[Fusion Challenge] One Year Celebration Challenge

Hello there! Happy New Year to all of you. I hope 2015 brings each of you good health, big and small successes, happiness, lots of laughter, much time with family, friends and other loved ones, and a healthy dose of creative mojo.

Last year 2014 was a really busy with many high highs and many low lows. Somewhere between normal work and life balance, I switched roles in my job, undergone some massive home renovations, planned a baby shower (not mine :P), planned a wedding and had a wedding in another country (let alone another continent). I've been exhausted and all the commitments seemed to hit at one. I needed to take a step back, take a breather, and re-calibrate my scale. 2014 seemed like a year in constant over-drive, and "normal" load of commitments wasn't that normal anymore.

During my breather, I took a bunch of lazy days. Took some weekends to stay in my jammies, binge watched some shows, neglected cleaning, gained 5 lbs, and didn't touch anything in crafting room (but it didn't prevent me from shopping for more crafting supplies ;)

Well, that being said, I am so happy to be back in blog-land, starting the first day of this year with a guest designer post for Fusion Card Challenge. I have heard so much of this group, so I am honored to be asked to play along.

It is Fusion's First Birthday and their design team member Betty invited me along. So make sure to stop by the Fusion Card Challenge blog and wish them a very merry Birthday.

I'm so happy that Betty asked me along and we decided, since we were both home during the holidays to have a FaceTime craft date. With a six hour difference, I scrapped in the late morning and Betty in the early evening. And this is what it looks like...

So after lots of catching up and brainstorming for the challenge, here is what I came up with...




A bit of pink, some gold glitter paper (which looks way too orange in this picture, and more lovely in person), chalkboard, and a bit of gray. Then I took the sketch and interpreted it, and made the oval my focal point, dropped the banner, because I couldn't find a good place for a sentiment, and then added the star part as paper clips.

And since this is a birthday, you need sequins, right?



Well make sure to hop over to the Fusion Card Challenge blog, and of course to my friend Betty's blog. Here is a sneaky peek of her card...

And here is us waving our cards to each other after we're done... :)



Thank you for having me as a guest designer! And hopefully I will be back with some cards soon.

Supplies
Stamps: (Birthday Blackboard) Hero Arts
Paper: (Smokey Shadow, Basic White Cardstock) Papertrey Ink
Pattern Paper: (True Love) Basic Grey; (Summer Stories) Teresa Collins
Ink: (Stamper's Select Vellum) Papertrey Ink; (Sequins - Cotton Candy, Raspberry Red) Neat and Tangled, (VÄLBEKANT - star clips, silver) IKEA

[Little Tangles] Birthday Bash: The 4-1-1 on Danielle Walls

Hi everyone! Are you having a blast so far with our Birthday Bash event? I am over at Little Tangles today with a unique little post. It's the 4-1-1 on Danielle Walls, owner, brain-child, designer, and operations of Neat & Tangled Stamps.

I even got to meet her in person in July. Here is proof...

Still trying to figure out how to shoot a selfie with a DSLR and short arms ;)

What a pretty awesome day in the city. Great weather, great food, and most important great company! Must repeat...

Please hop on over to the Little Tangles blog to see the whole interview. And leave a comment, since there is a prize up for grabs.

[The Ribbon Reel] Challenge #41 - Crochet

Hello everyone! My first post back since Hurrican Sandy... and I'm here with a treat for you. I'm here guest designing with The Ribbon Reel. Keilly and the rest of the team have been so generous to offer me a spot. This challenge demands (Crochet Lace or Crochet Flower) + Button + (Ribbon or Lace). 

So I decided to try my hand at creating a lace dress as a card for a wedding greeting card.


Stamps: (You're Lovely, Fancy Flourishes & Scallops & Dots, Big Day Additions) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko; (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger;
Embellishments: (Lace Tape - White, Cream) Decollections; (Vintage Button - Dark Chocolate; Bakers Twine - Dark Chocolate) Papertrey Ink; (5th Avenue - Sophia Trims) Making Memories; (Precision Pen 05 - Brown) American Crafts; (Crystal Stickers - Pearls) Mark Richards; (Say It With Crystals - Swirls Cream) Prima Marketing

I inked up a piece of scrap card stock and stamped on the dress. Then I layered the crochet trim one row by row on with the cream, and the top with the white. Brilliantly, the top corset portion is the same as on the dress form, so I was able to stamp off the top part of the wedding dress with it. Then I carefully inked the crochet lace again with the ink and added some pearls to the top.



The background is stamped in Versamark with some flourishes. I love the soft but elegant look that the background leaves. The trim is the perfect shade of aqua that I found in my stash. A bit of twine & button topped with a pearl and a beautiful pearl swirl, and the whole card is kinda done. Just a quick, elegant sentiment to tie the whole card together...



