Creativity takes Courage

Hello and good morning dear friends!

I can't believe I forgot to share this fantastic piece of news with you all....

Well... better late than never... what say? :)

My work has once again featured in Our Idea Book!!! (India's first ever craft magazine.)

It's in the September 2017 Issue on Page No. 7.

This project is very special to me, because it is symbolic. It is dedicated to all those people who put their work out there, take criticism with a smile on their faces + hope in their hearts and strive to improve with each passing day. :)

P.S. I love making ATCs so to be able to use a combination of them and make a project was a lot of fun!

To buy the magazine, click > HERE

In case you have any specific query related to this project, don't forget to shoot me an email at halak.shah@gmail.com or leave a comment below this post and I will reply as soon as I see the msg!

I'd love to know what you think! Have a lovely weekend!

Hello Friend

Hello and good afternoon dear friends!

Here's a simple card I made for a friend using Altenew Persian Motifs with Papericious Papers (Pretty Basics.)

The sentiment is by So Suzy Stamps.

The oval stitched die is by Peek-a-boo Designs and I've colored the image using Staedtler luna color pencils.

I've added a bit of glitter to the colored image but you can also heat emboss it using sparkly embossing powder!

Thank you for stopping by!

Have a lovely day! *Hugs*

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Fun with stencils!

Hello and good morning dear friends!

Here's a project I made using all the three gorgeous stencils by Peek-a-boo Designs (PABD)!

A part of the latest June 2016 release, they're pretty AWESOME and if you haven't checked these out yet, well.... where have you been?!

Have a look at these stencils :

1. Bubbles

2. Arrows

3. Tiles

Along with these stencils, I have used the following stamp sets by PABD :

So, how'd I do it? ^__^ 

Here are the steps :

1. Created background using PABD stencils (Bubbles, Arrows & Tiles) with distress inks (Mustard Seed, Spun Sugar & Spiced Marmalade).

2. After that, did the stamping using black archival ink.

3. Next I used an old newspaper like a rub-on and transfered some of it's print onto the project. (It transfers real easy, just cut a piece, lay it on project and smooth it out using a bone folder / butter knife) Pretty cool huh? :)

4. Then, I paper-pieced the balloon.

5. Adhered a couple of sequins.

6. Matted it onto a red card base and boom! Done!

If you would like to check out the entire JUNE 2016 release by PABD you can check it out --- HERE

Before I sign off, I have a close up image to share so that you can see how pretty these stencils truly are :

  

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a lovely day!

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Saying thanks

Here's a card I made to thank a friend.

Could I have said thanks over a phone or msg? Sure. But for a card maker, there is no better joy than to say it with a card. ^__^

How'd I make it?

A CAS project, I used the Flower Flourish stamp by So Suzy Stamps along with a sentiment stamp by Tim Holtz.

Stamped the flourish and sentiment onto cardstock and tied a ribbon.

The cardstock that you see here is the white textured cardstock sold by PABD. (Peek-a-boo Designs)

Colored parts of flourish using Sakura Pens.

Added glitter to parts of flourish. (I used pva glue and glitter with a thin brush but an easier option is wink of stella!)

Finished it off with a few pastel sequins. (From Craftin' Desert Divas)

And that's it!

Before I sign off, a quick close up :

Sparkly!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

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Bunch of ATCs!

Hello and good morning! ^__^

Here's the post that was long overdue...

What happened was I made some ATCs, and then made some more and since they were all different, I decided to collaborate them into one big post!

So here goes..

The photograph that you see above was a part of a sneak peek of a gorgeous Limited Edition stamp set called Away We Go launched by Peek-A-Boo Designs.

You can read all about it : HERE 

Next up, this set of ATCs was made using distress inks, stencils, washi tape, glitter, crackle accents, modeling paste, die-cuts and sequins along with some mini mixed media themed stamps by Peek-A-Boo Designs.

This one was made using distress inks with my favorite stamp - Phineas The Peacock by So Suzy Stamps.
The sentiment is a sticker.

This one has a mix of stamps from Studio G, Altenew and So Suzy Stamps.

This ATC has the Love Balloon and Celebrate stamps by So Suzy Stamps along with the usual suspects, glitter, washi tape and sequins!

This one was challenging, as the theme was love without using the colors : red and pink!

It has quite a few items like rhinestones, pearls etc. adhered to it but, the stamps used for this project are by So Suzy Stamps & Tim Holtz along with the Rhapsody stencil by Memory Box.

Last but not the least, this ATC features a Heidi Swapp stencil with a partial So Suzy Stamp (Stardust Dancing).

