Happy Friday

Aaahhh.... Friday!! Happy dance. I am so looking forward to this weekend as I plan to bury myself in my scrapbooking room while my husband busy watching the Master golf tournament.

I found a blog that just focus on print and patterns and let me tell ya... I've been so inspired. My doodling book been filled with ideas. The only thing that irritate me sometime was that when I tried to do the doodling again, somehow they don't look as cute as the original doodling. I guess when I did the doodling without thinking, there was no pressure, so it just come out naturally. But, when I am ready to use it for actual use, I get worried about messing it up, etc., that sometimes it took me several tries before it come out the way I want it.

I also have to make several cards for Love My Tape as they will be featuring my works on April 19th and 26th on  their blog. So, so excited with this opportunity! Please check my blog on that date, too as I will post the cards here as well.

On to today's card. I made this card for Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger. The inspiration is to create a project that mix aqua with kraft, orange-gold, red and pink. Not your usual color combo, but it turned out pretty yummy, in my opinion.

Also, yesterday, I found the cutest dragon stamp on this Scrapbooking Passion site. If you click on EN on the left top site, you can browse the site in English, otherwise you'd be like me trying to browse in French. And, I was just guessing what it means. LOL. And for limited time they offer free world wide shipping, just enter the code "FREE" when you check out. I was so excited that I get to order some stamps that I couldn't find here in the States. And, no, I don't work for  them, I just saw their card using this dragon stamp, fell in love with the dragon and ask them where can I get it. They were so nice to reply immediately and even share the free shipping. I am a supporter for good customer service. That's all. :)

Okay, that's it for today. I wish you all a very happy Friday!! Hugs, Vera.

Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge #2

Only a week ago we celebrated the grand opening of Digi Doodle Shop. I hope you get to join their first challenge. If not, you can join us for challenge # 2. You can find all the details for this challenge by going to Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge blog.

This week the challenge is to create card with different folding. If you have followed me for a while, you know I love making easel card. So, that's what I made. I love this sweet Digi Doodle Shop's mail box image. You can get this stamp here. 

For the background, I turned to my Silhouette machine. Don't you love that cloud?? I've been wanting to use this Hero Arts cloud image and  this is just perfect. And, I love the fact that I can use the inside of the die-cut for extra dimension. To create the soft background, I used chalks in 2 different shades of aqua blue. The little extra puff on the cloud is created by using Liquid Applique.

Don't forget to check out all the other blog by our DT. Their links on the left side of my blog. Let me know what you think and join us for the fun challenge!! Hugs, Vera.

Belated birthday

I've been planning all along to do a blog shout out to my older brother, Jeff, on his birthday. My bad... Due to stressfull work situation last week, I totally failed to do so. Today's post is all for my brother!

There's only 3 kids in our family. My older brother Jeff, me and my younger brother, Jerry. Jeff is five years older than me and he's truly a big brother to look up to. Actually my husband points this out to me, how lucky I am to have such a good role model growing up.

Even my mom said so, how Jeff was such a great kid and so mature for his age that back then even she sometime forgot that he was just a kid. :) Yeah, Jeff was the one who put the fear of smoking in me. Back then, my mom would save her money and got him all these encyclopedia book (I think he wants to be a doctor since he was in diaper..., LOL), and from one of the book he showed me this picture of smoker's lung. Hmm... for someone who's easily disgusted with yucky images, that image stuck with me. I was maybe 5?? Yep, never once even try to smoke cigarette because of that. :)

Looking back, as much as I got mad at him when he was bossy (teenage years), I have to say besides my parents, my  brother helped shapes who I am today. He's my mom's helper in watching us. I just want him to know that I appreciate all his good examples. He's a quiet guy, except when all of us together, he can gets very goofy and I love that.

So, no cards for today's post. Just a belated birthday blog-shout-out to my older brother who I love dearly and appreciated so very much. I don't get to see my brothers that often, but they're close to my heart always. Jeff, happy, happy birthday. May all your wishes come true and I am so lucky to have you as my big brother! Love ya, Ling.

Hmmm

How's that for a title? LOL. I just have no idea what to write for today's post. I guess, I just rambling away as I typed this. :)

How was your Easter? We went to Galveston to visit my in-laws and had a wonderful super-big-lunch. My SIL and her family were also in  town visiting from Galena, IL. They have 4 little kids (one actually still a baby) and let me just tell you, sitting for lunch with 4 little kids, made a very interesting time. They're adorable, but when their restlesness or the sugar high kick in, wow, you better have your running shoes ready, because they will just take-off!

