Remember me??

Heya people,

I hope you haven't forgotten me! I know I have been almost absent in blogspace for a bit too long! But this time I hope I am finally back! ;-) I had to craft today, a little because I wanted to, a little because I wanted you to think of me, an a little because I was in a very good mood for no particular reason. :-)

By the way, in case you are wondering about my new header... (psst: if you are not, please do! LOL! ) let me tell you who the artist is:

AARYAN!

The painting is an evening scene with a reddish sky... the tree like structures, in his words, are mushrooms/toadstools that are stooping in the wind. Hope you like it :-)
[description of the painting: courtesy the little artist himself]

This card isn't really a favorite but I don't dislike it either. Crafting after so long can be quite challenging! The card is inspired by Laura's sketch 66 at 2Sketches4You... I flipped it. I made quite a large card with unusual dimensions because I have some huge envelopes to match ;-)

The Patterned Paper and gorgeous lace are from a kit sent by Yvonne; the leaf mask in the background is an RAK from dear Spardha; the stamp is Hobby Ideas and the beautiful white flowers are actually a Chinese Collar Button set that I picked up locally (I found them cute and very useful ;-) )... the fleur de lis punch is a not-so-recent purchase (also local).

Hope you like it!

Hugs,

Smita

A Girly Album

If you've been wondering why I am not posting, well,,, I am still around. I haven't had the time to breathe most of this last one week. But yes, over the past 2 weeks (yeah, that is a loooong long time) I did manage to complete a  little album that someone had asked me to make. The pics are dull and not nice, let me warn you... We've had a particularly gloomy day today.

This is a 9-page album that the lady wants to gift to her 9 year old niece. And the little girl loves butterflies, I was told. (Tejal, I hope that explains all the butterflies you'll see fluttering by in this post ;-) ).

I have provided secret and non-secret panels for messages ;-). And I have used tons of ribbon (I can't live without using ribbons) and my latest favorites - colored stapling pins - have found their way everywhere.

This looks like a particularly busy section though these were the easiest pages. I had a spring fold card ready and I just attached it here (on the left panel).

Juhi's gorgeous doily found its way here... And all that glaze (not at all clear in the pic) was a glue and glossed section. The wowie patterned paper here is from Itsy Bitsy. And that cute cute cute ice-cream cone paper clip is from a local stationery store. ;-)

Please do tell me that the silver doodling around the glitter heart is nice. The lady I made this for is my son's drawing teacher and I don't want her to laugh at my flowers and swirls ;-) She loved the ribbon weaving on my previous album, so I included it here as well.

Do tell me what you think, and please pardon the pics.

Ciao,

Smita

2Sketches4You # 55 : Celebrate!

My take on this week's 2S4Y sketch:

How do you like it? It turned out almost just as I wanted it so I'm glad... This is again inspired by the embellished paper doilies that I mentioned here. I think there will be many more from me because I am totally smitten!!! It lets me use different textures and loads of my favorite embellishments without having to rely on patterned papers alone!

About this card... it is a kind of imperfect table setting. I didn't have place to keep one more spoon ;-) so I let it be only so much. The plate, cutlery, glass and napkin are from a pack of local stickers. The embroidered lace (black and red) are both from mom; the crochet lace is a recent purchase from a local store. I hoard on lace and ribbons and I love each bit that I have - my mom's totally vintage collection as well as the newer ones bought by me!

The background stamp is a polka dot, bee hive like stamp that I designed on Word (using the most basic drawing tools).. it has an almost distressed kind of feel and I love it.

Hope you enjoyed my post!

Till later...

Smita

Card Patterns sketch 67

Hi all,

My take on Card Patterns Sketch 67:

CS: Base CS is Fabriano; everything else is from my stash;

DP: The pretty patterned paper is an RAK from Tanja.

Others: Stamp is from Hobby Ideas; ribbon and lace from my stash... some faux stitching using my white gel pen and the branch (yeah, it is a branch..LOL) is hand drawn and cut.

It turned out just the way I intended it to so I won't be cribbing this time around ;-). I am in love with all things pleated at the moment, which explains the pleated flowers and ribbon. And I am a lot wiser now so I am stitching up my ribbon treatments before adhering them [because the quality of double-sided tape that we get around here is kind of hopeless!].

Usually I save the sketch on my phone or draw it out in my notebook before starting on the card; this time I tried to test my memory.. I was kind of sure I remembered the sketch wrong... but yoooohooo!! I wasn't wrong!!

Golden hues

Hey!!

