A Mother's Pride & Joy

This is my latest therapeutic layout. I've been working on this layout throughout the night for about 5 hours. Things just don't seem to slow down and going in the right way at my end. Therefore, as a therapeutic measure, I've scrap this page hoping to dedicate it to all my readers who are moms or moms to be. Most importantly, it is also dedicated to my mom. She had been hospitalized with an emergency bypass surgery. It's just such a sad moment to be having all these things happened when Mother's Day is just round the corner. Anyway, I do hope that all mothers could feel at least a little love through this page.

Anyway, here are the steps t this layout.

1) I've used various stitching techniques to stitch on this page. As mothers do reminds me of one who always stitched up old clothes or quilt for their kids, I've decided to go all crazy on stitching in this page. I've used the two-tones zig-zag and cross-stitch stitching techniques here. I've added glass beads to it too.

2) I've also create a masking of a semi-circle on the bottom of the page.

3) I've used a grungeboard letter "a" on this page. I've first inked it using my sponge and later use a black soot distress ink pad to directly rub on top of it to raise the textures.

4) I've used some cranberry, oregano, expresso, meadow alcohol ink to create a marbled effect alcohol inked glossy paper. Later, I've cut out flowers out of it in two sizes. A good and kind friend of mine had cut the flourishes using her cutting machine and sent them to me. I've lightly inked them before attaching them onto the layout.

5) I've used the scissors technique and some inking to distress all the tags, photograph and the pattern paper.

6) I've attached a piece of inked paper doiley underneath the flowers and flourishes.

Lastly, I wish all mothers a very Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Sources: Card stock: Bazzill Basic Papers, Pattern Papers: Basic Grey, Ink: Ranger Alcohol Inks, Tim Holtz's Distress Ink, ColorBox, Stamps: Making Memories, Autumn Leaves, Stickers: Phrase Cafe, Brads: MakingMemories, Others: Grungeboard, Zig pens, uni-ball signo gel pen, vellum.

How to Mask.

This is a post that had been requested by a friend of mine. She wants to know how to avoid ugly smudges or marks when doing her masking. First of all, whenever I do my masking, I always used a sponge. The sponge that you see in the above photograph is a cosmetic sponge where we would normally use to apply our wet foundation. It's triangular in shape. I've always dab the sponge on one edges into the ink. To mask, I've hand cut a self made simple template, place it on my card stock or paper with temporary adhesive. (I would advise that if your masking template is huge, use a temporary adhesive to hold it in place) (Tip: simply use a normal sticky tape and roll it in circle to create your own temporary adhesives)
To start masking, place the inked edge of your sponge on top of the template. This is to avoid too much ink on the masking. Using the portion after the edge to do the masking instead. This will soften the look of your masking and you will avoid any ugly marks. (Tip: Do not over dab your sponges with too much ink too.) I hope this will help any of my readers who also had the some problems while doing masking.

"Just for You" Phone Strap

This is just another little altered phone strap for a good friend of mine. The teddy bear , butterfly and the tag are actually "stamped images" sent to me by some of my friends. I just print them out onto card stocks and vellum and later cut them out. I've coloured the bear using my distress ink and add some embellishment and glitter to it. This is a very easy and fast project. Hope she likes it!

Boyish Girl

This is a layout about Chloe being always mistaken as a boy. Well, I could totally understand that as she has very little hair and is always so cheerful and boyish in character. The inspirations for the colours of this layout came directly from the photograph itself.

Here are the steps to this layout.

1. I've used quite a number of "stamped images" on this page which I've printed on vellum. I've added lots of glitters and details to it using doodling and embellishing it.

2. The circles on the left are actually "stamped images" printed on green vellum. I've masked a few sizes of circles too to do my journaling.

3. Instead of using chipboard or stamped flourishes around the flowers which I normally do, I've added some ribbon and rick rack. And I've also stitched part of the rick rack down just to add some colours there.

