Mami Doodles Monochromatic challenge

Oh my goodness, my Friday morning start wonderfully with an email from the super talented Laura Vegas. She said to check her blog as I might see something that I like. I checked the email to see if she cc anybody else, and thought, hmm this just for me. And I recently entered her giveaway for CK Fast & Fresh Scrapbook. Crossing my finger, I checked her blog and yay!!!, I won! :) Sooo happy.

And yes, I am such a dork, I asked her if she could sign it before she mail it out. LOL. What can I say, the dork side of me won. :) I am a huge fan of her. Her style is clean and fun. Thank you, Laura!

I am the type of person that doesn't take things for granted. I am grateful to say that I've been really blessed. I won little things here and there. They're little but they're stuff  that I like, so I am happy. I won Scrapbooks, Etc. giveaway last year, this year Stampendous catalog giveaway, cute Willow stamp from Paper Play challenges, and now this. All I can say, my scrapbook & card making world bring me so much happiness.

Now, let's move to card. Have you checked Elisa's Mami Doodle site lately? She just released  a couple fabulous new digital stamp. If you're looking for the stamp, just scroll down her blog for the latest.

We have new challenge for you this week. This time Mami Doodles challenge is monochromatic. This is what I created for the challenge.

I used "Lucy with balloon" for the card. For €2.00 (about US $2.50) you get 2 images in this set. One is Lucy with plain dress and the other one has little decoration on her dress. I thought Lucy looks adorable. I colored her with Prismacolor pencils and added glossy accent on the balloons. 

I always love doing monochromatic challenge. What about you? I hope you can join us and play the challenge. To enter, you can use whatever stamps you want. That make it even easier, right? You have 2 weeks to enter the challenge, so that should give you plenty of time. Looking forward to your creation. Have a happy Friday, Vera.

Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge 7

Hi there, today is time for Digi Doodle Shop's Best challenge 7. This week the challenge is easy and fun. All you need to do is create any project using ribbon. You can find all the detail on the challenge on DDSB challenge blog. The prize for this week is 3 stamps of your choice from *Wink*Wink Wink.

I love this cute mice image the moment I saw it. Somehow any cute mice image reminds me of my younger brother, Jerry. Maybe, because when we were growing up we were a fan of Tom & Jerry and just like Jerry the mouse, my younger brother is funny, a jokester, and always on the go. Made this card with him in mind, using sketch idea from CPS166.

I am loving this ribbon folding technique at the moment. It's easy to make and I think it made a fun embellishments. Here's cose-up of the mice. I layered 3 of  the mice. Did you see the one that sleeping inside? Isn't he just too cute??

I hope you'll come and join us on this challenge. Please take the time to check out the other DT blog as well (link on the left side bar). Have a great Thursday!!

Happy, excited, & dreamy card

Yesterday, I was over the moon when I see my favorite scrapbooker, Erin Terrell Clarkson added me as one of the blog that she follows. Highlight of my day. I have 4 all time favorite scrapbooker. Erin, Laura Vegas, Jennifer McGuire, and Ali Edwards. I have written back and forth a little bit with Erin and she's just super nice. If you're a scrapbooker, I am sure you're already familiar with Erin's work. You can check out her amazing works here and on Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine. Thank you for making my day brighter, Erin! :)

Then this morning, I found out that my silhouette birdie card was selected as one of the top 5 for CAS-tastic #2  challenge. Soooo excited! I love that card the moment I finished it and so happy to find out that others like it as well.
Another thing I am excited about is the upcoming Papertrey Ink May release. Their new goodies are so yummy! I am getting my shopping list ready. Trying to trim down the list here and there as I don't want to shock my husband. LOL. Although, he's so sweet, he let me get whatever I want since he knows how much I love scrapbooking & card making. Still..., I try to control myself. But come, release night, I'll be ready! :)

