Thanks for everything

Hi Friends,

I am back again sharing a card I have made for my inspiration post at Lulupu. Our theme this time is "Background stamping plus use mist or sprays on your project' and here's what I have created :

I have done the background stamping using Hero Arts Flourish Background Cling stamp  .I first heat-embossed my background using Ranger Super Fine Gold Embossing powder and used Distress inks -Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Black Soot and a little bit of Peacock Feathers to create my background. Then, I misted my background using the new Hedi Swapp Color Shine mists from the Lulupu store. These mists are really beautiful colours and when you spray them, they give this added shine which when you see in real life, is really beautiful. I have used Tropicana Teal, Coral and Gold on my card.

The small peach coloured flowers and the ribbon have been coloured using the Coral mist and the die-cut word 'Thanks' was sprayed with Tropicana Teal Mist and distressed around the edges with Black Soot I have die cut it 5 times using the Simon says die and the sentiment below it is also from the same set.. I have used the Gold mist to just fleck around the entire background. If you look closely, you will see it gives a gorgeous shine and I am using it almost on all my recent projects. The leaves were sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang Curiouser Chartreuse Flat Fabio mist. I love the intensity of it's colour !

The large blue flower is handmade using Spellbinder's Rose creation die and the black frame behind my flowers is also die cut using Spellbinder's Die- D-lites Frame Two dies and then heat embossed using Zing! Glitter Black embossing powder.

Supplies used :

Pattern papers- Graphic 45 Kraft Collection
Punches : EK Success Scalloped Scallop Border punch.

Dies-  Spellbinder's Rose creation die, Spellbinder's Die- D-lites Frame Two dies, Simon Says Stamp' Thanks' die and stamp set.

Stamps -Hero Arts Flourish Background Cling stamp, Simon Says Stamp 'Thanks' stamp set, Fiskars/Teresa Collins Girly Chic stamp set.

Mists - Heidi Swapp Tropicana Teal, Coral and Gold,  Lindy's Stamp Gang Curiouser Chartreuse Flat Fabio mist.

Inks- Versamark embossing ink pad, Distress inks -Scattered Straw, Antique Linen, Black Soot and Peacock Feathers, Versafine Onyx Black ink pad.

Ranger Super Fine Gold Embossing powder, Zing! Glitter Black embossing powder, Mulberry flowers, Pollens, Heart stick-pin,  filler flowers and Seam binding ribbon.

I'm participating along with Pretty Pink Posh Cutting Edge blog hop. I have  used a couple of dies on my card and I have listed them above.

Challenges entered :

Paper Creators Craft  -Blings and Blooms

As you like it challenge : Favorite 2 embellishment and why (Mine is always flowers, fillers and gem stones  because they are the main focus of all my creations.)

That's it from me hope you like my card. Do let me know your reviews about it :)

My first take on Watercoloring

Hi friends!

After a quite long time, I am just blogging for 'just me.' No DT commitments and just for the fun of trying out something new. Well, in my case it's watercoloring. This trend is really very happening right now in all of the blogland and I have been  SO inspired by my fellow crafter's and bloggers to give this trend a try. This is very addictive and I have another card on which I am working as well based on watercoloring which I'll share later. Here I'll have to mention my friend and fellow blogger,Pallavi, she was the one who pushed me into giving this a try. Thanks , Pallavi :) Here's a look at my first try :

I have not gone full-fledged into watercoloring rather what I did was I stamped and clear embossed the flowers and the leaves on watercolor paper and colored them using my distress inks and then I fussy-cut all those images and popped them on foam dimensions.

Then, stamped my background using Hero Arts/Basic Grey Square Pattern background stamp, cut it diagonally, stamped my sentiment on a white piece of cardstock and adhered with my diagonal pieces. Then for the final touch I heat embossed  my base cardstock on all four sides using Ranger Super Fine Gold embossing powder and mounted my panel onto it.

If you notice closely, I have adhered very small gem stones to my flower centres, I mean those little flowers which I have scattered around.

Supplies used :

Watercolor paper - Fabriano Elle Erre white, 

Stamps -  Hero Arts/Basic Grey Square Pattern background stamp, Lawn Fawn Flutter by and Blissful Botanicals, Winnie & Walter The Big, Bold and You stamp set. 

Inks - Versafine Onys Black, Distress inks- Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Crushed Olive and Festive Berries, Versamark Dazzle embossing ink pad.

