Love you a whole Latte!

I used Kraft Cardstock as my base and added twine from the twinery for some dimension. I printed out the free digi stamp offered by Market Street Stamp on a white cardstock and used their Bit of burlap stamp for the background. I stamped it onto the orange cardstock with brown ink and stamped it with a bit of yellow and orange onto the white cardstock after masking the coffee cup! I love Market Street Stamps. They always stamp good and I have never had to stamp it twice to get a good image. It's one of the highest quality stamps out there! I added stickles for some sparkly love:-). I printed out the text from word. I had absolute fun making this card! Love kraft,twine and MSS together! Perfect :-)


So here is my card!



Entering the following challenges!
1) CAS-usualfridays CFC33: Create a Clean And Simple project using Kraft and Twine
2)Market Street Stamps Market Street Stamps Block Party
3)Stampinfortheweekend Challenge 23- Anything goes!
4)Mymumscraftshopchallenges Challenge 37- Anythign Goes!


Thanks for visiting me today!

A Christmas Card!

This is my first card using prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I watched dozens of videos to learn how to color with them. I am quite happy as it is my first attempt and hope to get better with practice. The Santa Girl image is a free download provided by Digiwithit. Do check them out, they have some very cute images!



The message on the inside of the card!



I am entering this card for the following challenges! Thank you for visiting me today! Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

creativecardcrew.blogspot Tis the Season
cardmakinmamas #35 - Christmas
2sisterschallengeblog #69 - Christmas
pennyschallenges #68 - Merry Christmas
divasbydesignchallenge #17 Merry Christmas
addicted-to-stamps-challenge Snowflakes
joannasheenchallenge It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas
basicgreychallenges #59 - Anything Goes
thesquirrelandthefox #7 - Christmas
I’m Dreaming Of A (your fave colour) Christmas
papertakeweekly #99 'Anything Christmas'
ceschallenges #65 - A Traditional Christmas
craftyribbonschallenge Traditional Colours for Christmas
stampinfortheweekend #22 - Christmas
raisethebarchallenge It's Beginning to look alot like Christmas
onestopcraftchallenge Traditional Colours
bizzybecsstore December Challenge - Christmas
pollycraftchallengeblog #120 - Christmas Fun (4 week long challenge)
comeandgetitchallenges Colours: Red, Green. Your Choice
gingerloftchallenge Winter OR Christmas
dreamvalleychallenges Christmas

Anniversary Card!

Hearts are always in season for the loved ones! I made this card using Market Street Stamps background stamps. I love them :-) I cut the heart on pazzles. This is the first time I cut vellum on pazzles and it wasn't that tough. Just played with the pressure and got it right. I first stamped bit of burlap with black ink on the heart. Then layered the hearts stamp on top of it. I heat embossed it with gold. It was my first time heat embossing and it was so much fun! Loved it. I got myself a ranger heat it tool. I love how it turned out. I red,black and gold together. More so..Sid loved it:-)

Watercolor Technique

I used Water Color Pencils and colored the background.I let it dry a bit,then inked up my stamps with brown ink and stamped on the watercolor background. Added some twine, stamped the message and done! Know any more techniques with water color pencils, post a link here! I would love to try them out! I made these for ifitsgroovy blog!

Canvas Collage!

So I have been thinking of getting some Mod Podge for a long time. I finally got the matte mod podge last weekend. I have always liked quilting pattern and I am obsessed with birds right now! :-)
The size of the canvas is 14X14. I cut 2 by 6 inch strips of paper. I used sunshine lollipop collection(Wee Bundle) by Sassafras Lass. I love this collection! Beautiful colors and patterns. I painted the canvas edge using some acrylic paints. I did some random brush strokes trying to capture some of the colors from the collection. I mod podged the paper onto the canvas, arranging the paper so it's pleasing to the eye.
I cut out the birds sitting on branches using pazzles on brown cardstock. Mod Podged that onto canvas and gave three coats of Mod Podge to finish it. I love the result! I think it will make a nice gift. It was quick and simple to make. I love how the mod podge looks like brush strokes once dry. Well, I hope you like it!

Cards Galore!

I spent about 3 hours today making some cards. I am running late on November Birthdays. I made 10 cards to cover both November and December. I love dry embossing and inking! Very simple cards..I used cuttlebug embossing folders in the big shot, inked them and added AC premium solid ribbons to finish them! I love the white one on the pink-purple background. It is simple and elegant. I had a lot of fun!

"Love"

I used Echo Park's Black PP with White dots for this layout. I tinted it using Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Ink. I wanted to give it a oldish look. I tinted the picture too. The title was cut on pazzles inspiration. I used glossy accent on it to make it pop! The frame was cut on pazzles as well. I used I rock to set the gems. It was first time using the I Rock tool and it was fun!


