I love this sentiment...

Hello sweet bloggers,

Welcome to my latest follower - Gowri. Thanks for joining my blog - happy to see my followers growing beside my girth which is in urgent need of exercise. Lol.

This is my 20th post for this month - now that is a serious lot and am rather pleased about that.
Here is a card I have made following the sketch at http://stampsfun-creativity.blogspot.com/

I have used Bo Bunny papers from Kaiser craft and the sentiment stamp is from Penny Black - my latest buy. The lock and key were sent to me by my dear blog buddy Terry. The green cord, bling and buttons are from my stash. Not sure whether the buttons match the bling, though. Also it is a night shot, so it is not  that brilliant.

I will also enter this card in the following challenges:

http://celebratetheoccasion.blogspot.com/ - green, white and another colour

http://partytimetuesdays.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - always anything goes

http://twistedtuesdaychallenges.blogspot.ca/ - anything goes

http://www.ladyanneschallenges.com/ - anything goes

Below are pictures of the Chinese New Year decoration at a mall close by. I found them so pretty that I had to share them. Aleeza is there too in her school uniform...

These fans were part of the ceiling decoration - wish I had done more justice to the picture.

Catch you soon.

Love,

Monica 

Not just another brick in the wall...

Hello sweet people,

Sorry that I did not visit yesterday - life got in the way :-) However, will certainly do my rounds.

Here is another masculine card I made two days ago. The brick wall and the embossed image inspired me to hand write the sentiment from one of my fave songs by Pink Floyd. The printed paper is from my stash. The white strips on the right are from a wall paper. I would love to hear what you think of this card.

I will enter this card in:

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - masculine

http://glitternsparklechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - male card

http://mimchallegeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - one for the boys

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Catch you later - gotta put Aleeza to bed.

Love,

Monica 

http://glitternsparklechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/http://glitternsparklechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/

Less is More - sketch and I sold 6 cards yesterday!

Hello lovely bloggers,

I have good news to share with you - I managed to sell 6 cards yesterday to a friend. That was my first sale of the year and it happened with such ease.
I would like to extend a very warm welcome to my latest follower - Andrea Hayes. Thanks so much for following my little world of cards. 

The lady who bought them charmingly remarked that she would be happy to see cards for boys and men next time. Yes, I know I need to make more effort to make masculine cards. So in response to her request  here is my quick card for Less is More - for a man! The button punch is from Martha Stewart and the ribbon is from my stash. Have scored the card on my scoring board for added interest.

It took me no time to make this card and I am happy with my CAS creation. I could have threaded yarn through the buttons but seemed to lack patience. My perpetual excuse being that I am always in need of numbers so I try and make as many as I can without spending too much time on one particular card.

I will also enter this card in:

http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - always anything goes

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - always anything goes

http://glitternsparklechallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - card for male

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com/ - male

http://pumpkinspiceblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - blue, white and something round

http://cardmakinmamas.blogspot.com/ - clean and simple

Down below is something that caught my eye on Face book and I had to share it.

Wish you a happy week ahead.

Love,

Monica 

Using the same love stamp and loving it...

Hello lovely bloggers,

I am on a roll making Valentine Day cards all in red, black and white. And I cannot lay my hands off this sentiment (it is the only Valentine sentiment I own thanks to Lynn). This card is much like the previous one but I just had to share it with you. The tree stamp is from Kaiser craft and I have added punched hearts on the tree. My famous LOVE stamp which I love... lol. The big punched hearts have been layered and popped on dimensional foam dots. The border is an MS punch and the ribbon is from American Crafts. I love this card - even though it is so similar to the last one but I think in some ways it is better, don't you think?

The card below is fairly similar - different ribbon and some bling.

I am going to enter these cards in the following challenges:

http://www.trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com/ - Valentine's Day or love

http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/ - celebrate love

http://craftyribbonschallenge.blogspot.com/ - love, romance, anniversary

http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com/ - use red or pink

Wish you a happy Sunday,

Monica

Love...

