Handmade flowers

Hello there,

Here is my card for today - the embossed cardstock has been coloured in with chalks and water colour pencils. The big flowers have been punched and then coloured with water colour paints and the smaller yellow ones have been sponged with distress ink. The tiny MS double butterfly has been coloured with water colour pencils and distress ink.

I could have been more creative with this card but so much time went into shaping the flowers that it left me with little time. 

I will enter this card in:

http://creativecardcrew.blogspot.com/ - handmade flowers

http://craftingforallseasons.blogspot.co.uk/ - no stamps allowed

Thank God it's Friday!

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 

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

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

Another card today!

Hello bloggers,

Life is good because I am getting to blog to my heart's content... what else does a little blogger like me want!!! Lol.

Here is a card I made yesterday and finished off today. 

Supplies:

Base card stock - light blue and distressed with grape (American craft pigment stamp pad)

White strip - punched with MS border punch and distressed with grape and Tim Holtz broken china
Also coloured in with Sakura metallic purple and silver pen

 Pop up butterfly border at the bottom - with a pop up punch and glittered

Flower - homemade by me using Sizzix flower dies and Carla craft punches - glittered as well

Flower centre - rhinestone from stash

Flourish stamp - Inkadinkado and stamped with Tim Holtz broken china

This is a closeup of the flower - a pretty hopeless picture!!!

Am entering this card for the following challenges:
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes (my second entry this week)

http://www.craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com/ - flowers

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

http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/ - fave colour combo

http://heartsonginspirations.blogspot.com/ - distressing and/or use paint

http://incywincydesigns.blogspot.com/ - make your own flower


Thanks for all the inspiration!


Hugs,


Monica

Just been making flowers...



S is for SMILE.... cupcakes background to add to your smiles.



Hello dear bloggers,

Hope you are having a nice Friday... TGIF!!!

I have decided that no matter what I must give time for my art and craft - it is tonic for my soul, you know! Lol...

Here are some flowers I have made with my Sizzix die cut flowers and Carla craft punches (have used various sizes of punches to create centres and add depth).

I have taken different kinds of recycled paper in varied colours of the same family  metallic paper, construction paper and even just copier paper and look what I created... Ofcourse, I distressed the paper and sprayed it with water before crumpling the flowers.

I promise I will try and post a tutorial soon... I have been saying that for a year now. Better get down to it or I will fall in my own eyes!!! Lol.

I will come and visit soon and thanks again for all the inspiration you lovely, lovely ladies provide me.
And before I sign off I have to thank Kamya - an art and craft teacher in Mumbai who taught me quilling as well as YouTube tutorials that I religiously watch time permitting).

Hugs and flying kisses,

Monica

Card with Shirley Anne's paper and Lynn's flowers

Hello bloggers,

This is a birthday card I made this early morning as I could not sleep - got up at something like 3.30 am!!!

The lovely paper is from Shirley-Anne - all I did was to distress the sides with Crushed Olive.

The ribbon, butterfly, (from Carla craft punch) sentiment label and flower have been distressed as well with Crushed Olive. This is the first time I have distressed designer paper and ribbon!

The yellowish green flower is from Lynn's goodies - what a co-incidence that it matched perfectly! I stuck a yellow satin rose in the centre of the layered flower.

The white flower behind the green one has been die cut with my Sizzix mini flower die. I do love it as it is so versatile!

I am going to enter this in the following challenges:

http://bunnyzoescrafts.blogspot.com/ - lace
http://ccmspotlight.blogspot.com/ - challenge yourself to try something new

Thanks for visiting and I do hope you like my simple creation...

Hugs,

Monica

Less is More - my first time

Hello bloggers,
Thanks for all the love you have been leaving me for my blogoversary. I cannot believe that my little blog is one year old!!!


Hope you all are happy and feeling your best...


The girls and I have been down with a flu' and to top it all one of our gold fish died - she just jumped out of the fish bowl and committed suicide! I discovered its' absence in the middle of the night when I went to eat a midnight snack and it sure did break my heart. I kept staring into the bowl thinking it would magically appear from somewhere. But it didn't and I went to bed  a trifle sad. Next morning, Zeenya found the dead fish lying on the floor by the side cabinet. 
Anyway, one has to move on, right, so what I did was to buy another fish immediately to tide over the loss. People go through much more in life so this is just miniscule, I guess.


That was enough waffle there...


Now to this card - I have been tempted many a time to participate in Less is More but somehow could not get down to it. However this time, I made a serious effort because the challenge was 'white on white'.

I have used my new embossing folder which I bought over the net alongwith some more crafting goodies. The sentiment has also been embossed as you can see.
I have made the flowers with my Ek Success scallop punch - it was easy peasy for a change. I just sprayed some water on the punched shape, crumpled it up and shaped it with a quilling tool. The one in the centre has two punched scalloped flowers while the ones on the sides have a single flower. I finished off the flowers with flat pearls in the centre.


Hope you like my card. Would love it if you leave me a comment.