I love this picture:-)Anurag was maybe about 2 months when we took this picture...The poem is by Edgar Guest. It is a beautiful one!

I hope you like this one! This is based on a sketch by Savvy Sketches.

Supplies Used: Echo Park Dots n Stripes,Kraft Cardstock, imaginisce Gems and I Rock tool, Fiskars Trimmer, White uniball Pen, AC black pen, Sakura Copper Pen, Stickles, Glossy Accents, Tim Holtz Ink.

My little Rockstar!

I am going crazy with EP Dots & Stripes paper! Love it! Love how the twine goes with it.I cut out the stars on pazzles inspiration. I cut out my title word "Rockstar" on pazzles as well and then used my White Uniball pen to outline it. I used the pen on some of the stars too. This layout is also based on Allison Davis Sletch. I love her books!


Anurag at six months old was an expert at blowing raspberry kisses, was extremely ticklish and loved playing peek-a-boo! He loved it when we read books to him. I still have a lot of pictures to catch up on.

Supplies Used: Echo Park Paper, Fiskars trimmer,White Uniball Pen, AC black pen, Twinery twine, Pazzles Inspiration, ATG740

What I love about you...

I used PP from Echo Park Metropolitan Dots and Stripes collection on this layout. I asked Sid to journal and he wrote a beautiful poem. Anurag was six months old when these pictures were taken. He was so adorable! I just watched all his videos from that month.So cute! I am loving the EP paper! I love the bright and happy colors :-)I cut out the hearts on pazzles inspiration. The twine from the Twinery goes very well with this collection. Its almost like it was made for this one!The layout is based on a sketch by Allison Davis.
Hope you like my layout!

Products Used: Fiskars Trimmer,Pazzles Inspiration,Echo Park Paper, American Craft Pen,Twine from the twinery and Kraft Cardstock.

Silly Smile using Dots n Stripes!

I really wanted to participate in the Echo Park Dots n Stripes Contest. So off I sent my hubs to pick up the metropolitan collection at Archivers since I was feeling a bit under the weather! He is very sweet and did it with no cribs:)He even picked up the Splash collection as a bonus:) I thought the cut off was today (just saw the reply on facebook on EP Wall) and have been working on this layout the last couple of hours. I hope it looks good....My brain is not at its best! But there is only a little chance you can go wrong with EP paper, cause "everything goes with everything" ,my favorite phrase(see this is how you can justify buying things ;) )! They just make it easy:).You can even mix collections easily. So here goes.....

Happy Halloween!!

Anurag is 3 months old in this picture. The dress was a little too big for him. He looked so cute! I used Pazzles Inpiration to cut the Circle and the scallop Circle, the title and the pumpkins. I still need to figure out a better way of doing the scallop circle..like just do a scallop circle border on pazzles. I hate to waste the inner circle. Its anyways going to get covered! Cutting out the pumpkins was fun! I had to redo the green vine a few times, as it was tearing. I adjusted the paper thickness and speed settings and got it eventually. I used stickles to dress up my pumpkins! I had a lot of trouble with the ribbon. I still haven't found a glue which will hold it in place. Suggestions are welcome! I totally love violet and orange together! What do you think?

Happy Halloween to Everyone! Have Fun!

Feeling The Breeze!

Oh how I love Echo Park! I am in love:D This layout is based on Allison Davis Sketch. I used twine to pretty up the layout! I did some hidden journaling and slipped it under the photo with an arrow for reminder. Inked the edges. I used my Fiskars uppercrest border punch for the border. There is nothing you can do to spoil a layout if you have Fiskars Tools, Twinery's twine, echo park paper, awesome photos and Allison Davis Sketch books! Love it! Hope you like it as well!

Color Me Happy!

I redid this layout totally. I had used a orange paper with different color swirlies. After I finished the layout, I was not very happy. So I changed the whole layout and took Anurag's help:) He did it gladly! I gave him a white sheet of cardstock and asked him to color it, which I used as my background paper.I did the photostrip on pazzles! I love the photostrip! It was very easy to resize and cut! Used my new Fiskars Notebook Border Punch for the journaling note, which I won at the US of Texas Crop last weekend! I love this border punch, it is so cool.

I hope the crayola will not fade or spoil the photos. I am so happy with the way this layout turned. Now I have Anurag's art saved forever in his scrapbook :)!

Special Edition

This is one of my favorite pics! Anurag was about 2-3 months old when this was taken. I used Colorbok Black and White Collection. A bit of Stickles,a rick rack and a flower and voila it was done! Easy Peasy Fun Layout!

Home Sweet Home

I did this layout for If its Groovy Home Sweet Home Challenge!

