A card, the website and the community fair

Hello bloggers, 

I am back to show you a card for which I have created my own designer paper. I hope you all are well. I do miss blog land but have been busy with my website and other activities. 

I am also enclosing pictures of the launch of the healing resource page of the website. We had a gathering of 24 people at my place and my Ayurvedic Doctor was kind enough to grace the occasion and light a candle for the launch. It was a lovely afternoon. The next lot of pictures are from the Community Fair in my child's school where I participated earlier this month to sell my cards and tell people about 

United Healing Sanctuary - https://www.unitedhealingsanctuary.com/. The mission of 

United Healing Sanctuary is to foster mental, physical, and spiritual health in a loving and nourishing space. 

My bright and colourful card. May it bring a smile.

This is the Ayurvedic Doctor lighting the candle for the launch. 

The candle all lit up...

Here is me on the left, with Anjali who designed my website along with Nicole, who is a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner and the Ayurvedic Doctor. So grateful for their presence.

We tried to get a group photo and this is what turned out.

We are doing a guided meditation and I am the guide. 

This is me at the School Community Fair on March, the 9th.

Visiting cards and bookmarks. The silver salver under the visiting cards has a little story. It was presented to my parents almost 60 years ago.  

This is my friend Nidhi and I. Nidhi helps me with my charitable work. 

My little display.

 I wish you happy cardmaking, good health, joy and peace, and lots more,

Monica 

I will participate in the following challenges with my card:

https://cleanandsimpleonsunday.blogspot.com - die cuts only

https://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://creativefingerschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://just-add-ink.blogspot.com/ - just add chocolate ( The base of my card is chocolate coloured )

https://scscards.blogspot.com/ - clean and simple

https://creativeinspirationchallenges.blogspot.com/ -anything goes

https://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.com/ - striped

Thank you card

Hello dear bloggers,

This card has been made for the sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. A Kaiser Craft clear stamp has been used here and I have coloured it with Faber Castel watercolour pencils and a water brush. The designer papers are a Singaporean brand and I do love these chevrons and polkas. The sentiment is a Kaiser Craft die and it was coloured with acrylics before die cutting.

 I will also enter this card in the following challenges:

https://crafterscastle.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://colourcrazychallenge.blogspot.com/ - anything colouring goes

https://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://polkadoodle.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

https://watercoolerchallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Monica

Thanks

Hello dear bloggers,

This card was heat embossed with gold metallic powder after using a clear stamp and Versamark embossing ink. Maybe I overheated the embossing powder which made it rather dark. It looks much prettier in real life but this is how the camera decided to be. I tied a gold ribbon to highlight the gold in the embossed image and used thin strings of gold cord to tie the little strip with the sentiment on it. The sentiment has been handwritten. And yes, the embossed image has been propped on a smaller piece of cardboard for added interest. I am trying to stay away from foam dots to help the environment.

 I will participate in the following challenges:

http://creativeknockouts.blogspot.com/ - thankful thoughts

https://www.thehousethatstampsbuilt.com/ - anything goes

https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/ - sketch

https://shoppingourstash.blogspot.com/ - make a mess

Thanks

Dear bloggers,

Here is a card where the background has been done with black acrylic paint. The buttons, sentiment and nesties have been diecut.

 

I will participate in the following challenges:

Artimpressionsstamps - use your dies

 https://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes with sentiment

http://creativeknockouts.blogspot.com/ - lots of layers

https://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/ - no patterned paper

http://throughthepurplehazechallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes using stitching - real or faux

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

Monica 

Thanks

Hello dear bloggers,

Hope you all are healthy and well. This card was made with acrylic paints and it was basically my Mom's idea to go over the entire card stock with strokes of paint with absolutely no water. It was a dry coat of paint and I had to exert force on the paper since acrylic paint right from the tube can be quite dry. This is what I achieved. The back of the card is pretty much the same. I

  die cut the buttons, sentiment as well as the nesties. 

I will participate in the following challenges with this card:

https://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com/  - anything goes

https://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - woodgrain background

https://crafterscastle.blogspot.com/  - anything goes

http://craftyfriendschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - men and/ or boys

http://craftyfriendschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - T is for technique

https://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes or black, white and one more colour

Monica 

Thank you

Hello dear bloggers,

This is a card made with the flowers on a 'hung bao' which means a money bag in Mandarin. The flowers were fussy cut by Aleeza including the stems and tiny leaves. I stuck them on the cardstock. 

The 'thank you' sentiment has been die cut from a pair of gold cardboard party glasses. I die cut as many sentiments as I could since Aleeza was not going to use them and I wanted to save as much as I could. 

I will participate in the following challenges with this card:

http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/ - summer colours

https://jansdigistampschallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

Monica 

Thanks

Dear bloggers,

This new blogger will take a while, I think. This card was meant for the AAA challenge as well as the Less is More challenge. To cut a long story short, it is meant for neither now. All mixed up and nowhere to go but I will find some places to go to on Paper Playful. 

