99 percent natural!

Hello bloggers,

Hope you are having a good time crafting where ever you are...

Here is another card I made over the last two days... I kept sticking leaves and flowers and all sorts of natural stuff to it till I felt it was complete.

The dried leaves and flowers are from my flower press - the big green leaves that you see are curry leaves that are used as a spice in the south of India.

I have used handmade stock and the creamy paper on the background is handmade as well. Just stuck some natural stones (dyed red) to bring some colour to the earthy appearance.

The kitty stamp is from Inkadinkado - I did distress the paper but it somehow does not show in the picture.

Hope you like it.

Love,

Monica

Award from dear Sandra

Hi bloggers,

This afternoon was full of rain and thunder.... love you, Indonesia!

One of the best things that has happened to me in the last few days is this award from lovely Sandra. Thank you, Sandra, for all your encouragement, love and support.

I would like to pass this award to another 15 wonderful ladies. Here goes:


Terry - www.terryeo.blogspot.com/

Leigh - www.charitycrafter.blogspot.com/

Loraine - http://www.lorainescardsandcrafts.blogspot.com/

Jenny - http://www.myinkyhands-jennifer.blogspot.com/

Michelle - www.michelle-pinkpaperparadise.blogspot.com/

Amanda - www.amandascraftspace.blogspot.com/

Helen - www.helenmade.blogspot.com/

Marie - www.cardmakingbird.blogspot.com/

Dawn - www.cardsdelight.blogspot.com/

Lynn - www.creativecraftsbylynn.blogspot.com/

Susie - www.susiestacey.blogspot.com/

Tania - www.javabeanscreativeescape.blogspot.com/

Andrea - http://www.andreajbpiecesofmine.blogspot.com/

Rosalee - http://www.rosaleescrap.blogspot.com/

Jenn - www.jennspapercuts.blogspot.com/

Do visit these lovely blogs and see their wonderful creations.

Love,

Monica

Jumbo home made flowers for Christmas



Hello everyone, thanks so much for your comforting words when my daughter was ill. Thanks to your loving wishes, she is much better now... And I am back to crafting!!!

Yours truly made these  jumbo flowers yesterday with a Sizzix mini. I promise I will post the instructions soon. I need to get better at clicking pictures for tutorials. I was quite thrilled with the way these flowers turned out and could not wait to put them on a card.

The roses have been stuck on handmade card stock from India - it has a very nice distressed look to it with splashes of gold. The ribbon is from a dollar store in Sydney (from my stash) and the red faux gems are from Paper Mania. The holly leaves have been punched out of Carla craft holly punch on handmade gold paper.

Hope you like it...

Lots of love,

Monica



Umbrella painting



Hello bloggers, hope you are all well out there... it has been a bit stressful for me as my younger one (two and a half) has been down with high fever. Got her tested for dengue - thank God it was negative but she has does have a viral infection. It is the third day today (it seems like 3 years!) and luckily she seems to be on the mend. That's enough of my sob story! Indonesia has shortage of good medical facilities so falling ill here is not much fun.

In the midst of all this, my mum and I went to attend an umbrella painting class. As you can see the yellow umbrella is hers (she seems to be a paisley specialist LOL!) I was strapped for ideas so I just picked up some leaves and stamped with them in different hues on that reddish umbrella...

Hope you like them.

It was theraputic to attend the class because it took my mind off my little one for a while and I needed that break.

I have not been upto making cards but will do that soon.

Love,

Monica

Mum's free hand card

Hiya everybody, today is a clear day after all that rain yesterday... it poured buckets and buckets non stop! Some parts of the city were flooded, to say the least.

Here is one of the cards that is my mum's creation (she is visiting us...) The paisleys have been drawn free hand and coloured in with Sakura pens and glitter glues. It looks better in person than in the post. Hope you like it.



I will be posting it to a wonderful lady who also makes cards for charity... any guesses? Don't want to give out her name in this post because it is meant to be a surprise.


