Hi! The last swap at Swap Central India was notebooks.
Here was my entry.
I found a ready notebook with a lovely green handmade paper cover. I just embellished it with some papers from my stash and my favourite Chloe stem die.
The title is embossed in gold.
I also decorated the inside page of the note book and added two bookmarks.
Here is a pic with the book marks in.
A simple project which I hope my swap partner liked.
Love,
Nan
Hi! I made a bunch of cards for Swap Central India last month. I was really thrilled when Swap Central restarted, after a break, as I have enjoyed each and every swap I have participated in!
I had to wait till the cards were officially 'revealed' on their blog. So here I am, finally, with my set of cards.
The first card is a square 'Thank You' card.
The base is pink handmade paper. The DP is actually a tissue paper that is attached to some thick card stock using cling film. I had seen the tutorial for this a long time ago. Unfortunately I don't remember where. I tried it and it works beautifully! The sentiment is computer generated and printed. Some green twine and pearls finished the card.
For the second card, I went with a CAS but layered look.
The base is gold handmade paper. The DP is created by gluing diagonal strips of assorted papers onto a piece of scrap paper. I love this technique as it gives a lovely, rich look and also uses up all the scraps of paper that I hate to throw away. This particular strip is left over from two previous cards. You can check them out here and here.
I used gold embossing powder for the sentiment. The floral gems are from my stash.
The third card uses a new technique that I tried for the first time. The original tutorial is by the amazingly talented Jennifer Mcguire. You can check it out here.
Supplies used are green and pink hand made paper. The embossing folder is from Itsy Bitsy. I used green and pink pigment inks for the embossed panel. I did struggle a lot to finish this card as nothing seemed to work after I had assembled the layers. Finally I decided to keep things simple and heat embossed the sentiment in white.
I used some tiny pearls to add a little bit of glamour to the card.
The final two are my favourites.
The card base is water colour paper. The panel is coloured using acrylic paints in blue and red. The butterflies are punched and then covered with glitter. I also covered the flourish die cut with glitter to make it pop.
I stamped the sentiment using my favourite Micia stamp set and dark blue sketch pen.
The fifth card turned out so much better than I imagined that I almost didn't send it!
The background is handmade paper, coloured using acrylic colours in pink, orange and yellow. I used my favourite Chloe Stem die by Memory Box.
The sentiment is computer generated and printed on translucent paper. I added some pearls to finish the card.
Here is a consolidated image of all the 5 cards.
I really enjoyed this swap and am looking forward to the next. You can check it out here.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Love,
Nan
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
Hi! This is one post I have been waiting a while to upload! In July, I participated in Swap #12 - Clean & Simple cards (CAS cards) by Swap Central India. Each participant had to make 10 CAS note cards. I was very excited as CAS has always been my style. I decided to use this as an opportunity to experiment with as many different techniques as possible.
For my first card I used stamping and crayon masking techniques.
Supplies used are handmade paper in white and purple. Here is a close up.
I used white crayon as a mask and watercolour pencils by Faber Castell to create the background. The basic tutorial for crayon masking is available at Splitcoaststampers. There is another excellent tutorial available at Stamp TV by Gina K. The stamping was done using a Micia stamp set and purple ink by Faber Castell. I used the same ink to stamp a sentiment.
For the second card, I again used stamping.
Supplies used are handmade paper in white and green. Stamping is with Micia stamp set and black Faber Castell ink pad.
Once again I used the crayon resist technique and combined it with die cutting.
My third card was the last one I used stamping on.
Supplies used are red handmade paper and cream cardstock. The red DP is from Chimanlals.
The stamp set is Micia and I used red Faber Castell ink pad. A length of off white satin ribbon from my stash completed the card.
Since I had already done three cards with stamping, I decided to take a break and use a different technique. So I tried my hand at paper cutting. This is something I have been wanting to try for a long time.
Supplies used are cream cardstock, handmade paper in orange and golden yellow.
I traced the rose from an old Hobby Ideas stencil and cut it with my craft knife. Then I die cut the circle and layered it with a scalloped circle cut from orange paper. A length of golden yellow satin ribbon completed the card.
For the fifth card I used my old Cut 'n Tuc stencil.
Supplies used are handmade paper in pale pink and brown.
For added interest, I die cut a circle after mounting the cut medallion and stamped the sentiment inside the card.
Since I didn't have a coordinating ribbon in my stash, I cut a thin strip of the brown paper and added it at the bottom. Some pretty rhinestones in pink completed the card.
For the sixth card, I decided to go for a radical change. Normally CAS cards are associated with a white or light base. I used black and gold instead. And I used a technique with sequins that I have used extensively when I used to make gift envelopes and tags for sale.
Supplies used are cardstock in black and gold and a scrap of the red DP. I drew vertical lines on a piece of gold paper with an orange glitter pen. Then I stuck red and green sequins for a festive touch.
The red DP was punched with a border punch and placed below the gold panel. I used the Faber Castell red ink pad to stamp the sentiment. The final touch was rounding the corners.
Since I was happy with the look of sequins, I decided to use it on my seventh card as well. But this time I wanted a more subtle look.
Supplies used are handmade paper in red and antique gold. This time I alternated scored lines with red glitter pen. The sequins are almost the same shade as the paper and give a lovely look.
Some quilled flowers and punched leaves placed atop a green satin ribbon completed the card.
For my eighth card I decided to go back to my old favourite, teabag folding. I had used a similar design previously in this card.
You can find that post here.
This time round I used a more subdued palette.
Supplies used are handmade paper in cream and red. The red DP is, of course, from Chimanlals.
I used the arrow fold and six squares of paper to construct the fan. Half pearls in gold and a bit of cord completed the fan.
The sentiment was stamped with Faber Castell's red ink pad.
The idea for my ninth card came from this beautiful card by Angela Maine that I saw on Pinterest.
My take on it is this.
Supplies used are handmade paper in white and blue.
Luckily I had the same Cuttlebug die. To make the card pop a bit more, I used blue rhinestones from my stash. I drew the stems with a green gel pen. The sentiment was stamped with a green sketch pen.
The tenth and final card is my favourite. I cased another fabulous card. The original is by Brigit, who does really amazing work!
Isn't it gorgeous? You can find her blog here.
My take on it is this
Supplies used are orange handmade paper and cardstock in green and cream.
I used my Itsy Bitsy embossing folder on the orange paper. I cut away the cream paper to reveal the green paper underneath. The flowers were punched out of cream cardstock I outlined them with an orange sketch pen for more definition. The white half pearls were the final touch.
I used a green sketch pen to ink and stamp the sentiment.
With that I come to the end of this loooong post! Here is a pic of all my cards
I had a lot of fun making these cards. It was great trying out new techniques as well as revisiting some old ones.
Hope all of you liked the cards as much as I did. Looking forward to listening 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
