Saturday, January 26, 2013

Another quick card ...

Here's another quick and simple birthday card using scrapbooking paper. 


I went through the packs of scrapbooking paper I had to see what I could use.  I found a few sheets from Kodomo Inc ... I didn't even remember I had this :)  The paper is like a chinese painting.  I decided to cut the top left out just for the flowers since I wanted the purple-bluish flowers in the card.  I'll probably use the rest of the paper for other cards :)

As usual, I mounted it on coloured cardstock and then on the white cardstock.  I got the coloured cardstock on sale at Michaels ... it's not the best paper, but I bought it to see if the quality is decent to use as I liked the colours it came in.  It is if you are using it to matte your main image, which is what I'm doing.


I added some stickles to the flower to give it some shine ... and I'm sure you guessed that I embossed the sentiment ;)

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Just a quick card ...

Here's a quick birthday card I made using scrapbooking paper.  I have so much paper that I thought I better use some of it up. 


Here's what the whole page looks like.  I decided to use the bottom left of the page as I would have a place to stamp the sentiment on the bottom right.  I'm not sure if you can see, but the flowers were initially white ... so I decided to add a bit of pink to the flowers.
 

Then I mounted the piece of scrapbooking paper on burgundy paper and then on the white cardstock.


Here's a close up of the flowers ... you could see a hint of the pink on the flowers, which I coloured with colour pencils; and of course, I embossed the sentiment.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

4" Square Box ...

Didn't really do any crafts specifically for the holidays.  I made the usually box for the Lindt chocolate and a tag for the bottle of brandy Mei Mei bought.  However, I wanted to make another box for Mei Mei but didn't feel like making the same box ... besides, they already got one last year.  I know I could have decorated it differently ... but that would be boring.

Anyway, I decided to use my Martha Stewart scoring board and make a different one.  I wanted to make a square box ... and figured a 4" square box would fit 20 chocolates nicely.  It was pretty simple ... once I figured out the size.  I just needed to score, cut and stick ... then I cut, embossed and stick the blue cardstock on the box ... filled it with chocolate ... added the ribbon and tag and there you go!


Here's a close up of the tag.  Yeah, I probably should have re-inked my ink pad before stamping ... oh well ... I think it still looks ok.  I used one of the new stamp sets I got from Wild Rose Studio (www.wildrosestudio.co.uk) called Christmas Circles.  They have a few stamp sets of sentiments in a circle format ... great for cards and as you can see for tags as well.  I love their stamps!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Gift Card Holder ...

With the holidays coming up, I thought a gift card holder would be a good make n take idea.  Here are a few samples I made for the make n take in early December.  As you can see from the 4th picture, they were pretty simple ... a piece to hold the gift card and a belly band with a tag to hold the flap in place.


I also created some cards with the same stamp sets hoping it would give customers some additional inspiration/ideas of what they could do with the same stamp set.  Yeah, I went a little crazy with the ornament idea :)


You could also use these stamps as a seal for the envelope.  That's actually the 1st thing that came to mind when I saw the stamp below.


During the gift card holder making frenzy, I also made a more complex one that included a place to write a message inside ... however, this would be too long for a quick make n take, so it's just a sample for me.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Accordion album ...

As mentioned previously, my team lead left at the end of November ... headed back to Australia and the surprise for us all was that she also left the company.  From what she said, it seemed like the best thing for her at this point in her life.  She seem happy with her decision ... I'm happy for her.  However, I really miss her ... I've learned a lot from her during this short period and am inspired ... she has touched those around her in one way or another :)

Decided to make an accordion album and add the messages from the team as well as a few pictures ... if I was able to locate some.  With the help of my colleague (thx K!), we ended up having more than enough pictures.  With all the pictures and messages, the album ended up being 22 pages!  A bit more than what I meant to do ... so what else is new ;)

As you can see, I had to work on the floor when it came to putting the album together (my usual technique when putting an album together).  I had 3 different colours alternating in the album, so I wanted to ensure the pictures and messages were spaced nicely in the album.


Here's the finished album.  The colours of the pages were selected to match the handmade pattern paper that I used to cover the album.  I love this paper!!


Here's a couple of pictures of the pages of the album when it's fully opened as well as some close ups.  I sure used a lot of double-sided tape!

