The hardest card to make...

This by far has been the hardest card to make. Not in terms of technique or layout. This card is for my best friend who lost his beloved dog. He was 14, old in dog years.

He was a stray puppy, lying with his 4 sibling pups and mom, all of whom were dead, only this one was fighting for life. My fren adopted him, and as the puppy grew, it adopted my friend's rebellious attitude. There was nothing in this world that could make the dog do what he did not want to do. And of course, the companion thru the darkest hours, that's what makes a dog man's best friend.

I've never owned a dog, but the stories i've heard about this dog, really made me want to adopt one. but an apartment is no place for a dog. when i heard that he was hit by a bike and paralysed waist down, i prayed that he should not suffer. Yet he pulled thru for over 4 days but could not eat anything, and on 4th day he passed away.

Everytime i sat down to make this card, i would choke up, not sure what to write or what to say that could console someone. Its like having lost your very best friend.

The image was taken from the net, and just drawn on a paper and then on acetate sheet, it looks bold.
The card says "mummy" coz i wanted to tell him, that the dog is finally at rest with his mom in heaven.

Is it just me?

When I had decided that I would make cards for all my family and friends this year, I really just wanted to do something new. I was getting bored of my daily 10-12 and 5-9 part time job. Ok, I'm in the profession where I'm helping everyone else heal, but was not healing myself.

Anyways, so when someone tells me that they loved my cards, or even appreciates it, or even just thanks for the card, I'm over the moon. I get the same good feeling when some of my patients come back and thank me, or just tell me that I helped them heal. It makes it worth my time and day.

But 2 days back, when I made 2 cards, one for my granpa, and one for my couzin sistah, well they never said anything about it. No thanks, no I like it, no anything. Sadly they didn't even acknowledge it at all. My granpa is 85, so I can let it go. But my sitstah? We'd been thru a rough patch and I was trying to smooth things out. And I thought the card would start the road to mending, but sadly it's not to be.

I'll just have to forget that i made anything for her. But on the whole, is it wrong to expect people to appreciate you?
is it just me who feels this way?
As I'm writing this I just wonder about my mom, or for that matter every mom in this world. They're caring, working and being happy, yet without an expectation of thanks. I'll appreciate it more when i become a mom myself. Long time to go!!!

I think i answered my own question. Anyways, here's the card i made for her.
Background paper was downloaded from The template section of inkstains forum.
The envelope in the background was stamped repeatedly with a confetti stamp to give it the border.

card goin to Australia

this is card made for my fren whom i used to call bee. dunno how the name stuck. She was my roomie in the hostel and there in started the bond that lasted for 10 yrs and going strong. She just moved to NZ and her hubby is in Melbourne, so i made a card for her. I was planning on using yellow but i saw this card on a blog, and i fell in love with the colors. I think more than the designs the colors inspire me. the patterned paper is by doodlebug desgins. Love the new black and whites they have.
I simply love how it turned out. i guess the sky is a bit smudged out. But i have to compromise on the colors i use so i think its pretty ok. I used a bit of copper glitter on the tree trunk(hand sketched)
overall i'm very happy with this card.

GWS

My poor brother. He always keeps complaining that i never made him any cards. It was after his b'day went by that i decided i'm going to make cards for every birthday this year. So he was the grumpiest one. Every time I showed him a new card I made, he would just glance and go'Hrrumph" which was my clue to make him a card. never got around to making it.

Two days back, he overworked his back. He's a dentist and too many patients. So he's been on bed rest at my orders. So I finally got around to making him a mini card, my first 3x4 card. The patterned paper were some samples i had downloaded from the net. And voila! my smallest card turned out to be the prettiest card ever. The idea of using a crab along with a punny sentiment came from a GinaK. card. But while watching tv, i ended up writing crappy instead of crabby!!
And instead of 'hope you feel better" i wrote 'hope you fell better'

Well, my bro claims this is the best card he ever got, and quite unlikely to ever forget it coz i made him fell better :)And I can never seem to cut straight lines. Looks like i need a paper trimmer ASAP. One of my pals is coming in from australia, i think he might be kind enough to get me one... (cross my fingers)
Cheers for now!

Whoo-Hooo

Guess what? I made a new card for my cousin's birthday. And since it was CASEd from Maria's card, I emailed her the card. She liked it a lot and guess what? she's making me a guest stamper. Wow! That is in capital letters. For someone like me who is a stamper in the infant stages, this is a huge honor. I'm on seventh heaven.This is the card. Like her i love bold and bright colors. Scanning unfortunately has ruined the colors of this card, but i dont' have a digicam. Persistant persuasion might pay off some day. Though i still feel this card lacks something, i dont' know what. Any ideas??

On other notes, i was thinking of creating a wishlist. why I dont' know? But just feel like. And Knowing my current obsession, all 100 of them would be something to do with stamping. Like a ton of ink pads, loads of patterned DP ( as of now i'm downloading and printing them off) and stamps by the dozen.
If wishes were horses beggars would ride. Ah well, the stamps i have aint' bad. so let me get busy with a new one.

