A Girl & Her Puppy

I got this Penny Black set just because of this image. This set been on my pile of new sets waiting to be used for a long time. I think this is such an adorable & sweet set. The girl with stack of presents and the puppy totally calling my name. You know how hard it is to say no to cute puppy, right?

I made this card totally just for fun. No challenge, no assignment. Kind of bring back memories of when I first started my journey into card making back in 1997. Back  then, I only used Stampin Up, Hero Arts and Penny Black set. Penny Black was my go to for anything cute. I still keep their cute hedgehog sets to this day.

Well, that's all for today. I don't know if there's any reason to write long blog anymore. Does people still read blog? I know on my end, I tend to read travel blog, but the rest, I checked out Instagram more. Curious mind do wonder... :) May your week starts out awesome!

Gratefulness & Welcome 2012

Happy New Year, everyone!! I hope all of you start 2012 wonderfully. I am looking forward to this year. :)

As 2011 closing, I want to take a quick trip down memory lane & look back at 2011. Many things happened this past year, but above everything else, I am grateful that all my family members are healthy and doing well.

Thankful that my mom is still doing great and healthy. My big brother get promoted as vice director for the cardiology department at the hospital where he works. My little brother got engaged. My SIL, Regina, took the big leap to quit her corporate job and pursue her dream of opening a bakery. My future SIL, Denada, is doing well with her career and of course, she got engaged to my brother. :)

So very grateful for my hubby who's been there for me through all the ups and downs. With him, I know we can face anything. He's strong, compassionate, and so supportive, loving, and thoughtful. Thankful that he continue to love me the way I am, imperfection and all. Very grateful that God lead me to him.

Grateful for the time I had with my foster dad. What I learned from him will stay with me for the rest of my life. Grateful for my dad who passed away almost 10 years ago, because I know he's still watching over me. Grateful for my foster mom and brother who enrich my life with their presence. For my amazing parents-in-law who welcome me to their family with open arms.

Grateful for all the friends I met through card making. For the enjoyment & fulfillment that I received through it. I spent so many  hours of my days doing this and it's something that I truly enjoy. I simply have so many things to be grateful for. I am grateful for this life and all it has to offer.

While we're looking back, how about looking at some of my favorite cards from 2011? Here we go:

Not often I do what I consider fancy card, which means lots of layers. And this one,not only it has lots of layers, I even did a french knot for added details.

This one capture my love for animals. And of course, for Lawn Fawn critter sets!

I guess, this one what I would call my favorite reject. It didn't make it for submission, but I really love the bright and cheerful colors on this circus theme card. And the cute elephant. 

                                              

I sent this card for World Card Making Day. I just love the overall design of this card & the colors.

My super CAS card with a dash of bright color. Love how the bright colors stand against the white background. 

One of my favorite CAS card using Penny Black stamp. I have this stamp forever, it's an oldie but goodie. :)

This year, I am blessed to be joining Some Odd Girl team and this was one of the first card I made for the DT. Again, love the cheerfulness of the card. Did you notice a pattern here? Me and bright colors?? Yep... I love cheerful card. :)

 

One of my favorite Christmas card. I bought this stamp set because of these birdies.  Funny, I used to think I am a pastel color kind of girl, but I realized I am actually a bright color kind of girl. 

As we welcome 2012, I wish for all of us that may 2012 bring us health, joy, prosperity, and blessings. Thank you for your friendship, for your visits to my blog, for all your encouragement and support. I really appreciate you all. Have a blessed 2012!! Cheers.....

Day 2 With Kelly

Continuing my pairing up with Kelly Latevola, today we're making card inspired by this cute pic. Isn't this shoes just so adorable?

I love the colors on this pic and use that for my cards base. Every time I make a card using hedgehog stamps, I can't help but remember my own spiky critter, Coco, whom I got for Christmas about 3 years ago. She went to critters heaven last year. Now, since I used to own a hedgehog, I can't help but feeling very partial to hedgehog images. And, the ones from Penny Black are my favorite. If I have unlimited fund, I'd get their whole hedgehog collection. :)

And, to my delight this time I actually able to capture the glitters on the shawl. You know how it is with glitters, sometime they're just hard to capture with camera. I am entering this card for Lily Pad texture challenge.

Please check out Kelly's card HERE. Next post.... winner list for Cards That Care blog hop!! Yay...

