Bai - we will miss you

Lead kindly light,
Amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou, me on
Keep thou my feet, I,
Do not ask to see
The distant scene...
One step enough, for me...

I lost my grandma today. And I am going to miss her forever. A lot. I think we will all miss her.
May her soul rest in peace. She had undergone a lot of suffering over the past one year. Hope she finds peace in the other world.

The one on the right (brownish saree) is her. Pic taken on November 15 during Richa's sangeet function.

Bai, you will be in our hearts for all that you taught us, for all that you did. I think you are by far the most creative person in the family. I will treasure the sarees, dresses, shawls, dressing table sets, and all other things you embroidered for me!!

No posts from me for the next 10 days or so. I will be leaving for Kolkata tomorrow.

Love,

Smita.

If you can't find them..make them!!!

Hi all, I am a happy woman today!! :-) Why? Because I made 2 cards and I am quite happy with the results. And secondly, because I have decided not to brood over the fact that all the crafty materials people the world over use for their cards are not available here! I think I will stick to my resolution of trying out at least 2 new techniques a month and make whatever is possible with the material available to me. :-) And I am moving in the right direction... I have tried quite a few techniques this month - the explosion box, a brand new water coloring technique, the dahlia fold flowers, the votive holder and ribbon blossom (both in this post)! Yay!!! I have every reason to be happy, don't I? :-)

About today's cards...
The first card is for Laura's sketch # 18. I don't know if it matches the sketch exactly but I have based it on that. I have used a ribbon blossom (tutorial on SCS by Pam Basset). Of course, mine doesn't look half as nice because 1) I have used less ribbon 2) I should have used organza ribbons.
I don't know whom this card is for. I want to send it to an ex-colleague and very good friend (her birthday is long past) but I don't think it can go by courier :-(.

The second card is votive holder. I got the tutorial through Sheetloads Shortcuts. Again, here I think I should have used thicker cardstock. What do you think? This one is again for Vineet. I don't know how many Valentine's Day cards I am going to give him this year ;-))) I think I will need to give one every 3 days in Feb. :D

I used the Mojo Monday sketch. Not really a good attempt, but I have been wanting to take part in the challenge for a while, so I will submit it anyway. They have a right to kick me off ;-))

By the way, I have used a playing card (not a fancy embellishment) here. My husband's very fond of playing cards and his current favorite pastime is playing 'Poker' on Facebook :D...

The king of my heart...

Cheers,
Smita.

Dahlia fold flowers

For everyone who liked these flowers but wondering how to make them, here's the tutoril link:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/dahlia_fold/

Love,
Smita

How can I love thee? and others

Hi,
I know I haven't posted in really long... and I am ashamed of myself for that. Hope this post compensates for everything.
Aaryan's school has their annual Sports Day tomorrow and the poor kids were 'practising' in the hot sun today. (For the uninitiated, Mumbai has only two seasons - the summer and the monsoons!!!! How boring is that? ;-) Well, so we are enjoying horribly high temperatures these days.)
I have 2 cards to share with you today.

The first card is my little tweaky version of the 2S4u sketch. I am going for a distant relative's 25th wedding anniversary party today and this card is for them. Guess it is my way of marketing my cards now... ;-)))

The second card is for two challenges - 2S4U (Kazan's sketch # 18) and for Stacey's Jewelry Color Inspiration # 20. I had no option but to combine the two ;-). I was thinking of what to do for both challenges, and then decided to use the 2S4U sketch and Stacey's colors together. I though that would atleast ensure that I don't go wrong with the choice of colors and layout... ;-) And halfway through the card, I thought I didn't want to give it to anyone, so I saved it to give it to my husband on Valentine's Day ;-). I haven't shown him the card yet, and I am hoping he doesn't read this post.

And yes, this is my third technique trial this month!! Yipppeeee!!!! I tried the Dahlia fold flowers from an SCS tutorial. i think my flower looks cute, what do you say? :-)

The papers are normal cardstock and a glossy cardstock from a local stationery store. The rhinestones and other bling are from the local craft market. Glitter used is UHU glitter pens. Laces are from my stash.

Cheers,

Smita

Fasts...phew!!

Hope you have had a fab day. Mine has been so-so. I am fasting today and it also happens to be a harvest festival of North India. Both together, I have had a rather hectic day full of religious rituals of sorts. Plus, I have been surviving the entire day on 2 bananas and a few cups of coffee; though I had to cook 3 different kinds of meals for 3 different people... God! my stomach is growling now and I can't eat till I spot the moon. Why does Mr. Moon always decide to come in late on days like these, I always wonder.

As usual I have not got the camera just now, so I will come back with my post later. Maybe tomorrow afternoon after Aaryan is through with school.

Till then, ciao.

PS: I have been going through all my favorite blogs and seeing their wonderful creations. I did a little bit of craft shopping yesterday and I am dying to use them all.

Love,

Smita.

An easy day...

