A quick card for my next charity batch...

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is a quick card I made last night - just stuck some printed paper and ribbon, crystal and three butterflies which were punched out of crumpled and distressed paper. I was quite happy with the way it turned out.

Am going to enter this card in MIM - anything goes.

Will come and do my rounds tonight...

See you soon,

Monica

Each New Day is a Blessing and so is BLOGGING!

Hello lovely bloggers,

Thanks so much for all the sweet comments on my last posts. Feels good to be back even though I am missing all that good food and love of friends and family.

This is a card I made to sell - however I gave it away to one of my mum's friends and she loved it.

Supplies:

Base card stock - metallic silver grey 

Stamp - Spellbinders

Woven ribbon - from the ribbon store close by to where we live

Organza ribbon - from stash

Crystals - Prima

Am going to enter this card into MIM (Make It Monday) - Anything Goes which is one of my fave challenge blogs. It was one of the first challenge blogs I discovered and the lady who runs it (Michelle) is one of the sweetest people in blogland. She helped me so much when I was a newbie... with how to link up a card to a challenge. Thank you, Michelle!

Have a great week ahead.

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

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

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

I sold this one as well

Hello lovely bloggers,

Welcome to my newest follower - Monica! I was trying to visit her blog but the profile sadly did not show her link.

TGIF!!! Tomorrow I don't have to put contacts into Zeenya's eyes at 6.30 am! Yes, she has started wearing soft lenses at almost 12... I know it is a bit early but she wanted them so bad.

Here is very quick card I made with stuff lying around on my table and it sold - so happy. So far the count is 62 cards and I have to make another ten for a Diwali order for a dear friend.

Supplies:

Base cards stock - red

Punches - MS and Ek Success on maroon coloured cardstock

Flower - made by your's truly with Ek Success scalloped round punch and distressed with Tim Holtz soot black

Hugs and have a nice weekend,

Monica

Still making more cards for order

Hello lovely bloggers,

Thanks for the kind comments on my last post.

Here are another five cards I have made for the lady who ordered 20. I just sent her 10 cards this morning. I do hope she likes them. Am on my way to make the rest of the cards now...

Below are some individual pictures of the cards.

Supplies:
 Base card stock - shaded mocha and pale creamy white
Stamp - leafy stamp from Hobby Ideas, India stamped with Amercan crafts clay and filled in with water colour pencils.
Glitter - Uniball copper metallic
Chalks - from stash
Embossing on the side - CB


Am going to enter in the following challenges:

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ anything goes
http://mimchallegeblog.blogspot.com/ - monochrome
http://craftingwhenwecanchallenges.blogspot.com/ anything goes
http://thecraftypad.blogspot.com/ - brown, orange, gold


Will come and do my rounds soon - off to pick up lil' Aleeza from school now.


Hugs,


Monica

Yippeeee! Order for 20 cards...

Hi bloggers,

Welcome to Corinna - my newest follower.

Just to give you an update... so far I have sold 17 cards for Japan red cross and I have got a new order for 20 cards.

Down below are the first five cards that I managed to make since yesterday. The lady who ordered them chose the designs  from my blog and did not want any sentiments on the cards. 

Down below are the pictures of the individual cards. 

Supplies: 

Base card stock - different colours

 Background stamp - Hero Arts block with Brilliance pearlised lavender and pearlised blue stamp pads

Small metallic butterfly - from the book store close by

Big metallic butterfly - die cut with Sizzix using kitchen foil (Yaaaay, I recycled!)

Dragonflies - Carla craft punch and glittered with metallic blue and silver Sakura pens

Metallic paper - Paper chase tissue

Ribbon - from stash

Hope you are having a good weekend. I am going to see the movie, "The Tree of Life" this afternoon so I am very excited!

Will come and visit you soon and thanks for your kind comments.

Hugs,

Monica

Getting more cards ready for Japan redcross!

Hello bloggers,

Wowsie! It is Friday again and thank God for that. I have to say this week went so fast.

Here is a card I made while Aleeza tried her best to snatch away my glue, distress inks and sponges. Somehow I managed to keep my cool.

I have followed the sketch by http://mytimemadeeasy.com/blog/ (you can see it down below after my card)
The layout is a tribute to 9/11 and as you can guess it resembles the American flag.

Here is my card - I think it looked better without the touch of bling. I created my own paper - yaaaay! And I distressed it with Tim Holtz old paper - as usual the real colours cannot be seen well.

Supplies:

Base card stock - white distressed with Tim Holtz old paper (I love how it turned out)

Printed paper - Hero Arts design block stamped with Brilliance graphite black

Leafy panels - MS  border punch distressed with Tim Holtz soot black

Heart stamp - from Hobby Ideas, India, stamped in graphite black and distressed with Tim Holtz fired brick

Heart punch on stamp - Carla craft with recylced scrap on table. I used a heart because I feel so deeply about what happened on that horrible day. 

