Envelope Tag album

I saw a video and loved it. So I had to make it...so simple. I had everything at hand. No need to get any expensive items :)

And since someone's birthday was coming (wink, wink) I thought I'd send her this. No more chit chat for me..heat is driving me insane..but have to show off too...

So this is it. I did not go too overboard on decorating it, coz I really can't go overboard. I have to keep it simple. Though I know it does not do justice to the album. I should have added more flowers and stuff like that..but was short on time. 

Thought managed to give the tags lot of bling and it makes me very happy to see that..some butterflies would have been good at this point. These are the 4 tags that went into the making of this mini-album. Can be used as a tag or embellished as desired!

I have left the tags empty for the recipient to put her fav pictures and embellish it the way she wants it. Its her's after all...

Hope you liked my little gift Spardha. Wish you a very happy birthday!

stamps used- Harmony (?) from SU!.

Friendship stamp from Hobby ideas. 

Paper- front and back of the album, pockets of the tags - 7 Gypsies paper pack.

A new challenge blog

Jaya Christina has just started a new challenge blog, Crafty JC Challenge blog. This is mostly aimed at the Indian cardmakers. But inspiration cannot be barred by land, country or language, so if you feel inspired hop on the challenge and join us.

This is just a shout out, the challenges will begin in August. I will keep you posted about the challenges.

Wishing her all the success in this new venture. I'm with you girl.

ATC Swaps and a RAK!

Just received all the Swap ATC;s for the month of April and May and here are the fabulous ATC's

                                                                        This by Ash.

The quilled Ice-cream cone is by Deepti

                                                              This one is by Karuna.

                                                               This one is by Priya.

                                                        
And lastly a sweet RAK from Spardha. I love the clean and simple look of this card. Superbly done..Thanks Spardha.

And thanks to all who made such superb ATC's.

I've got a few stamps for sale. They're all made in India, I think they're nylon made. unmounted. I'm selling them for less than what I got them for..Let me know if you're interested. Send me a mail  on indian.stamper(at)gmail(dot)com. Will send you the pics and the price.

Card Set

This post might be short. Got a massive headache again! Here's the set of cards I made with the PP I showed you in the last post. I had been wondering how to place the design when Susan's card showed me the way.
Its for H's colleague's birthday coming up later in the month.

Sorry for the bad light, took it late in the evening...its been cloudy all day and the humidity is driving me nuts..no rain yet! Here are some individual pics..

I hope you can spot the bling. Its little gemstones on all the flowers.

This red ribbon gave me the creeps. It took me more than 20 tries to do this knot, and this too was in sheer frustration. Don't know why grosgrain ribbon behaves this way...or maybe I'm just ribbon challenged! Sentiment is from Heart and Soul rubber stamps, and is embossed with clear embossing powder. Doesn't show up too well, maybe coz its superfine emb. powder!

I'm looking for a cute bird stamp. Anyone any links...will be appreciated. But the birdie should be cheap too! something like the bird sticker on the blue happy birthday.

The next card gets inspired from Ayana. Have I told you I love her cards? I have, right! so lets get on to the card. This  is my best and biggest blooper card. The sentiment got stamped upside down. I still went ahead and colored it. will find a way to salvage it or just give it like that to someone who has a sense of humor!

This card is one more example of  needing finishing touches. This card looks great, but for me it is incomplete. So here go some bling and some dots and this is what you get.. ( the bling got smudged a bit. Pls don't judge me on that, bling has a mind of its own) And as I said sorry for the dark photos..

So what do you think? does it complete the card? I think it does...
All right then peeps, good night, off to take a night's rest..


Cast of characters
1st card (blue)
Fabriano cardstock
Heart and soul rubber stamp(happy birthday)
Flowers, (mix of hobby ideas and clear stamps)
ribbon- gift from Sophie Landry
Bird sticker ( hobby ideas)

Red ribbon- Sophie Landry (where are you girl?)
Butterfly sticker-roadside vendor
Gemstones- roadside vendors

Coloring with sharpies, glitter-hobby ideas silver glitter

A card making Tip, and a Yay for me!

What a nutcase title..but then that's me. .Here's the best part of my day today..my butterfly card got a mention as one of the CAS favorites of the week. Thank you Karen. I'm soo happy..best way to begin my week..

Okay that was the YAY! and now for the tip. I don't know if its so much of a tip as much as what I do.

Once I've finished coloring an image or finished a card, there is always a finishing touch that changes the whole look of the card or the image. By finishing touches, I mean either faux stitching, dots with a white gel pen, black gel pen, some distressing with dark inks...or glitter. Unless you are going for a clean look. this always pushes your cards up by a notch. Its not necessary, but it works. And being the perfectionist that I am..I love adding that finishing touches.

Here's an example..

I've finished coloring my image. It looks good, but for me something's missing. It just needs a little bit something to make it pop. So I added dots with white gel pen. and This is what you get. ( those scribble on the left side are my way of seeing what colors to use)

 

And again, with this card, a line of faux stitching around the edges. 

 

And a row of white gel pen dots and some faux stitching along the PP completes this card for me. 

 

Hope this helps you in some way. Try it. And see the results.

Before I go, just a sneak peak of what I have been working on. This is a PP made with stamps, I've colored this out and used bits and pieces to complete a card. Something that derives inspiration from Nichole Heady. What an amazing woman, I would buy everything PTI if I could..the emphasis is on "If I could".

