2-5-7-10 Bag

I was getting so tempted seeing all the tutorials for bags and boxes and other holiday projects that I was dying to make one. After much thought I settled on this one from SplitCoastStampers. I also want to make the peek-a-boo box, also on SCS, sometime. I used my new flower punch to give a pattern to the CS. The final bag is approx 5 inch in height. Hmm...I should've taken the photo at such an angel that would have highlighted the 3 dimensional aspect of the bag! A lesson for later.

Card #9 - Bright and Colorful

Used my craft scissors to give a border to the patterned paper. I really like this PP and everytime I start making a card I try to avoid using this PP as I'm afraid I'll soon finish it!

• Cardstock and PP: DCWV
• Craft Scissors
• Prisma Color pencils
• Color markers

Card #8 - Sketch Challenge

I made this card for one of the sketch challenges at Sisterhood of Scrap. Need to polish my fonts a little.

• CS and PP: DCWV
• Stamp: SU! Just for fun.
• Prisma Color pencils
• Color markers
  

Card #7 - Christmas

This is a super quick card - I'd to make 3 such cards in around 15 minutes and this is the best that I could come up with. I think I cut the white CS too small and it's standing out but I wasn't sure how else I could've merged it. Any suggesions are welcome :) so that I've some ideas when I've to do something like this the next time. I made these for the families that I was volunteering for. Once again Prisma Color pencils are awesome, they really enhance the coloring. Thanks to Gail for that, she was the one who first told me about them.

• CS and PP: DCWV
• Stamp: SU! Just for fun
• Prisma Color pencils
  

Card #6 - Pink and Green

Okay this one is inspired from the last one. I somehow got hooked to that style and that stamp. Once I'd made the previous one, immediately the next day I thought of this design where I would basically use only two colors: pink and green. If you look closely at one of the stamped figures it has a shade of purple on it, that was an accident. I'd intended to use a shade of darker pink so as to stick to my theme of pink and green; but almost by reflex action I picked up purple which was how I'd colored the previous card.

Sometimes it's hard to pinpoint the occassion for the card and hence I've decided to leave such cards without any sentiments and add them later whenever it's time to use them.

• CS and PP: DCWV
• Stamp: SU! Just for fun.
• Prisma color pencils.
• Color markers

Card #5

It made sense to make a baby girl card, since I'd already made a baby boy card. I'd been thinking of making this kind of a design for the whole week :). I must say that the Prisma color pencils are awesome! I'd never realized that blending could be that easy. Using these pencils, belnding is so much fun. I'd been looking for OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirit) but since I'd found it in stores I'd been delaying using these stamps thinking that the coloring wouldn't look so good. However, now I'm glad that I didn't wait for the OMS!

When taking the photo, I'd to hold it from the top otherwise it wouldn't give a good view. As you might've figured by now, it has a center opening instead of the traditional style opening.

• CS and PP: DCWV
• Stamp: SU! Just for fun set and Stazon black ink.
• Prima color pencils.

Card #4

I made this card last Sunday but since I always take the photos in the daylight I'd to wait till this weekend to upload it. However, to my luck by the time I got to taking photos of these cards it was already dark. So the next few photos may be a little dark.

The sentiments font didn't quite turn out how I wanted it to. Maybe I rushed on it.

This card is based on Di Hickman's sketch.

CS and PP: DCWV.

I also used a small flower punch and my new golden pen :).

Gifts for Kids Drive

It's the holiday season; a season for giving and sharing, a season for spreading joy. Every child would like to recieve a gift on Christmas morning but not everybody is so fortunate. I'm volunteering for the Eugene Bowman Economic Empowerment Inc. and helping them provide christmas gifts to children. Most of these children come from single-mom household and live at or below poverty. Had it not been for EBEE they wouldn't have had anything to look forward to for Christmas but thanks to EBEE they will have a christmas lunch and a gift. If you're in San Diego, then you can help too by donating a gift. It could be a gift card, a toy, clothing or anything else.

If you're not in San Diego but would like to help, then do let me know.

Card #3

The design is from one of the videos at Paper Crafts. It didn't turn out as good as the one in the video but it's not too bad :). Making a card is such a satisfying exeprience for me that even if it doesn't come out too good I don't feel so bad.

CS and PP: DCWV.

Card #2

This one is for a new born baby boy for one of my friends. She just delivered her baby yesterday. Often I read the phrase "new baby", well have you ever seen an old baby?!?!

CS and PP: DCWV.

Stamp: SU! Just for fun set. Just recently purchased it. This is my first use of one of the stamps from the set. I liked the set because it has stamps for various occassions.

Pop up cards

I am always very fascinated by pop up cards specially the more complicated ones. So I decided to look on the net if I could find some examples and I found this really nice ones: RobertSabuda.com. I'll try them sometime soon.

Card #1

Finally the card that had long been incomplete is complete! Sketch: Di Hickman's Sept #2. Cardstock, paper: DCWV. I experimented my calligraphy on this card. I liked this card even though it's very simple. Once again the photo is blurred, looks like the next time I should use a tripod instead of my shaking fingers!

Halloween pumpkins

Here are the pumpkins that we carved for Halloween. The one on the left was named "Killer Kitty"!

Long pause

It's been long since I've posted a card. There's one half-done card lying on my desk which I'm just not getting time to complete with Halloween and what not. I'm going on vacation next week till Wednesday and then we have a big festival, Diwali, on Friday. So I guess the earliest I can post a new card would be next weekend!

