One of my Favorite Stamping Techniques.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Today's actually my Friday so TGIS! LOL! Welcome to another Christmas Card Challenge (Week 9)! We make Christmas cards all year long to make sure we've got more than enough come Holiday season. Please join in!

Week 9's challenge is to make a card using:



One of my favorite techniques is to stamp without black lines. Sometimes, when I want something more challenging, I do this. The result is a very soft image. Perfect for a vintage-themed card, don't ya think?



The trick is to use a light-colored ink. I used Haystack from Unity Stamp. The stamp is from The Greeting Farm (A Cheeky Christmas). The papers are from Graphic 45, and the stickers are from Love Elsie. Used a spica pen for her facial features. It sure was hard to blend without my usual black lines as guides but thinking outside the box is a must for me once in awhile.

Please visit the CCC blog for more info and inspiration! Hope you have a great rest of the week, and I'll see you back here soon! :)

Baby, Baby, Baby...Oh!

(yes, that is the Justin Bieber song I'm singing, LOL!)

Hi everyone!

Hope you're all doing well. I, for one, am so glad that this week is coming to an end. It's been kind of a terrible week for me...very emotionally draining. But I'd rather not talk about it right now.

Just a quick post about this card I made for a friend and her new baby girl. Used Tiny Baby (SOG) and an old Basic Grey DPs, Jolee's stickers, and ribbon from my stash.

I am working this weekend so gotta keep this short. Hope you have a wonderful one!

Luv,



P.S. Am super jealous right now of all the people at CHA - the Craft and Hobby Association has a convention in L.A./Anaheim this weekend. One day, I'll go :). If any of you stamp company owners need volunteers, let me know.

Favorite Book Turned into a Movie at TGF.

Hello, everybody!

I barely made it, but I decided to play along with The Greeting Farm's Customer Challenge at Splitcoaststampers- "A Night at the Bookstore."

I went with the Favorite Book Turned into A Movie and went with The Help. It was my favorite book last year. And I felt that the movie did the book some justice. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you dive into this moving tale about this historic time. Despite some challenges, these women show a great lesson in humanity. They overcame adversity through friendship and love.

I chose Nurse Anya, Cheeky Cherry Pie, and a retired stamp called Hope and Grace Laundry (i think). I altered them a bit by taking off the nurse's cap and cutting Cheeky's hair. Pardon the uneven coloring of their faces as I do not own all of the Copics to do African American faces.

And yay, I got to use my scraps! The crinkled ribbon is home made by Amy.
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In other news, have you seen how I was picked to be on the SOG Customer Showcase? I FINALLY 'won' something at SOG, LOL. And I'm very grateful to Amy, who was actually the one who chose my card. Amy, thank you so much - you are probably my biggest supporter here!! For more info on my card, see this post.

Smooches!

Christmas Card Challenge - Coloring.

Wow, can you all believe we are at the end of January already??

I sure can't. Wasn't it just Christmas yesterday? LOL!

Speaking of Christmas, I know it just passed! But it's never too early to start making those Holiday cards! What better way to get motivated and inspired than to join us weekly?

It's Week 8 over at the Christmas Card Challenges blog, and this week's challenge is:



Color with copics, colored pencils, even crayons!

Stamping an image and coloring it with my Copics is my usual card-making style. The trick was finding a stamp that was different and new for me, one that would take a lot of time to color. I finally got some nativity-themed ones, and this Sweet Nativity (Penny Black) one is from 123 Stitch.



I just love this image. They look so wholesome and cozy, and their facial expressions are right on. Love the curious animals all around. Super cute, right? :)

Hope you play along! See the CCC blog for the rules and more inspiration!

Tata!

Party in A Card

Good morning, y'all!

Am finally getting to play with some stamps I won from TGF! This card features Simply Anya. She is such a beauty and so much fun to color!

I'm playing along with A Monday Funday Recipe {TGFM16}: sentiments.

My card is super girly, no? It's for one of my BFFs who said she didn't really want to celebrate her birthday. I don't know about you, but I'm BIG on celebrating my birthday. I mean, how often do we, as women, celebrate ourselves?? (sorry, don't mean to alienate the male readers out there). It's the one day of the year you can claim as your own. So what did I do for my friend here? Why, I went ALL OUT of course! :)

I call it "Party in a Card." Tee hee!

