Altered Bottle

It was my dear friend's birthday on the 4th day of June and I made her a special gift! It didn't take me long to think because I know what she loves so I decorated an empty glass bottle with duplicate postage stamps from my collection that I normally swap with my penfriends. I adorned the bottle with some ribbons, lace and flowers. Finally I applied coating over the postage stamps.

I was inspied to make an altered project from Let's Scrap DT Denise who offered an Altered Project Challenge during [Inter]National Scrapbooking Month previously. Her challenge was to use postage stamps for the altered project. Unfortunately I was too busy myself with my own challenges back then to take part. In the end, I spent some moment and designed this gift for Asnah's birthday.

...and here's the back view...

...the top view...

...close up...

...the birthday lady...

I felt so happy the day I gave Asnah my art project. To see her smile and happiness simply thrills me. I'm so glad she likes my handmade creation.

I am already thinking what to give her next, lol. We both love crafts a lot and can talk about it for hours and often inspire each other. Such a great friend!

Thanks again for visiting me today. Until then, have a great weekend!

Hugs!



So Dear To My Heart

Over at Let's Scrap, this week weekly sketch is designed by DebbyD. My first intention was to make a card as I know that is meant for a card and because I love cardmaking, I thought that was a great design. However, I changed my mind the other night and designed a layout instead!

I have always loved the photograph of my German penfriend Christiane Hansel which she gave me in 2004. I have never scrapbooked my penfriends's photographs but this time around, I decided to do just that! Christiane and I have been writing to each other since early 90's until now. She's a registered nurse by profession and what I like best about her is her true self, understanding, easy-going and her positive attitude. Above all I admire her bravery for travelling the world all by herself and yup, she spent 9 months alone in Chile if I remember right. I love her letters too; she doesn't write a page but pages and pages of her diary and stiry life as well as her reponse to my questions...yes, she write down her letters in contrast to my typing sometimes, lol. We both love exchanging nearly 25-30 pages of letter each way.

Christiane came to Malaysia in March 2005 and the meeting was awesome. My family and I spent a day at KLCC and two nights at my sisters before we took her to KLIA for she was heading back to Dresden where she lives.

  

This layout features Christiane in Siberia. She's an avid traveller who travels the world and treks alone and with group of friends on long summer holidays.

At the back of photo, Christiane wrote:

"At the lake 'Baikal' (frozen, in the background) with the lovely Siberian dogs.

Lots of love, Chris"

(Siberia, March 2004)

There's something special about this photograph; I love the way it is captured and the love shown by her cuddling the dogs. Just fabulous!

...here's the sketch by DebbyD...

...a great sketch Debby!...
Materials used: Brook Collection patterned paper by Crate Paper Inc, Martha Stewart punch, Kaisercraft inkpads, Momoyo stickers, My Mind's Eye twine
Here are some close-up pictures of the layout...

I punched four strip of acid free drawing block papers and inked up the egdes with similar colors. 

I used minimal embellishment so that the photo gets center stage! I am looking forward to hearing Christiane's comment on this layout :)

Hop over to Let's Scrap if you wish to take part in the weekly challenge.

Until then, have a great day my friends!

Hugs!

Have a Sweet Birthday

Hello there my friends and crafty bloggers! I've been away for a superb vacation and totally away from scrapping the entire week. That explains my m.i.a! It's great to be home but of course, I have to tackle on the house first before I can really sit down comfortably and scrap; which I haven't done yet; there's just too many dust and cobwebs all over the house to get rid. Not only I vacum and mop, I moved furnitures as well; needs new change this mid-year and brand new me, lol, but I'm still the same humble person inside and outside...perhaps added some kilos during the holidays :(

Aaah, enough rambling. Today and for the next few days I want to feed my hungry blog with cards and layouts I did last month but wasn't able to post to my blog because I had to leave for vacation. Here's a creation I did for Stacey's May challenge at sketches4all based on a sketch below.   

...pretty sketch...

I made a center step card for this challenge.

...yummy cupcake eh...

...freebie from TLC (thanks Paulette)...

...thanking Julie for her cute digi design...I fill in with Copic...

The bee and the flowers are telling me that it's time I mend my garden so until then, take care and I will be on my way here pretty soon.
Hugs! 

A Good Heart...

I took a short break from scrapping layouts to make some cards and so here's another card made for Jessica's any theme card challenge at sketches4all. I planned for something bright, something vintage, something trendy so this is my center step creation following my own instinct.

I mainly used scraps (patterned papers from Kaisercraft), inked up the edges with distress ink and color blending with Copic.

The awesome sentiment is a downloaded freebie from TLC.

I really love the vintage children! Thanking Free Vintage Digi Stamps for the beautiful digi illustration!

