Thankful - for everything that you do!

The theme of the month at one of my favorite brand of stamps, So Suzy Stamps, was thank you and that is what inspired me to make this card. :)

Unlike my cards where I stamp the sentiment once, here I have stamped it thrice (from a simon says stamp set).

Also, the gorgeous blooms that you see in the card is one of my favorite stamps, called "Tulip Stem" and sold by So Suzy Stamps. I have inked the bud part in salty ocean and the stem and leaves in mowed lawn distress inks and stamped it thrice onto my cardstock.

So, let's get to the process :
1. On an off-white cardstock created background using a paint brush with diluted salty ocean distress ink.

2. After that I stamped Tulip Stem thrice using salty ocean and mowed lawn.

3. Stamped the sentiment and added a bit of texture using TCW Stencil - Texturized.

4. Rounded the edges using a corner rounder and matted it onto a blue cardstock and then onto master cardstock on which I had already added some texture, using the same stencil.

5. Took a blue chevron washi tape and added a brad to it and attached it to the top of the card. A bit of washi tape was also added to the bottom right corner of the card, which I also rounded using my corner rounder.
Also added a twine, some rhinestones and a little U clip. :)

6. Stamped the sentiment two more times onto the master cardstock and added some glittery white butterflies.

That is it!
The sentiment outside is "Thankful" so on the inside I continued it by writing, "for everything that you do."

I'd love to hear what you think! (Pardon my poor photography, I tried my best but this is just one of those cards where the beauty cannot be captured completely via a photograph)
Also included some cool closeup pics! ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking this to :
So Suzy Stamps -  May Challenge - Thank You 

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Fabulous, YOU!!

Here is a card that I made for my friend who is about to be married to the love of her life! :)

I had recently bought some sakura modeling paste and looking at that texture in the champagne colored top-half of the dress, I knew I had found the perfect excuse to use and experiment with it. :D

This is how I made it :

1. Spread some modeling paste using a spatula onto a heavy duty white cardstock (250 gsm).

2. While the modeling paste was still wet, I took a fine tooth comb and created that pattern.

3. Once it dried, I took some inka gold (old silver) and applied it generously over the design with a sponge. (I know, the inka gold label says old silver, but in actuality it is a gorgeous champagne color that looks great on both, white and black cardstock!)

4. After that, took a brush and blended picked raspberry and spiced marmalade distress ink with the outer edge of the design. I must add here that inka gold blends easily with water and distress ink, resulting in a beautifully understated look with a slight amount of shimmer.

5. Once that was done, I took my chevron stencil (by Kaisercraft) and sponged it lightly to two sides of the card, again using picked raspberry and spiced marmalade.

6. After it dried, I matted it onto a bright pink cardstock which was finally matted onto a 300 gsm black cardstock.

7. After that, I took two die-cuts in white, which said "Fabulous", sponged one with spiced marmalade distress ink and the other with jet black archival ink and created a shadow effect.
To jazz it up a bit, I covered the orange die-cut in fine glitter dust.

8. Loved the geometric pattern in those bright colors, so I cut up some triangles out of the purple, pink and orange cardstock and arranged them on the other two sides. (The sides where I didn't use the chevron stencil)

9. Finally, added some purple and pink acrylic dots and coated the pink and orange triangles in fine glitter dust.

That is it! ^__^ Had a lot of fun with the modeling paste! (I used to think it's pretty tough to use, but it's super easy!) If I can do it, so can you!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Linking this to : RIC #84 

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Glass V. Glass

Hello and good afternoon!

A nice sunny day here in India. :)

Yesterday I accompanied my mum to the plant nursery to get some plants for home and I couldn't help picking up a bag of glass stones.

These looked like distant cousins of the super refined glass domes and it made me wonder if I could use them like how I use the glass domes, i.e. make embellishments for projects out of it..

So let's have a look at these... (loads of pics!)

The first thing that I did was cut open my bag of stones and laid them out on my cutting mat.

There were a total of 100 stones in the bag, and out of that around 10 were broken, chipped, some had air bubbles trapped inside, so after removing them I was left with 90 stones.

On the other hand, I had my teeny tiny bag of the expensive and fancy glass domes.. so I took that out for a comparison...

Why expensive, you ask? Well, because this bag of glass stones from the nursery cost me Rs. 100/- whereas 5 glass domes of size 18 mm cost me approx. Rs. 50/-.

I know, I know, your immediate reaction would be, woah... that is EXPENSIVE! Chuck the fancy domes, we're gonna buy them stones... but bear with me... I think you will change your decision by the time we reach the end of this post. :)

So I laid out the domes against the huge army of glass pebbles (I think those fancy domes look a little intimidated in the pic, don't you think? Lol!) ^__^

My observations are as follows :
1. The glass pebble is a whole lot more chunkier than the glass dome.
It also has an uneven size, i.e. it is not a perfect round. They also were not clear and transparent, they looked a little dull and pale with some stones having a slight hint of yellow and orange color running through them.

