May luck be your friend in whatever you do...

Hi there! Wish you a great weekend. I'm having a grand time making mess with paints these days and that makes me on cloud nine. Today I made a card at 5am! Seldom do I create anything during early bird hours but I did.   

Supplies: Tim Holtz idea-logy patterned paper, white cardstock, Carla Craft punches, sentiment from Close To My Heart, butterflies from Webster's Pages, Kaisercraft stamps, VersaFine black ink pad, Micia brown ink pad, Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist, black watercolor, Copic Sketch; gauze/lace/pearls/ribbon flowers are from my stash

This card is based on a sketch by Karan Gerber for Cardabilities...

...and being a neutral freak, I was in love with the colors offered by Colour Me...! this week. 

Some up-close photos:

Just love the sentiment from Close To My Heart.

Can't do without butterflies {heart them:} and paper flowers are by me.

I hope you like my card. Thank you for dropping by and until I see you again soon, may luck be with you always.

Hugs and smiles,

My Precious Qinaahana

Hi everyone! I'm happy to bring in my new creation today. I have combined a sketch from Sketchabilities and color palette from The Color Room to make this layout of my four blessings who are my main source of inspirations and my best and worst critiques of my work during the process and when it's finished {smile}. 

 Supplies: Kaisercraft (Devonshire Collection, quote), W R Memory Keepers (stamp), Bitsy Stamps, Martha Stewart acrylic paint, Carla Craft leave punch, VersaFine ink pad, Tim Holt'z distress ink, gesso, modeling paste, watercolor, black gel pen, toothpicks, dymo tape, others from my stash  

 Here's the sketch by Karan Gerber:

This is the the color palette from The Color Room which I love so much!  

The household item this time is toothpicks. I have used three of them and painted blue. 

 For this layout I decided to combined my love for shabby and mixed media so there are lots of distressing and crumpling up the leaves with hope to make it life like.

 Aaah layering...I just love them! The more the better...hihi.

 I thought I would make a pocket for the tags tucked in underneath the photo. I haven't got an idea what to write for  my children in there yet so I leave it blank for a while. The tags are birthday gift from a facebook group I'm in called Chic Craftique. Oh yes, I turned a year older on September 9 and received the surprise gift a day after all the way from the States. Thank you ladies.

I made the window frames from drawing block backing and gave it a first layer with blue acrylic paint. When dry, I coated with crackle medium and let dry before I prime it with grey acrylic paint. It didn't crack as much as I wanted it to be but I love the vintage feel of it.

Here are the pieces of self made window frames before decoration.

 I took this group photo of my children last year while heating the car's engine to go shopping. I believe it takes the right sketch and colors to make a layout eventually. So what is Qinaahana you may ask? They are simply a combination of my children's names I created when they were very young and before the little one came to earth, it was originally Kinaahana. I never thought God would grant me another child in 2008 so when she arrived, I reconsider and changed it to Qinaahana.

The abbreviations come from

1. the eldest: Nur 'Alyaa Sakinah : Kina

2. second child: Muhammad 'Arif : A

3. third child: Nur Anis Farhana : Hana

4. fourth child: Nur Afza Aqilah: Q

It's a mixed up of letters so to speak and Qinaahana was born for my home based venture. They are the ones that have inspired me to keep on going and never stop encouraging me to do what I like best. They even bring home broken things they find at school and show me simply by saying excitedly, "Mommy, you can scrap this!" (and in my head is what can I do with it but of course I never want to let them down so I keep it; you never know when it comes handy right). When we go for walks, they like to explore and if they find something unusual like a piece of wood, they thought I could use them for off the page project. Yet there are times they do get tired of me going ....ooohhh...aaahhhh...hey wait up... whenever we are at craft stores, stationery department, haberdashery, flea market, elsehwere. I think they just have to bear with their crafty crazy mother for the rest of their life {smile}. 

I hope you have enjoyed my little bit of ramble this time. Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a message. I truly appreciate your time.

Hugs and smiles,

You Are Special ~ Scrap Around The World & Sketchabilities

Hi everyone and big welcome to my new follower. After a long break from scrapping, finally my scrappy mojo returns and a layout is doable today.  

 I combined two challenges from Scrap Around The World and Sketchabilities in order to design this layout of my youngest daughter Afza. I have promised to make a layout for her birthday gift (she turns 6 on August 17th). I didn't snap her on her birthday (mom being busy forgetful) but anyway I've been meaning to scrap these photos I took last year and love her sporting character at every photo shoot. Afza loves to pose and model, hence the reason I chose the right top picture from the mood board by Marilyn Rivera. 

 I love Karan Gerber's sketch because I love layering, splatter of ink and paint, tags, stitching as well as Karan's stunning leaves and flowers in  this sketch.

