A special birthday hop!!

 Hey crafters!.. Welcome to a very special Birthday Blog Hop for Shalini! I would love if you could hop along and see and comment on all the cards and land at Shalini's blog and leave her a sweet wish!!

Wishing you a  a very very Happy Birthday Girlie!.. We wish you LOADS and LOADS of craftiness ahead!

Now for the rules:

This blog hop is to celebrate our dear crafter Shalini's { www.craftcurry.com} birthday. She has a unique style of crafting with amazing intricate detailed work on her projects. And if you know her, she is the most amazing person, with a loving heart and generous soul....and a love for pink...Darn!! I should have make something pink for you!! Never mind...you better like what I made for you!! :)

Will post the details on another post...for now Just wishing Shalini a very very happy birthday!!! You're one of my firstest friend in the blog world...and you continue to inspire me with your cards...just pull out your darned collections and make something !!!! 

So, all you have to do is HOP ALONG! :

Here's the Blog Hop Order:

Spardha

Asha

Chhavi

Karuna

Khushboo

Tejal <--------- That's me...you're here!!

Ujjwal 

Yvonne

Leave a comment on each blog and hop on to wish Shalini { www.craftcurry.com } for a chance to win FAB prize(Prizes will be revealed later!!) Hope that does not deter  you from leaving love all long the hop!! 

Happy Hopping!!

One layer Thank you

This is a card for all of you....Thank you everyone for all your concern and warm hugs across the virtual world...I'm glad that you took time to read and write back to me and it made me feel really good...so I'm dedicating this card to all of you....to all those who matter!!

Essentially a one layer card...The CS is dark cream fabriano CS folded in half. I could send this for OLW, but its not a CAS, its more on the vintage type!

Shruti, I love these pearls....thanks for making me love them....no need to search for different size pearls...love the 3-D outliner!!! I saw this card on her blog and fell in love with this outliner!! Took me a while to search...but finally got it!!
 
Sadly this stamp from Inkadinkado, that I brought a year ago, still sat uninked...until today and then I found its a defective piece...One edge of the stamp is on a slope, so the stamp never lays flat and will never give a complete impression ...oh well!! you get some good and you get some bad!!

 

The right lower corner, where I've tried to ink it thrice..but no luck!! Anyway,s this is just it...A simple one layer, stamped with magical background in tea dye distress ink. Frame stamped in tuxedo black, and sentiment in Rich cocoa. A few dots with liquid pearls And faux stitching with Sakura Micron pen (0.25 mm) A bit of distressing around the edges with Vintage photo and I'm done!!

Next time around, I'm going to mask the center before stamping the background!!! 

Thank you again for all your support. It means a lot. 

P.s. I made my first sale at Craftsia!!! who-hooo!!! This card went as a thank you for the customer!!

The good, the bad and the ugly

In my last post I mentioned some really great news....well here it is....I'm the featured crafter on Craftsia's website.
This is my first every interview of any kind..so I was pretty excited...and it just made feel great that I'm slowly on the steps to where I want to be. Selling my cards, teaching (yet to achive) and have my own store (long way to go for that) but that in a nutshell is my dream...so I feel, this is just the first step for me..and hopefully there will be no looking back!!!
Check out the interview here.

On a slightly bitter note, some of you were privy to my rantings on Facebook. I am definitely not going to elaborate on that, but just wanted to share my few thoughts...
For me blogging was a way of getting out of the nasty politics I see in my every day life...making cards is my therapy...sending smiles to my friends in the form of cards, that is the best feeling that I get. And now this politics is getting into blogland?
If it gets to a point where I cannot tolerate it, I will quit blogging. I blog because it makes me happy and this is just not right.
As much as the back-stabbing hurts, I know the reasons too...and I'm the kinds who will walk away from you, if you hurt me even the slightest bit. It won't matter how good you've been to me, how nice I've been to you....but you hurt me once, and that's the end of my story with you! Its not a threat, it's just who I am.

And honestly in the last 6 months, I've seen the faces of people that I didn't want to see....jealous, plotting, scheming, back-biting.....it makes me want to believe that there are very few good people left in the world. Very few....and I'm better off having no friends than having friends who enjoy plotting and then sit back and watch the show and have a good laugh.

