Baby blue

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is a quick card I made for http://mimchallegeblog.blogspot.com/ following the sketch. 

No stamping, lots of 3D stuff and lots of sticking. The little rectangles have been punched out of wall paper. Yes, I used to buy rolls of wall paper at discounted prices  when we used to live in London for my cards.

I hope the pink bow is permitted for baby boy card. But then the world has changed a lot now. Men wear pinks and magentas like nobody's business :-) and I am happy about that. 

The little horsey and baby sentiment were picked up at a very lovely craft store in Jakarta.
The ribbon was sent to me by dear Lynn and the buttons are from my stash. Quite happy with my button supply - seem to have almost every colour I am looking for.

Below is the sketch at http://mimchallegeblog.blogspot.com/ - apologies that I did not take a good picture.

This card took me all of 10 minutes to make - how cool is that!

I will also enter it in:

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://unstampabelleschallenges.blogspot.com/ - use one or more dies

Love,

Monica 

Craft sale to help dogs

Hello lovely bloggers,

Maria of Crafty Crea8tions  as some of you may know is a dog lover who spends a lot of her time at the animal rescue centre - walking the dogs and caring for them in ways more than one. 

She sells cards, holds fairs to raise monies to help dogs.

Maria is having a craft sale on April 20th and would be happy to receive donations of greeting cards, card sets  or craft items to sell. She would be happy even if you could do a post for her to increase traffic.

If you visit Maria at http://www.craftycre8tions.blogspot.com/p/craft-sale-for-pups.html 

it would give you a fair idea of what Maria does.

Many thanks,

Monica

All browns...

Hello sweet bloggers,

First of all a very warm welcome to Therese - my latest follower. Thanks for following my little blog.

Here is a card I made following the sketch at Blogger's challenge. 

The card stock is black and I have used a textured kraft like card stock on it. The printed paper has been hand torn and sponged on the edges. The jute mesh, buttons and jute string are from my stash. Now this could be a masculine card, right?

Down below is the sketch at Blogger's challenge

I will also enter this card in:
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://simplycreatetoo.blogspot.com/ - simply create
http://marksfinestpapers.blogspot.co.uk/ - use twine
http://stampedblessings.com/ - birthday

Wish you a pleasant week ahead.

Love,
Monica

Happy we have each other

Hello sweet bloggers,

I hope you are having a pleasant weekend. Here is a card I have made to for two challenges namely 

Less is More which is about friendship and CAS(e) this sketch.

I have used an Itty bitty stamp by Unity that I have had lying in my drawer for six months now. The ribbon is from American Crafts and the sentiment which says, "happy to have each other" is from the same set.

It is a rather flat card and I know I could have put some bling on the flip flops but I thought I would just let it be. Would love to hear what you think of my card.

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 

Purple again!!!

Hello lovely bloggers,

I hope you are all well and safe which ever part of the world you are in. Here in Jakarta, we have big time flooding.  We are lucky and grateful that we have not been affected. Aleeza's school was closed today and Zeenya's shut down early as well. I hope tomorrow will be a better day. My heart goes out to the people who have been affected by these adverse weather conditions.

Here is a card I made a while ago with a Hero Arts clear stamp. I have glittered the area around the stamp and done some sponging as well. I have used my all time favourite Sakura gel pen on the shoe. The lace is from a tiny haberdashery store close by and so is the ribbon. 

I am going to enter this card in:
http://cinspirations.blogspot.co.uk/ - girly

Happy that it is Friday tomorrow.
Love,
Monica

Purple is the colour...

Hello lovely bloggers,

I have been meaning to post a card but just could not get down to it... 

Here is a card I made a while ago and I like how it turned out.

The background stamp is from Kaiser craft (I think) and the sentiment is from Spellbinders. Used punched flowers with pearls in the centre, a feather and  a butterfly to finish it off. On the left, I created this faded look with the same stamp with the left over ink on it. I did not re-ink it but just randomly stamped it on the cardstock.  I did the same on the right as well. I like the dreamy effect that it produced. Would love to know what you think?

I will enter this card in:

ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://challenges4everybody.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes
http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://thesquirrelandthefox.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Wish you a pleasant week ahead.

Much love,

Monica 

I love tulips...

Hello sweet bloggers,

TGIF!!! There is a very nice ring to Fridays - the air seems lighter and everyone appears more smiley :-)

I was trying to take part in a challenge at http://www.seizethebirthday.blogspot.com/ and I did try and go with the sketch to make a girly birthday card. Am not sure whether I followed the sketch in totality though :-(

 Any way here is wishing you a happy weekend.

