Treehouse Thursday Challenge #47

     First I'd like to share a video of David piano-playing. Feel free to skip. OR you can listen while you read this post. I'm busy taking him to local piano competition this week. This is the music that is heard daily in my house...

This is my last week to guest design for the Treehouse Stamps. It's been a fun month looking at all these fun and lovely images. I love thinking about them and try to envision what will make them SHINE. This week's challenge is to use any type of Faux Technique to create a birthday project. It's all about "faking" it, if you don't have IT! I think we can all relate to that to some degree--if you know what I mean, no, it's not about the body parts...it's all about Faux Stitching!

I resized the funky Tweety bird image and added the birthday hat and pom pom. Then I added the faux stitching white dotted line for the sentiment. Here's  my original card. My understanding of faux stitching was to draw a dotted line....and that was it.

However, after studying this fabulous link on Faux Stitching, I realized that there is SO much more I can do to compensate my inability to sew! Here's the revised version.

 I know my faux stitching is not perfect, but the look does resemble the stitching that I crave for in my cards.

And last but not least, my lunch with Stephanie and David at home.

Grilled Flank Steak, Soba Noodles, Fried Egg, Chinese Cabbage. YUM!

Digital Doodles

It all started with a lovely comment in my blog from Kathy Martin. The Kathy Martin of Digital Doodle! Now I have been a fan of Digital Doodles since she started her digital images at Two Peas (only $0.99 each!) . They are FUN and WHIMSICAL ...just the kind of images I love.  I was so glad to find out  there is a Digital Doodles Club that it's free to join as there are prizes and challenges for the members. I strongly encourage you to if you haven't checked it out yet. So here I create with the free image (flower and bee) that was offered to its new members. I intend to make one card for the club member challenge....well, I ended up making THREE!!! 

I printed out the FREE line background from Vinnie Pearce (Punch Elements) and layered two sizes of flowers and bees. I love the sentiment from SRM Stickers and it was super easy to stick it on the "grass". I also pieced the holes for the bee lines. It's hard to see from the picture, but you get the idea.

Since I still have quite a few printed images left, I thought I may as well make another. I added the button for each flowers and again I used the SRM stickers for the Happy Day sentiment. The flowers in the diecuts are colored with Prisma color pencils ....they have been totally ignored since I got my copics.

After two cards, these were the leftover scraps.....

I challenged myself to make ANOTHER card with just what I have. Some images weren't colored as well as I had planned, so I was left with just one image and that's how I made this super simple card. A little glitter goes a long way.

I know I have to get some more Digital Doodles....boy, it's VERY addictive!

It's not easy being GREEN!

I am making the last minute dash for the Moxie Fab World Get Sketchy Challenge. Late last night, I was feeling sleepy ...but then I just had this idea and I thought it was a little "crazy" (well, I was sleepy, like I said). Here's my funny design.

So my DD Stephanie asked : "Now WHO are you giving this card to?". I said "...uh......Daddy, of course!". OR, I said to her with a cheeky smile that when she meets the right boyfriend that she admires...and is too shy to say anything, THIS will be the go-to card (LOL)! She was not amused, of course, but I think she might find it "handy"! I also think this froggy can be the spokesman for the Environment....now  that's cheeky, but I think we do have to take good care of the environment. So let's just BE NICE and KISS UP!

Carrdvarks Challenge-Monochromatic!

When I saw Carrdvarks's latest challenge sponsored by Core'dinations, I knew I had to try. Core'dinations is the only sandable ColorCore cardstock! You can sand it, tear it, emboss it and so much more to reveal the hidden core color. I love the hand-torn look an I decided that I should just run with that idea. I pulled out my stash of Coredinations and picked one color (with three different shades) and put them to work. Here are my materials...

I found my old dusty English dictionary and I then realize it's time to use it for my hobby. I almost never use the book version any more, the Encarta dictionary on my computer is my go-to version instead. I'm glad that  I'm giving the book a new page of life.

So here is the result. The background appears to be more yellow than orange even though I used Spiced Marmalade and Wild honey to distress it.

When I made the paper flowers, I felt like that I was in the Kindergarten class all over again.....SO fun!

 Thank you for stopping by. I must say that I have been having so much fun thanks to your sweet comments. They really keep me going :) I'm sending this card to my college Englsih teacher Ellen. She is a very special lady in my heart!

