Trending...from Dr. John!

 After my hexagon post (see here),  Dr. John got thinking again. He came up to me while I was trying to balance the check book...

Dr. John: Hey, do you know what will be the next trend?

Virginia: What do you mean...(trying to do the Math--grrrrrrr)

Dr. John: Well, after the Hexagon fad is over, what will be the next one?

Virginia: Huh?? There is a new one!? 

Dr. John: No, the new trendy shape!

Virginia...uh...I know...Triangle?

Dr. John: no...too boring!

Virginia: hmmm.... Octagon? It's sexy! 

Dr. John: It's too easy! 

Virginia: Easy!?... Well, just. tell. me. then.... (losing my "cool" here)

Dr. John: .....Pentagon!

Virginia: What? Pentagon? Why?

Dr. John: Pentagon is actually hard to cut with scissors! It has an odd number of sides, so you definitely need a die cut for that.

Virginia: well, then go and invent one!

Dr. John: All you have to do is snap off the hood ornament from an old Chrysler....run it through the Cuttlebug...all set! (he said it with a cheeky face)! 

Virginia:....bahahhahha!!

 Here is another card for "Spatter Technique Challenge" over Moxie Fab World.

I used a large heart-shaped diecut as a mask and added the splattering red acrylic paint. The stamp set I used is Friend-You're the Best from Hero Arts. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's you've got mail.

(source-Pinterest)

 I hope Dr. John's "trending" makes you smile! Actually he made me laugh really really hard! ....and you never know, he could be right ;)
edited: found out my zig zag card was featured in Hero Arts Social Club today .What a pleasant surprise!

Damask and Brocade Challenge

I am sharing a card with the Damask theme today. The inspiration came from the latest Challenge over Moxie Fab World (details here ). What is damask, you'd ask? According to the dictionary,

damask:

1.	patterned fabric: a reversible fabric, usually of cotton, linen, or silk, with a pattern woven into it. It is used especially for table linen.
2.	table linen: table linen made from damask

Just search the word "damask" in Pinterest, you'll see tons and tons of inspiration! 

I decided to pair it up with rich and bold pattern paper from Basic Grey (indie bloom). It seems to be the trend lately that I tend to use bright and vibrant colors in my cards (at least a lovely blog friend Wida noticed that).  I guess it is kind of true, huh? Here in this card, I did the white embossing, then tied a bow with the Martha Stewart Seam Binding, voila!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

What is Dr. John thinking....again?

A happy card for you today!

I made this card's background with Ranger Peacock Liquid Pearls . Got to love those 50% off Michael's coupons! The inking of the mail box is from alcohol inks! I was just having fun with the latest goodies I have!
edited: this card was featured in Lawn Fawn Blog here.

 And yes, no hexagons this time! After my previous post, Dr. John came up with another crafty idea...

Dr. John: Hey, you know how to cut triangles, right?

Virginia: Yeah...Why?

Dr. John: Because you can form a hexagon with triangles! Got any triangle punch?

Virginia: No, you should go and invent one! And why would I want to do that when I have hexagon diecut!?

Dr. John: hmmm.....just. a. suggestion....

Virginia: Yup, keep them coming :)

What is Dr. John thinking?

It's been a while since Dr. John made an "appearance". Here is the latest...

Virginia: Hey, did you see my card with hexagons? Aren't they cool?

Dr. John: What's so special about hexagons?

Virginia: Hexagons are really trendy and the shape is so neat for card-making!

Dr. John: How did you cut them?

Virginia: I have a diecut set.

Dr. John: What? You have a diecut set just for THAT?

Virginia: Yeah, this Lifestyle set comes with 15 dies in different sizes and they cost $25 US!

Dr. John: (gasp) 15 dies for 25 bucks!?

Virginia: It makes things so much easier...how else would you cut them?

Dr. John: Don't you have scissors?

Virginia: (rolling my eyes) yeah right...

Dr. John: heehee! 

I admit... it was one of those impulsive on-line purchase. After seeing Jennifer McGuire using this diecut set (see here), it instantly won me over. I had absolutely NO idea what I'd do with it when I ordered the set. But I was determined to make it worthwhile! With that, I have my latest cards with....

more hexagons!

I had a bit of a play with the word "beelieve"! Hope it makes sense to you!

In this card, I attempted a manly approach! Three colors, three images, three diecut...that should work! I basically cut out the dies and let them sit on my desk for a few days. This Hero Arts set Past Time is really handy for creating masculine cards. 

I think Dr. John will like this for a Father's Day card and I bet he'd say that the hexagon set is worth EVERY PENNY! 

You Rock--take 2!

Here is another one (the 4th) that I came up with. The little strip of rainbow paper are the leftover from believe in your dreams. See? NEVER thrown the good left over away ;) 

By adding a strip of glitter, this card's got more pizzazz! I love this little drum image and paper-pieced the image with a sliver-misted paper (hard to tell in the photo).
Have you seen the challenge going on in my blog (details here)? Do check it out, if you miss seeing the post.

Lastly, with my kids' permission, I am sharing a few of my son David's Prom photos. David and his prom date Lily--darling couple! He did the promposal. You can see it here
 in case you miss seeing it:)

 Lily pinned the boutonniere (baby roses) for David.

Stephanie served as the official photographer at the pre-prom party. She did a great job!

 A super cute photo of him and his two best childhood friends.....boy, how has he grown in 3 years!

David and sister (aka the photographer) Stephanie

Love their sweet smiles!

Hooked on Hexagons!

 This is my 2nd post for the day. If you are coming through CAS-ual Fridays, please click here .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As you probably can tell, I have been hooked on hexagons lately! I look at this unique shape with a very different perspective after getting the diecut. Here is another play with hexagon die cut and Basic Grey paper. 

I created a Hexagon chipboard by layering an extra diecut underneath. The new Basic Grey Konnichiwa collection is perfect for this design. I applied the SRM Stickers (cut up the sentiment "you did it") over the hexagons. So easy!

A reminder for you to check out the "Yes, Virginia....I'm Inspired" Challenge (see the link under the blog banners) right here in my blog. I can't wait to see what you come up with! And if you miss seeing "What is Dr. John thinking..." lately, well, he has plenty to say about hexagons... 

CAS-ual Fridays #54

It's Friday! That mean a new challenge!

 Most of you might consider this a REAL challenge because we will be making clean and simple manly card/pages with pattern paper! But hey, Father's Day is just around the corner....plus we can always use a masculine-themed thank you , hello, birthday...or even a retirement card!

Our sponsor : Gina K. Designs

We design team members get to play with this set of pattern paper called---Casual Fridays (how perfect is that!?). Here is my take:

I am entering this card for the Moxie Fab World's Gingham Challenge ! What fun! I love paper-weaving since it is a perfect way to use the handsome-looking paper! I also stamped the bi-plane on the textured card stock. The sentiment is from SRM Stickers. Then I added a simple twine and voila!

Please link up your CAS project to CAS-ual Fridays by midnight May 31, Thursday. Can't wait to see your handsome creations! And don't forget that I also have a "Yes, Virginia...I'm Inspired!" (see here) challenge right here in my blog! Hope you can play along!

you rock!

IFrom my last post , you can tell that I have been in the rainbow mood...I made one more from my inspiration photo

 Here is my little "encouragement" card :) 

The Hexagon diecut is from Lifestyle Crafts and the drum image is from Lawn Fawn's pa-rum-pa-pum-pum.A little DIY action wobbler is added behind the drum. Love the spring-y effect!

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit. You sure ROCK in my blogging world!

Yes, Virginia....I'm Inspired!

Last week I posted some cello photos that my daughter took (see here).

This was one of the many sweet comments that I received:

Vic Lau said... I love the pictures with the different coloured cello cases. I wonder if you'll create cards inspired from these photos? :) 

Why, YES! Here is it today!

I came up with TWO cards with the same stamp It's a Parade .
Card #1 "God Bless You"

 And card #2 "believe in your dreams"
 
So...what do you think? I would love to see if the above inspire you in some ways. I decided to run a little challenge right here in my blog! Please link up your work with the InLinkz below.
I will pick a winner for this amazing issue of Card Creations (Vol. 10) and craft goodies!

  A few simple rules: 

~This challenge will run for 21 days (till June 13), so you will have plenty of time to create. 

~There is no limit for your multiple entries, you can create to your heart's content

~Any style is welcome-- shabby chic, clean and simple, fun and cute, graphic...sky is the limit!

~You may combine it with other challenges (no more than 4 please)
~Please feel free to use the inspiration photo "Yes, Virginia....I'm inspired!" in your entry blog post.
~Have FUN!

RIC #12--Take 2!

After making my first inspired card for the Runway Inspired Challenge (see here) , I can't help making a 2nd card. I was not terribly in love with the 2nd one. You can see it here.

So I made my 3rd card which will be my 2nd entry for the challenge!

The inking of the butterfly came from...you guessed it, alcohol inks! The droplets in the background are from copic markers and Perfect Pearl Dimensional Glue (love that stuff)!

Thanks so much for allowing me to share my obsession the joys of card-making!

Lastly, here is a fun photo of David and his two best childhood friends before the prom! They know each other since preschool days! You can see the "excitement" from David's smiley face :)
 
Thanks for stopping by!
note: this card and the 2nd card were featured in (Lawn Fawn Flickr Friday). 

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #132

The PDCC's latest challenge (details here)

is to use black and white and a SPLASH of Mustard Yellow.

I am most intrigued about the Mustard Yellow. I happen to have a jar of Mustard Yellow embossing powder from ZING! It was on sale, so I just had.to....I hate to admit, I don't use it often enough. Well, today is the day to make it SHINE!

Here is the close-up

I also want to share a little shopping tip (perhaps some of you do this already). When you see some gems images like the following, consider buying them! It's most likely that you are not going to use all of them for that image at once. I like to cut them up and use the gems when needed/sparingly. Here is the example how I used them.

 And obviously, the more gems that come in a pack, the better deal it is!  I also choose them based on the various colors. This pack (cost $0.79 US/Can) really goes a long way and it's cheaper than the average ones you would pay for $2.50 a pack!

We are celebrating Victoria weekend here in Canada and just saw some firework at a friend's nearby park! It was a lot of fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Bicycle Card!

This Embellish challenge (details here) got me inspired. And of course, what do I do about it? Make.a.card. Here was my first take on the colors...I like it, but not THAT much. So I used two Lawn Fawn sets to make another (I know...I have a problem here--so addicted!).
My inspiration came from this photo (see Parcel Post)

Delicious, huh? Everything in this card was stamped and embossed (the bike). I punched out the tiny flowers and added the twines for extra interest.

 Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tuesday Trigger in One Layer!

Today I am sharing a card with a double duty. I LOVE the Tuesday Trigger photo (details here )! 

Image like that just makes you instantly happy, doesn't it? And then I also wanted to play One Layer Wednesday (it's been a while!).... So I combined the two challenges and am now present you...Tuesday Trigger in One Layer (make sense now?)

For the One Layer Wednesday challenge #88 (details here), the challenge is to keep it small; you’re going to create a mini masterpiece. Your stamped image area has to be no larger than 2″ by 2″. You can add a sentiment outside that if you like. You can choose one stamp or a few stamps or mask off a 2″x2″ area. So here is what I did....I masked and stamped. 

Here is a photo of "how I did it"! The hexagon measures 2"x2" and the image may appear larger since I used it on a small square card (4 1/2" x 4 1/2" ).

 I know the stamping is not perfect. But it was utterly an enjoyable exercise to come up with that little design!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

CAS-ual Fridays #53

Sponsor: Lawn Fawn 

Welcome to CAS-ual Fridays' latest challenge! We have a SUPER fun theme for you. The challenge is to use punch or diecut! I am sure you all have these tools and you probably have a few favorites....well, get them out and let the magic happen! 

Here are the rules: 

*Create a new Clean And Simple project using this week's challenge theme*

*Provide a link to CAS-ual Fridays in your post*

***No more than 4 total combined challenges***

**Deadline: 12:00 noon EST on Thursday!*

I've got some new toys and I had to use them for my card today. Here is my take!

I can't wait to see your take on this challenge. Please link your CAS project to CAS-ual Fridays by noon, Thursday, May 24. I am sure I will be inspired by your projects!

RIC #12 Challenge

Runway Inspired Challenge #12 is up. I love this exquisite runway photos. Here is the latest.

I used my latest craze--alcohol inks. 

It's amazing what a inspiring photo can do with the creativity! By the way, after making this card, I realized how much I love this color combo...so I made another (will share later)!! I love it when I am inspired!

Alcohol Ink, Washi Tape!

First, I have a video for you to listen while you read this post (sorry for the poor angle). My son David's cello choir performed a month ago at his high school music concert. It's over 4 min. long, so feel free to skip if pressed for time.

Do you know that alcohol inks and washi tape can go hand in hand together? Apparently so! And....of course, I had to throw the splatter into the mix for the extra "wow" factor.

Close-up

These are small set of cards (measures 4x5). I think a strip of Washi tape with the butterflies (inked with alcohol and embossed in light pink.white) will go a long way.

Over the weekend, my daughter, the avid/almost professional photographer, took some photos of David's cello choir. Here are some more fun photos!

Perhaps the (almost) rainbow-colored cases will inspire you to make a card? This was inspired by Beatles' Abbey Road photo.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
 PS: Don't forget to play along with my guest design over Yvonne's Virginia's shopping challenge....the prize is a $15 gift certificate to The Crop Shop....it ends on Friday!