March Goals

Here’s my update on my monthly goals! I think I;m quite pleased with myself this month :).

1. Make at least 2 cards/papercraft project every week.
2. Participate in 1 challenge every week. Participated in one challenge less because I made a gift set that was much involved.
3. Completed my sewing project – so instead of 2 months it took me 3 months. As you can see below it was a complicated project for a beginner :) so I think it was ok taking that extra month.   
4. Upload all cards to SCS gallery as well.

Bookmark this!

That’s the challenge at Spoonful of sugar this weekend. For long I’d been thinking of making myself a bookmark. Considering that I’m an avid reader and a crafter, it seemed weird that I used the library receipt as the bookmark! So this challenge forced me to make one for myself :) and this image seemed to be just perfect! I also printed a quote at teh back but forgot to take a photo of it :(.

I colored the image using prismacolor pencils – the toughest challenge was coloring the peacock in non-peacock colors and I think I’ve achieved that to my satisfaction. I then dotted the peacock feathers with liquid pearls and outlined them with stickles.

Supplies: Image from a swap, Wasau CS, prismacolor pencils, OMS, stardust stickles, liquid pearls, white gel pen.

Create Your Own Friday #12 – A notecard set

I made this notecard set to give to a friend. The wooden purse box was covered using PP and I found that KI Memories paper is just the right thickness for this job. Not to forget that it looks beautiful! Then I made coordinating notecards and envelopes. The notecards are 3.25 X 3.25 inches in size and the envelopes are 3.5 X 3.5 inches in size. The envelopes were a tad difficult to fit it so next time maybe I should go for a quarter inch shorter. This is the first time I made envelopes on my own but was very happy with it. I’d this nice thick cotton paper which was just perfect to make the envelopes!

All the notecards:

Supplies: DCWV and Bazzill CS, KI Memories PP, Justrite monogram stamper, clear and white EP, versamark, black pigment ink, MS lace border punch, tonic duo corner rounder, nestabilities.

Create Your Own Friday #11 – Vellum

I saw this card on Nichole Heady’s blog and knew what I wanted to try next. These CYOFs have been so much fun – every week I look for something new/different to try. It could be a new technique or new use of existing material or doing something that I haven’t done for a while. Puts the creative part of me to good exercise!

I really like the soft frosty look that vellum gives to a card and it was on my wish list to make a really soft, elegant card. I was thinking of making such a card with the vellum - one doesn’t fit the bill entirely but I like it the way it turned out :). And I think adding that sentiment added that special elegance to it! Just love this card :) (Photo doesn’t do it justice, it looks way better IRL)

Supplies: Flourishes flourished words stamp set, Wasau CS, Vellum, Versacolor inks, grosgrain ribbon, prima flowers, rhinestone.

Sketch Saturday challenge #94

The moment I saw the sketch on Sketch Saturday, I knew I wanted to make a card using this sketch and I also knew which stamp I was going to use :).

The napkins on the mice are paper pieced and so is the cupcake wrapper. The cupcake is popped up on dimensionals. The center embellishment was created by cutting a circle from felt and stitching a button on top of it. I recently bought lot of felt in various colors and was waiting to use it :).

Supplies: DCWV PP and CS, fiskars corner punch, Favorite findings button, acrylic felt, grosgrain ribbon, penny black acrylic stamps, Prismacolor pencils, OMS.

Create Your Own Friday #10 – Take-it-out!

Yes! Take out  that cardstock you’ve been hoarding for the last 6 months (or a year?!?!) or that punch that you haven’t stolen a glance at since you bought it!

The purpose of this CYOF is to bring out of your stash something that you haven’t used since a long time. We all know that we buy our supplies its as if the world would end if we didn’t get them but after they enter our home sweet home, sometimes they disappear into the black hole which is our supplies. So lets take a moment to look at what we have and what we haven’t paid much attention to and give it the much wanted love :)

So I took out of my stash this antique gold cardstock that I bought last September and haven’t used since. Of course before I bought it I always thought that not having it is the biggest hurdle in me not being able to make the most stellar projects! The other thing that hasn’t got much love but is a more recent addition to my family is the swiss dots folder.

However, now that I took them out I think they danced together to create this perfect piece. Have you ever thought that reality could be better than a dream? No? Me too but this card turned out be so much better than I had dreamed. Too much philosophy for a craft blog, eh? :)

It somehow reminds me of a saree – I guess its the shimmer and the elegance of the card!

Supplies: Antique gold CS, Bazzill CS, CTMH Decoratve dainties, gold EP, Oval nestabilities, satin ribbon, sheer ribbon, rhinestone.

Technique challenge – Punch Art

This is the first time I tried punch art and I was doing a happy dance after that – I was so happy with my results! :D The icing on the cake was that I came up with my own punch art!! I didn’t copy it! I did get inspired by one of the PTI stamp sets – the one that has a lady bug. Oh and the technique challenge link is TLC 261.

Isn’t the ladybug cute?!?!

Supplies: DCWV CS and PP, polka dot sheer ribbon, nestabilities oval, black pen, crop-a-dile.

Create Your Own Friday #9 – Tutorial for the Buggy

A number of you asked me for a tutorial for the buggy that I made some time back. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to it sooner than this -  you know how life goes! Anyway so I’ve done my best to capture all details but feel free to ask me questions if I’ve left out anything.

We need:

Cardstock of your choice – I’ve found that it is easier to make this with a less heavy cardstock. My first try was with a 90 lb CS and it was difficult to fold it. In this tutorial I used DCWV CS which as we all know is not that thick and that made it easier to make this.

Circle Nestabilities (or any other circle cutting tool of your choice or use this template)

Glue, scissors

1. I used the Large Circle nestabilities die. Take the largest circle in that and cut 2 circles from your cardstock. Take the second smallest circle and cut 4 circles.
2. I’ve shown the cut circles on my cutting mat if you want to get an idea of the size of the circles. Now take the bigger circle and cut quarter of a circle from it. Also flatten the base by cutting off a portion of the base as shown below.
3. Cut a strip of cardstock 2.75 inches X 9 inches. Score it 0.5 inch on each side of the shorter side as shown below. The half inch borders will used to stick it to the circle and the 1.75 inch will be the width of the buggy.
4. Cut fringes on the half inch borders.
5. Apply glue to one of the fringes.
6. Now is the most difficult part of the this tutorial. Glue the strip to one of the bigger circles. Start from one end and keep curving the strip of paper to align with the boundary of the circle.
7. Finish off the buggy. There might be extra strip left over, cut it off.
8. Stick the wheels. You may want to use lightly glue them and see if their positions are correct and your buggy is balanced. If yes, then you can glue it well.
9. In the original buggy that I made, I hid the ugly insides by lining it with cardstock. You can use the same template as above to cut out the lining and stick it inside.

If you make one, then do leave me a link here and I would love to see it :)!