Cards That Care Blog Hop

                                           

Hi and welcome to Cards That Care blog hop! Cards That Care is run by the sweet & fabulous Jennifer McGuire and  me. Our goal is to collect as many cards as we can for the elderly who lives in nursing homes. 

And, for your support & generosity, we have many offer many prizes as well. You can find all the details for the card drive HERE or by clicking on the badge. Just a reminder: you have till Nov. 30, 2011 to send your cards.

Now, to help promote the card drive, we're hosting a blog hop. We have quite a few fabulous & generous sponsors for the hop (see below for complete list of prizes) and you have the whole weekend to complete the hop. So, make sure you leave your comment by Sunday, Nov. 6, midnight CST. We will pick the winners from comments left on the participants blogs. So, the more blogs you left comment on, the better your chances are.

I made a couple cards for this hop. Here's a look at the first one, using stamps from my favorite companies. The cat is from Penny Black, background from Hero Arts, & sentiment from Papertrey Ink. BTW, Penny Black & Hero Arts were the among the first stamps I owned when I started stamping back in '97. And, yes.... still love them to this day!! 

Lots of layers on the cat & wreath image. Looks more 3D if you see it in person. Next, is another CAS card using another favorite of mine, the Lawn Fawn stamps. I used the masking technique for this card & used stardust stickles for the snowy hill.

Now, are you ready to hop? From here, you'll hop to the gal that everyone know as the stamp guru, Jennifer McGuire. I am sure you'll find fab inspiration from her blog.

Here's the complete list of the hop participants:

Vera Yates <------ you are here

Jennifer McGuire

Kelly Marie 

Laurel Beard
Lynette Kauffman
Melania Deasy

Amy Kolling

Cathy Fong

Brandi

Christy

Cristina Kowalczyk

Stephanie Muzzulin

Judy Marino

Annie Lung

Laurel Seabrook

Rachel Izakowicz

Kathy Racoosin

Amy Tsuruta

Kelly Bertram

Sheri Feypel

Kathy Martin

Becky Williams

Alice Carman
Wendy Morris

Sue Mylde

Gretchen McElveen

Loredana Bucaria

Deanna Misner

Kimberly Neddo 

Sweet Stamp Shop
Savannah O'Gwynn

Aga 

Donna Mikasa

Nicole Rixon

Trinh  

Monika Wright

Brenda Urbanik

Annette Allen

Samantha LaRoe

Karin Akesdotter

Kelly Latevola

Amy

Jenny Suchin
Anita Recksiedler

Giovana Smith

And, of course, no blog hop is complete without fabulous prizes!!! We have some superb & fabulous companies who donated these awesome prizes for this blog hop. Please visit them when you can. They have tons of great products. Huge thank you to all of you for your support & generosity.

OUR AMAZING PRIZES

Avocado Arts

4 stamps of your choice - clear, cling or wood

Jennifer McGuire

A spot on her Holiday Boot Camp Class

Lawn Fawn

4 digital stamps of your choice

3 rolls of ribbon of your choice 

Monika Wright's I Love It All

8 x 10 print of this gorgeous design

2 Cling Stamps of your choice

A Stamp set of your choice

Items For Sale

Hi all, since I got laid off a while back, I've been raking my brain to find ways to support my crafting obsession. My MIL has generously offered to help me started my own shop. I want to offer it online as well, but I am still cautiously testing the water.

I have some Penny Black stuff available for sale and you can find them under the FOR SALE tab.

I want to be able to do this where it helps support my hobby and along the way get you better deals as well. I am thinking to offer pre-order option. Obviously, right now I don't carry many stamps, but you can find a complete line of Penny Black stamps at their site. Write down the stamps that you are interested to order and if I can get enough people who are interested to order, I will place another order mid of September.

For this to work, I will need your commitment though, otherwise I might be stuck with a bunch of stamps. :) If this pre-order works, I will pass on the savings to you. Email me with any question or suggestion. Thanks so much!!

Hugs,
Vera

Spoil Yourself Silly

This past Sunday was my sister-in-law's birthday. I didn't make any bog post that day, but she knows I love her and thinking of her.

She's starting a new adventure on her life and I want to wish her all the best. She's leaving the corporate world to do what she loves, which is cake making. You all know, I love my desserts and sweets, soooo wish I live closer to her now that she's starting this. LOL, I told her I'd sacrifice myself to be her cake tester if we live close by. Hah! 