I had a lot of fun making this layout. Chennai is my home town back in India! It is a colorful place with lots of traditions, festivals, foods, beaches! This layout reminds me of home ! So many fond memories!! Chennai is gateway to the South, and its culture is distinctly different from that of any other city in India. Tamil tradition and culture is essentially the celebration of the beauty, which is exemplified through dance, clothing, and sculptures.


I started out with a white cardstock. Stuck the photo. Then I decided to use my water color pencils and used a good old toothbrush to spray the color on the paper. I covered my photo with a scrap piece of cardstock. You can see the close up picture to see the result. I like the soft colors of the water color pencils. It came out pretty cool. I made tabs of different colors for writing down what's special about my home town! The different colors signify my colorful hometown! Then just stamped on the layout for the title,accent and the border. All the stamps are by Fiskars. Love these ones! Very simple and quick layout. Hope you like it!

Finally I got it!

I spent hours..HOURS trying to create and cut the text on my card! It is a very intricate, delicate font! I saw the video on how to do this in Klo's Classroom. The video was just over an hour. I probably saw the video 10 times to get this right! I have been working on it for a week. It was tearing the paper, tearing the mat....just not going right! I finally started all over again today and figured out how to cut intricate and delicate fonts on my pazzles! My mat is a different story all together! It looks like it has been through thousand cuts :P.I was so exhausted that I even cut the mat instead of the paper!
I cut the birthday cake on pazzles too. It is a file from the pazzles craftroom.



One more new thing about this card is the Stitching! I sew on the card with my machine! I found it difficult to control the speed and go in a straight line! But I love the results..I need to practice sewing on paper...rough paper this time ;) wasted 3 cards!
Added some twine to the card.
It is probably the hardest I have ever worked to make a simple birthday card! But I learnt a lot about the inspiration software. It was fun!

Anurag's First Haircut!

I love doing the first layouts! They are so special. The first bath, solids, haircut, out in the stroller! So many stories to tell...I love double page layouts..you can get so many pictures on them! I usually don't print pictures smaller than 4X6. I try to crop them to a 4X4 if possible. Although, I am thinking of printing them at home in the future. So I can get different sizes. My layout is based on a sketch by Allison Davis. I forgot all about the certificate he got after his haircut. So as an after thought, I just added that to the layout. I usually pull the colors of my pattern papers based on the colors in the photos. That way they go well together. So, If the picture has a lot of yellow. I won't be using too much yellow based pattern paper. Just a bit, but try to bring out the other colors from the picture and one or two bold colors. I like to focus on the photo and not the papers. To select pattern paper, I would put my photos on the pattern papers and see if I get distracted by the paper or not. I hope you like my layout!

My First Pazzles Project!

I made a few cards using my pazzles! They came out pretty neat. I learnt how to make these after watching Klo's Marathon Video 1 in the pazzles craft room. I probably saw the video 5-6 times before I got it right! It is not an easy machine. It does have a learning curve. But I think, if you take the time to learn it, it will be totally worth it! I am loving it!

Winner of Orange blog hop!

Winner picked out by random.org is commenter number 2!

Aspromised!

Congratulations:)please send me an email at viji.lg dot gmail dot com with your addy! Sorry for the delay.

Welcome to the Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop! If you have come from Diane's Blog ,you are in the right place. This is a stop on the Orange Blog Hop where members of Fiskateers, a community sponsored by Fiskars, are sharing their passion for crafting. If you didn't, you may want to hop back to the Fiskateer Blog and start at the beginning.The blog hop starts on Saturday, October 1st and ends on Sunday, October 2nd,2011. Each blog on the hop will be doing an orange project using a Fiskars tool and some will be giving away blog candy! My giveaway is at the end of this post. Keep reading for details.

I made a very fiskateer-y card. Using the Fiskars Texture plates, I made the background for the card. I thank Cheryl(Lead) for sharing the awesome orange/green ribbon! Looks like it was made just for the orange blog hop!




Here is the prize I will be giving away. It is one of my favorite tools! The fingertip control swivel knife :).


One winner will be picked at random. Leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway. You can become a follower if you would like, but its not a must to be elgible to win the candy! Winner will be announced on Monday, October 3rd by 9:00pm CST. Next on the hop is Cindy be sure to stop by and visit.

Dust Covers!!

I made a dust cover for my big shot . I found a video on youtube by cherylswindow. It was very simple to just follow her and make the dust cover. I used an infusible lining underneath.



Then,I saw a beautiful dust cover in pazzles craft room which inspired me to make one for my pazzles. The pattern was originally designed by Roxanne. She was so nice and gracious to upload the pattern online for everyone to use! I used her pattern to make mine. I changed it a bit because I was not comfortable sewing the reversible dust cover. So I put a infusible lining underneath and used the measurements from the pattern. It came out beautiful!!Thank you Roxanne for the beautiful pattern.