My card is a simple one made with my new dies that I got a few months ago from Stamps of Life. Everything is die cut here. The black paper is from packaging material. I had to fit the Thanks on to the black nestie and it did it take time.

I will take part in the following challenges with this card:

https://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://crafterscastle.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://incywincydesigns.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

Monica 

 

Thank you, Shirley-Anne!

Hello dear bloggers,

Here is yet another thank you card made for the abused women's shelter which is run by the Singapore Council of Women's Organizations. They wanted me to make thank you cards to be sent to the donors/sponsors.

 Apologies for the overdose of thank cards coming your way. 

The 'oh so pretty' printed paper on this card came from dear Shirley-Anne @ http://shirley-anne-stampingforjoy.blogspot.com/ along with many other goodies a few years ago. 

I was keeping it safe all along but decided to use it at last since I wanted to make really pretty cards for the shelter. 

I am hoping my meditation and self development classes resume at the school asap as I think we all could do with a dose of positivity. 

Coming back to the card, I have used hand made paper from India. 

The die cut has been cut from packaging material over which I painted a shade of red acrylic paint. I quite like this simple beauty. Thank you, Shirley-Anne.

https://craftingwithanattitude.blogspot.com/ - always anything goes

https://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/ - CAS

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

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

Happy card making,

Monica 

Wild flowers again!!!

Hello dear bloggers,

Here is a card to show you today which has been made with brush markers and Pentel water colour tubes. The wild flower die cuts were smooshed with Camlin brush markers from India and the background which has been created by Aleeza with Pentel water colours has been done with a brush. The die cut sentiment has been coloured with Pentel water colours. Aleeza masked the paper with recyled tape before water colouring it and that is how we got a white surface in the centre.

I will participate in the following challenges with this card:

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

https://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.com/ - use diecuts, punches

Happy card making,

Monica

Partially recycled

Dear bloggers,

Life has been nicely busy... I just finished the last session of 'guided meditation and the science of happiness' session for the parents at school. It went well overall and I am grateful that the parents who attended the programme found it calming and enjoyable. We managed to collect a sizeable sum from the earnings of this programme and went to visit the shelter for abused women where we handed over the cash along with 20 handmade cards with love to be used for birthdays at the shelter for women and children. I also took small tubes of hand lotion from Bodyshop to spoil the ladies.

The card below is one of the 10 thank you cards that has been requested by the manager of the shelter. 

This time I concentrated on giving goodies to the staff at school and tried to include whoever I could and it was so nice to see smiles on their faces. A small pack of chocolates or biscuits can create such wonders!

Now to my card which has been created with silver washi tape, a strip of printed vellum and a sentiment which has been die cut from a yoghurt lid. I thought the photo was fine but obviously, it is not. Lol. There is always a new tomorrow to hope that it will be better next time.

I will enter my card in the following card challenge:

https://perfectlycas.blogspot.com/ 

https://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

https://thethreemuseschallenge.blogspot.com/ - white space

Happy card making,

Monica

Thank You card by Aleeza

Hello dear bloggers,

Here is a card to show you today which was made a month ago. The green and gold effect was done Aleeza with a sponge. She basically used the leftover acrylic paints from a canvas to get this effect. 

I quite like how it turned out and the thank you sentiment was die cut after Aleeza went over a packaging sheet with Mala gold colours. There were some telltale signs on the white parts of the paper so I stuck rhinestones to cover it up. 

Down below is the room where I held the meditation sessions in school yesterday. There is a plaque which says, 'The purpose of our lives on this earth is to be happy' - by Dalai Lama. I am trying to learn that!!! Lol.

We had our first session for the second term and it went pretty well with a turnout of 10-11 people. We did a fun introduction of ourselves without talking of our children or our work followed by a guided meditation and we read randomly from inspiring books. 

It was fun and we did some more meditation. In the end, we watched a ted talk on slowing down which was quite interesting. 

I will participate in the following challenges with my card:

https://audsentimentschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - thank you 

https://craftingwithanattitude.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

Arty Divas  - anything goes

Thank you for reading and happy card making,

Monica 

Thin parchment

Hello dear bloggers,

Here is my card to show you today which was made some weeks ago. The sentiment has been die cut from an Indian wedding card. The butterflies have been die cut from a pastry base. The green and yellow paper you see is a thin parchment-like packaging paper from a t-shirt. I used it over a water colour paper the same way one would use a cling wrap. I followed the exact same technique except that I randomly coloured with water colour pencils and sprayed the paper with water and put the thin parchment-like packaging paper over the water colour paper. This is what came about which I am loving no end. I have the top and bottom paper which I can use without throwing anything away. So I did take care of mother earth too. 

I will enter the following challenges with this card:

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

http://welove2create.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://crazy4challenges.blogspot.com - sentiment as focal point

http://challengeupyourlife.blogspot.com/ - frame

Happy cardmaking,

Monica 

Thank you card for a man

Hello dear bloggers,

I have had this Hero Arts cling stamp set with me for almost 9 years and finally, I decided to let it see some light. The hot air balloons have been coloured with Faber Castell pencils and I wrapped embroidery yarn on the stamped cardstock to give texture. I guess from its simplicity, it would make an ideal card for a man.