There is a lot more that I want to say, but this is not the portal for me to express myself...but this is the gist of it. I've been hurt, exasperated and astonished by people I call friends

For what is all this? What did I do that makes you hate me so much?  This is my open invitation to you...if you've got guts...call me up and tell  me what is it that drives you to do such things and speak ill of me behind my back. I promise to hear you out.

But if you got no guts, then please shut up and let me live this one life I've got in peace.

And in case you read it up to here, thanks for reading my whining....and I'm hoping you sympathize with my situation. If anyone has spoken bad about me to you...just ignore it...don't pass it on to any third person...just kill the chain with yourself. It will save me a heartache.

And I'm not allowing comments on this topic....I've got enough advise to last me a lifetime...I don't need anymore. I just need peace and calm around me.

Some random shares

Since I have no cards to post, I thought about doing some random shares of the week...

This is the gorgeous candy I won from Radhika...40 sheets of 6x6 pattern paper, some awesome blingers and cute ribbons along with some heart shaped pearls..Thanks girlie..I'm in a paper heaven right now!

This is the super super cute stamp I just bought off etsy...the giraffe and the elephant and the turtle were the main reasons to buy  this...and this is a huge set..8x9...isn't it gorgeous??

Received my May ATC's - the left one is from Vaishali...love the beautiful textures on the card...and the one on right is from Romina...I love that cow stamp..so cute!

And I finally get to share my ATC's...which I'd been dying to show off...

This one is stamped and colored, with a googly eye..and the PP and the stamp is from Imaginisce line- animal crackers. super fun papers!

 

This one was when I was bit by the embossing bug and my new stamp set...the butterfly is embossed in white and the sentiment in clear..loads of distressing..which I seem to love these days!! 

So that's it for now..see you soon with another card..and maybe some fabbie news... ( no the stork ain't visiting me anytime soon)

Sketch Time

I'm playing with a sketch...Sketch is by Piali...

 And since I wanted to take part in the hero arts challenge this time...didn't have any autumn stamps, but window card..That I could do...so this is my entry for the window cards on the Hero Arts blog!

 

Supplies - Woodgrain textured CS (local), pattern papers from Echo park and Papermania

MS 3-in-1 butterfly punch, Pie lane glitter balls,Pie lane heart rhinestone

 Charcoal twine-Baker's twine. Stamps Hero Arts-Kiss from the sun, inside sentiment -3 bugs in a rug. Felt wings from a key chain,distress inks, LSG-glitz spritz and white gel pen, stamp-a-ma-jig

This Pink CS actually started out as white textured CS, I covered it heavily with distress inks - Worn lipstick and Fired brick. Then came my newest glitter spray, The lindy stamp gang's Glitz spritz in Scintillating Silver. And oh gosh, those are some amazing sprays..such a fine and beautiful mist..totally worth every penny I spent on it...

 

Here is the sparkly sheen on that CS, it settled beautifully in the grooves and is even shinier IRL...I added a row of butterflies from Martha steward punch, and black glitter balls.. (one of those glitter balls is trying to run away..didn't see it till I just posted it)

The inside again began as a plain white drawing paper, heavy use of distress inks, tumbled glass, broken china, shabby shutters and peeled paint. After they dried, I stamped the dress 4 times on the paper, and paper pieced it with echo park and papermania papers...(sorry about those pins hanging in mid air..)Popped up the 3rd dress with foam dots and added the felt wings behind it..a baby girl is like an angel, is she not? I sure seem to think so..
Added just a bit of charcoal baker's twine..and some fancy bows! That's all for this card..

So there you have it..my very heavily distressed and colorful card...I must say I'm in love with distress inks and its my day 7 of doing the Inspiration showcase class with Jennifer McGuire..and boy these distress inks can do wonders!!! Loving it..you'll be seeing a lot of distressing from me..

Pssst....just a little shout out to Vicky's (clips-n-cuts blog)  give-away for a 25$ gift voucher from Simon says!! Click here to find out...

See you soon!!

My love for bling....

