Many Thanks to a Friend...

Everyone will have a least a friend that means a lot to them. Ever since I join as a new member in my local Church of Christ congregation, I got to know a lot of amazing and inspirational people there. Given that I didn't know anyone in the church before I came in, it could be a rather daunting experience to face so many unfamiliar faces. Eunice is one of many unfamiliar faces among the crowd who had extended her very warm welcome on my very first Sunday there. And this is very unforgettable.

Alas, for the past Graphic 45 #G45lightside challenge that happened in May (which was also my very last ambassador post with therm 😢), I'm presenting this gift set idea for Eunice. Took me this long to settle down to blog this entry. As much I know I'm rather late in updating, I decided to just to get this done...

Knowing how busy her life can be as a doctor, I decided to gift her a book about balancing life. It's a book written with biblical principles in mind to aid Christians in finding and keeping balances in life. I have this book as well and I thought this will make a great gift to Eunice. 

Decided not to just merely wrapping up the book like a typical present, I made a book sleeve as part of the gift wrap. Learned that green is Eunice's favourite colour, I decided to pair up the book with a personalized bookmark that bears her name.

Graphic 45 Garden Goddess is perhaps one of the paper collection that mainly features various women within the entire collection. And this makes creating female-related gifts a much easier choice. Eunice is someone who has this positive and kind vibe in her that I find this sunflower goddess a good fit in her personality. Instead of presenting this with a "Happy Birthday" title in front of the gift packaging (which is what this gift is intended for initially), I chose a "Many Thanks" diecut frame to thank her as a friend to me. 

Oh well, it's better late than never in updating! I hope this can keep myself within the loop even I've been rather quiet recently. I hope to come back really soon, actively whenever time allows me to. Nonetheless, this won't be the last entry of the year (I promise!) and there'll be more to come; for the least with some level of consistency (I hope!)...

Below is the list of supplies I've used for this project with various links to purchase if you are interested to get:

• Graphic 45 Garden Goddess Collection
• 12" x 12" collection pack (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Ephemera cards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Clearsnap Decades Dye Pad
• Venetian Lace (Scrapbook.com)
• Spellbinders Past Club Kit (December 2018)
• Many Thanks (big die of the month)
• Warm Wishes (small die of the month)
• Aleene's Always Ready Tacky Glue (Blitsy)
• Tim Holtz Thinlits Alphanumeric dies (1/2" tall) 
• Green, yellow and brown cardstocks
• Paper dollies and assorted ribbons

Magical Kewpie Post Tags

Perhaps my first rather familiar encounter with Kewpie was probably from a bottle of mayonnaise that's widely known as Kewpie Mayonnaise by Kewpie Corporation, a Japanese food manufacturer who popularize the condiment. I might have some personal "close up contacts" with Kewpie dolls while I was young however they didn't get into me till I had some Kewpie Mayonnaise! In fact, Kewpies are comic strip cartoon characters created and developed by Rose O'Neill, an American cartoonist and illustrator in 1909. As little as I know about Kewpies, I believe everyone of us has somehow have some sort of childhood encounter with them.

Well, I really have to say they are really cute! When I received my Graphic 45 Christmas Magic collection, I was delighted to see so many cuties within the collection and those Kewpies just caught my attention. They are way too adorable that I had to come up with something. Kewpie Post is what came into my mind back then. Combining with my love for flying matchboxes, I came up with an idea that they can "fly off" from the tags... 

Therefore... Using those cute little Kewpies as Post Dolls, here is what I've come up with...

My initial intention is to make the tags as a whole piece, without any separating elements or parts to them, but this seems like it would have probably "defeated the purpose" of adding wings onto the matchboxes. To make them removable and "flyable", I used magnets to "adhere" them together. Notice how these flying matchboxes "flying away" from their "bases"? That's practically the idea behind.

I used a variety of floral embellishment from mulberry ones to die-cuts holly leaves to create levels of dimensions. Used loads of metallic gold and iridescence here; from fanciful dollies to glittery flowers and ribbons. It's all these shimmerings elements that make the project stands out and not making these Kewpie dolls doing their job in vain.  