Love,

Monica

All green (and a little bit of brown)

Hello lovely bloggers,

Here is a card I have made following the sketch on http://simplychallengedchallenges.blogspot.com/
For some reason I am not able to copy and paste the sketch.

I had lots of fun creating this simple card as I love working with montones.
The beautiful butterflies (K and Company) were sent to me from Terry. Thank you so much! They just look so beautiful in real life.
The printed paper is gift wrap and the polka dotted ribbon is from my stash. The flower is from Prima and I have stuck a scalloped punched circle in green under it to make it stand out.

I am also going to enter this card in:

http://flourishes.org/category/challenges/timeless-tuesday/ - something new (my butterflies and flower)

Happy crafting,

Monica 

Wedding card

Hello sweet bloggers,

Hope you have been having a good day - mine was wonderful, spent over tea and cake with dear friends.

Here is a card I made with my Quickcutz heart die after many failed attempts at getting a decent die cut. The flowers have been punched and layered with glossy white and parchment paper in yellow. I have used ribbon in place of the sentiment and you can see a teeny weeny bit of a Martha Stewart border punch peeping out. Liquid pearls in the centre of the flowers and pearls on one side of the heart finish it off. I found the centre of the heart quite plain but Zeenya said it looked just fine. And it sold!

I am going to enter this in the following challenges:

http://everybody-art-challenge.blogspot.com/ - pastel colours

http://emeraldfaeries.blogspot.co.uk/ - celebrations

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - anything goes

http://www.ladyanneschallenges.com/ - anything goes
http://unstampabelleschallenges.blogspot.com.au/ - use one or more die cuts

Happy crafting,

Monica 

For a 21st Birthday

Hello sweet bloggers,

I am happy to be blogging again even though I am missing the excitement of being with friends and family... Zeenya is thrilled to be back in school and Aleeza still has another week to go before her school opens. 

Here is a commissioned card I made a while ago. The crinkled blue paper has sentimental value for me because Zeenya's art teacher in her former school taught me how to make it some six years ago and both Zeenya and I had loads of fun making it. I thought it was ideal for the effect of sea. Did some sponging and stuck more papers under the image to bring in more colour. Since it was a 21 year old who likes sailing. For some reason, the card looks warped in the picture but the person who ordered it really liked it. And that made me happy :-)

This is the back of the round punched shape stuck to the image with sewing thread rolled some five times to give it thickness.  I have stamped an anchor image from the same stamp set. I have used a clear image but cannot remember the name. Punched photo corners and two blue crystals complete the look.

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

http://www.tammyscrapincorner.com/ - man's card
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://www.creativecreationschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes

Lots of love,

Monica

Am back in action...

Hello sweet bloggers,

Wish you all a happy new year! We just got back a couple of days ago from our vacation which was lovely. It was nice to touch base with family and friends over good food and conversation. My mum was over joyed by the fact that Aleeza connected so well with her. Now that is a new happening, you know and I am happy about it, too.

Down below is a card I made this afternoon on Aleeza's behest as she wanted me to have a purse on the card. So I got out the swell papers and card board images that my dear blog friend Sandra mailed to me some time ago. The bow at the bottom and sentiment are also from her. Simple but sweet is this card, don't you think?

Down below is a Christmas decoration outside a hotel where we went for lunch.

Here are my precious gems...

I promise to start visiting you all soon... thanks for all the emails, will get back once I have the laundry sorted :-)

We are off for Christmas holidays...

Hello lovely bloggers,

We are off for our Christmas vacation so I will be missing for some two weeks and over. 

So here is wishing you all a very warm and happy Christmas and a great new year. 

Here are two cards I made last night - now these were real quick!!! Stuck fancy gift wrap on them and some embellies like flowers, glitter, liquid pearls and ribbon... that's it.

There is glitter on the doves on the card above so it looks quite nice in real life. And I love the colours on it.

Happy holidays and much love,

Monica

Another lilac card

Hello sweet bloggers,

Today was a beautiful Chrtistmas concert in Zeenya's school and every minute of it was enjoyable even though I had to leave Aleeza behind with the helper.

I made this card last night with the same Penny Black stamp that I used on a card a couple of days ago (from ruin to restoration). This time I stamped the image on black card stock and coloured the flowers and leaves with metallic Derwent pencils. And then I went over with glitter glue on the flowers. 

