I am delighted to receive this award from not one but TWO LOVELY LADIES - 

 Leigh -http://www.charitycrafter.blogspot.com/ - a blogger with a heart of gold who makes the most beautiful cards to donate them. And she is so full of love, cheer and humour at all times. She provides me with so much inspiration...

AND

Shirley-Anne - http://www.shirley-anne-stampingforjoy.blogspot.com/ - I admire her talent for making the most effective cards with such grace. More than that I look up to her in ways more than one for her stoic approach to life... She has been through a lot in the past few months and has bounced back with such ease.

The usual number of blogs to receive this award are 3 to 5 

BUT

I will be passing this award to twice the number of blogs since I have received it from 2 ladies. So lucky me and lucky all of you... Lol!

Okay, before I start waffling again here goes my list:

Sandra - www.rosepetalcreations.blogspot.com/  - She uses the most wonderful papers and images for her cards and turns them into even more stunning creations... and to top it all she is such a loving and caring person. Even if she is famous I cannot resist giving her this award for the simple reason that she has brought me so much joy. It is just a tiny way to reciprocate. 

Lynn - http://creativecraftsbylynn.blogspot.com/ - You have to check out her classy and elegant cards... She knows exactly what to do to make her cards stand out. And she provides me with so much inspiration and motivation - NEVER missing to post her lovely comments on my blog... I do know that she is famous already but please I could not overlook her.

Helen - www.helenmade.blogspot.com/ - Such an amazing crafter - makes so many different arts and crafts... and is blessed with incredible amount of patience. Makes flowers, does quilling and a host of other stuff.

Monique - www.naturallymecreations.blogspot.com/  - A lover of recycled stuff and makes much more than cards - all of which is delightfully impressive. I love her weekend linky parties - do check them out...

Andrea - www.andreajbpiecesofmine.blogspot.com/ -  Another gifted crafter - makes such pretty, pretty cards with so much charm and writes the most touching posts.

Fat Monica - www.chasingart.blogspot.com/ - She is into ATCs... and makes real neat ones. An ATC specialist - unusual that!

Shelly - http://shanarunacreativespace.blogspot.com/ - She is into photography, paper crafting, scrapbooking and a host of other lovely things...

Philippa - http://quilliance.blogspot.com/ - She is into quilling and oh-so-gifted... makes the most wonderful quilled creations.

Maria - http://craftycre8tions.blogspot.com/ - Her cards are really stylish... and she has a kind heart to donate them to great causes). 

Marie - http://cardmakingbird.blogspot.com/ - She makes such beautiful cards and I just love reading her posts. A lady with such a positive and kind attitude.

Please do visit them and see for yourself what they do... it would be worth it, I promise you that.

There are a couple of conditions for the award :

The aim of this award is that we bring unknown, good blogs to light, so I would ask you not to blog fellow bloggers that already have 3,000 followers.


You have been TAGGED and want to participate?


Then create a post where you post the 'LOVE BLOG' image.


You should also blog the persons link that gave you the award and inform her/him that you accept the award.


You can then choose 3 - 5 favourite blogs which you also link in your post, then each blogger will inform you that they have been tagged.






As Leigh has put it in such wonderful words, "It is okay if you are too busy to accept this award, I understand".

A card for Luke

Hi bloggers,


While I was visiting one of my fave blogs - Leigh at http://www.charitycrafter.blogspot.com/  I read about Luke so decided to send him a quick card which is posted above... 


Just sharing the blog post - just in case you wanna send that little gem of a boy called Luke a card...

 The picture above is that of Luke

Below is Leigh's (charity crafter0 blog post:

Hi all, over at Lacey's blog (Hand stamped by Lacey) HERE, she was asking for cards to cheer up a very poorly boy called Luke and to send them to him care of her (address at the bottom) he will be 6 years old on the 16th February so a card could be birthday. I have made my card and it is more of a cheer up card here x

My card will be sent tomorrow, can you spare one too?

Cards can be mailed to:

Pray for Luke

c/o Lacey Stephens

12623 NW 6th Street

Coral Springs, FL 33071

USA

Thanks for dropping by x Leigh x

Old is Gold!

Hi bloggers,

I made this card from the left overs lying on my table... I have been cleaning up my table and organizing my papers of late and that has kind of deprived me of ideas.