Thanks for having a peep - I would love to read your comments.

Love,

Monica

Owls ... for the wise or otherwise ;)

Hi blogger friends, hope you are having a nice weekend... it is 1.17 pm, Sunday today... These are rather childish cards but I fell in love with the owl print gift wrap at the book shop and had to buy it.

The first cardstock is made of pearlised paper (which cannot be seen here) and I have cut out the owl from the gift wrap. Have added pop up glitter fabric paint to dress up the owl. The blue and brown ribbon and gems are from my stash.
In the second image I have chalked the image in pearlised blue (Docraft chalks) and the yellow paper is from Cardmaking and Paper craft.

The  uneven strips of  shiny teal have been cut by hand. Have added glitter on the owl and faux crystal on the eyes. The yellow polka ribbon is from my stash and the flowers are my creation.


Wonder if you will like them?

Sarah Hurley Challenge - Autumn

Hello blogger friends, I am back after a 4 day break and it seems like forever! Thank you for all your lovely words of encouragement for my last post. It means the WORLD to me...

I have got inspired by Shirley-Anne (I am a big fan of her's) to submit this for Sarah Hurley Challenge - Autumn...
I am not a great one for taking part in challenges but for once ...

The gold paisley paper on the base is from India while the orangish paper leaves are from a pound store in London. The flowers are homemade OFCOURSE... :)  I went over with gold glitter to make it look fancy.

The cream and gold mulberry leaves in the background have been cut manually from paper from my stash.

Hope you like it.

For UK Aid, with love!

Hi everybody, thanks for your lovely words of encouragement...

These are some cards I have made in the last few days for donation to UK Aid. Hope you like them.


Am in the process of packing 20 cards for UK Aid which I will be sending to Leigh - and she will do the needful.
Thank you Leigh, for suggesting their name.

And below is a collection of all 20 cards!  
Happily crafted with lots of love and joy...

Dog with handmade flowers

Hello there, it is 4.26 pm, Sunday as I post this card. I am not a big fan of Sunday because it is a reminder of Monday which comes all too soon. This dog stamp is from Indadinkado. (Gosh! I could barely read the name on the stamp - asked my daughter to read it for me because it was soo... tiny)

The flowers are NOT roses for a change but are home made scrunchie flowers which have been shaped with a quilling tool. The flowers are made of handmade matt gold and wine coloured paper.

Here is another dog image on handmade textured paper stuck on handmade cardstock as well. The dried leaves are from Bali and the flowers are obviously handmade by yours truly. The sentiment 'Best wishes' is from Do crafts - Whisper words.

Some change seems to be coming over me... am making cards instead of flowers - thank the good Lord! LOL!

Close up of my famous flowers.

Gold skeleton leaf

Hello dear friends, am back to making cards...

The skeleton leaf (from Paper Chase) has been stuck on handmade card stock. The flowers have been made by me.

The green leaves that are peeping out have been pressed in my flower press.

The gold border has been drawn manually with a Sakura gold pen.

I am getting my cards ready for another charity donation... if only I would stop making flowers and make more cards.

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).

Beautiful handmade roses by Helen

It is midnight, rather past midnight and I am still blog hopping and surfing... it is addictive, to say the least. I better go to bed after this post.

I had to share this exciting information that I happened to stumble upon -

I came across Helen's blog -
www.helenmade.blogspot.com/ while I was at Michelle's . I was delighted to see that on the left she has a rose making tutorial...

For those of you who are as crazy as me about making flowers, do visit her blog.

I have been struggling to post a flower making tutorial myself but I think it may take me a few years to get there... just kidding! :) I need to get more savvy at blog stuff.

Good night for now, my dear blog buddies.

Love,

Monica

Make it Monday Linky party

The credit for this card goes to my blogland buddies (Loraine in particular who gave me the blog address of the lady who made these flowers, which I have sadly misplaced) and You tube tutorials.  Sorry, Loraine!

You could see one of the tutorials here. Sorry, I am still not good at all this... I'm afraid, still learning...

When you reach this site, go to tutorials on the top right and look for spiral roses.

I have made the yellow flowers by swirling them and ofcourse some trial and error.

The leaves have been cut manually from crepe paper. The green stamp on the background is from Hero Arts. I have coloured the pot ( made from Sizzix mini die cuts) brown with crayons to make it look natural. Ran over the edges of the card with green Versa stamp pad.

Am entering this for Michelle's Make it Monday Linky party.

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!!!

Embossed tea pots

I have manually embossed these teapots with a stencil from Spotlight. The flowers on the bottom right have been made by yours truly... while the blue flowers on the top left have been cut out from a ribbon.
I ran over the teapots with chalk and glitter glue (which is not visible inspite of using hubby's camera).
I wish my blog friends lived close enough so that we could sometimes share a cuppa together.
Never mind, I am lucky enough to know such a wonderful bunch of ladies... and that is enough to be grateful for, I guess.

Embossing - dry stencil embossing

I have dry embossed this card with brass stencils and coloured it with pearlised chalks. Then I gently ran over the teapot and cups with glitter glue and metallic pens. 
It looks better in person... thanks to my poor camera. :(
To fill in the empty space at the bottom I have used the Mary Engelbreit teapots punch.
Manual embossing can be a bit laborious sometimes... but the end results are always fun.

Penny Black Stamp - Triple play

My daughter and I loved this Penny Black stamp the moment we saw it. She stamped it on white card stock and coloured it with her Maped pencils. She is much better at stamping than I ever will be... 
I adorned it with paper from Hallmark and some ribbon from my stash.  Another attempt at making a boy's card.

Partly recyled again - gift wrap and wall paper

The inspiration for this card has come from one of the quick makes I saw at Sandra's blog when I visited it for the very first time. Thank you, Sandra...


 I have die cut the hearts from Sizzix and guess what I have used to make the hearts? The silver paper has been recycled from gift wrap while the creamy hearts have been die cut from a beautiful wall paper roll I bought for barely 2 or 3 pounds in a hardware shop in the suburbs of London.  To make it look posh, I used pearlised baby blue card stock - which sadly cannot be seen in this image.


The hearts at the bottom have been punched using Carla craft minis. It looks much better in person as the pattern on the wall paper cannot be seen in this poor image. What a pity!

Some cards for charity requested by Charity Crafter

Hi, dear blogger pals, this is one of the many cards that my mum made. She always manages to make cards for me to sell.  It will go to http://www.gsdlifeline.com/ which is a UK based charity that supports dogs. This was in response to Leigh (www.charitycrafter.blogspot.com/) who requested if cards could be donated to this charity.

This is a bunch of 20 cards - all packed with matching envelopes in individual plastic seal bags that I will be sending to the above charity. Sorry the picture quality is not very good. 

Am soooo.... excited!!! :-) 

Award from Sandra

I am so delighted to receive this sweet , sweet award from Sandra

I feel honoured and so motivated - infact I was on a high yesterday and my ten year old daughter could notice it. It is my first award so it is extra special.

Now I better follow the rules pertaining to this award:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award - Sandra - http://www.rosepetalcreations.blogspot.com/
It means the world to me because it is my first award from such a lovely person.

2. Put it on your blog - which I have.

3. List three things about yourself:

I am addicted to paper and card making.
I enjoy having my charity card sales.
I love visiting other blogs and looking at the wonderful creations.

4. Post a favourite picture:

5. Pass this award to 5 other bloggers. I would like to pass this on to:

Amanda

Dallas

Lorraine

Terry

Jennifer

Thank you, my dear blogger pals for making me richer and happier!

Thank you Sandra and Leigh

Today was a very special day for me because I received two awards... the first one was from Sandra and the other from Leigh . Thank you for making my day and making me feel on top of the world. Making cards anyway puts me on top of the world but receiving awards is like the cherry topping on a cake.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for thinking of me.

