Fluttering Hearts; Cards that Capture Love

I always wanted to create something monochromatically with a touch of colour. While such ideas can be easy to come by, the execution part sometimes can get a little challenging. Sieving through my existing stash, I found some supplies that I think I should refresh them by using them instead. The thought of fluttering hearts came to my mind recently. Adding wings and flutter bugs to hearts will be the way to go.

The use of Tim Holtz's Butterfly Frenzy Sizzlit die allows me to diecut a mega tons of butterflies of varying sizes at one pass through the machine. This made producing butterflies an easy task for this project. And this is the final look of the cards I made. 

Oh yes! I made 3 at the end with different sentiments on each card all handwritten by myself. These are mainly made from Tim Holtz older collections together with Spellbinders Love in Flight D-lites dies that have since retired. Though not available in most major craft stores, sometimes you can find them from various eBay or Etsy sellers. Here is a closer look on these cards individually.

I enjoy in making these monochromatic cards and decided to enter this entry for Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Furs or Feathers.

Cheers!

Below is a list of supplies I used to make this card. 

Clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• Tim Holtz Alterations Butterfly Frenzy Sizzlit (retired)
• Tim Holtz Alterations Texture Fades embossing folders in dot matrix, notebook and quilted (retired)
• Tim Holtz Reflection stamps (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Spellbinders Love in Flight D-Lite dies (retired)
• Versafine pigment ink in onyx black (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Neenah heavy weight 110lb classic crest solar white cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 heavy weight 110lb white envelopes (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Astro Design 65lb crafting cardstocks in bright white (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)

Legend:

SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

Always Here for You Cardmaking

In one of my recent hauls, I bought some Pinkfresh Studio (PFS) stamps with their coordinating dies and stencils wanting to try something different. To get myself into this cardmaking journey, I've made a card using PFS Artistic Dahlia stamp set for this month's challenge. 

Instead of stencilling over the florals with inks, I chose to watercolour them instead using my Faber Castell watercolour pencils. Pretty much enjoying the whole process that I decided to make a short reel for this (over at my various social media). And here is the final look of the card.

Adding some sparkles dots on the background using glitter glue from Ranger, including over the embossed sentiments 'Always here for you'.

In my next attempt, I'll be trying out stencilling using various dyed inks. 

Cheers!

Below is a list of supplies I used to make this card. 

Clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• Pinkfresh Studio Artistic Dahlia stamp
• Pinkfresh Studio Artistic Dahlia coordinating die set 
• Spellbinders Four Petal Floral 3D embossing folder (SPB, SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versafine pigment ink in onyx black (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacolor small ink pad in cyan (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Neenah heavy weight 110lb classic crest solar white cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 heavy weight 110lb white envelopes (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• MISTI stamping tool in black
• Faber Castell watercolour pencils set of 24 colours (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Ranger Ink Sticklers in golden rod
• Ranger Ink embossing powder in princess gold (SB, AMZ)

Legend:

SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

Cardmaking Over the Weekend; Cherish Cards

We all have that in our craft storage—crafting dies bought and kept unused (or minimally used). I was sieving through my dies over the last weekend, wondering what I could make, and I found this Cherish die set from Spellbinders 2019 club kits I previously subscribed to. Surprisingly, Spellbinders still have these dies in stock, currently running as clearance past kits sale.

Jan 2019 Club Kit - Large Die of the Month

With the idea of getting back into crafting, I decided to put these dies to use. I crafted two cards out from these dies — a Cherish card for a dear friend of mine and a Mom's card. Well, Mother's Day had just passed, but I wanted to extend the joy of crafting by maximising my existing supplies. I created both backgrounds using a mix of pink mists and my old Prima floral petites 6 x6 stencil, which fits the overall theme pretty well.

To match the cards I've created, I chose a white A6 envelope for the Cherish card and a hot pink one for the Mom's card. 

I made a video on how I created these cards. For a better experience, be sure to hop over to my YouTube to view it. I mounted the finished designs onto A6 notecards (4.5" x 6"), which I made using 110lb (~300 gsm) Neenah cardstock. I used various sentiments from Spellbinders' 'Just Wanted to Say Sentiments', which I embossed them over using ultra-fine silver embossing powder. Unfortunately, this stamp has run out of stock, however, the glimmer foil version is still very much available.

I tried stamping over the sentiments onto the inside of the card, but it ended up a mess! To cover up, I used the scraps I trimmed off from the backgrounds I created as matting to cover up the mistake I made. And it turned out pretty well. Sometimes, it's good to keep whatever scraps are left over; it might save your work!

Breaking away from my usual cardmaking style, these are fresh new perspectives that I tried exploring. I enjoyed creating the background myself instead of sieving through various pattern papers to match. 

