Friday, August 29

Altered Recipe Box

I found this box at my husband's work, and I just couldn't bear the sight of it!  LOL!  I'm sure if you're crafty, you will do something about this box.  I made it a goal to alter it when I have the chance.  I did this week. 



However, I had to keep in mind to make this box not too "girly" because it's my DH who's going to use it.  I did my best, Babe!


I used leftover adhesive backed trim I bought in the 100 Yen Store in Japan to cover the box.  After adhering each piece to every side with my Scotch ATG, I sanded the edges, then colored it with Versa Magic Jumbo Java Chalk Ink.  For the "title" I used the Alphabet Stamp Stickers by Cavallini & Co.  I also adhered the brown buttons with Glue Dots.  The trim around the box is Sticky Stitches by ColorBok.


My favorite part in this project is the star paper clip I put on one of the buttons.  I also put some brown micro beads in the center.  I find it really cute!

Wednesday, August 27

Christmas Card

This is the last batch of cards I made for the "Embossed Card Swap."  I wanted to play with Metallic Paper I recently bought in Walmart, and I also wanted to do some stitching.  This time, I didn't do any stamping.  Actually, I made 2 versions at first:


But I ended up doing this version.


For the card base, I used CS by The Paper Company ($3.99 for 50 sheets).  The background paper is by DCWV.  I think the red paper is by ColorBok.  I did the embossed lines on the edges with my Scor Pal.  If you want "professional" looking score lines, especially with your cards, the Scor Pal is a good tool.  However, I think this tool is not a necessity.  The green Metallic Paper is by Best Occasions.  I cut and embossed it with the Nestabilities scalloped oval, then I added lines on the edges using Pilot Latte.  This pen is really good for writing on plastic and any glossy material.  After that, I dry embossed it with Cuttlebug Christmas Ornaments (one of the many new releases) through my Big Shot. 

I cut and embossed a small scalloped rectangle using the same BG paper with my Nestabilities.  After that I cut it in half.  I adhered the two pieces on both sides with yellow eyelets using my Crop-A-Dile.  For the main title, I used yellow glitter paper by DCWV, then I stitched "Merry & Bright" following the Bazzil In Stitchz pattern.  I used Prism Craft Thread, which I love!  I bought the sparlky ribbon (organza?) in Indiana last year, for $1 a spool.  For adhesives, I just use the usual, my Scotch ATG 700 and Duck.


Guess what?  My planet is clean now!  I need to prep my craft room for some big projects for submission.  I don't want to say too much for now because I don't want to jinx it.  Wish me luck :)

 

Monday, August 25

Birthday Card


I was able to make this yesterday for my DSIL's birthday.  The biggest challenge in this card was to make the bow.  I'm not good at tying bows.  But I guess this one will pass. 


This card is bigger than the usual A2 cards (6.5 x 5 inches).  I used a Bella Stamp (Curly Surpriseabella) for the image, which I got from an Image Swap I joined months ago.  I colored the Bella image with Copic Markers, then I added some "sparkle" with Shimmerz, which was RAKed to me last week by Kim Ross, one of the designers of Shimmerz Paints


I also used two of the Martha Stewart edge punches, Doily Lace and Embossed ZigZag.  And of course, the Nestabilities won't be out of the picture.  The "happy day" image is by Stampendous.

That's it for today... I've got lots of "craftwork" to do ;)

Friday, August 22

My Latest Card

I couldn't believe it, but I missed making cards.  There is this swap I joined where we are required to use embossing in our cards.  I really wanted to play with my Nestabilities this time.  And I also wanted to use my Pearl-Ex pigment powder. 


I've had the Pearl-Ex for a long time, but I really never got around to play with it.  I've seen websites and magazines which teach you how to use Pearl-Ex in a variety of ways.  But with this card, I just used the Ranger Perfect Medium Pen to apply the powder.  You can see it in the word "Joy", and it gives that really pretty shimmer.  The image is by Stampendous, and inked with ColorBox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan.  I samped it on vellum.  I used 2 kinds of embossing folders in this card.  The light green one is a template by DreamWeaver.  The dark green one is one of the latest embossing folders by Cuttlebug called Forest Branches. 



However, I encountered a big problem.  The ink I used left a really bad stain on my clear stamp.  I couldn't get rid of it!  I've used soap and water, and even StazOn cleaner, but to no avail.  I guess this particular clear stamp will be stained for the rest of its life.  I'd appreciate any tips to get rid of this stain... thanks in advance
  


Do you see the white scalloped edge?  That's the MS doily edge punch.  I'm really glad I bought that punch.  The BG paper you see is Confetti and Daisies by Kelly Panacci.

I made 7 of these cards, 6 of them I'll be mailing to the swap host, and one will be my personal copy.  I like how this card came to be.  However, I need to make another batch of different design cards because I took 2 spots for this swap.