....never seems to end...the day I got my Pixie Dust glitter pack from Pie Lane, I wanted to sit and make a card...but that same day I had to travel...so well today I finished it...and even though its very cloudy, rainy and oh so chilly here (yes, my prayers have finally been answered !!)  I took some pics and immediately got around to sharing it..I'll try for a better pic soon!

This card is by no means my own..Its a CASE of a card I saw on the Hero Arts blog, but I loved the simplicity of it, and having just got my own set..had to play with it...and it gave me endless possibilities to glitter up!!

Yeah, I tend to yap a lot!!

But when it comes to glitter, I don't kid..I love it...and when I'd asked Srinanda of Pie Lane Studio for some Pixie dust glitter, they didn't disappoint me...I looove this glitter...just sparkly and yummy!!  (p.s. Sri, I think I have two same greens in the box :( }

And what helps in making this glitter adhere is my newest toy, Quickie glue pen, a big dry painting brush to dust off the excess glitter and 2-3 scratch papers...use the same paper to catch the glitter and you're likely to have contamination (that psycho glitter speak for you)

Supplies - DP from echo park, stamp set - Be happy  Hero arts, and sentiment - thoughtful messages  

glitter balls in maroon. 

I think the DP is splash or summer days from Echo park...getting old...(yeah birthday next month :D)
I paper pieced the entire flower and then applied glitter, one part at a time..tried to give a bit of shading in the leaves..and the stem is bronze glitter. I added a few butterflies, but they didn't seem to fit the card, so off they went (just in case you had to ask where my butterflies were!!)

So that's it..oh yeah! before I forget, I've updated my sale page with some stampin up stamp sets.

Notecards and Tags

This is long overdue post...I had to wait till all my swap partners received their swaps so that I could post my creations. It was a fun time to make all those itty bitty cards and tags...
I divided my 3 sets of note cards into 3 categories (yeah! that's the crazy me)..stamping, cuttlebugged cards and only DP cards. here they are...

The cards with only cuttlebug elements...

The frame was cut with Lacey square dies, the white mat with Label one dies and embossed with swiss dots, and the butterfly cut and embossed with the Tag team butterfly die cut...some gems for sparkle!

The heart is cut from red corrugagted paper, the wings traced and cut from Maya road chipboard and some glitter for simple bling. 

 The flowers and leaves are cut from Daisy head dies and sponged with light coating of Vintage photo distress inks to let the embossing shine.

On to the STAMPING only cards..

 I cut clouds with PTI cloud dies and used them as masks and sponged broken china and tumbled glass to create a sky. Stamped the birds and branch from Hero arts set and paper pieced the birds. Sentiment is masked from another Hero arts set.

 Simple distressing and blending with broken china and shabby shutters and stamped on the garden bouquet silhouette stamp with memento black.

Stamped butterfly from Antique engravings and colored with Pearlescent watercolors.

The cards using only pattern papers... no stamping...

These use the Echo park Little girl line and walk in the park...don't remember which is which though...

 Tags :

 I loved creating my tags...
Loved the whole process of distressing, blending, and then inking with the background stamps...
The butterflies are colored straight with the blending foam and distress inks..and used the Quicke glue pen to add just dashes of glitter....

 All tied and ready to go.....I know this was a photo heavy post...but thanks for sticking till the end....

I hope those who got my swaps liked them. And if you'd like to see the swaps that I received, I've already posted them here...

That's it for today...see you soon with some super fun cards...

Butterfly Award

Still braving the super super silly rains in mumbai...It serves me right for complaining non-stop about the lack of rains in Ahd...God decided I needed all the rain that He had...so 4 days of non-stop rain..no shopping this time at all...well, not completely nothing....just a bit then..Loved seeing Pie lane goodies in my local shop...and getting to see all the Crafter's cards...that was the highlight of that shopping trip..

On to the award, Thanks Khush for passing on this award...coz its a butterfly one..I know I got you obsessed with butterflies!!!

There are some rules to follow so here they are:
Answer several questions. Award the 'Butterfly Award' to other bloggers
Contact the bloggers to let them know they have received this award
Put a link to the person who gave you the 'Butterfly Award' in the post.
Q1) Name your favorite color?  Aqua

Q2) Name your favorite song? It changes by the day and by the minute...right now...its Saibo from Shor in the city...

