An Asian Touch ...

What a great day I had yesterday!  I had my class "An Asian Touch" yesterday, where I show different techniques with Ranger's Distress Ink ... and had a wonderful time with 5 really nice ladies.  Hopefully, I'll get to see them again.  The best thing about classes for me is meeting new people and sharing ideas and experiences.  It's nice to know I'm not the only nut out there :)  BTW, I also got to do a bit of shopping after my class ... yay, more toys ;)

Not only did the class get the creative juices flowing, but it eliminated the stress from my job ... you know the one that pays for all these toys.  This is really the best therapy for me :)

We made 4 cards ... the idea was for each person to make 2 cards with the bamboo stamp and 2 cards with the cherry blossom stamp.  The price of the course included one stamp ... however, most of them bought the other stamp ... I can understand ... I love these 2 stamps ... and of course, I have both of them!

Chinese Screen Card

Supplies:

One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Black)

Two 3 1/2"x4" pieces of cardstock (Brown/Olive Green)

One 3 1/4"x 3 3/4"piece of glossy paper
One 3 1/4"x 3 3/4"piece of cardstock (Blue/Light yellow used here - inside card)
Versamark Ink
Distress Inks (Broken China & Brushed Corduroy/Peel Paint & Vintage Photo)
Blending Tool
Adhesive



Traditional Resist Card



Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (White)
One 4"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Grey/Olive Green)
One 1 1/2"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Red/Mustard Yellow)
One 4" diameter circle - watercolor paper (White)
Versamark Ink
Clear Embossing Powder & Heating Gun
Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Aged Mahogany/Peel Paint & Vintage Photo)
Blending Tool
AdhesiveCorner Chomper

Box Card

Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Purple/Brown)
- Score at 3 1/4", 4", 7 1/4, and 8". 
One 3 1/8"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (Beige)
Distress Inks (Dusty Concord/Walnut Stain)
Blending Tool
Adhesive
Stickles (Star Dust)



Blending Distress Inks Card




Supplies:
One 8 1/2"x5 1/2" piece of cardstock (White)
One 4"x5 1/4" piece of cardstock (Sky Blue/Brown)
One 2 3/8"x4" piece of cardstock (Red/Mustard Yellow)
One 2 1/8"x4" diameter circle - watercolor paper (White)
Distress Inks (Stormy Sky & Brushed Cordunroy/Aged Mahogany & Vintage Photo)
Momento Dye Ink (Tuxedo Black)
Craftsheet
Mini Mister
Adhesive



Oh and before I forget ... I had a lovely assistant during this class.  At one point, we needed bone folders (a tool used to crease materials in crafts) since not everyone had one ... and in comes hubbie with 2 bone folders.  Yup, he was at the store waiting for me ... don't worry, he wasn't bored ... he was doing his own crafting ... WarCraft!

Can you tell what this is?

A friend of mine asked me to make a birthday card for her sister-in-law's 50th birthday.  Here's what I came up with ...

If your guess is a suitcase, then you're absolutely right.  Her sister-in-law loves to travel!  Here's the inside of the card ...

 

I love those Hero Art butterflies ... I stamped a whole bunch of them and colored them ... probably over 100 of them.  I've made dozens of cards with them ... I still have quite a bit left to make more cards :)



Birthday Wishes ...

Just a quick post today to wish a good friend happy birthday.  Here's the card I made him.

Happy Birthday CHG!  

Wishing you lots of everything wonderful!!

BTW ... "Happy Birthday!!" from Stagaire.

Here's a close up of the birds, I put "Fun Flock" on the white area of the chickadees ... not sure if you can see it.  I'll talk more about "Fun Flock" on another post.

Embossing Folders ...

Embossing has certainly come a long way ... my 1st embossing experience was with a metal template, stylus tool and the window ... during the day of course.  The sunlight would shine through, so I could see where to trace the image ... let me tell you it was a challenge holding up the paper for so long!  I'm sure neighbours and passerbys wondered what the heck I was doing ... what can I say I'm dedicated to my crafts ;)

A co-worker had asked me to make an octagon box for her niece's 1st wedding anniversary; I embossed the sides of the box with the metal template, stylus and window method!  Unfortunately, I did not have a camera back then, but here's another one I made ...

I later graduate to using an embossing light table ... much easier on the arms :)  And now some brilliant person invented embossing folders!  It gives your card the "wow" factor without much effort.  All you need is the embossing folder, which is inexpensive ... and of course the machine ... which is not inexpensive.  However, depending on the machine you get, you can also cut dies ... this of course leads you to more stuff!  I have a few die cutting machines ... out of all of them, I find the Sizzix Big Shot to be the most for your buck.  It accepts most dies made by different companies as well as embossing folders.

Ok, back to the embossing folders.  Here are a few cards I prepared ... all waiting for me to just add something to complete them ...yeah, I know I can get a bit crazy at times.  One of my favorite embossing folders is the cherry blossoms (pic on right).

   

Here's a few cards I made with embossing folders.  The picture in the middle is the mini cards I did for a "make 'n take" to demonstrate embossing folders.

Here's one I made for my friend's brother's wedding ... boy, that was a mouth full!  The wedding colors were pink and brown ... I knew about the pink; however, I found out after about the brown ... I guess things do have a way of working out :)

   

There's a technique I saw on YouTube where you roll ink on the embossing folder and when you emboss your paper, the image stands out ... I tried it out and got the result below ... what do you think?  BTW, I used Ranger's Distress Ink ... love those inks ... very versatile.

My Quilling Journey ...

Apologies for going MIA ... I was in Australia last week and just returned Saturday night.  The week before when I was scrambling to get myself organized for the trip ... btw, I found out 10 days before ... everyone was saying how lucky I was ... I wasn't sure since this was not a vacation and all I was feeling was the stress of sorting everything out.  However, I did enjoy meeting and connecting with my team, so the 23 hours of being on an airplane was worth it ... besides it gave me the opportunity to catch up on movies :)  Unfortunately, I did not have any time or energy to do any sightseeing.  However, I did see 2 kangaroos!!  I know I'm such a tourist ... it was really cool they were just outside our office building.  The building is on a university campus; it's very green ... apparently lots of kangaroos (except for the lunch time we went out looking for them) and other wildlife ... but no koala bears around :(  The week went by pretty quick even though I was working ... before I knew it, it was time to leave.  Sorry, my journey to Australia was not a very facinating one ... perhaps you'll enjoy my journey with quilling.

Many years ago ... can't even remember when ... that's how long it's been.  Anyway, hubbie and I were at Chapters, and I picked up a book on Quilling.  When I showed the book to hubbie, he asked "You want to start QUILTING!?"  No silly ... QUILLING!

Quilling or paper filigree is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs.  Once hubbie realized it had to do with paper, he understood why I was interested ;)

At first I didn't get any of the quilling tools or materials, I wanted to try things out to see if I like it before investing in the tools.  So, initially, I would cut strips of paper from sheets and fringe the strips using scissors.  It's not difficult, but your eyes do get tired from staring at that strip of paper.  Eventually, I did get the tools and many strips of precut paper.  I got hooked on doing a whole bunch of these mini flower pots and tried my hand on decorating an Origami box I made.



Quilling can be time consuming ... but I don't do anything too complicated.  I like to add them on cards, scrapbooks ... gives a nice touch ... don't you think?

 

Can you tell I like putting roses on my cards!?