4. I've tried two different two tones stitching here. Firstly, I've done the zig-zag two tones stitching in white and green. Secondly, I've done some two tones cross stitching which I've use the "Add Little Beads on your Stitching" technique here. It's so much fun to hand stitched your layouts. It's not difficult at all. Here are some simple tips. Before to stitch, place a soft crafting foam underneath your layout and use a twizzer or needle to poke some stitching holes in advance on your layout. Then later you can easily stitch on your layouts without the hassle of having to poke through thick layers with a small needle.

5. I've added a hand drawn butterfly on some alcohol inked glossy paper to the layout too using some foam adhesives for dimensions.

6. I've used some chipboard brackets and alphas for the title which I've painted. I've doodled on the brackets and I've added crackle accents on the alphas.

To accentuate the meaning of how she is always a princess and so beautiful, I've added a tiara and quite an amount of glitters and bling everywhere.

Sources: Card stock: Bazzill Basic Papers, Pattern Papers: Scenic Route, Basic Grey, Ink: Ranger Alcohol Inks, Tim Holtz's Distress Ink, ColorBox, Stamps: Autumn Leaves, Chipboard: Fancy Pants, Basic Grey, Others: Zig pens, uni-ball signo gel pen, acrylic paint, crackle accents (Ranger Ink), vellum, sequins, flowers(Prima).

Add Little Beads on your Stitching

In the past weeks, I've received various emails on requesting ideas on using these small beads on layouts and projects. I've actually used them quite a few times in my work. I've tried using them to make small frames for a necklace, embellishing on flowers and etc. In my latest layout, I've tried to add them into my hand stitching work. I love the effect. It gives a more detailed look. I've also tried the two tones cross stitching technique here.

Love My Dad mini album

This is a project to answer Ryan's second request. He wanted me to create a welcome home gift for his daddy. Well, since Father's Day is just next month, I thought I could do a two in one gift. So here's a mini thick chipboard display accordian album that I've created for him. It is meant for his dad to display it on his office table and that's the reason why I've kept the colours masculine and suitable for his office display.

I've first painted all the chipboard pieces in white and grey acrylic paint. Then I've used some stamps to stamp on them. I've kept it in a monochromatic colour scheme hoping the photographs would be the center of attention. I've added numerous rub-ons, printed journaling on vellums, sticker quotes, doodled and metal embellishment.

Ryan will be crossing out his last day of being apart from his dad on his calendar tonight and he is so excited to see his dad again tomorrow morning.

Sources: MIni album: KaiserCraft, Pattern Papers: Paper Pizazz, Ink: Tim Holtz's Distress Ink, Emboss It, Rub-ons: Heidi Grace, Stamps: Hampton Art, Autumn Leaves, Heidi Swapp, Brads: The Paper Studio, Stickers: Phrase Cafe, Others: Zig pens, uni-ball signo gel pen, acrylic paint, crackle accents accents (Ranger Ink), embossing poewders, .

CJ Intoduction Page

This is just an introductory page of my CJ (Circle journal) that I'm part off recently. I've used only "stamped images" in this page. I've used the "Dress Up your Stamped Images" technique to enhanced the stamped images which I've printed out on regular white card stock. I've cut the images out and layered them on the page using some foam adhesives for more dimensions. I've used a doiley to create the masking on the background. I've used the scissors technique to distress all the pattern papers and card stocks.

Sources: Pattern Papers: Paper Pizazz, Basic Grey, Ink: Tim Holtz's Distress Ink, Emboss It, Brads: The Paper Studio, Others: Glitters (Stickles)

Dress Up your Stamped Images

Recently, I've came across lots of swapping of stamped images among COFs and bloggers. I've also received some stamped images from some of my friends too. Of course, there are some limitations as compared to the actual stamps but I guess with a little creativity, there should not be a problem in using them.

I've used some stamped images in my recent CJ introduction page. Here are some ideas to dress it up.

1) Colour it using watercolours, colour pencils, distress inks, or even crayon.

2) Inked the edges for some shades.

