For Unstampabelles

 Hello bloggers,

I seem to have some free time at my hands so am blogging away.

I made this card a while ago while I was at Langkawi (Malaysia) as a tribute to the superb eco-friendly resort we stayed in...

I gathered most of the material from twigs and barks lying around the beach. 

Do not have the heart to sell it or give it away until I make some more of the same kind. 

I am going to enter this in Unstampabelles monthly challenge - Christmas

Close-up of the embellishments

Supplies:

Base card stock - handmade paper from India

Corrugated paper - from toothpaste packaging in the resort

Twigs - lying around near the beach

Bark at the bottom - same as above

Jute  string - from my stash

Bells -made with Carla craft punch using an old Indian wedding card

Crystal - from Prima

Leaves - made with Carla craft punch on construction paper

Do tell me what you think of my creation... I have to say I was pleased with it.

Hugs,

Monica

Am travelling...

Hello lovely people,

Just to let you know that I am travelling for the Christmas holidays and will be back in January... so I may not be able to visit your blogs. 

I will try and catch up when I get back...

Meanwhile here is wishing you all a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.

Catch you soon.

Hugs,

Monica

Aleeza's Christmas crafts in school

 Hello lovely crafters,

Before Christmas is over, let me show you what Aleeza made in school.

 I am sure the teachers helped a a great deal. 

But as you can see below, Santa has a kind of squint - so it must be her handiwork. She would not allow me to hang it on the Christmas tree so I thought I would just take pictures and show them to you. 

For the life of me, I could not understand why she would not allow me to hang it on the tree!!!

 Below is a wreath - most of the berries (red crepe paper) and gold fell off ... and it is the same story here about Aleeza not allowing me to hang it on the tree!

 Hope all your Christmas cards and gifts are done with...

I would have loved to send out Christmas cards but it would take well over a month from here and I am kind of saturated with card making for the time being...

Hugs,

Monica

Dream...

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is a card I made to sell and it did...

The floral sticker is from K and Company while the leaf punch is a MS punch. The ribbon has been coloured with Crushed Olive.

Used CB to emboss and glittered it up.

The paper is from Terry's blog candy.

Will come and visit your blogs soon.

Hugs,

Monica

I made this a while ago...

Hello bloggers,

First of all a very warm welcome to Cathy for becoming my latest follower - thank you so much for following my little blog.

Can't believe that Christmas is just round the corner...  there is an air of joy and it feels so good. And soon we will be welcoming 2012!!! This year just went at top speed, cyber speed, internet speed, virtual speed what ever one might want to call it.

Now to my card -  I made this with the paper I won at Terry's blog candy. Isn't the paper lovely with such meaningful text on it ? I thought it needed little embellishment since the words said it all.

The flowers have been recycled from an old Indian wedding card. 

I have used my Sizzix mini and Carla craft punches for the flowers. Ran them through my darling CB.
The leaves have been made using my leaf punch.

The blue ribbon is a RAK from Lynn - thanks so much.

This was the first card that sold in my last batch .

I am so chuffed to be on the Design Team of Unstampabelles - my very first time as a DT member.
I will certainly have to get more creative from now on... lol.

Hugs and thanks for your kind visits,

Monica

This one sold at the first bazaar!

Hello bloggers,

Hope all is well with you and yours...

I had like my fourth or fifth physio-therapy session for my fingers and fingers crossed, there is some improvement. It just feels so nice to keep my fingers under heat and then have them massaged.

Here is a card that I was not very pleased with but it sold off at the first bazaar and the lady who bought it seemed quite happy with it. I wanted to stick a bow on it but Zeenya said no. So I let it be the way it is.

On Wednesday is Aleeza's class Christmas party and I have to take a snack, knowing me I would rather take some paper and ribbon!!! Wish paper and ribbon could be eaten instead of food... lol.

My craft room is almost done but not quite - wish I had more time to post pictures.

Hugs and have a pleasant week,

Monica

Snowflakes...

Hello lovely bloggers,

Hope you are having a nice and relaxed weekend... I did some craft retail therapy and bought myself some stamps. Hopefully, I will not store them until next year or later!!! Lol.