My take on this week's 2S4Y sketch (#53) by the beautiful Laura.

Ok, it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to. Plus the fact that I put in so much time and effort into this card... not very satisfying but till I can find time to make one more based on the beautiful sketch, I'll have to submit this one. I love the papers though... rich golden hues on the base and the middle pink pieces.

Here's another view:

The ribbon (inspired by Ashley - how I love her work!!!!) is ruffled and hand-stitched [I didn't want to take chances by pleating it directly on to double-sided tape because the tapes here are sometimes terrible and don't hold too well; so I stitched the pleats and hot-glued it on the green CS].  I also did some 'real' stitching at the bottom [finally!!] :-). I made dimensional flowers again to match my theme [sentiment not added yet] - Bloom and grow! I ran over the embossed swirls with my 3D outliner. And I also sponged the base CS and the white CS with copper ink (it really shines).

One more card that I made a couple of days back (which again I was reluctant to post but hubby thought it wasn't that bad!):

till later...

Smita

Vintage beauty

Here's my half-take on this weeks Mojo sketch.... Why half? Well, as I've mentioned many a time, I find their sketches to be really full of details - much more than I can fill in ;-) So here it is...

I have to tell you that though not visible properly in the photo, this one's an elegant card.. and I'm in love with it. [Where's modesty gone off to..!?]...

The gorgeous background paper is handmade paper in a beautiful teal color. The tiny embossed off-white squares (I had been dying to try some paper quilts after seeing them on Tracy's blog) are from a sheet from my stash; the glittering teal squares are from a sheet dad got me; the flowers are done with these 2 sheets too. The maroon one is ofcourse a silly ribbon flower (I'm no good at these; that is why I call it silly!)... The leafy is hand cut, inspired by Sarita's louts flower tutorial. The to-die-for lace is from Mom... she got it from my great-grandmom..;-) so it is really vintage :-D I sponged the cardstock a bit to match the vintage feel of the lace.

I hope you liked it as much as I did. {I didn't want any touch of white in the base. I'm tired of my white base cards.. LOL!

Ciao,

Smita

Shimmering beauty ;-)

Well, 'shimmering beauty' is what I was trying to make my card... beauty or not, it is your say, but it sure is shimmering (more in reality than in the pic). It is always a big challenge for me to follow the Mojo Monday sketch. I find it too full of little bits and pieces for me to follow... 

My cards are usually neither CAS nor embellishment-heavy; hmm... somewhere in between. They always depend on my mood and supplies PLUS on what technique I want to try (yes, I am a very technique-loving girl, if there is such a word). I had started this self challenge of trying new techniques in the beginning of last year (I had not yet discovered my fellow Indian card makers till then and lack of crafting supplies was a big heartbreak back then!) ... I love trying anything new I see, though they might not always be successful attempts. So, here I am with a few new things...

This card follows the Mojo Monday challenge. I chose the Square (well, just realized it isn't square... :-( ). But I put in so much effort into this card that I am submitting it anyway. 

> The image is again from Birds' cards. I colored it using my Derwent pencils and blended with Camlin distilled turpentine; 

> The pretty lace on top and in the very bottom are from mom's stash; 

>I bought the glittering purple ribbon a few days back from the local market;

> The printed glossy vellum (circle behind the image) was gifted to me by Chirag, my brother-in-law

> The patterned scallop circle is Heidi Grace (thanks Donna!!)

> The pink shaded paper (layer 1) is from Hobby Ideas

I made the flower myself using 2 sizes of heart punches and a clover (yes!) punch [ Kathy has a beautiful tutorial for the heart punch flowers - I am nowhere close of course! Too lazy to punch or cut smaller/bigger hearts] and loads of 3D outliner in the center; so I do qualify for Cute Card Thursday's challenge (make your own)!!! :-) The leaves are punched using a Carl craft punch. The swirls are hand drawn (sorry, I can't do better than that! ;-) ); the scalloped edge was done using a decorative scissor.

The inside of the card:

Don't remember where the sentiment is from. I'll update it as soon as I can recollect.

PS: Ahhh yes! i can't believe this is my second post today ;-)

Green and mauve

Yes, i did tell you I won't be around for a week. Still at mom's but I had to make a card. I've not been feeling well since yesterday and this simple card helped in making me feel a little better. :)

Another view:

PS: I have no craft supplies here ;-) I bought the punch here a couple of days ago... ribbon and lace from mom's raided cupboard... and the green paper is reused from a money envelope ;-)

Cheers,
Smita