CAS-ual Fridays #68

Hello, dear friends! September is just around the corner, it's "back to school" time  (boohoo)! This week's CAS-ual Friday is to create back to school-themed CAS projects.

Sponsor: Pretty Paper Studio 

Here is my take:

I combined stamps set from Hero Arts and Lawn Fawn and SRM Stickers for this design. I think it's perfect for encouraging someone for going back to school ( it could be an adult or a child).  Please link up your CAS project by noon, Thursday Sept. 6 (Eastern Time) to CAS-ual Fridays.
We also have a super talented DT member joining the team. Do check out the post here!  

meeting Katarina and Anette in Copenhagen on Aug. 19
 (click on the photo for more details)

And yes, I am back from my two-week long vacation (found my waistline had grown so much from consuming the never-ending cruise food!!). I am still catching up with e-mails, blogging and tons of laundry. AND last but not least, ....my baby 18-year old David is off to college after the Labor Day weekend!! Oh my, where did the time go? Even though he is living in the residence that is not far from our house, it will be a change for us all. We jokingly said that he will have to learn to be independent and stay in campus as long as he could and that we may even change our door locks for that purpose (LOL)!!

So this card is for David: "You Rock!"

Where in the World is....

Virginia Lu!?

Here are the places that I had been....you can see me here and here.

Amsterdam, Netherlands (Aug. 13-17)

Copenhagen, Denmark (Aug. 19)

Warnemunde , Germany (Aug. 20)

Helsinki, Finland (Aug. 22)

St. Petersburg, Russia (Aug. 23-24)

Tallinn, Estonia (Aug. 25)

Nynashamne, Sweden (Aug. 26).

 More traveling on the ship to Amsterdam...then Toronto, Canada!
As you can imagine, I have TONS of laundry, tiring jet lag and thousands of photos to sift through...
I am back :)

Missing You!

Just sharing a card that I made a while ago. It was a reject an un-chosen card from the publication call. Today is the day to do a "just because..." post, in case you miss me!? (NOT!?)

Card stock: Earth Layering Paper by Hero Arts

Pattern paper:  Konnichiwa by Basic Grey

Stamps: Antique Flowers and Butterfly, (heart) Right at Home, Type (sentiment) by Hero Arts

Inks: Cup O Jo Shadow Ink by Hero Arts

Tools: Spellbinders (Label 3). Cuttlebug (Provocraft)

Accent: Glossy Accent, gems (Hero Arts), 3-D Pop Dots (EK success)

1.    Make card from card stock

2.    Die cut 6 pattern paper and adhere, stamp sentiment

3.    Stamp the small butterfly and cut out, add gems.

4.    Adhere the butterfly with pop dots

5.    Stamp heart and add Glossy Accent

I sure miss you all and my blogging here.

CAS-ual Fridays # 67

Hello, dear friends! Hope you are having a great week so far. Now that Friday is here, it's time for CAS-ual Fridays!

Sponsor: Freckled Fawn

Theme: use banners or flags in your CAS project
You can make these type of cards for birthdays, anniversary, congratulation, get-well...etc.

I decided to make a birthday card with  You Are The Best (Hero Arts) and  Hedgehog (Penny Black)
 

The bright colors of the banners really set the festive tone for this birthday card.  I used Dimensional Glue for the gift box! Love the glossy 3D effect! I hope you check out the CAS cards from the design team! Please link up your project to CAS-ual Fridays by noon Thursday, Aug. 30. Thanks for stopping by!

From Russia with LOVE!

Please click "play" to get into the mood for this blog post....Ready? Here we go!

 Hello, my dear blog friends! I am waving hi to you from Russia today! 

 Yup, you've got that right! I am in St. Petersburg to be exact! 

 By the time you read this, I would be just getting ready for my tour in Hermitage Museum

My daughter had suggested to me that I should make a card for each of the major cities that I will be visiting from this trip. GREAT idea, huh? I am sure I will be immensely inspired by the sights that I will be seeing in St. Petersburg.

 Wonder what I will be making...well, you will have to find out after my Baltic cruise . Now I have got a big boat to catch....  

