Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Dear bloggers,

Here is wishing you a very delightful Christmas and a great New Year. Forgive me for not blogging as often as I should. Hopefully in the new year, I will have more energy.

Lots of love,

Monica 

Here with a belated card for Zeenya's birthday

Hello bloggers,

Here is a card I managed to make for Zeenya's belated birthday.  She turned 18. 

Washi tapes and Penny Black stamp done with Brilliance copper ink. 

Hope you like it. 

Also made another card today and am valuing how lucky are those who can do things with their hands.

Happy blogging,

Monica 

Hello and all!

Dear bloggers,

I sure have been away since October. 

I had some health issues which kept me away. 

This is a post to say that I am on my road to recovery and that is a big thing for me.

I will try and post slowly and surely and will certainly try and visit your blogs. 

Wish you happy and crafty time,

Monica 

Hello from the other side

Dear bloggers,

Hope you are well. Here is a quick card which Aleeza and I made in Boston. Aleeza and I have invented our very own plastic dabbing technique. We had oodles of fun making it.

United World Sanctuary is doing well and our last meeting (on silent meditation) was on Wednesday, September 2017. 

Happy crafting,

 Monica 

Getting back to routine

Hello dear bloggers,

The kids are back to school and normalcy is returning slowly but surely. Yet, I miss them when they are gone. My initiative, United World Sanctuary is doing well and our next talk is by an existential coach on, 'Accepting life as it is'. 

I made this card while were in the US. It is a stamp I bought at Paper Chase and I do love it lots. The sentiment has been die cut from thick card which was packaging material of a computer. 

Happy crafting,

Monica 

It's been a long, long time

Hello sweet bloggers,

Indeed a long time since I posted last. It was summer holidays and I thought of giving my children all the time I could. I know my older one, Zeenya is independent and a twelfth grader if you please. Aleeza is a fourth grader and time flies. We went to India for a few days and then to New York and Boston. It sure was hectic and NY seemed to be more bustling since the last time I visited it in 2007. Boston was far saner and more charming if I may say so. We did the Statue of Liberty and saw a Broadway musical called Aladin which was breathtakingly beautiful. Apart from that we saw Central Park and also the Common in Boston was very pretty.

I made as many as 22 cards in two weeks that we were in the US. Aleeza was a constant source of inspiration to me. I managed to visit Paper Source both in NY and Boston and picked up some pretty stamps and a circles punch from there. 

Down below is one of the cards we made together. I carried my distress inks and coloured the background with them. Thank you is a die cut from a perfume packaging which is shiny, shiny magenta. 

Will catch you later... 

Happy crafting always,

Monica 

For an 80th Birthday

Hello sweet bloggers,

Thank you for your kind words on my previous post. It is summer holidays now so life is calmer in some ways. This card was made for one of my neigbour's who is celebrating her mum's 80th. She paid me $10 Singapore dollars for it which will go toward a home that supports abused women in Malaysia. 

It is a very simple card made primarily with designer paper from my stash and pop up glue. The numbers are from my stash as well and the nesties were die cut from a silver envelope.

These flowers were arranged and taken to a very lovely lady's home for dinner. I added a pink ribbon to make the white vase look dressy.

Happy blogging and happy crafting,

Monica 

Hello from the other side

Hello dear bloggers,

Blogging has been on my mind and most certainly so. It is just that my initiative called United World Sanctuary had two events - one on essential oils and another on Laughter Yoga. Both went really well and how I wish I could laugh like we did in the Laughter Yoga session every day. I have also been selling cards at the events and have been donating them to a shelter in Malaysia called Sinar Sofia.

Now to the cards below - the first card has been made with my new die from Kaiser Craft. I used red paper for the hibiscus flowers and cut out the leaves carefully. Then I die cut the leaves again in cream coloured paper and stuck them under the hibiscus flowers. I also added another die cut to give more body to the leaves. The flowers and leaves were coloured with Prismas. This diecut sure made me think aplenty as the flowers and leaves were part of the same. The designer paper is from my stash and the sentiment has been die cut from a packaging material (incense sticks).

This sweet teddy card was designed and stamped by Aleeza (nine years old) while the labour was done by me. I think it is a Penny Black stamp she has used and the washi tape was bought at the craft store in town.

Aleeza gave this card to her Physical Education teacher who is her fave. I wish I could have taken a better photograph. We had to stick Washi tape inside as we had a goof up while using the paper scourer. 

