A Pastel Christmas

 

One of the biggest joys of making cards for me is trying out different color combinations. Sometimes ( actually, many a times) it turns in to a disaster. And I hate it. But mostly because I hate wasting paper and when things dont work out, its a mess. Sometimes, even I am a mess - mopping around the house, trying a way to salvage it. BUT when it works....I LOVE IT.

This is one of those times. I wanted a really pastel, light feel kind of card. I know a lot of crafters do an excellent job at those but not me. I started with this sketch at Papertake weekly challenge blog

And so, after a lot of rummaging through the papers, rolling open the ribbons, distressing and using liquid pearls....this is the result

 

 Cute, isn't it? The papers are K& Co. The image is nellie snellen painted with my trusted markers. I added few silver dots to show snow. The star on the right is a Spellbinder die cut and the sentiment is, JustRite. I  got my amazon package with Justrite stamps just as I was starting to make this card and of course, I had to use it. So here is the inside.

 

This Justrite stamp package is so beautiful. Used it with the coordinating Spellbinder dies and viola, everything is all done

Another spellbinder ornament die is used put space for sentiments. I usually keep my Christmas / new year message short and then if I have more to add, I write a note. There is something very sweet about handwritten notes.

 All in all, I like the result. Submitting for the following challenges

Papertake weekly challenge

Cute Card Thursday - Snowflakes..  Lots of those on the image and one in the bottom

Fussy and Fancy - I love Christmas

Inky impressions challenge - Vintage or Pastel

 ABC Challenge - Anything goes

A quickie...

 

So normally I am not a hurried crafter. I take my own sweet time finishing the cards.  In fact, I have couple of cards in various stages of being done. Usually, it is fine. But once in a while it comes back to bite me on my rear side. And oh boy, did that happen this time....

Not to bore with my long stories but the weather is extremely bad, especially for taking photographs. I have to finish some errands that I have been putting for too long now. So this was a quick card and this will be a quick post.

I cased the beautiful card over at the Creative Inspirations

 Isn't this a darling card? And a perfect one for this gloomy weather. However, since I am running short on Christmas cards, I decided to convert it in to a Christmas card while keep the sketch same (more or less).
So here is my interpretation

The papers are DCWV. The star on the right hand is, once again, a Spellbinder die topped with a flower. Used tons of glitter and the backing paper for Tilda is stamped with Inkadinkado stamp. Not too happy with the coloring on this one but...
I do not have any pictures of the inside yet but I will come back and post them. And perhaps, a better picture of the front...if only the weather cooperates.So that is all for now.
Submitting for the following challenge

Creative Inspirations blog

Thanks...Got to go :)

A break.....

So thanksgiving is over....I overate, over-laughed, over-socialized and under-slept ! All in all, a perfect thanksgiving. However, the only thing that went amiss was that I had no time to craft, except...sunday and this morning. And I decided to take a break from Christmas cards and make a girly card that I can use on all most any occasion. So here is what I came up with

And it is rather nice, if I may say so myself....don't you agree?
 So, there's a lot going on this card. The image is Sweet Ebony reflective which I colored with my trusted alcohol markers. Two spellbinder dies are used - the image is framed in Spellbinder Nestabilities dies Label 18 and then distressed a bit. It is then backed with Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies-Floral Ovals. The two designer papers are from DCWV paper stacks. I changed a bit on the background paper - colored some of the flowers bright orange, it just looked better that way. The green designer papers was distressed, sewed and stamped on...poor baby :)
The bird house is hand-drawn, cut and colored. There is a tag on the left hand side for a special message.

 Two of the flowers are made using Spellbinder dies and then topped with a pearl in one case and a flower in the other. One flower is punched on white paper and distressed with tattered rose. The butterfly is Martha Stewart and the heart is hand-drawn, cut and distressed with tattered rose ink. The green twirly thinga-majinga (as my children say it) is actually an extremely thin strip of green paper stock twirled over a chin round chopstick...

The inside card has a pocket with two tags for personal messages and everything has been distressed :)  The butterfly on the right is Martha Stewart.
And Phew!  not used to writing so much...I am sure I still missed quite a few details but I really need to go and finish that yummy left over pie ;)

Submitting for the following challenges
Cute card Thursday  - Girls only

Inky Impressions Challenge - Make it girly

Pile it on challenge - Anything but a Christmas card

Unique crafters challenge - Sugar and Spice

Divas by design - Use two or more patterned paper

All Beautiful Cards Challenge - Anything goes

Another blue card.....

Oh no...I don't mean "blue" as in a sad card but as in the color blue. And as I have mentioned a gazillion times before, blue is a challenging color for me. I mean, I have nothing against the color, I have numerous blue color outfits in my closet but when it comes to choosing the colors for the card....not so much :(
But I am trying, trying, trying.....
So I picked up the sketch at Creative Inspirations challenge blog

And with the use of a bit of creative license, here is my interpretation

The image is Magnolia Midwinter Tilda with lantern and it gave me the biggest trouble while coloring. The colors just didn't fit right. I did use a bit of glitter on Tilda's hat and skirt as well as on the lamp. Satisfactory but not wow. I have to color and perfect this image again, so you may be seeing a card with the same image very soon:)

The papers are from the Recollections paper stack.  The star at the bottom is a stack of Spellbinder star die, a flower punch and a small star punch. And then, lots of faux pearls. I added two tags to the card, one with the sentiment already written in and the other, blank for a personalized message.