By the way, I received 5 new cards from the "Let Your Creativity Flow" swap.  You can see them here.

Tuesday, August 19

Tuesday

Pickleberry Pop was introduced to me by Alice Koh a few months ago. It's been a while since I last visited that site, so I browsed through it a few days ago.  First of all, I've always liked its name.  It's so cute!  Whoever thought of it is just genius. 

They also have a shop where you can buy really cool digital kits and elements.  As cheap as I am, I first went to their SPECIALS department and looked for some good deals.  And of course there was.  36 of their retiring products from kits to alphas, embellishments and papers. are available for only $8.73.  I just had to get that.  You can see the entire bunch here.  There were also 3 other products that really caught my eye that I couldn't resist buying.

Without further ado, here's a digital LO I made with my recent Pickleberry Pop purchase. 



Yeah, this is my latest photo when DH and I had a date a couple of weeks ago.  I love the flower and branches element on the right side, which is Floral Fantasy by Lazy Kitty.  The title (Ledger Monograms by Katie Pertiet and Embrace Life by Sande Krieger) and journaling (CK Ali's Font) are not from Pickleberry Pop.

I'm working on a traditional scrapbook album right now about my family. It's the Family Moments kit by Lisa Bearnson, which I bought from QVC a few years ago.  There are 4 albums that I bought from QVC that time and I remember it was on auto-delivery.  The first one is the All About Me album, followed by Celebrating You album.  Then there's the Year-O-Graphy album, and finally the Family Moments album. 



All 4 albums come in a nice box, which you can display in your living room for guests to see.  You can see the first page of the album on your right.  I hope to finish it this week so I can move on to a lot of projects in my list.
Now I miss making cards!  hehe.

Wednesday, August 13

Digital Scrapbooking Freebies

Hi fellow crafters!  I was in the mood for making some digital LOs today.  So I browsed my favorite websites for digital scrapbooking, basically looking for digital freebies.

The Scrapbooks Etc. website has lots of freebies available for download right now, 9 of them to be exact, and I got really excited as I was downloading each one.  Each download can be mixed and matched, which is so cool.

Here's a layout I made mix-matching the elements of these freebies. 


It's about my cousin who lives in New York.  She used to take care of me when I was little, and she has a special spot in my heart.  I also used Snowshoe for my main title, and SBC Courtney's Journal for the journaling.
You can get the wonderful freebies by clicking here.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, August 12

Planet in Chaos Again!

It's depressing in my planet again.  It's soooo messy I can't stand it!  There are stuff on the desk and there are more stuff on the floor.  It's irritating!  My muse can't stand it either, and he left me and told me he won't come back till my craft room is spic and span.  Arg!


However yesterday, I had some goodie mail from Christine.  She sent me some stickers. horse sequins and K&Co Stamp collage embossed paper.  It came with a wonderful card too! 


Thank you very much Christine!  I hope you like what I sent you :)
You can see the rest of the goodies here.

While in town yesterday, I went to Big Lots to look for some good scrapbook item deals.  I never knew that they carried scrapbooking stuff, and when I went there the first time, my eyes bulged at what they have at very cheap prices.  My best buy is the ColorBok Gallery J 12" Family Tree for only $5. 


I can't wait to play with this!  If you're in the US and you see a Big Lots store, I really think it's worth it to go inside if you're looking for some good craft buys, especially scrapbooking.  I bought a bunch of ribbon spools for only $1 each, and I'm sure they are not just 1 yard or 1 meter ribbon per spool.  There were also some Martha Stewart Crafts products in there.  That's a big surprise!

While in Big Lots, I also chanced upon a My Scene Roller Girls clothes set.  I figured my Pullip Doll Zuora hasn't had a "pictorial" for a while, so I bought it. 


Some of the tops are quite big for my Pullip doll, but it's ok.  I was able to improvise with some folds, etc.  I think I have to repair them to fit sometime in the future.  But I love the jumper and the pants most of all.  You can see how these clothes look on my Zuora by clicking here.

Ok, time for me to do some errands, paint our breezeway... and hopefully have time to clean my planet after that.

Saturday, August 9

Martha Stewart Edge Punches vs. Fiskars Border Punches + Cross Stitch WIP



A few days ago, I made a review about Martha Stewart's Doily Lace Edge Puch, and Au Lim asked about the difference between that and the Fiskars Border Punches.  You know what, I have totally forgotten that I have the Fiskars border punches.  I looked for them and they're in one of those drawers.  That's what I don't like about putting tools in drawers, you don't get to use them and you forget that they actually exist in your craft room.  So I took them out and played with them, alongside with the MS doily punch.  I guess the MS one punched better, but I think it's because it's newer. 







