Mother's Day Card - Amal

Last weekend, my nieces and nephew came over for 2 days of cardmaking frenzy. Exams are over for the kids, and I happen to have the weekend free too. So all of us took advantage of the time to make cards.


First up were Mother's Day cards. Since there were 4 kids, there will be 4 cards. I have been making cards with these kids since they could tell red from blue, and over the years, each have develop their own style and preferences. Gone are the days when I could sit all of them together and everyone makes a variation of the same design. Nowadays I give attention to one kid at a time, and create with them their unique, individual cards.


First up was Amal (13 yrs old) and this is her Mother's Day card:

We got the design off a magazine and Amal chose papers from Basic Grey's What's Up stack. This design requires the layering of matching/complementing papers. Some of you might be concerned that some parts of the papers are hidden behind the many layers and cannot be seen. But my advise is to do it still. It makes a difference, trust me.

We chose to mat the pattern papers with the same colour to give the card a coordinated look. The matting also showcases the different patterns and sets them apart.

We spent some time deciding the main image until Amal decided this cat is the one she wanted. She coloured the cat with markers. After matting the cat image, we proceeded to make the rosette. Making a rosette is really simple.

Step 1 - Choose the paper. Cut it to 12" x 1"(this will be the radius of the rosette)

Step 2 - Score lines onto the paper. I used 1cm spacing. This means the rosette is 1cm high

Step 3 - Fold box / fan style (mountain fold, valley fold, mountain fold, valley fold, and so on)

Step 4 - Stick the edges together to form a circle with the folds as the sides (like the pleats of a skirt)

Step 5 - Flatten the circle, by collapsing the folds (like gathering the skirt at the waist, and spreading rhe hemline)

Step 6 - Use a circle shaped paper, and a large glue dot to secure the rosette, front and back.

(If you found that totally confusing, you can try attending my classes where we learn to make rosettes :)

Amal's rosette is decorated with a button and a bow of paper string.

We almost forgot the sentiment too! It was the last to be added to the card.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Next time I will be showing you the other Mother's Day's cards that the kids made. See you!

Some cards

I've been a busy preparing for classes and have a few project ideas swimming around in my head at the moment. They are clamouring for my attention to make them come to life. I will need to sit down one of these days to create.

In the meantime, here are some photos of s few cards I made a few weeks ago.

This card basically just plays with pattern paper and embossed paper. Punching the lace border in black really made it stand-out. Adding lines of black (layering on the card & ribbon) can add visual interest and make your cards stunning!



I was looking at my Hollyhock stamp (from Stampendous) and just decided to white emboss it. I sponged in some color to make the flowers stand out from the background. Punched lace border, pearls and a sentiment to finish off the card. Keeping the colors in monochrome (shades of one color) makes the whole card come together nicely.

The colors of this card came baout due to the pattern papers I chose. The stamps from Stampendous were perfect for this sentiment from Impression Obsession. It still looked a bit empty to me so I added the die-cut doily. Bright cheerful colors can help to make your cards feel light and not so serious, even when you have 'serious' images.



I added interest to this otherwise simple card by dragging my distress ink pad directly on the edges of the paper, to give those lines you see around the typewriter image. I spent quite a long time looking for a pattern paper to match the die-cut Lattice border, and finally settled on this one. Kept the card simple to avoid cluttering the image.

Hope to find more time to create more cards soon.

Thanks for viewing!

CAS Card

This is the first ever CAS card that I have done. (CAS - Clean and Simple) 
I found this style to be very difficult for me. Everything depends on a few items, and they must be such that there is impact. It must also be balanced, coordinated and CLEAN. No stray ink stains, no accidental blotches as they will show up starkly.

I had to do a male card, which is itself a challenge, and since the intended recipient is a no-nonsense kind of man, I thought CAS would be best. 

I spent more time than I had intened just getting the elements together. Getting the right color combination for the strips of narrow paper, and arranging them. Vertical or horizontal? Should I put a layering piece below? What color would that be?

After I had put them together, it didn't look like anything I had envisioned. So I had to add more to make it look complete. That was the brain-draining, mind-wrecking part of the whole cardmaking. How to add more things without cluttering it up (therefore no longer CAS) and keep it musculine too.
In the end, I added white paper strings.....

Well, I'm rather happy with the final result, although I think it will be a while before I attempt more CAS cards.

Thanks for visiting!

Final Sneak Peak

They are finally ready! My new cards are ready for my upcoming new cardmaking class.

Here is the final sneak peak before they are launched.

Look out for their launch, sometime this coming week!

Thanks for viewing!

Sneak Peak Part 2

As promised in my previous post, here are some more sneak peeks at my upcoming cardmaking class.

This time, I did not focus on any theme in particular, instead just created cards, free and easy. However, I have been thinking of pulling them together as a set by using the same papers.

As mentioned before, these are just prototypes and subject to change.

In my next post, hopefully I will have the complete set out and ready to be launched!
Thanks for looking!

Sneak Peek

Now that the Xmas and the Valentine seasons have come and gone, more general cards have been showcased. The spring / flower theme is everywhere and these serve as great inspiration for all-occasion cards.

There has been some demand for cardmaking classes as people start to see the value that they get in attending these classes. Not only do they get to have fun while crafting with like-minded people, sharing ideas and experiences; they also get great ideas and layouts that they can use for making their own cards. We all know that ideas multiply so there is just more of them going around. And of course, they get to go home with a set of beautiful cards, ready to be sent out.

I got some ideas for some cards lately that I would probably incorporate them into my new class. Please note that these are just prototypes and subject to change.

Look out for more sneak peeks in my next post.

I'm targetting to launch this class sometime in March 2012.

Thanks for viewing!

It's Something I am Passionate About & Lily Pad Feb CCC

Oh I love making cards! I get so much joy and satisfaction after I manage to come up with a good looking card. I love the whole process - coming up with the layout, choosing papers, coordinating colors, the sentiments, the embellishments.  And of course, the final product.

And after that, I cant wait to make more!

If you never had a hobby that you are passionate about, I don't expect you to understand.

But the past few months have been a whirlwind for me. My crafting universe was filled only with events and upcoming classes. I had spent weeks conceiving new classes and doing up samples. And after the classes have been launched, I spent time preparing the materials for the classes. Dont get me wrong, I am very thankful I have these classes. Especially when I get to share (and infect) others with my passion for this craft :)

Well, on Sunday I found myself with some free time. What a rare and wonderful thing that is! So I surfed through my favourite blogs and - aaarrgghhh! I had missed the launch of the new Lily Pad February CCC! Fortunately, the deadline is 15 Feb, so I had just about 3 days to come up with a card and submit it.

After looking at the themes for this month's CCC, I decided on a BIRD card. I also tried to follow the color palette of Fawn, Chestnut and Blush.

Here is the card I came up with:

I am in love with Stampendous! birds. This one is CRS5029 Jumbo Songbird. I used VersaMagic to ink the stamp. The sentiment is from Stampendous! also - SSC1116 Friendship Assortment.

Ahhhhh.... I felt so good after completing this card! I hope to be able to squeeze some time this weekend to make a couple more cards. I have so many ideas to try, I almost wish I do not need to sleep. Either that or there should be more than 24 hours in a day!

Thanks for visiting & have a good day ahead!