Butterflies galore! And OLW#8

There were so many things that went wrong with my first card. The butterfly mask worked well, but the image didn't stamp well inside, then the sentiment ... I think I tried to do too much to it. Should have left it at that..anyways, I'm not happy with my first card, which is the entry for Susan's One Layer Wednesday Challenge was to use mask as a background....Loved checking out all the cards for the challenge though...some really superb ones..


And this card is totally inspired by Joan B. Oh how I love her blog, quirky and funny...This is the card that inspired it..well both my cards are inspired by her. So because Susan got inspired by Joan, I went to see her site and then I got inspired by Joan. So a big thank you to you Joan for inspiring!!

I used post it notes to mask the green border which you can barely see, maybe if you squint, you might see it :), butterfly is a mask made when I cut up butterflies for the next card. Tried to get some flourishes stamped inside, but they weren't in the listening mood today..so its a  partial impression.

And then the sentiment..masked the sentiment too close while stamping the flourishes..and the blue ink..what was I thinking..maybe, I wasn't thinking...don't worry, I won't post this atrocity to anyone...I'll have a good time hiding it in my closet though...

Which brings me to my super sweet next card. I finally learnt how to use my sharpies. And they give good results. Absolutely worth the dollar that I spent on it. (it cost me 45 bucks each, literally a dollar). And here is the card from Joan that inspired it. I was sitting around with butterflies in my head and then I saw her posts. What was a poor soul like me to do? I had to be inspired. Without more nonsense, here's the card..

I admit, I got carried away with the bling..but trust me, its not that much. Its just the light. Its insanely gorgeous in real life. The sentiment from Heart and soul rubber stamps was in two lines, stamped it two times to get it in one row.
And there had to be a line below it..as Joan says, butterflies have to be 'grounded'.
The butterflies are images from coloring page, modified on my Photoshop.

This card is for no challenge. Just for my insane pleasure. Because I love butterflies and I love bling and I looove colored butterflies with bling. So this is just for me.

ETA: Well this card does fit into CAS71. So hereby it goes to the CAS71-things that fly!

Hope you like'em too!!

Something new

If you're reading to my blog in a reader, I would ask you to stop by my blog and see the changes I've made. Actually its not me, its the new design tab on the blogger..Freaking Fantastic if you ask me. I was even able to expand the width of my blogger without delving into the HTML mumbo-jumbo. Love this new feature!!

Also for the first time, I made a blog badge showing my love for Simplicity blog. Susan has inspired me so much, that I changed my whole shopping cart on Frugalities. Instead of ordering tons of tools, I ordered more colors of ink. There is so much that I learned from her..I don't need tons of stuff just because it is available there..but can I make something with what I have? I'm sure I'll continue to learn and grow..

So here's the badge, the quote is by Leonardo Da Vinci. If you want to post it to your side bar, I'm putting the code below it too...

To put this on your side bar, simple open the Design tab, or go to Edit layout.
Click on add a gadget, add HTML/Javascript.
Copy and paste the code into the box.
click save.
Adjust where on your layout where you would like the badge to be.

Here's the code : .

<a href="http://simplicitybylateblossom.blogspot.com/" title="simplicity by expressions2210, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/4690343154_63154a7df5_m.jpg" width="125" height="125" alt="simplicity" /></a>

This is my way of saying Thanks to you Susan!
 Big hugs to you across the seven seas!!

ATC Swap

I have joined a group of Indian ATC swappers...and the challenges each month are so fascinating. I joined in April and May and had so much of fun making them. And in spite of not having access to all the fancy tools, stamps or inks, all of the participants have managed to make stunning creations. I would give all the girls a huge round of applause. Truly, creativity has no limitations. I am proud to be part of such a wonderful group of crafters.

I must have spent 20 days of the month thinking about how to make them and then finally made them in last 10 days..I just managed to submit them in time. Sorry if I sound disoriented...a bit tired...entertaining my 1 1/2 yr old BFF's girl for just 2 hours was exhausting...How did you all raise your kids?? How did my gran raise 5 kids...I can't entertain one for 2 hours!! :D

Anyhow, these are the pics..do leave some nice comments..these have been waiting to see the light of the blog for over 2 months...

Here are the ATC's for April..the theme was Summer treats..

I finally got to use loads of bling on them..All the shapes in the ice-cream cone and the lemonade glass are hand-cut..The 2nd ATC has a lot of water-coloring for the background..It was really fun making them.. Used Clear embossing powder on the glares..for the glass and the sun..looks brilliant in person..Am sure the person who gets it will love it..I so hated to send it off...

The theme for the month of May was Anything but a rectangle..you should check out all the entries here..simply stunning!!!

 

I simply used a dress template from Stampington. (Sorry I've lost that link..) Papers are all from DCWV Floral Fantasy stack. Some punches and some bling. Butterflies are stickers..I didn't get time to take pics of these ATC's before I posted them..so I've taken them off the ATC blog..Hope you girls don't mind!!

Will get back to my home base next week and back to my posts and making cards..I did purchase a few cutting templates like the Coluzzle system. I got the circle and the square and I know its going to make my cutting work much much easier.

Till I post again..have a great week everyone..