A Bride-to-Be Card for the Gorgeous Bride

"Happiness blossoms where seeds of kindness have been thoughtfully planted."

I'm not sure who actually came out with that quote, nonetheless it's a thoughtfully penned phrase and I'd think it doesn't really cost that much to be kind. It's all about the thoughts that count. One of my lovely sisters-in-Christ, Sarah is getting married real soon, and in celebration of her upcoming Wedding, a group of us decided to throw her a bridal shower. I was therefore tasked to do up a card for her.

And here is what I've made for her, which was already presented to her 2 weeks ago during her bridal shower. Garden Goddess was my immediate choice of paper collection simply because ladies in general love flowers and have somehow wished we could be one of the most gorgeous ladies in a beautiful garden. I'd love to have such moment as such.  

"The flower doesn't dream of the bees. It blossoms and the bee comes."

~ Mark Nepo ~

That's the core message for Sarah. And this is how much I love to use this collection for weddings! Full of blossoms, flowers and quotes as such. For beauty blossoms from the inside, that's where happiness come within! When the flower blossoms beautifully, the bee just come. This reminds me of Proverbs 31:10-31, The Virtuous Wife which describes a woman of exceptional character and worth. This really serves as a very good guide for women in how to become like one. Likewise, a good search list for a man to seek after such woman.

To adorn and frame up those lovely messages, I pulled out one of my Spellbinders die kits and use them for the very first time. A little shout out here for Spellbinders lovers - get a 15% first for your first club kit subscription. Key in CLUB15 under promo during checkout. Don't miss it! It's only good till this month end.

Gold foil cardstock is my favourite friend now! Trust me, they are the MUST HAVE cardstock in your stash simply because they serve as very good matching base and elements for all your elegant cards. A touch of it will just sparkle the whole thing up.

A card itself is never enough to be gifted alone, and this is where the matching pattern and solids come in place to play a vital role - an envelope. I just felt "naked" for the card and perhaps some "coverings" will be good. When it was all done, I found them to be very good...

Before Graphic 45 discontinued matching alpha stickers, I've loads of them all given by them as part of my DT package previously before I make a come-back to re-join them for this year. It got so much that I just stored them in a huge box thinking it's probably one of the items that I hardly will use. Well, it came in handy at such a point that I believe it'd be good to personalize the card for Sarah. The alpha stickers came from the Time to Celebrate paper collection; the closest match I could find and it matches the whole theme seamlessly.

I've included some useful tips over at Graphic 45 blog. Do remember to hop over there to find out more. And yes! Sarah is glad to receive this! To end of this entry for today:

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are charming gardeners who make our souls blossom..." 

~ Marcel Proust ~

Isn't that lovely? I just love how these quotes matches the paper collection. Below are a list of supplies I've used to do up this card which you may be interested to know where to get them:

• Graphic 45 Time to Celebrate alpha stickers
• 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)
• Chipboard (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Graphic 45 antique brass stamped metal brads 
• Spellbinders Club Kits (Fancy Floral Frame set)
• 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)
• Golden trim ribbon (own stash)

That's all for today! And I know I've not been really updating as often, but I do honestly appreciate for all of you who are avid and faithful followers of my works, patient enough to wait for my works. I'll be updating really soon!

A Skinny Imagine Junk Journal

About 3 months ago, I made my very first attempt in doing up a junk journal. As unsure and scary as it seems to me, I managed to get one done up at the end of the day. It wasn't easy for me as making albums is my Achilles heel. For this month Graphic 45's monthly challenge, I was one of the few ambassadors to do up a junk journal. Thankfully, my very first attempt didn't make this task a daunting one. Bracing ahead, this is what I've done up!!!

Instead of a bulky book, I decided perhaps I should do up a skinny version where it's handy enough for my very own keepsaking. This skinny little junk journal measures 4.75" by 8"; a pretty good size to me. In view that perhaps not a lot of crafters are daring enough to do up a complex one, introducing such a size might be less daunting. 

Super short and sweet; I kept the front cover as simple as possible. Not so much over the top yet it looks like a noteworthy kind of journal. This junk journal consists of 3 magazines within, stitched onto the spine, with as many as 20 over pages to be filled in due time. 