увидимся позже (see you later!)

Happy Summer

Just popping in to say hi and share a happy summer card! 

 

Card stock: white (Hero Arts)

Clear stamps: Lauderdale Sunshine, Sweet Thread Labels, You are the Best, all by Hero Arts

Inks: Shadow Ink (Soft Sand, Soft Apricot), Distress Ink (Bundled Sage) by Ranger

Accents: SRM Press (Sticker Sentiment, summer), Earth ribbons, gems by Hero Arts, buttons (Michael’s)

Tool: Friskars corner Squeeze

1.    Make card from card stock, round off the sides and corners

2.    Stamp flowers and leaves, banners and flip flops

3.    Cut 2 slits on top (in between the fold) and string through ribbons, glue and adhere ribbons

4.    Sew buttons, add gems to flip flops

5.    Apply sentiment sticker

 I am in the middle of summer blog break and will be out of Internet access for a while. I hope I will not go through blog withdrawal  (LOL)! Watch out for my next blog post as I will be blogging from a most unusual location! Happy summer (while it lasts!).

CAS-ual Fridays # 66

How is summer treating you? I hope it's going well and it sure is hot, hot,hot! Time to cool off and join the fun with us at CAS-ual Fridays!
 Sponsor: Stop & Scrap

Theme of this challenge is perfect for summer---water, fish, boats. etc. Any object with water, beach, ocean will do! Here is my beach card and I hope you get inspires to make a CAS project! 

 I create this one layer card with very minimum embellishments. The less layer it has, the lighter and refreshing it feels, right? Please link up your CAS project by noon, Thursday, August 23, Eastern Time to CAS-ual Fridays.

I am sure you will come up with something cool and amazing! I am away from my craft desk...and boy, I can't wait to share with you what I am doing during my summer blog break! 

Paper-piecing Delight!

Hello, my friends. Today I am sharing a simple paper-pieced card.

Card stock: Snow Folded Card by Hero Arts

Pattern paper: Piccadilly Collection by Basic Grey

Wooden stamp: Pom Pom Flower by Hero Arts

Inks: Butter Bar Shadow Ink, Hero Hue Chalk Ink by Hero Arts

Tools: Fiskars Micro Scissors, Fiskars Treading Water Punch, Fiskars Corner Squeeze, Copic Markers (for stem and leaves)

Accessories: SRM Press (sentiment), Pearl (Hero Arts), 3 D Pop Dots by EK Success

1.    Make card from card stock, punch the border

2.    Stamp two flowers on pattern paper, cut out a large one and a smaller flower

3.    Stamp the flower (stem and leaves only) on card stock, color

4.    Adhere pattern paper to card stock and add sentiment sticker

5.    Arrange flower with pop dots and add pearl

This is my last post before blog break. There will be a few pre-scheduled CAS-ual Fridays Challenges. I shall update you my whereabouts when I am able to. Meanwhile, thank you so much for following me and giving me feedback so tirelessly. Till next time!

Another Square Card with Alcohol Inks!

Did you play with a sketch lately? Hero Arts' August Challenge has these three awesome sketches 

to offer! I can't stop playing with alcohol inks once I get started....So I decided to make a square card from the sketch (see top right).
 
Edited: I re-did the sun flower. The original flower was stamped in brown, but I find it too dark and decide to stamp it in Rusty Hinge (distress ink). The card photo was taken outside on my deck!

Happy Sunday! 

PS: Thank you for the wonderful comments about my last alcohol-inked card (see here), when I think I am confident/good enough at it, I will do a tutorial. How's that?

Runway Inspired Challenge

Once again, I succumb to create yet another Runway Inspired Challenge card. "Resist is futile"!
As Yoda would say to me: "How weak you are!" (LOL)

 The inking in this card are mostly done with alcohol inks. I find it easiest to achieve the color combo I want with the variations of alcohol inks. I stamped the images from these set Real Flowers,  Earth Flowers, and Truly Appreciated (sentiment) with distress inks for more defined details.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend! 