"A creative mind is rarely tidy" - cannot recall the author. Sorry about that!

That is my excuse for my creative juices not flowing...Lol! A lot of you well organized souls may not agree, right?

Waffling again...!

This card has been made without much fanfare with dried leaves that I picked up on the road while I was walking in pretty, pretty Prague last summer... I just pressed them in a book and here they are now. I just love their shape!

I have used the following Jim Holtz ranger distress inks for the edges -
wild honey
peeled paint
walnut dye
For the darker effect on the edges, I have used rusty hinge.

The stamp that you can see is from Inkadinkado and I stamped it with peeled paint distress ink.

The sentiment is hand written with a calligraphy pen - it went a bit crooked but never mind.

Hope you like my card - I  do because I have used natural embellies on it.

Hugs,

Monica

Clean and simple for children

 Hello bloggers,

Thanks for the kind words on Zeenya's cheese cake. YOU MADE HER DAY!

Aleeza (the younger one) had a play date and Zeenya offered the little friend her cheese cake and did she love it. Infact I packed her a doggie bag home and her mum was soooo... happy!!!

Now to this card - it is a simple card for children made in minutes... I have used my Cuttlebug for the square shapes. The stickers are from my stash.

The polka dotted ribbon is really cool - I got it from the scrap booking section of a book store from Prague. It feels so nice to touch with the embossed polkas on it.

I tried writing the Happy Birthday sentiment with  special Crayola pencils which can write pretty well on dark surfaces. Sadly they are not showing well...

This card is also a quick make but it took me a little more time than the first one...

My Cuttlebug came in handy for the squares and the embossing.

The stickers are from my stash.

The punching at the bottom has been done with Carlacraft punches - they came out with some new ones last year - easier to hold and work with.

Hope you like my simple cards - sometimes I need cards for children and don't have any available so I thought I might as well be prepared for a change.

Hugs,

Monica

Zeenya's been baking!

Hi bloggers,


I thought I had to share what Zeenya has been up to of  late - BAKING!!! 


Well then, she will never be a real part of our crafting community really because I feel people who love cooking don't really care for  serious art and craft. 


I would be happy to be proved wrong in this case... 


Anyway, I am not going to let that make me unhappy for the simple reason that this Strawberry Cheese Cake that she baked was yummilicious!  Even sweet Teddy agrees to that.


She got the recipe from youtube and the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7dBN45P2N8 and Caroline Aritiss is the name of the lady who shared how to make it. According to Zeenya she loves watching her cooking/baking videos. She has a real English twang which Zeenya is a real fan of!!! 


The real strawberries in the cheese cake did lend a great taste to it. 


Wish I could have shared it with you all!!!


Hugs again,


Monica

I am not so regular...

Hello bloggers,


Somehow I have not been able to devote much time to card making - instead have been tucking into some Japanese sweetmeats brought by one of the ladies in our complex. She came to tea and brought this lovely box that she advised was pretty rich in calories and that it would be best if I share it with others. And can you imagine what exactly yours truly did??? I gobbled it all down myself - it was one of the tastiest sweetmeats that I have ever laid my hands on. But was it rich in sugar! And since I finished the last of the lot I have been trying to go exercise regularly to keep guilt pangs away... I hope that helps.


Okay, enough rambling there... 


Now to this card - it is a Hero Arts stamp that I purchased from Kinokunia - which is the name of the book store in the mall close by. It sounds like a tongue twister (doesn't it?) and it took me a long time to get it right! 


I have stamped these flowers with Brilliance pearlized lavender on red card stock. Wish my picture quality was better... It looks quite nice in real life. 


I do so like this swirly Happy Birthday sentiment by Penny Black.


The red strips at the bottom were extra trimming from red card stock and I thought I would fill up the space at the bottom. Looks okay, doesn't it?


 I am slowly getting bolder and trying black as the base in my cards. I would not have gone anywhere close to black some time ago. See, blogging is bringing about so much change in me. Thank you, bloggers!


Hope you like my simple and clean creation...


Hugs,


Monica

More Valentine's cards

Hi bloggers,

I have been missing for a while now... just trying to resettle back and there is so much laundry to do even now. I still hadn't opened the last of my bags - can you believe that? I did that today and feel kind of relieved.

