Hi! One of the main reasons I started my blog was to participate in the various online challenges. I feel it is the best way to learn new things and constantly stretch my creative horizons. Lulupu's Challenge #13 - Lady Stamp-a-lot definitely falls in the category of trying new things.
The challenge was to create two different cards using the same stamp set. The challenge appealed to me on two levels. First, I have been very reluctant to experiment with stamping. I guess I am just too intimidated with the fantastic stuff that is seen online. Second, it is nice when a challenge actually makes you use your craft tools frugally.
Since I own only two stamp sets (both bought from Lulupu, incidentally) the choice was easy. I went with Everyday Sentiments (CPM 078) by Micia.
I had bought this set mainly for the sentiments. Here is a close up of the stamps I used.
And the cards I made
I tried to keep the cards as different as possible, since I didn't have much choice in terms of usable stamps. For the first card I made an easel card and used a largely monochromatic colour scheme.
But I played around with the sentiment.
Supplies used are black card stock and white handmade paper. Stamping is done with Faber Castell's black ink pad. I used my Bigshot for die cutting.
For the sentiment, I used M-seal and took an impression of the stamp while it was still pliable. Once it dried, I applied couple of coats of white acrylic paint. Then I applied a coat of black paint and wiped it off immediately for a distressed look. Finally, I rubbed some Magenta 3D glitter from Hobby Ideas into the sentiment and wiped away the excess with a wet cloth. I added two glittered butterflies and did white stitching lines as the final touches.
For the second card, I went for a rainbow look.
I used brown and cream card stock and the black ink pad from Faber Castell. I used water colour pencils by Faber Castell in the colours of the rainbow for the background.
So, Violet, Indigo and Blue
Then Blue, Green and Yellow
And finally Yellow, Orange and Red.
I blended the colours using a damp brush and stamped the same image thrice. The sentiment was of course stamped in black on the cream card stock. All the rectangles were mounted on double sided tape for added depth. Some stitching lines in white and a glittered butterfly in pale pink completed the card.
I am also entering the second card in the Rainbow Colours Without a 'Rainbow' Challenge by Catchy Challenges and Itsy Bitsy All That Glitters Challenge.
Love,
Nan
A super quick post today.
This is the card I made for the Itsy Bitsy 'All That Glitters' Challenge. Now I am not a glitter kind of girl. I find it can become too harsh unless used judiciously. So I decided to go for a subtle look.
I was still working on the concept when I came across the Rainbow Colours Without a 'Rainbow' Challenge by Catchy Challenges. I thought the two concepts could be combined beautifully.
The base is a lightly textured cream card stock. I created the background on a white drawing paper with acrylic colours for Indigo and Blue. The grass is Green and the dotted flowers are Red, Orange and Yellow. So that takes care of the I, B, G, Y, O and R in the rainbow. The V of violet is the top butterfly. For the butterflies, I punched out an OHP sheet and applied glitter in shades of red, yellow orange and violet.
The green frame for the painting is cut on the Bigshot and mounted on mount board for depth as is the tag, which is hand cut.
The sentiment is from Micia stamps, stamped on the cream card stock with a black Faber Castell ink pad. To finish up. I layered and added some dark blue and pale blue satin ribbon. The glittered butterfly in pale yellow was the final touch.
I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Itsy Bitsy - 'All That Glitters' Challenge
Catchy Challenges - Rainbow Colours Without a 'Rainbow' Challenge
Crafty Calender June Challenge - Things with Wings
CASology: Week 50 - Free
Chocolate, Coffee & Card Challenge #41 - Bingo where I have used the middle line which is 'Ribbon, Glitter & Tag'
Hope you liked this card as much as I did. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Love,
Nan
Hi! This is a post I have itching to put up. But I had to wait for the reveals on Swap Central to begin.
Swap Central India had hosted a swap in May wherein each person had to make 10 different magnets. I was very excited about participating as I enjoy making magnets. There are so many possibilities, you can go absolutely wild! The twist was that each had to be 3 x 3 inches in size.
I decided to get really creative and use as many different techniques as possible.
The first one I made was using felt, which is one of my all time favourite craft materials.
Supplies used are white and pink felt, blue sequins, silver 3D glitter from Hobby Ideas, ¼ inch wide blue satin ribbon and a black half pearl for the eye. I like this design because it is so simple and yet pretty.
For the next I used felt again.
Supplies used are very simple, just some white and green felt and green embroidery floss. The original tutorial for this is from The Purl Bee for their Citrus Coasters. I loved this project the first time I came across it. I have been planning to make it for a long time. So this time I decided to use it to make a magnet instead.
For the third magnet, I went back to my old favourite technique, quilling.
Supplies used are mount board, yellow wool, quilling strips in white, purple and green and some half pearls in metallic gold. I cut the mount board to make a ring and covered it with the yellow wool. Then I made and attached the quilled shapes. The half pearls added the final, finishing touch.
Most of my summer was spent in the Summer Camp for kids that I hold every year. I decided to take inspiration from those projects for some kiddie magnets. These projects are based on the techniques learnt from my teacher Chandrika Kamath, who held a special teacher's training workshop in March this year. You can check out her blog Creative Korner for more details of her fantastic courses.
This little caterpillar, made with a chenille stem and wooden beads was one of the things that my students loved making. I just decided to amp it up a bit. So I added a leaf cut out of handmade paper and put googly eyes on the caterpillar to give it more character. The leaf is mounted on a wood peg and can hold small notes etc.
Next came the simplest of my designs. An airplane.
Supplies used - a large wooden peg, two ice cream sticks and acrylic paints in yellow, green and red. I just love this design for its simplicity!