So now I have two matching dust covers!:)If anyone needs the link to any of the patterns, please leave a note! I am so proud of myself:D

Ifitsgroovy Stamp Challenge!

I loved this challenge. When I first heard about it..I was thinking how am I going to do this now!! But it really forced me to think out of the box. I looked through all the envelopes I had saved from the cards and letters I have received. I found this very cute heart stamp. I decided to use this stamp and looked for an old photo of me and Sid back in college. We were much in love that time..We still are ;) LOL!

I used Pastel Pink DCWV cardstock as my base and inked it up. I love inking!! I used both the stamp and the negatives of the stamp to make the title of my layout. I chalked around the stamp to get the white blocks with postage border to write my title in.


I had tons of fun working on this layout! I hope you will give it a try. Looking forward to see what you all come up with!

The sketch I used is from 52sketches52weeks. They have awesome sketches.

Supplies: Fiskars Sure Cut Deluxe Trimmer, DCWV Pastel Cardstock, Frances Meyer Pattern Paper, Crafter Workshop "Dots all Around" Doodling Template, Nestabilities Classic Circle, Sassfras Flowers, Buttons, Red Chalk and Ribbon from my stash, CTMH Red ink, Fiskars Pink Ink.

Simple Stamping!

I made these for ifitsgroovy.....just sharing on my blog again!

I wanted to show you how to make some very easy cards. I love stamping and it is a fun way to create your own pattern paper. I looked through my stamps, selected a few and just started stamping. Then, I added some ribbon and stamped the sentiment. I had a plain orange ribbon, so I stamped the little flowers on it to match my pattern paper. This was my first experiment with stamping on ribbon and I really liked the way it came out. I am definitely going to do more ribbon stamping in the future. Let's see what stamps you have hiding in your treasure and get stamping!

I finally used my sewing machine!

I have had the sewing machine for 5 years! It has been sitting on the shelf and looking all pretty;)

We have decorated Anurag's playroom in Transportation Theme. All I needed was a pair of curtains with cars,trucks and trains. I looked in the stores,looked on amazon and found one I liked! They were 100$!!! I was like now that is a ridiculous price. I decided that I will just have to stitch one! My singer is an auto threader and I had difficulty threading it the first time ..way back in 2006. I never tried it again...just had a HUGE mental block! Anurag's baby sitter showed me how to thread it recently. We measured the window,cut the cloth and I finally stitched the curtain all by myself! I am so happy..more importantly Anurag loves it! I had some cloth remaining, so I stitched Anurag a pillow cover..he totally loves it! I made one more pillow cover with basket balls,soccer balls etc! He loves sleeping on his pillow. It costed $30 for the cloth with the backing! I got 2 panels, 2 tie wraps and one pillow cover out of it and a huge smile from Anurag :-) So totally worth it!




I used to stitch dresses when I was in college on my moms hand operated sewing machine. I am enjoying my machine now:-) I need to figure out how to stitch on paper! That would be awesome!

You Brighten My Day!

I really like how simple this layout is. No journaling. The picture says it all! I used the Bit of Burlap stamp by MSS for the rays. It was a little tricky. It didn't come out perfect but I still like it! I covered the places I didnt want the ink on with paper and stamped multiple times to cover the rays. I used vanishing ink marker by american crafts to draw the circle and the rays. I love the rays! Anurag is my ray of sunshine!

Supplies
CTMH Ink
Vanishing Ink Marker by AC
Memory Makers Alphas
DCWV cardstock-white,pastel yellow and bright yellow.
Spellbinders Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle Die Cuts

Love how it turned out!

I was in the mood to make a cute card! I used the stamps from Market Street Stamps! The background stamp is called Too Many Martinis! Absolutely cute:) and the flip flops and the sentiment is from a stamp set called 'Chillaxin'.
I added twine from the Twinery. I love how it accents the card! Hope you like it:)
Easy Peasy Card!

Finally I am back!!

We have moved to a new place and are finally done opening boxes and setting the house up! Ofcourse the garage is a different story all together:) I have my craft space all set up and ready to go! YAY! The past 2 weeks have been super busy, packing,moving,unpacking,setting up and then 2 birthday parties..Anurag's and Sid's. Phew! Has been a fun month!

So here is a two page layout I did using my favorite stamp from Market Street Stamps. I love Market Street Stamps! I love their background stamps. It is my go to stamp for all my layouts and more. I used the bit of burlap on my page.

I went looking for something with pink and blue but couldn't find anything. Then I found the DCWV cardstock and used blue ink pad by CTMH and my MSS bit of burlap. Voila!! I had the background paper I wanted:)I hope you like it. I have to do the journaling on the layout.