Red colour on the two centre panels - filled in with metallic red Sakura pen (looked much better without it)

Bling and glitter - from stash

Down below is the sketch

I am also going this card in the following challenges as well:

http://jffchallenge.blogspot.com/ - vintage

http://blog.therubbercafe.com/ - no designer paper

http://atsblog.typepad.com - anything goes

Wishing you a relaxed and crafty weekend.

Hugs,

Monica

General card

Hello, dear bloggers,

Welcome to my latest follower - Creative's Wardah! Thank you for following my blog.

Here is a card I made this morning, yes, this morning - it felt like pure luxury!!! So good to be able to craft and  post it instantly on the blog!

I have to give credit to Lynn for the inspiration for this card - thanks!

Supplies:

Base cardstock - pale green

White cardstock with a stripey texture which has been embossed on the borders with CB using my new embossing folder

Cycle stamp - Hero Arts (my new acquisition as well!)

Teddy bear - thanks to Sandra!

Flowers - homemade by me

Leaves - punched with leaf punch

Ribbon -  from stash

Heart and pearls on spokes of the wheels - courtesy Lynn!

Sentiment - handwritten and distressed on the borders

I made this card for a new blog buddy who's daughter is not well. But I realized that the sentiment is not really apt, so I guess I will make another one.

 I am quite happy with this card...hope you like it as well. Would love to hear what you think of it.

Hugs,

Monica

General card



 Hello dear bloggers,


Here is my second post for today... 


This is a card I made a while ago to sell for Japanese Red Cross. 


Somehow and as always it looked better in real life.

Supplies:
Beige and mocha cardstock
Kaisercraft clear stamp in brown as background (went over it with my Darwent water colour pencil)
DP from Terry
Vase - from Carla craft on light green paper, distressed with crushed olive
Coffee beans - nicked from Starbucks (sush... don't tell anyone, lol)
Flowers and ribbon - from my stash


Hugs,


Monica

General card

Hello my dear bloggers,

Here is a card I have made with paper from Terry's blog candy that I won last year.

The flowers have been made by me... and the sentiment as well.
I have added tiny shimmery flowers from my stash to give it a jazzy look.

Aleeza's first day was good, I think... did not get a chance to speak to the teacher because there were too many mums there wanting to know how their kids fared on the first day of school.

Hope you like my card... It looks much nicer in person, you know.

My life is a little better after Aleeza going back to school but Zeenya is still home because she goes to a different school. She is a big help, though and I do think I will miss her when she goes to middle school. But that means I will have more ME time. Yaaaay! My husband's 19 year old niece has been here since May, so we don't have many dull moments!!! I cannot wait for normal routine, though... Lol!

Hugs and have a nice tuesday,

Monica

Slow down and take time to smell the flowers...

Hello bloggers,

Thanks for the comforting words about my fish...
I feel better already! I seem to have gathered serious information on the psychology of goldfish in the bargain - now does that sound fishy? Lol!

Now to my card - I have used metallic cream cardstock and I have stamped the turtle with my Peachy Kleen clear stamp on a light green card stock. It has been coloured with my Darwent water colour pencils. I went over the outline of the turtle with my Sakura pen in green and gold.
The bits of gold paper is actually a new gift wrap with a great texture. 
The hand-torn strip of paper at the bottom was originally cream which I distressed with Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge. I went over the sides with Crushed Olive.
The three bead look alikes are coffee beans and the sentiment is handwritten. I just think that life is just so busy that we don't take enough time to smell the flowers.
The flowers have not been made by me but are from my stash. 
I do like the sentiment, what do you say?

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

http://everybody-art-challenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://crazychallenge.blogspot.com/ -  anything goes
http://critterchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - green and yellow
http://happichallenge.blogspot.com/ -  green
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ - anything goes


I hope you like my card - thanks for visiting and I would love it if you have a minute to leave me a comment.

Hugs,
Monica

Thank you, Helen!

Hello bloggers,

Last night I was happily surprised when my hubby handed over a brown paper parcel to me... When I opened it what popped out were these amazingly beautiful cards sent by Helen of www.helenmade.blogspot.com/ Thank you, Helen! The cards are just so very pretty.

What I did this morning was to pack these beauties in plastic sleeves and send them off to hubby's office. They have already started selling...

I consider myself lucky to have entered a whole new world out there... thank you, dear bloggers for all your love, encouragement and generosity - in which ever way. It means the world to me... I am so grateful to have met such a nice bunch of crafters.

Hugs,

Monica

Sold 49 cards so far...

Hello bloggers,

First of all, I apologise for the poor picture quality of this card...

It took me all of 20 minutes to make it and it sold in an instant...

The stickers (used 3D foam dots to mount them up) looked quite cute against the metallic cardstock and so did the Martha Stewart border.

So far I have sold 49 cards... and am going to be making some more to sell next week.

I am in  Singapore as my older one had Friday off...

Will try and visit you all when I get back on Sunday.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs,

Monica

What do you think of this version?

Hello lovely bloggers out there... 

Remember I made this card a few days ago? Here is another version... Do tell me what you think?

I took slightly textured white card stock and stamped it with my doily stamp using Jim Holtz  Ranger distress ink  - fired brick. I have to say that I do like the result.