"Tis the Season" wreath is a stamped image from Graphic 45 previous Christmas collection, St. Nicholas, which I coloured with colour pencils to create a wreath base for the flying mtachbox to land onto. Subtly choosing colour pencils as my colouring medium to create this distinction, making the process in creating this tag a more "dimensional" one. After much thinking and searching for the right embellishments, I decided to make my very own tassles and insert them as "tails" to match the whole design using the metallic gold crochet yarn I found in a box of yarns and strings. 

Not forgetting these cute little Santa helpers, who play a vital part in making these magical Kewpie Post tags a more interesting one. They are also "removable" with magnets adhered at their backs where they can "jump" onto the wreath base on the tags or back to their respective matchboxes. Added a little jingle bell within each drawer adds some jingles as I pull the drawers. Since it's for this holiday season, I'd think this will add in some fun to the entire project.

Here is a very short and sweet video I made very last minute to show how the entire mechanism work with those magnets incorporated into this project:

Last but not the least, I kept the back of the tags as simple as possible so as not to complicate the design so much. I've provided some tips over at Graphic 45 blog which I didn't share it here. Though I'm a little late in sharing the story behind about this project, be sure to check the tips out at Graphic 45 blog to find out more. As usual, below is the list of supplies I used for this project with links to where to get them:

• Graphic 45 Christmas Magic Collection
• 12" x 12" collection pack  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• 8" x 8" paper pad (Blitsy,  (Scrapbook.com) 
• Ephemera cards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Graphic 45 St. Nicholas Cling Stamp 1 (Tis the Season)
• Graphic 45 Metal Dies & Staples
• Regular tag, gears 
• Square tag, clock
• Antique brass stamped metal brads
• Clearsnap Decades Dye Pad (Venetian Lace)
• Spellbinders Metal Etched Dies (Fancy tags 2, Opulent ovals)
• Tim Holtz Mini Holiday Greens Thinlits (Scrapbook.com, Sizzix) 
• Tim Holtz Kraft Stock Metallic 8" x 8" Gold & Silver Cardstock (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Finnabair Art Alchemy Metallique Wax in white gold (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Glossy Accent (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Own stash (jingle bells, butterflies clear stamp, sparkling flowers, metallic gold dollies, organza ribbon)

Floral Shoppe Ephemera Cards

We all have some sort of papercrafting dilemma. And I tend to get that a lot especially I want the best of both worlds with minimal damage, as much as possible. This probably speaks a lot about my way of crafting.

Oh well, long time no see everyone! I'm glad that I'm able to find time to blog this entry - a post that's perhaps way behind my post with Graphic 45 last week. That's one thing I love being in Graphic 45, a lot of work was pre-planned in advance in a way that I don't have to rush in and try to get things done at the nick of time. However, do pardon and be patient with me for the next few weeks while I'm trying to get my timing right. I've been really bad in handling my time for the past weeks due to sudden hiccups in life which I'm still struggling at.

So moving on, making use of the time I have without sharing much about my hiccuping life, I shall go straight to the point on what I've done for Graphic 45 for this July. I'm re-sharing one of my old videos which I've done in 2016 - fussy cutting. It's a cutting technique that I've acquired while I was doing my footwear design course where we were taught to cut footwear patterns out from cardboard using utility/craft knife. I find this method rather ergonomically friendly and easier to control, hence decided to attempt this on designed papers where the intricacies are way complex compared to footwear patterns in general. And it kinda works, giving me more defined cuts than scissors can ever provide. In my video above, I explain very briefly how to hold and use the utility/craft knife to fussy cut as well as some useful tips in getting the right blades. More papercrafting tips over at Graphic 45 blog which you can hop over to read further.

To show how this technique can come into good use, I created two very simple ephemera cards using Graphic 45 Floral Shoppe collection. Such a beauty of this collection! And who doesn't loves flowers? I do of course! Sometimes you just need to break the various design elements and reassemble them to create your very own design. And that's what I did!

Summing all up that's what I got to share today (though it's a week late), and I do hope the video would be able to address some of the questions you probably have in mind. If you've any questions, do always feel free to drop a comment or even send me a message. I'll gladly respond and assist whenever I can. So, below here is a list of supplies in where to get these lovely collection and I shall see you guys very soon again! Happy papercrafting!!!