Anyway, for her birthday, my brother spoil her with awesome birthday present, which include a weekend in Bali and a large professional baking oven. So, I thought this card is perfect. It's your day, spoil yourself silly!

Challenges:

Make it Monday - Anything goes

Stamps R Us - Happy birthday

Lots of fussy cutting on this one, but I don't mind. Love it when I can kind of build a scene. Especially one as festive as this. :)

Tomorrow I'll have a fun announcement. So excited about this. Tune in!



Happy 3rd Anniversary

Oye... I had my post all prepared Sunday night and Monday I found out it has disappeared. Even after I already saved it! Let's see if this post come up! :)

Yesterday was my 3rd anniversary!! 3 years since I married my sweet hubby. What did we do to celebrate? Hm... how about taking our pug to the vet? My pug, Ollie gave us such a nice present.. a nice chunk of vet bill! Sigh... at the end hubby and I can only shake our head and make jokes about it.

I told hubby, maybe we should change Ollie's name to "Dollar" or "Richie Rich". She had scratch by the eye and her stomach was hard like rock, so of course, like any responsible, loving parents, we took her to get check out. She got antibiotic for her eyes and they had to do x-ray on her. Advise to pet owner: "always ask how much an x-ray cost".

After the bill, hubby and I pretty much just look at each other and said happy anniversary. We still went out for dinner afterward. Just low key dinner. As much as the vet bill hurt our pocket, we both think how blessed we are that we're still able to go out and enjoy a nice dinner, that our baby is doing okay.  

So, in honor of our anniversary, here's a couple pics from our wedding day. We got married at Playa Del Carmen. It was a small, intimate wedding and I love it! Professional pics were taken by my brother, Jerry Aurum, the photographer. :) If you visit his blog, he has post mostly in English and a few in Indonesian.

Since, it's my anniversary, I am just going to gush away about hubby. He's seriously one of the most thoughtful guy I know. Just this past weekend, he bought me an Indonesian recipe book. Nope, not for me to cook. But, for me to pick recipes I like for him to cook. How sweet is that? These kind of thoughtful gesture that mean so much that make me so grateful for having him as my hubby. Love you to pieces, honey! :)

Now, what would an anniversary be without a card? I made this card using Tiffany's sketch.

Challenges:

Penny Black - Wet embossing

Paper Playtime - Anything Goes

Can't go wrong with embossed cute hedgehog from Penny Black. That webby looking ribbon is from May Arts. LOVE it!

Thank you all for stopping by here and welcome to the new followers! :) Really appreciate you all taking the time to check out my blog. Hope you enjoy your visit and have a blessed day everybody!

Woodland Friends

Happy Saturday, peeps! It's time for new Wee Memories challenge. This week our challenge theme is "Woodland Friends" and we are sponsored by Serendipity Stamps.

For this week challenge, create any projects using woodland creatures. For my card, I am using this super cute hedgehog, who's busy playing with it's bee friend. They're part of Paint The Town set from Penny Black. Sigh... this kind of card... makes me happy. Cute & cheerful.

Challenges:

Penny Black - Paper piecing

Stampin' For The Weekend - Spring

That yummy purple twine is from The Twinery. Love them!! Don't forget to check out the DT fabulous creation at Wee Memories blog. I am so looking forwad to what you're going to crate for this challenge. Should be plenty of cuteness!!

Hope you all have a great Saturday! At the Yates household, today is spring cleaning day. Time to sort stuff out!! :)

Hedgehogs Hugs

I fell in love with Penny Black stamps since way back when I first get into card making. I simply adore their mice and hedgehogs. Who could resist them, when they look sooo cute, right? Anyway, their latest challenge is to use vellum. Since, it's been awhile since I use velum, I thought it would be fun to play along and use these cutie patootie hedgies.

I also make this card for Moxie Fab Stamping With Markers Challenge.

Challenges:

Stampin' Royalty - mark it up / use markers

Pink Elephant - be my valentine

I embossed the the hedgehogs and the grass on the front of the vellum, then I colored them from behind using Copic markers. To add some sparkles to this card, I also traced the border of the frame with stardust stickles.

