Find Blessing In The Smallest Thing

Yesterday, we finally got some really good rain. The heat index for our area been 110F to 115F. So, the heavy rain was a nice change. The not so nice change was that when we got home, all the power was out. Bring back so many memories to our days after hurricane Ike.

I did learn something though. When hubby & I were talking about how we might have to sleep without A/C, etc., I started to think, is that our only problem? And no internet. I looked at hubby and said do you know how blessed we are? At least we're not in the middle of flood like in Pakistan, or mud slide in China. We have our house, we're not stranded, who are we to complain?

When I came to this realization, suddenly not having power didn't seem so bad. We know we'll get the power back on sooner or later. At other country, they'll be lucky if they get power for 2-3 hours a day and you might not even know when you're going to have power again. If we open our eyes and see how some of the world lives, we're beyond lucky & blessed. I mean, even when you're poor, being poor in the States still better than being poor let's say in Haiti, or other poor regions. I just want to say, if all we worried about was a few hours of no A/C, no internet, life is really pretty good!!

I enjoyed my down time of no power by reading a book that I truly enjoy. I get to chill out & relax. Find blessing even in the smallest thing. :) When you can do this, you'll be much happier about life in general.

Like I thought, we had our power back on by late evening. Shouldn't even waste time worrying. Before we went to bed, I made this quick but cute mini card as well. This card size is 2.75 x 4.25.

This cute image is from 2 Cute Rubber Stamps. They have the cutest digi stamp! This card also goes for these challenges:

Allsorts - something less than 3" in size

Create4fun - birthday card

Stamp Something - use something digi

Hope your day is filled with many blessings and I am sure if you just think about it, you have plenty of blessings to be thankful for everyday! Have a super duper blessed happy day, peeps!! Hugs, Vera.

Ribbon Fish Tutorial

Edited: When I made my ribbon fish, I literally do it based on my own trial and error. I do not follow anyone's tutorial and I stated it clearly on my post that I made the ribbon fish design myself based on trial and error. However, Karyn, who's a ribbon sculpture artist contacted me and let me know that she had written a ribbon fish tutorial years back and since selling ribbon sculpture tutorial is her way to earn a living, I decided to pull out my free fish tutorial to support her. If you want, you can purchase the ribbon fish tutorial from her site HERE.

I think it's important for artist to support each other and I hope you can understand my decision to pull out this free ribbon tutorial. Thank you for your understanding. :)

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Hi peeps! Finally, I finished my ribbon fish tutorial. Heh... sorry it took so long. Good thing, some of you are persistent & keep me to hold my promise. My first fish card is the one that I used for my blog header (see card on the right side of the header).

It might take you a couple trial & error to get the fish looks right. The first time I did this fish for Gallery Idol, I didn't have any direction on how to do it. I basically figured it out myself just by looking at the end result. Took me at least an hour for my first try. This time, it only took 10 minutes.

With a fish like this, you don't need much of anything else to make your card shine. I made a super simple, CAS looking card. I do adore my fish.

Thank you so much for stopping by here. Hugs, Vera.

Wee Memories Challenge 19

Happy weekend, peeps!! How are you today? Hope your day starts great. I have fun new Wee Memories challenge for you. This week we are sponsored by May Arts and the challenge theme is "SWEET TREATS".

May Arts has many yummy ribbons. Yes, I associate pretty, fun colors with yumminess. :) And, lucky for me, I received my winning ribbon from their blog contest in the mail on Wednesay, so I get to use their ribbon for my card here. Love their ribbon, it has just the right thickness & easy to work with.

I used a digi stamp from 2 Cute Rubber Stamps. Isn't this polar bear & the penguin the cutest? Sigh... I love cute stuff. Colored them with Copic markers and added tons of glitters for the ice. I added dimensional glazed on the ice cream. Loved how shiny they look.

Also entering this card for these other challenges:
The Pink Elephant: Ribbon & sparkles
Character Cafe: Dimensional Glaze
Stampin' for the Weekend - anything goes

Make sure you go to Wee Memories blog to check out all the amazing DT creations and see all  the details for the challenge! I am looking forward to see what you're going to create. Love seeing all the talents out there.

Okay, I feel like I've been losing my mojo quite a bit lately, but today, I feel the tickles to create, so hopefully I can come up with some great ideas. Going to  try to submit again for the magazine. Cross my fingers. First, I am off to have some dim sum with my cousin, Julia. Can't create with empty tummy. :) Wishing you all a super duper great weekend filled with many yummy goodness!! Hugs, Vera.

HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY

Today, my lovely in-laws, Marty & Jane, whom I am so lucky to call Mom & Dad, is celebrating their 50th anniversary! What an achievement! So wish they're here with us, so we can celebrate with them.

Before I met my husband, I promised myself that before I get serious with anyone, I want to make sure I like the parents. I learned, having in-laws with whom you get along with is very important. Let just say, I got to meet my in-laws on my second date with hubby! Boy, talking about pressure. LOL. Yep, basically on 2nd date I met my then future parents-in-laws & sister-in-law, Kristen who is not only drop dead gorgeous, but very nice as well.

Needless to say, I quickly fall in love with hubby's parents. They're the nicest in-laws to have (an no, Mom, Dad, I am not only saying this because I know you're going to read the blog. I really mean it!!). And how can I not adore them, they raised such a thoughtful, loving, & kind son that I am blessed to be married to.

I love it that I can chat with them about anything, just like when I chat with my own parents. They're intelligent & fun to talk to. Remember my trip to CHA? Yep, did it with my MIL. So, today's post is dedicated to them. Thank you Mom, Dad for leading us by example and showing us what marriage all about. 50 years of amazing togetherness, through the ups and downs of life. I hope we can follow your example and we wish you many more years of happiness & love. Love you both to pieces and thank you for welcoming me into the family with so much love & support.

Here's the card I made for them. HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY!!!

Maybe you don't consider this as romantic anniversary card, but there's reason why I choose to make this card. In Indonesia, the plants that rice came from is called padi & there's a saying about great people who are like padi. Hmm... not sure how I can  translate it directly. Let me try to explain the saying. Padi when they mature & ripe, they bend and become closer to the earth. Instead of being boastful & growing tall reaching to the sky (considering they're the main food for lots of people), they remain grounded & actually the bigger, the better they become the closer they bend to the ground.

My in-laws, have been through a lot together & are very successful in many aspect, yet they're a very down to earth people. Just like padi enriching lots of people (either as goods that provide income for the family, or as food that enriching the body), Marty & Jane enriching the lives of the people who knows them. They're kind, thoughtful, fun, (can be crabby & grumpy sometime... hehe.. let's stay realistic here, Dad! :), loving and just simply great parents. That's why I choose to create this card using this wheatgrass images that reminds me of the rice padi field.

Hope you love the card and peeps thank  you all for stopping by and for those who actually read my post, I hope I don't bore you gals with my long post! Really appreciate you stopping by here! Hugs, Vera.

Lawn Fawn Hearts Cards for Kids Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the Lawn Fawn Hearts Cards for Kids Blog Hop! We have all come together today to make cards for a wonderful cause, Cards for Kids! We hope you will join us in supporting this great cause and have fun along the way, too! So please hop along with us, and make sure to leave comments as there will be prizes for commenters and participants! So let's get going! Also, if you are lost in the hop, you can always start at the beginning at the Lawn Fawn blog. Thank you so much for hopping along with us today!

If you come here from Banu, you're on the right track. :)

I have 3 cards to share with you. I love supporting this wonderful cause. Most of my cards that I made throughout the year that's totally cutesy, I usually save it for this. When I have a bunch collected then I mailed it out to Jennifer McGuire who started it. You can find all the details about the cause & the kids here.

My first card is a super cheerful card using Lawn Fawn set. I simply love building a scene with this set. Here the critters gather to enjoy the sunset. :)

Next, another card using the same set combined with Imaginisce stamp. I love critters stamps and I think they will  bring a smile to any kid. I simply love the way this card turns out. And by the way, I found my bunny back! It's been missing from the set for awhile and just last  night I found it! Yay...

Okay, last card. For this one I used Meljen's stamp and CPS sketch 180 & Card Pattern Sketch 77. Don't you think this cute mouse & frog would brighten any little boy's day?

I hope you love the cards and I sure hope the kids will love it. I will be mailing my stash out this weekend. Your next stop is LISA.

Thank you so much for stopping by and thank you for taking the time to leave some love. I appreciate your support & truly hope you will join us in supporting Cards for Kids. Hugs, Vera.