After lunch we went to the beach. It wasn't the best day to go to the beach because it was so windy, but we all still had a great time. As soon as we got back home, it's pretty much sofa time. LOL. I was whooped. Besides, I have my show on.

Have you heard of the show "Life"? It's an 11 weeks special event on Discovery channel about all kind of living things on earth. And the pictures are just AMAZING! Some makes you wonder how on earth they captured that? So, if you haven't seen it, try to catch it next Sunday. Here it starts at 7pm CST. The pictures and beauty of life will just captured you.

Speaking about animals, yesterday they were showing about birds. How perfect is that theme for my cards. Beside butterflies, I used birds quite a bit on my cards. Here, I used Silhouette to cut my birdies. The 2nd bird from the left is popped on pop-dot for a little extra dimension. Covered all the edges with glitters. Pretty quick and simple card.

OK, I better get going. There's still so many things to do on my list. Hope you all have a great week. Hugs, Vera.

Digi Doodle Shop Grand Opening

Yay... today is the day!! Today is the grand opening of Digi Doodle Shop store. I am so excited to be part of Digi Doodle Shop's Best Design Team.  They have lots of  digital stamps that I am so looking forward to play with. You can check out their digital stamp collection here. 

You definitely want to check it out today, cause the  first 50 customers of the store will be put in for a drawing to win their very own CUSTOM MADE STAMP. Yep, you read it right. You can send in your picture, your kids picture, or your puppy and they can create your very own custom stamp! One of the lady on the DT, had a couple stamps made of her cute puppies. Way too adorable. When you visit the store, don't forget to sign up for the weekly newsletter, so you can get up-date for new releases.

And of course, we can't do grand opening without doing challenge. This week challenge is to make card with Easter/spring theme. You can join the fun and get the detail for the challenge by going to Digi Doodle Shop's Best here. Every week we will have new challenge. How fun is that?

I actually ended up making 2 cards for this week challenge. The 1st card I used the iris bloom. During the sneak peek a few post ago, I did the same flowers but colored it yellow. Here, I used purple. I colored the image with copic markers and then for the scallop border I used Martha Stewart border punch.

The second card, I used the Boy Bunny image. He looks so sweet and playful. I also included the up-close pic of the bunny tail. To make it looks fluffy, I used Liquid Applique. I don't get to use it often, so kind of glad that I get to play with it this time. And for extra dimesnion, I create layer for the bunny's hat and the butterfly.

I love that they have stamp for evey taste. From the classic, vintage look to the cutesy stuff. Let me know what you think and don't forget to check out the store! Their price is very reasonable. Also, you can visit the other DT blog by clicking on the DT team list on my left side bar. Plenty of ideas. I hope you will play along and join the Digi Doodle Shop challenge. I'm looking forward to see what you talented ladies come up with. Hugs, Vera.

Organizing

Last weekend I bought new plastic drawers set to organize my scraps area. I feel a bit fed up of having my table covered all the time and have paper on piles. I am one of those scatter but organize kind of scrapper. LOL. Does  that make any sense?

I mean my desk can look cluttered but I do know where everything are. Not that I want it to be like that. It just happen that way. I remember growing up my mom used to complain that I have my stuff everywhere. Not messy, just kind of scattered. They usually in neat piles, just not quite where they belong. ;)

And lately, my boy, Nick, our sheltie has been getting into weird habit of chewing papers. Not everyday, just once in a blue moon. Thank goodness, so far my scrapbook papers are safe. He only got into the mail pile. So, I am not lying when I said the dog ate my bills. :) To keep my pretty papers safe I always close the door to my scrapbook room whenever I go to work. But, I don't like doing that as I prefer to have the door open so the air can circulate and the room doesn't feel stuffed and warm.

This week, I am hoping I can get those papers that piled on the floor into the drawers and have a more organized working area. My husband always pretend to be amazed whenever I clean my desk and would say, "Wow, we could actually see your desk, how long is that gonna last?" Not long at all! LOL.

Anyway, after posting this I'll go back to my desk and  try to clean up more. Cause so far this evening, instead of cleaning  I chose to watch Lost. Still confusing as ever. If you follow the series Lost you know what I mean. Anyway, here's a quick card for you all.

That's it for tonight. And don't forget, April 1st, Digi Doodle grand opening. I'll be showing you a card that I made using their awesome digital stamp and there's also challenge you can join. Hope you'll join the fun! Hugs, Vera.