Hedgehogs card simply makes me happy. :) Enjoy your Thursday!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's day!! Got anything special plan for today? Hubby and I are keeping it low key. Probably out for dinner or knowing us, to avoid the crowd and being it's Monday, most likely we'll have some take out. :)

When it comes to work days, we don't go out much. We treasure our home time very  much. Anyway, to celebrate love day, I have love card for you.

 First up is this sweet mouse card. And a little Valentine shout out to my mom, my brothers, and their significant others. Happy Valentine's day to you and I love you all so much! So wishing you all live close by to me instead on the other side of the world. That little mouse... me sending love your way. :)

Challenges:

Paperworks Co - Hearts

Allsorts - It's all about the sentiment

One Stop Craft - Love is in the air

Totally Gorjuss - Love

This next card, I've shown it here before, but since it's Valentine's day I want to show it again. This is the one I am giving to my hubby. I actually submitted this card to Paper Crafts a couple months ago, but it didn't get picked up (I do have 3 other cards being picked up). It still one of my favorite card, though.

The clean design, the twinery grid, I love it and I know my hubby loves it. :)

I wish you all a very happy Valentine's day and may your home always be filled with love.

Wee Memories Live, Laugh, Love

Hello weekend! So happy to have the weekend here. I plan on being productive and get some cards done. What's your plan for the weekend?

Since it's Saturday, you know it's time for a new Wee Memories challenge. This week we're sponsored by Penny Black and our fun challenge is "Live, Laugh, Love". Simply create a project based on Life/Living, Funny or Love themes. And we have TWO prizes up for grabs this week!

Penny Black is one of my favorite stamp company. From way back when I first started stamping, I fell in love with their critters collection. You know me, I have a special spot in my heart for hedgehog. So, of course for our challenge I chose to use this adorable hedgehog. Also made this card for Penny Black winter white challenge, which is to create card with lots of white space.

Check out the DT fabulous creation on Wee Memories blog and hope you will join us on this fun challenge. Can't wait to see what you make!

Hope you have a fabulous weekend. In my neck of the wood, we're supposed to have beautiful, sunny weather. Would be nice to be able to step outside without having to bundle up! Enjoy your weekend!

Hedgehog & Bird Cards

I am thrilled to find out that my ribbon fish card (see my blog header) caught the eye of the May Arts peeps. They chose my card as the winning card for "Ribbon on Card Contest". I almost missed the announcement here.  Thank goodness, I checked my planner. LOL, yes, I am one of those people that have planner, but sometime forgot to check it.

As far as I can remember I always have either a journal or a planner, and I always have the good intention of being organized by writing things down. I am good at that. I am just not that good at actually checking the planner on time. :) What can I say, everybody have their ditzy moment, right?!

Today, I have 2 cards for you. The first card, is for Clean & Simple FTL 102 and for Paper Cutz Challenge 53, which is to use monkey, squirrel, or hedgehog. Also entering this card for:
Cute Card Thursday 124: Whateva
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge 35: Anything Goes

If you have followed me for awhile, then you know I am partial to hedgehog. Why?? See the cute critter on the pic below.

Peeps, for you who haven't meet my smallest baby, here's Coco the hedgehog. I got her for Christmas 2008. She tends to be grumpy when you just woke her up. But, once she know it's me or hubby, she'll relax and all her quills will be down. Isn't she adorable? I am not sure how old she is. Found her through the rescue place. Anyway, this cute face is the reason I love hedgehog, the real thing and the stamps.

Now the second card is inspired by Embellish Magazine Color Challenge & bird. This pic came out kind of washed. I'll have to take new pic and change the pic later this evening.

And tomorrow, I'll be the guest designer at Making Memories blog. I have several stuff to share with you. Please come by tomorrow and if you stop by here today, please take the time to leave a comment. I read all the comments and really appreciate every single one of them. Have a great blessed day!

Banner card

Isn't banner such a trend right now? Seems like we see it everywhere. This is my second card this year that incorporate banner. And... me likey.

For today's card I used the banner from MyGrafico "On The Line Digital Set" by Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I loved the way this card turned out. After I printed the banners, I colored it Copic markers, stamped the letter using Hero Arts Printer's Lowercase alphabet set. Oldie but a goodie set.

I am slo entering this card for Card Style Fun and Cute Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I am sure you'll agree my style most of the time either fun & cute or clean & graphic. What do you think is your card making style?