MyGrafico Challenge 62

Hi peeps. It's time for MyGrafico Challenge 62. This week challenge is super easy. Anything goes. The only requirement for MyGrafico challenge is to use at least one of their stamp and they have lots of freebies that you can get here. For all the challenge & prize detail please check out MyGrafico Challenge Blog.

The DT get to play with the  monkey stamp set from Primsy Doodles. And they are fun, fun, fun to play with. Mine is chillin' by the beach. I so wish I was by the beach, too.

You get a few images from this one set. You can get them at MyGrafico store here. Wanna see what you get in the set? Here you go:

I hope you will join us for the challenge. To see my post for Lawn Fawn Hearts Card For Kids please click on my blog title to refresh the page and it should be the top post. Looking forward to your creations!

ETA: I forgot to announce the winner for Mami Doodle Blog Hops. My winner is: # 17 Fabella. For complete list of all the winners please check Mami Doodles Blog. Fabella, please contact me. Congrats!:)

Best friends

Hi peeps! Last week was a bit rough for me. Had to deal with some dramarama courtersy of some people. But, among all of what happened, two moments happened that I won't forget.

First one happened on Thursday. I was so upset about something that someone said and sent an email to my girl, Leslie. Just 2 short sentences to vent off. Next thing I knew, she called & sang this silly but super cute diddle of how much she loves me. She made me laugh and cried at the same time. I laughed because she cracks me up, I cried cause I feel so blessed that I have such a thoughtful friend who when she thought it was bad, immediately call me just to make sure I am okay and just to show she cares.

The second one happened on Friday. Out of the blue, my other girlfriend, Deb called. I consider her like my sister. We're both not the type that chat a lot on the phone, but when we do catch up it's always like no gap, if you know what I mean. Anyway, she called because that morning as she was thinking about all the important people in her life, she realized that I am the only person that truly, truly her very best friend, who would always be there for her, regardles of where life take us and that she is so thankful to have me. Peeps, I love my girlfriend and I know how they feel about me. But, it's always nice to actually hear it.

I am glad to know that I've been a good friend. I don't have a big circle of friend, but the ones that I do have and really close to me, I love them and they're amazing. The kind of friend that you know you can call at 2 o'clock in the morning and you know they'll be there for you (mm... we do set regulation to what kind of call we would entertain at that hours, emergency, life changing kind). So, today's post dedicated to my girlfriends who I love so much and are the best of friends to have. I am grateful and thankful to have them in my life.

Sorry for the long chatter, just have to share that. Please let me know if I chat too much. :) On to card, shall we? For today's card I used CPS Sketch 180, which kind of similar to Card patterns 77. And the colors inspired by Simon Say Stamp Summer Time Blue challenge. This is my first Tiddy Inks digi stamp. I saw her at Donna Mikasa's blog and fell in love with the image immediately. She looks so spunky & I like that.

Back at the CHA, one of my best purchase was the Sakura Glitter pens. I tried it at a make & take at one of the booth and have to have it. Here's an up-close of the card, so you can see what I am talking about.

You see the outline of her skirt, how it has some shine/glitter to it. That's courtesy of Sakura Glitter pen. That pen rolls so smooth and add subtle glitter. Hard to show on pic, but in real life, it add amazing details to your image. Must have if you love glitters!

I'm entering this card for a few challenges. Now, in case you wondering how did I do that. Peeps, I am not that crazy to check what challenges are out there. I usually make a card based only on one or two challenges and then after it's done, I just see what other challenge it fits. Otherwise it's almost impossible to follow and trying to fit all the different challenge in 1 card. My motto: keep it simple & easy. :)

Okie dokie, may this week be a super duper great week for you all. Hugs, Vera

Edited: for spelling & grammar correction. English is my 2nd language. Thanks for understanding. :)

Challenges:

Character Cafe: Bright & sparkly

Secret Crafter Challenge 96: Little girl

Stamp Something: Fairy tale

The Pink Elephant: Ribbon & sparkles

Your Next Stamp: Birthday

Wee Memories Challenge #18

Ahh... Saturday. Me likey. I think we're about done with our bathroom renovation project. Looking forward to have our shower back. We started this project at the end of May and finally about to finish. Yay!! Have the shower door installed today and then do the painting and we'll be done!!

Hubby and been working on making our home pretty for about 3 years. We did most of the work ourselves. But, I guess typical home builder, when it come to your own homes, the pace is definitely much slower than if it someone else house. Now, we're almost done and it feels great. We enjoy our house so much more and knowing we did it, make me feel proud, too.