Make sure to stop by the rest of The Ribbon Reel's team...These girls are a whole lot of talent! And thank you again, Keilly, for letting me part of this fun experience!


And since Linda over at Catered Crop is having an "Arsenic & Old Lace Recipe Swap" challenge, I would like to add my little card into this challenge round. Thanks for peeking!

[Scrapbook Steals] September Blog Hop - Glitter

Good morning, lovelies! It's Friday. And I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Can you hear it? Today I have a special post up for you. If you know me, you know I can't resist great crafty products. And if you know me even better, you know I can't resist a good sale. So what happens if you combine both of these loves? An addiction named Scrapbook Steals. This site have many a lovely products, including the whole line-ups of My Mind's Eye, Crate Paper, Studio Calico, October Afternoon...basically products that I love to use on projects, so this site really wins it for me.

When Scrapbook Steals was asking for guest designers, I thought "why not?!" Miraculously I got picked. So a big thank-you for letting me guest design with the Scrapbook Steals group. 

Today we're showcasing some yummy Martha Stewart glitters. Now, what girl doesn't like a little bit of bling or sparkle, right? We have a great line up of very talented girls bringing you some inspirations on how to stretch that glitter. If you followed along the blog hop, you should be arriving from sweet Julie's blog. If not, you might want to start from the beginning.

I have a few creations for you today, and I promise to post up a follow-up tutorial. I received three colors of Martha Stewart Iridescent glitter: cherry popsicle, ice cube, and sour apple - it screams Christmas, doesn't it?



So the one thing that sometimes makes me not a fan of glitter is that it gets everywhere. And when I mean everywhere, I mean everywhere...I think some of it came with me to work, some of it may even be stuck in between my keyboard keys. Sometimes I'm convinced I see a fleck of it in my hair or still attached to parts of me...but it might be the glitter paranoia speaking. So when I work with "messier" products, I like to be in as much control as possible. What does this mean? Contain it, tape it down... please just don't come off ;)

One of my favorite techniques is to combine glitter with scor tape. I will post up a step-by-step tutorial soon to show how you can get the glitter on and save yourself the mess...


Stamps: N/A
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Pure Poppy) Papertrey Ink; (Card stock) scrap bin
Ink: (Versamark) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Double Sided Ultra Sticky Clear Tape - 3.5mm) Stix2; (Perfect Pearls - Perfect Pearl) Ranger; (Iridescent Glitter - Cherry Popsicle, Sugar Cube) Martha Stewart; (Christmas Twine) The Twinery; (Alphabet Stickers) Prima; (Kris Kringle - Felt elements) SEI; (Nestabilities - Labels Eighteen) Spellbinders

I knew I wanted to make a peppermint striped color scheme and couldn't resist this little felt bird I had in my stash. A little alphas here, a bit of snowflake stamping & dusting with Perfect Pearls, and I pronounce this my first Christmas card of the year...The twine was actually a cool find by my DYSU buddy Jan, which we split three ways. A great frugal way to share some products, right? And twine is also so light to ship...



Look how clean the glitter lines up with the scor tape? I'm just tickled how this came out...more tips & tricks on another post, I promise!



My second card of today is a fun birthday card, using more glitter! And it's a fun little interactive card, because you can "shake it, shake it....like a polaroid picture." (If you can name the song and the artist...leave 'em in the comments ;)


Stamps: (Celebrate Special Edition) Studio Calico & Hero Arts
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Dark Chocolate, White, Aqua Mist; Stamper's Select Vellum) Papertrey Ink; (Acetate)
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger; (Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Hawaiian Shore) Papertrey Ink
Embellishments: (Iridescent Glitter - Sour Apple, Sugar Cube) Martha Stewart; (Saddle Stich Ribbon - Hawaiian Shore) Papertrey Ink; (Wood Veneers - Stars) Studio Calico; (Nestabilities - Standard Circles Small; Classic Scalloped Circles Small) Spellbinders; (Inkssentials - Glossy Accents) Ranger; (Cuttlebug A2 Embossing Folder - Swiss Dots) Provocraft; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor

I can post up more detailed shots about how I put this little shaker card together if you're interested, but it's pretty straight forward. I created a pocket by cutting out two circles (larger than the window) in both acetate and vellum. After lining them up back to back, I sewed around the edge and left a little opening. Since I have always loved the color combination of aqua and a nice crisp granny-smith green, I filled the little pocket up with some glitter (of course), a few little wood stars and aqua confetti to make it a party inside the pocket.