My Fiskars punches are years old, even though rarely used.  When it comes to alignment, MS is way much better.  I would see some "imperfection" with the continuous pattern I make with Fiskars.  Size wise, the Fiskars Border Punch is bigger and longer than MS Edge Punch.  However, I think Fiskars is sturdier physically.  When you punch with it, you apply pressure on top.  With MS, there is only one lever on the side.


The punching diameter with MS is just a line below 2 inches while with Fiskars, it's a line over 2 inches - very little difference.  When it comes to storage, because of the size and physical design of MS, it's easier to store.  Fiskars is bulkier and until now, I haven't found a place in my craft room to store them in.  I realize now why I put them in drawers.  In the future, unless Fiskars comes out with new designs, I might be buying more of the Martha Stewart Edge Punches because it's smaller and easier to store.  They are perfect in my rotating shop fixture.

I have finished 3/4 of my current cross-stitch project, Bend in the Road by Cezanne. 


I ran out of thread several times while stitching the third part, and I don't like it when that happens.  I can't stitch with incomplete thread.  Anyway, I got this pattern for free years ago in Cross Stitch Collectibles, my favorite cross stitch website.  Every month they have a free pattern available for download.  You can get this month's free pattern here.    Because the 2008 Olympics has started, I'm hoping to finish this WIP sooner because I like to stitch while watching TV.  I can't wait to finish this one, so I can start on a new one. 

Wednesday, August 6

Review: Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edge Punch

On my next visit to Walmart, I went to the Crafts section and browsed the Martha Stewart line. The last time, the Doily Lace Edge Punch were sold out, which made me curious. When I saw them on display, I wanted to give it a shot. It's a dollar cheaper from the official website. After paying for it, I was really hoping that I will like this punch. When I tried it at home, I was very happy. The punching is perfect and it's not difficult to align the paper/cardstock to get a neat and continuous pattern. 


Again, I'm impressed with another MS product. This tool will be perfect for scrapbooking and especially for card making. My mind is racing with different ideas with this punch. I might consider investing on the other MS edge punches. 

Scrapbook Day

I blogged last week that I won't be making cards this week.  But due to some personal happenings, I sorta abandoned my planet for a bit leaving it messy and cluttered.  After finally clearing my craft desk, I was able to make 2 LOs yesterday.

It might be embarrassing to say, but since living in the US for only a year, I don't have any credit score at all.  I saw on TV that bad credit is better than no credit, which I think is not fair, but I guess that's the rule.  To start my own line of credit, I have tried applying for credit cards, even the ones from the popular department stores, but it always keeps getting denied due to lack of credit standing.  So it irks me everytime my hubby gets tons of credit card applications in the mail, while I don't.  What I did was save those "sample" credit cards because I know I can use them for something someday.  I finally did yesterday.

Here's a traditional LO I made about my denied credit card applications. 


The fake credit cards are the ones sent by American Express to my husband.  I applied some Making Memories paint for the background.  The rest of the paper/cardstock are by DCWV (Metallic and Rockstar).  I attached eyelets using Crop-A-Dile 2.  The alpha die cuts are from ColorBok, and the alpha stickers are by Crux and Yuan Fei Lai Seals (bought in Japan).  I used Brilliance Starlite Silver Ink by Tsukineko for the "line" below the main title.  For this LO, I used a new tool I bought from the Martha Stewart Crafts Line.  It's the Doily Lace Edge Punch.  I was hesitant to buy it at first, but I'm really glad I did.  I made a review about it here.

Also, I made a new page for my 2008 Calendar.  It's about the blackberry picking we did last year at my DMIL's farm.  You can see it here.

For some good news, I'll be starting my new job by the end of this month.  That means I have less time to do my crafts, but I know I will definitely find time for it.  I have 3 more weeks to indulge in my planet.  And when those credit card applications start coming, it's my time to refuse.... hehe!

Sunday, August 3

My Take On Ceramics

I finally found my ceramic projects in the many boxes that arrived from Japan late last year.  I don't have so many, but I do want to keep doing this craft.


The wives club in the military base we used to live in introduced me to ceramics.  Every month, the club meets then does some crafts after the meeting.  On one of the meetings, they had us do ceramics.  I wasn't really interested at first, but after a while, I found this hobby relaxing.  You are just focused on the bisque, your paint and your brush.  It's like nothing else exists at the moment.  Then comes the anticipation every after firing, how your project will look like.  You would think that this is an easy craft, but it does take a long time to finish one project.  

The truth is, my ceramic experience is more on the painting and glazing process.  I don't know how to start from the beginning like casting and making bisques.  I don't even know how to use a kiln.  And that's what I want to learn next.  Last summer, my husband and I bought 2 kilns and a big bunch of molds for a really cheap price. 


The past owners had them for many years, and they never even did ceramics.  We ended up having at least a thousand molds, and I had to sort the ones I like to keep, and the ones I want to get rid of or sell (I'm selling each mold for $1 each, doesn't matter what size).

Click here to see more of my past ceramic projects.