Cardmaking Over the Weekend; Cherish Cards

We all have that in our craft storage—crafting dies bought and kept unused (or minimally used). I was sieving through my dies over the last weekend, wondering what I could make, and I found this Cherish die set from Spellbinders 2019 club kits I previously subscribed to. Surprisingly, Spellbinders still have these dies in stock, currently running as clearance past kits sale.

Jan 2019 Club Kit - Large Die of the Month

With the idea of getting back into crafting, I decided to put these dies to use. I crafted two cards out from these dies — a Cherish card for a dear friend of mine and a Mom's card. Well, Mother's Day had just passed, but I wanted to extend the joy of crafting by maximising my existing supplies. I created both backgrounds using a mix of pink mists and my old Prima floral petites 6 x6 stencil, which fits the overall theme pretty well.

To match the cards I've created, I chose a white A6 envelope for the Cherish card and a hot pink one for the Mom's card. 

I made a video on how I created these cards. For a better experience, be sure to hop over to my YouTube to view it. I mounted the finished designs onto A6 notecards (4.5" x 6"), which I made using 110lb (~300 gsm) Neenah cardstock. I used various sentiments from Spellbinders' 'Just Wanted to Say Sentiments', which I embossed them over using ultra-fine silver embossing powder. Unfortunately, this stamp has run out of stock, however, the glimmer foil version is still very much available.

I tried stamping over the sentiments onto the inside of the card, but it ended up a mess! To cover up, I used the scraps I trimmed off from the backgrounds I created as matting to cover up the mistake I made. And it turned out pretty well. Sometimes, it's good to keep whatever scraps are left over; it might save your work!

Breaking away from my usual cardmaking style, these are fresh new perspectives that I tried exploring. I enjoyed creating the background myself instead of sieving through various pattern papers to match. 

Cheers!

Below is the list of supplies I used for these cards. By clicking the links below will bring you to a new page.

• Spellbinders Cherish - Large Die of the Month (Jan 2019)
• Spellbinders Just Wanted to Say Sentiments acrylic stamps
• Lettering dies from own stash
• Prima floral petites 6x 6 stencil (retired)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Versacraft small ink pad in bubblegum
• Ranger Ink ultra fine embossing powder in silver (SB, AMZ)
• Neenah heavy weight 110lb classic crest solar white cardstocks (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 heavy weight 110lb white envelopes (AMZ, AMZSG)
• A6 hot pink envelope (from mix coloured selections) (AMZ, AMZSG)
• Daler Rowney system 3 in white titanium acrylic paint
• Bearly Art precision craft glue (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Glass Mixed Media Cutting Mat (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Time Holtz Stampers Anonymous Acrylic Grid Block Set (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Misting sprays (retired) - Lindy Stamp Gang cotton candy, Shimmerz cotton candy and sweet heart

Legend - SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

French Vinaigrette Bottle Cap Design

Occasionally, I'll make myself some vinaigrette dressing for my salads or as gifts to others. I'll make them in bulk, at least 1L (~34oz) each time. Because they're handmade, I usually try to finish them within a week. 1L is actually quite a lot for a week's supply of salad dressing, and it does make sense to gift them away. That's exactly what I did on many occasions. Sometimes, I'll make it as one of the potluck dishes for gatherings.

I created this dressing label, printed them according to size, and pasted them over several caps of those jars, which are recycled from jams and sauces. Of course, they needed to be cleaned thoroughly before I filled them with the dressing. To give a feel of an old granny recipe, I covered the lids' edges with jute strings.

I packed them in brown packaging recycled from various packages from my shopping orders, paper, which I  and they're ready to be gifted. 

My own homemade dressing on my salad.

This is one of the ways I recycled some items at home and try to make it giftable. You are free to download and use the label of your own personal usage for your own French Vinaigrette dressing. However, I'd be very appreciative if these are not modified further for resale and distribution.

Graphic 45 Brand Ambassador Call 2024 -2025

It has been a really long time. Though I've been rather inactive and did some projects here and there form time to time, in actual fact I was lurking around keeping myself updated on what's happening within the crafting community. And YES! I decided to head back and hope to be part of Graphic 45 for this 2024 - 2025 Brand Ambassador team after my last term with them in 2018.

For this year's project submission, I delved into Graphic 45's retired calendar collection, Children's Hour. This undertaking has been one of my most extensive projects, utilising the majority of the collection to create these 12 monthly journal pamphlets, each representing a month of the year. These pamphlets are housed in a handmade bookcase, crafted entirely from scratch.

There is so much photos can tell and I think a video tour might be better to show this project. For the very last minute, I decided to do a quick one.

To add a touch of uniqueness, I randomly stamped the sides of the bookcase with a G45 floral background stamp using Tsukineko Brilliance galaxy gold ink. The result is a textured yet not too overpowering effect. For embellishments, I incorporated my newly bought stitched flower and medallion dies from Spellbinders, a reflection to match all the pamphlets' front covers I have made. Loads of stitching work are done here!

