Showing posts with label Time to Celebrate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time to Celebrate. Show all posts

Tuesday 4 December 2018

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:
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!


Sunday 22 March 2015

Graphic 45 Design Team Audition 2015



Yes it's the Graphic 45 Design Team Call; one of the most exciting event ever!!! I was very glad to make it into this wonderful team for 2014/15 and I should say my experience with Graphic 45 was truly a heaven one... I love my fellow teammies, the amazing people behind Graphic 45 and truly enjoy the cohesiveness and support we had together as a team... It made me feel like a family... As much I'd like to wish we could never part, I know I'll miss my current team dearly... 

Sieving through my past Graphic 45 projects from my last audition to being on the team till date, I've seen myself grown artistically, evolving into a different creative level; an experience that I'll truly treasure for sure... Though I'm still searching for an identity as a budding artist, I'm very grateful for this wonderful opportunity that have brought me this far... Here again, I'm trying out for another year, in hope I can have this opportunity again to share my works in a brand new different level...

And here is my entry, featuring some of my favourite projects...

Project #1 - Come Away with Me Stacked Suitcases

This was one of the biggest projects till date; building all these suitcases from scratch and took me almost a week to complete everything... Wasn't an easy job but due to my obsessions on stacked suitcases, I wanted it so much that I just went crazy to build this mini version...  

More details about this project can be found here... 



I guess I can never had enough suitcases, these little matchbox suitcases are just part of my addiction that I had to create a tutorial...


Project #2 - A Snowman's Baggage & Christmas Suitcase

In sequel to my matchbox suitcases, I did these suitcases for last Christmas... It's a sudden inspiration coming from Disney's movie Frozen and my niece, after hearing her singing the snowman song to my dad... 

More details about this project can be found here... 



Project #3 - Botanical Tea Violin Display Stand

I tend to keep things and when I found my violin, I felt old... Those were the days; bringing me memories... Each time I dug things, there'll be something that caught me and I'll always get inspired somehow... Nevertheless, making this stand for my violin was a result from digging old things... Spring cleaning don't sound that scary after all... It became one of my inspiration sources...

 More details about this project can be found here... 



Project #4 - A Christmas Kaleidoscope

This was one such recycling project that I put in extra effort to conduct some research in making functional kaleidoscope... I've seen quite a number of tutorials online but not all are able to attain favourable results... I tried and made several attempts before finally make this into a tutorial...

More details about this project can be found here... 



Project #5 - Come Away with Me Altered Postbox

I'm always a big fan of Nicola Battilana and love minis and little things... I altered this post box piggy bank and revamped into a vintage one with failing parcels and mini mailbags... Away from the traditional red postbox, I decided to make it blue to match the paper collection... 

More details about this project can be found here... 




Project #6 - Time to Celebrate Patina Box

This was one of my Graphic 45 newsletter assignments using the 5" x 5" mixed media box... I was tasked to alter the box with stenciling and stamping technique on the exterior of the box only, strictly no papers but only in the interior of the box... This challenging assignment had actually pushed me one step further, putting my creative brain cells into a new level.. And finally I came up with this Patina look which a tutorial is available...

More details about this project can be found here... 



Project #7 - Precious Memories Baby Boy Patina Keepsake Box

For this Winter CHA, I revisited my Patina tutorial and create a pastel blue version of Patina together with Precious Memories paper collection... This keepsake was especially made for a friend of mine who is currently residing in Chicago and just had a baby boy last December...

More details about this project can be found here... 



Project #8 - Typographic Grunge Altered Bookend

This wooden bookend was built by my youngest sister as part of her school project and has been kept in one of the drawers for more than 10 years... We managed to discover this one day when I was doing some spring cleaning at home... Again, another "digging" inspiration, I altered this bookend for her using a great amount of Graphic 45 staples and other metal embellishments I had in my stash...

More details about this project can be found here... 




Project #9 - A Thanksgiving Card

I made this card during the last Thanksgiving; my very virgin attempt on the Big Shot machine... Owning a Big Shot was never at the top of my mind despite I crafted a lot... It's because of the various dies given to us as part of our DT package, this indeed had changed my mind... 

I had penned down my maiden voyage with this virgin trial here...


Project #10 - Time to Celebrate Birthday Pop-Up Card

Never once in my life I attempted to make such a big card... This was my first attempt... Stands at A4 in size when close, this card will pop into a bouquet of flowers when open... This birthday card is especially handmade for a 98 year old granny...

More details about this project can be found here...