EBTK #13 Challenge-Sketch

I was so intrigued by this EBTKS Challenge sketch as soon as I lay my eyes on it and I have been thinking about it. Yes, I'd rather think about the card designs than "WHAT'S for dinner!?" (sad but true for my family.... ). The first thing that came to my mind is that it is a like....a PURSE to me!

I am not sure if that's the intention behind the sketch design, but I can't come up with better ideas and I thought to myself...why not use this sketch and make it into a purse card!? Without a template, I used one of the pattern paper (Large Artsy Circle) that I made and started from there. When there is a will, there is a way! Does it look like a purse to you?

I don't know about you, but this card certainly makes me want to go shopping with a girlfriend!! Now that I have the template, I definitely can make all kinds of purse cards with different designs, colors and texture!! It is fun to go outside of my comfort zone and try something new. I was asked about the template, you can find out from the comments in my Hero Arts Flickr photo stream (see here). My DS David is starting his yearly local piano competition starting tonight and it's going to be a busy week taking him to practices and performances! Wish him/me luck!

Treehouse Thursday Challenge # 046

Beautiful bedding ,huh!? Well, this is the photo inspiration for this week's Treehouse Stamp Challenge. I used the colors for my design from this fun digit kit.

This is the first one I came up with. I had so much fun coloring and adding shades to the apples. Glossy Accent was added to the stems and shiny spots.

 I think this will make a great teacher's thank-you card! And of course, I couldn't stop just right there. I also love the butterfly image and decided to make a quick card. I had the butterflies printed on two colors of card stock. Then I distressed the yellow one with Tim Holtz's Spiced Marmalade and cut out the image.

Since the photo inspiration reminds me of  a bedroom window, I made this card with that in mind.

All the blings do look lovely on the dragonfly! I thought that I will "throw" in a dish picture( the fried rice WAS my lunch) that has similar color scheme....just in case you are hungry :)

Thank you for stopping by!

2 Sketches 4 You

I have been loving the sketch at 2 sketches 4 you blog. I often make cards with yummy food in mind, this is no exception. This cute popsicle stamps are from Imaginisce that I bought at the Scrapfest.

I paper-pieced the popsicles with pink and orange. I have been saving this calendar page and finally I used it for the border on the brown card stock. The Hero Art stamp ( bracket in orange) also came in handy to match up with the Label 8 shape. 

The pattern paper is from American Craft. I picked up two jars of yummy buttons at the Scrapfest. They look good enough to eat, right!? I added the ribbons for the finishing touches and voila!

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A "milestone" for me today is that I have 100 followers for my blog! When I started this blog last September, never in my wildest dream that I would have any followers. It's huge astronomical to me. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. To thank my 100th follower Kirsti (in UK), I will be sending her a card. I pray that the volcano eruption will calm down so my mail can reach her AND that I will be able to go to London, UK in May with my family! I'm SUPER excited about the trip...so please stop the eruption, Eyjafjallajokull !

Poppy Stamp Winner

Thanks everyone for commenting on my 3 poppy cards. In total I had 127 comments: 33+30+18+46 ( from the blog post "Poppy Love"). I asked my son David to pick a number from 1 to 127 and he picked 88. AND....this poppy stamp goes to my fellow Canadian friend Louise C.!

Louise said...

Oh and Virginia congrats for being on Hero Arts Twitter! In her previous comment Louise said ... Virginia you're too funny!! Now I have that song in my head!!! Your cards are just gorgeous!!! and that stamp is so pretty. Well, there are no Michaels in Quebec... so I guess I'll have to wait for my next trip to Ottawa to get one.... Oh wait, maybe I'll win!! Thanks for the chance! And thanks for sharing your beautiful cards....

Congrats, Louise! Please e-mail me your address and I send it off  to you asap.

Here's another poppy card that I made. I promise to use other stamps now.. and give my poppy stamp  much needed rest :)

Hope you have a fabulous week ahead!

Shopping at Scrapfest!

I feel a little very guilty as I spent my Saturday afternoon at the Scrapfest as it was Dr. John's birthday! Since Scrapfest (one of the bigger ones here in Ontario, Canada) only comes once a year,  I have to do what I have to. As long as I'm happy, he is happy!! What a good birthday present that he gets- a happy ME! Here are the samples of the scenes! I had the best time shopping with my friend and neighbor Ophelia. This shelf made me happy....