Cheers.

a rather dull card.

This card was made for dad, he wanted to send it to one of his old school pals. I think they go back to around 30 yrs. That's old. I did not have many saying with me, so I brought one of those alphabet stamp that allows you to stamp 14 alphabets at a time. Not bad, its just that i have to rock the stamp a lot for it to print out properly.
One of these days, i'm going to splurge. Already started searching for websites that accept international credit cards or MO.

But on the whole, i'm not very happy with the card. It looks dull. And i hate dull cards. Like Maria having a "oops, i made a mistake day" i seem to be having one too. Had to put on a stick on butterfly to cover the mess.

Mother's Day cards.

So this year, i decided to use my newfound skills to make cards for mother's day. made one for my ma, and the other for my dearest Chetna aunty. she doesn't have a daughter, and kinda thinks of me as one. just recently she bought me a bracelet. a pretty one. so
i made one for her, and of course gifted her a big bar of chocolate. this one is for chetna auntyFor my ma's card i basically made a simple card on the outside but on the inside was pop up card made from one of the tutorials on craft tv weekly webisode. On Saturday, i went to this store where i ended up buying a whole ton of craft supplies, so i used the rolling stamp to make the background. Gosh these days, i'm combining techniques from different websites and different tutorials and making my own mish mash of cards. but all my family seems to love it. My brother even told me to quit my physical therapy and open my card making shop. :)
I've been on a card making spree this weekend. Made a shaker card from one of the tutorials on Maria's blog. it turned out fine except the confetti inside the shaker kept getting stuck to the foam tape and refused to show itself. a lil shaking and banging works,they appear for a while and then again they hide. sigh...gotta find a way to avoid that.
Kinda found a solution to that, Thanks to Maria. She told me to use big confetti and i thought of using q-tip to use talcum powder and rub off the stickiness on the inside of the foam tape.

PS. Can you guess what...Maria left a comment on this blog. WOW! that's like a msg from my mentor. i look up to her as my inspiration. Thanks Maria for taking time to leave msg.

Christmas in may?

I am like a small child right now for who christmas has come early. The reason being, a new store solely devoted to hobbies has opened up in the city. It took me an hour to get there, but once i went there, it was worth it. I was going crazy checking every stamp out. I picked this and then picked that. The stamps were priced reasonably i guess, but the crafting supplies were quite expensive.
And the wishing never ends. If i found the stamps, i did not find any paper trimmer, the cutting mat was too small to be used for a 12 x 12 sheet. Not many dye based inks, not many colors. The grumpy list will go on. But back to being happy coz i dont' have to nag a family member returning from the USA or UK to bring me some stamps, or buy me ink pads. Though I'm still hoping to get someone to buy me a versamark black ink pad. it stamps on anything, including acetate sheets, which none of the other stamp pads do. so if any of my dearest cousins is reading this, you know what to get me. ;)

Here's what i got,
This whole range of wood mounted stamps. there were many more i wanted but my sweet lil fren who accompanied me, was getting restless. He doesn 't understand that this is something that i really love. But i appreciate him all the more for tolerating my madness as i jumped from aisle to aisle picking this and picking that. He was kind enough to hold my shopping bag while i kept throwing in stamps.
This is my third sheet of clear acrylic stamps. since it comes with an exchangeable acrylic block, its just peel stick, stamp and replace. easy to use but gets blurry if i press down too hard.
And this is the rolling stamp. i kinda forgot that i dont' have a black inkpad, at least not a big enough, i have a 1x1 cube of black ink. hmmm, must remember to buy it on my next round there. 3 months from now. have to start saving to splurge.

Didn't have enough space to put all the stamps so rummaged around and found an old shoe box. perfect fit.
cheers.

A card inspired

Lately i've been going throu tons of websites solely devoted to making cards using rubber stamps and you can imagine the creativity of these wonderful gals out there. For the sole reason that rubber stamping, card making is a big time hobby in the united states, for a second i wish i was born there, or at least i wish i had a rich cousin who could send me all those stamps.
Alas! none of the above, so i make do with whatever little i get.

Fortunately there is a store in mumbai that imports stamps from Taiwan, IMO and sells. Its priced reasonably, clear acrylic stamps are in large numbers than the wood mounted. stamp pads are minuscule in number, and colors available are less than 5 but something is better than nothing.
this is a card i made for my bestest friend, and it turned out pretty good.
I loved the design on Maria's blog, and loved what she says. why keep everything straight, twist things a little bit. so that's what i did.

Lazy for a long time....

Been wanting to write for long..about a great many things..but as of now i'll just post my most recent works of art. card for my bhabhi for thier new baby girl....
This one i made for my cousin brother's birthday...
This one for another cousin...