Here are some up-close photos:

Afza was excited when she knew I was going to make her this page so she offered to help out...erm...well...errr...so okay, I let her do what she wanted to do while I watched tv, lol. Honestly, I like to work in peace and stay focus. She punched a few leaves and told me to use them. "Okay!", I said. Half hour later she fell asleep so I carried her to her bedroom and begun my work till mid-night feeling satisfied because I tucked in Afza's leaves underneath the butterfly and flowers before I went to bed.

Supplies: Kaisercraft (Honey Chai collection, die cuts), Carla Craft punch, Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist, Delfino and Tiffany flower embellishment, Tim Holtz distress ink, dry wall tape, watercolor and others from my stash 

Before Afza went to school this morning, she hugged me tight and say, "Thank you Mom for making me the layout". So sweet of her! That is motivation enough for me to keep going and scrap more pages before the month ends as I have promised my eldest daughter I will make ten layouts before August 31. Erm, today feature my first layout of the month, hehe.

Thank you for dropping  by and have a nice day.

Hugs and Smiles,

Happiness ~ Scrap Around The World & Scrap Africa

Hello everyone! Wishing you good time and much happiness along the way. Sharing a layout today based on a mood board from Scrap Around The World. I have to admit the first time I take a look at it I wasn't sure myself because of the shades of pink. Don't get me wrong; it's not that I dislike the color, I do like pink, just that I'm tired of pink ever since my firstborn came to earth 14 years ago followed by her two siblings...almost all their belongings are pink! 'Alyaa had grown out of it after a while and so is Anis and Afza after some time; relief!

 This layout will go into Afza's album. Thanking my sister for her fast speed photography taken on December 25th last year.   

Supplies: Tim Holtz ~ designed paper/distress marker/distress ink pad, Kaisercraft stamps, watercolor, gesso, modeling paste, gold paint, drywall tape, border punch, tissue and others from my stash 

I have used almost all colors in the mood board...

Some close-ups:

 I bought a paint for my son at the hardware two days ago because we had planned to paint his room (which we managed to paint one wall yesterday, three more to go; can't do all in a go; hectic schedule this weekend, sigh) . Anyway that's where I discovered the gold paint used for rod painting basically and it's also perfect for paper as well according to the salesman, awesome!

Afza will appreciate my handwritten note some day :)

 I made the darker pink blooms by tracing a template on acid free drawing paper, applied water color and after they have dried, I stamped them all. Then I distress and pinch the edges to form 'life-like' petals. I used Carla Craft sakura punch for the smaller flowers. As for the smaller pink blooms in the center, they're gifts from my sister so I have no idea which company made them. 

 Spent some moment hand stitching the edges; can't do without stitching {grin} . The butterfly sits on kitchen tissue dampened and adhered with home made mod podge. It's the shabby dress form that gave me the idea to use tissue for texture.

 Love that fibre ribbon!

 The butterflies are from Webster's free printing.

 My dd#2 Anis told me to place one more flower on the right corner for balance she said. I listened to her {smile}.

This layout is made based on a sketch from Scrap Africa:

 I guess I stay true to the sketch except for the bottom part where I have placed my photo fa little further away from the edge. 

I've never felt so pleased with my combination of mixed media on my page this time. I am very happy with the way it turns out. I'm not sure if I should clean the dining table now or make another page while the mood is on???

Glad to have your visit today. Thank you and I truly appreciate. Have nice moments.

Hugs and smiles,

Happy Birthday {Card}

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great Tuesday. Life has been treating me really good, it's always blue sky and everything nice. What can I expect from the dry spell when the rain is not falling at all, surely it's blue sky all the time and darkness at night {smile}. I'm doing good except the heat wave sees me indoor during the day. It gives me more chances to create a card or scrap a layout than digging out soil in the garden which I can only do very early in the morning before the sun smile down on me. 
i have just completed another card today and I'm very happy with the result. This has always been my signature style so to speak {grin}. I love shabby, distress, 3D look and the more layers the merrier {at least for me}. lol...

Supplies: Kaiserccraft patterned papers & stamps, Tim Holtz distress ink, digi image from, and others from my stash 

Always lots of layers (((love it))).

This card is based on this sketch by Marie for Sunday Stamps: 

 Fluttering off to join these challenges:
1. Sunday Stamps : Sketch SSC70
2. Cutin and Stampin : Butterflies are buzzing (1/3)
3. Everybody Art Challenge : Light green / Brown
4. Oldie But A Goodie : Spring Has Sprung (I used old collection of pp) 

Thank you for dropping by and hope you are having a nice day. I'll be back shortly.