Though I managed to get into the DT last year, my Graphic 45 teaching opportunity at The Art Republic (AR) ended shortly... Very sadly, due to the rental hike they are unable to sustain the business and was forced to close shop... Here are the final 2 projects I had taught before AR close shop...

Project #11 - Botanical Tea Spring Duet Album

An album full of pockets and all pages are hand-bound together using modified saddle stitch which I put in an extra effort to explore and modify the stitches just for this album...

More details about this project can be found here...



Project #12 - Wanderlust Mixed Media Shadow Box

My very last class project for The Art Republic using Come Away with Me paper collection and 8" x 8" matchbox staple... This project was inspired by the 90s sitcom Friends' Central Perk fictitious coffee shop, just that there's no coffee served but more towards a travel shop...

More details about this project can be found here...




Thank you so much for viewing this entry of mine and I hope my projects have been an inspiration... I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Charee, Joanna, Aimee, Diane, Jeff and all people from the Graphic 45 family for providing me a great year in the DT... I hope to work with this amazing team again very soon...

Last but not the least, I hereby wish all applicants Good Luck for this audition... 

Thank You!!!



Thursday 11 December 2014

Time to Celebrate; A Birthday Pop-Up Card

Just a few weeks ago, someone posted a request in one of the local scrapping FB group I'm in, asking for volunteers to make some handmade cards for a Christmas and Birthday celebration for the old folks... The event was scheduled on the 13th December, which is this Saturday and it coincides with one of the grannies' birthday whose age is 98!!! Wow!!! She's having a long blissful life to live till that age... So I decided to volunteer to make a card for this birthday girl...

What really took me by surprise is the requirement of this card; it has to be A4 in size (8.27" x 11.69") when folded... It never occurred to me a card need to be that big to be given... Seriously, I was indeed taken aback... However, I got to know that the reason why the card needs to be that big - it has to be signed and penned down by the staffs and volunteers who organize this party... It must be a huge group I suppose...

Given the fact that I wasn't a true card-maker, making such a big card definitely puts me into challenging mode... For weeks, I couldn't possess the mojo in cardmaking, not to say in doing up such a big card... I sieved through my Graphic 45 Time to Celebrate collection for umpteen times till I finally have an idea what I want to do... I decided to do a pop-up... Completely a "steal" technique from YouTube and notably Martha Stewart's Mother's Day pop-up card, I re-created this card with added dimensions, together with the birthday girl's name on it... With all the excitement still hovering over my newly bought Big Shot plus I've received my dies (Yeah!!!), I attempted to die-cut on acrylic... And it works on the acrylic craft sheet that comes in my Clear Scraps DT package!!! It was a thrill to see patterns popping out when I passed the acrylic sheet through my Big Shot!!! Heehee... Can't help it but I just wanna find things to try on... 

Alright, I digress... So here I'm presenting this card for this 98 year old birthday girl... Hope she will like it... I hope this will give you an idea when it comes to making such a big card... Trust me, pop-up works amazingly well on big cards and I'm glad I made this choice for this card... 

Front of the card... As it's a pop-up, I'd have to add a ribbon to tie it down..
A close-up view on the embellishments...
The card that pops up with a bouquet of flowers...
The name of the birthday girl was added here...
The back of the card...

Here is a list of supplies that I used to make this card:

Saturday 15 November 2014

A Lovely Triptych; Sentimental Piece for my Niece

Today on Clear Scraps blog post, I'm sharing this lovely triptych featuring my niece and her newly married French husband... Using the sweet pastel colours of Graphic 45 Time to Celebrate paper collection, I created this really simple but yet enchanting triptych for her... Because the photo that's taken by her friend, Mattew Seah is really sweet and simple, I do not want to overly embellish it and just added a little damask texture to it... And of course not missing the fluttering butterflies...

This couple is really tall I should say and I'm glad that my niece has married a man whom she truly loves... I wish them happiness in their marriage and hope she will like this...

Here is the list of supplies I used to create this project:






Friday 17 October 2014

Graphic 45 Newsletter - Patina Mixed Media Tutorial

Mixed media is endless with so many possibilities. And it all started from imagination. In this week Graphic 45 email newsletter, I'll be showing you how to create this beautiful vintage patina look on this ivory 5" x 5" mixed media box. If you haven't subscribed to Graphic 45 newsletter, click HERE to subscribe. You wouldn't want to miss other wonderful projects and exculsive tutorials featured on newsletters.

I was deeply inspired with layered frames that I've pinned on my Pinterest. And since I've several resins frames in my stash, I thought it was the best time to fully make use of them and created this lovely sentiment.

Sit back and enjoy! Happy crafting!!!




Here is a list of supplies to create this sentiment box: