Dressed For Success :)

Hi again :)!

Since I haven't posted anything in four weeks, I thought I may as well publish two posts in a day now, LOL!

Anyway, one of my colleagues who also happens to be a dear friend of mine is leaving next week :(. Yes, it's very sad for me as she's very, very funny and she keeps our office alive (and makes those dreadful workday afternoons bearable, LOL), but I'm also happy for her as she's making a move into her own business :).

Anyway, I made her this card to go with her farewell gift (and again keeping my fingers crossed that she does not see this post until I gave her the card, LOL), using Sketch #182 from the Card Positioning Systems Blog.

I made the digistamp of a party dress a while back, which I thought goes quite well with the theme; wishing my friend all the best of success in the future :). To give the dress a fabric-looking effect, I printed one image onto a white paper, another on a SEI Juliette Lady's Boudoir pearl paper, and another on a plain gray paper that I smeared with silver glitter glue. I pieced the three layers together and voila! A glitzy, girly and glamorous party dress :). Simon Says Challenge Blog has their Paper Piecing Challenge this week, therefore I'm entering this card to the pool too!


I made and printed the sentiments "Dressed for Success" on a normal printer paper; font credit goes to Kevin and Amanda at Free Scrapbook Fonts. The rose I used for the embellishment was made from off-white flannel. Lastly, I'm posting this card to Bee Crafty's Anything Goes challenge, that requires the use of a digi image; as well as Stamptacular Sunday's Challenge Pretty in Pink. Aly's Sunday Challenge has the pretty in pink theme too, which makes it super convenient for me ^_^


Well that's all for today... I still have some more cards to make this week but more on that later :). Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for viewing!

Much love,
F

My Grandma's Birthday Bouquet ♥

Helllooooo...

Wow, two weeks went by so fast and I did not even realize that I have not posted anything in more than two weeks. More than two weeks, people!! Amazing as this translates to, of course, two weeks without crafting, cardmaking, taking photos or writing. Pheww.

Well, I have a pretty good excuse for being MIA, though. My husband and I are on the hunt for another apartment as we need to move out of our current one by mid next month. I have mixed feelings about this; partially excited over getting a new place to ransack :D, but also slightly saddened as this house is, after all, the first house we've lived in after we got married :(.

Anyway, I'm sure it'll turn out for the best and we'll find a great place soon :).

Two weeks ago was my husband's birthday and just so happen that we were invited to one of our friends' wedding in Indonesia. (And this means that hereafter, on every 3rd of July, I will have to make a birthday card for my husband AND an anniversary card for my friend :P)

As much as I would like to post the must-have-been-lovely photos that I would've taken at the wedding, since I had to leave the office late that day and headed directly to the airport, my darling husband had forgotten to pick up our camera from the house :( :(. This is despite him knowing that disuniting me from any types of camera on a holiday can and will send me on a catastrophic tantrum that costs him no less than a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough to subdue.

The day after the wedding was also my grandma's 78th birthday, so while we were there, we made our way to her house to celebrate. It was a great party as most of my mum's entire family was there, which doesn't happen often.

The birthday party reminded me of one of my fondest childhood memories, which was staying over at my grandparents' house on almost every weekend. I remember that every time I walked into my granny's bedroom--where I would sit for hours listening to her stories--I would smell the Yardley English Rose fragrance that she used to wear. And I would really, really love it.

Even now, every single time I visited her house (although she does not wear the same perfume anymore), I think that I can still smell the scent in my head. Frankly speaking, I suspect my unexplained fascination of English roses was cultivated by this memory somehow :).

Needless to say, this birthday card was made with the same inspiration--English roses. Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been creating so many rose-themed cards recently, but what can I say :), I really adore them.



The backing paper I used was one of my digital paper set, English Roses, which I finally finished designing after a month (yayyy!!). I printed the topper using a clip art from the digital set and cut out the circle using my Marvy Uchida Clever Lever circle punch. Then I adhered the circle on a punched-out scallop circle cut from recycled paper with my Woodware Scalloped Circle punch.


To finish off, I cut a piece of white printer paper with scalloped scissors and glued it on the backing paper, and stuck the topper on a 2.5" blue satin ribbon, which has been tied loosely to give a knotted effect.


Chic and simple, don't you think? Perfect for my beloved grandma :).

That's all for today; it's quite late now and my eyes are neither closed nor open, LOL. Tomorrow is a new day, hopefully with some good news on our house hunt. I'm off now and see you soon!!

Much love,
F

I'm Back :)

Woohoo! If you noticed that I've been MIA for the last month or so, it's because I have just got home from a holiday in Europe (which was sadly preceded by a one-week episode of flu and fever). It was truly an amazing experience as I got to meet many of my husband's wonderful relatives that did not make it to our wedding in October last year.

Hubby and I at the Triumphal Arch, Parc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels

It was definitely refreshing to go somewhere new, although to be truly honest Europe was not exactly what I expected--or rather imagined--it to be. For instance, being the celebrated fashion capital of the world, I had this naive picture in my mind that Paris would be all about the pristine, modern and crisp window displays of an endless array of high-end frocks. But it's not.

Also thought that London was just another concrete jungle that boasts dozens of skyscrapers and gadgety-looking offices that sells, well, gadgets. But guess what? It's not. (Note to self: What have I been reading all this while?)

The incessantly-photogenic Eiffel Tower, Paris

Anyway, it was a very, very interesting journey and I am now happy to know that Europe is perhaps one of the most beautiful, artistic and well-preserved places that I've visited.

On board SS Sir Walter Scott, Loch Katrine, Scotland

So still in the spirit of Victorian slash Georgian slash Tudor Revival, I created this antique-looking card, which is topped by a stamped image of a cherub. Yup, definitely not my usual style; if you've seen any of my other cards I won't be surprised that you'd most likely judge my taste as rather muted, whimsy, or shabby.

Well not anymore!


This card was made with dark red textured cardstock, embellished with 3D stamped image of a cute Cherub from Prima Marketing (in crimson red ink). As always, square foam pads are always handy to give a face-lift on any topper and create a 3D feel on them.



I further embellished the topper jute strings (my newly-found puppy love, more on this later) and a brown-colored button. Sentiment stamped on recycled paper on hand-cut tag in crimson red ink, adhered on same cardstock and tied to a 0.48" eyelet hole with jute string.



The background paper is not patterned cardstock; it is actually recycled paper stamped with more Prima Marketing stamps (love these guys for their amazing classic designs).

That's all for today, gotta go to work, but I will be back with a post on my newest, hottest new crush!!

Love,
F