Here is another card that I made  for the bazaars but it sold much later... The total count is 167 cards so far and I am rather chuffed.

I was quite happy with the way it turned out - CAS!

Supplies:

Card stock - white with slight texture

Aperture - Ek Success square punch

Red square - Another Ek Success punch

Big snowflake - metallic white paper MS layered two snowflakes with foam dots

Crystal - Prima

Small snowflakes - white punched with the same metallic white paper as the big snowflake

Silver dots in the centre of each snowflake - pop up fabric silver glitter glue

Am going to enter this card in Less is More - snowflakes.

Off to put Aleeza to bed, she napped in the afternoon so she seems all bright eyed and fresh now.

Hugs,

Monica

This one sold as well

Hello lovely bloggers,

My craft space is looking better and better. All I need to do is to clear out the little bits and pieces scattered around. I feel like just putting them in a box for the time being.

Here is a quick card I made for sale which sold quite quickly...

Supplies:

Base card stock -  metallic white

Printed paper - paper napkin (from Zeenya's friend's birthday party)

Embossing - CB

Sentiment - handwritten

Will come and visit soon.

Lots of warm, sunny wishes for those who live in cold climes,

Monica

The count is 161 cards!

Hello lovely people out there,

Thanks for the kind comments on my previous post... here is a card that sold for USD 4 which is a rather big achievement. One of my Japanese friends bought it quite happily. She loved the black and white faux Wedgewood oval embellishment. Thanks, dear Leigh for the same.

As you can see the sentiment is handwritten.

Have sold a total of 161 cards to date and it amounts to an approximate of  USD 500/- So I think it is time to send the money off to Japan Red cross.

Have a nice Wednesday!

Hugs,

Monica

Cute kitty!

 Hello bloggers,

Hope winter is not coming on too strong in some parts... wish you lots of sunshine.

Here is a card I made for the sale... the lovable kitty is from dear Sandra. The ribbons are from my stash. I stamped the flowers on baby blue paper with pearly Brilliant inks in pink, blue and beige. I cannot remember the name of the stamps. 

The mauve felt heart next to the kitty is kind courtesy Lynn and I stuck a Paper Mania heart on it along with some more around the page.

The ribbon says Happy Birthday but it could not be captured in the photo even though the picture was taken in broad sunlight.

Sunny wishes,

Monica

Featured blogger of the month

Hello lovely bloggers,

Hope you are having a nice and relaxed weekend... 

I am still trying to organize my craft space - it is 80 percent done. Thank God for that.

Here is the featured blogger of the month - Lovely Sasha at 

http://sashas-inspirations.blogspot.com/

I fell in love with Sasha's cards at the very first visit and she has been a great source of inspiration for me.

I love the way she uses soft colours to make her stunning cards.

When you visit her blog, you may have to scroll down to find her cards as her latest post dated November 29th talks about a nasty fall she had recently.

 I hope Sasha gets better soon so that she can create those beauties.

Happy weekend and thanks for all the love,

Monica

Commissioned card

Hello lovely people out there,

When I don't blog I feel strange as though something is missing from my life. Wonder if  you feel that way as well.

Here is a card I made for someone... I don't remember the stamp but I bought these clear stamps with lots of cars on them.

The twine, wool and mosaic are from my stash. I have sponged the embossed paper with fired brick.  The little 3D dots are pop up fabric paint in brown.                                                                                                                                                                       

I collected another chest of drawers this afternoon and hopefully I will be able to stock the rest of my supplies in there.

I am sorry that I have not been regular with my visits, but will certainly drop by soon.

Hugs until then,

Monica

Christmas card that sold

Hello sweet bloggers,

Hope you all are well and happily tucked away in the comfort of your crafting haven.

I am busy trying to bring some semblance of  decency to my craft room. Thanks so much Kevin, for giving me the idea about converting a wardrobe... That gave me some confidence and I went to the home store in our city and picked up a chest of drawers along with a mini cupboard. That helped to some extent but then I realized that I needed another chest of drawers which will take another 3 days to arrive at the shop from the warehouse. Till then, things are a serious mess but this time I am confident that I will come out more organized.