The shoe stamp is from Hero Arts and I distressed the red paper with black pigment ink.

The little black piece of paper has been embossed - you can't see much of it though. 

The ribbons and gems are from my stash.

I like this version more than the earlier one but would love to hear what you think?

I am going to submit this for:
Monique's weekend linky party at www.naturallymecreations.blogspot.com
http://polkadoodle.blogspot.com/ - no designer paper

http://creativecottagechallenge.blogspot.com - white space to show



Have a nice weekend... 

By the way, yesterday was April Fool's day so I played a prank on my hubby and daughter... it was fun! For my hubby I packed an empty perfume bottle really well with some stones inside. He is generally not turned on with gifts but he actually was excited and ripped it apart... only to find stones inside!!! Lol!

And I told my daughter, Zeenya that her favorite cousin was arriving in mid-April instead of May. Was she delighted!!! That was a bit mean but it is okay, it was April Fool's day!!! 

Hugs,

Monica

More cards for Japan Redcross

Hello bloggers,

I hope you all are well and happily crafting away...

I made this card two days ago. I wanted to stamp the sentiment which says "Kick off your heels and have fun" but there was no room left on the card... I have made cards in the past with this sentiment and they looked so full of fun.

The shoe stamp is from Hero Arts - I went over with Zeenya's nail pen over it and then I distressed the image with barn red.  The satin roses and ribbons are from my stash.
The black sprigs are from my Carla craft punch.
The swirly silver and black sticker is from Ek Success.
Embossing done with my Cuttle bug - the white paper has been distressed mildly with barn red as well.
The silver swirls on the left have been painted with fabric pop up glitter glue.
I am not very sure of this card - there is no focal point to it, really.

Off to make some more cards... just sent off 30 cards to sell to a sweet lady who lives in our building. Let us see how many she buys.

I am going to enter this card for the following:

http://squigglefly.blogspot.com/ - sparkle and shine


Have fun and stay healthy and cheerful!

Hugs,

Monica

More cards for Japan Redcross

Hello lovely bloggers out there,

Hope you are having a nice morning, afternoon or evening where ever you are...

I made these similar looking cards at the week end. 

Have used Peachy Keen clear stamp - mini turtle and coloured it in with my Darwent water colour pencils along with distressed ink on the sides of the paper.

The background paper is from Terry's blog candy.

The chocolate paper has been embossed with Cuttlebug. 

The mosaic at the bottom is from my stash and the teeny tiny bit of twine has been recycled from a gift. 

The sentiment is handwritten with a Calligraphy pen.

I have used the same stamp, coloured it in with Darwent water colour pencils but  gave it a touch of glitter with glitter glue and my Sakura metallic pens ... wish you could see it in real life. 

The watches you see in the background are from Hero Arts stamp. 

I used different distress colours to stamp it and distressed the borders as well. 

Embossing done with my beloved Cuttlebug and the lace border has been punched with my Martha Stewart border punch. 

Which one do you like more?

I will link this to Michelles's Monday Linky party at http://michelle-pinkpaperparadise.blogspot.com/

Happy crafting with loads of love,

Monica

Hello bloggers,

I am back again with another card... I am just so happy to be blogging away. It takes me to a whole new world which is almost like fairy tale, you know!!!

Materials used:

Base card stock - light blue

Striped paper - it is actually gift wrap

Scroll stamp - from Hero Arts

Metallic flowers - from my stash

Silver ribbon - from my stash


By the way, this is the first time I have stamped on already printed paper. I have learned this from blog land and videos on You Tube - apologies that I cannot remember the name exact source.

I am going to enter this for the following challenges:

www.cceestampers.blogspot.com/ - swirly designs

www.peartreedesigns.blogspot.com/ - ribbons

http://oldiebutagoodiechallenge.blogspot.com/ - - spring's in the air

Apart from the challenges above,  I am going to submit this card for the weekend linky party at www.naturallymecreations.blogspot.com/




Hugs and TGIF,


Monica

First card for March

Hello bloggers,

I have not been able to post a card since last Thursday...  just been caught up with mundane activities and the like...

I have been seeing your lovely cards and it is always so enrichning for me to learn new techniques and styles when I visit your blogs.

Here is a clean and simple card with my famous handmade flowers...

Materials used:

White cardstock

Polka dotted paper from dear Terry's blog candy

 Plastic ribbon with lemons that I bought from a close friend's closing down store sale - I loved it the first instant I saw it

My famous handmade flower diecut with Sizzix using ordinary yellow tissue paper - curled with my quilling tool

Beads - recycled from Zeenya's braids when we went on holiday to Krabi, Thailand some nine years ago (talk of hoarding!!!)

Hope you like my quick and easy card.

I am going to enter this for the following:


http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/ - anthing goes

http://cinspirations.blogspot.com/ - in the garden (hope I qualify)

http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/ - spring has sprung

http://crazychallenge.blogspot.com/ - spring themed projects

http://robynsfetishchallengeblog.blogspot.com - be creative with your punches and dies

Hugs,

Monica