Hello lovely peeps,

Thanks for all the nice comments on my last post and a very warm and hearty welcome to Donna - my newest follower.

Here is a card I have made for http://casethissketch.blogspot.com/ following the sketch.

The tree stamp is from Kaiser craft and I have stuck the hearts from the border punch on it. The ribbon is from my stash and the love sentiment is a stamp sent by Lynn to me. I seem to be loving it... Somehow for Valentine cards, I am comfortable putting sentiments on them because they are so specific.

I will also enter this card in http://addictedtocas.blogspot.co.uk/ - heart

Wish you a very happy and healthy weekend,

Monica

Love is in the air...

Hello bloggers,

Very rarely are there two posts from me in a day... lol. 

Here is a quick card I made just now for Valentine's with the lovely sentiment stamp that Lynn sent me. See how nice it looks. I am quite happy with the way this CAS card turned out. The hearts have been punched out while the ribbon is from American Crafts. I just realized after reading Lynn's post that I am far behind in making cards for Valentine's so here's my first one. Would love to hear your views on it.

I will enter this card in:
http://www.trimmiescraftchallenge.blogspot.com/ - love
http://craftuscrazy.blogspot.com/ - love is in the air
http://craftyribbonschallenge.blogspot.com/ - celebrate love, romance anniversary
http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://rubysrainbow.blogspot.com/ - Valentine's
http://lulupu.blogspot.in/ - love is in the air
http://rubysrainbow.blogspot.com/ - love
http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Now I am off to bed, good night, sweet dreams,

Monica 

Masculine card

Hello sweet people,

Here is a masculine card I made today for the challenge over at Cards for Men!!!

The printed papers are fancy gift wrap and I have used a Tim Holtz embossing folder. Sponged over the car and used my Sakura gold pen on the car to give it some glamour - that cannot be seen in the picture. Touched the car with water colour pencils as well. I have actually threaded thin strands of paper through the shell buttons. The yellow button on the bottom right had a design on it so I did not thread it.
Popped up the car on dimensional foam and my card was ready!
Aleeza said she did not like this card - too dull. And she added that I should make bright cards for ladies and NOT for men. See the little feminist in her coming out... lol.

I will also enter this card in:
http://www.4craftychicks.blogspot.com/ - buttons

Below is a picture of green grapes growing on the garden fence in Aleeza's school. They survived all that heavy rain we had last week.

Thank God it's Friday - yaaay!

Love,

Monica 

Sending you sunshine

Hello sweet bloggers,

Aleeza sponged in this stencilled image with distress ink and I touched up the centres of the flowers with my water colour pencils. Stuck two scalloped borders at the bottom. 

The buttons are from my stash and the ribbon was sponged with distress ink to match it. I have made this card earlier and it sold in a minute so I thought why not make another one as well. 

Below is a card that Aleeza made - all I did was to die cut the frogs and she coloured them in and also drew another little froggie on the card. She claims that the frog with the reddish orange lips is mama, the one with zig zag stripes is papa and the little red one is the baby. It is an evening sky with a purple moon. And there is lightening in the sky as well. Lol.

This is what she wrote inside...

Love, 

Monica 

Baby blue

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is a quick card I made for http://mimchallegeblog.blogspot.com/ following the sketch. 

No stamping, lots of 3D stuff and lots of sticking. The little rectangles have been punched out of wall paper. Yes, I used to buy rolls of wall paper at discounted prices  when we used to live in London for my cards.

I hope the pink bow is permitted for baby boy card. But then the world has changed a lot now. Men wear pinks and magentas like nobody's business :-) and I am happy about that. 

The little horsey and baby sentiment were picked up at a very lovely craft store in Jakarta.
The ribbon was sent to me by dear Lynn and the buttons are from my stash. Quite happy with my button supply - seem to have almost every colour I am looking for.