Love the goodies....

I also got Ophelia started on the Cuttlebug this past Christmas and she probably has more folders and Spellbinders than I do now. She promised that she will "share" :)

I only bought two new distress inks-Wild Honey and Spun Sugar. I was being a cheapskate good girl... very restrained.

Then my friend Ophelia saw these Christmas glitter cards, she ended up buying a few jars of glitter and a huge role of tape. She plan to make place cards for this year's Christmas party...now that's some serious plannning! Yes, the the glitter were stuck on this double-sided tape.

Pretty amazing, huh? Here is the glitter chart.

See that cupcake at the bottom corner!? YUM! I had so much fun watching my friend buying these neat products. Maybe I get to "borrow" them some time-heehee! Here's a video for you about the coloring of the skin with copic markers. I also talked Ophelia into buying a couple of the Copics sketch. I'm such an enabler! For those of you who are pros (Alice, Donna, Kathy and Kelly-aka the Copic Queens), you can skip this tutorial video. Thanks for stopping by!! I can't wait to use my little stash of new toys!

Birthday Month!

April is a big month for birthdays in my household. Stepahnie's birthday falls on the 16th and Dr. John's is on the 17th! How awesome is that! I actually had false labor when I had Stephanie and I was sent home on the 15th and then on the16th I went back to the hospital, then she was born! Not a day too soon or late and just before John's birthday. I can see why the father and daughter have such close bond . They appreciate each other's humor and she even took up John's hobby-photography! Her photo just got published in the university Life Science Journal.  Not only that, she then became a big time Star Wars and Star Trek fan in her teen years. That sure makes John proud and warms his heart. Stephanie thinks her Dad is the funniest man in the world. And I know that' one fine quality she looks for in her search of a perfect BF. I made this card for John.

Since Dr. John is a chocoholic, I had to make this one in chocolate brown. Back when we got married, we changed our wedding cake from something fruity that was offered by Westin Hotel to something chocolate with hazel nuts! The special feature of this card is the candle. Yes, there's the Starbucks coffee sleeves again! It gives the perfect texture of a candle if you cut diagonally. I painted it with Making Memory acrylic paint in copper.

Here's another happy news about my owl card. It won a 2nd place in EBTKS Challenge (strings)

I always choose to take part in challenges that "speak" to me. This was definitely one of them! I had SO much fun making this owl card.And then for this card to be recognized,  it's just icing on the cake!

Stephanie in her preschool year (Disney World, FL)

Happy Birthday, Stephanie and John! You are the LOVE of my life!

Up Up it goes....(Treehouse Challenge #45)

As a guest designer for the month of April at Treehouse, I am sharing a card that I made with Treehouse Stamp's April new release.The theme is (Decophage/3D) and I also used the free tree digital image from Treehouse.

Here's what I come up with.

I created a very subtle 3D effect for the hot air balloon with paper-piecing and 3 different types of pop dots (thickest one in the middle and gradually reduced in its thickness). I layered each piece of hot air balloon image piece by piece. It creates a curvy ball-like surface. The tree trunks are made from....you guessed it!  Starbucks Coffee Sleeves! I'm entering this card for the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #74 Up. The challenge requirement is to use some balloons, which is INSPIRED by the movie

LOVE that movie!

Are you ready to take flight?

Be sure to stop by this weekend, I have ANOTHER birthday post! And we'll find out on Monday who wins the Poppy Stamp (see here) draw! There's still time to enter if you haven't!

4 EVER 21!

My daughter Stephanie is turning 21 on the 16th! I want to make a birthday card just for her as she was also my lucky charm. My last year's birthday card for her won a 2nd place in the Hero Arts Challenge (see here).  This time I found 2sketches4you ( 2S4Y)  sketch which came in handy!

Knowing Stephanie, she loves clean, simple and smart designs. Lavender is her favorite color.

 

The most time-consuming part of making this card was the pink bow and the candle (yes, Starbucks coffee sleeves!). Love the texture of the coffee sleeeves give, you know, I love that stuff ! I think it's worth the effort!

Happy Birthday, my sweet Stephanie! Wish you the BEST year ever!