The cupcake is stamped, colored with color pencils, and then finally iced with a layer of Sugar Cube glitter, followed by a nice generous layer of Glossy Accents. It gives the top layer of the cupcake a little more dimension by making it into an home-made (inexpensive) epoxy. A little bit of ribbon (that I stapled together), a fun little sentiment backed with vellum, and voila. Easy peasy card that you can make...and the best part? The glitter is contained ;)


Thanks for letting me share these two projects with you. I hope you enjoyed them.

Now off you go to the ever so talented Lisa. Just a small reminder that prizes are to be had. Leave a comment by Sunday September 16 11:59pm MST, and a lucky random winner from one of the eight blogs will be drawn to receive a $20 gift certificate. How awesome is that?

Here the blog hop details in case you get lost:

• (Scrapbook Steaks)
• (Erica Bass)
• (Julie Ann Cordero)
• Ren-Yi Lo <---------- you are here
• Lisa Bankes-Lahiff
• Neela Nalam
• Amy Brock Coose
• Becki Adams

On a last note, if you're a regular reader, don't forget to answer the survey in the top right panel. The second QuAC poll is up and if you want to link up and please feel free to participate in the first QuAC challenge  :)

[Catered Crop] In the Pink Quickfire

Hello there! Yep another blog post this week. You're in for a treat, because you'll get to see some gorgeous designs by some ladies who are part of a challenge group called Catered Crop led by sweet & dear Linda McClain. I originally stumbled across this site through Rebecca, my DYSU teamie, who is also a DT member of Catered Crop. So I thought, why not play along?

Well the darndest thing happened, and my North Shore card got a nod of approval when I played along in the last "No Stress Distress Recipe Swap." Evidently Linda calls us the distressing queens? ::cue ABBA's "Dancing Queen" song::..."Distressing Queen, young and sweet, only seventeen..."

Ok, you're not here to hear my oh-so-punny lyrics, so let's get down to business: I am joining Maya and Tracey and the rest of the Catered Crop DT as a Top Chef in this Quickfire: In the Pink. Yep, the name pretty much says it. Pink, pink, pink....and I had to cheat. One can always claim that Kraft is neutral right? It really doesn't...count. Ahem. (Then again those that know me, know I have a hard time following a challenge to a tee...)



So this card is actually a birthday card for my very special mum. And it just happened that I was wrapping her gift with this delicious pink & kraft paper. After that it was impossible to get this paper out of my head. So instead of fighting it, I decided to take the scraps and make something out of it. As you can see it has a little surprise element - a hidden tag. My mum received her card looking like this...


Stamps: (Compact Sentiments) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft, Select Vellum) Papertrey Ink; (Kraft & Pink wrapping paper) Paperchase
Ink: (Versamark) Tsukinkeo
Embellishments: (Stamp 'n Stuff - White Opaque Buttons) Stampendous!; (Nestabilities - Big Scalloped Circles Large) Spellbinders; (Mat Stack 3 Die) Papertrey Ink; (Creative Candy Pretty Pearls - Pink) Amuse; (Lost & Found 2 Blush - "Beautiful Girl" Brad, "Better" Layered Chipboard Strickers) My Mind's Eye; (Cork) Recollections

To think of it, if I didn't tell her you can pull the top out, I think she would have just admired it and add it to her other cards on the mantle piece. Maybe I should have made it more obvious...

Anyways, I had this roll of yummy wrapping paper for a while. Borders use to carry lots of cute stationary as well as very gorgeous wrapping paper from Paperchase. So whenever something went on sale, I had to pick it up. This was one of those finds. 

The focal point is actually made out of a little cork & wrapping paper flower that I cut out using the Big Scalloped Circles. The flower is adhered with some foam dimensionals so that the sentiment can slide in and out. This gorgeous pink chipboard happened to fit perfectly over the Mat Stack 3 die, making this embellishment not just a pretty little thing to admire, but also to help grab / pull handle for the tag. 

In hindsight, I could have embellished that pink strip on the vellum pocket with some Versamark and some Doily patterns, but by the time I thought about that, I already had glued everything down. I'm sure it happens to the best of us... but I'm kicking myself for it. The vellum pocket was measured using the Mat Stack 3 Die plus a little for room & adhering. I just use a simple liquid glue (which is why you can see the glue strips). Any one have advice how to glue down vellum without it peeking through?



I also thought a little bit of a pearl trim could help anchor the vellum pocket a little. This is what it looks like with all the components of the gift and card out.