Below is the sketch at http://mimchallegeblog.blogspot.com/ - apologies that I did not take a good picture.

This card took me all of 10 minutes to make - how cool is that!

I will also enter it in:

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://unstampabelleschallenges.blogspot.com/ - use one or more dies

Love,

Monica 

Craft sale to help dogs

Hello lovely bloggers,

Maria of Crafty Crea8tions  as some of you may know is a dog lover who spends a lot of her time at the animal rescue centre - walking the dogs and caring for them in ways more than one. 

She sells cards, holds fairs to raise monies to help dogs.

Maria is having a craft sale on April 20th and would be happy to receive donations of greeting cards, card sets  or craft items to sell. She would be happy even if you could do a post for her to increase traffic.

If you visit Maria at http://www.craftycre8tions.blogspot.com/p/craft-sale-for-pups.html 

it would give you a fair idea of what Maria does.

Many thanks,

Monica

All browns...

Hello sweet bloggers,

First of all a very warm welcome to Therese - my latest follower. Thanks for following my little blog.

Here is a card I made following the sketch at Blogger's challenge. 

The card stock is black and I have used a textured kraft like card stock on it. The printed paper has been hand torn and sponged on the edges. The jute mesh, buttons and jute string are from my stash. Now this could be a masculine card, right?

Down below is the sketch at Blogger's challenge

I will also enter this card in:
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://simplycreatetoo.blogspot.com/ - simply create
http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.co.uk/ - use twine
http://stampedblessings.com/ - birthday

Wish you a pleasant week ahead.

Love,
Monica

Happy we have each other

Hello sweet bloggers,

I hope you are having a pleasant weekend. Here is a card I have made to for two challenges namely 

Less is More which is about friendship and CAS(e) this sketch.

I have used an Itty bitty stamp by Unity that I have had lying in my drawer for six months now. The ribbon is from American Crafts and the sentiment which says, "happy to have each other" is from the same set.

It is a rather flat card and I know I could have put some bling on the flip flops but I thought I would just let it be. Would love to hear what you think of my card.

Love,

Monica 

Home made flowers

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is a card that I made following a sketch for  http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/. For some reason, I am unable to copy and paste the sketch. 

The border is a Martha Stewart punch and the yarn and mosaic are from my stash.

I made the flowers (with punches) while I was in my flower-making phase 

which does not seem to want to come back. Lol. Never mind, there is a thrill about putting on a ready made, store bought flowers as well. 

I will also enter this card in:

http://www.charismacardz.blogspot.com/ - use atleast 2 punches

http://www.charismacardz.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://simplycreatechallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Phew, that is an awful lot of challenges - lol.

Thank God it's Friday.

Love,

Monica 

Purple again!!!

Hello lovely bloggers,

I hope you are all well and safe which ever part of the world you are in. Here in Jakarta, we have big time flooding.  We are lucky and grateful that we have not been affected. Aleeza's school was closed today and Zeenya's shut down early as well. I hope tomorrow will be a better day. My heart goes out to the people who have been affected by these adverse weather conditions.

Here is a card I made a while ago with a Hero Arts clear stamp. I have glittered the area around the stamp and done some sponging as well. I have used my all time favourite Sakura gel pen on the shoe. The lace is from a tiny haberdashery store close by and so is the ribbon. 

I am going to enter this card in:
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/ - girly

Happy that it is Friday tomorrow.
Love,
Monica

Purple is the colour...

Hello lovely bloggers,

I have been meaning to post a card but just could not get down to it... 

Here is a card I made a while ago and I like how it turned out.

The background stamp is from Kaiser craft (I think) and the sentiment is from Spellbinders. Used punched flowers with pearls in the centre, a feather and  a butterfly to finish it off. On the left, I created this faded look with the same stamp with the left over ink on it. I did not re-ink it but just randomly stamped it on the cardstock.  I did the same on the right as well. I like the dreamy effect that it produced. Would love to know what you think?