List of Supplies:

• Graphic 45 Floral Shoppe Ephemera Cards (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Graphic 45 Tags and Pockets (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Graphic 45 Large, ATC Tags & Flowers dies
• Tim Holtz 8" x 8" Metallic Kraft (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)

Tim Holtz Winner's Badge

Alright, allow me to be a show-off for today. I'm crazily proud (please let me boost a bit as I'm on cloud nine) to win Tim Holtz' December tag challenge just in nick of time before he ends his 12 tags of the year series. 

#OMG! Look at the badge given by Mario above👆, it's finally one thing I can show off at the side bar 👈 on this awesome blog of mine!

I Won Something from Tim Holtz!!

Happy 2017 Everyone!!!

I wish I had some artwork to share for today but I think it'd be great to announce some good news!! Something good as a start for 2017!!!

I WON Tim Holtz's 12 tags of 2016 for the DECEMBER tag challenge!!!

👆 Can't help to conceal my happiness but I need to shout this out LOUD!!! 👆

I heard about Tim's 12 tags of the year about a year ago and I took upon as a new form of challenge by participating only last year for 2 months (January and February) and I stopped in between before I came back last December. Alright it's my 3rd try and I won! I wanna feel proud and braggy about this for the beginning of this new year!!! Can't believe my tag was chosen by Tim's team!!! Can you see myself floating on cloud nine now?!? 

Though it's something worth rejoicing, it also saddens me that Tim is ending his 12 tags of the year challenge for good. Awww!!!! However, I'm very much looking forward for more creative techniques from him for 2017 and can't wait to participate!!!

To end this post, and before I'm off to email Mario on my prize pack, I wish everyone the merriest 2017 ahead and may everyday be a cute day for you! Of course for me, I'm ready in the mode to create more creative and cute projects for 2017! It would be a cute year ahead!!

My December Tag for Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016

Happy Christmas! And a Merry New Year!

Though I wish 2017 don't come that soon, I know it's reaching really soon. The moment 2017 January is here, I'll be a year older in February. That's so freaking fast and I do hope I could refuse to grow up. And yes, I'm back in doing Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2016. I know I had gone missing in between, however I love to think it'd be fun to end this Christmas with the December tag.

So here is my take for the December tag...

I didn't have any shadowpress with me, unfortunately. So I gotta improvise and find alternatives. Rather, I did embossing over stamping instead using the Snowman blueprint framelits die set which is the only Merry Christmas stamp I have. 

I hope I had misted over the stencil more generously, it didn't really show up well. Perhaps it's also due to the design I had chosen. Nonetheless, I managed to get the tag done up in time for this Christmas.

I bought a few packs of trophy antlers last year and have yet to use any of them. Despite it's gonna make the tag look a bit bulky, I went ahead by placing it at the very top of the tag. The entire composition process was really fun to make and I do enjoy spending my Christmas morning doing up this tag. Totally immersed myself into the festive mood.

List of Supplies:

• Large Manila Tag
• Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Red Chilies
• American Crafts Metallic Gold Embossing Power
• Daler Rowney Arcylic Paints (pale gold & rich gold)
• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Forest Moss
• Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks (ginger, gold)
• Tim Holtz Flourish Stencil 
• Tim Holtz Alteration (snowman blueprint framelits set, mini holiday green thinlits)
• Tim Holtz Idea-ology (trophy antlers, Christmas word band, Christmas typed tokens, plaquettes, wishbones, game spinners)
• Own Stash (burlap, cardstocks, gear charm, jingle bell, jute string, ribbons)

Mother's Day Inspire Tag

Mother's Day is just round the corner and it's happening this Sunday 8th May which is tomorrow! As I was thinking about it. We've reached May! That's seriously fast!!! I can't believe that we are almost reaching the middle of 2016!! Can't help it but time really flies too fast especially the older I get, I can feel my time is reaching the end pretty soon.