I have had a quiet day today... well, sort of. I am at Vashi, at my mom's place for the weekend. I'm sorry I haven't been able to post in a while. Not that I didn't spend time on the internet. I obviosuly did... but was too busy reading others' blogs. Chuckle chuckle...

I made a few cards this week. One is for Vineet's friend's 3-year old son, who happens to study in Aaryan's playschool. I used a tutorial from Kristina Werner's blog. I loved the tutorials she has put up there. Super cool. And with this, I also managed to complete my New Year Resolution target for this month!! :-) Way to go girl!! I have also created part of the same friend's wedding anniversary card. I went for some craft shopping yesterday...a wrong day to step out of home.. there were some processions on the road which greatly delayed the traffic and Aaryan n I were majorly troubled by it. But I still managed some ordinary lace and a few other embellishments.

Will post pictures of everything sometime after I get back home.
This week, I am not participating in the 2S4U challenge. Can't think of anything to do with that sketch, and I have too many other plans. Somebody please tell me if there is something I can do from home (related to cardmaking) in India. I would love to do something...

Catch you later.

Love,
Smita.

Card for Carla's challenge

Hi all,
I had a good n lazy Sunday. Got some time to spend on crafting in the afternoon... some disasters and one card is what I could turn up with.

This card is for Carla's challenge, in which you need to create a project based on 'Love'. Well, seeing everyone around making Valentine's cards, I thought I should get into the groove myself. Though I don't sell my cards (obviously!! who'd pay for these creations of mine!?), this card will be for Vineet. He has already seen it though!!

Sorry, the picture is not too clear. But I am bad with the camera :-((

Paper: Red textured paper from a local store
Stamps: Heart stamps, the background stamp all from Hobby Ideas

Embellishments: Love stickers from a local stationery shop; Heart border punch from Hobby Ideas.
I have used a water coloring technique from Maria's blog (Stampin Inspirations by Maria)... well, at least I have tried to... for the background of the heart stamp.

Cheers,

Smita.

Blog Candy alert...

It is raining candy in blog world!!! Check these out:

Some yummy blog candy up at:
http://papercraftsbyrach.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-year-blog-candy.html
Do check it out to see the scrumptious stuff Rachel has to offer!! And the absolutely stunning cards that she has been sharing with the world!

And there is more candy at:
http://lesliesloft-leslie.blogspot.com/
Leslie is also offering some really good blog candy... so what are you waiting for?! Hurry to her blog to see her wonderful creations!

And there is still more at:
http://emmalockley.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-candy.html
Emma is offering some fabulous candy as her blog has completed 3000 hits.

Michelle is offering some adorable Valentine candy at her blog. Some very cool stuff she has out there. Do visit her blog both for the candy and for her very beautiful creations!

Sally is offering some great candy at her blog, http://sallyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-candy.html. Do drop by there to see what she has to give. Last date: January 14.

Irina has some stuff to give away as part of her birthday blog candy at:
http://everythingpapercrafts.blogspot.com/2009/01/cat-in-window-plus-birthday-blog-candy.html

Isn't is all wonderful. Well, I have never ever won anything online - be it candy or a contest - so I have no chances in any of these either, but you must try! You never know!! :-)

Cheers,
Smita.

A little explosion...!

Happy New Year everyone!!!
It has been a busy week this. First, we had this small New Year's eve party at home. We had called Vineet's friends... I did quite a bit of cooking and everyone else got something along too... a kind of mini potluck. We had good fun. I had made cards for all the couples. Couldn't click pictures... it slipped out of my mind.
And then, yesterday was Aaryan's birthday. No party this time. Aaryan and I went out to the mall in the afternoon and spend a good 2 hours playing games he loved. Mamma and Papa aover in the evening. Then we all went to have 'pizzaaaaa' at Pizza Hut. Well, 'pizza' is Aaryan's latest craze - a little because he likes it and more because he can say the word ;-). Anyway, my little one is very happy with all the gifts he received. So, I guess it was a wonderful day for him as well.
And today, I made this card for Richa. I was going to post it later but I tried embellishing it keeping in mind Laura's sketch 16 at 2S4U. And this is what I came up with - a little explosion box card. I saw this on one of the blogs I visited (Popsicle Toes) and then used a mixture of a few tutorials and some of my own twists. It has not come out perfect but I am happy. One of my New Year resolutions is to learn a new technique/idea every month and make a card out of it. This looks like a good beginning, doesn't it? :-) With an absolute lack of tools here, I think it is good enough.
About the card:
The patterned papers used here (yes! I finally managed to lay my hands on some) are 'Candy Stripes' and 'Lavender Sky' both by Finmark Decoupage; The paper for the outer box is again from a metallic sheets pad that I got from A C Moore. I used some stamps for the inner box; they are all from Hobby Ideas. Miscellaneous buttons and lace.
Hope you like my attempt at making a little explosion.

Sorry the pictures are a little haphazard!!

And Richa, since this is for you and I am revealing it a good week before your birthday, I hope you like it too!! We will miss you a lot on your birthday. You are the world's bestest sister, y'know!!

Cheers,

Smita.