For Less Is More

Hello sweet peeps,

I was looking at my blog and saw that in January all I have is two posts!!! Aleeza was poorly after we came back as Indonesia has been having crazy rain and the temperatures have dropped significantly. Of course nothing to beat the temperatures of cold countries but low enough for us to stay away from using air conditioners or even fans. 

Here is a card I made for one of Zeenya's closest friends who helped me through a phase where we were having mother-teenage daughter issues. This is another stamp free card made with fabric and washi tape and pretty butterfly stickers. Zeenya felt I could have done better but I was quite impressed with it. I hope it meets the challenge rules at LIM this week which is all about rainbows.

I promise to be more consistent with blogging this month.

Love,

Monica 

99 percent recycled

Hello sweet peeps,

I have been so busy trying to resettle into my regular routine after our big travel however it seems to take longer than ever. Maybe it is a good idea to just be and let things flow at their own pace rather than rush them. The kids are back to school and that is what is most important I guess. My exercise and sleep routine are still all over the place and inspite of not much time difference from India to Indonesia I am all over the place.

Now to my card which I made for Aleeza's friend. Can you beat that everything on this card has been recycled from the reverse nestie to the image and the name, Alex. And let me tell you where the image came from? Okay how about a wild guess? You give up, right? Well, they came from a free origami kit that Aleeza got when we flew Singapore Airlines. I thought we were lucky to find a card that was perfect for Alex. What a coincidence that was.

 Thanks for kind comments and condolences on my mum in law's passing away. Hubby who is so strong otherwise is a changed man. Funny how older the parents, more the loss. I thought it was easier to let go when parents are old but I am noticing that even though my hubby is in his fifties and his mum was 97, he is still finding it hard. Infact out of the three siblings that they are, he seems the most affected.

Catch you later.

Love,

Monica 

Happy to be back

Hello sweet bloggers,

Happy New Year to all of you! Wish you all (and meself) a healthy,  happy and abundant 2014.

I am sorry for my sudden absence, the reason being that I lost my 97 year old mother in law so  we had to suddenly fly to the UK and spent a week with my hubby's family. It was a sad time yet it was a celebration of her life well lived. After the funeral we visited New Delhi to see my dear mum and spent a few sunny days in Goa with her. It was lovely as the pictures will tell you.

Down below is a beach in Goa - idyllic and beautiful, a quaint island state with a strong Portuguese character.

A famous church in Goa called Bom Jesus where the body of St Francis Xavier has been lying since many centuries.

Inside the church is this beautiful coffin where the saint's body is housed. Wish this was a clearer picture but if you look intently, you can see his head on the right hand side.

 I saw these lovely vases in a hotel in Goa and had to show them to you.

 This is a picture with a very dear friend in a beautiful Crafts Village in New Delhi taken with this man from Rajasthan (a colourful Indian state with beautiful palaces, jewels and fabrics) playing a flute. Can you spot how long his mustache is??? He decided to park these funny turbans on our heads when we asked him for a picture. Again I wish the picture quality was better.

 At last a card to show you which I made in the UK for my sister in law. I managed 20 quick cards and left most of them for her to use. She wanted thank you cards to give at the hospital where my mother in law was admitted. This was made with bare minimum embellies as that is all I had. I purchased everything from The Range including the card stock to make these quickies.

Will come and visit you soon after unpacking our bags.

Love,
Monica 

Thank you, Sue

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is another card to show you which is non-Chrismasy. The image is a stamp from a set I bought for Zeenya many years ago from India. I have coloured in the tulip with my Prisma pencils. The happy birthday sentiment came from Sue - what a coincidence that it fitted in so well with the image. The washi tape is my newest buy and I love it.

This is Aleeza with her play dough art work.

I will enter this card in the following challenges:

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

http://time4scrap.blogspot.fr/ - anything goes

http://emergencycrafterschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything but Christmas

Wish you a happy Sunday,

Monica

Happy Birthday card

Hello sweet bloggers,

Here is another card done in seconds with my cling stamp from Stampendous. I have used Brilliant pearlescent ink pads and the crystals are from Prima while the double ribbon is from mys stash.

Down below is Zeenya with her art work at the Visual and Performing Arts Concert on Tuesday. She was one of the two kids from her grade to be chosen to demonstrate her art piece in front of the theatre. So as many of you said, she is coming back to Art which makes me want to burst with happiness. If there is anything I wish for my girls it is that they do art, art and more art. And of course I want them to make the world into a better place.

This is a close up of Zeenya's free hand art piece. Her art teacher is lovely and I have much gratitude for her for motivating my daughter to enjoy and excel at art. 

This 3D art work by Zeenya was also chosen to be displayed at the concert. VPA stands for Visual and Performing Arts. 

I will enter my card in:

http://4kraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything goes

http://alldressedupchallenges.blogspot.ca/ - CAS

Thank God it's Friday,

Monica 

Anything but Christmas

Hello sweet bloggers,

Hope this finds you in good health and cheer with Christmas fast approaching. The schools break tomorrow for Christmas and then we are off to travel.

Here is my card to show you, it all started hap hazardly and still looks that way to me. The lovely sticker on this card came from Merry and I love it. There is something about roses that makes me like them so. I have used the green ribbon to hide the tell tale line that is left behind after embossing. The sentiment is from Spellbinders and I have used my pink metallic Sakura pen over it.  Thought I must put something on the top so good old pearls came to the rescue.

 

I will enter this card in:

http://www.addictedtostamps-challenge.blogspot.com.au/ - anything goes
http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

http://emergencycrafterschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - anything but Christmas
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - anything goes

Wish you a happy Thursday,

Monica 

Recycled card

Hello kind peeps,

Here is a card made with a recycled image from a super market brochure. The snowflakes border is from the same brochure as well. All I did was to layer the image on to a gold paper and add a ribbon along with lots of scoring on the top and bottom of the card. 

Aleeza had her Christmas concert yesterday but I could not take pictures as she was too far. Here is a shot of her friend and her with lights in their hands. The money from the sale of these lights will go to the Philippines.

The evening was called The Festival of Lights and down below is a display created by older children made out of milk cartons.

I will enter this card in:
http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/ - always anything goes
http://unstampabelleschallenges.blogspot.com.au/ - Christmas, no stamping
http://archiscraps.blogspot.com/ - Gingerbread

Wish you a wonderful Tuesday,

Monica