Saturday 30 November 2013

A Thank You Card...

I hardly make cards as it's not something I can add a lot of dimensions to it... When Graphic 45 announced making a Thank You card for the November challenge, I was thinking... Hmm~ Perhaps I should give a try...

It took me a long time that I decided to do a pop-up card without having a clue how to do it... It was seriously a last minute work, I only conduct an internet research on the various pop-up mechanisms the day before the challenge due date... Then I only get started doing it using the Secret Garden collection in the late afternoon and get only partially completed 1n the next morning... I submitted the pop-up interior of the card for the challenge just in time... Phew!!!

Sometimes when you want to do something you've in mind, you kinda visual what you really want and start looking around that can give you the mojo to do it... Especially for pop-up card, it's really all about the mechanism... How you want your object to pop, how it flips etc.. And despite the tight deadline in entering the challenge, I wanted it more complicated to the extend I've kinda overdone it... In the end, I really have to stop researching and stick to one that's do-able within a day... So in the end, this is what I've come out with... The final complete look...

The Front...
Done quite alot of fussy cutting on a card I should say...
This is where the "Thank You" pop-up when open... More fussy cuts here...
The back... It's actually taken from the mirror... The letterings are actually
mirror images which can only be viewed on the mirrow...

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Kaiser Craft Tea Break Happy Days Workshop at The Art Republic

My next upcoming class at The Art Republic is these shabby Kaiser Craft Tea Break multi-year perpetual calendar and altered dress form... Inspired from an old-fashion retro rotary telephone which I got to use it when I was young kid...

You will get to learn how to create this calendar and altered a papier mâché dress form to compliment this calendar... Learn how to apply and mix colours via mix-media and basic paper decoupage using paper tissue... There'll be lots of intricate artwork and detailing embellishing with fluttering buttflies, flowers, trinkets, motivational quotes and fussy cut-outs...

Build this well, and you can be sure that this calendar will last you for a very long time...






Sunday 24 November 2013

Winter Wonderland; Sending You a Blizzard

Christmas is coming... Time really flies, very soon year 2013 will come to an end and year 2014 will be arriving soon...

In conjunction with Once Upon a Sketch November challenge, I came up with this "blizzard" layout using the K&Company snowflakes accents I've bought at Target during clearance when I was in Manassas, Virginia USA two years ago...

This photo I used for this layout is also quite "old"... Hahaha... It was taken 3 years ago at Orchard road during Boxing Day by Bryan Foong from Bryan Jean Photography... The lighting back then were very bright, blue and purplish... Pretty and beautiful but I've a hard time to find papers that will go well with the photo as most Christmas paper collections are always in the typical Christmas red and green... When Graphic 45 came out with the Nutcracker Sweet collection last year, I know the colours will suit these photos well... Well, it took me a year later to use this collection...

So this is what I've come out with... Lots of snowflakes, in fact I used up all my snowflakes accents to create a blizzard layout...

Blizzard layout; Winter Wonderland as the
Happy Place theme for the challenge...
I love using transparency to add accents
or journalling text...
Pretty blue ballernias dancing in
clusters of snowflakes...
I managed to find this cute little ballerina
trinklet in my Prima stash...
OUAS November sketch November challenge


Thursday 7 November 2013

Time is a Great Storyteller...

It's quite a long time I ever do a layout, since I've some of my wedding photos developed, I decided to create a layout using Kasier Craft Miss Empire paper collection... And so... I created a layout using the die-cuts, stickers and those blings & embellishments are from my own stash... I've bought quite a lot of them and they've been sitting there for ages, so it's time to fully utilized them!!! Photo credits go to my wedding team; Monica Eng (photographer), Euzart Wong & Susan See (gowns designers from Jawn Happy Ever After) and Ophelia Tan (hair & make-up)... And oh yes!!! I made some paper roses out from the remnants of the papers I've cut out... Tutorial in how to make it is right below... Have fun!!!

The layout I've created using Miss Empire paper collection... 
Added some blings and those script washi tape
 matches the theme quite well... I'm glad it did...
These nice autumn butterflies die-cuts are
from S.E.I which they're double-sided!!!
These are the roses that I made them since I couldn't
find matching flowers to match them... Those frills
above the roses are from calico where
I trim them and distress them...

So here is the paper rose tutorial... To get started, you will to gather some tools... You'll need the following:
  • Strong glue or low temp glue gun (I'm using Beacons here since it dries up faster)
  • A 5 petal flower craft punch (the one I'm using is from EK success and it's about 1.5" in diameter)
  • Your favourite distress ink
  • A pair of tweezers (try not to use a sharp-pointed tweezers for this)
  • Toothpick
  • A pair of scissors
So now you are ready to get started...

