Creativity and me...

Hello everyone!

I know my posts have been a bit too sporadic in the past few months. This time I have no reasons... I don't know what's been keeping me from crafting. Busy, yes, but not sooo busy that I can't craft. Anyway, here is what I have to share with you today:

First, a 'card' by Aaryan for his favorite 'chachu' (my husband's younger brother):

Not the best picture I guess, and not the best work by Aaryan but yes, it is from his heart :D My boy has used only scrappy bits that Mamma 'doesn't need'. He just came and asked me if I could spare some things - anything - that I may not want; then sat with his glue stick and created this by sticking it all in a random pattern. He also upcycled some things (like the plastic sheet in the middle, a stone that came off from a sandal  - insisting that it is a black colored diamond for his uncle- and that foam letter 'E' which is not a letter but just a 'pattern'!) I asked if he wanted my help folding a card but he said he didn't want to make a 'normal' card and he just wanted to do his own thing!! :D The flowers are ready made but everything else is scrap that was lying in my scrap pile! And it is a big card!!! He has signed off with his name too :-p

I am, of course, submitting this for the ICR kids card challenge.

Second, a card my sister-in-law asked me to make for her hubby (yes, Aaryan's favorite uncle, that is):

The inside:

and the coordinating envelope:

Well, the story behind it is related to those headphones! I have finally realized something... though we keep saying that it is difficult to craft for men, there is one thing that isn't so difficult. Every man has a weakness (apart from the woman in their life ;-) ) - sports, gadgets, cars or such like! And my brother-in-law is a gadget freak :-p with these speakers and headphones being on his wishlist forever! :D So, though nobody is yet gifting him these, I thought it would go well in her card! The quote is of course partly Shakespeare and partly me ;-)

All that glitters on this card and envelope is Pie Lane! :)

I love the heart chain! ;-) It took me a while to get the trick right though... courtesy a utube video.

I am submitting this card for:

Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog - Challenge 180 - Cards for men

Ciao,

Smita

Nothing crafty but something yummy!

Hey there everyone!!

How have you been? I know it has been a while since I posted... but luckily the mood is now better than it was a month ago... Thanks for your prayers... my mom in law is doing better now.

Happy Children's Day to all kiddos in India. :) Here is what I made for my boy:

Angry Birds is Aaryan's current obsession!! :D Of course, there is more than enough inspiration online! I used stuff that I had at home to make our very own Angry Bird Pizza :)

Hoping to get back to crafting soon!

Ciao,

Smita

Happy Diwali

Hi all,

We are going to our hometown tomorrow. Happy Diwali to all my Indian friends from me and my family. I have no card of my own to share; but here's  a Diwali card that Aaryan made (with some help from his drawing teacher and a teeny bit of help from me):

He has glued on Pie Lane glitter balls on the tips of the firework display. {Aaryan: "Mamma, I saw you had a box of glitter that you used in the sports card sometime back... Can you please share it with me?" Me: " Ah well, now that you know I have it, you may use it"}

The inside of the card. He has drawn his favorite toffees inside. He has used Pie Lane glitter balls and jumbo glitter for decorating the diya (lamp). 

Thanks for the tip on how to take out glitter balls in a bowl and use, E.T. We didn't do it this time, but I have conveyed the idea to him :)

Do leave my little one some love ;-)

Happy Diwali to all of you once again!



Smita and Aaryan

Anniversary Album

Hi all,

My mother in law hasn't been keeping well for the last couple of days and was in a critical condition yesterday. Please do remember her in your prayers. She is recovering now but not yet fully well! :(

I wanted to share an anniversary album (envelope album measuring approximately 9" * 6") that I made on order for a friend's friend. She had seen some of my work and asked if I could make one for her to give her hubby on their anniversary. I am not really very good with albums but I've given this my very best shot. 

This is going to be a image heavy post!

PS: The page and album title are her own and she'll be adding the pictures later.

For the cover page, I used some gorgeous Hobby Ideas paper and a boat cut out from old denim (yeah, I am finally learning to recycle and reuse!). The album is intended for a person who sailed a great deal! :)

The themes for the pages denote moments in the couple's life so I won't elaborate on them here. This page is one of the most interesting ones, and here is a little video (my first ever!) showing how the pull tag works:

I got the video for this sliding mechanism on uTube - and I think this was it.

Here, I made a little easel card on one side and I've left space for journaling and a picture. I loved the tiny easel! :) I've used Pie Lane glitter strips here.