I also am trying to organize my clear stamps in files which will certainly help. Also have got a rack with shelves as I mentioned last time to keep my MS and EK Success punches. So things are certainly looking up! Lol.

 Okay, that was a lot of waffle there...

Glad that you all had a happy thanksgiving...

Down below is a card that I made for one of the bazaars. I do like the way it turned out and sold pretty quickly at the second fair. Rather simple card but it looked quite effective. I spread silver glitter glue over the white bells to match them with the card.

Off to do some more organizing now...

Sorry if I have not been regular with my visits. Trying to be a good mum beside being just a good blogger! Lol.

Am going to enter this card for
Less Is More - bling
Make It Monday - anything goes

Hugs,

Monica

This one sold as well...

Hello lovely people,

Friday is here all too quickly and we are at the end of November... soon it will be Christmas and New Year!

Here is a card I that sold as well... This picture was taken in broad daylight and I do wish it was a bit better.

I have made the flowers and have touched their edges with my Sakura gold pen - they looked really pretty in real life. The printed paper is fancy gift wrap! The maroon rectangle is from a free wall paper sample... and so is the strip of paper on the top of the card.

This evening I went to a home store and bought a rack with five shelves which I will keep inside my craft room cupboard to organize my supplies. I have these plastic drawers to store most of my craft items and they are not all that brilliant. First I had thought of getting a custom made cupboard but that may take a while since I have to come up with a practical design for it. Wish there was something like Ikea here!

Happy crafting and will come and visit soon.

Hugs and a very happy thanksgiving to the ones celebrating it this weekend,

Monica

Sold 146 cards so far...

Hello sweet bloggers,

It was lovely to have so many of you come and visit me and leave all those lovely comments. Thanks so much for all your support in every which way. It means the world to me. No wonder I love blogging so much - get to see such fantastic creations, learn, get inspired and encouraged as well.

Here is a card that sold , the flowers are made by me - surprise, surprise!  The sentiment is handwritten and everything else was from my stash.

A sweet Japanese lady bought it at the second bazaar and she seemed quite happy with it.

I sold 20 cards at a lunch today - can you believe that??? So the count is 146 cards in all. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog buddies who celebrate it. I am grateful for you all...

Hugs,

Monica

The bazaars were good...

Hello lovely bloggers,

I took part in a bazaar on Saturday and Monday... phew! That kept me busy - happily though! 

Thanks for all your good luck - I had a sale of 54 cards. I shared a table with two other ladies so we had some fun and laughter. The second bazaar did better than the first and thank God for that.

Here are some pictures we took on our phones, so do pardon the quality.

Above is a picture of my partners and me (I am the one in blue) with our table at the first bazaar.

 This is a picture of my cards at the second bazaar.

And here are the three partners in crime at the second bazaar - wishing peace and joy to everyone.

DH was kind enough to take care of Aleeza so I could manage to stay away from home for such long hours.

Just to give you an update - so far I have sold a total of 126 cards since the last sale. 

I will soon be sending the money via e-pal to Japan Red cross. Hubby's secretary will help with sending the money through epal. Bless her for all her help.

Will come and do my rounds soon.

Hugs,

Monica

Some more cards to sell

Hello bloggers,

Friday again... how quickly time flies... this week went by soooo fast.

Tomorrow is one of the Bazaars at school and it is Zeenya's 12th birthday as well. Guess we will go out in the evening to celebrate as I will be out all morning and part of the afternoon.

She wants to have a quiet birthday - fair enough! What a change from the past when she wanted to invite every child under the sun to her party and I would be so busy getting everything together. \How quickly they grow up and it all changes... Gosh and next year she will be 13!

Here are two cards made out of the same paper. I found these lovely Peace ornaments at a local craft store suggested by one of the teachers at Aleeza's school. 

Below is another card with the same paper with some stickers, crystals, glitter and ribbon on it.

Have a nice weekend where ever you are...

Wish me luck for the Bazaar tomorrow... I have something like 105 cards ready to sell.

Hugs,

Monica

Silvery monotone Christmas card

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is a card I made some time ago... As usual it looks better in real life. 

 Supplies:

Base card stock - metallic silver grey

Stamp - clear stamp, cannot recall the name

Sentiment - kind courtesy Lynn, thanks so much!