Q3) Name your favorite dessert?  Brownies

Q4) What worries you off at the moment? The rains...I hope it stops..I want to go shopping for crafty goodies...

Q5) Your favorite pet? Don't like pets..I think its cruel to keep pets...but don't know how long I can fight this battle against cuteness...Hubby is all for filling the house with small dogs!!

Q6) Black or White? Black


Q7) Your biggest fear? Driving, Heights, Water, not one...many!!!

Q8) Best feature? My sense of humor and Wit

Q9) Everyday attitude? Varies...

Q10) What is perfection?  Day spent with my loved ones...getting lots of cuddles and kisses..

Q11) Guilty pleasure? Shopping way beyond my set budget and yet not feeling sorry for it.....be it crafty shopping, for perfumes, for books ... I don't really spend on clothes that much, nor shoes...

Q12) When you're upset you? Clam up. Or call my BFF and pour down my worries and sorrows to her...and then, we gossip...makes me happy!! :)



So there you have it...some small pieces of my life...


Passing it on to
Shalini
Asha
Erum.. (a butterfly freako like me)
Juhi
Ujjwal
Piali
Khyati
Manasa
Jovita


Have fun girls!! will be back soon!!

Bling Bling Cake

This post is entirely the result of this conversation and I totally blame you Srinanda for making me dream about glitter!! (you might not be able to see the conversation if you don't " like" Pie Lane..) hehe!! Shameless marketing..but I love their glitter and what can I say...I love Sri's sense of humor!! And plus being inspired with Ujjwal and Erum's stitching...I have all the tools so why not combine the two??

So all that glitter talk and the new glitter product made me want to glitter something up...and I took out all the glitter's I had...mind you...I have a ton of glitter..and yet I need more!! So this is what I came up with...no challenge in mind, no deadline in mind..just something to play with the Martha Stewart glitter. This is the coarse glitter.

So there's my bling bling cake...the cake was cut with simple card stock pieces, layered on top of each other and glittered till it was saturated with glitter. Then I went and put some more gemstones on it...since i wanted to go over the top!!!  To say that i measured for half an hour before getting the right size for the cake would be an understatement...
The DP's are from Papermania..summer bloom.

 Here's just a close up of the glitter..I love how it shines...yummy!! Those are just simple punched flowers with some pearls from Itsy bitsy...The sentiment is from Inkadinkado, Cupcakes set...I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up just below each other...

Here's a close up of my attempt at stitching, It did come out pretty well...and done while watching Tv...didn't even realize how fast it went. The true hero in this neat stitching is the markings that I did with my scale and my paper piercer.

So that's my glitter story for today...see you in a few days...off to visit my folks and meet welcome Ganpati Bappa at my aunt's place. will post if time permits.

Celebrating a tiny milestone!!

 This card goes for the Wee memories- Masculine challenge. And on a super Celebratory note, I was one of the Honorable Hoots for my Create a Scene card at Wee memories along with Ujjwal...YIPEEEEE...Way to go...and along with us, were Erum, and ETA: Isha (how did I miss your name?)- the top HOO-LA-LA's!! You rock girls!!!!! now back to boy business

My nephew's birthday was coming up, and I'd promised his mom, that I would make something for him..so this was it...

The engine, the funnel, the bogies..all handcut...I was never good at math in school..not good at it even today..but ask me to measure all this stuff and cut..I somehow can!! Go figure!!!


Every piece of paper is from Echo park, Little boy. The dino die-cuts are from Cuttlebug kids cartridge gifted from my friend Jan. (Thanks Jan) and the balloon and party hat die cuts are loads of RAKs from Jaya.

 

The wheels are die cuts from PTI - the button die cut set. I added yellow embroidery floss through the holes and added faux stitching to mimic Pie lane buttons! The steam and cloud are PTI cloud dies.

There was a lot I wanted to do to this card..embellish it..but I was planning on putting big photos of the kiddos on the last 3 panels..it might cover up the dinos, and the bogies, but it will make a great photo frame..That I'm leaving totally on to my sis....

I had so much fun making this ..