On to card. My co-worker asked me to create a congratulations card. Took me about 2 hours to complete it, most of them spent just gazing and thinking. Heh... Here's the card:

For this card, I stamped a soft blue vellum paper with Stampendous Faded Text Background, then I stamped Hero Arts Poppy flower and embossed it with white embossing powder. Then on the back side, I colored the flowers with Prismacolor pencil. After that was done, using 3 different color chalks, I rubbed the whole background to create the soft colors. On the front side, I colored the embossed stem with my green Copic marker. Attached the vellum to white cardstock. Oh yes, glitters! Added glitters to the flowers. The more the merrier. :)

The above pic, shows the card open and below is the up-close of the flowers. I think the glitters works so well with the poppy flowers. What do you think? I love the close-up picture. It looks sooo dreamy.

Hope you enjoy tonight's post and I'll be back tomorrow with Digi Doodle Shop's Best challenge! Have a great evening everyone.

Around The World Challenge 2

This time Vicky's Around The World challenge taking the inspiration from Holland.

As soon as I saw it, I know I have to play. Holland is one of my favorite country and I had such a blast the two times I went there. My mom lived there for about 8 years with her adoptive family, and I love hearing her story about her life there. I always wanted to go there and when I did have the chance to visit, I fall in love with the place even more. The windmills, the flowers, simply lovely.

So, here's my take on the challenge. I based the card using the Caardvark sketch. I thought their sketch this week is perfect to make the flowers stand out. Basically, I want to capture the feeling of the tulip field, although since I don't have tulip stamp, I used Hero Arts Poppy stamp instead.

There's a lot of cutting involved. Took me almost 2 hours to complete this card, because of the detailed cutting. To create dimension, some of the flowers are popped with pop-dots and I added Stardust Stickles to make the flowers shine. I love the way this card turned out. So cheerful and happy.

For Vicky's Around The World Challenge, you can vote on the card that you like. I think you can vote starting Tuesday. Okie dokie, that's it for today's post. Hope your week have a great starts and let it be an awesome week! Hugs, Vera.

Happy Mother's Day

If there's one person who I consider as my rock, that would be my mom. She's my constant supporter, who always encourage me, give me the nudge when I need it, and guide me when I am lost.

My brothers and I really consider our mom as one of the smartest and wisest person we know. You can talk about anything with her. From politics to everyday silly stuff. She's sharp and very matter of fact. There's no going around her, she'll call you on it. And she's very rarely yell. Growing up, we know we're in big trouble when she's very calmly said she needs to talk to us. She knows she can get us in shape simply by talking. My cousins used to say that my mom has fire in her eyes. And yes, all the kids behave very well near my mom.

My aunts could yell or what to her kids and they might not care. But, if it's my mom, that's a different story. She's the disciplinarian in the family, but she's also the sounding board for everybody. She's the peace keeper of the family and the glue that keep the family together. From her parents, to her siblings, to my cousins, everybody go to her when there's family issue.

I wish my mom live closer to me instead of on the other side of the globe. I miss her all the time. I made this thank you card that reflect my feeling for my mom. I choose blue and green as the main color, cause blue reminds me of the ocean. It looks calms, refreshing, and underneath it fills with so much beauty and life. That's my mom. Always calm, and when you get to know her better she's so much fun, always up for anything fun, and has such a beautiful soul. And green, that's one of her favorite color.

The sketch is from Mojo Monday 137 and I used Hero Arts Large Flower, Stampabilities Old Writing, and the greeting is from Papertrey Ink.

I am thankful for my mom and I hope she knows how much I appreciated her. Hope all of you have a wonderful Mother's Day celebration. :) Hugs, Vera

My Silhouette Works...

This is my 2nd post for today. For Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge post please scroll down or click here.

I have to post twice today. Too excited to wait another day. :) I am so happy that I finally figured out how to make my Quickutz Silhouette works with my new computer!! When I googled it before, someone said that Silhouette doesn't work with Windows 7. Then, Jackie one of my blog follower, emailed me and said hers work with Windows 7. Big hugs to you Jackie! If you didn't tell me, I wouldn't have known.