Keeping with the kiddie theme, a cheerful little puppet which any child would love to have in his or her room.
Supplies used are mount board, wooden beads, chenille stems and acrylic paints. My students made these into key chains. I think the design works well as a magnet too.
One of the recurring techniques in my work is origami. I have always been fascinated by this form of paper craft. I don't think there is any other craft which uses such a basic material - a square sheet of paper - and yet is so beautiful.
So the seventh magnet is a origami photo frame.
Supplies used are two square sheets of pattern paper from Chimanlals. I have already done a detailed post on this photo frame here.
Next comes a sweet little dress.
Supplies used are pattern paper locally bought, a bit of green satin ribbon and a white half pearl. There is an excellent tutorial on the blog Meijo's Joy, which I used.
The second last magnet is a origami project that I have been planning to do for a long, long time. The intricacy of this design always scared me. But this time I decided to gather my courage and give it a try.
The pic here doesn't to justice to this beautiful shell. It looks amazing in real life. There is an excellent tutorial by Sara Adams on YouTube. She goes through the whole construction so well that making it becomes a snap. I am dying to try larger sizes and a larger variety of papers for this now.
The final magnet is one of my personal favourites. It is also the one that took the longest time, since it is modular origami.
This is a kusudama. Or rather half a kusudama. The whole thing is made of total 6 flowers and each flower has 5 petals. Each petal is made by folding a square of handmade paper. After I had finished the ball, I felt it needed something more. So I put some red stamens in each flower to give it a little pop. Also, before mailing, I mounted it on a small scalloped circle in dark green.
That concludes this series of fridge magnets. I was very pleased with the results and hope my swap partner likes the magnets. I also want to thank the Swap Central gals for thinking up such great challenges.
I would truly appreciate your feedback and comments. Please do let me know which one is your favourite.
Love,
Nan
Hi! Monsoons are here and the weather is nice and cool. Definitely a conducive atmosphere to pursue creative endeavors!
My daughter had to attend a birthday party today. She was very excited. But I had a problem. What to gift to the birthday girl? It is such a tough decision nowadays when all kids seem to have everything and also have very clear likes and dislikes. Then I got a brainwave. I decided to make something that has been on my mind a lot lately.
A hairband holder...
Because I am going crazy keeping track of my daughter's hairbands. They are everywhere! With a proper hairband holder, they can all stay in one place neatly organized. And we don't have to hunt through the house every time we need one.
The supplies used are grosgrain ribbons in red, orange and green, felt in yellow and brown, green suede, black half pearls and embroidery floss in red and white. I backed the whole thing with some stiff matty cloth. Since I could not find any interesting references for the design, I made it up along the way.
The biggest compliment I got was from my husband who has asked me to make one for my daughter too.
Going back a bit, I would like to share the main reason for this epidemic of hairbands in the house. The culprit is the Bigshot which I bought some time back. One of the main reasons I invested in it was that it can cut circles and it works with a variety of materials, including felt.
I love working with felt as it is extremely versatile. And since it is available in many colours, the possiblities are endless. This wall hanging I had made sometime back and shared in a previous post should give you some idea
So when the Bigshot came I decided to try cutting some circles and made them up in to a hairband
My daughter loved it. So, armed with my faithful Bigshot and glue gun I started making them for her and her friends
This one combines fabric and felt
I have a huge stock of kundan left over from the days when I used to make stuff for exhibitions. So I tried using some of them, with great results
Some simple satin ribbon which can be woven into a braid and attached to a hairband gives a beautiful look
Change the type of ribbon to grosgrain and you have completely different look
I also found this to be a good gifting option. Specially when guests come over at a short notice.
These clips were made for my three nieces.
A special gift for my daughter's best friend who requested the colours to match her new outfit.
I also have a large stash of fabrics, since I enjoy quilting and sewing as well. So it was time to delve into the leftover scraps.
Some bright red and yellow fabric cut into circles and folded to form flowers
Top with co-ordinating buttons and you are ready to go
The same concept with a larger flower
Embellished with leaves hand cut from green suede and felt and an orange button
Another way of using grosgrain ribbon, for a simple and elegant look
And finally, one of my favourite techniques, quilling
A single flower, embellished with a dark pink gem and attached to a matching hairband.
That concludes this looong post on hair accessories and their holder.
Hope you enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed making them!
Love,
Nan
Hi! I am back with a quick card I made for the Fab Friday 19 challenge. This was the sketch given for this week
I really loved this sketch. It is so clean and simple. Yet the possibilities are endless! However, the card just wouldn't come together in my mind. I kept thinking and thinking and thinking. But no luck. Then yesterday I needed a quick 'Congrats' card for a friend and this sketch came to my mind. After that everything just fell into place (don't you love it when that happens!)
So here is my take on the sketch
I used a light cream card stock and a small piece of bright pink handmade paper. The handmade paper was embossed with an embossing folder from Itsy Bitsy. The focal point of the card is the flower made with tea bag folding. I used the Dahlia fold with eight scalloped circles cut with my Bigshot from a pretty pink pattern paper sourced locally. Since the paper was one sided, I painted the other side with Chrome Yellow acrylic paint from Hobby Ideas. Leaves were hand cut from scrap pieces of green card stock. A large gem in dark pink finished the flower.
The sentiment is from a stamp set by Micia. I coloured the stamp with a dark pink sketch-pen. Then I layered the PP, yellow handmade paper and the cream card stock to form a long strip.
Then it was only a matter of laying out and pasting the elements to match the sketch.
A quick and simple card, which my friend loved!
Hope you liked it too.
Love,
Nan