2. As compared to the pebbles, the glass domes have a perfect finish, have a slimmer body and are crystal clear.

3. When I bought the bag of glass stones, some were chipped, cracked etc. which I separated when I did the sorting.
On the other hand, when I bought the glass domes, they were packed perfectly with all pieces in excellent condition i.e. there was no damage found.

4. When I put the stones against light and dark backgrounds, you can see, that the image that we could see through the glass pebble was murky and blurry, whereas the one through the dome was crystal clear.

5. Adhering both (the pebble and the dome) was super easy, I used red tacky tape to do it and both stayed put (in place).

Final conclusion : Always, always, always go for quality over quantity. That is what I have always believed in and therefore I would suggest you no different.

As a person who regularly makes cards, and even manages to sell some, I would recommend, spend that extra money and buy the high quality glass domes. Their crystal clear clarity and smooth finish will enable you to make good quality embellishments for your projects.

The glass pebbles, to be honest, will just look sub-standard and unprofessional.

Disclaimer : All the views in this blogpost are mine and mine alone, I was not influenced or paid to do this review, I just did it because I realized a lot of people thought that these looked the same and didn't think that the price was justified.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the same.
Thank you for stopping by! :)

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ATC for May!

Yup, surprise surprise! :D Two posts in ONE DAY!!!

Here's an ATC that I made for the May swap.
The theme was bling and ofcourse, keeping it in mind, I used a whole lot of glitter dust. Gotta love the sparkle! :D

So, how'd I make this?
1. On a cardstock created an abstract pattern with my paint brush and watered down green, pink and yellow water colors.
2. Took a leaf die-cut and applied distress inks with a sponge.
3. Glitter coated the leaf, adhered it and added a sentiment. (From a wplus9 set)
4. Finished it with a few purple and blue rhinestones from my stash.

p.s. I have also added a little bit of glitter to random edges of the card.
Hope you liked it! (Also hope that my swap partner for this month likes it!!)

Till next time! :)

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You, Me, Oui! ^_~

Hello!

I hope you had a nice weekend!

This GORGEOUS picture that was provided by CSCC #14 alongwith the theme of Mixed Media was my inspiration for the card.

When I look at the image, I think of  vintage, Paris and ofcourse, love.

So, how did I make it?
1. I diluted some Vintage Photo distress ink and using my koi water brush (size : medium) gave the off white cardstock a color wash.

2. I took my Paris Background stamp by JustRite and stamped it onto the cardstock using the same Vintage Photo distress ink (This is a second generation stamp, I didn't use the first one because it was too dark for my liking).

3. After that I distressed the edges and matted it onto a white cardstock.

Now the embellishments....
I had purchased a set of wooden tags a while back and I decided to use the one that said "forever".
As you can see in the picture, it was a plain wooden tag, but I jazzed it up a bit, using some old clear nail polish and glitter dust!

Tip : If you sprinkle glitter dust when the polish is wet, it will stick to it. Also, great for wooden objects as the clear nail polish will act like a varnish and protect it.

I hope you can see some of the shimmer in the second picture! :)

I had the little Eiffel Tower charm and grosgrain ribbon in my stash so I decided to use these with the card as they went perfectly with my color selection and theme.

I also wanted to use the tag, and add a little bit of the color red, so I used a doodlebug twine in red color to fasten my wooden tag.

It is the first time that I used both, a ribbon and a twine on a project and I am quite happy with the result! ^_^

The red heart and love are die-cuts which I received as a RAK from a dear friend.

Finally, I adhered a metal corner to one side and added some mini red pearls from my stash!

p.s. The word love, is coated in white glitter dust.

I'd love to hear your views on this!
Thanks for stopping by!

Linking this to :
CSCC #14 - Mixed Media
(Apart from stamp and ink, I have used, grosgrain ribbon, twine, wooden tag, metal charm and embellishment, glitter dust, die-cuts and plastic pearls.)
  

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A Pastel Card

Loved pastels back in the days when I had just started making cards.

Haven't used an all pastel color palette in quite some time, so I thought it would be a nice change.

Also, this card has zero stamping... :D tough for a stamp addict like me, but somehow I managed...

Did add a little bit of red as an afterthought in the form of two tiny red butterflies and some red twine, which I feel makes the card, one cohesive piece.

Here is what I used :
1. White cardstock (local make, lightly sponged with peacock feathers distress ink).
2. Pattern paper, lilac paper, rhinestones, buttons and the tiny plastic heart charm are from my stash.
3. Butterflies are from Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch.
(some are punched out using pattern paper, and some, plain).
4. Brads are from Kaisercraft.
5. Sentiment is from a word phrase pack by Itsy Bitsy.
6. The red twine is by Doodlebug.
7. U clips were purchased from a local stationery store.

p.s. All the butterflies are coated in fine white glitter dust & the piece of white cardstock on purple mat has been distressed using my cutter.

Linking this to :
Lulupu challenge #49 - Use Wings & Color
(From the colors, I have used pink, yellow, green and blue).

  

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