Keep crafting

Some weeks I craft more and most weeks less. I have not gotten around to scheduling my posts so they are still fairly random at the moment.

One thing I did wish was for more time to craft, and more time to play with my kids. Both parts are linked in some ways, since ms E is bogged down by spelling revision every week and she too can't craft - while I would be entertaining bbC while ms E studies.

Anyway, in the moments that I do manage to grab, I do make quick birthday cards while peeking guiltily at my project life stack from the corner of my eye...

Here's one I did recently with my spellbinder tags dies, worked my sizzix and pull out some loose supplies for a quick fix. The end result is viola!

Birthday girl Esther & the celebrating party loved it. And well, so did I :)

Till the next crafty post, keep crafting!

Usefulness of mini pads

I have unknowingly amassed a collection of mini paper pads, from brights to pastels to bizarre prints. Strangely, I use them very little simply because I'm not sure what I should do with the tiny prints.

So far, I've use them on mini albums and not much else. However, I've started using them on cards, maximizing what I see on a single piece into a card.

Here are two that I did recently around the Easter theme. Both are birthday related. One is a tag, and the other is atop a little box. I finished the second with a tag that was hand-written as it felt more personal though it may look less professional.

Each were made from a single sheet of 6x6. Which do you prefer?

Thanksgiving

It's the time of the year to keep crafting for thanksgiving and gratitude. And for the kids, it's making thank you cards for teachers.

Today it's bbC's turn to start the process as she will be leaving the current preschool in two weeks time, to change to a new preschool next year.

Here's a sneak of work in progress as I work with her to put together her items.

And what ms E was making last week? It's been completed and filled with her friends notes and addresses, as it is also her final year in preschool before she steps into primary school in 2013.

Myself, I've been crafting as well. A quick thank you card exchange in a course I was attending, & my recipient is a male classmate.

Maybe it's time to think about crafting and thanking someone today too. Start yours :)

Want a future

The talented DorcasYHJ held a facebook group challenge on her Moments Recorded, asking for entries following the guidelines of 1) 4 patterned papers , 2) 3 brands and this was what I came up with.

I pulled out a piece of paper from my Prima ledger pack and recognised this as something from Pixie Glen (which incidentally I did a project with and I taught a class with it as well). I dug through my scraps bag and pulled out a K&Co, Kaisercraft, October afternoon and Pink Paislee to go with this layout.  I also pulled out my distress inks and mask and did a first cut in an hour in the night.  When I snapped the photo of the first cut, I realised that it did not have enough depth. In the morning, I worked on deepening the masked effects.

I think it quite paid off since I think this turned out to be a really striking layout.  I did not spend a lot of time putting it together but the longest time of inactivity was actually on the titling and journalling.  I spent a good 10-20 minutes staring at the layout! hahahhaa.... I need to work on my titling skill.

Treasure 2012

Being still in 2012 and starting a Chinese New Year, we went around paying respects to our families on both sides (husband and mine).  While waiting for the other sisters to arrive, hubby took a photo of me with the girls.  It's my first one, if I'm not wrong.  If it's not, it's my favourite.  I decided to put into a layout and remind myself of all the coming milestones they will have and to remember to look out for them.

BbC started her playgroup this week and it was a up/down week for her and us as she attended the 2 hour playgroup daily.  I spent a lot of time with her as I took the whole week off.  Thankful for the week off as ms E also fell ill on Monday afternoon so I was around to nurse her.  Now both are recovering and I am sleepy... back to work next week.

Still, have a Happy Chinese New Year all! It's still within the 15 days ! :)

Materials : Paper - DCVW, Bazill kraft, MME kraft; Flowers - Prima & K&Co; Leaves - Prima; Alphabet Thickers; Maya stamp, pin, button ; Pink Paislee mask; buttons

New Year Blooms

I tag this as the last project I did in 2011, and the first I have done in 2012.  I was making the bloom brooches in the night for 4 friends who were different from one another.  The tags to put them on were pieced together on the first morning of 2012.

As you can see, it is a fast and easy way to pull together a gift and make it look more complete than just giving it plain.  I find that putting a little consideration and some feeling will bring you a long way in putting together the final product. 

If you have some great ideas for displaying and giving your gifts, do share your idea with me!

Old School Bond

My cousin has a little girl about the same age as my firstborn, Miss E.  They were born two weeks apart, with Miss E being the older one.  The two girls spend a lot of their early growing years together as my cousins make effort to meet up every week so they would bond.  Of course, we all grew up as close cousins as well so we unconciously wanted the same thing for our children.

Here's one taken at the Mid-Autumn festival where the two were delighted to see each other after a long break. 

This was made from papers from Pink Paislee's Old School and Butterfly Garden.  The trims are from Prima, including the wire that I twined and twirl.  The cage, large tag and bird are recycled cardboard from 7 Gypsies' shadow box, cut by the Tim Holtz Sizzix Dies.  I just love sparkly and glittery stuff so I had to paint my chipboard bird with pinkish glitter.   That little "old school" strip was from that little extra bit that always comes with the 12x12 paper.  Recycled it into the title as I thought yes, this is really old school kind of bonding!

Girls have all the fun yes?

Mini for Mummy

It's been a long time since my last post as I had been busy and couldn't find time to take photo when it was not raining. Finally I managed to catch some golden sun today after so many days of afternoon rain, so I quickly had this mini album photographed and tonight I get some moments to blog about it.

I had been altering things and making scrap stuff here and there for people and thought I should make something for my mom. So I set about choosing photos (the hardest part as there are so many!) and defining the moments before putting them into this little album. There are never enough pages for books like this, I'd say!

Here are the pictures.  I love this album because, again, it has lots of experimental stuff that I tried and I find that it is like an archive of both memories and progress.  Ms E loves the book because she would take the book and flip almost every night.

I won't show all the pages, but here are some that I would like to show.

 

Materials : Album - Me & My Big Ideas; Papers - Prima Annalee; Stamps - Fiskars, Purple Onion;  Embellishments - Making Memories, K&Co, Joann.com, Tim Holtz, Ribbons, Handmade flowers, Basic Grey, KCK, Glitz Girls.