As usual, I made a box for the Lindt chocolate ... it just wouldn't be right if I didn't make one ... I mean I've done this for almost everyone in the team either for their birthday or departure ... it's tradition!  I used a different pattern from the same set of handmade paper used for the cover of the album, so it would be a matching box.  I decided to also cover the bottom inside the box ... I thought it would look nicer after the chocolate was finished.


We ended up giving her a Hoselton sculpture of 3 inukshuks called "circle of friends" and had it engraved.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to take a picture of it.  Also, hubbie was generous enough to part with a can of maple syrup.  Everything fit perfectly in this bagel bag ... another good souvenir of Montreal :)

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Departure card and box ...

After returning from vacation in October, I learned one of my team members was leaving and heading back to India mid-November.  However, that was not it ... my team lead was heading back to Australia at the end of November ... so we're down to 4 in our team :(

Here's the card I made for Asish.  I learned that he was really into photography, so with the help of another team member, we got some photos of his time in Montreal and Canada.  Some of the pictures were actually ones he had taken.  He was quite surprise by the pictures.


For the inside, I decided to maintain the photography theme and put everyone's messages in a polaroid.  I also indicated the names of the messages as you would normally write down the name and date the picture was taken.  It doesn't look too bad.


The card turned out to be quite large ... so large that the paper I wanted to use for the envelope was not big enough.  Thankfully, I had this really large paper (20"x32") that I've had for over 10 years!  I put a regular size envelope (4 3/8"x5 3/4") in the 2nd picture to give you an idea of the scale.  I actually made a second envelope a bit larger to fit the pictures of Montreal that we got him.


Finally, I made my usual box for the Lindt chocolate.  I used Stampscapes stamps with dye inks and glossy paper for the scene on top of the box ... this was actually the initial idea for the card I wanted to make ... in the end I did it anyway :)

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2013 ... Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!!  May 2013 bring you health, happiness, and many wonderful surprises!!  Oh and of course for those of us who love to craft ... lots of crafting time :)

We were all at my parents' place last night for dinner.  As usual, we had a great dinner and of course some laughs ... we had roast beef, chinese broccoli, stuffed peppers and tofu, some mixed greens and of course soup :)  When it was time for dessert, I was too full to eat anything else!  Surprisingly, this year I was awake way into the New Year ... well, that is compared to my usual ... wish hubbie Happy New Year and then off to bed.  I went to bed at 2:00 a.m. ... amazing (for me anyway)!   However, I still got up at 7:00 a.m.  Yeah, I never got the concept of sleeping in ... however, hubbie has that down pat :)

It's been so busy the last few months ... both at work and in The Paper Room.  I won't bore you with work stuff ... besides, I'm on vacation, so I don't want to think about work.  Let's talk about The Paper Room ... well, in November after the snow globe make n take and October birthdays, I decided to tidy up The Paper Room, which was a real mess!  It felt great tidying things up ... look you can see the table again ;)  I should have taken a before picture ... you couldn't see the table, it was covered with paper, stamps, inks, applicators ... I even removed the stack of paper/projects I had on the right side of the table.

Hubbie was impressed that it was still clean after 2-3 weeks :)  Well, with another make n take and the departure cards and boxes I was working on ... yup, it was a mess again!  I was even working on the floor since I had too much stuff on the table ;)


Since I was away for work for a bit and sick last week, I didn't clean up things until this week.  It took a couple of days as I had a lot to sort out and I re-organized!  Hubbie got me another Gracious Living container from Canadian Tire ... 8-drawer one ... on special :)  I put the smaller container on the right side of my desk in front of the window, which made room for part of the new Gracious Living container under my other table :)  I cleared off some stuff from the desk, so it would not be as cluttered.  And yes, you can see the table again!!


Also, I picked up another shelving cube from Michaels ... 50% off craft storage this week!  You'll notice that the corner shelving is now twice as high.   I think that's as high as my Gracious Living container wall will be ... any higher, hubbie is worried that it will fall over!  No changes really to the book cases (pic on the right) ... this is the one area that is always tidy!

 

Wow, I never realized I could write so much about tidying The Paper Room!!  Hope I did not put you to sleep!  Anyway, I love starting the year with a clean and tidy room :)  It's a new year, and I hope you're all looking forward to all the wonderful experiences and fun that it will bring you!