 Embossing powders - Ranger Super Fine Clear embossing powder, Ranger Super Fine Gold embossing powder.

Challenges entered :

Lawn Fawn - Texture (I have used embossing powders and gem stones to add texture to my card)

BGC -Watercolor ( Honourable mention )
Addicted to CAS #45 -Geometric

Hope you like my attempt at watercoloring. If you have any suggestions/feedback regarding my card, would love to hear from you. :)
Have a nice day everyone!

'You Anchor me' !

Hello friends,
Today I have a Nautical masculine card to share with you all. It's so not my usual style and my first real attempt at a Masculine card.So without further ado, here's a look at what I have made! :)
                                                                     

 And  an another view :

To create the base of my card I have used a Woodgrain embossing folder. I cut the paper into long strips measuring 3/4 of an inch by 3 inch and embossed it in the embossing folder, then I distressed it using Vintage Photo and Scattered Straw Distress inks and tried to create the wooden plank kind of effect we see on water fronts! I have created the Sailor's knot on the either side of the sentiment banner and added a die-cut 'You' and stamped my sentiment using Lawn Fawn Harol'ds ABC stamp set.

Incidentally the sentiment banner is made from the smallest of the Timeless Tags 2 from Wplus9. I used the partial die cutting technique to create a long base for it so that it could be held by the sailor's knot on the two sides. So love using my dies in a creative way :) The life- buoy ring I have made using two circle dies and distressed it with Peacock Feather's Distress ink. The anchor in the centre is a wooden MDF piece which I have heat embossed using Ranger Super Fine Silver Embossing powder on a MDF base and the four golden brads that you see on the corners are actually plain flat-backed pearls which I first coated in Versamark Ink pad, then completely covered it with Gold UTEE(Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) and heat-set it and voila! you have a gorgeous golden brad-like embellishments and nobody will know the difference! *Winks* 

Here's a quick tutorial on how I created these Faux brads :

Hope you find this tip useful and that's about all the information regarding my card ! If you have been with me till now thank you so much for your patience :) I really wanted to share all the tips and tricks which went into making this card as I really had a lot of fun creating it !

Supplies used :

Card base: Fabriano white cardstock, Fabriano Watercolor paper.

Dies : Ironwork Motifs Circle dies, Timeless Tags 2 from Wplus9, Simon says stamp 'You' die.

Embossing folder : Woodgrain Embossing folder from Darice.

Distress inks : Vintage photo, Scattered straw, Peacock feathers.

Versamark Dazzle Embossing ink pad and Versafine Onyx Black ink pad.

Stamp - Lawn Fawn Harold's ABC stamp set.

Embossing Powder : Ranger Superfine Silver Embossing powder, Gold UTEE.

Twine, Brads, Pearls and Studio Calico Stars Wood veneers.

Challenges entered :

BGC #56 : Nautical

Allsorts challenge blog :All Sentimental

Brown Sugar challenge : Use a Banner ( Made it to Top 3! )

Little Red Wagon : :Embossing

Hope you all like my card please do leave me your comment's /suggestion would love to hear from you :)

Have a nice day everyone !

A gift bag with a tutorial !

Hi friends!
I am posting after a long time. As many of you may know, this month Ramadan was going on for us, and it has been tough past few days with fasting and lots of prayers, so I have been very inactive regarding my blog. But, I am here to share my gift bag with you all, this was made as a a part of my DT project at Lulupu and I have shared a tutorial for it too. So, here's a look at what I have created :

Here's how the back and the sides look like :

 Another side view :

It's a very simple bag and here's a template on how I have created the base of the bag :

Please right click on the picture to see the measurements clearly, but just incase, I am sharing those measurements again :

1. Take a 8 X 11 inches piece of cardstock.

2. On the long side (11 inch), score at 4.5 inches and 6.5 inches.

3. On the short side (8 inch), score at 2 inches and 6 inches.

4. Following the below template, cut on the dotted lines of your scores and fold all your scored lines to create the base of the bag.

5. For the handle of the bag, I have taken a piece of cardsotck measuring 11 inches x 1 1/2 inches.

I made some tags to gift along with this bag. Here's a look at those :

The panels of my bag are created by heat embossing and distressing and I have a detailed tutorial on how it is made on the Lulupu blog. Do check it out, HERE.