And the customer service from Silhouette was superb. They emailed me back promptly each time I had questions. Finally, after 3 days of trying, my beautiful toy is working to my satisfaction. Happy tears. LOL. Can you see how excited I am?

And, my excitement apparently get my mojo going. I made these 2 cards. This first one is following the 2S4Y sketch 51. Yep, this Hero Arts Poppy stamp is definitely one of my favorite stamp. Like a dress, you can dress this image up or down. Here, all the colored poppies are layered for extra dimensions and covered with glossy accents. And since, I did add a little bling to this card, it's perfect for Paper Play Challenges as well. :)

My second card is the result of my Silhouette. I loved, loved the fact that they are working together with American Craft. The bird is American Craft image. LOVED it! And since the moment I saw it, I know I want to make the bird at the main focus and I know I want to keep the card clean looking. I am really happy with the way the card turned out. Just the way I envisioned it.

When I used my Silhouette, I tend to use white cardstock and then colored the image afterwards. Here, I colored it with Copic and Prismacolor markers. I embossed the inside of the cloud for texture and attached the wing and the heart with pop-dots. I am entering this card for CAS-tastic Wednesday challenge 2.

One more thing, I just have to share about my talented MIL, Jane. I am so grateful that I am one of those lucky people that have a loving MIL. And, on top of that, she's very talented, too. She does pottery, jewelry, etc. This week, she spoiled me rotten. She dropped 12 sets of earrings for me. I just have to take pic of all the earrings. And she said she still has more. I was like, umm... you just gave me 12. I told her she should sell her stuff at Etsy. If you think she should, leave me some comments, so she'll believe me when I said people would buy her stuff. :) Thank you mom, for the awesome earrings!

That's all for my happy post for my happy card today. Thank you so much for stopping by and hope you enjoy today's blog. Have a happy day..... :) Vera

DDSB Challenge 6

Happy Thursday, everyone! It's time for another Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge. Last week you wow us with  your entries. Total of about 102 entries for challenge #5. That's so awesome and thank you all for playing. To keep things interesting, this week we have sketch challenge for you. Here's the sketch:

And here's my interpretation of the sketch (I did it horizontally instead of vertical). The picture didn't quite show it, but the flowers actually have a couple layers to it and both butterflies are covered with glitters. When I do butterfly, I always add a bit or sometimes a lotof sparkles.

For all the detail of the challenge and the fun prizes please check the Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge blog. Remember, you don't have to use Digi Doodle Shop image to enter the challenge. But, if you do, your entry will count twice. Looking forward to seeing your creations!!

Lost & Challenges

Tuesday night at our house is "Lost" night. I am a big fan of the series and Tuesday night, come 8pm, we'll be ready in front of the TV. Is any of you a fan of Lost? Oh my goodness, as the story come to an end soon, it's getting so intriguing. And, sad on some part. I cried when Sun & Jin died. I know, I know it's only a show. But, I am one of those people that cry watching movie. Heck, I got teary eyes watching the animation UP! :) I sure hope this whole thing have happy ending. If you're Lost fan, please share your thought about this final season!

OK, let's move on to card. This is my first time joining the Taylored Expression Sketch Challenge. I thought the sketch was fun and wanted to play along. I make the card for Curtain Call Color Challenge: Act 28 as well.  For the color challenge the colors to use are rose red, white, kraft, and not quite navy. Here's what I came up with:

I don't have any Taylored Expression stamp, yet, so I used Hero Arts Poppy stamp. Colored it with Prismacolor pencils, layered a couple of the poppies and added some glitters. Here's a close up of the poppies:

Also, I want to remind everyone that there's still time to enter the Mami Doodles 2nd challenge. It's easy peasy, all you need to do is to make anything with a garden theme. And you can use whatever stamp you want. For challenge and prize detail juct click on the link.

