Flowers with Thanks to Dr. Sonia

Hello all!! I'm back from a loooooong hiatus, thanks to Dr. Sonia.. She literally brought my blogging spirit back to life when she put in a comment in my previous post asking if everything was right :-) I just adore her for her time management and involvement with all her readers despite being a busy professional with an active kid at home!! KUDOS TO YOU MA'AM!!

Though I have not been blogging actively for the months past, I have been experimenting a lot with cooking and crafting too whenever I can steal time after my son sleeps (and everyone else too, for it usually gets past 1 or 2 at night!!). Yes, I really don't focus too much on photographing and blogging/recording things too much due to this time crunch but just manage to click a few pics with hubby's phone for memories' sake..Well, there's no stopping us crafters, right? :-)

That said, it is really becoming increasingly difficult for women to manage everything these days.. Work, home, child(ren), hobbies, relatives, guests, social circle and what not.. PHEW!! ;-).. So, here's a little bunch of handmade flowers for all the wonderful ladies and Dr. Sonia especially!

I die cut half A4 sheets of blue and teal felt, a pink jute sheet and a purple foam sheet to begin with.. Here, I have used Sizzix Tattered Florals die. Then, I layered the flowers with different combinations to check out what looks good. Once the combinations fell in place, I used a head pin and a bead for the center and glued the layers using hot glue (by melting a glue stick over a candle..I had bought the glue stick in an exhibition long back and it was lying unused till now!). Then applied distress inks (Worn lipstick, Evergreen Bough and Chipped Sapphire) around the edges of some of the flowers (lighter toned layers) to make em pop and voila.. done!

Will be posting more pics of my craft work and a few special new dishes that I tried (all in the past few weeks) in future posts.. but please do bear with the poor quality and raw, unedited or minimally edited pics.. Time is at a very high premium and I'd rather prefer to use it to finish those n projects that I always start but have to leave unfinished!!

Foto Fridays - Kitchen Garden 1 - Avaraikkaai /Broad Beans/ Hyacinth Beans/ Sem/ Papdi

My mother is a Botany teacher. Though she has taken voluntary retirement, her love for plants and passion for specimen-collection continues.. Some glimpses from the kitchen garden she has grown...

Kraft Korner - A 'Flutter' card...

This time, I have tried making my own embellishments.. Yes, the butterflies that you see on the card :) They were stamped using foam stamp from Itsy Bitsy which I inked with green markers on a yellow punch paper and then fussy cut. Next, I used Faber Castell 3D outliners to do up the shiny wings. Here's a closer view:

The card itself has orange punch paper layered on to white card stock.  I had punched little butterflies out of the orange paper and stuck below them a strip of the same pattern paper (DCWV) that you see on the left side of the card. The vine and flowers are stamped and the heart trail doodle is hand-drawn. For the sentiment, I hand-cut a banner strip off a lovely golden coloured satin-finish paper from Itsy Bitsy and wrote out the sentiment using a black gel pen. I guess I should have tested it first because the ink ran through the fibre a little, making the letters fuzzy... It has given an interesting effect though. The heart spread (fluttered :)) a little too much for the shape to be made out clearly and so I used a maroon satin-finish paper to replace it with a hand-cut heart that I've stuck using double-sided adhesive foam tape to give it a raised effect. Did the same with the butterflies too...

How do you like the card? Can you suggest me which inks work best on satin-finish paper without bleeding?

I'm linking this to
1. Anything goes with Itsy Bitsy Challenge and
2. Lulupu Word Play Challenge
3. Challenges 4 Everybody

And do I need to tell for whom I made this card?  :)

Kraft Korner - 50th Bday card for my M-i-L

Hi all! As you have guessed, my experiments into cardmaking are in full swing :) And this time, it is stamping!! I was just waiting for a perfect occasion to make use of all the information gleaned from Stamping videos on youtube and I did get a very special one... 

Kraft Korner - A tiny Thank U card

After being tempted by so many pretty cards made by some of my fellow blogger friends, I have dared to venture out into card making as well :) Before I get more adventurous with the multitude of techniques, textures and trinkets used to make cards, I decided to try out with a simple, tiny one first.

 I have just quilled a leaf, a few petals and a coil for the flower's centre. For the stem, I have just added a couple of swirls. After sticking these, I found that the placement was skewed and the right side of the card should have something more to balance. So, added the coordinating strips.

I have used this as a mini Thank U note to go along with a bunch of handmade jewellery for my doctor cousin whom we keep pestering for free advice whenever the occasion demands ;-)
So, how is it?

Foto Fridays - Bloom