Pamphlets are all hand-stitched individually, measuring 4" by 5.5", each having enough pages for a month's worth of writing if written on a single page daily. Because the calendar collection has each of its colours and designs, I simply use the design for the whole series without having to think much on colour and design matching.

Each pamphlet was stamped and embossed with gold with the month (unfortunately, G45 has retired this calendar stamp set) on the tab of the insert pages, which I created using the folder die from the G45 Folder & Sentiment die set.

This project took me over a week to complete with nearly 3-4 days of prep work before I could piece everything together. Nonetheless, it's a fulfilling one given I've not been crafting actively for the past year, and I hope through this ambassador call, I can bring more interesting projects should I get into the team with Graphic 45.

Cheers!

Supplies List:

• Graphic 45 Children's Hour collection (retired)
• Graphic 45 Floral Background and Calendar (retired) stamp sets
• Graphic 45 Matt Pearls Gems (retired)
• Graphic 45 Folder & Sentiments (SB, AMZ) Tags & Flowers (SB, AMZ, AMZSG) and Policy & Decorative (AMZ, AMZSG) metal dies sets
• Spellbinders Stitched dies - Medallion (SB, AMZ) and Flower (SB, SPB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Spellbinders Label Forty Nestabilities & D-lite Flourishes dies (retired)
• Ranger Ink Embossing Power in Gold (SB, AMZ)
• Versamark watermark ink (SB, AMZ, AMZSG)
• Tsukineko Brilliance ink in Galaxy Gold (AMZ, AMZSG)
• DMC Thread #676 - Old Gold (AMZ)
• Ornate Metal Feet (available at my ETSY)
• 80gsm Papers (for pages)
• Vellum

Legend - SB (Scrapbook.com), SPB (Spellbinders), AMZ (Amazon), AMZSG (Amazon.sg)

Compensated affiliated links used are at no cost to you, refer HERE for more information.

A Druggist's Junk Journal

My second blog entry of the year, hopefully not the last. Long overdue project that took me this long to showcase this. Becoming a woman of less words; I shall dive down to one of my latest project - A druggist's junk journal.

Entire book was made from scratch using tea-dyed papers and printables from Ephemoire's Vintage Medical collages. Needtheless to say, the centre piece is a modified mixed media caduceus; staff of Hermes. With added touch of alchemy, as what was associated with anciently. Oh well, hence this book belongs to the Druggist who lives down the alley.  

While it's hard to capture everything, a video orientation is perhaps one of the better options to showcase this whole journal. 

Destiny 5890?

Jam packed with loads of ephemeras

Magnetic mini folders

Just in the right time for this Halloween. Apparently, this seems likely to be a sequel to my mini poison shoppee which I did last year. I'm hoping I won't take too long to come up with such projects. 

Meanwhile stay tune.

The Lady of Extraordinaire

"It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, for when a face is sad a heart may be happy."

~ Ecclesiastes 7:2-3 ~

This was me presenting this specially handmade box of memorabilia to sis Baby Tan during her 90th birthday on 30th July 2017. During that time, I was considered the youngest baptised member within the church. I recalled what one of our church elders bro Jimmy Lau said; this was the very moment the youngest present this to the oldest within the church. This was indeed an event that was quite unique to me. 

I'm very honoured and blessed to be able to create this for sis Baby as a new babe of Christ prior to her demise. Even till today after seeing her final days, I'm still very marvel by the journey I had with her even it's short-lived. Upon receiving this handmade gift from me, she touched my hand and said to me, "May God bless you." I was very moved by this... 

The news of her passing came in the morning of 1st February. I read it on my bed as I woke up. Took it as if it was like a normal reading routine I had in my mornings, this piece of news didn't quite sink in. As information of her funeral and cortege started to flow in throughout the week, that's where I realised... she's really gone... Even my birthday was within the week, I couldn't bring myself to feel happy about it. I was thinking when will be the day I'd be gone for good. 

Life is just like a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away; you do not know what you life will be like tomorrow (James 4:14).

As Christians, we'll gather and sing a capella during funerals to ease the sadness we've within. It's also a hope we have within that one day we will see each other in Heaven after running a good race. This is a source of comfort for each other and also a way to cope and grief. Because of the pandemic, we're forbidden to sing by law and have to be masked on. As I watched sis Baby final moments during the cortege this morning... Seriously! This was really really hard! Tears rolled down and went under my mask. I couldn't unmask and wipe those tears and had to control my snot. The only thing that's perhaps thankful for is the cotton layer beneath the mask; it somewhat absorbs most of my tears.

It's hard not to feel sad given she had been an inspiration to many. Her story still put us to awe even till today. A role model and loving lady everyone respect and adore, it can be hard to see her go. With that special moment I had with her in 2017, I'm so glad that my creative hands have finally served a purpose for good; this memorabilia will be a source of good memories for those who are left behind by sis Baby. Her daughter and son-in-law are grateful for this that they've something to remember their mother.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the LORD, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day; and not only to me, but also to ask who have loved His appearing." 

~ 2 Timothy 4:7-8 ~

sis Baby, may your soul Rest In Peace.