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. When we were planning the wedding we decided to do destination wedding. Best decision ever! :) Since my family came all the way from Indonesia, I didn't want to just have a wedding then off to honeymoon and leaving my family behind. We figured with destination wedding, everybody get to enjoy a vacation, too.

So, that's what we did. We got married at Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. It was a small wedding, but we all had a blast and what matter most to us was that we were surrounded by those who  matters to us. I mean seriously, we had an amazing wedding, it was intimate and since it's small I love the fact that we get to chat and spent good time with everybody.

With the ocean as the background, we didn't have to do much decoration. I chose to use gerber daisies as my flowers, which is perfect for the tropical colors and we use sea shells for the table decoration. The contrast between the blue ocean and  the bright colors of the daisies were just stunning. And on top of it all, we didn't have to get in debt at all to do the wedding. Here's a few pics from our wedding. The first pic was my  brother walking me down the aisle. Second pic was when we cut the cake. I actually had 2 cakes. I loved, loved this love bird topper. The way they embrace each other just looks so gentle and loving. The other cake has sea shells as the cake topper.

I hope I don't bore you guys with my wedding stories. :) I just have to talk about our wedding a bit.  What can I say it's one of my fondest memory.

You know, we just watched The Blind Side and that movie is so awesome. The story line, the fact that it actually happened, the fact that there's good people out there. I like when she taught him about football, how he has to protect the guys by watch over their blind side

That's how I feel about my husband. He'll watch my blind side. Today's post dedicated to my husband, who loves me so much and makes me very happy. The card below, is not my anniversary card, but does convey how I feel about my husband. All stamps from PTI, except the greeting is from Hero Arts. Butterfly punch from Martha Stewart and for added details I did some hand-stitching (part of Embellish magazine challenge).

Here's an upclose of the french knot cluster that I did for the center of the flowers. Almost look like mini rose, I think.

Well, thank you for stopping by and I hope you all have a great week. Hugs, Vera

Card Pattern Sketch #56

I just found Card Pattern Sketch blog and in spur of the moment decided to join their latest challenge. Kind of cutting it close since I think the challenge end tonight.

So, here's a quick post for it. Not much else to say, since I am ready to chillin' with my crew (hubby and the doggies). It's been a long day and then ate way too much sushi during dinner. Now, all I can think is how comfy and inviting the sofa. LOL. You all have a great night. Ciao!

Another Papertrey Blog Hop Card

It turned out I almost stalk the wrong people. My PTI order was actually delivered by the UPS guy this time who came late, late afternoon today. LOL. And here I was being all pissy with the postman. Ay... see what PTI did to my sanity?

Well, I was so darn excited that I quickly play with my new goody and made this quick card. Love, love the Delightful Dahlia set. The stamps and the matching dies. Since I already posted my blog for the hop, I figure I just do another post.

And see the button? Another one I am so proud of. I restamped the Dahlia set and using clear glue attached the clear button to it. And after that I lined it all up, so, it looks like continuous design between the button and the flower. I thought that was neat! :) You can see the other cards I made for the hop here.

Thank you for hopping by. And I am off to check out all the other blogs. Ciao! :)

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

                  

It's that time of the month! Time for Papertrey Ink blog hopping.  I was hoping that my order would be here on time, so I can make cards using the new release products. But, up to yesterday there's no goodies waiting for me when I came home from work. Sigh.... Almost tempted to stalk the postman, but then I'd have to take time off from work. LOL.

So, I used the PTI stuff that I already have. I made 2 cards. Start with the first one. Totally all PTI. I really like how the aqua color border turned out. I used the Background Basics: Tin Types and filled the inside with the flower from Background Basics: Petal Power. Love when I can create new look by combining stamps from different sets.

Now, the 2nd card. What I am most proud of this card, beside the fact that the bird is my own drawing, are the buttons. I didn't see any button on my stash that I want to use for this card. So, I made my own look. I put the close-up look of the buttons, so you can see it better (you might have to click on the picture to get an even bigger close-up view).

Did you notice the background on the buttons? Does the pattern look familiar? Yep, using clear glue I attached the clear buttons to the butterfly stamp (like the one I used on the 1st card), cut around following the button shape, and voila I have lovely buttons that have that pretty swirl pattern from the butterfly stamp. I really love how my custom made buttons turned out.

Well, I know you have lots of blogs to hop to, so I keep this short. Thank you so much for hopping to my blog and please let me know if you hopped here. I read and appreciate each comments.

Quick edit: I was so excited and made another card for the bloh hop. You can see it here. Have a lovely evening blog hopping ladies! I am gonna hop around myself. :) Vera