Saturday 28 April 2012

100th Post - Crafting Life in History

Hey! Guess what! It's my 100th post on this blog!
   
Not too shabby given I started this blog as an "unofficial blog". I have to admit this is the only blog I've managed to keep alive for more than 3 months!
   
And to celebrate(?) 100th post, I thought I'd post a few cards from the past to see the progression of my cardmaking hobby. At the end, I'll post a few new cards as well seeing as I've been making a few to help out Steph!
   
*THIS IS A WHOPPING BIG POST. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. LOL*
   
So here's a short story of my cardmaking life.
   
I've always been a bit of a crafty girl. My childhood dream was always (unllike most other kids, it never changed right through till high school) to draw for Walt Disney. Well, by some fate or whatever you'd like to call it, I've ended up in medical school. I will be graduating this coming December (scary!) and even scarier, be a 'real' doctor end of November (I get MB ChB but for those of you in the US, yes, that's the same MD that House has after his name!).
   
Sorry I digressed. Back to cardmaking. I used to make cards, bookmarks and whatnot from my scrap papers and whatever else I could rummage around the house. Then when I finally went to university, there was a decent scrapbooking shop in Dunedin at a walking distance!!! I went and spent $100 on paper and such. Unfortunately, it was their closing down 50% off sale so I never got to go back again T_T But my crafting supplies had certainly 'upgraded' since that visit.
   
Here are a few cards before my stamping days...
    
A coffee card. I really love that patterned paper, but now, I seriously don't know what to do. It might have to be that it becomes a part of my scrapbook when I finally do make a start on it.
     
  
  Then I had a go at some long skinny cards...
      
    
 This was using a cardmaking set, so not really my idea.
    
   
 Then I had a new hobby in between and started amigurumi (crocheted soft toys). Here are a couple of my favourites including a mini poodle keychain, blue teddy and my parents' anniversary bears. See more of my other creations here and here.
    
     
   
   
Then in my 3rd year of university, my (one and only) scrapbooking friend introduced me to *drum rolls* Cuttlebug! I thought it was the coolest thing ever cutting out alphabet letters, because boy oh boy, are those alphabet chipboards and stickers expensive!!!
   
At the end of the year, I managed to snag one for myself for $70 at a Christmas sale (pretty good deal given it was normally $120!). So I finally started to cross over that line into the dark side of serious crafting. Still then, stamping was a "no-no" to me, because tiny sets here were like $30+ to get and there was not a single stamp that really 'grabbed me' so to speak. I managed to get some Sizzix dies and had a play around. Some more cards (yes, cards you never got to see till now!) from my pre-stamping days.
   
   
     
  
Now would it surprise you if I said I've only been stamping for 1.5 years now? I came across Papertrey Ink whilst looking for a crochet pattern for a small flower. I somehow ended up in Nichole Heady's blog with senior DT challenge. Then I saw her cards and went "WOW". Perhaps clicking that Papertrey Ink button ont he side panel was a bad idea, but the moment I saw those stamps, I had to get them. So I took my time researching and looking through the shop at least 5 times and made my first order...
   
Now with international shipping, it couldn't possibly take longer. So I got bored in between waiting for that parcel, and started making some cards with some 'stolen' sentiments from some stamp sets...
     
     
    
Then my parcel finally arrived! Now, looking back now, what a terrible choice of stamp sets and ink pads I had. Most of those first order sets I hardly use now <_< Anyway, first stamped cards! Just note that I was still using crappy local cardstock that wouldn't hold itself.
   
   
        
Now, we finally get to the business part. I save photos in chronological monthly folders. So here are some of my favourite cards from each month since March 2011 (not that long ago!) - just happens that I have nothing from Jan/Feb 2011.
 
MARCH 2011
 
  
  
    
APRIL 2011
 
(a re-do of a card I did in April because the photo quality was terrible)
   
MAY 2011
(apologies for terrible photo quality)
     
JUNE 2011
No card, but I made a ruffle necklace lol
If you are wondering at the lack of cards early in 2011, I was waiting to put in a big order in July... I didn't like my choice of first few stamps!
    
JULY 2011
 So I put in that big order for my birthday. But we got snowed in twice (quite rare for Christchurch), the US was having a huge backlog of parcels to New Zealand and Aussie because of our awesome currency. And there was the Stamp-A-Faire. So I didn't get it till mid-late August. So I crocheted a couple of baby hats to take to birthing suite with me on my Obstetrics & Gynaecology run. These only take like 30 minutes to crochet because of that thick 12ply yarn! Such a shame the yarn's no longer produced (along with my other favourite - Patons Smoothie DK).
    