I'm sorry I couldn't describe the steps in detail for each and every ATC, because as you can see, they are all different and that would make this post painfully long!

But... if you have any query regarding any of these, drop me an email at : halak.shah@gmail.com OR leave a comment on this blog post and I shall reply to it at the earliest!

Thank you so much for stopping by! *Big Panda Hugs*

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A sparkly birthday card

Hello! ^__^

A quick post today, sharing a with you a birthday card I made.

I made this using Bielo Cardstock, a sample of which was given to me as a part of the 3rd birthday celebrations at The Craft Shop. (Thank you Priya! It's really awesome!)

This cardstock is smooth and super sturdy, 300 gsm.

Also, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it took on the inks during stenciling, because these are not distress inks... these are dye inks! So despite me using dye inks, as you can see, it led to a nice, smooth blend.

It's pure white cardstock, which means it does not have subtle yellow / grey undertones, thereby making the colors look more vibrant.

All in all, I really enjoyed using it and will definitely be getting more of this cardstock to try with other mediums!

A fairly easy CAS project, here's a list of the stuff I used to make this card :

The sentiment (Happy Birthday stamp by So Suzy Stamps) was stamped using Archival ink.

The dye ink set is called Highland Spring and is also by So Suzy Stamps.

I used brads (by Kaisercraft), washi tape, glitter (both local buys) and some die-cuts (RAK from a crafty Pen Pal).

Also on the butterfly and the background you can see a script stamp which is by Tim Holtz.

Here's a close up :

This was one awfully tough to photograph project (blame the poor lighting) but I did manage to click a picture at a lower angle to show you the shimmer on the butterfly.

Oh, also used some mini pearls, a teeny tiny confetti star and some rhinestones in blue and purple on the butterfly. (From my stash.)

The various layers of shimmer! Sparkly sparkly! ^__^

And that's that!

Thank you so much for stopping by, have an awesome day!

Linking this to :  The Craft Shop Contest 

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May Stamp Release + Challenge #6 @Peekaboo!

Hello and good afternoon dear friends!

It's the 1st of May and time to check out the new release over at Peek-a-boo Designs (PABD)!

To go to the PABD blog, click : Here

My project features stamps from the awesome Solid Shapes set, stamped in pastel colors.

Here's a picture of the set :

I absolutely love this set! ^__^

So many possibilities... background building, bokeh technique, geometric design etc!

In my project, I created a faux-distressed look using this set.

How'd I do it?

Simple, I had some locally purchased non-branded ink cubes and their ink was kinda watery.

So, I squished the stamps onto the ink pads and stamped them onto the cardstock. (Do note that to achieve this effect, the ink pads need to be really juicy.)

The theme this month is to create a project using any 3 elements out of a project created by the DT member.

The elements that make up my project (apart from the stamped images) are : Brads, Sequins, Die-cut (the sentiment is a Die-cut), Glitter, Washi Tape, Paper Tape and Pastel Colors.

So, if you pick my project as inspiration, you will need to use 3 or more elements out of the elements that I used.

Fairly simple and interesting challenge, what say? 

What are you waiting for? Grab those stamps, pick a project as inspiration and get going!

To participate, click : Here 

One close up image to share before I take your leave : 

Have a lovely Sunday and thank you for stopping by! *Hugs*

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A winter ATC

Hello and good evening!

Here's a winter themed ATC that I recently made.

It does not snow where I live but boy oh boy, winter sure is pretty in some parts of the world! ^__^

This is just my humble attempt of winter portrayal.

Steps :

1. Smooshed salty ocean and mowed lawn distress inks onto paper and let it dry.

2. Once it dried, I took the Hypnotic stencil by Penny Black and stenciled the design using salty ocean distress ink.

3. After that, I took a die-cut consisting of a ring of snowflakes, applied crackle accents to it (for that crackle / frost look), let it dry, cut it up and randomly adhered to project.

4. Stamped sentiment (Winter's Butterfly stamp by So Suzy Stamps) and butterfly (Wplus9).

5. Lastly, added some white sequins + colorful rhinestones and matted onto black cardstock.

And that's how I did it!

Hope you enjoyed reading it! Have a lovely evening dear friends! *Hugs*

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Swimming by, saying hi!

Here's a hello card I made for a new friend. :)

Kept it simple and let the beautiful sea horse stamp shine through.

The seahorse stamp is... of course! By my favorite rubber stamp company, So Suzy Stamps.

He also has a name! He goes by the name Polo - The Seahorse! How cool is that!

Okay okay... enough about me going gaga over the cuteness, here are the steps :

1. Stamped Polo and masked him.

2. Stenciled around him using Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers distress inks with Tim Holtz Flourish stencil.