The yellow rose has been handmade by me using the new Spellbinder's D-lites die- Create a Rose. It was so much fun assembling this flower as it is almost similar to doing a three-dimensional punched flower because this die cuts out petals along with the centres and you have to emboss each petal separately and create your flower layers!

Supplies used :

Cardstock- Local buy

Watercolor paper- Fabriano Brusto.

Punches : EK Success Scalloped Scallop border punch, Martha Stewart 3 in 1 Butterfly punch.

Dies : Spellbinders D-lites Create a Rose die, Sizzix Flower Branches and leaves set die, Spellbinders border die (Name not known).

Stamps : Kaisercraft Twig and Berry stamp set, Kaisercraft Humming bird stamp set, Inspired by Stamping Creative tags stamp set.

Inks: Distress inks- Fired brick, Antique linen, Vintage photo, Victorian velvet, Tattered rose, Shabby shutters and Crushed olive.

Versamark Frost embossing ink pad, Ranger Clear Super fine embossing powder.

Heidi Swapp Gold Lame Color shine mist.

Filler flowers, Lines and Paris Japanese Washi tapes.

Challenges entered :

4 Crafty Girls -Anything goes.

Tuesday Throwdown- Handmade flowers.

Crafting with dragonflies- Bag and a tag. (I have created my bag from scratch using a scoreboard). ( Winner and Top 3! )  

Creative Moments- Anything goes with Flowers.

The Sisterhood of Crafters -Die cuts/ punches. ( Made it to Top 3! )

SSS -Emboss it (I have heat embossed the flourish).

Hope you like my work! Please leave me your comments/suggestions. :)

Have a nice day everyone!

A blog hop with a difference !

Hi crafty friends
Like my blog title suggest's today I am sharing a blog post with a difference ..Well to begin with, a few days back I was approached by a crafty friend and my fellow teamie at Lulupu  Jaya Raghuvanshi to be a part of a blog hop wherein we had to share some details about our  work and our creative process. So in accordance with the tag, I am posting a few details about myself and my work.
But before I do that let me share a few details about Jaya and her work..Jaya has a blog by the name of My Craft World and she creates some of the most amazing Layouts, cards and mixed media projects.I always find her style to be innovative and her attention to detail just fascinating .She is relatively new at layout making and has about 6 layout to her credit but if you see her work I am sure you will be astounded at her skill, she is what one calls a 'natural'when it comes to layout making. Her work is so gorgeous and looks effortless though if you read her post you will know its anything but :) Needless to say, I am definitely one of a big fan of her work and want to Thank her for this opportunity to be a part of such an unique hop.

 Getting to know me process :)

1.What am I working on right now?
Well the sad answer is nothing much!! I am in what one calls a creative slumber :) And though, I avidly like to see and appreciate all my fellow blogger's work I have nothing new to contribute right now.The only new thing which I am going to start working on is my DT work for Lulupu blog.
                                                   

2.Why do I write/create what I do ?
Hmm!! I have really thought about this for sometime now and well honestly more than writing I think creating something new is what attracts me the most and I do it because I just love to try new things and the crafty field is so diverse that there is always something new to explore.

3.How does your writing/creating process work?
For me the starting point of any creative process is a visual inspiration and I am constantly inspired by the work of other crafter's, their different styles and mediums. Recently though  I have become quite addicted to Pinterest and whenever I am logged in there its like a "Alice in Wonderland " like of experience for me So many beautiful things all in one place... Well who wouldn't love it :)

4. What is my Signature style?
Well I don't really think I have a definite signature style, though I do lean towards soft shabby chic colors and work and yes almost all my projects tend to have handmade flowers in them as I love to create my own flowers :)                                

5. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Actually I don't think that there is all that much difference between my work and that of other's of the same genre as I usually see many crafter's and artist who create shabby chic projects tend to lean towards similar soft palatte and flower arrangements such as I do.
                                                 

6. What is my current favorite trend to follow ?
Hmmm...I think it has to be  the water coloring trend and also the stenciling trend ..I see it all over the blogland and basically everywhere. These mediums are pretty much new to me and I would love to explore more about them.