Oh well, in order to honour this Mother's Day, I made this simple tag using Graphic 45's Children Hour and Mon Amour paper collection on their latest Inspire ivory tag staple. Mothers are sources of inspirations, somehow or rather regardless how good or bad they are. At some point of our lives, I believe they do inspire us.

While my mum is not a perfect mother, she does inspire me somehow especially during some bad times we had together. Those are the times I resent, I hate, and even wish she's not my mother. As I grew up from a child to a teenager and gradually as a adult, things have changed drastically so as the era we are living in as well; time has indeed made the most changes. Between us, we do have very different views, values and opinions which made us highly incompatible most of the times. Yet the most irony part is we are mother and daughter biologically. There's hardly any character traits I take after my mum. Surprisingly, we managed to co-exist with one another for the past 30 over years. Amazing! Perhaps that's the unique bond between mothers and children.  

Here is one of my childhood pic with my mum, I was only 2 at that point of time. Well, we did hang out together and it was during the Christmas season when we took this picture. So we did celebrate Christmas at one point of time during our lives together!

I hereby wish all mothers a Happy Mother's Day!!!

My February Tag for Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016

Yeah I know it's very last minute. I was so busy recently that I almost forgot about doing up the February tag for 12 Tags of 2016! And my blog is still snowing! In order to keep up with this (I was actually feeling too lazy to keep up with the challenge), I decided to get myself to do up the February tag even it's the last day of the month. Thankfully, it's a leap year and I have today as an additional day for the month of February.

Oh well, so for this month's remix tag here is my take - a regal heart tag for the month of love. I really wish I had managed to get hold of more Tim Holtz's supplies, unfortunately I was way too busy to even shop for them. For the very least, I managed to get this month's tag done up. Phew! 

I'm keeping it simple for this month. Though it's a month of love, love is not supposed to be that complicated. And love shouldn't be just for this month and should be all year round! It's probably one of my simplest tag of all (I guess). Yet I still can't get away to do up something a little 3D. 

List of Supplies:

• Large Manila Tag
• Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Forest Moss)
• Texture Paste
• Fine Gold Embossing Power
• Tim Holtz Stencils (Doily, Flourish)
• Tim Holtz Word Bands
• Tim Holtz Regal Adornments
• Tim Holtz Fanciful Buttons

My January Tag for Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016

Doing up tags is seriously not really one of my cores. I can take days to complete one tag, though tags are the most easiest to do. Don't get me wrong, I do love tags and I do really want to love making them whenever I could. Just that my creative brain cells are just not that tag friendly. 

Sooo, I heard about Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 and he will introduce some really cool techniques every month and encourage the community to participate. For someone like me struggling to make tags at some point of time, participating in this kind of activity sounds good to me. Plus, with some "technical rules" to follow, this really saves me the hassle to think. Taking it as another learning curve for me, I'm taking this challenge and here is my take for the January tag...

Quite a pretty last minute project, but better than never...

Oh well, guess I've overdone it yet not exactly using the techniques outlined as there's quite a number of stuffs I don't have, yet I've tons of Tim Holtz stuffs. So I gotta improvised given the limited amount of time I had. Instead of using the foil tape, I used Tim Holtz's kraft-core gold metallic cardstock for the industrious metal technique.

Added quite a number of embellishments, and as soon as I noticed it this is my very first masculine tag!!! Can't help it, how can I miss out gears to match the industrious look? I just need to add some gears.

Despite having so many mixed media stuffs, I don't have any of Ranger's embossing powder. Hah! Tricky! And this left me with not much choice left but to work within what I have. Instead of using the chalkboard technique with stamping, I applied it with embossing instead. And it turned out pretty well! The fussy me just don't like the idea of  leaving the back of the tag as it is, as usual I'll cover and do something to complete the look.

A tag that speaks much about my vision in life. Just nice for this January 12 tag thingy by Tim Holtz, Nice start and I believe it's all about re-learning and imagine the impossible. 