A combination of old vintage stuffs, recyclables, together with pattern papers, stuffs and such were added to give the junk journal the junky identity. I'd suppose that's how it should be, isn't that so? Well, those matching Imagine acrylic stamps just came in time to pair up this beautiful collection. I've literally used all of them for this journal. Here is a video showing a short glimpse on how the inside of the book looks like...

Right now, I can't wait to get those pages filled up. Looks like I'll have to do up a junk journal series on this book since there's an abundant of designs from the Imagine collection that I can use them to fill them up. And that what makes creating so far when you've all the matching stuffs. And YES! I think I'd really do that soon. 

Here is the list of supplies I've used for this project which you might be interested to know where to get them from:

• Graphic 45 Imagine Collection 
• 8" x 8" paper pad  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• 12" x 12" patterns and solids  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• Create yourself clear acrylic stamps (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• Dream clear acrylic stamps  (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com) 
• Clearsnap Decades Dye Pad
• Venetian Lace (Scrapbook.com) 
• Photogenic (Scrapbook.com)
• Aleene's Always Ready Tacky Glue (Blitsy)
• Tea-dyed papers
• Cream cardstock
• Ribbons (golden trims, grosgrain ribbon)

Meanwhile, happy crafting and junk journaling! See you guys very soon!!

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)

My First Post as Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador - Fairie Dust Magical Door

After all the traveling within SE Asia, finally I'm back with my very first blog post as Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador. As much as I'd like to stay consistent to update my blog and YouTube Channel on a regular basis, unfortunately I'm still very much stuck with other commitments. Till I iron things out, very soon I hope I'll have more time to stay focus on things I want to do.

Without further ado, let's go straight to what I've created for Graphic 45 as this June #G45Selfie challenge. I'm reviving my past tutorial that reflects my style of creating in the kind of craft I'm into. Sharing here is re-creation of a magical fairy door using Fairie Dust collection via a video tutorial I created previously as Graphic 45 DT member. 

Believe it or not, I'm not a huge fan of purple. Simply not a colour I'll fancy the most even it's consider a royal colour that used to cost 3X more than gold centuries ago. Despite the fact that purple is not my colour of choice, I hardly restrict myself from using purple for creating. To give the door a magical feel, I used a gold as a complementary colour to match with the pastel purple. Practically speaking, I'm probably using the "most expensive commodities" for this magical door. 

And here is the video tutorial in how to create this magical door. This tutorial merely show the technical aspect in creating this door and I leave the embellishing of the door open so that you can create the kind of magic you want without restriction.

I've provided some practical tips in how to embellish your door over at Graphic 45 blog, do remember to pop over to get these handy tips. For your interest, below is the list of supplies I used for this project together with links to where to get them:

• Graphic 45 Fairie Dust Collection (12"x 12" Kit, 8"x 8" Pad)
• Graphic 45 dies (Large, ATC & Flower, Regular & Gear)
• Graphic 45 Ivory Tags (Large, Regular, ATC)
• Graphic 45 Shabby Chic Drawer Pull
• Tim Holtz 8" x 8" Metallic Kraft (Blitsy, Scrapbook.com)
• Spellbinder Donna Salazar Doll Accessories Etched Dies (fairy wings)
• Own stash (1/8" satin ribbon, golden dresdens, buttons, fairy resin)

New Brews Over at my Etsy Store

For those who are unaware, I do have an Etsy shop since 2009. Since it has been quite some time I'm "tidying up" stuffs in my Etsy store, I felt it's time to do some "polishing" in my store as well as listing some new items. Not much, just 2 items which are the latest creations I've made for this year. 

One is the Pryotechniques steampunk mini junk journal, and the other is the Buxom Fairies Sconces decor. Above is an orientation video on the junk journal I'm selling at my Etsy store. 

In order to continue the kind of work I'd want to do, I do hope to earn some money in order to fund my passion. I not asking for much but your little support will serve as an encouraging platform for me to continue this. I'm also hoping I'd be able to offer some kits or more tutorials for sale online. If there's feasible technology and when time permits, I'd very much to go into online teaching to supplement the videos I'm creating on my YouTube channel.

On top of these 2 new listed items, I'm offering clearance sales on some of my past projects as well which most of them are listed up to 50% off. Do hop over to my shop to view more. I shall see you guys very soon again as I come back for my first project with Graphic 45 as their brand ambassador.