The tools you will need...
Step 1: Punch 5 pieces of paper flower out from the craft punch and distress the edges...

You will need 5 of these...
Step 2: Fold the petals in where the round edges touch each other till you get 5 tear-shaped petals and a "star" crease with a centre point... Don't fold straight all the way down as you will need to get a centre point... You'll need to repeat this for the rest of the punch-outs...

Fold the round edges like this...
After folding, you will get a "star"
crease like this with a centre point...
Step 3: Cut the folded crease towards the centre point leaving a tiny space... Do not cut all the way through... This will be the inner bud of the rose. Only for this piece, you may want to use the reverse side of the paper (if you're using double-sided paper) to form the bud as it will be all wrapped up and you would want to show the correct pattern on your rose...

Cut the creases like this...
Step 4: Take 2 adjacent petals, curl them in slightly and overlap each other... Glue them together at the sides... Repeat the same with the rest of the 3 petals by overlapping them over another... At the end, you will get a pentagon like shaped at the bottom...

Curl the petals like this...
Overlap them like this...
At the end, you will get the bud like this...
Step 5: Glue the bud down to the 2nd punch-out with the pointed edge towards the round petal... This will give you a very nice bloom with alternative petals... Then apply glue ONLY around the bottom 'cos we're going to curl the petals out, so if you glue all the way up, you can't curl the petals out... From this step onwards, use the correct side of the paper you want facing up... Once you've position it well, cut along the crease line towards the bud...

Position the rose bud as shown...
This is how it'll look like... Glue around
the bottom like this...
Step 6: Just like on step 2, curl the petals up and overlap them to give a nice swirl... Repeat this for the next 2 punch-outs and position them as of step 5 above, leaving the last piece intact...

Curl and overlap them like this into a swirl...
After repeating for the next 2 punch-outs,
this is how it'll look like...
Step 7: Use a tweezers, slowly pull out the petals gently... Be careful not to overpull it as it may tear the petals away... If it's difficult to pull out, you may want to use your fingernails... Then use a toothpick and curl them... You'll get a nice bloom after this...

Pull out the petals using a tweezer..
Curl the petals using a toothpick...
Step 8: On the very last piece of punch-out, use your tweezers and position it at the centre of the petal and give a good twist... Try not to use too much force as you will pinch through the paper... This will be the base of the rose... Lastly, glue the rose bloom onto the base right at the centre and you are all done!!!

Position at the centre and twist it...
This is how it'll look like after twisting...
And now you are ready to embellish!!! I hope this tutorial is comprehensive enough and easy to follow... You can make bigger roses if you've a bigger punch, so long it's 5 petal shaped... Have fun and enjoy!!!


Sunday 3 November 2013

My Inspirations...

After conducting a few classes at The Art Republic, quite a number of students have asked me where do I get my inspirations from or what inspires me...Hmm... This can be quite a profound question and really depends on what is within your surrounding...

Inspirations can come from anywhere and everywhere, it's just that whether you want to take a moment to get inspired... It can be from a place, an object, a theory, people whom you love or even a total stranger... Everyone gets inspired differently so it can be quite hard to explain where my inspirations really come from... Sometimes it's all about the mojo moment... To get that dose of mojo juice to feed my inspirations, I'd watch a lot of tutorials on YouTube or even visit scrapper's blogs to know what they are creating... Sometimes I'd think how they do that!? It's amazing!!! Well sometimes it's really about the mojo... But be warned, once you get that juice going on in you and get so inspired by it, you'd run to your scrap corner and try to do something, it's always the case when the moment you look at your scraps, you just lost it... The magic spell is gone!!! No worries, I do get that at times...

I'm still exploring, as always... Inspirations come and go, if you lost it today it's ok... It'll either come back to you one day or you get inspired in a different way... Sometimes, it's good to think a little more flexible and differently... The more you try thinking differently, the more mojos you'll get... So when you reached this stage, don't stop and keep the momentum going... The more you do it this way, you'll get to realize your inspirations will start coming in from different aspects... It's about practice and give your thinking a little thought...

Friday 1 November 2013

Graphic 45 Mother Goose Handy Caddy Workshop at The Art Republic

Upcoming in my next class in December with The Art Republic is this cute Mother Goose Handy Caddy, which you can use to store all your craft items... Build this caddy from scratch using chipboards together with Graphic 45 Mother Goose paper collection and banners... Lots of fussy cutting, stamping, inking and distressing... On top of that, create 3 mini notebooks that you could use to pen down (perhaps) your craft inventories...