3) Print it onto some pattern paper.

4) Add glitter or bling to it.

5) Stamp another image on top of it.

6) Heat embossed it.

7) Add some 3 dimensional accents to it.

8) Embellish it with flowers, brads or even eyelets.

9) To add some dimensions to it, you can attached it to your project using foam adhesives or use a piece of chipboard to layer it.

There are so many possibilities to it and saves you tons of money on some one time stamps. Hope this tip could help some of you who had emailed me regarding this topic.

Flavor Of Love

Today had been a very emotional day for our family. My husband has to fly to overseas for a short business trip for a week. Ryan had been so emotional and just couldn't take it. He missed his daddy from the moment his dad step out the door. This is a layout that he actually requested that I do it for him to dedicate it to his dad who I believe is still in the air. He hope that his daddy could see it when he is able to get online. He just wants his daddy to know how much he loves him and want him to come home soon.

The steps to this layout are as below.

1) I've layered a few pieces of pattern papers and later did some reverse masking of two big circles to create a more layered look.

2) All the pattern papers and the photographs had been distressed using the scissors technique.

3) I've used an alcohol inked glossy paper to stamped the flowers and flourishes and later cut it out to get the cool marble look on it.

4) The small piece of square on the upper right corner is actually an embossed card stock which had been inked with distress inks. To further distress it, I've also added some sprinkle of water on it.

5) I've hand drawn and cut out the huge "F' for the title and later painted and stamped on it. I've added some glossy accents to it to get a glossy dimensional look.

6) All the clock images are stamped. Two of them are stamped on grey crafting foam and another two on pattern paper and card stock. I've added a layer of white felt for the crafting foam clocks to give a softer look to it. The clocks actually resembles the time that Ryan has to wait for his dad to come home.

7) The journaling box are actually stamped and attached to the layout using foam adhesives for more dimension.

8) To finish up this layout, I've added some doodling and rub-ons all over it.

Sources: Card stock: Bazzill Basic Papers, Pattern Papers: Paper Pizazz, Ink: Ranger Alcohol Inks, Tim Holtz's Distress Ink, ColorBox, Staz On, Emboss It and Memories, Rub-ons: Heidi Grace, Stamps: Autumn Leaves, Impression Obsession, Norsk Stempelblad AS, Art Warehouse, Heidi Swapp, Brads: The Paper Studio, Queen&Co Others: Zig pens, uni-ball signo gel pen, acrylic paint, glossy accents (Ranger Ink).

Stamp Directory

I've been busy trying to get all my clear and unmounted stamps organized last few days. I've put all my stamps into cd cases and labeled them accordingly. I love that idea but I think a better idea to search for your stamps would be to have a "stamp directory". I've tried stamping on papers and stick them onto the cd cases but I think it would take me sometime to pull each cd cases out and look at them. Therefore, I've came out with a "stamp directory". This will enable me to easily flip through them to search for a stamp for my project.

I've created this directory from scratch. I've used two pieces of chipboard for the covers and transparencies for the pages inside. (This is to ensure durability of the pages since it's going to be flip quite often.) For the front and back cover, I've layered a few pieces of pattern papers and a strip of lace with a ribbon in between the them. I've stamped a clock and embossed it. To add more dimensions and texture, I've used some chipboard pieces and a grungeboard alphabet for the title. The rest of the title are covered with crackle accents. For details on this page, I've doodled and done some masking on it. For softness, I've added some ribbons on the binder rings.

The pages inside are created out of transparencies. I've stamped the all the stamp images pertaining to each cd case in a small sheet of thin card stock and attached it to the transparency page. You can also used the printed images on plastic on it's packaging to attach it here to save some work. Later, just labeled each page according to the label on the cd cases.

This is a very time consuming project but I've had fun and think that it would help me to speed up my work in future. If you think that all this is a little time consuming to you, simply scan all the original images on the packaging and print it out. Put them into a clear file.

But for me, I think I just need to personalize my "stamp directory". Hope you all like this idea.