Back to my old love...

Hi! I came across the Crazy Little Projects site some time back. What really caught my eye was the Sew Crazy Monthly Challenge, a sewing series which will have a monthly theme and a challenge.

I was very excited since I have been wanting to get back to sewing for some time now. I learnt to sew as a child from my mother who used to teach sewing, embroidery etc. Since I did Home Science, I did 3 more years of sewing in college. Though I have stopped making garments, I do enjoy making stuff like bags, cushion covers etc.

I was even more excited when I saw that one of the projects was a zippered pouch with pin tucks. Though pin tucks are not a problem, I have never been too comfortable with zippers. So this was my project of choice.

For the outer fabric, I recycled an old trouser. The print is from my stash. There is a great tutorial at Simple Simon & Co which I followed.

The pouch turned out a bit bigger that the tutorial since I could only get a 10 inch zipper. I embellished the pouch with some fabric flowers, embroidery and yellow wooden buttons.



Here is a close up of the pin tucks...



and the flowers.



The pouch now goes to my daughter to hold the million and half things that she needs to carry to school everyday.



I really had fun making this pouch. And the best part? Took me only around an hour to finish! I am definitely making more!

Love,
Nan

Stretching my horizons...

Hi! This colour combo from Dynamic Duos DD#85 really caught my eye.

I love the bright colours and that became the starting point of my card here:



Supplies used are hand made paper in white and green and bright yellow card stock. I used the sketch from Retro Sketches rs#97.

I used the current challenge at Technique Time Tuesday - Triple Time Stamping to stamp the leaves with Camlin Drawing Inks in Yellow and Green. Though I followed the excellent video tutorial, I decided to inverse the layers.



The sentiment was stamped on acetate and heat embossed, since the green paper is textured. I finished off with some punched yellow flowers and white half pearls.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Dynamic Duos #85
Hope my card is accepted, since my rich, golden yellow is looking more orange!

Retro Sketches rs#97
Thanx for the great sketch, guys!

Technique Time Tuesday - Triple Time Stamping
Been following this blog for some time. But am entering a card for the first time.

Robyn's Fetish Challenge #194 - No pattern paper

Thats all from me for now.

Love,
Nan

A cute little card...

Hi! My second post today!

A cute little card to celebrate the new year.

The base is white hand made paper. I glued the light blue hand made paper at the bottom. The octopus, the hat and the wine glass are all hand cut. The banner is punched from assorted paper scraps.

The sentiment is from Micia and stamped with Faber Castell ink pad in red. The gold sequins and pearls finish my New Year's card.

Entering this card in the following challenges:

The Crafter's Cafe Challenge #44 - Animal Friends

Chocolate, Coffee & Cards Challenge #55 - New Beginnings

Craftyhands Challenge #5 - Anything Goes

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C217
I was inspired by the banner and the sentiment

Verve Stamps Inspiration Challenge - Shimmer & Shine
The shiny gold sequins and the subtle shimmer of pearls

Love,
Nandini

Rainbow on my mind...

Hi! A quick post today.

I was very inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches #117.

I used one of my all time favourites, a rainbow, and came up with this card.

The supplies used are very simple, white handmade paper and ¼ inch wide satin ribbons in the colours of the rainbow.

The sentiment is stamped using a Micia stamp and violet ink pad by Faber Castell. I used the same ink on the edge of the cloud to make it pop and mounted it on double sided tape for some volume. I finished the card with stitching lines with a glitter pen. Then my daughter said that the card was looking a bit too plain. So I added some blue sequins randomly.

I am also entering this card in the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Smitten

I am definitely smitten by the CAS style and Rainbows!

I am entering it in the Keep It Simple kis! #30 - Anything Goes as well.

Love,

Nan

Back after a loooong break...

Hi! I am back after a very long break. Though I have been doing crafty stuff, not gotten around to clicking pics and posting them.

So today I start again. And with a card I made for couple of challenges.

I finally bought heat embossing tools some time back. One of the most fascinating techniques I found was stamping and embossing on acetate. So I decided to use this technique for my first card.

The base is white handmade paper. I stamped and heat embossed flowers in white on the acetate and in black on the handmade paper. I coloured the large flowers using Camlin Drawing Ink in green and yellow. The satin ribbon is from my stash.