XO,


P.S. Most of the supplies are from House of 3s from Pink Paislee (the polka dotted paper was actually part of the packaging, the tag with flower on top, the cake sticker, the banner with sentiment, and the paper with numbers). The rest are from my stash. I colored her with Copics and stamped her using Memento Ink.

Family Currents.

This little guy is 2 1/2 now. Learning so much in pre-school. Lots of new words. Does these cute karate-like moves with his arms/feet when watching Kung-Fu Panda! The other week though, I saw him pulling on each corner of his mouth and sticking his tongue out! Haha! Guess that comes with the territory!



MK loves his Thomas. Given to us by one of my dear friends, M. He sleeps hugging it every night.



Got this from Target when the Missoni line first opened up. It reminds me of how much I had wanted to decorate our house. With the stress of daily life, I've gotten away from that. This year, I plan to go back to my goal. I really want a beautifully-furnished but kid-friendly home. First on the agenda is buy some shelves. Second is to purge some stuff.



Still loving my accessories. You could tell what kind of crafter I am by my earrings, no? Embellishments, anyone? :) From Anthropologie, Museum of Modern Art, Betsey Johnson.



Current outfits: black pants and whatever top is clean. No make-up. Hair pulled back. *sighs*. I have a hair appointment this week to get my roots done. Need to get motivated to dressing like how I used to. Lots of lovely, feminine tops in my closet. Really need to work on myself. If only I wasn't so tired and busy all the time! But that, folks, is another story! Must do another post soon about how my One Little Word (Balance) is going.



Gilster is working hard at work and at home. Deserves something big! Had a chance to get him some SF 49er tickets for Christmas. Really regretting that I didn't. They're doing so well (wooot wooo, Super BOWL!!!!). And we've never been to a football game. I think G would've enjoyed this! If you ask him, he'll probably say, "but I hate crowds!" Oh, dear hubby!!



Mr. Drool Monster turned 6 months. I think we are finally over the sickies (*prays and crosses fingers*). He lost a bit of weight but is still getting cuter each day (me biased? never! lol!). Is more playful than ever. Does this cute little dance and not quite able to sit without support yet. Totally lights up when he sees Mommy or Daddy!



This pic is to show that cute clothes exist for little boys. They sure get harder to find as they grow older though!



Till the next 'currents,' thanks for reading!



P.S. All pics taken by Maria Grace Abuzman of Momentary Bliss during our family session, 11/11.

Flourishes.

Top of the mornin' to ya!!!!

It's week # 7 at Christmas Card Challenges, and this week's challenge is flourishes!



I couldn't seem to find some of the bling flourishes I thought I had. Last year, I remember cutting one up to get individual blings so I may have run out! LOL! Instead I used this tag that I cut-out from Crate Paper. And then I realized that she kinda looked like this:



A deer head mounted on the wall! *gulp* YIKES! Totally unintentional! SOG's Deer Mae is too cute to be cut off like that!! LOL!

Hope you get to play along with us! I just keep thinking about how many Christmas cards I'll be able to give out by this year's Holiday Season. I try to use a different stamp brand each week. What also motivates me is new Design paper that are on sale right at this time! And call me biased by I think following each week's challenge is inspiring! Although the only rule we have is to make a new Christmas/ Hanukkah/ or winter-themed card. So won't you join in?? Pretty please? :)

Please visit the CCC blog for more info and more inspiration from the other DT members!

BTW, that's my sister and her Halloween costume last year. Pretty creative, eh?

Supplies Used:
CS- Bazzill. Neenah Solar White.
DP- American Crafts (Dear Lizzy).
Rub-ons and ribbons- KI Memories (Love, Elsie).
Tag- Crate Paper.
Bling- Bo Bunny.
Overlay- Hambly.
Ink- Copics and Memento Ink.
Stamps, image and sentiment- Some Odd Girl Deer Mae.

Talk to ya Later!

More Paper Child.

Just a quick post to show you the fun that's going on in my craft room :).

I've been trying to design a new blog header, and I dabbled in the idea of doing the paper child thing again. Just grabbed the images I've colored in the last week and let them loose, LOL!

Not quite the effect I had in mind as the stamps are either too small or my boxes are too big. Hee hee! I may be asking help from my sis on this one, although she's quite busy helping plan a baby shower for one of her close friends.