Border - MS border punch, used textured paper 

Silver ribbon - from stash

Crystal - Prima

Hope you like it... 

Am going to enter this in MIM - just love that simple, no frill challenge.

Lots of love,

Monica

Reunion after 4 years!

Hello bloggers,

Hope you all are fine and happily crafting away...

Remember I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Singapore to meet up with a friend and give her a surprise... here are the pictures. The lady in blue is another wonderful friend of mine and we used to hang around together in our previous posting. And she is an amazing host! So it was actually a reunion for the three of us.

My friend was so happy to see me and so was I. The three of us went out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant and had lots of fun and heard good music as well.

Below are pictures of her daughter (centre) and mine on the left and right.

This picture below was clicked at Universal Studios in Singapore... it was pouring cats and dogs but our flimsy rain capes kept us dry. The girls had lots of fun inspite of the rain on all those dizzy rides.

I have been so busy that I haven't had time to do a post but will do one soon. I get withdrawal symptoms if I don't blog, you know. Lol.

Hugs and thanks for the regular visits to my little haven,

Monica

Fun cards for the bazaars

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here are some fun cards I made for kids or even adults who are kids at heart (I am one of them, lol)

The first card is made out of a new pack of paper napkins I bought at the super market. Aleeza wanted to use them but I safely hid them in my drawer to make cards. Stuck a birdie and mushroom sticker (kind courtesy Lynn) along with a MS  border fence. The flowers are hand made by yours truly.

This card does not need any explanation... the base card stock has been covered by gift wrap. And I stuck left overs on the top. The cat is a sticker and the sentiment is hand written. The leaves have been punched with my MS leaf punch.

TGIF!

Off to Singapore for the weekend to meet a very dear friend after 4 years. And she does not know that we are coming to Singapore - so it will be a surprise for her.

Have a nice weekend.

Hugs,

Monica

Christmas card for the bazaars

Hello bloggers,

Gosh! I have been busy for sure... 

Here is a card I made a few days ago. The card stock is metallic and I have heat embossed the image with bright gold glitter. Heat embossing and me are not great buddies as of now but I will surely get back to it.

Hope you lovely people out there are doing well.

Thanks for all your love.

Hugs,

Monica

Featured Blogger of the month - Merry

Hello sweet bloggers,

Thank you so much for the joy you have brought in my life... it has filled it up so nicely. I kind of behave strangely when I don't get enough time to blog and when I do, I get that feeling of being grounded.

It is already November the 6th and I am a bit slow to do my monthly post on the Featured Blogger of the month.

Well, it is Merry of http://merrymadecardscrafts.blogspot.com/

Merry is just like her name - she leaves me the most sunny and cheerful comments and makes such sweeeeeeeeeeet cards. I love her style as much as reading her posts which are just so natural and witty at the same time.

Have a nice weekend,

Monica

Fun crafting with friends

Hello bloggers,

We have very close friends over for the weekend from Malaysia - yaaaaay! And guess what? They wanted to make a card... See them below in action.

My friend with her oldest son (a very well brought up boy of ten) - both happily crafting away

My friend with her card

A fuzzy close up of the card - isn't it lovely? She just used stuff that was lying around on my table and came up with this...

Her son made a fantastic card as well but I forgot to take a photo. Trust me!!!

Have a nice weekend,

Monica

Some for the Christmas Bazaars...

Hello lovely bloggers,

Thanks so much for the kind words on my last card... you made my day!

Here are some more cards I made in a jiffy. Rather simple - just some lace and MS butterflies stuck with 3D foam dots. I have been a big fan of foam dots for many years. They just make everything looks so nice.

I have added pearls in the centre of the butterflies which don't show but that makes them look a bit more interesting.

These cards looks MUCH nicer in real life... believe me. Lol.

Hope you like them.
Wish you a lovely Wednesday.

Hugs,

Monica

Cards for the bazaars

Hello bloggers,

Hope you are well and having a decent Monday... And Happy Halloween to all those who celebrate it.

Aleeza had Halloween in school and she seemed to enjoy it in the comfort zone of her school.

I wonder if I mentioned that I did manage to get a table in the other bazaar as well. So I have to prepare for two bazaars... I sure am busy!