The bit of paper that shows through the acetate was originally white. I dipped it in water and sprayed Camlin Drawing Ink in green and yellow. I blotted it slightly to blend the colours. The sentiment is stamped on the same white paper in black. I also put a scrap of the inked paper below the sentiment. I punched out two leaf shapes from dark green and some pattern paper. Some half pearls finished the card.

I am entering it in the following challenges:

Color Conceptions Challenge #6 - Stamping Techniques
I have used Stamping on Acetate & Heat Embossing

Lulupu Challenge #22 - Cook It Up
Looks like I ended up using all 5 ingredients! The flowers are stamped images, I have punched out a scrap of pattern paper, I used inks to create a background and finally I used satin ribbon and pearls as embellishments.

Mojo Monday 326
I have used the square sketch, though I tweaked the placement a bit.

Runway Inspired Challenge ric #50
I was really inspired by the beautiful colours and the pretty white flowers on the jacket.

So that's all on my side today. Wishing you all a happy new year.

Love,
Nan

Ornate tags swap...

Hi! Last month I participated in the Swap Central India's Swap #13: Ornate Tags. It was a fairly easy swap as we were required to make only three tags.

I was very keen on trying my hand at the more layered look. I do love looking at all the beautiful vintage style creations that people keep posting. But ultimately I made only one tag in that style. You can see the post here. By the time I finished that tag, I was mentally exhausted! Also, I realized that the tag fulfilled the requirements of some of the current challenges, and decided to enter it.

P.S. Good decision to enter as my tag won the Beyond Grey Challenge #37 - Latte Love!

For the swap I decided to stick to my fav style, CAS.

The first tag is probably the simplest.

Supplies used are cream cardstock and printer paper in red, orange and yellow.

I really love the clean, simple lines of this tag. The tutorial for the technique is available on Splitcoaststampers. It also gave me a chance to use my new Chloe Stem die by Memory Box which I recently purchased from Die Cuts & More.

For the second tag, I wanted the lovely texture and colour of matty canvas to be the focal point.



Supplies used are hand made paper in red and cream, matty canvas and scraps of light green printer paper.



I used a bit of embossing on one layer and made the flower using the tea bag folding technique. A white half pearl, some stitching lines and hand cut leaves and stem from light green paper completed the tag.

The last tag is probably my favourite. I went back to a kiddie theme, which I seem to use a lot. Might be because I design so many craft projects for pre-schoolers!



The original inspiration for this came from this great project by Snap.Scrap.Blog.Tweet. I gave it my own twist and made it into a tag that will brighten anybody's day.



Supplies used are hand made paper in white, blue and yellow and a bunch of satin ribbons in rainbow colours.



The sun and clouds are sketched,  hand cut and pieced together. The sentiment is from Micia stamps - Happy Days, stamped using a light blue sketch pen. The stitching lines are done with glitter pens.

Here are all three tags together.



I had a lot of fun making these tags. Hope my partner likes them as well. Looking forward to hearing your reactions now.

Love,
Nan

A vintage tag...

Hi! Super, super quick post today.

My first attempt at vintage style; something that I have been wanting to try for a long time. I hope I have been somewhat successful!

The base is a piece of file board. I textured it with acrylic paints in Dark Brown, Black, Metallic Gold and Metallic Bronze, applying the paints with a balled up piece of newspaper.



The corrugated sheet is recycled from an old box. The doilies, white embroidery floss and flower were stained with coffee. The flower is constructed from five scalloped circle die cuts. Buttons are from my stash.



The sentiment stamp is from Micia, stamped with a black Faber Castell ink pad. The flourish die is from Die Cuts and More.



The final touch was the butterflies which I had punched out and coloured with glitter for my Butterfly Card.


You can check out the post here.

Entering my creation in the following challenges:

DCAM Challenge Blog - Challenge #1 - Anything goes with a handmade flower

Crafters Corner Challenge #11 - Anything goes

Beyond Grey - BGC #37 - Latte Love, since I used coffee for aging effect and the dark brown base.

Indian Craft Room's ICRC31 - Butterflies and brads / buttons.

Would love to hear your comments on my first attempt at making a vintage tag.

Love,
Nandini