OK, that's all for today and tomorrow I'll be back with Digi Doodles card & challenge. Happy Cinco De Mayo to those who celebrate it! Hugs, Vera.

CPS 165

First, I'd like to welcome my new followers. Thank you so much for following my blog and I want you to know that I appreciated each and everyone of you. I hope you'll enjoy visiting and browsing my blog. :)

About a month ago, I saw this cute, cute dragon on flickr and I fall in love with it immediately. I contacted the card owner to find out where can I get that stamp. Low and behold, I have to get it all the way from Belgium. My 1st order ever fom Belgium. Yes, I wanted the stamps so badly and the owner of the store was so kind. She gave me the code for the free shipping special that they offerred at the time. And it arrived within a week.

Peeps, meet Smookie (and please, don't get it mix up with Snooky from Jersey Shore). This Smookie is adorable! :)

For this card I used CPS sketch # 165. I love this sketch and so happy I can finally use Smookie. I cannot believe that I had this stamp for a month before I actually use it. Considering I ordered it as soon as I found out where I can get it. I still have another one that still brand new in a package.

Yep, I am dealing with health issue again.  So, it's been a bit if a struggle to be creative when you're feeling dizzy or nauseous a lot of time. And no, I am not pregnant. Have many people asking me that. I wish that was why I am not feeling good lately, but unfortunately that's not the case. Still trying to figure out what's wrong.

Meanwhile, I am just happy I can make good card again. I haven't been too happy with the cards I made lately. Maybe I am just too harsh on myself?? Well, I hope you like the card today. And, also I want to give a big thank you to Nancy for her lovely card that I received in the mail. You're the best Nancy!!

Hugs, Vera.

What a weekend...

This is what happen when I try to plan my weekend. Came home Friday after work and found my laptop has crashed. Tried to turn it on and nothing happen. Check and recheck, nada. Zip. Zero action. I was getting frustrated and panic a bit as all I can think of was I haven't back up any of the photos from 2009. Like any scrapbooker, it's all about the pictures! Hubby calmed me down and said first thing tomorrow morning we'll go to Best Buy. There goes my plan of scrapbooking.

Saturday morning went to Best Buy and they said for the cost of repair, might as well get a new computer. I saw that cominf. And luckily, they said they can back up the data from the old computer and transfer it to the new one. I wasn't planning on spending for new computer, but can't imagine my life without computer either. LOL. So, there we were browsing around and debating what to get. To make long story short, we chose this beauty.

It's not a laptop, and not quite a desktop either. It's HP Touchsmart. This is the whole computer. Isn't it a beauty?? At first, hubby thought I should get Mac, but I just couldn't justified spending on Mac. Then we saw this, played with it a bit and the rest is history. We had to come back to pick it up on Sunday as they have to get it all set up and transfer the old data to this one.

I still have to play with it. My old laptop was 15" this one is 20", so definitely better for photo editing. And the touch screen, oh my... YUMMY! I could zoom in and out simply by moving my fingers. The only thing I am not too happy about was that my Silhouette wouldn't work with Windows 7. But, hubby said I can connect it to his laptop. So  far, that's the only glitch I have.

Then, in the middle of my computer battle, got the wonderful news that I won Paper Play Challenge Week # 16. Remember my Blowing Birthday Wishes Puffer Fish card?? Yep, that's the card that win this challenge. That truly brighten my day. :)

So, I didn't get to do any scrapbook whatsoever. Was quite disappointed with that, but maybe this week. Didn't get to make any card either. How about an old post then? Here's a pic of a scrapbook layout that I completed last year.

And, I have to share this pic of my pug, Ollie. She likes to pose and truly she's my baby. I have her since she was only 6 weeks old and she's been there for me through the up and down. She's my snuggler and my sunshine. OK peeps, enough rambling for today. Be back with a card tomorrow. Hugs, Vera.