 

 

I used stars liberally throughout the card 'cos what is Christmas without sparkling stars.
The inside of the card is kept simple with a place to write message.

Submitting it for the following challenges

Creative inspirations challenge

 Crafty Cardmakers Blog    where the challenge was to use more than one die or punch. The star at the bottom of the card is made up of three different punches / dies. Also the tags are shaped using the Spellbinder dies.

Paper Playtime blog - anything goes

Let's craft and create - getting ready for Christmas

At long last....

So lets first start with why I named this post " At long last". Well, the simple answer is I have been hoarding this paper for a very long time. Looking at it over and over again, refusing to let it go...refusing to take my scissor to it. Doesn't it sound silly? But actually, I really liked this paper from one of the K&Co stacks that I bought a long time ago and I just didn't have the heart to use it. Its like looking at the rose on the bush and wondering do you want to cut it and get it inside the house and put it in a vase or do you want to let it stay on the bush. I mean, once I make it in to a card I have to let it go, right? I would have to send it away...
But here we are. I used the sketch from the Mojo Monday challenge blog

I decided to keep my card simple and clean....or as simple and clean I can keep - not very good at the that, I am afraid. I mean whats a card without a bit of distressing and a bit of sparkle :)
Here's my card

Isn't Tilda the cutest? All those envelopes in her hand. And I used my new markers for coloring - much better than my old ones. These were a gift from my dear hubby, actually, my b'day gift and he got them all the way from Korea :) Isn't he the greatest ? And the fact that he went shopping alone and doesn't know Korean and isn't at all familiar with Seoul....I must admit, I had the best b'day ever.
The star is Spellbinder, distressed with Tim Holtz Tattered Rose ink pad. The sentiment is all mine. I think my handwriting has improved a bit over the years :)

I kept the inside of the card simple, with just a small tag for sending a special message. Since the background paper is quite light in color, if I wanted to write an extended message, I could do it write on the paper.

Submitting for the following challenge

 Mojo Monday Challenge

Kirei ne...

And that means, "beautiful" in Japanese.
We lived in Japan for a few years and I fell in love with the place and the people. I especially loved the serenity and the beauty of the Japanese gardens. So ever since I saw the Japanese Tilda stamp, I just knew that I had to pair it with the Japanese garden background. But more of that later...here is the card, unopened...

I wanted to keep the outside of the card relatively simple so that the inside would be even more surprising but I just couldn't keep it too simple. So I paired a bunch of orange flowers that I bought a long time ago with the frame that I made from one of the spellbinder dies. Simple enough...
But as you open the card..

It is the beautiful Japanese Tilda in a Japanese garden during autumn, with the leaves changing colors - from yellows to fiery oranges and reds :)
The Japanese garden image is from a coloring page that I found online. I can't find the website again. I spent close to an hour this morning looking for it, even did an image search because I wanted to give credit and link the original site, but to no avail..If anyone knows the original link, can you please send it to me. Thank you.

 

The flowers that Tilda is holding have pearl centers. So do the flowers in her hair. I colored Tilda's kimono in the shades of autumn to keep her in harmony with the garden she is in :) And I have two similar looking pics because I couldn't decide which one is better :)

The other side of the card has a large oval for writing sentiments. I plan to use this for a birthday card.

 Submitting it for the following challenges:
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - For the love of Tilda

Sweet Stamping Challenge Blog - Anything goes

The Crazy challenge Blog - where the challenge was to decorate the inside

Everybody art challenge - use an oval. I used two :)

Crafty Catz challenge - Anything goes

Not my usual colors.....

 When picking out papers for my cards, my hand usually moved towards the browns, the reds, oranges and so on...And if I really want to go out on a limb, I go for the blues and greens. But I have rarely, if ever, chosen this yellow-gray combination. To tell you the truth, I have been a bit scared of making a disaster of a card. So when The friday mash-up blog presented this color-combo, I decided to try it out. After all, we weathered Sandy, what is a little color-combo challenge in comparison??? Post-Sandy humor, I guess :)
So over at the Friday Mashup blog, the challenge was to create a card using the colors in the inspiration picture and dry-embossing.

 And here is my interpretation

 Well, the card does fulfill all the requirements. The papers are from a DCWV stack that I bought a gazillion years ago but have never been able to use it. So that's great. For the design of the card, I used the sketch provided at the Cute Card Thursday Challenge Blog

The image is one of my favorites, Magnolia Tilda. I love all Tilda stamps and every time they release new stamps, they are better than before. Such creativity :)....
The inside of the card is covered in the same paper.

The sentiment is handwritten and completely my own.....I kept it non-thematic thinking I can use it either as a Birthday card ( most likely) or as a New Year Card, especially for those who do not celebrated Christmas.

 Submitting the card for the following challenges
The Friday MashUp Blog

Cute Card Thursday Blog

Crafty Cardmakers challenge  - where the challenge was to use more than one die or punch on the card.
I used two Spellbinders dies - one on the outside and the oval die in the inside for the sentiments...

Everybody Art Challenge  where the challenge was to use embossing. The circle on the front of the card has been embossed. I distressed the circle using the Tim Holtz ink and then embossed it and added liquid pearls in the end, for an added dimension.

Cards aplenty...but no power

Hurricane Sandy really did a number on our state. While we were lucky that we escaped with minor roof damage, we did lose power for almost 7 freezing days. Life is just limping back to normal.
My thoughts and prayers go out to those who weren't as blessed. May God give you strength.