This acetate pull out tag with Eric Segal's Love Story cover on one side and journaling space on the other was an idea I got when she briefed me about them.

This page is for their kids (as is obvious)! and the little pocket on the left is for some memorabilia that she has saved for a long time. The pages flap open on both sides like this:

This page is for their sailing days together. I am so glad I have appropriate TH masks!! :) The sailor's cap/boat (not too sure what it looks like now :-p) is made from one of the pages of Love Story :D. The blue paper on the right is again recycled - it is from the bit of leftover wallpaper from my parents' home. Can you see the Pie Lane glitter balls on the right border? :)

The flappy folded part on the right was an idea I picked right out of a magazine. It landed in my lap yesterday and the moment I saw it, I knew I wanted to recreate. :) The gap in between is measured for a photograph.

This is one of my favorite bits of recycling. I recycled tape from an old audio cassette tape... not my idea of course... i tweaked a tutorial from here.

More journaling space apart from the pull out tags.

Another simple but favorite page.

The back cover... love this paper and I am really sad it is over :(

I was inspired by Laura of Following the Paper Trail and from Flickr galleries. But most of it came by on its own because my customer had some specific ideas in mind.

Hope you liked my attempts at making a full fledged album!

Ciao...

Smita

A quick project

Hi there people,

Oh yes, I am still around. I have been crafting a bit though I haven't had the time to blog... :D While I am working on a slightly big project (should be done by next week), here's what I just created...

We are going on a short break with Vineet's childhood friends tomorrow. I wanted to gift something to the wives (who are good friends of mine)... I started out thinking I would create favor bags and put in a little something for them but then decided against it and this is what I came up with:

These are altered notepads. Aren't they cute?! Since I want to give these off as a surprise, I couldn't ask them for pics and had to make do with what I could find on their Facebook pages ;-) I used my old favorite ribbon technique here :) The flower buttons were a gift from my sister-in-law. And the stinkin' cute paper is the amongst the last bits from my Heidi Grace pack (Donna sent these a couple of years ago :) ).

I also created a few tags for the kids' gifts.... they are just plain and simple labels layered with PP. :)

Ciao soon...

Hugs,
Smita

Shadow box card

A few days back a close friend asked me to make her a card (that will go from her son to her husband). She asked me to use a 4"*6" photograph and its bright background for the card. I haven't ever worked on a photo card I guess, except the layout that I made for DH last year. I wanted to make something special and different for her... and I had a window card in mind... 

But then I saw this card by Kavitha and did some tutorial searches... I finally came across what I really wanted on the Rubber Cafe Design Team blog. It was just what I needed.

The card's front view:

The inside:

Their favorite toys handcut and glittered with Pie Lane glitter and glitter balls :) :

PS: What's glitter doing on a masculine card, did you just ask?! Well, in India a little bit of glitter 'zaroori hota hai' (is essential...) ;-)

(oh and there are Pie Lane glitter strips peeping through too :) )
A view from the side:

It does look much neater IRL!! 

Thanks for the inspiration - Kavitha, Ujjwal (no recycling though :( ) and the Rubber Cafe.

Hugs,
Smita

Easy-peasy!

Hey there people!


I did some simple projects over the last few days... Here's a glimpse:

1) For my cards and crossword loving grandpa, I created a mini book with some French words that he keeps  calling me for :) {No, I am no expert but I can manage a good bit of French ;) , c'est tout!}

This project was inspired by the Moxie Fab World Card Play challenge and I used the tutorial from here. Mine is nowhere close but grandpa liked it :)

2) For my forgetful Mother-in-law, who keeps losing her mini telephone diary all the time, I created this:

This is quite a scrappy project and wholly inspired by Ujjwal. I used her tutorial of a recycled notebook and used an empty Cross pen box... It was very sturdy and matched my papers beautifully. The flower is a local buy (it is too cute IRL). And the alpha stickers are from Hobby Ideas. I added some ribbon on the binder rings and also a little note on the side for my MIL ;-) .

Submitting this for Lynn's recycle challenge at Yvonne's blog.

3) And for my crafty and adorable little boy, I made this:

A paper bag puppet, Pinnochio. He was to carry a story book character to school... I am not too keen on buying or giving him soft toys; and we decided we'd make our own character. He gave me some ideas for the nose and tips on the colors to use and then ran away! Poor Mamma was left behind crafting away and using all techniques she knew to make a decent puppet... he loved it :) and so did his teacher and friends ;-) 

I am loving crafting for my dear ones... have some more to stuff to make and give away to friends ;-)