A Quick Card for the Season...

Hi! I am here today with a card that I made for a customer. This was a rush order and I had very little time. I think sometimes tight deadlines help you make better stuff because you don't have the time to agonize over every detail.

I started with a panel of white card stock that I die cut with a stitched rectangle die. I masked off the bottom portion of the card and blended some light blue distress ink. I splattered some white paint and allowed it to dry completely. The sentiment is from the A Tree For All Seasons set by Winnie & Walter. I cut the felt trees by hand and backed up each with scraps of thick card stock. I also cut strips out of some brown card stock and used them as the tree trunks. I arranged the trees on the card and then adhered them, popping up some with foam tape. To finish, I added some star sequins from my stash and adhered the completed panel to a light teal card base.

I hope you like this quick, CAS card. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Entering this card in the following challenges.

Use Your Stuff Challenge #341 - Christmas / Holidays:
I used the sentiment from the A Tree For All Seasons stamp set by Winnie & Walter which I won as part of  giveaway way back in 2014!

Dare2B Artzy December Challenge:

Stinkin' Inkers Challenge - Winter Wonderland:

Allsorts Challenge Week 498 - Christmas Trees:

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Create a Winter Scene:

CAS On Friday #148 - Make a Christmas Card #2:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Christmas:

HLS December Christmas Challenge:

STAMPlorations December CAS Challenge:

Paru's Cardmaking Challenges - December 2018:

Love,
Nandini

Mudra Craft Challenge #17 - Fun With Cut3 Dies...

Hi! I am back with a second round of inspiration for the Mudra Craft Challenge #17. This theme this month is

Can you guess what I have created from this sneak peek?

To know more please visit the Mudra Craft Stamps blog here.

Looking forward to seeing your wonderful entries in our gallery.

Love,
Nandini

Product review for Itsy Bitsy...

Hi! What do you do when one of the leading craft stores in India contacts you and asks you to do a review of their products? Yes! You jump up with joy!

Recently Itsy Bitsy sent me a goodie bag with their newly launched cardstock and some lovely embellishments. This is a premium quality, textured white card stock available in packs of 10 sheets each measuring 12 x 12 inches. It is a thick 270 gsm paper suitable for all sorts of crafts.

I made three cards using the paper and some of the embellishments.

For the first card I wanted to use the paper as is since it is such a beautiful, bright white. 

I made a shaker card and added the pretty felt blooms to finish it. The sentiment is from the Sweet Cakes stamp set by Simon Says Stamp.

For the second card I wanted to see how suitable the paper is for stamping.

I used the Freehand Florals set by Wplus9 and a bunch of Memento dew drop dye inks to create my panel.

For the third and last card I decided to try ink blending.

I used the All Occasion Sentiments stamp set by My Favorite things and several Altenew inks in shades of pink.

Here are my three cards together.

My thoughts on this paper? I loved it! Will I buy it for personal use? Definitely!

Some of the things I really liked:

1. Very sturdy paper with a beautiful bright white color.
2. Die cuts beautifully.
3. Though it is textured, stamping is very easy on this paper and the colors show up beautifully. I deliberately avoided using my stamp positioner. But each image stamped crisp and clear the first time.
4. Perfect for ink blending. I added several layers of ink without any patchiness at all. Also no bending while heat embossing.
5. I also tried a bit of watercoloring and it held up well. I will share that card some other day.

So a big thanks to Itsy Bitsy for introducing this wonderful product.

Love,
Nandini

Hair bands and their holder...

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

A rainbow in my sight...

Good morning!

A peaceful morning for a change! The baby is playing happily and the older one is away at school. Bliss!

Moving away from paper craft today, I want to show you a project I made with some fabric, felt and paint sometime back. I decided to hang it on the door of our room and put it away while the room was getting a make-over.

I was looking to make something cheerful and colourful, for the new baby. The concept sort of grew from there to this...



I started with a scrap of thick fabric and a sponge which I cut into semi-circles to make the rainbow. I machine stitched the divisions for the colours. Then I added acrylic colours in the suitable shades, finishing up with a light blue for the sky.

The lines of glitter added a bit of sparkle as well as masked the stitching lines.

The sun and the cloud were both made of felt and embroidered with floss. I stuffed them lightly with some polyfil for added dimension. I stuck the rainbow on a stiff piece of mount board with fabric glue after adding a loop of cord for hanging. 

The final touch was gluing the sun and cloud on either end of the rainbow with fabric glue.

And this is how the rainbow looks hanging on the wall. I took the photo against the bookshelf as the light near our room door is not too good.

Hope you liked this little hanging; it always brings a smile on our face each time we see it. Like catching sight of a rainbow in the sky...