Hugs,


Monica

This card sold for USD 4

Hello bloggers,

Hope you are enjoying May in all it's glory... mind you, in Asia May is one of the hottest months with the mercury touching 48 degrees celcius and over in some cities...  it can be a bit of a torture, you know. We are lucky to be in Jakarta where it never gets too hot. And if it does, the heavens smile by sending us rain and we are cool again.

Okay, that was some waffle there and now to some more rambling about this card. Notice how small the picture is - well, that is because I did not colour in the face well and that was the only way to hide the flaws. 

The stamp is from Hero Arts and I have used different embossing folders with my handmade flowers (sadly, I seem to have used up most of my flowers :( and with my fingers the way they are, it will be a while before I make some more.
I added touches of glitter to the dress to make it look glam.

And guess what, for the VERY first time, I gathered all my guts to sell this card for USD 4/ - yes, for the very first time! And it was the first card to be sold from the batch. So I am doing something right!!!

Hope you are having a nice day, evening, night where ever you are...

I am going to enter this for plenty of challenges and here they go:

http://www.craftyourpassionchallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://diekreativenstempelfreunde.blogspot.com/ Mother's day
http://hippitywithippity.blogspot.com/ - flowers
http://happichallenge.blogspot.com/ - Moms
http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/ - all about Mom
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/ - tres chic
http://www.pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://stampwithfun.blogspot.com/ - lace or ribbon
http://stampingscrappingchallengecentral.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://tsgclearstamps.blogspot.com/ - flowers



Hugs,

Monica

Some more coming...

Hi bloggers,


I am back with my second post for the day...


I have made this card on ordinary black cardstock.
Of course you can see my home made flowers... the big rose is handmade while the two small blue flowers were stamped with a cheap freebie foam flower stamp that came with a card making magazine. 
I stamped the flowers with my Brilliance archival stamp pad in metallic blue on light blue cardstock and cut them out. 
For the centres, I have used small pearlized flowers in white.
The embossing is done with Cuttlebug while the distressed paper at the bottom is pearlised handmade paper from India.
The shiny lilac paper is from a big role of gift wrap that I bought many years ago and I mostly use it on my kiddy cards. 
The sprigs have been made with a Jeff tree punch and the ribbon is from my stash.
The sentiment is hand written.




I am going to submit this for the following:

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.com - blooming blossoms
http://thecraftypad.blogspot.com/ - flowers
http://www.gingerloftchallenge.blogspot.com/ blues
http://clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.com/ - make a flower


Hugs,


Monica

Thank You card for Mum

Hi bloggers,


Hope you are having a nice weekend... it is 11.05 pm here in Jakarta and the weekend is almost over...


I sent this thank you card to my dear Mum... and it did manage to reach her in 10 days. Thank God - better late than never!


The flowers are home made (surprise, surprise) and the papers are from Terry's blog candy yet again. 
The rectangular stamp is from Prima and so are the faux gems.
The sentiment is handwritten.


Mum loved the card, she said it was perfect for spring... 


No, I did not send her a card for Mother's Day... 


Happy Mother's Day with lots of hugs,


Monica

Me and my flowers!!!

Hello bloggers,


I am back again with another card... and I do like this one.


The roses were made by me (you did not have to guess that, lol!)
I just took plain mauve coloured construction paper and went over it with watery acrylic paint in silver to give it a shiny look before die cutting the flowers. 


The sentiment is a folder from Sizzix embossed with my Cuttlebug (love of my life, really!)
I did the scalloped border with my Martha Stewart border punch on metallic papers.
The sticker with leaves and pot is from my stash.
The sprigs are from a tree punch by Jeff.
The tea pot border punch is really cute - cannot recall it's name. I put a silver ribbon at the bottom of the punched out teapots to make it look glamorous.


Hope you like it. Would love to know what you think about it.


Am entering this in the following challenges:


http://ceschallenges.blogspot.com/ - die cuts (my roses are made out of mini Sizzix flower dies)
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.com/ - spring ( I hope my roses remind you of spring and so does the pot with green leaves
cutedaisymay.blogspot.com - let's glitter and glitz it
http://www.gingerloftchallenge.blogspot.com/ - die cut and punches (my roses and the teapot border punch at the bottom)


Hugs,


Monica

Card for my aunt



Hiya bloggers,

We are in Singapore to see my husband who has been unwell again... Poor guy, I hope he recovers soon and is back to his feet soon.

This is a card I made for my grand aunt in Baltimore as she is recuperating from a knee replacement surgery.

It is a simple card as usual with my handmade roses - they are made with a scalloped round punch so they are a little different.

The stickers are from Ek Success - wish the picture quality was better because the stickers look really rich in real life. The silver tissue paper and ribbon are from my stash.

I hope my lovely aunt likes this card.

Hugs and smiles to all of you. Happy crafting as well,

Monica



Card with Leigh's delightful goodies

Hiya everybody, hope you had a good weekend... I did and am so happy about that. I saw a film called,  Prada to Nada...  For those of you that haven't seen it, it has been adapted from Jane Austen's novel (sorry, forget the name). The film seems to be a low budget one but the story is really grasping and the main female characters is just so likable as is the  lead male actor. 

