dr. Doolitle. This card is my dream world where all living being get along so well, enjoying beautiful sunny day, and I can speak to the animals. I am not in the pic, as I am  taking the picture. LOL. Hey it's my imagination, I can dream it anyway I want, right?? :) 

This close up view of the duck is definitely one of my favorite. The ribbon water looks so real, I can't help but feel happy when I see this cute Mama Duck with her duckling. And the rocks? I *heart* this section. The cattail. Thank you, Silhouette! One of the best b'day present (got it last year).

And here's Coco my hedgehog is helping me celebrating my birthday. Remember there's kiwi on the inspiration pic? That's what Coco is eating. See those little dots on the thingy she's holding? I added those, so it looks like she's eating kiwi instead of cookies. :)

I put so much love in this card. It represents my Gallery Idol journey, it represents all the things I love. No matter what the end result, I know I give it all I have and I am proud of it. I hope you love it as much as I do. If yes, please VOTE for my card. :)

Oh yes, before we end this long post, why don't we finish with the rest of 15 random facts about me as I celebrated 35 years of wonderful life.

21. Each birthday I wish my family is here. Miss them so very much.

22. Scotland is one of my favorite place to visit. Hello, Sean Connery... :) We passed the school he went to on our tour.

23. I am very laid back.

24. I am a softie. I got teary eye even watching Up!

25. I scatter things around, but am also very organized. Does it make any sense? LOL.

26. The Lion King is my favorite animation. 

27. I know all the songs from Mama Mia! My feel good movie.

28. Every now & then I crave cotton candy.

29. I love to travel & wish I can travel more often.

30. My mom is my idol of all time.

31. I still miss my pug, Milo that I lost 6 years ago. Always will.

32. I don't have a green thumb.

33. I am not a good cook. In our household, my hubby is the chef.

34. I loved really spicy food. 

35. My life is wonderful. I am grateful for everything, the good & the bad, cause it makes me a better person.

Okay peeps. That's it. :) Have a blessed day and may your week be full of sunshine & yummy goodness. Hugs, Vera.

Gallery Idol Top 5

Good morning my lovely peeps! Thanks to all your vote & support, and after a long torturous day and night of waiting, I am happy to announce that I made it to the final Gallery Idol Top 5! So humble and grateful by this whole experience. What I saw on my computer screen early this morning. Sigh.... I almost forgot to breath when I went to check. It's worth the sleepless night. :)

This week has been so nerve wrecking for me. I mean when I checked out everybody's work (which is like a couple hours before the vote began), I had to pick up my jaw of the floor. Everybody really bring it on for this challenge and I almost cry when I saw their amazing cards. I thought my card was too simple looking, eventhough the process wasn't that simple. And, I am so relieved when many of you said you love my fish! Thru the whole competition, I want to stay true to my style. Which is clean style and I am humble that it has take me this far. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of you who voted for my cards.

I am grateful for many things and in restrospect I love wishing people thay may they always have things to be grateful for. One of my favorite blessing to say is this Irish blessing that I used on this card. I combine Hero Arts stamps with Verve stamp. I actually think this will looks nice framed, you know.

This whole card reminds me that there's beauty even in the simplest things, even grass. :) Looking at this makes me feel peaceful. To create this, I stamped Hero Arts Silhouette Grass with Mellow Moss ink. Then using chalks from bottom to top, I layered the colors, green, pink, orange, and blue. I've been really enjoying using chalks lately as you can create soft background with it. After I am done covering the background with chalks, I stamped the Blessings (from Verve Stamps).

And, I also have new challenge from Mami Doodles. This week the it's color challenge, use the colours Blue, Green,white with a touch of Red. The prize will be the last 3 images released (Mimi, Sinead and Leah), plus one of your choice. Cards using Mami Doodles images - including freebies - will have two entries on the draw. Here's what I made. Opposite from the above card, this one is cutesy looking! :)

This card going to my Card for Kids Drive pile. Pretty much all  my cute, kids related cards go to this and once I collected enough I'll be sending them to Jennifer. For more information go to Jennifer McGuire's blog. I hope you like the cards I have for you today. This afternoon I'll be back with a new post for Papertey Ink Blog Hop. Again, big hugs to you all and I hope you know that I appreciate each one of you for all your supports. So very grateful for you all. Hugs, Vera.

Gallery Idol Round 3

Hi peeps! Are you ready to vote again? Please say yes!! :) From this week vote they will pick the Top 5 that go to the final. I would love to make it to the Top 5. But, I need your help to make it to Top 5. You can click on the widget on the right side of the blog or you can go here to vote. You have till Thursday 1PM CST to vote.

So, the challenge is creative use of ribbons. And Kelly (Paper Craft Editor) said they're looking for creative, “outside the box” applications. Boy, I am not one to make masculine card, and never thought I'd say this, but I found this challenge harder than using stuff found in the garage.