   AUG 2011
My order finally arrived! And you will now see cards you recognise from this blog. I was so happy with this first one, that I just had to show it off somewhere. And that is how this blog was born. Lol.
And note, I finally got some PTI cardstock here :D
     
    
     
SEPTEMBER 2011
  I got serious stamping from here onwards. Bad news was that the biggest exam of medical school was only a month away...
  
  
  
    Christmas cards started when I finally made that order for Christmas sets (because I had none!).
 
  
OCTOBER 2011
  
    
Not sure if anyone remembers, but this card used fake mirror stamping with tissue paper. I did a tutorial on it on the blog *click here*
   
    
  
And dum dum dum... EXAMS!!!!!!
   
But I still did a lot of cardmaking under the pretence that it was "stress relief*
   
NOVEMBER 2011
Exams finished early November. God knows how I passed given I didn't do all that much studying. Perhaps my mantra, "study steadily throughout the year" did me some good. I didn't really start studying properly till the week before exams... D:
 
But anyway, I had two weeks off after exams whilst waiting eagerly for that "congratulations you passed, therefore you only get two weeks before you are back to work" email. I started tackling some challenge blogs...
   
  
  
   
Remember the November blog hop???
 
DECEMBER 2011
December was a sort of misting month. Steph sent me some for Christmas and I was really into it for a while...
   
  
   
JANUARY 2012
 I would love to share the card that got accepted into PaperCrafts Stamp It! Volume 9 here, but you are going to have to wait for the mag to come out. I don't even know when it's getting printed <_<
 
  
  
   
FEBRUARY 2012
Cromwell month. I was alway for 3 months as of Feb 1st. I did take my crafting things with me to Cromwell, but I did not have a good camera T_T So my very average phone had to do...
 
 
I really love this card, but the camera did not do justice to it. So here's a card I did for Steph just yesterday so that you can vaguely see better what it sort of looked like.
  
  
The swirly gap with name in the middle was way way cooler in my original card for Oakley. Lol.
    
MARCH 2012
Timaru month! Yes, I've been all over the country this year. And I haven't even been on my elective to the Cook Islands yet!!!
   
My new favourite technique - outlined image background stamping! :)
   
 
    
APRIL 2012
*Finally!!! New cards I'm sharing today!*
 
Okay... I actually made that first Lily of the Valley card before. You've seen it already. But I thought I'd just post it again, because I was very happy with the copics. Lily of the Valley definitely looks better with a hint of blue than pink. Haha. And no misting here, because it's not December 2011. LOL.
 
 
So yes, I finally have a butterfly set. I really love Summer Sunrise + Spring Moss + Aqua Mist colour combos. I'm a very pastel person after all. That top orange butterfly is a bit of 3D work with a bit of scoring and little bit of tape down the middle so the wings could 'come alive' so to speak.
 
 
 This next card was a failure... well, that's what I called it. The final bit of embossing really killed it. But I liked the colours stamped onto the Rosie Posie flowers. Boy, Summer Sunrise + Berry Sorbet on flowers work like a charm.
 
 
So that's it! My cardmaking career in a nutshell ridiculously long post. I only realised as I was writing out this post that my stamping hobby didn't really start till August last year. Which is saying something (I should have been studying for exams!!! lol). There's a bit of phases with different styles coming through here and there which is interesting too. I hope I keep this wonderful hobby for the long years ahead because it has been really fun and I've met some really wonderful people (namely Steph - just a casual SHOUT OUT back to ya! ^^)
 
Thanks for reading this ridiculously long blog post. I hope you found it enjoyable to a degree and not too boring! 101th post coming soon! :D
 
SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
(for new cards Apr 2012)
 
{Lily of the Valley - Take 2}
STAMP: [PTI] Year of Flowers: Lily of the Valley
INK: [Memento] Tuxedo Black
PAPER: [PTI] Simply Chartreuse, Rustic Cream
OTHER: [PTI] grosgrain ribbon (New Leaf), Woograin impression plate; [We R Memory Keepers] Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper (aqua); [Copic] Sketch Markers (T1, G20, G24, YG95, BG11)
 
{Pastel Butterflies}
STAMP: [PTI] Beautiful Butterflies
INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist
PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White
OTHER: [PTI] Beautiful Butterflies die collection; [Scor-Pal] Scor-Buddy
 
{Rosie Posie & Hexagons}
STAMP: [PTI] Rosie Posie
INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist; [SU!] Daffodil Delight, Old Olive
PAPER: [PTI] Aqua Mist, Stamper's Select White
OTHER: [PTI] Diamonds impression plate, Rosie Posie die collection, Edgers #1 die collection, satin ribbon (aqua mist)

Thursday 26 April 2012

More Cards for Steph!

Okay... more cards! Woohoo.

