Addicted!

Every evening now, I find I absolutely must craft! It doesn't matter what time I get home from work, after a shower, I head straight to the craft room and bond with my scrapping supplies. Sharing two creations from the past two days below!

1) Penguin hoarder!
Definitely tired whilst doing this so after painstakingly colouring the penguin and his presents you could tell I just slapped on the closest embellishments I found without much thought (or much embellishment for that matter!). Thankfully, STOL's cute penguin stamp saved it from being a total loss. The stamps are from Stamps of Life's October stamp set called Penguins4Christmas; coloured with my copics. Papers are all regular card from a local stationers (I rarely use branded cardstock for bases as they're pretty hard to come by here and if you do find them they're so bleeping expensive).

2) Vintage frames
Its become quite apparent that my favourite style is vintage romanticism so I had a LOT of fun creating this card. The stamps are from Glitz (the frame) and Oxford Impressions (the lady inside the frame!) as well as Flonz (for the sentiment). Displaying the cut out border from my new Martha Stewart lattice punch that's turned out to be a pretty cool purchase! The punched accents make super cheap yet pretty embellishments churned out a lot faster than when using the die-cut machine. The tag for the sentiment has been cut out with a spellbinder's tag die and the patterned paper is by Grace Taylor. Images and distressing all done by Distress Inks in Aged Mahogany, Pine Needles and Vintage Photo. Frame image was stamped in Vintage Photo and heat embossed with Distressed Embossing powder called Gilded Gold.

CAS-ual Fridays: CFC26

This is my entry for my very first challenge: the CASual Friday challenge #26! The sketch seemed simple enough but I feel a tad overwhelmed by all the talent in the gallery thus far! One foot in!






The card is made using a Lawn Fawn stamp set called My Silly Valentine. The lace ribbon is from a local haberdashery and the card from a regular office supply store. The circles were cut using two dies from the circle set of Spellbinders Nestabilities and the patterned paper is from a free paperpack from Issue 84 of Simply Cards & Papercraft (UK) called 'Picnic in the Park' by Serif. All images/sentiments have been stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with Copic Markers.

If you'd like to check out what CASual Friday is about; have a look at the other cards on display or take part yourself: it's here!

Fawning over my new Stamps!

I need to get this off my chest. I do.

I... LOVE... LAWN FAWN STAMPS!!!

I didn't think I would fall so madly in love but hand in hand with my Copic markers- there was no turning back. They're so cutesy and sweet you'll need insulin. Kelly Marie Alvares is the goddess behind Lawn Fawn. I adore watching her videos because she just sounds as sweet as her stamp images! If you haven't already heard of Lawn Fawn (and you're a crafter)- smack yourself (not too hard! You need those creative brain cells!) and head on over here. At first I thought them a little expensive but these stamps are really good quality photo-polymer and stamp like a dream. Am I gushing? God, I so am.

These are some of the cards I made using the Cosy Christmas set and I think the other one is called Funny Valentine- or something like that.

A Shopping Tea Party

If anyone knows how to make good money; it would seem the prize goes to craft stores.

Papier Love: a local craft store at the Curve in Damansara had their annual members day in the form of a tea party. Think goodie bags, little canapes and sweets, lucky draws and of course, member discounts. The lucky draw was spread out- one for every hour so if you wanted to know if you've won; you have to be there all day. There is something terribly tempting about being in a hobby store. You all know the feeling. The pretty items calling you even though you know you shouldn't. Usually, if you're there a couple of minutes , it'd be easier to say, hey I'll think about this and off you go. But it's a completely different ballgame when you keep telling yourself- just awhile more- I may get lucky and win. But seriously Sweetie, what are the odds?

So I didn't win anything but still bought stuff. It's Papier= 1, Diana=0. Sometimes you know the odds are going to practically avalanche you but for some reason you like the taste of cold defeat. Nevermind, scrap materials are never a bad thing. Never.

How can stuff that make such lovely cards be evil? Hmmmm?



Although, I must admit- I do like the goodie bag! Many a goodie bag just come with ridiculous RM5 vouchers only valid for like RM100 purchases or crummy bookmarks. This bag however had some nice embellishments- chipboard and a metal frame as well as sparkly alphabet stickers. These things could easily cost RM50. Granted they're probably old stock and the stuff that didn't sell but I am sure I can make something lovely from it.


All in all it was a pretty good experience. I was hoping to make some new friends in the hobby but though people were generally nice and friendly they already seemed to have their own cliques and groups so it was harder to penetrate the circle. I think if I do want to get into the fold I'll need to attend some classes. I guess we'll see!

P.S. I caved and bought Martha Stewart punches. I promised myself I wouldn't. I hope I don't get mad at me for lying. :-p

A busy Bee...

It's been a busy cardmaking week that went past! A colleague liked my past Winnie the Pooh set and asked if one could be made for her. So I did a new set. It's not too much like the first one although the elements aren't really different. Cutesy Pooh stickers, matching patterned paper and embellishments. Seems to be a surefire recipe that hasn't failed yet!

The next card I made was a result of a video I was thinking of making. Watching my favourite crafters make youtube how-to videos made me want to do one of my own. But for a video I had to think up an easy yet clever card that could be done in the 9min time frame I got for the vid. It was whilst turning the wheels in my head to figure out how best to do that, that I came up with the idea for this: a vintage looking card with a cutesy image! From my new stash of Lawn Fawn stamps: this stamp is called Winter Bunny and it's too cute for words! LF is known for producing sugary sweet images so I thought a challenge would be to try to create a vintage looking card with this image. I don't know if I am succeeded really and I never did get around to making that video- but I love this card all the same!


Lastly is this 'sister' card for an earlier coffee card I made (reminisce: post 'A spot of Java to Get Well Soon')

Colour My World!

There seems to be only one colouring tool on earth currently that gives me printed looking results with minimal effort. Enter: the Copic Marker. So bloody expensive was this marker that I thought long and hard and eventually still purchased the cheapest range they had: the Copic Ciaos. This set of 36 features the 'A' range of colours (heck if I knew what that meant but I am guessing better start at A and work my way down the alphabet).

There are 3 types of Copics if you didn't already know: the regular, the Sketch and the Ciaos. Regular Copics come in square tubes with hard, marker-like edges but blend seamlessly for a professional finish. The Copic Sketch is a slightly elongated oval with two heads- one regular marker and the other a soft almost brushlike nib that actually feels like painting when you use it! The Copic Ciaos are a smaller version of the Sketch for *ahem* those of us on a budget. It does the same thing but comes in smaller tubes and thus need to be refilled more often. You can read more about Copics from their official website.

Copics are generally used by art students and comic artists so you can imagine how gorgeous it will look when wielded right. But in case you can't guess, here's a sample of what it can do:
And of course, a gorgeous wreath like that just aches to be part of card:

A colourful world it's going to be!

Another Round

Presenting a few more cards I made this week. It's been tiring and a bit of bumpy ride in my personal life but I find my cardmaking to be the solace I need after a rough day.

Been thinking about photography. Many people have been saying how much more beautiful my cards are in person so something must be wrong with the photographs. But the problem would be the dim lighting in all my rooms and the fact that I never get to craft when the sun is up. I've since bought a mini easel which helps hold the card and I've learnt the white background helps make things pop but lighting is still such a dampener.

Whats your secret to taking a good card picture?

Flowers for You

A Crimson Garden
Regal Regency