Oh yes, I carved 2 pumpkins for Halloween and will upload a photo of them.

Card #3

This is another card based on one of Di's sketches. Being a beginner, I prefer to follow a given sketch. Sorry this photo is a little blurred.

Card #2

Another card from one of Di's sketch. Why have I been picking sketches from Di's? It's one of the few sites I know that posts sketches and it also posts what others created using that template. So that helps a lot in visualization. One can find a lot of sketches on Maria's blogs: Card Inspired and Stampin' Inspirations. Allison at Stampin' When I can regularly posts links to various sketches at other blogs.

I later had an idea that I could've given a border of blue cardstock to the yellow circles. The good thing is that I have the patterned paper and the card stock both from DCWV so I think they coordinate well.

Wanted

I've compiled a list of things that I intend to buy in the next few months. If you have any suggestions regarding what brand to buy, which store/site to look at or anything else with respect to these things please leave a comment. When I embarked on this hobby, I guess I didn't do much research before buying my supplies so for the next set of supplies I decided to prioritize them and ensure that I get the right thing.

I've updated the post with the suggestions by various experienced people, these are in italics.

1. Black ink pad: I have a mini one right now but I think I would need a bigger one with permanent ink. Eg. Stazon, Pallette Noir Black
   
2. Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirit. Eg. Monalisa OMS available at Michaels
   
3. Blending stumps. Must be made in taiwan.
   
4. Some generic figure stamps: I saw this "Just for fun" stamp set by Stampin Up! and looks like that might fit my requirements.
5. Circle cutter: I'm not sure what's the pros and con of a circle cutter w.r.t a circle punch. I'm thinking it would be better to buy a cutter as a single instrument can give me circles of multiple sizes. Eg. Coluzzle Cutting system available at SU and Michaels.
   
6. Color ink pad. SU! Classic Inks
   
7. Scallop and other shape scissors.
8. Stamps for borders
9. Mounting tape
   
10. Paper trimmer. TONIC paper trimmer, paper cutter
    
11. Stamps for expressions like "Happy B'day" etc. Or maybe I should get some alphabet stencils. That could serve the same purpose.
    

B'day card

I finally exchanged my unbranded cardstock for a DCWV fall cardstock and hence the gap in posting. Using Di Hickman's sketch, I created this card.

It didn't come out to be what I had expected it to be but I think I'll get there with some practice. I'm still learning the skills of layering card stock, that's totally new to me. As a child, when I used to make cards, I used only 3 things: card paper, fine black pen for outlining and sketch pens.
The idea of using punch-outs for creating the bouquet was derived from one of Stamper Gail's card. Of course, it didn't turn out as good as it's motivator. I'm happy about the knot, it looks good for a first attempt.

First cut

Here's a peek into my first few creations. The first set of cards has been made using a card making kit that I bought at Michael's. It's nice but I realized it's a bit childish. So then I decided to make some on my own using the few supplies that I'd.

My stamp collection consists primarily of the 3 stamps that are displayed by the 3 cards above; I got them from the $1 bins at Michael's. I also bought a mini-flower punch and a scissors that gives a nice border cut.

Hilarious video...

From Inkerbelle's blog: video

Okay, from the last two posts it appears that this blog is meant for jokes and comic videos related to card-making/stamping. It's not! I'll soon post my creations.

Nice joke

Found it at Inkerbelle's through Stamping when I can.

A woman who was near death insisted she be buried with her stamps.

As she passed away, she saw a white light and followed it until she found herself in a mystical place, surrounded by men and women who wandered about admiring all kinds of paper-beautiful paper on shelves stretching as far as the eye could see-and all the rubber stamps one could imagine.

Overjoyed, the woman turned to a lady who was running her hands with pleasure over a rich and costly paper and said: "This is a wonderful place! Is it Heaven?"

The lady replied, "No this is HELL. There aren't any ink pads.”

Author –Unknown

Stamping for beginners

I read this article "Stamping on a budget" by Gina K on Craft Critique. I think it's very helpful for all those beginners like me in this area. Initially I didn't realize that this could turn out to be a very expensive hobby and has a never-ending list of to-get-items. However, it was consoling to see that Gina could create such creative cards with limited number of items. I wanted to get the Text Prints stack but unfortunately it was not available at my craft store so I got the "Stack 5" by DCWV; it was on 50% sale so I got it for $9.99!! I think that's quite a bargain considering it's 12X12 stack with 180 sheets. At my pace, it'll probably last a lifetime! I got some assorted card stock also but turned out that they were very thin. I didn't like them. So my piece of advice: beware when you buy the card stock, I think it's better buy from the standard brands like DCWV.

One of the best places to get your supplies is Ebay. You can get used/new stamps at ebay for a very reasonable price and same for card stock or patterned paper. If you can combine shipping for all the stuff that you want to buy then you save on shipping too.

About this blog

I decided to create this blog so that I could share my creations and ideas with others. Off and on I stumble upon some idea which takes shape as a beautiful object (or so I would like to believe!). My interests keep varying, a few months ago I dived into macrame and these days I'm whole and soul into rubber-stamping and card-making. I was inspired and motivated by A Dragonfly Garden to enter this beautiful world of card-making and rubber stamping. Before that even though I'd seen stamps being sold in craft stores, I'd never imagined that they could create such wonderful cards. As and when I my interests change, this blog will take a different turn; an interesting one.