Something different with ribbon?? All I can say, my angel must  have watch over me, cause out of the blue I found out that there's what they call "ribbon sculpture". Do you know it? I didn't. But after some research, I found amazing creative use of ribbon. Now, I don't have instruction on this, so I pick something that I can figure out on my own. Peeps, here's my happy goldfish. :)

I am proud to say I figured out this goldfish all by myself through trial & error. Took a couple try, but I thought it turned out pretty darn good. For the goldfish, I used grossgrain ribbon. All I can say, my patience sure was tested when I did this. LOL. I am very picky with my fish. Like I told hubby, not all stuff animal created equal, some are just cuter than the other even if they're from the same manufacturer & same type of animal. Same as my fish. The first one was  too skinny. Looks like I didn't feed it enough food. After 3 or maybe 4 tries, I end up with pretty healthy fish.

For the water, I layered 2 different sizes sheer ribbons. The tricky part is to only taped part of the ribbons, so the bottom part hang loose to create the water ripple effect. Even the bubbles are made with ribbon as well. I used Love My Tapes adhesive, best one to use with sheer ribbons.

The rest of the card, I want to keep it clean. I stitched all around the edges and that's it. I want the water & the fish to be the main focus. Taking the pic just as hard as I want the fish to look like it's pucker up and said, Oohh... someone's having a birthday partay!!" *grin* When it comes to animal stuff, I have great imagination. Heh.. What do you think? You think it's unique? I sure hope so! Would you be interested in tutorial for this fish? I thought of doing a tutorial, but only if I have enough people interested.

So, how about going to Paper Craft Gallery & vote. Pretty please, with cherry and all yummy goodness on top. And again, thank you all for your supports & vote. If I could hug each of you, I would. I am a hugger. *grin*

Don't forget to enter my "B'day Bash Blog Candy". You have till June 28 to enter for a chance to win some goodies. And tomorrow, I have another announcement to make. I am joining another awesome company as part of their DT. Details coming up tomorrow. Okay peeps, may your week be a blessed one. Hugs, Vera.

Gallery Idol Top 10 & More Reflection

Yippie.. yay.. ay... after another long night of waiting & jumping off the bed at 4.40 AM, realized it was too early, went back to bed & jumped out again at 6 AM..., I am thrill to let you know that I made it to Paper Craft Gallery Idol TOP 10! Thank you all so very much for helping me get to this point. I truly couldn't do it without your help. My heart is just filled with so much gratefulness. I am thankfil for each one of you who voted for me. Big, big hugs to you!!

You know what I am going to be doing this weekend. Working on submission for the Top 5! Yikes.. Cross my fingers & pray that my mojo will keep working. Meanwhile, here's a cheerful card that I made last night using TPE # 117 sketch.

                            

                                           

Continuing with my birthday random thought reflection, I want to recognize those that influence me and make a difference in my life. I want my family to know how much the mean to me.

1. My mom - who's the biggest influence in my life. She's such a strong, wise, understanding, & loving woman, friend, mother who truly the glue that holds our family together. She raised me & my brothers to be good people with good moral, broad mind, kind, who know and appreciate the value of hard work, yet know to enjoy life little things, too. She thought me the value of family, of forgiveness, of having faith and trust that God always watching & guide us through life. Everything I am is because of my mom. I love my mom to pieces.

2. My older brother, Jeff (he's a cardiologist) - I am very lucky to have Jeff as a role model growing up. Jeff really set good example for me & younger brother, Jerry. I often consider Jeff to be like my mom the most. They're quiet, but can be hysterically funny & adventurous at times. He's dedicated, wise, calm, smart, has strong work ethic, etc. I look up to him for so many things.

3. My younger brother, Jerry (photographer/graphic designer) - He's my wild almost twin brother (we're only 11 months apart), my partner in crime, the clown, the baby of the family. Well, we're kind of competing on that position, since I am the only girl, kind of make me the baby of the family as well. *grin* I admire him for his courage & dedication to get what he wants. He started his own business from nothing, he chased his dream, made name for himself, yet still very much down to earth & appreciate people. Simply love him.

4. My dad - He passed away in 2002. He had such great sense of humor. From him I learned to value people as people. Regardless of their job, appearance, etc. I mean, during his funeral, the amount & variety of people that came to pay their respect amazed all of us. From governor, business men to the street sweeper, they all came. He sold cookie from house to house when he was maybe 5 years old, became an athlete (he brought Indonesia's wrestling to international level) who met with the President, who with my mom's support, earned his master degree in his 40s, etc. He show me there's no age limit when it comes to better yourself. I am daddy's girl and I will always treasure that.

5. My husband - one of the most thoughtful person I know and one of the few guys I know that love their in-laws a lot. He loves me so much, support me in everything I do, and just simply a great husband. Even my mom was impressed with his attentiveness & thoughtfulness during her 3 months stay with us. He shows me what a healthy relationship is like. I am so lucky to have him in my life.

Are you bored, yet?? LOL. I'll continue tomorrow with more list of people that I am thankful for. Don't want to put you to sleep with  my long rambling. :)

Oh, and we have a winner for my Card Creations giveaway. Drum roll please.....

LIN  you're the lucky winner. Please email me your mailing address. Thank you all again for stopping by and again for your tremendous support. Love you all. Hugs, Vera.