Anyway, I hope y'all have a great weekend! I'll be working, but I'll see you back here on Sunday for CCC!

Peace out!



P.S. If you said, "I spy goodies from TGF, Paper Smooches, SOG, and SCRS/ Karber", you got it!!! You'll be seeing them again and more closed up too!

Whimsical & ecclectic.

When I first saw the Noveau girls from Some Odd Girl, I knew I had to have them. Not only were they beautiful, they were so different from any of the stamps I own. And because they were inspired by a period of art history, they appealed to me even more.

I have always been into art as far back as I can remember. I recall preschool art projects that consisted of pencil sharpening bits glued on paper to make flowers. My mom taught me how to do figure drawings and faces. I always doodled borders and letter art in high school.

While I was envious of my childhood friends who took up dance and sports, I felt lucky enough to take part in art classes and piano lessons. I dreamed of majoring in graphic design but eventually gave in to my parents' insistence to take up something more financially 'stable' and 'practical.'

I love my nursing career and do not regret my decision. Yet there is always going to be a small part of me that long for the arts. I am very grateful for my hobbies of papercrafting, stamping, scrapbooking, and photography. I am blessed to live so close to so many amazing art museums. So even if I don't get to make art for a living, I sure am lucky to be able to include it in my life.

Anyway, I am digressing...

I finally got to work with my Noveau girls. I went all out with this first creation of Grow. To me, she looks part Marie-Antoinette-ish, part fairy tale princess. I pictured her in an exotic and lively forest full of wonderful creatures. Or walking in front of a big window in her fanciful castle.

There are a lot of elements mixed in here, and I love them all! Call it a whimsical & ecclectic card if you will :). To me, it's very artsy. The way all the leaves flourish and grow...lots of flowing lines and dynamic curves. A little bit like a modern art noveau style? Hee hee, not quite sure but I'd like to think so.

The stamped images that make up the inner borders are from Grow as well. I really like them because I used to always doodle something similar to those. The sentiment is from Bliss. The PP are both from Basic Grey. The leaf pins are from an old Taylored Expressions kit. The shiny leaves embellies are from a kit I won from Gauche Alchemy. The images are colored with my beloved Copics.

Thanks so much for visiting and reading my post!

CCC Week 6 - Lace

Hello folks!

It's Sunday so it's time for another Christmas Card Challenge (Week 6). This week, it's all about lace:





I used a Rachelle Anne Miller image from Paper Works Company. It's really sad that company is now closed, but it really was best for its owners, Peggy and Mike. If you see a PWCO stamp here that I've used (or anywhere else) and you want it, let me know. I can get in contact with Peggy and ask if she still has some in stock.

I decided to go CAS to showcase the stamped image and my lace. The small square is slightly popped out. I really love this lace .. it's silver and a bit shiny. It is very elegant in person. And I'm glad I have a whole spool of it :).

Anyway, back to CCC. Please note that the only real rule is to create a new Christmas, Hanukkah, or Winter-related card. No back-linking please. Easy enough, don't ya think? If you link a card that does not follow these rules, your link will be eliminated. If you can, please use a Sparkle Creations image.

Please visit the blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the DT! Hope you join us!

Smooches,

Paper Child.

Good Saturday morning, everyone!

I decided to play along with Some Odd Girl's Facebook Paper Child contest. To know more about what Paper Child is, read here.

These were pretty addicting! The ones of Tiny Baby weren't as creative as the ones of Believe. Still, I had a lot of fun trying to find 'photo locations' for my models!

Tee hee! I was flying around the house yesterday when I should've been taking a nap or cleaning. But I hadn't crafted in so long so I gave in to my 'craving.' :) Hey, it's better than eating the cake I just baked!



Oliver inspired my shots of Tiny Baby. At 6 months, he is already much more active than MK was at that age! So Tiny Baby is climbing all over the place, a dare devil at that!









Buwahahahahaha! This one cracks me up!!



And now, to channel my inner sexiness, I used Believe. LOL, Pardon me but I have been stuck in the house for a few days now tending to l'il sick ones and I have a bit of cabin fever. I'm dying to get dolled up & go out!!!



She is the ultimate femme fatale, isn't she? She decides to hang out in my jewelry stand.



And look, I have some Art Noveau-ish earrings! :) Believe is an image inspired by that period!