This card was a quickie and I had plenty of fun making it while Aleeza coloured in her images. Finished it off with ribbon and buttons from stash. You may think the pink button looks out of place but trust me that there is some pink in the flowers.

  

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

http://everybody-art-challenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

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

http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - sparkilicious

http://www.craftdoormagazine.com/ - anything goes

Wish you a happy Wednesday.

Love,

Monica 

Monochromatic card

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is a card I made a while ago - I have used a stencil and coloured it in with distress ink and water colour pencils. Zeenya said it had too much of the same colour yet it it sold pretty quickly. I have also distressed and sponged the edges. The printed paper is from stash and so is the ribbon. I thought a double ribbon would give it more interest. 

I am going to submit this card in
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://artisticinspirationscrafts.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes
http://www.craftybloggersnetwork.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://houseofgilli.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://smudgyantics.blogspot.com/ - distress it
http://stampsfun-creativity.blogspot.com/ - no Christmas cards

Below are two ice cream cones that Aleeza (four plus) drew and coloured in her drawing book - this is to share some sunshine with you all. :-)

Thanks for visiting.
Love,

Monica

From ruin to restoration

Hello sweet bloggers,

This card was such a disaster from start to finish - this was my fifth, yes fifth attempt for Case this Sketch (having tried four cards earlier). I have used my new Penny Black stamp and thought I would use my aqua brush. All was going well until I decided to give it a black outline and what a hash that made of it all. I showed it to Zeenya who remarked, "What happened to you?" I thought using my Sakura gold gel pen would help me salvage the card (for me the answer to all ills is my Sakura gold or silver). Then came the ribbon and the sentiment also from Penny Black along with the punched butterflies sponged with old paper distress ink and then coloured them with the same gold pen.

I am going to enter this card into http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes.

Down below is a quote that I love... in fact I hand wrote it as a sentiment on a card and it sold quite quick.

Wish you a happy week ahead...

Love,

Monica 

For Less is More - 2nd entry

Hello lovely people,

It is a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon here and I thought of clearing up the perennial mess on my table. It kind of breathes now. But give me a chance and it will be back to it's shabby self. ;-)

Down below is my second entry for Less is More - the challenge being rows this week. Now how simple is that???

I had these pressed leaves that I had picked up while we were in France last year. Just sponged white card stock with three different distress inks, stuck the leaves and tied two kinds of woolen yarn to give it more interest.

I will also submit this into Casual Friday - knots. How easy can it get??? Lol.

Happy weekend to one and all.

Love,

Monica 

For Less is More - rows

Hello lovely bloggers,

The challenge over at LIM is rows...

Sorry that I am sharing a card similar to what I made a couple of days ago. Well, Shelley suggested that I should use metallic pens so here is my card coloured in with water colour pencils and then with my Sakura blue and green gel pen.

Sorry if I am boring you with the same card - but it seems to meet the challenge (I hope).

I would also like to enter this in Pinspirational - the theme being blue for this week.

Wish you a happy weekend,

Monica

Pink tulips from a perfume carton

Hello sweet people,

A warm welcome (tad late) to my newest follower - thanks so much for following my little blog.

Many thanks for all the kind words about me meeting my target - we crafters thrive on encouragement, don't we?

Now to my card -  the pink tulips have been die cut (Sizzix) using a perfume carton. I have mounted most of them on foam tape. The lace is my new acquisition from a teeny tiny haberdashery close by.

The card above is pretty much like the one above but I have sponged the tulips with milled lavender and see how it makes take on a prettier hue. The ribbon on this card is also recycled - it was used to pack the perfume. 

Which one do you like?

I am going to submit these cards for:

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

http://craftingforallseasons.blogspot.com/ - flowers

http://creativemomentsbloggersnetwork.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes

Off to do some commenting now...

Love,

Monica 

Sold another six cards to two ladies and have met my target

Hello sweet bloggers,

I have sold enough cards to provide for educating five children for one year... Yaaaay!!! :-) Much credit goes to my blog buddies for all love and encouragement that kept me motivated. And of course I cannot forget the support of kind friends, neighbours, acquaintances who bought the cards.

This morning, I went to a Christmas bazaar and guess what I got from there - Fiskars clear stamps and pretty ribbons. So are two quick cards supposedly (supposedly masculine) that I made with one of the stamps. Stuck buttons, ribbon and did some scoring and that's it.

Next time I will try and colour in the stamps to make the card look more alive.

Love,

Monica