Here are some cards that I made for the bazaars - I need numbers so tried using the same kind of papers and embellishments. The flowers are handmade by me - rather simple cards but I do think they are striking. The ladybug images have been cut out from a gift wrap.

Hope you like them - wish I had more time to be creative.

Hugs,

Monica

Halloween here

Hello bloggers,

We celebrated Halloween yesterday in the complex where we stay.

Here is Aleeza minutes before she broke into tears and decided to boycott the celebrations. 

So we just had to come home. I think she got a bit frightened of witches and devils. You can see how her facial expressions show signs of oncoming tears.

Zeenya went for her own party at school and she had a ball.

Tried loading my picture dressed up as a witch but it did not load properly so had to delete it.

Happy Halloween to all those who celebrate it.

Hugs,

Monica

Deepavali celebrations in Aleeza's school

Hello bloggers,

Hope you all are well and happily crafting away. I have had such a busy week that I could hardly find time to blog though I did manage to find time for crafting.

I thought I must give you a peep into what I have been up to... So here are some pictures of Deepavali (the Indian festival of lights)  that was celebrated in a rather grand fashion in Aleeza's school - thanks to the multi-cultural school policy.

I helped decorate the lobby of the school 

This is the Principal wearing Indian clothes - don't you think she looks lovely?

Aleeza (centre) and her friend Clarissa doing craft during the celebration

One of the staff and I

The children tucking into pizza as it was one of the kid's birthday on the same day as well.

The two ladies who are standing are the class teachers - they both looked so pretty in Indian clothes. 

Enjoy!

Will come and visit soon.

Hugs,

Monica

A card for a friend

 Hello bloggers,

Hope you are doing well and enjoying the beginning of the week. I am off to book my table for one of the bazaars tomorrow. I have to be there at 7.30 am so it it will be an early start for me. Let us see how it turns out...

This is a card I made yesterday because I wanted to try out my new stamps from Spellbinders. I am going to give this card to a lovely friend who has her birthday tomorrow.

Supplies:

Base card stock - pink which has been covered with designer paper that came free with a magazine subscription.

Nestie - Spellbinders

Stamp - Spellbinders (cling right - saw it at the scrap booking corner and grabbed it for dear life!!! Lol)

Used Brilliance pearlised lavender

Ribbon - from stash

Flowers - made by me 

Leaves - MS leaf punch

Crystals - Prima

Hope my friend likes it - she is a such a sweet lady and has a daughter who is Aleeza's age (almost) so that makes it even better.

Will come and visit soon.

Hugs,

Monica

Gift boxes for Christmas

Hello lovely bloggers,

Wow, I get to post a card this morning - how fulfilling is that!!! Lol.

Today I have to take Zeenya shopping for Halloween - she and her friends have decided to just wear neon clothes and do neon make-up! And I have to get three birthday gifts for Aleeza's class mates who celebrated their birthday in school. Aleeza requires a Halloween costume as well but I will see if I can use Zeenya's hand-me-down.

 Supplies:

Base card stock - white covered with fancy mat gold gift wrap

Gifts - punched with Ek Success

Embossing on green gift box - CB

Gold gift box - mat gold hand made paper from India

Ribbon - from stash

Holly leaves - punched from similar gift wrap

Hope you like this card as much as I do. I did not know what to do with these punched squares and thought it was a good idea to use them for gift boxes.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Monica

Some of the cards that I made on vacation!

Hello bloggers,

It is a bright sunny day here and it is actually rainy season but there is no sign of rain. I have had such a busy week, unpacking our laundry from the vacation and just getting back to normalcy. It takes a while to get back into the mundane groove of things, you know.

Here are some cards I made while we were holidaying. They are pretty much the same type as I could carry only so much of supplies and punches.

The gold Christmas trees have been punched from the foil wrapping of  chocolates which my hubby and children gladly consumed and I happily saved the foil. I promise I did not tuck into the chocolates for the fear of having a bigger belly.

I am trying to make as many cards as I can for the two bazaars that I have committed to.

Many thanks for your kind help on my heat embossing queries - I will come and answer the emails after I get Aleeza from school.

Lots of love,

Monica