3. Stamped sentiment using archival ink with a Wplus9 sentiment stamp set. (From the strictly sentiments series)

4. Colored Polo with Staedtler Luna color pencils and Sakura gelly roll pens.
Added glossy accents to his belly + fin and sprinkled some glitter over it to give him a little bit of sparkle!

5. Tied a bow and matted it onto green with a final mat onto white card base.

6. Finally, used the sequins I recently bought from the Pastel assortment at Craftin Desert Divas (yay!) and scattered them around!

And that's it! I hope you guys have a lovely Sunday!

Thank you for stopping by! Till next time!

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Challenge #5 @Peek-a-boo Designs!

Hello hello!

Good morning! ^__^

A brand new month and with that here's a brand new challenge over at Peek-a-boo Designs!

Read about the challenge and participate - Here 

As per the challenge theme, I made a set of cards.

One a mixed media style and the other... well I tried to make it a CAS but I'm not sure if I achieved that! Lol!
These are the stamps that I used :

1. Brush Strokes
2. Messy Lines
3. Dotty Lines
4. Chirping Away (Sentiment)

Out of these 4 stamps, I used Brush Strokes and Messy Lines in both the cards.

Very quickly, here are the steps :

Card #1 (LHS)

1. Masked top 3/4th of card and stamped messy line in Peacock Feathers & Mowed Lawn distress inks. (Yes I use distress inks to stamp when I want that messy look.)

2. Stamped brush strokes in Peacock Feathers distress ink.

3. Added washi tape bits.

4. Colored a die-cut using Salty Ocean & Picked Raspberry distress inks and adhered to project.

5. Finally, added clear sequins and stamped sentiment using black archival ink.

Card #2 (RHS)

1. Created background with brush strokes, messy lines and dotty lines with distress inks. (Salty Ocean, Peacock Feathers, Seedless Preserves & Mowed Lawn)

2. Hand-tore and adhered various washi tape bits.

3. Glitter coated die-cuts and adhered to project.

4. Added sequins along with some modeling paste + fine glitter to select areas.

5. Matted onto green cardstock and then on white and rounded corner.

6. To finish it off, added two brads, one black and one white.

And that's how they were made!

The complete range of Peek-a-boo Designs stamps can be found - Here

Might I add, they also carry an excellent quality and variety of cardstock at great prices!
  
Here are the pics of the stamps I used :

Ha ha... tempted much? ^__^ (P.S. they are absolutely AWESOME!!!!)

Okay, quick recap :

To know about our current Challenge #5 over at Peek-a-boo Designs and participate, click - Here

To Buy the awesome stamps, click - Here

Last but not the least, a quick close up!

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have an awesome day!

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Peacock Plumes!

Good afternoon! ^__^

I re-created a few of my past projects featuring the super gorgeous Phineas stamp and Reindeer stamp by So Suzy Stamps.

(Sentiment stamps : Strictly Sentiments by Wplus9 & Don't Give Up by So Suzy Stamps.)

Personally, I love the black Phineas but this is the first time I did a green version of Phineas and everybody I showed it to at home loved it so I am one happy camper!

To read the deets on how I made it, click - Here

  

Here's the ATC that I re-created.

Steps - Here 

I made co-ordinating envelopes too!

I had a lot of fun re-creating these projects as they feature some of my all time favorite stamps!

Thank you so much for stopping by!
*Hugs*

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Challenge #7 @Craftyscrappers

Hello hello! ^__^

It's my last post as a guest designer for Craftyscrappers and so I decided to do a reminder post for their ongoing Challenge #7 that consists of Stamping Techniques.

The technique I picked was masking and I have a mini-tutorial for just you guys so here goes :

These are the die-cuts by Craftyscrappers used in this project.

The oval shape was used as a mask for the masking technique. [Die-cut code : DC - BCS - (2)]

The butterfly die-cut is out of Craftyscrappers butterfly die-cut catalogue.

The first thing that I did was lay down my cardstock and masked a portion of it with the oval die-cut.
I used masking tape to tape the cardstock to my cutting mat.

I used stamps by :

Hero Arts (Large Solid Flower), Peony (So Suzy Stamps), Script (Tim Holtz) along with a stencil (Hypnotic) by Penny Black and created this background.

The sentiment that was stamped later onto the oval masked portion is by WPlus9.

Inks I used were :

For background and sentiment : Altenew Red Cosmos Set, Walnut Stain and Picked Raspberry.

For the butterfly I used Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves and Picked Raspberry.