Cheers!

Below is the list of supplies I used for these cards. 

Clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• Spellbinders Cherish - Large Die of the Month (Jan 2019)
• Spellbinders Just Wanted to Say Sentiments acrylic stamps
• Lettering dies from own stash
• Prima Floral Petites 6x 6 stencil (retired)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacraft small ink pad in bubblegum
• Ranger Ink ultra fine embossing powder in silver (SB, AMZ)
• Neenah heavy weight 110lb classic crest solar white cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 heavy weight 110lb white envelopes (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 hot pink envelope (from mix coloured selections) (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Daler Rowney system 3 in white titanium acrylic paint
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Glass Mixed Media Cutting Mat (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Time Holtz Stampers Anonymous Acrylic Grid Block Set (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Misting sprays (retired) - Lindy Stamp Gang cotton candy, Shimmerz cotton candy and sweet heart

Legend:

SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

French Vinaigrette Bottle Cap Design

Occasionally, I'll make myself some vinaigrette dressing for my salads or as gifts to others. I'll make them in bulk, at least 1L (~34oz) each time. Because they're handmade, I usually try to finish them within a week. 1L is actually quite a lot for a week's supply of salad dressing, and it does make sense to gift them away. That's exactly what I did on many occasions. Sometimes, I'll make it as one of the potluck dishes for gatherings.

I created this dressing label, printed them according to size, and pasted them over several caps of those jars, which are recycled from jams and sauces. Of course, they needed to be cleaned thoroughly before I filled them with the dressing. To give a feel of an old granny recipe, I covered the lids' edges with jute strings.

I packed them in brown packaging recycled from various packages from my shopping orders, paper, which I  and they're ready to be gifted. 

My own homemade dressing on my salad.

This is one of the ways I recycled some items at home and try to make it giftable. You are free to download and use the label of your own personal usage for your own French Vinaigrette dressing. However, I'd be very appreciative if these are not modified further for resale and distribution.

Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador Call 2024 -2025

It has been a really long time. Though I've been rather inactive and did some projects here and there form time to time, in actual fact I was lurking around keeping myself updated on what's happening within the crafting community. And YES! I decided to head back and hope to be part of Graphic 45 for this 2024 - 2025 Brand Ambassador team after my last term with them in 2018.

For this year's project submission, I delved into Graphic 45's retired calendar collection, Children's Hour. This undertaking has been one of my most extensive projects, utilising the majority of the collection to create these 12 monthly journal pamphlets, each representing a month of the year. These pamphlets are housed in a handmade bookcase, crafted entirely from scratch.

There is so much photos can tell and I think a video tour might be better to show this project. For the very last minute, I decided to do a quick one.

To add a touch of uniqueness, I randomly stamped the sides of the bookcase with a G45 floral background stamp using Tsukineko Brilliance galaxy gold ink. The result is a textured yet not too overpowering effect. For embellishments, I incorporated my newly bought stitched flower and medallion dies from Spellbinders, a reflection to match all the pamphlets' front covers I have made. Loads of stitching work are done here!

Pamphlets are all hand-stitched individually, measuring 4" by 5.5", each having enough pages for a month's worth of writing if written on a single page daily. Because the calendar collection has each of its colours and designs, I simply use the design for the whole series without having to think much on colour and design matching.

Each pamphlet was stamped and embossed with gold with the month (unfortunately, G45 has retired this calendar stamp set) on the tab of the insert pages, which I created using the folder die from the G45 Folder & Sentiment die set.

This project took me over a week to complete with nearly 3-4 days of prep work before I could piece everything together. Nonetheless, it's a fulfilling one given I've not been crafting actively for the past year, and I hope through this ambassador call, I can bring more interesting projects should I get into the team with Graphic 45.

Cheers!

Supplies List:

• Graphic 45 Children's Hour collection (available at my ETSY)
• Graphic 45 Floral Background and Calendar (retired) stamp sets
• Graphic 45 Matt Pearls Gems (retired)
• Graphic 45 Folder & Sentiments (SB, AMZ) Tags & Flowers (SB, AMZ, AMZSG) and Policy & Decorative (AMZ, AMZSG) metal dies sets
• Spellbinders Stitched dies - Medallion (SB, AMZ) and Flower (SB, SPB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Spellbinders Label Forty Nestabilities & D-lite Flourishes dies (retired)
• Ranger Ink Embossing Power in Gold (SB, AMZ)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tsukineko Brilliance ink in Galaxy Gold (AMZ, AMZSG)
• DMC Thread #676 - Old Gold (AMZ)
• Ornate Metal Feet (available at my ETSY)
• 80gsm Papers (for pages)
• Vellum

Legend - SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.