I will enter my card in the following challenges:

http://craftysentiments.blogspot.sg/ - sentiment

http://highhopesstamps.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://ttcrd.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://craftingfromtheheartchallengeblog.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Partly recycled card and my mum's embroidery

Hello sweet bloggers,

Yes, life has been busy with my initiative called United World Sanctuary, my new self study of essential oils and my fave passion called Meditation. On Monday, I am hosting a workshop on essential oils and a special massage technique with them called Rainbow technique on Monday, 29th at my place. There is a very learned lady here from the US who will be teaching us and I am excited.

Now to my simple card which has pretty much used recycled material. The sweet hippo has been die cut from a yoghurt lid and the blue nestie you see was part of a brochure in it's previous avatar. The grey banner is designer paper given by a dear friend. The blue and grey paper actually shine pretty much in real life. The sentiment on this card is one of my favourites. I did take a permanent black marker and touch up the happy hippo's eyes, ears and smile. 

I thought of sharing this pretty embroidery that my mum did in Home Science which she did a degree in. This was embroidered in the 1960s. She claims the 3D effect is because she used all six veins at the same time. She always tells me that one should create stuff that takes the least amount of time and is pretty at the same time. Well, this proves her theory quite so. Lol.

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Teddy

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is a card to show you that Aleeza helped assemble after choosing the paper and die cut and embellies. The teddy seems to be cross eyed here but in real life, seems okay. I did most of the sticking and paid Aleeza two Singapore dollars for it and she was laughing that I did all the hard work and paid her for it. Well, I wanted her to get into card making so it was kind of a bribe. Lol.

Well, she did colour in the nose and mouth.

I will enter this card in the following challenges:

http://abitmoretimetocraft.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes
http://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Froggie says hello

Hello lovely bloggers,

Happy first of the month. I remember as kids, we used to say to each other, "A pinch or a punch on the first of month' and how happy we felt at something as small as that.

Here is my card to show you today. I simply love this sentiment and the die cut frog has been made from printer paper that was given batik treatment - a technique which I learned from the art teacher in Zeenya's school and we made it together over 12 years or so. I actually saved this paper all these years. I coloured the frog with yellow colour pencils, stuck googly eyes and layered it on another frog in a different shade of green to give it another layer and some shadow. The washi tape is from my stock and that is that.

To those who are aware of my initiative called United World Sanctuary, we had another great event on April 26th with 9 ladies and we had a very informative talk on essential oils and their benefits. It was much appreciated and I too learned much about the uses of essential oils. 

I have also started conducting meditation sessions for individuals and groups and am getting a good response. 

I will enter this card in https://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.sg

Happy crafting and happy, happy happy,

Monica 

Happy...

Hello bloggers,

Here is my card to show you which has been made with primarily packaging material. The pearls came from Sandra. The second photo shows the inside of the card.

I will enter this card in:

http://abitmoretimetocraft.blogspot.sg/  - anything goes

http://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://conniecancrop.blogspot.sg/ - reuse, reduce, recycle

Happy crafting,

Monica 

PARTY

Hello bloggers,

Here is a card to show you made with a wooden stamp that did not cost a mighty sum for a change. Packaging material was used to stamp on and it seems a wee bit creamy as compared to the base card. The famous silver Sakura gel pen was used to decorate the image and rhine stones which I picked up while we were in Spain last summer. The ribbon is from my stash. 

I will enter this card in:

http://addicted-to-stamps-challenge.blogspot.sg/ - stamped image + sentiment

http://lacysunshine.blogspot.sg/ - always anything goes

http://www.dare2bartzy.com/wp/ - anything goes

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Hello April

Hello bloggers,

Here is my card to show you today with a Kaiser Craft image which was stamped many months ago when we went to a beautiful island called Kota Kinabaloo in Malaysia. I have used Faber Castell water colour pencils to colour in the card and the nestie was used as a border to sponge around the image. There was a faux pas on the left while sponging hence the unannounced presence of the banner on the left. I tried to die cut the banners following the straight lines of the print yet I know I could have done better. The music signs were suggested by Aleeza and she also suggested I put "happy" on the top of the card and "birthday" inside. This is all that my little card could hold - lol.

I will enter this card in the following challenges:

http://addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.sg/ - always anything goes

http://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/ - use die cuts

http://inspirationdestinationchallengeblog.blogspot.sg/ - always anything goes

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Very similar to the previous card

Hello kind peeps,

Here is another card to show you with the snippets that were left behind from the card yesterday. I added washi tape and a silver strip and a generic card was ready. Apologies for showing you an almost similar card to the one I posted previously. Just wanted to clear my table of little bits and pieces lying around. Infact all of last year, I have tried to use up stuff that I have been leaving half finished. 