I will enter this card in:

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes
http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://thesquirrelandthefox.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Wish you a pleasant week ahead.

Much love,

Monica 

I love tulips...

Hello sweet bloggers,

TGIF!!! There is a very nice ring to Fridays - the air seems lighter and everyone appears more smiley :-)

I was trying to take part in a challenge at http://www.seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/ and I did try and go with the sketch to make a girly birthday card. Am not sure whether I followed the sketch in totality though :-(

 Any way here is wishing you a happy weekend.

Love,

Monica

All green (and a little bit of brown)

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is a card I have made following the sketch on http://simplychallengedchallenges.blogspot.com/
For some reason I am not able to copy and paste the sketch.

I had lots of fun creating this simple card as I love working with montones.
The beautiful butterflies (K and Company) were sent to me from Terry. Thank you so much! They just look so beautiful in real life.
The printed paper is gift wrap and the polka dotted ribbon is from my stash. The flower is from Prima and I have stuck a scalloped punched circle in green under it to make it stand out.

I am also going to enter this card in:

http://flourishes.org/category/challenges/timeless-tuesday/ - something new (my butterflies and flower)

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Wedding card

Hello sweet bloggers,

Hope you have been having a good day - mine was wonderful, spent over tea and cake with dear friends.

Here is a card I made with my Quickcutz heart die after many failed attempts at getting a decent die cut. The flowers have been punched and layered with glossy white and parchment paper in yellow. I have used ribbon in place of the sentiment and you can see a teeny weeny bit of a Martha Stewart border punch peeping out. Liquid pearls in the centre of the flowers and pearls on one side of the heart finish it off. I found the centre of the heart quite plain but Zeenya said it looked just fine. And it sold!

I am going to enter this in the following challenges:

http://everybody-art-challenge.blogspot.com/ - pastel colours

http://emeraldfaeries.blogspot.co.uk/ - celebrations

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - anything goes

http://www.ladyanneschallenges.com/ - anything goes
http://unstampabelleschallenges.blogspot.com.au/ - use one or more die cuts

Happy crafting,

Monica 

For a 21st Birthday

Hello sweet bloggers,

I am happy to be blogging again even though I am missing the excitement of being with friends and family... Zeenya is thrilled to be back in school and Aleeza still has another week to go before her school opens. 

Here is a commissioned card I made a while ago. The crinkled blue paper has sentimental value for me because Zeenya's art teacher in her former school taught me how to make it some six years ago and both Zeenya and I had loads of fun making it. I thought it was ideal for the effect of sea. Did some sponging and stuck more papers under the image to bring in more colour. Since it was a 21 year old who likes sailing. For some reason, the card looks warped in the picture but the person who ordered it really liked it. And that made me happy :-)

This is the back of the round punched shape stuck to the image with sewing thread rolled some five times to give it thickness.  I have stamped an anchor image from the same stamp set. I have used a clear image but cannot remember the name. Punched photo corners and two blue crystals complete the look.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:

http://www.tammyscrapincorner.com/ - man's card
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://www.creativecreationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes

Lots of love,

Monica

Am back in action...

Hello sweet bloggers,

Wish you all a happy new year! We just got back a couple of days ago from our vacation which was lovely. It was nice to touch base with family and friends over good food and conversation. My mum was over joyed by the fact that Aleeza connected so well with her. Now that is a new happening, you know and I am happy about it, too.

Down below is a card I made this afternoon on Aleeza's behest as she wanted me to have a purse on the card. So I got out the swell papers and card board images that my dear blog friend Sandra mailed to me some time ago. The bow at the bottom and sentiment are also from her. Simple but sweet is this card, don't you think?

Down below is a Christmas decoration outside a hotel where we went for lunch.

Here are my precious gems...

I promise to start visiting you all soon... thanks for all the emails, will get back once I have the laundry sorted :-)