Well that's about it from me :) ..I know this has been a lengthy post but please bear with me, I have tagged two of my bloggy and crafty  friends  who will be sharing their post with you on the coming Monday which is the 21st and the two wonderful people are :
                                                                  Sindhu and Kripa

Sindhu: Well, Sindhu is a very good friend and fellow crafter who I was lucky enough to become friends with online. We have known each other for two years now, just around the time she first started blogging.Over a period of time, I have seen Sindhu evolve as a crafter and artist from the time she started  and I think she has finally found her niche in the CAS style and I see her creating some of the most brilliant and beautiful CAS cards.She is definitely my inspiration and someone who I aspire to be like in creating CAS cards and projects as CAS is not a style I am very comfortable with. You can check her beautiful one of a kind creations HERE.

Kripa: I  have got to know Kripa quite recently as my teamie at Lulupu blog .Her work is always unique and so different from what I do that I always have a Wow feeling when ever I visit her blog or get to see her latest creation ..She does a variety of things like creating layouts,cards and even albums to name a few, her work has a softness and a ethereal feel about it which definitely captures one's attention .You can check out Kripa's blog HERE.

Would love it if you would check out Jaya's, Sindhu's and Kripa's and leave them some leave. Thank you and have a nice day everyone :)

A gift box !!

Hi friends!

Today, I am sharing with you all a giftbox that I have made from scratch using cardstock and some beautiful pattern paper . The measurements of the box and the method on how I made it, I have referred to the youtube video of an international crafter that I found on Pinterest. HERE's a link to it if you are interested in making this.and keeping in mind the current Lulupu challenge which is to use 'Minimum 4 colours from the Lulup logo + create banners or pennants . This cute, little box can very easily hold a small sweet treat or an accessory like a bracelet or some pretty earnings. This could make a perfect party favour gift too! So, here's a look at what I have made :

To make this box, I have first cut and scored the cardstock, then measured and cut the pattern paper from the DCWV Fresh Floral Stack accordingly, and then covered all the four sides and the top of the box with it. Then, I created a small handle on the lid to make it easy to open and decorated the front of it using a die-cut panel which I have distressed on the edges using Crushed Olive Distress ink. I stamped the sentiment in the centre and also stamped, colored and fussy-cut the flowers and leaves using the Lawn Fawn Blissful Botanicals and Flutter By sets. Added the banners on the two sides of the box and a punched lace using the Martha Stewart Doily Lace which was then colored using Distress inks- Crushed Olive, Shabby Shutters and Tumbled glass.

Challenges entered :

Kraft Zone- Dies with Pattern paper.

A Creative Romance- Anything goes with Happy Birthday!

Hope you like my box. Do leave me your comments/suggestions. 

Have a nice day everyone! 

You fill my thoughts !!

Hiya Friends ,
This is going to be a quick post as I am leaving for a short break starting today, have lots to do and very little time to complete :) Today I am sharing a card I made for the Lulupu blog where our current challenge is 'Inspired from the Movies' with the added twist being to use dry embossing on our projects.I have made a card based on the movie 'PS : I Love you' and here's a look at it :

My card was inspired by the beautiful love story between the husband and wife in the movie and how even after his death the husband manages to surprise his wife with secret gifts and messages. I have used this sentiment and whole scene to  recreate the feel of the movie:)

For the embossing part, I have embossed the tree trunk using a woodgrain embossing folder and inked it using Distress ink Vintage Photo and the grid like pattern on the background was created using a Martha Stewart Scoreboard I have shared the details about it on the Lulupu blog ..Do check it out for a fun tutorial I have shared there !

Hope you like my card ..I would love to hear your views on it ..Please do leave me your comments/suggestions.

Have a good day everyone :)

Supplies used :

Base cardstock- Campap

Martha Stewart Scoreboard.

Embossing folder - Darice Woodgrain embossing folder.

Dies :

Memory Box Nestled Bird, Memory Box Wrought Iron gate, Simon Says 'You' Stamp and die set.

Inks :

Distress inks : Vintage Photo, Tumbled Glass, Antique Linen and Shabby Shutters.

Distress stains : Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn and Wild Honey.

Versafine Onyx Black ink pad.

Unity Stamp, Punch Bunch 3 in 1 Hydragena punch and Pie Lane Glitter balls.

Challenges entered :

Color Conception : Dry or wet embossing

Crafter's Corner : Something special ( Made it to Top 3! )

BGC : Bingo (Last line : Birds,Black,grid,Sentiment)

Simon Says Stamp - Die Crazy!