~ Blog Posts ~

A lot of posts today ....

Unity's Friends With Flair, please click here.

Banana Frog Hop, please click here.

~ Banana Frog Hop! ~

It's the 30th, end of April and time for another frog hop with the gals from Banana Frog. The theme for this month's focus on Spring, well, since we are in April now and we have been having some good weather (pray it lasts). My offering is a card, not just any card but a tri-shutter card! Been seeing them on the net and decided I had to attempt one. Here's my card: 

I celebrated Spring with an array of flowers and butterflies. 

The card when it's opened!

 The middle part was left blank (so that I can add name and sentiment at a later date when I've decided what I want to use it for). 

The flowers were stamped and cut and decorated with lace, brad and bling!

The butterflies were covered with diamond glaze and decorated with gems.

I've used a variety of stamp sets namely, Build A Daisy, Tropical Garden and Butterflies & Swirls in creating my card. Instructions for my card can be found here. 

Thanks for hopping through. Do drop by the Banana Frog blog tomorrow. It's Banana Frog's birthday and there are lots of surprises in store! Your next stop is Debbie! TTFN!

~ Unity's Friends With Flair ~

I'm sure by now you have seen the new stamps by Unity and I can tell you how excited I've been by them although I shudder to think how much I'll be spending!!! I'm excited by the new Xmas stamps (it will definitely fall into  my basket) as I do a little of Xmas cards each month and will therefore be used more frequently than any others!

Anyway, here's my Xmas cards for this month. A couple were done using sketches from various places.

Stamp set from Bright and Merry Winter Wishes... one of my favs! Card created based on sketch from Mojo Monday.

This is Cheer and Joy stamp set, one of the free set I got after using my KOTM discount. Luv that set as the images are lovely and big! Patterned paper by Basic Grey (not sure which collection... sorry).

Sketch based on an Unity's Anniversary challenge. This snowman came from Nov 09 store kit while the other is Ho Ho Ho set. Patterned paper by Basic Grey Eskimo Kiss (6x6)... trying to make one sheet last! LOL!

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend ahead. I know I will as we have a Bank Holiday on Monday and it's my birthday tomorrow! :) TTFN!

~ Mojo Monday 136 ~

Here's this week sketch:

I went with the square one and here's my card: 

Patterned paper by Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses. Stamps by Unity Bright and Merry Winter Wishes. 

TTFN!

~ Christmas Cards All Year Round: April's challenge ~

This month's challenge is to create Xmas cards with at least one soft pastel colours: pale yellow, baby blue, pale green and soft pink. Here are my cards: 

These cards were also made for other challenges and some were based on sketches from card blogs. Glad to have them done... still got 3 more to go as I've got a quota of 8 Xmas cards per month! TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 58 ~

This week, 365 Cards is being sponsored by Digital Delights. We were given a few digi images to play with. Today's challenge is Crazy 8, i.e. having items in quantities of 8, minimum 3 items! Sounds crazy but I did it! Here's my card:

Patterned paper by Basic Grey Sugar Rush. I've got 8 legs, 8 gems and 8 leaves on mine! Image coloured using Promarkers. Oh, and I applied a bit of bling on those 8 legs too!

 TTFN!

~ FWF Blog Winner ~

Here's the winner of Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop, chosen by a random generator:

Congrats StacyC. Email Jimmi (jimmi.mayo at gmail.com) to claim your prize ! TTFN!

~ Unity's Friends With Flair ~

Happy St George's Day (not that it's widely celebrated in England) but my son's school is holding a Disco and I'm involved in it! At least they are celebrating it with a special meal too. Surprise that it's not a public holiday. Unfortunately we don't have 'Independent Day' here. 

Been scrapping a fair bit this week as I joined an online class and have been putting the techniques learnt to good use. Here's a few LO done with Unity stamped images thrown in! Most of these LOs have been done in conjunction with sketches from either Sketchy Thursdays or Creative Scrappers (info can be found in previous posts on this blog).

My latest LO done last nite using sketch #100 from Creative Scrappers. Stamped the swirly image on the  background and included a poinsettia and a Xmas tree.

Another LO using Unity's scrapbooking kit and some images from KOTM sets.

A journaling stamp from Unity's scrapbooking kit. That is one of my fav stamp image. Heart and swirl came from a template in the online class.

Another stamp image from the scrapbooking kit which I used as journaling lines. 

Finally, a Xmas card using Unity's Xmas images: 

I do a few Xmas cards each month to ensure I have enough cards at the end of the year. 

Thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend. If you've reached here, you know what to do...


You found the blinkie! Just leave a comment for a chance to win 25 random stamps from Unity! Good Luck. I'll draw a random winner on Saturday. Check back here or the SCS Unity forum. TTFN!

~ Creative Scrappers: Apr challenge, sketch #100 & Create 10 Day 6 ~

I'm slowly prodding along with my online class. I'm determined to ensure I complete them as it's a shame  not to. Anyway, I combined Day 6 class with a sketch from Creative Scrappers:

Here's my LO: 

Made use of Scarlet Lime Mar10 kit (it was getting a bit neglected). Did a Xmassy theme for this LO as the photo was taken last Christmas. Raided my Xmas stash to fill in the bits. Day 6 class was about dressing up embellishments and I did, using stamps and Promarkers/Copics!

Onward to the next class... TTFN!

~ Sketchy Thursdays: 4.15 Challenge, Who's That Girl #7 & Create 10 Day 5 ~ ~

Combine 3 challenges into 1 LO, can't help it now that the school term has started and it's back to routines again. I welcome the opportunity to scrap except I only have limited time to do so. Anyway, here are the challenges: 

Sketchy Thursdays Sketch 4.15 challenge. This is the sketch: 

Sketchy Thursdays have combine challenge with Who's That Girl and they have a prompt: 'Right Now' 

Right Now - while the core of who you are doesn't change, I find that my interests and activities tend to evolve from one year to the next.  Take a moment to capture the things you are into RIGHT NOW. 

Create 10 Day 5 class is about 'Journaling the Day'.

Here's my LO. I took bits from each of the 3 challenges to create this LO: 

Made use of Scarlet Lime March10 kit (it was getting a wee bit neglected). The scraps were from my card scraps (that part came from Create 10 class). For the journaling, I wrote about what my role was right now, my interests and what I like to do.

Having fun combining challenges. On to the next class...a little behind at the moment. TTFN!

~ 365 Cards: Day 51 ~

It's a Tuesday Trio day today and the challenge is to incorporate alpha stickers, stamp and the colour red. Here's my card:

Patterned papers by Basic Grey Koishi and Sugar Rush collections. All 3 elements covered... alpha sticker, stamp (thinking) and red (shoes and the dots in the patterned paper). Now you won't find this particular image that I used as they are of my boys. I had them custom-drawn and was given an outline for me to colour in. Why the violins? Well, they are both violinists! I think they look so cute!

If you like to have any custom-drawn images, check this lady out. She's superbly talented and she did a great job drawing my boys! TTFN!

~ Create 10 Card ~

A card challenge was set to make use of the techniques learnt in Day 1. Well, here's my card:

Patterned paper by Basic Grey Kioshi collection and I used an {ippity} stamp set called Where You Should Be.

Here's my handmade rosebud, sprinkled with glitter at the top. 

Enjoyed making those flowers.... quite addictive. TTFN!

~ Sketchy Thursdays: May GDT sketch & Create 10 Day 4 ~

Woke up to a sunny Sunday and decided to spent the day crafting instead... sorry, as much as I luv to see the sun in this country, I'm no sun worshipper and you won't catch me sunbathing at all!!! Let's just say the fear of getting wrinkles and sun-damage skin weigh heavily on my mind! Besides, I devoted the last two weeks to my boys and it was time to claim a bit of 'me' time to myself. So hubs brought them out and entertained them. 

I started with Day 4 of the Create 10 project. There was a template to use and to create a fabric flower. I teamed it with a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays to produce this LO:

Here's the sketch:

And my LO:

Made use of Studio Calico April kit. For Create 10 Day 4 class, made use of the shirt template to create a bunting. In place of fabric materials, I substituted for lace to create my flowers (I'm a lace hoarder and got loads of them as opposed to fabric). For Sketchy Thursdays challenge, the theme was celebration and to use the colour green. Well, this LO is about celebrating Spring... when it came, we lost no time in heading to the beach!

A closeup of my lacey flower

I'm having a whale of a time doing the Create 10 classes. TTFN!

~ On Display: Banana Frog ~

It was my turn to upload a project on Banana Frog blog and I went for a spiral card. Found the instructions at Splitcoaststamper and decided to have a go. It was quite fun to make it and so easy too. I played with 2 stamp sets, I Heart You and Swirls & Butterflies. 

Here's my card: 

The flower was created using 5 heart images. The swirls were highlighted using sticklers.

The inside of the card with the spiral effect, decorated with hearts.