Mum liked it lots, but I had to make sure to not schedule this post too early, since she secretly stalks my blog. I know, because she will ask if this or that card that she has seen "featured" on this blog is still available. What can I say - I've become her personal Hallmark ;) 

Maybe later this week I will pull some pictures from our birthday spent with Mum...just fair warning, we are a family that loves to eat. Don't be surprise if there are more food pictures than people pictures ;)

I shouldn't keep you anymore. I'm looking forward to seeing what the girls made for this Catered Crop's Recipe Swap and hope that you can find some inspiration in making something pink. I hope you consider joining us. This is a fun group and maybe in future you'll find a way to use your wrapping paper scraps? If so, I would love to see.

Have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

Best Fishes

I was generously offered a Guest Design Team spot for the month of July with Scrap our Stash. The July challenge theme is Brads & Eyelets. Ever have too many of those lying around?

My first thought for the July challenge using eyelets and brads as center of flowers, adding a few in a row to add extra bling, adding them to ribbon. But none of those made me excited and I wanted to do something special for Scrap Our Stash. So here I was going "Think Think Think" like Pooh bear. So while crafting on a different project, which included cutting out a cloud, I had my a-ha moment. Clouds are like "thought bubbles," which require little bubbles, but little bubbles remind me of "air bubbles," which led to fishies swimming. Totally logical, right? ;) 


Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft (Papertrey Ink), Dotted Swiss (Bazzill Basics Paper), Basic Card Stock - Cream (Recollections)
Ink: Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Terracotta (Papertrey Ink), Brilliance - Pearlescent Sky Blue (Tsukineko), Brilliance - Pearlescent Ice Blue (Tsukineko)
Embellishments: Emboss A2 - D'Vine Swirls (Provo Craft), Black - Art No. 88/41 (Stabilo), Softcore Colored Pencils - PC924 Crimson Red, PC1002 Yellowed Orange (Prismacolor), Heidi Grace Ribbon (Fiskars), Eyelets - Royal Blue (Making Memories)

Here are a couple of fun, planned elements to the card:

• Embossed the kraft card stock and inked the raised parts with a stamp pad (a technique I spied off on the very talented blog of Claire from Waltzingmouse Stamps) to create water and waves
• Used wavy ribbon to represent water waves, which also breaks the area of embossed and non-embossed card stock up well.
• Used Swiss Dots Bazzill paper since "bubbles and dots" where kind of a theme.
• Use your existing sentiments to make a better & punnier one. If you recognized the font or sentiment, you are probably thinking Papertrey Ink's Mega Mixed Messages. But  if you don't recall a "Best Fishes" sentiments in the set, I say "Look otherwise!" *wink wink* "Father" and "Wishes" in "Best Wishes" are of the same font type and same font size. So yep, through masking and careful placement of the stamp, one can create a new sentiment. Tada! This does not always work, but always look for opportunities. Remember this card? I isolated the "N" from a sentiment that ends with an "N" (e.g. "Good Man" or "Have Fun") to write out "Well Done 'N Good Luck." Gotta get as much mileage out of your stamps, right?

And then there are the usual unplanned mistakes and how-to "recover" hacks:

• Used a Crop-A-Dile to punch out the holes and fasten the eyelets. Does anyone ever remember there is a guard? Duh. I had already glued down Mr. Fishy and the holes to punch out the air bubbles were absolutely no where near Mr. Fishy.  Oops. So i had to relocate Mr. Fishy a little more to the left. Good thing when I adhere I don't push and attach everything down, until everything is placed where I want it.
• Mr. Fishy was drawn as a sketch on the scrap piece in an inked pen (my pencil was hijacked!), only he was too large. Oops. No big deal, turn the card stock around and start again ;) My Recycling 101, #1 Rule: if there is an "Oops", use the other side ;)
• So, remember the Frugal Friday tip? My third "Oops" and "I should have practiced." Sometimes concepts are just better in theory and need to be tested out first. The "F" was placed significantly lower, and it was not recoverable. Which brings me to my My Recycling, Rule #2: Cover up. So, now you can guess why there is a sentiment matted onto Swiss Dotted Bazzill paper. Shhh - don't tell anyone, it'll be our secret, yes?
• After (to my absolute relief) of kinda nailing my punny sentiment, I realized it stamped the sentiment crooked but cut out the card stock straight. Duh. Sigh. Groan. I was planning on aligning the matted sentiment parallel to the edge of the card, but it was so obviously crooked. So, if you tilt the sentiment in the direction it was crookedly stamped (in my case, i stamped it slanting upward and I tilted the whole matted sentiment upward), it's less noticeable. So you'll keep that secret, too, right?

Hope some of these hacks were helpful. Do you have other creative brad and eyelet uses? If so, bring 'em on before July 31st.  A guest design spot is at stake, and let me tell you I had a ball with these ladies. Thanks, Srap Our Stash, for a chance to play with ya'll and be a July Guest Designer.