ROWWWWWRRRRR!!! Who knew a stamp could exude such sex appeal? Buwahahahaha!!!

Thanks for visiting! And y'know what's cool about these images? I can still make cards out of them :).

*Images colored with Copic markers.

XOXO,

Card for Royalty.

Happy Friday, peeps!

I finally got a hold of my first La La Land stamp, and I love him! It's Prince Luka, and I think he's perfect for a birthday card for my Dad!

Now some of you might say that the image might not be 'sophisticated' enough for a senior man, but I disagree. Take a look at this picture:



You see, my dad would probably appreciate just about anything with his first grandson on it. Doesn't Mattie look like Luka? Of course, it's due to that 'bowl' haircut my father-in-law gave him with a flowbee on Christmas week....but that is another story!!!!! Mind you it was done without our permission!! *shakes head*. LOL!

I also thought the stamp was appropriate because my dad's last name (my maiden name) means 'Kings.' And he's always been proud of it and his heritage. I took it a little step further and colored the image using the colors of the Philippines, which is our native land. :)

I used the Deconstructed Sketch # 33.


I'm also entering it for Some Odd Girl's Bling it Up Challenge.

Have a wonderful weekend!

A Remembrance.

Good morning, everyone!

I am doing pretty good with my goal of posting here three times a week. These last couple of weeks have been pretty difficult though as far as crafting and blogging as my two kiddies have been sick.

First, Mattie and now, Oli :(. In fact, I am home from work because Oliver still has a bad cough and fevers. The last two nights (& my hubby, the night before those) have been spent sleeping upright on our couch with the babe on my chest or in my arms. My back is killing me, especially since work has also been really busy.

But you gotta do what you have to do. In this case, I would just about do anything to have my baby back to his normal, jolly, healthy self. Holding him comforts him and allows him to breath better. I think he's starting his way to recovery though...cross your fingers.

Anyway, for my card today, I made a sympathy/ support card for someone dear to my heart. I have to warn you though that my post here will get more somber so I'd understand if you stop reading here.




I made this card to show sympathy but also hope to my darling friend who just had a miscarriage. She and her DH were trying for a short while, and was ecstatic when they got pregnant. Only the pregnancy was cut short and left my friend devastated.



I wanted to make her a card and fill it with words to make her feel better, even though I know that nothing I or anybody else could take the pain away. I also wanted to be there for her in another way for I had gone through the same thing years before.



I also suffered a miscarriage right after our wedding in 2008. I wrote about the loss vaguely in my post here so you may remember it if you had been following my blog for awhile.

It was hard for me to talk about it here. I was still grieving, and I also thought it shouldn't be discussed in such a public place. But now, years later, I have coped with it and would hope that my experience would somehow help another person.

How I longed to talk about with someone else. It's sort of a taboo topic. Some don't consider a pregnancy that early (mine was 6 weeks) a baby yet. People told me I was lucky that it happened early, that it was just 'mother nature,' that it was not meant to be. I know they meant well and that they were right. But it was still painful and horrible for me. At the time, there were a lot of couples having 'honeymoon babies' as well. I didn't even know how much we wanted a baby until we lost her/ him.

A colleague had shared her story with me a couple of years ago. She said letting balloons go helped. I also read about planting plants. I think giving it closure is easier when you do these things.



I got together with my dear friend, and we wrote letters to our angels. Mattie helped me by drawing around the paper. We tied them to the end of balloons that my friend bought.



I chose a paper that had stars because the event was altogether not a sad one for me. It symbolized hope for my friend and I, and sort of see-you-later. My friend believed in reincarnation. And we both believe in angels and that things happen for a reason.





We lit candles, and I said a prayer I found on the internet for my friend. It was also for me. We took pictures and let the balloons fly.

**Note: we found out later that these balloons were the wrong ones for this. They are not safe for the environment, and often go down and get tied to electric wires. What I really wanted to use were those tissue-paper lantern balloons that are lit up with candles - used in the movie "Tangled."







It was an emotional but joyous feeling to watch those balloons and letters fly. For me, I finally had some closure and was glad I got to memorialize the baby lost from my first pregnancy. I highly recommend doing this not just for miscarriages but for any type of loss you encounter.

My friend wrote me a note of thanks, and we will both cherish this day.

Thanks so much for listening. Hugs to you all!