On another note, I conducted a meditation focussing on relaxation response for 9 ladies at my place on Wednesday and it went quite well. As I may have shared with some of you, I launched an initiative called United World Sanctuary in May, 2016 whereby I host events and workshops for likeminded ladies. The first event was a healthy Indian food cooking session and the second was a talk on Detox by a doctor. The third event was a talk on Essential Oils and so on. The latest one was on meditation which has been my passion for 8-10 years now.   

I will enter this card in the following challenges:

http://craftingwithanattitude.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://crafty-girls-creations.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://carabbiemomentsofcraft.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://inspirationdestinationchallengeblog.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Black and silver

Hello sweet bloggers,

Thank you for your kind comments on my last post and here is another quickie to show you today. I was actually going to use a stamped image on this card but realized that the white background of the image was a tad cream so I opted to go with the paper alone which is quite dressy by itself. The silver dots were randomly added with a gel pen to hide a faux pas. I was trying to be very wise cleaning my scissors with my fingers and I calmly slashed my thumb it while doing so. And there were some tell tale marks which came on the card. So out came my trusted gel pen and I dotted the card.  Another wise thing I did was to use a silvery beaded mat as a backdrop for the card. Am left wondering whether it has taken the attention off the card. 

I will enter this card in the following challenges:

http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.sg/ - always anything goes

http://craftygalscornerchallenges.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://inspirationdestinationchallengeblog.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

http://themaleroomchallengeblog.blogspot.sg/ - black, white and one more colour

Happy crafting my friends,

Monica 

Hello again!

Hello sweet people,

Here is a card to show you today the image of which was stamped two years ago or more. I have coloured in the Kaiser stamp with Prismas.

Thank you, dear kind friends for not giving up on me. Your comments mean the world to me.

This is the same card against a darker surface.

I will enter this card in:

http://4craftychicks.blogspot.sg/ - punches or dies
http://cardz4galz.blogspot.sg/ - pink
http://craftrocketchallenges.blogspot.sg/ - make it feminine
http://craftingwithanattitude.blogspot.sg/ - always anything goes
http://crafty-girls-creations.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

Happy crafting and more,

Monica 

Hello with a baby card

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is a quick card for a baby boy. The sentiment has been recycled from a tea carton. The rest of it is pretty explanatory. The blue nestie under the sentiment came from Shirley-Ann while we used to live in Indonesia.

I will enter my card in:

http://crafting-with-friends.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes
http://simplypapercraftsforalloccassions.blogspot.sg/ - anything goes

Happy blogging,

Monica 

Hello March!

Hello sweet peeps, 

It is already middle of March and this is my first post for March. Here is my little card to show you which was clicked in a rather creative manner. Lol. I did the background with liquid chalks and used Dervent colour pencils to make a border around the rectangular nestie. I have used Wink of Stella over the pencils and it looks quite pretty in real life. The decoupage stickers are from my stash. 

Wish you happy crafting,

Monica 

Hello from the other side

Hello dear bloggers,

Wow, life sure has been busy at my end and that is what has kept me from blogging. I do make a card or two every now and then though. I think I need to get my computer sorted as my phone camera and computer are having issues. 

Now to this card, it is a quickie. Washi tape and die cut which was a pastry box in it's previous avatar. It was such a pretty shade of pink or fucshia that I did not have the heart to bin it. Sorry for the twig on the left side that seems to be jutting out from my bougainvillea plant. I thought I was being creative by using a plant as a back drop. Lol.

Cannot wait to come and see what you all have been up to.

Happy blogging,

Monica 

Hello there!

Hello sweet bloggers,

I am back after a long back and trust me, as always, I have missed blogging so. Yesterday was Aleeza's 9th birthday so here is the card I made for her in school while I was waiting there to give cupcakes to her class mates. The balloons have been made upcycled from packaging material and the diecuts have been mounted on foam dots. Ribbon and washi tape and there it was. I did intend to put a die cut 'happy birthday' sentiment but there seemed little space. It looks nice, I thought.

Happy blogging,

Monica 

Hello and Happy New Year!

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is wishing you and yours a very happy new year. December just flew with our annual holiday to India of which I will post pictures soon. I am happy to get the chance to do a quick blog post. 

Here is a simple and self explanatory card to show you today. My older daughter is always happy to see simplicity on cards and she did mention that I could have added something more to it. Maybe I will and showcase it again. Lol.

Happy blogging and happy health and happy everything,

Monica