Spritzing Challenge

It's time for new challenge at Riley & Company blog. This time the challenge theme is spritzing/spray mist. I have tons of spray mist and unfortunately half of them either clogged or spray at weird direction. So far, the ones that work great are the Heidi Swapp ones. So, I use that for my card.

I'll be needing a thank you card for a doggy sitter soon, in case you're wondering why the thank you sentiment being matched with this image. :) You have two weeks to plat along. To enter the challenge, go HERE.

And...  today I actually have 2 cards to share. Here's another card using one of the new sentiment set from Riley & Company that being releases on Thursday, 5/29/14. This card is definitely the kind of card that you can only give to your closest friend, who has great sense of humor. Otherwise, you might get hit by shoes. LOL.

And... psst.... do you know that Gallery Idol round 2 already started? If you haven't vote, go check out all the entries and if you like my card, I'd love to get your vote. To check out all the entries and  vote click on the vote widget on the left bar. Thank you so much and have a blessed day!

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

Riley & Company Day 2

Hi everyone. I am back with more card for Riley & Company new release day 2. More funny sentiment to share. :)

Here's my card using the new exercise sentiment. 

Hah... this is so me. I really need to change it. I really do need to exercise more regularly instead of so randomly. I keep saying I am going to do it, but I admit I often find excuse to not do it.  Well, that's part of my goal for this year. To be better, exercise wise. 

That's it from me today. I'll be back with another post later this afternoon. Thank you for stopping by here and happy Memorial Day. Huge thank you to all our service men and women for all that they do. The freedom we enjoy is because of them. As we celebrate the holiday let us remember the reason. Have a blessed Memorial Day everyone.

Riley & Company New Release Week

Happy Sunday! This week Riley & Company will be releasing 35 new funny bones stamps and starting today we'll be showcasing some of them.

For me, I want to start the release week with this new sentiment stamp. 

I thought this sentiment is pretty funny. This past New Year's Eve at a New Year party that we attended we ended up having firefighters showing up at the house because some flare from the fireworks landed on the roof.

Well, there wasn't anything serious, but once you made that call, the firefighters has to come & check it out. Needless to say, there's some picture taking opportunity. Hah... ;)

Another firefighter story, we went to Halloween party and instead of wearing costumer, hubby decided to just wear his firefighter uniform. People.... that's the night I learned that girls has the thing for firefighters. Seriously, I had so many girls checking him out and some even asked me to take their picture with him!! The nerve... LOL, although I have to admit, I thought it was a pretty cool experience. 

Anyway, there are plenty of funny sentiments coming out, so come back each day to check them out. We'll have a blog hop for the new releases on May 29th (and yes...  there's giveaway involves).

That's it from me. Enjoy your Sunday!

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!

CardMaker & Technique Tuesday Blog Hop

Hi everyone and welcome to CardMaker & Technique Tuesday Kick Off To Summer Blog Hop. You should have arrived here from Summer Fullerton blog. In case you missed any link you can find the complete list on CardMaker blog.

I was so excited when I found out that we're teaming up with Technique Tuesday. I've been a fan of TT for the longest time. Am pretty obsessed with their Ali Edwards sets.  I love using them for my scrapbook. Anyway, for today's hop, I get to play with their new sets Hello Friend by Ali Edwards and Say It - Happy set.

With summer theme in mind, I turn to bright, cheerful color for my first card:

And, I couldn't stop at just 1 card. I made another card, this time a mini one and super simple.

I love making mini card. I usually give all my mini cards to my SIL as she likes to use them for her cookies an cupcakes delivery (she owns her own bakery).

I hope you enjoy today's hop and join us for a day of fun & inspiration. From here please hop on over to Jaclyn Miller.  Thank you for stopping by here and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Cardmaker
Laura O'Donnell
Kathy Martin
Daniela Dobson
Kristine Reynolds
Tobi Crawford
Sabrina Alery
Ashley Harris
Summer Fullerton
Vera Yates  <--- you are here
Jaclyn Miller
Jeanne Streiff
Tanis Geisbrecht
Kristie Hartfeil
Mendi Yokishowa
Technique Tuesday

Ikat Pattern

Happy Thursday. I am back with my post for i {heart} papers. For a couple days  my mojo kind of went out the window and thank goodness it's back now. While mojo is here I took advantage of it and played with a few fun sets and made this card.

I still love the ikat pattern and am glad that I give it a try again. For the background I used Avery Elle Ikat set. The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti Lots To Say set and the flowers are from Wplus9 More Fresh Cuts. And the label dies is Paper Smooches Duo Die 3. All supplies from i {heart} papers.

Love the way this card turn out. Every time I see the ikat pattern it reminds me a bit of home (Indonesia), where ikat is part of our culture.

Which, talking about home, in a few more weeks, I'll get to see my whole family again and I'll finally get to meet my niece!! Right now, I am busy preparing for the trip and working on all DT works in advance. Enough to make my days a whirlwind. But, I can't wait! Not looking forward for the long flight and being away from the doggies (I am pretty attach to my li'l shadows), but looking forward to hang out with the families, relaxing, getting to know my niece and of course... doing some shopping. I love shopping in Indonesia and checking out the malls.

Anyhooo.... that's all from me right now. Be back tomorrow for a blog hop with CardMaker & Technique Tuesday! It's going to be fun!

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.