Now I know...

...that Diwali is here! :-) The home's clean and fresh again ;-) and there was a card in my mail:

This awesome awesome card is from dearie Spardha! I always love the red and gold combination - it is truly Indian! And I love her handwriting too :-) She also sent me some lovely RAK cut with her Silhouette. I'll reveal them as and when I use them ;-)

And here are 2 cards I made for someone on order. I don't like them too much but she wanted it this way :-(

The Flower Pot card is one I have tried many times; the same SCS tutorial always :-); and the other one is a simple fancy fold one. I used ceramic beads after eons I guess. I got those long back and still have a few left.

I've been lurking in my favorite blogs for the past few days. But since I browse on my phone, and the silly thing doesn't always let me post comments, pardon my anonymous presence! :D I don't think I'll be very regular till after Diwali. Let's see...

Keep crafting... 

Ciao,
Smita

I'm going crazy....!!

"Ok, I think I won't post a thing for another 2 days now... I'm going crazy!!" ... My mind almost went blank while crafting; my head was spinning and I thought I'd die!!! Relax, I told myself... nobody dies while making a card... and so I am here fit and fine.

** This is going to be a long post... so if you are sleepy, don't bother ;-) **

A old school friend of mine asked me to make Mother's day cards for her mom and granny yesterday. Since she stays far away, I was almost in a fit. I panicked not knowing how I'd be able to live up to her expectations! I didn't do a thing yesterday. Finally sat down to the cards in the afternoon, itching to use the CPS sketch but not knowing how...

Finally, these are what I came up with:

Here is the story behind this card. I had wanted to make a flower pot card... I've made quite a few already so I thought it would be quick and easy. But I saw Kathy's card here and thought I'd attach my card to an easel card; I did't know how to make it like her, so I decided to have a little garden for granny  ;-) Well, right from the beginning everything went wrong. I made an inverted easel [if you need to know how to mess up an easel card, you know whom to contact!!]. Then I started all over again and came up with this one. Propped the butterfly on a piece of acetate inspired by Chhavi's ideas. (Thank you Kathy and Chhavi.) The pretty orangish lace is from mom; everything else is either punched or handcut...

I am submitting this for the Daring Cardmakers challenge - Easel does it. The closed card: (5" square)

Where the frame rests:

The second card follows the CPS sketch #62. Nowhere close to the gorgeous DT work, but here's my take:

I'm also submitting this one for:
> The Cuttlebug Spot - favorite flowers
>The Pink Elephant challenge - Mommy, I love you

I've again die-cut, embossed, and inked vellum here. The faux blanket stitch (ok, I'm not an embroidery expert, so whatever that v-shaped stitch is called) was done with a Signo gel pen. 'mom' are alpha stickers from Itsy Bitsy. And the reason why I chose this sketch.... the flowers... I loved them.. they are inspired by Betsy. I just had to try something from her tutorials!! They are sup fab. Mine is nowhere close.... wish I had some colored felt in hand!!! The pom-pom lace is from my stash... the gorgeous patterned paper is Heidi Grace (from Donna of course!).

Hope you enjoyed my little post ;-)

PS: My hubby hates pompoms! :-( And he didn't like them on this card either.

Signing off...

Smita

An eventful weekend and some fun cards

Hello girls!

Been waiting to write this long post but couldn't. A lot has been going on in my life. My son, Aaryan, had a big fall on Saturday (think he was trying to be Spiderman or something) and got a few stitches on his chin. So, Saturday just flew past in related events.

On Sunday, my brave prince told me he was feeling a little better. So I decided to visit my city's (Mumbai) most prestigious  art & literature events called the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. They had loads of stalls selling handmade  stuff; live bands performing; movie screenings (in many languages); theater; kids workshops; art masterpieces; photography and art exhibitions... and a zillion other things for art & craft and literature lovers. I met up with a cousin there and had one of the most memorable times of my life there! It was just t eh sort of place I could get lost in... and since DH's not too keen on these things, I liked the fact that I had gone alone.

On my return journey, I took a train ride back in Mumbai's 'famed' local trains. I had traveled by train before but what I experienced on Sunday had never happened to me before. I was sandwiched between God knows how many women; my left hand was holding on to a bar above my head, the right hand was holding on to shopping bags (paper bags of course! since I was at a handmade items fair!!!!); the bags tore open; hands crushed...phew! it was a nightmare. And I was claustrophobic amidst that mad mad crowd!! But I finally managed to get off at a station. Reunited with my son and husband :D...

Monday morning: I wake up to find that my hands are nearly dysfunctional. Couldn't move them much. Managed to pack DH's tiffin for work, pack Aaryan to school, buy some necessities and ready to collapse in the afternoon. But my DS had asked me to make a card for his classmate's birthday party in the evening. Can't refuse your little man when he so lovingly shows off his mom's work ;-) This is the card and tag set I came up with for the little girl:

My back still hurts and we are leaving for our hometown - Kolkata, the city of joy!!- tomorrow.

But the good things are - I got a good back massage yesterday ;-) and sat down for some serious crafting last night. And what did I make? Some cards that DH's aunt wanted me to make for her to gift away during the year:

1) Hubby's favorite (he liked it inspite of being fed up of my pink obsession...yay!):

2) I love the blue here. Aaryan liked it too :-)

3) Hubby's 2nd favorite ;-)

4) My favorite. Still waiting to write a beautiful sentiment that I have in my mind :-p

5) Well, didn't like it half as much as my previous flower pot, but it is ok.

Cheers,
Smita!!!

Flower pot pocket card

I finally managed to create this Flower Pot Pocket card!! I have had one unsuccessful attempt earlier. But I liked this so much that I had to try again ;-) I think it is very girly and I love it... Made it for a friend whose birthday falls on Sunday.

Though there are no pearls/liquid pearls in this one... I think it is elegant enough to submit for this week's Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge... is it ok Sankari and Brooke? ;-) I have been wanting to play along since really long, girls... Never manage to.

Here's my card:

In full light...

Isn't it cute? ;-) And here's a close-up of the glittering butterfly ( I didn't know that Silver Acrylic paint would give me that amazing effect till I tried it here).. The flowers have some copper liquid pearls in the centers...

And here's the insert... I will personalize it a bit more for my friend... No worries... she never comes online so she won't see these ;-)

Intend to go and get some magnet today to attach to this card.. so she can put it up somewhere.. What do you think?

Love,
Smita