CAS-ual Fridays # 65

Hello, dear friends! It's time to play CAS-ual-Fridays! The challenge is to create a perfectly square card. It can be 4"x4", 4 1/4"x 4 1/4", 5"x5".....etc. As long as it a square card, it qualifies! I don't know about you, but I LOVE making square cards! Something tells me that it's hip to be a square! It is easier to balance the design, don't ya think?

Our sponsor: Stampoutique

We DT were generously provided the wonderful Stampoutique stamps. Their stamp design ranges are amazing. Check them out and you'll see what I mean. I picked the stamps with the modern vibe! This Hexagon and this A Friend's Touch phrase were my choices.  Here is the result:

I took a monochromatic approach with the stamps. The alcohol-inked strip of paper at the bottom was a scrap piece from other project. I tend to save every scraps that I have...I have quite a few bins of scraps! OK...hm.... that's another post (LOL)!

Please link up your CAS project to CAS-ual Fridays by noon, Thursday, Aug. 16 Eastern Time. Hope you get to create a square card! Happy weekend!

Playing with Distress Inks!

Have you played with distress inks lately? Do you usually use them only for background and distressing images? Today I am sharing a card with images, background and embellishments from distress inks! Markers are not needed for making this card.

 For the mason jar, I sponged up the paper with two distress inks ( Squeezed Lemonade, Perfect Peacock), stamped the image in black, and then I cut it out. Basically you are creating your own colored card stock.

For the buttons, I was inspired by this fabulous video by the talented Hero Arts stamp artist Shari! By using the clear buttons, you can create any colors of buttons to match your card stock! In this case, I inked up the Squeezed Lemonade and Perfect Peacock to match with the jar's colors! Add a few strips of  Basic Grey paper and stamped bee images, voila!

This the the 4th Lemon Meringue Pie that my son David made this summer! And he is making the 5th one for his friend's birthday today!

 Isn't it glorious? Enjoy summer while it's still here!

Neon Goodness!

Are you tired of neon goodness? Well, I hope not! Because here is another one  with very bright neon and...it's one layer! Hope you are sold....if so, read on. I was inspired by this Pinterest board
from One Layer Wednesday #99.

I first had this idea of swiping the neon ink pads to create a background. I had a few failed attempts. You can see my process here.

 With a template, it works so much easier. Washi tape works beautifully here for positioning the paper. I did some practice with the stamping butterflies.
Here is the final result.

 

So, are you now madly in love with Neon as much I do? I am also entering this card for Lawnscaping 's One Layer Challenge.

Now I only wish I have more neon inks!

A VERY bright card!

What do you get when you put Neon ink and Alcohol inks together!? 

A VERY bright card! 

 

Caution: you may need sun shades for your viewing pleasure....

 

I used the hexagon diecut (made with Tim Holtz Alcohol-inked paper) and stamped the images from this Picnic set by Hero Arts. Well, that's it for today.  Let's think happy!

Lastly, thank you so much for your wonderful birthday wishes for my son David yesterday. The wonderful comments truly make my blogging fun and meaningful! Your support are so much appreciated!

Happy 18th Birthday, David!

There is a cute young man in our lives. His name is David. And today is his 18th birthday!

A trip down memory lane...

Here is my card for him on this special occasion:

David has always been cheery and pleasant ever since he was born. But that doesn't mean he is perfect. Thanks to David, I discovered the joy of stamping. Because he was a VERY demanding baby (slept little and loved to be held/entertained all the time!), I needed to seek refuge in the world of paper-crafting.  He is always persistent (or you can also say "relentless" or "pesky") about things/tasks that he sets his mind to. And boy does he get things done. He makes me discover fun things, as well. He showed me that chores CAN be a joy!  In other words, he keeps me hopping! This summer he managed to persuade me to help him pull out the weeds in the yard (what's wrong with this boy!?).  David will be studying Nanotechnology at the University of Waterloo starting this September. I am so proud of David and his many achievements. I used to say to David that he will make a good dentist since he is so detailed-oriented and meticulous about things. Well, studying Nanotechnology may be an even better fit for him. He will certainly need to pay attention to SMALL details!

Happy birthday, my dear son!