An Update on this day 10 March 2014:
This card was chosen by design team designer Joan Jeffery as Top Picks at Sunday Stamps and she wrote:

It was difficult to pick a favourite this week - so many wonderful entries. But my heart belongs to butterflies and flowers and I loved everything about Asmah's card - all the distressing, the colours and how the butterflies are popping off the page.  Congratulations, Asmah.

Thank you Joan. I was flattered {smile}.

Hugs and smiles,

Hope this Day is as Special as You are

Hi there! Hoping you are having happy days as March knocks on your door. I sure am despite the dry spell that's hitting the nation since January. I do miss the rain...oh well; but that's okay.

Here's a card for today.

Supplies: K&Co patterned paper, VersaFine & Kaisercraft ink pad, Jeff border punch, sentiment from Kaisercraft 

This card is made based on a sketch by Karen {thank you for your pretty sketch}.

I'm taking this card into these challenges:

1. The Sweetest Thing : Sketch Challenge 209

2. Challenges 4 Eveybody : Ch#39 ATG
3. 613 Avenue : Ch#60 ATG w/ optional twist: Use your stash (I used scrap for matting)
3. One Stitch At A Time : Ch#202 ATG
4. Glitter n Sparkle : Ch#74 Add A Sentiment
5. Scribble and Scrap : Ch#13 Always ATG
6. Robyn's Fetish : Ch#201 ATG 

Hugs and smiles,

Run To Win ~ Scrap Around The World & Once Upon A Sketch & Scrapbooking In Greece

Hi everyone! I'm in jolly good mood to share my newest layout today and this is my submission for Scrap Around The World and my first take for Once Upon A Sketch and Scrapbooking In Greece. 

This page is made for my eldest daughter's album as a remembrance of her tough times in sports activities during her primary school years. Nothing comes easy for my children so to speak {because I always teach them hard life}. When I tell them money doesn't grow on trees, they understand. For some two years my eldest child 'Alyaa used very cheap canvas non branded shoes for sports training and the same one used for sports events where she represented her school for regional.

She used to tell me that her sports teacher loaned her his spike shoes for major sports events {Oh! That I didn't know until she told me}. And that she hoped some day she could have one herself. I assured her that not all champions were lucky enough to have great sports gear but they won nevertheless because they were in it to win it. I simply told her, "...run as fast as you can..." and continued with, "...give me medals!" {big grin}.

Prior to leaving for boarding school last February, we ended up at Al-Ikhsan sports shop hunting for her dream spike shoes. I knew she needed a pair because I know she will not stop running! She wanted Adidas but no size. Nike her favorite of all didn't fit her either. Eventually we found one pair that is designed for her feet! It's Line7 a brand from France and 7 is consider to be lucky number for any sports person according to what I googled about Line7. For me 9 is always my lucky number, lol. She loved her new spike shoes although orange is not...I repeat...not our favorite color {chuckle}. But however I coaxed her by saying that everybody will recognize her right away when she's on the field because of that striking color! She smiled and I was pleased with the best buy {half price off, phew}. 
I snapped her orange shoes on registration day at boarding school last February for scrapbook purpose...only on this last day of February I scrap it {exactly}!

  This is absolutely an interesting mood board from Scrap Around The World. I have chosen the left upper block in the board. The orange really suits the orange sports shoes and I'm also attracted to pink, green and gold. Thus I have used these colors on my page as well as my liking for the sentiment underneath with sprinkles of black over shades of pink. I know the chevrons are like a chart of my daughter's ups and downs in sports yet the gold is what she always aim for; hence the WIN alpha glitter sticker in gold!

I love sentiment/quotes and often used them for cardmaking but where scrapbook is concern, I like to hand write my journal as viewed in the up close photos below. 

My layout is based on this sketch from Once Upon A Sketch that I take the challenge as well because I love journaling.

Some close ups:

 I made a simple quick masking once I saw the circle label stickers sitting right before my eyes! Then I spray mists over them before I peel them off followed by bubble wrap stamping.

Photo below: Urgh, at this point during photo shoot only I realized that I have placed the designed paper upside down while applying gesso. Well, that's art {smile} and not a mistake, hihi.

Supplies: Tim Holtz designed paper & distress marker, watercolor, watercolor pencils, gesso, modelling paste, VersaFine ink pad, Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist, alpha glitter stickers, stencil, bubble wrap, baubles, pearls and gel pen

I appreciate your visit today and thank you for leaving comments, I love reading them. I leave you with a picture of my excitement in applying gesso but I squish too hard; that's why!

And 'Alyaa with her old sports shoes, worn out and thrashed away in the end.

Have a nice weekend. Take care and best wishes,

Hugs and smiles,