Steph and I are stuck with her teenage boys cards. We don't exactly have masculine sets and it's hard to not make them look childish. But anyway, we'll figure something out. Or they'll just have to suck it up. LOL.

*EDIT - I just realised I double posted the first card. Replaced with something new!*


Next card, I had the coloured stripes and glitter on the side for a good few weeks. It was just sitting there because I had no idea what else to do with it. And then seeing as we weren't going to add sentiments, I thought, why not just chuck in a couple of flourishes and bling bling with rhinestones?


 And another lazy card to finish off the post today.


So I've done 10 cards to help Steph so far. Not too bad given I only worked on it for 3 days now and I thought I didn't have any inspiration left. We still need to make more adult caregiver cards and some for teenagers which is a bit of a pain in the butt. But we'll get there.
Thanks for coming by!
SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
{Autumn Rose Carnations}
STAMP: [PTI] Year of Flowers: Carnations
INK: [PTI] Autumn Rose; [Memento] Tuxedo Black
PAPER: [PTI] Rustic Cream, Autumn Rose
OTHER: [PTI] Woodgrain impression plate, Edgers #3 die collection, satin ribbon (Autumn Rose); [Copic] Sketch Markers (R20, R22, R24)

{Colourful Flourishes}
STAMP: [PTI] Fancy Flourishes
INK: [PTI] Berry Sorbet, Summer Sunrise
PAPER: [PTI] Stamper's Select White, Berry Sorbet, Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist
OTHER: [PTI] Fancy Flourishes die collection; [KaiserCraft] rhinestones; [Sellotape] double sided tape; [Jasart] Fine glitter

{Lazy Sunflower Card}
STAMP: [PTI] Simple Sunflowers
INK: [PTI] Kraft, Dark Chocolate; [SU!] Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight; Versamark
PAPER: [PTI] Kraft, Rustic Cream
OTHER: [PTI] Simple Sunflower die collection, grosgrain ribbon (Lemon Tart); [We R Memory Keepers] Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper (aqua)

Wednesday 25 April 2012

Catching Up in 'Machina Mode'

Morena everyone (good morning in Te Reo Maori)!
 
I was up early for our ANZAC Day Dawn Service today and it's only 8am (as I am writing this... I haven't even taken photos of cards yet)! Woohoo.
 
I thought it was time I updated. I have lots of cards because I've been a machine (well Steph calls me that). I am currently helping her make 60 cards for young cancer survivors and their caregivers. She had already done 15 cards for kids (click here to view), and looked like needed a bit of inspiration kick or just a friendly help reaching her quota, so I volunteered to help out. It's great because this has given me a new project to work on. So I'm making adult cards. Just something nice. And Steph didn't want any sentiments on them, so if you were wondering why all the cards lack the sentiment, that is the reason why.
 
So I just went for flowers and whatever was nice. I'm a little short on inspiration and new ideas currently so you may see some similar themes/techniques coming through.
 
I've made something like 7 in the last 2 days, but will upload some later - just so you have something to look forward to!!!
 
Something simple and nice :)
 
    
 In case you are wondering what ink I used here with the Copics, I used the new PTI dye inks. They don't seem to smudge all that much if you don't go over with your Copics too much.
   
   
Lazy butterfly card much?

And Rosie Posie with Parisian Lace Doily Die.
 
I'm off to my friend's place after breakfast to do her wedding invites. I made something like a hundred heat embossed frames and Embellishments die cuts while I was in Timaru (yes that was me in the "Machina Mode" haha). So today we are hoping to print things onto the base cardstock, put my new guillotine to good use (oh yes, I got a guillotine! Will do a review of it later some time once I figure out how all the bits work!!!).
 
Ka kite ano.
 
SUPPLIES & TOOLS:
{Friends 'Til the End}
STAMP: [PTI] Friends 'Til the End
INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Orange Zest
PAPER: [PTI] Rustic Cream, Summer Sunrise
OTHER: [PTI] Edgers #1 die collection, Friends 'Til the End die collection, saddle stitch ribbon (Simply Chartreuse); [Copic] Sketch Marker (G20, G24, T1, Y32, Y35, Y38)
 
{Gradient Butterfly Card}
STAMP: [PTI] Beautiful Butterflies
INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, Kraft, Dark Chocolate
PAPER: [PTI] Kraft, Rustic Cream, Summer Sunrise
OTHER: [PTI] Beautiful Butterflies die collection, Woodgrain impression plate, grosgrain ribbon (Lemon Tart)

{Parisian Rosie Posie}
STAMP: [PTI] Rosie Posie
INK: [PTI] Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss, Tea Dye Ink Duo; [SU!] Wild Wasabi
PAPER: [PTI] Rustic Cream, Melon Berry
OTHER: [PTI] Parisian Lace Doily, Rosie Posie die collection, Diamonds impression plate