Partly recycled

The gifts on this card are recycled from old wrapping paper which I cut out and painted with glitter glue. The three gems on the right are from the UK - cannot remember the brand. The metallic flowers are from my stash.

Card for men

I made this card last night using a vingtage car stamp. I lack ideas for making cards for men at most times... I literally have to struggle!!!
The green and the blue strips are made of cloth  which I recycled. The green embossed paper is handmade from India.

One hundred percent handmade

I am so chuffed because yesterday I tried making these roses (or whatever) by myself after watching You Tube tutorials and other bloggers. 

The big voilet flower was die cut from Sizzix and the small flowers were made with Carla craft punch. The lilac distressed effect was done while playing with paints with my two and a half year old daughter. The pinkish mauve paper at the bottom is handmade paper that I bought at a handicraft exhibition in India.

This picture is a close up of the flowers... sorry there is shadow on the picture.  My love affair with scrunchie flowers continues...

Bird punch card

I love this bird punch - it is fairly popular with my kind customers. I stuck violet paper under the bird and pink under the flowers. Green went under the branch. That was more time consuming than I thought.

Scrunchie flowers

This was my daughter's handiwork with scrunchie flowers... The paper is from Card making and Papercraft. The pink flower looks prettier in real.

This lace is almost 90 years old... my great grandfather bought it from Europe. I found it lying in one of my treasure boxes and decided to use it... The paper is handmade from India. The centre of the scrunchie flower has been made from a tiny bit of loofah!!

More scrunchie flowers... I seem to have gone overboard with them!

My daughter picked this stamp from Hobby Craft in London this summer. I thought it was very appropriate for wine lovers. ;)

Paisley with scrunchie flowers

I seem to have fallen in love with these scrunchie flowers. Thanks again to all the inspiration from my lovely blogland pals and You Tube tutorials. This card is made on handmade card stock from India. The green paper is actually packing paper that we used when we moved to Indonesia. I gave it a distressed effect with my children's paints and my greenVersa stamp pad. The dried leaf is from Prague where we were this summer. I don't think I should have used metallic gel markers on the leaf. It makes it synthetic!!! :(
I fell in love with this cow stamp at the first instant...

Magenta flowers

I have made the scrunchie flowers from Sizzix and Carla craft punches. A lot of credit for shaping these flowers goes to my blogland buddies as well as You Tube tutorials. Thank you all - I love the new look of my punched flowers.

Quick makes - ladybugs

These two cards are quick makes... The red flower stickers are left overs from a pack while the lady bug is a cut out from wrapping paper. The best wishes stamp is so tiny - am not too pleased with that. Used glitter glue and pop up glue to jazz it all up.

The lady bug is from the same wrapping paper as the card above. The Happy Birthday stamp looks more decent, I think. :)

Tissue paper and food colour

The yellow tissue paper was hand dyed by my daughter with vegetable dyes. The punches are from Carla Craft.

These flowers were punched on shimmery tissue and card stock from Sizzix minis. They have been pasted on pearlised and crinkled handmade paper.

Dragonflies

I am trying to learn rubber stamping... My daughter seems to be much better at it. I sometimes leave out vital details in the stamp while she gets it right at the first go! I find this word stamp so meaningful.

Heart with rose

I used a heart shaped sponge as a stamp on black Crayola paper. The heart was hand torn and the rose was made by yours truly. Sorry, the picture is horizontal while it actually should have been vertical.

Vintage car

This was one of my first tries with distress ink. A bit too green, I'm afraid. I will get better with time!! The vintage car stamp is from Funstamps from Hobbycraft in London and so is the plastic mosaic. Yet another attempt at a card for a man!! :)

Doll with ribbons

I made this card for a six-year-old girl's birthday. The blue rose was made by me. It looked really bland initially so I kept adding lace and different kinds of ribbons till it look dressy enough.