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

http://cleanandsimpleonsunday.blogspot.com/ - masculine

Happy card making,

Monica 

Aleeza's card today

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is a card that Aleeza made yesterday totally on her own. She says the inspiration came from the internet for the cute birds which she drew directly on the cardstock. She coloured the birds with my Derwent water colour pencils without adding water. The washi tape is from my stash, rather our stash as is the thank you sentiment.

I will participate with this card in the following challenges:

https://pinkgemchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

http://creativefingerschallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - always anything goes

https://polkadoodle.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

Happy card making,

Monica 

Thank you card

Dear sweet bloggers,

Here is my card to show you which was started some months ago and completed this morning. The mauve leaf was die cut from card stock after being treated with watercolours through a plastic bag. The yellowish pinkish-orange background has been done on watercolour paper with smoosh technique. For the sentiment, I have used a sentiment die cut that I picked up while we were in Australia over spring. The paper for the sentiment smooshed with Camlin brush markers from India.

I will participate in the following challenges:

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

https://polkadoodle.blogspot.com/ - always anything goes

http://qkrstampede.blogspot.com/ - always anything goes

http://craftygalscornerchallenges.blogspot.com/ - fall colours

Happy card making,

Monica 

Thanks - partly recycled

Hello beautiful bloggers,

Here is my simple card to show you today. The butterflies have been die cut from water colour paper which was smooshed with Camlin brush markers from India. The sentiment has been die cut from packaging material of a cotton hand towel from Daiso ( a Japanese store).

I will participate in the following challenges:

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

https://watercoolerchallenges.blogspot.com/ - feminine

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

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

Happy card making,

Monica 

Thank you card

Hello peeps,

I have been away from blogland as it was summer holidays and we were away to India and Japan. We did not do much site seeing in India (which I wanted to) however Japan was a delight. We went to Hokkiedo and we saw the most beautiful flower fields, sunflower fields, apple orchards, grape vines and peaches and plum trees. The lavender fields had dried up yet and we could literally feel the oil in our hands when we rubbed the flowers. It was such a pretty experience for me since I am a big fan of lavender. 

We also saw Lake Toya, which is 110,000 years old and it was formed from the eruptions of a volcano. Visiting the earthquake museum was amazing. We also walked all the way to see an active volcano yet it but it was cloudy so we could not see it through the clouds.

I learned so much from Japanese culture - how kind and courteous they are, how they help visitors, how the ladies smile and bow at every thing, how they live from one earthquake to another, how they are so resilient and how they look at the blessings of volcanos to be the rich land they possess. I noticed Hokkiedo has the simplest of buildings and the humblest of restaurants with the tastiest food. 

Now to my card which I made some months ago. The green leaf has been die cut from packaging material and I water coloured it with Maya paints from Ikea. The sentiment has been die cut using recycled paper as well. The rectangular nestie paper is actually white and I really wonder why my camera decided to make it look this colour.

Sorry for such a text heavy post.

I will enter this card in the following challenges:

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

https://colourificchallengecorner.blogspot.com/?zx=db50d3e6d844c6fa - anything goes 

https://polkadoodle.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

Happy card making,

Monica

Distress oxides and partly recycled

Hello dear bloggers,

Here is my card to show you today. The leaf has been die cut from the lid of a Nestle yoghurt jar and so has the thank you sentiment. The background has been done with three or four distress oxides. This card looks much prettier in real life.

The backdrop for this card is handmade paper from Thailand which has been made from elephant poop. Lol. A close friend's daughter got it when she went on a school trip. My younger one (who was all of seven then) kept smelling it from time to time to check for poop smell only to be surprised that there was none. 

I will enter this card in:

simonsaysstampblog - make your own background

https://watercoolerchallenges.blogspot.com/ - masculine

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

http://getcreativechallenges.blogspot.com/ - monochromatic

http://mmmchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - thank you

Wish you card making full of joy and fun,

Monica 

Thank you to a special teacher

Hello sweet bloggers,

Soon my younger one will go to Middle School and here is a card I put together for her class teacher. I also repurposed a box to house little tokens of gratitude. On this card is gold matte paper from India. I really like it's crushed texture and the white oval die cut was also packaging material in it's previous avataar. The sentiment is a die cut as well and I popped up the white nestie on foam dots and added a gold cord for interest. The cord goes all the way inside and ties into a pretty bow. This teacher was such a lovely and kind soul and I quite like how this simple thing came about.

I will enter this card in:

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

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

https://aperfecttimetocraft.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

https://creativecraftcottage.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Monica 

This is bright!

Hello bloggers,

Here is my card to show you today which has been die cut from one of my new Sizzix dies (which comes in a set) using a paper on which Aleeza made a design with her magic markers. The sentiment has been die cut with the same paper using Kaiser craft dies. The rectangular paper has been given a smoosh ombre wash. 

I will participate in the following challenges:

http://cuttlebugmania.blogspot.com/ - orange

http://fabnfunkychallenges.blogspot.com/ - something new

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

Happy crafting,

Monica