A closeup look of it. Patterned paper by Papermania Love collection in a 8x8 pad. Got them cheap in a sale. I've used them in my kid craft classes and still have loads left over!

More deets about the card is found here. TTFN!

~ Creative Scrappers: Apr challenge, sketch #98 & Create 10 Day 2 ~

I'm having fun with the Create 10 classes and I did Day 2 which comprise of using a heart template coupled with embellishing hearts using ribbons. I kill two birds with one stone, I made use of a sketch by Creative Scrappers: 

Here's my LO: 

LO done using Studio Calico April kit. Luv that paper which incidentally is a SC paper. I covered the hearts with scraps of ribbons. The hearts/swirl template came from the class. 

Another fun LO to do. Off to finish the other classes... TTFN!

~ Sketchy Thursdays: Spring Challenge Blog Hop & Create 10 Day 1 ~

After much hesitation (just the fact that I'm so short of time these days), I enrolled with Crafty Templates Create 10 class. A class that contains 10 projects for 10 days. So far, what I like about it is that fact that techniques are taught, not just mere scraplift of a LO. So I started with Day 1, took the techniques and produced a LO based on a sketch by Sketchy Thursdays.

I played with a Spring Challenge Blog Hop sketch on Sketchy Thursdays. The blog is part of a group of blogs involved in a Spring Blog Hop, only for this week. Here's the sketch:

Here's my LO incorporating techniques from Create 10 Day 1 and the sketch: 

LO created using Studio Calico April kit. 

A closeup of the handmade flowers, sprinkled with a bit of sticklers and a gem in the centre.

I placed a large lace on the paper and sprayed it with Cosmic Shimmer. This resulted in a lacey background. My bunting, stamped and cut out.

Had fun making this LO. One of my fav I reckon! TTFN!

~ On Display: Studio Calico ~

I started my first sub to Studio Calico kit and I luv it! Papers are really yummy and the kit is very different from Scarlet Lime. Colours are more subdued. Anyway, I lost no time playing with it and used this sketch on the SC blog:

Here's my LO:

 I rotated the sketch to fit my photos. Journaling reads: You hesitated, you pondered, you were terrified, yet you considered, you were persuaded, you were cajoled, you were bribed. Eventually you mustered up your courage and you jumped, much to our delight! 

Had fun with the sketch. TTFN!

~ Unity's Friends With Flair ~

Sad to say that my Easter break is coming to an end. The boys go back to school next Tues and I go back to work too. It has been great having them around although it did impact on my scrapping time but on the plus side, I've got loads of photos to scrap! 

Today, I've got a canvas to showcase. I did it for my hub's birthday gift, using Unity's Mar/Apr scrapbooking kit.

Patterned paper by Webster's Pages. I cut it out and applied on the canvas but not before misting over a damask stencil.

For the side, I use {ippity} Regal Greeting set.

I also made quick 'themeless' tag using March's store kit and Donna Downey Inspired stamp.

Sometimes I just luv playing with the stamp images and making tags with them is a great way to use them. Sadly, I never end up keeping any tags as they are usually given away.

Well, I'm off to enjoy the last few days of my Easter break. Before I leave, I offer my full-hearted sympathy to those who are unable to fly today due to flight restrictions (i.e no flights till 1pm tomorrow). The ban is the result of a huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano. I know of a friend who's due to fly out today for the US and another who is due to come back from the US. Let's hope they do make their flights eventually! 

Thanks for dropping by and have a good weekend! TTFN!

~ CardPatterns: Sketch 59 ~

Tried scrapping last nite but hit a brickwall and decided to make cards instead. So checked with a few fav card blogs and here's this week sketch for CardPatterns: 

Here's my card: 

Patterned paper by Basic Grey Kioshi. Now that fabric strip is actually purple in real life! The sentiment reads 'thank you'. 

Need to start creating more 'thank you' cards as they will come in handy when the school term close for summer hols! TTFN!

~ Caardvarks: Baby Card ~

Caardvarks is having a blog hop with Clear and Simple stamps. Lots of inspirational cards on display. The challenge is to create a baby card. Here's mine: 

Patterned paper by Papermania Rose Garden collection. Luv the papers in there. Stamped image by Unity.

TTFN!

~ Mojo Monday 134 ~

Another card done using this sketch by Mojo Monday: 

I created this card for my son's friend who is having a birthday party tomorrow. Sketch was easy to play with: 

Patterned paper by K&Co Amy Butler Belle collection.

For good measure, created this tag for her too: 

Hope she likes it! TTFN!