Besides watching the film, I made this card with Leigh's (Charity Crafter) lovely candy that she sent me via snail mail a while ago... wonder how it reaches me in Indonesia everytime... 

Do go and check out her awesome blog in case you dunno who she is  - full of love and great deeds that she does beside making the most wonderful cards.

Don't you love these papers?

 I stuck my FAMOUS handmade roses that I make from a Sizzix mini diecut. One day I will share the tutorial for sure... 

The sentiment is handwritten with a gold pen and the little gold dots on the brown strip are done with the same gold pen.

I wanted to punch some sprigs and stick them with the flowers but my design consultant asked me not to! 

BTW, I am sure you know who that is - Zeenya!

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

littleclairesdesigns.blogspot.com/ - flowers

http://www.toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/ - favourites (which are my flowers and the colour combo)




http://michelle-pinkpaperparadise.blogspot.com/ - weekly Monday linky party

These are the lovely papers that lovely Leigh sent for the girls and me - a great assortment.

This is a close up of the embellies Leigh sent for Zeenya and Aleeza. They were overboard with joy! But you know who will use them, right??? Me, me, me!

Have a happy and healthy week. 

Hugs,

Monica

For challenges and charity

Hello bloggers,


Am so relieved that dear Sandra is back to crafting - she has been going through a not so good phase physically. She has made a beautiful card for Halloween - do check it out on her blog and leave her lots of love. She is such a special lady - full of kindness and warmth just like so many of you out there. Okay - enough of senti stuff...


This card has been made with lots of punches and OFCOURSE my home made flowers.


Incidentally these roses are made from a Sizzix mini die cut.


Guess what I have used for the leaves  - the remains of the punch used at the bottom!!! How thrifty I am - seeeeeeee... LOL.


The tear drops above the diamonds are also from the same remains.


The shimmery vase has been cut from  my Cuttlebug die cuts. My daughter - Zeenya is not very impressed with this card - she says it is cheap! Meanie! She does not approve of the vase.


Now to business - am going to enter is card for the following challenges:


http://kyliescardsandthings.blogspot.com/


http://www.aspoonfullofsugarchallenge.blogspot.com/


www.lexiscreations.blogspot.com/


www.simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/


www.creativecardcrew.blogspot.com/


http://www.papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/




It took me over half an hour to write this post with the names of the challenges - duh!


As you can see I am taking this business of challenges quite seriously - again I have got the inspiration from you bloggers... thank you all so much.


Anyway the bottom line is that it is another card for charity never mind challenge or not.


Hope you like my card.


Love,


Monica

Mum's birthday card

Hello bloggers,

Today was a real hot and sunny day... And it was my mum's 69th birthday. I made this card at 12 midnight as that was the only time I could manage...Am not too pleased with it and the sentiment hardly shows... pity!

The lace on this card has a 90 year old history, yes, 90 year old history!!! Can you believe that? My great grandpa bought it from Europe in the 1920s. I am lucky that it was passed on to me. It cannot be seen well as the sentiment has covered it all.

The paper is from Terry's blog candy and the roses are home made.

Love,

Monica

Card with Terry's blog candy and home made flowers

Hello bloggers,

Today it poured buckets again and the clouds were as thunderous as could be and my two and a half year old kept saying,"Mummy, I scared, I scared!" Some parts of the city were flooded yet again.

I have made this card with paper from Terry's (http://terryeo.blogspot.com)  fabulous blog candy. Added my homemade flowers and  dried leaves from my flower press. The card stock is handmade from India. Thank you again, Terry!

The sentiment is handwritten... not impressed with my handwriting - rather shaky here. Generally it is not too bad. 

I got inspired by  Lynn (http://creativecraftsbylynn.blogspot.com/) to do a thank you card after reading her lovely post with her butterfly card. Thanks, Lynn.

Hope you like this card.

Thanks for visiting... If you wish to leave a comment I would love it.

Have a nice day where ever you are...

Love,

Monica

B is for Bali

B for BALI

Hello, dear blogger buddies, these are the flowers I made while I was holidaying in Bali... and ofcourse I swam and had lots of fun in the pool and by the beach. For once I did  not eat like a pig - instead ate soups and salads to help my flab from getting flabbier!

More flowers... crazy me... but my blogger friends will understand.

I cannot show you pictures of Bali because yours truly has misplaced the charger for the camera!!! Doh! These pics have been taken on my mum's camera (she is visiting us).

Handmade flowers

Oh, me and my famous handmade flowers... I just don't seem to stop!!!

This paper was given by my daughter's Japanese friend and I love it. The leaves at the bottom have been punched out from my Carla craft mini punch. Have added pop up glitter glue to the flower centres to make it look more attractive.

Instead of making cards, all I do these days is make flowers, flowers and more flowers!!!