I  have made both these cards with the same swirly ribbon but see how different it looks on both the cards. 


I have used light pink metallic paper and die cut the hearts on this card. 


The pink hearts are recycled from handmade pink paper from Indonesia which was an old gift wrap. 


 I added the gold dots with glitter glue from my stash to match the gold lining in the ribbon.

On the second card, I have die cut the hearts from handmade paper in dull gold and pink (recycled from old gift wrap as mentioned above). 
 I wish the picture quality was better to capture the texture of the paper. The card stock is pearlized and lends a nice touch to the card.


I hope you like my cards.
Hugs,


Monica

My lovely gifts from an angel!

Hi bloggers,


Gosh! Can you believe it that we have finished more than half of January already... for me time has just been running away since the 2000s - just yesterday we were waiting for 2011 and the first month is half over!!!


Here is what my dear, dear friend - Leigh (www.charitycrafter.blogspot.com/) sent me all the way from the UK to me for Christmas. I think it was my BEST Christmas gift ever because it came with so much love... and the wrapping paper was out of this world. I have saved it to make cards with it next Christmas. 


It is a wonder that it reached me because the post in Indonesia can be a bit unreliable... but the parcel came with such good feelings that I received it.


Aleeza, my little one has taken over the Teddy and the charms - conveniently!!!


Leigh, your card is exquisite and I will treasure it with all my heart.


Hugs,


Monica

First Valentine card and partly recycled

Add caption

Hello bloggers,

This is my second card for today - see how happy I am to be back!!!

I embossed my Hero Arts block stamp on to creamy white paper. The big hearts have been cut from Sizzix while the small hearts are from my Carla craft punch. On the top right is a metal heart which sadly cannot be seen in the picture. I seriously have to do something with my photography skills.

The foil hearts have been recycled from the kitchen shelf.

The sentiment at the bottom is handwritten.

I am going to link this to Naturally Me Creations - a beautiful blog run by Monique of South Africa. Do visit her and see the delightful stuff she makes. She is a big fan of recycled stuff as well and does it with real pizzaz!

Have a nice day where ever you are...

Hugs,

Monica

Back to crafting - feels great!

Hello bloggers,


I hope you are healthy and crafting where ever you are... You all have become such an interesting part of my world that my real life friends seem to have taken a back seat.

I feel so grateful for all you lovely people out there who have enriched my life and craft in so many ways. I have learned sooooooooooooo much from you all. Thanks for all your encouraging words and motivation, too. No matter what, you all always manage to say the kindest things about my cards.And the techniques that you all have shared have had a great impact on my crafting.


 Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!


Now to this card - Zeenya embossed this butterfly (from an Inkadinkado stamp) before we went to New Delhi and I came back and thought that I must use it. She took out the ribbons and insisted that they should be stuck at an angle. 
My contribution was following my girl's instructions besides colouring in the embossed image with blue and mauve metallic gel crayons. As usual the real life picture looks far better. And yes, I rubber stamped and heat embossed the doily from a stamp (sorry, am to lazy to go and check out the name). 

The butterflies are from lovely Teri's blog candy. It came as a rescue because I used them to hide some flaws!


Hope you like my card...


Hugs,


Monica

Happy New Year!

Hello dear blogger buddies,

Here's wishing you all a very happy, healthy and OFCOURSE a creative 2011. 

I am sorry that I have been missing in action as I was attending an Indian wedding in New Delhi. I will try and find some decent pictures of the bride and post them next time. We had lots of fun with good food, wine and music. It was biting cold in Delhi but we managed to keep our spirits warm with Vodka and natural good spirits!! 

The card above was made for the bride to be but we FORGOT to carry it along as we made it minutes before we left for the airport. I promise that it looks much better in real life as the colours are too dull in the picture. Zeenya heat embossed the cake and I just added some quick embellishments and voila it was ready. Pity it is still lying with us!!! 

Yours truly at the wedding with my two girls - Zeenya wore contact lenses for the wedding.

These are some of my school friends I met up over for lunch in New Delhi - the wine added to our happy smiles apart from the fact that it was a lovely feeling to meet up with old buddies from school. I am the first from the left - in  pink.

I will try and catch up with all of you at the soonest. You cannot imagine how much you were all missed.

Hugs,

Monica