Then I added glitter to the red peony flowers, adhered a few sequins and stamped my sentiment.

Tinted the butterfly using distress inks, adhered it to card and added crackle accents for that cool crackle effect.

Matted the white cardstock onto maroon and then finally matted it onto white textured card base.

And that's how I did it! The challenge ends on 19th March (Saturday) so you still have time to play! Join the fun!

Incase you missed the link, here it is once again, to participate, click -- Here 

Have a lovely evening and thank you for stopping by!

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Sending a note..

I know what you're thinking... what's up with all the reds and pinks... February is over already!

It's just that I have only reds and pinks in dye inks and I am awaiting on new colors in the mail so....

Yeah, till they get here, you are gonna see quite a few of reds and pinks in projects.... (read : A LOT)

But hey, in my defense, it is a different design and I am using what I have to the maximum. :D

So, I made this card to thank a friend, using my So Suzy Thank You stamp, Tim Holtz flourish stencil, a couple of die-cuts, some butterflies and the usual suspects, sequins.

Here's how I made it :

1. Stenciled half portion of my white cardstock in light pink ink using Tim Holtz - Flourish stencil. (Still my favorite stencil.)

2. Used my So Suzy Stamp and stamped the sentiment in coral pink ink and glitter coated it. (I used locally bought loose glitter, but hey, wink of stella works good too!)
Also, I just love love love this font... what can I say, it's dreamy!

3. Took die-cut in white and using a blending tool tinted it coral pink. Trimmed it the way I wanted and adhered to project.
(Looks kinda red in the image, blame my poor photography skills but it is actually the same color as the sentiment.)

4. Added a splash of sequins.

5. I also wanted a pop of color, so I punched out some butterflies using my Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch, glitter-coated them and adhered to project.

6. Matted the white CS onto maroon CS and boom. Done.

Thank you for stopping by and have a lovely evening! *Hugs* <3

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A bunch of happy little ATCs

Phew! Finally some quiet time to sneak away from everything else and write on my blog...

Of late I feel like I am always in a rush... so much to do and such little time!

I made this bunch of ATCs for swap and thought I'd share them on here.
Love themed, this is a set of 10 identical pieces that I sent overseas. I will be receiving 10 different ones from my hostess in return.

The last theme was coastal for which I had sent 10 beach themed ATCs.
You can see that post -- Here

These are the 10 miniatures of coastal themed awesomeness that I received from 10 different artists the last time! How cool is that! ^__^

Okay, so getting back to this... how'd I make these?

Steps :

1. Took textured cardstock and cut out 10 pieces ATC size. (Standard ATC size, 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.)

I think using textured cardstock really adds that extra something to the project... what do you think? :)

2. After that I took my Hero Arts large solid flower stamp and stamped in pale pink dye ink.

3. Took Hero Arts Stylish Borders stencil and gave a border to ATC base using pink dye ink.
Also hand-tore and adhered red and white striped washi tape to it.

4. Took my Love stamp by So Suzy Stamps and stamped in red dye ink.

5. Punched out butterflies using my Martha Stewart 3 in 1 butterfly punch, glitter coated them and adhered to project.

6. Added a few clear, white and pink sequins to project.

7. Finished it off by attaching a small piece of red polka dotted ribbon to the top LHS corner.

And that's that! ^__^ Hope you like them! Till next time!

Before I sign off, here's a close up. Have a lovely evening!

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Challenge time + New releases at Peek-a-boo Designs!

Hello and good morning!

It's the 1st of March and the folks at Peek-a-boo Designs (PABD) are back with a brand new challenge!

For this challenge, you gotta make it colorful and it's gotta be in a set... but, it can't be a set of the exact same thing...

Example : A set of two albums = Not allowed. A set of two cards = Not allowed.
But, a set of 1 card and 1 album? Allowed! ^__^

I made a co-ordinating set of 3 pieces that comprise of a card, a bookmark and a tag.

The one on the left with the bright pink striped ribbon is the tag and the one on the right, a bookmark.

I deliberately did not use any 3D embellishments on the bookmark to facilitate it's lamination.

This is the card.

All the 3 projects were made using these brand new PABD stamp sets :
1. Be Good and,
2. Lily Hope

Absolutely fantastic release by PABD because this time, it's not just stamps! They launched cardstock too! Woo hoo!!!

The cardstock is of excellent quality and I had a fabulous experience using it.

My projects were made using the following cardstock by PABD :
1. Black and,
2. White Sand Texture

I'd love to know what you think of the projects and would be super happy if you participate in the challenge!

Check ---- Here for challenge details!

Till next time dear friends! *Hugs*

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