See all those flags? Yeah, at first I was like what was I thinking, looking at those little triangles. But, luckily cutting them didn't take much time once I figured out the quickest way to cut them. I just snip from one angles first, then snip from the other angles. Take about 10-15 minutes to cut all of them. And my desk is filled with pretty tiny confetti once I am done. :) I glued the string using my must have Tombow liquid glue, then added the banners on top of it. I just loved the cheerful colors. At last minute decided to add the cute Penny Black mice. Love  the result.

Here's preview of what come with "On The Line Set":

Check out this week MyGrafico challenge here. It's free to join and they do have loads of digi freebies. Have a great Wednesday peeps. Hugs, Vera.

OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop

Hi peeps, happy Memorial Day weekend and welcome to my stop on Operation Write Home blog hop. This is my first time joining the hop and so glad that I get to take part of honoring all men and women in our troops! If you come here from Melissa's blog you're on the right track. :) To start from the very beginning of the hop please go to OWH Stars and Stripes.

To all the member of the troops, I want to thank you all for all your sacrifice and for your bravery. Because of what you do, we have the freedom that we're so often take for granted. From the bottom of my heart thank you for everything.

For my card, I tried to do some stitching. As I mentioned previously, I am really new at this whole stitching stuff. I couldn't get it straight at all. Well, actually I meant it to look like that. Heh... :)

The second card is simple card. I love simple card. This one again using the "Tweet Retreat" from Kathy Martin's collection.

That's all the cards that I have for today. I am finally stop shaking from my shock of  yesterday's announcement from Paper Crafts here. Pretty much spent the whole day being nauseous, because I was so excited, yet very nervous, too. So, besides blog hopping, I am planning on working on some cards this weekend. Keeping my finger cross!

OK, your next hop is to Dawn's blog!

Update: I decided to do some giveaway, I have so many things to be thankful for lately and I would love to share my  blessings. Below is what I am giving away. Just a mix match of stuff. To enter please leave comments and I'd love for you to become follower of my blogs. Following my blog is not mandatory though. I'd love for you to follow my  blog if you feel my blog can inspire you.

Thank you for stopping by here and have a great and safe Memorial Day weekend! Hugs, Vera.

Anniversary Wishes

Today my brother, Jeff and my SIL, Gina is celebrating their 15th anniversary (and yes, after 15 years they're still lovey dovey). They were highshcool sweetheart, dated for 7 years before they get married. I was in 7th grade then when they started dating, and I was immediately taken by Gina. She's the sweetest and she gave me a cute teddy bear for my birthday then when she just started dating Jeff. LOL, I have soft spot for soft and cuddly stuff animals. And for teenager to have her older brother's girlfriend paying attention to her, who doesn't like that? :) She definitely knows her way in handling me and my younger brother, Jerry.

They have such a strong bond and love for each other, that today as they celebrated their anniversary, I want them to know how much I admired them and want to thank them for being such a good example to me. I am grateful that my brother has such a dedicated wife who loves him so much (nothing means more to me as a sister than seeing my brother happy) and I am glad that in Gina I find an amazing, loving sister. Here's to you guys, wishing you many, many happiness for the years to come. Love you both to pieces. :)

Speaking about love, I made this cute card using one of my favorite subject, hedgehog. As you know, as a hedgehod owner, I loved it when I have the opportunity to use hedgehog for my cards. This card cover several challenge as listed:
CAS-tastic challenge 3 - cards with circle
Paper Play challenge - use the color the color brown and another color of my choice (pink)
Jacksonbelle Embellishment - simple card (CAS)
Cuttlebug challenge - kids theme

I alo made this card for CK Club card challenge, which is to use "trash" stuff. So that kraft color border, is garbage tie. :)  Below is picture of the inside of the card. I kind of like doing the whole inside out thing. It makes the card more polished and complete. I hope I can continue doing more card this way. I wish have enough time in the day where I can just create. LOL, I think we all wish for this???

This morning I'm off to check out my LSS. They're closing this Sunday after 10 years in the business and have huge sale going on. I love the sales, but feel sad to see them close. Another mom & pop store closing down. I already went there last night & bought one of their paper rack already, just need to pick it up and then get my paper all organized. I will take pic of it later, once everything all neat. Today, I'll be stocking up on papers and refills. Yikes, so much shopping. :) Hope you all have great weekend. Hugs, Vera.