Anyway, enough chit chat. Today I have new Wee Memories challenge for you. It's all about "BUTTON, BRAD, OR BLING". Create a project using either one of the item or all 3 if you want.

We're sponsored by Oh My Crafts! and the prize is 10 Cuttlebug Folders. To enter the challenge & for the prize detail check out Wee Memories blog. You'll find many inspirations as well from the talented girls in our DT.

Don't forget that you have till Tuesday to leave comments on my Mami Doodles Blog Hop post from yesterday for a chance to win some digi stamps. Have super duper great weekend peeps! Hugs, Vera

Also entering this card for these challenges:

Sweet Stampin: Use Your Favorite Stamp

Fab & Funky: Use Your Favorite Color

Your Next Stamp: Birthday

I Did It Creation: Anything Goes

Mami Doodles Blog Hop & Blog Candy

Hi all! Happy Friday!  At Mami Doodles we're welcoming 3 new members to our DT and to celebrate we're doing a blog hop! If you come Lily's blog, then  you're on the right track. Otherwise, below I put the link for all the DT for you to hop to!

Mami Doodles is created by the talented Elisa. Her designs are cute and whimsical. You can check out & purchase her lovely designs here. Besides the blog hop, we also have new challenge you can join. The challenge is "DIFFERENT SHAPE". Create a card in any shape besides the typical rectangle or square. The winner of the challenge will WIN 3 DIGI STAMPS (the 3 newest images) plus one of your choice.

I made 3 cards for the hop & the challenge. First one using Rosie (she's a freebie, you can get her here). Isn't she just adorable? Entering this card for Penny's Paper Crafty Challenge 35 as well.

                         

Now, we can't do blog hop without doing any blog candy, right? For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, visit and comment on each of design team members' blogs by Tuesday, August 17, 2010. Leave a comment here on my blog and you could win cute Li'l Sinead (you'll receive 2 images, one Sinead with freckles & one without freckles).

Here's my card using Li'l Sinead that I combined with the cute owl as well. I'm also making this card for Cute Card Thursday Challenge 125: Tree-mendous.

And one last card. It's rectangle, but still consider it different, cause the way it open. Wanna know a secret? LOL, at first I thought the challenge was different fold. Since I already made it, why not share it, right?

Now, how about hopping around, join our "different shape" challenge, & increase your chance on winning some digi stamps? Remember, you have until next Tuesday 12 noon to enter the giveaway and winners will be posted on Wednesday. Here's a list of all the DT members.

Claudia

Deirdre

Elisa B

Jackie

Lily

Vera -- me

Trinh

Mami Doodles

Peeps, don't forget you have till midnight to tonight to enter Wee Memories' Butterfly challenge! Have a great weekend everyone! Ciaoo....

Paper Play Week 32 & DDSB Challenge

First of all, I want to thank you to all of you for your lovely comments through the blog, twitter, email, and facebook regarding my post from yesterday as Making Memories guest designer. I truly appreciate your supports. I am so humble and grateful to have many of you cheering for me. So blessed. :)

Today, I have two new challenges for you today. First up is my card for Paper Play Challenge. This week theme is "Bon Voyage".  For my card, I totally go in the fun & cute direction. As you know, Lawn Fawn is one of my favorite. Especially after I met Kelly, I love her products even more. I love supporting genuinely nice people. :)

I made the card using 2S4Y sketch & CPS 179 (they're almost the same). The idea of the punched cloud is inspired by Belinda Chang's card here (thanks for the inspiration, Belinda). Created the car using Papertrey Ink stamp & matching car die. The idea of the bunnies driving the car is from the Kia car advertisement (I think it's Kia, if I am wrong, sorry) where the hamsters looking so cool and tapping their fingers to the music while riding around town. Love fun commercial. 

                               

Unfortunately, I am missing the bunny from my Lawn Fawn set. So, I had to draw the bunnies myself to match the Fawn Lawn critters. I love the cheerfulness this card conveys.

Next, is my card for Digi Doodle Shop's Best Challenge. This week we're sponsored by Daisy Doodles and the challenge theme is flowers. Please stop by here for the challenge & prize detail. Here's my card following Card Pattern 76 sketch.
 

Hope you can join both challenges! Don't forget to check out all the DT blogs for more inspirations. I am looking forward to seeing your creations. Have a great Thursday!