List of Supplies:

• Large Manila Tag
• Black Cardstocks
• Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Metallic Collection
• Tim Holtz Pocket Watches Embossing Folder
• Tim Holtz Compass Embossing Folder
• Tim Holtz Ruler Embossing Folder
• Tim Holtz Possibilities Framelits Die Set with Stamps
• Tim Holtz Metal Mini Gears
• Tim Holtz Game Spinners
• Tim Holtz Light Bulbs
• Tim Holtz Word Bands
• Tim Holtz Philosophy Tags
• Gypsy Soul Lasercuts (Miniatures Gears Borders and Corners, Gears Shape Set)

A Christmas Carol Advent Tags in Library Box

Wow! It's December 2015! I can't imagine how fast time flies and 2016 is just nearby! Goodness! I wish time can don't move so fast. Oh well, Christmas is round the corner and while everyone is busy doing up tons of Christmas projects, for the past 2 weeks I was struggling to finish up my advent tags. Shouldn't tags be the easiest of all? Not really for me, it's an Archilles' heel for me!!!

Doing up the library box is an easy-peasy task for me and I completed it within a few hours! But for one tag, I can take up to 2 days! For the holy sake of Christmas and Jesus Christ, I prayed hard to complete these advert tags... Thankfully, with a little non-tag materials on hand, those library pockets and tabbed dividers simply "lighten" my tag-load. Hallelujah! As I completed these advent tags and housed them into the box just makes me a happy camper! Yeah! 

I simply can't make things un-3D, even on these tabs. The stubborn me just had to create a mini wreath with berries-pine corn picks on no.25 even I know the bulkiness won't fit pretty well into the box.

Alright, I ran out of tag ideas, and wanted some variety in my advert project so I went for some Christmassy hunting. After a hunt back, I found some Christmas elements. Here there are, pockets well stuffed with some snowflakes, a berry garland, some holiday greens and a S-N-O-W garland with some twigs! I particularly love no.7. Not 'cos of the deer but it rings! Yes! I placed a tiny jingle bell beneath the resin wreath. 

As scary as it seems, I actually completed 13 tags as part of this advent project. Seriously! I did that! Never in my life I've done up so many tags before. Despite not being a forte of mine, I'm proud to announce that I've survived the ordeal with perseverance (though it's taking me 2 weeks). So here is my constellation of my advert tags for this Christmas!

~Happy Christmas!~

List of Supplies:

• Victorian Christmas Tags Kit
• Christmas Favourite Collage Sheet
• Winter Fun ATCs Collage Sheet
• Winter Kids Collage Sheet
• Snow Collage Sheet
• Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol 12" x 12" Paper Pad
• Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol 8" x 8" Paper Pad
• Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol 6" x 6" Patterns and Solids
• Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol Tags & Pockets
• Graphic 45 A Christmas Carol Decorative Chipboard
• Advert Calendar Tag Ribbon Set
• 1-1/2" Fancy Lace 
• Library Pocket Organizer Box
• Library Pocket Tabbed Dividers
• Manila Library Pockets, Cards and Tags
• Faux Metal Number Plates 1-25
• A Victorian Christmas -Rudolphs Nose Paper Flowers
• Lacquered Holly & Berry Picks 
• Mini Red Pip Berry Garland
• Stitched Leaf Ribbon - Moss Green
• Wired Pine Needle Stems
• Holly Berry Garland
• Fancy Red Holly Berries Mix
• Botanica Holiday Pine Cone Picks
• Wood Snowflakes Cut-Out Set
• Tim Holtz Holiday Greens Thinlit Die Set
• Tim Holtz Snowflake Rosette Die
• Tim Holtz Snowflakes Thinlits Die Set
• Tim Holtz Staked Snowflakes L Die
• Tim Holtz Mini Snowflakes Set
• Tim Holtz Snow Flurries Embossing Folder
• Tim Holtz Christmas Typed Tokens
• ScrapFX Chipboards (Bauble E Merry Christmas, Bow Frames, Music Symbol Collage, Musical Heart, Heart Swirl, Small Squiggle Frame)
• Snowflakes Rubber Stamps
• IndigoBlu Noel Dinkie Stamp
• Tattered Lace "Let it Snow" Die
• Shimmerz Paints (Texturez- tidy widy)
• Own Stash (royal medallion dollies, laces and trims, jute twine, burlap, wood frames and floras, twigs, SNOW acrylic letters, tinsels, jingle bells, felt tree and reindeer, Christmas resins)