Hoping you have a great time on your side! Thanks again for visiting! I'll be back shortly.

~Hugs~

Joy Is Yours Today

The weather today is pretty hot and humid, just can't stand the heat! Nevertheless I'm in crafty mood these days before I take off for a week vacation. The [Inter]National Scrapbooking Month organized by Let's Scrap is ending in a couple of days so today I decided to make a quick card for Shirley Bergsma's yellow and white card INSM challenge. I have to say yellow is not the color I like to work with but I take up the challenge anyway because I intended to make a birthday card for my close friend whose birthday is on June 4th.  

This sketch is designed by Shirley herself! Unfortunately this is the first and perhaps the last sketch of hers I ever used for my creation because Shirley has step down as a DT because she has more ultimate and pesonal affairs to deal with in her life so I wish her the best in her future endeavour. It has been nice working along with Shirley from the beginning though. 

I have chosen my favorite fancy fold to create this card. Punching the corners and edges with Martha Stewart punch and color the flowers with Copic.

I printed this beautiful vintage flower from Free Vintage Digi Stamps.

Just love the sentiment! Printed from TLC  freebies.

The sentiment from Kaisercraft is stamped with Memory ink pad.

I hope my friend will like this card and hopefully the sunny color will brighten up her special day!

Thank you for visiting me today. Wish you a sunny fun filled day.

Hugs,

The Siblings are heading to School

It's time again this week to design an example layout for Let's Scrap weekly challenge. I have always wanted to feature my four blessings in a layout and the sketch this week holds four photographs that is perfect for my wish. Initially my plan was to take my children to the park last week and snap them in nature surroundings but they are busy with school activities. School is their main agenda until they call it for a two weeks break {from May 25 until June 8}. And since they are so occupied, I came out with an idea to potray them in their school uniforms and snap them shortly before I take them to school the day before so this is the latest photographs of my four blessings.

They attend the same school which is easy for all of us yet 'Alyaa and 'Arif go to morning session from 7:30am to 1:15pm. Being a Year 6 pupil and in the finale year of primary school, 'Alyaa always has extra classes until 2:15pm and other programs to attend during school break as well as sports training. Meanwhile Anis attends afternoon session from 1:15pm to 6:10pm. She despise afternoon school but it allows her extra hours in the morning to watch some cartoon network...kids! As for the little one, Afza is a homeschooler who loves learning and exploring. She's a very busy kid indeed!

As this layout feauture my children in their school uniforms {except Afza}, I wanted to make a blackboard form attached with news bulletin; hence the black cardstocks and many captions. That simply explain the persons in the photos and some informations about their school program and I also listed down the things they must not forget to do and my hopes for them all...the captions are typed, cut out and inked up with mixture of Kaisercraft and Memory ink pads.

This sketch is so wonderful to follow, another great design by Cheri O'Neill.

I didn't use many materials; just some scraps, lace sticker and glitter embellishment from Cactus. I'm not a big fan of glitter but I love the colors that match the photos. Also, I have used three out of four main colors from the Malaysian flag to symbolize the country they live in (the yellow headband Afza wears represent the star and croissant in the flag).

...some close-up pics... 

The main prop in the photo is the one that carry them to school five days a week and I'm the one who drive them to school every morning and pick them up in the afternoon except Daddy picks Anis up in the evening on his way back from work. Yes, that is our routine on the week days!

Thank you again for visiting today.
Hugs!

Learn is Fun

I made another layout for my little girl's album; oh wow, Afza is so thrilled she helped adhered the buttons with her little fingers, sweet! Over at Let's Scrap, Elizna hosted a Quick & Easy Bingo Card Layout Challenge. The rules are simple: must use bingo card and must have banner. That's interesting. However I don't have a bingo card so I downloaded a few and chose one I like best and it suits my layout perfectly.

...this is the Let's Scrap sketch I chose for my design...

Here's the bingo card I downloaded. Just right click and save on your computer. There are more bingo cards you can get HERE.

...some close-up pictures....

I used rub on letters to spell the title.

...and many rows of buttons...

The banner is made from scrap; have no idea where it is from :)

This is the first layout I ever make a banner. I love it!

Pretty petal from Momoyo.

Photo shoot on February 13, 2012 {Monday}

Afza loves drawing so much she just take a piece of A3 paper, lay it on the floor and start drawing. I like that...previously she draw on the wall!

Afza today May 20, 2012 {Sunday}

Afza was playing in the garden with her siblings when I called for her to hold her drawing {oh yes, I keep it and will give it to her in many many moons to come} so I can take her photograph. She loves to photo shoot so much and I enjoy taking her photos.

I will leave you here my friend and will make a come back again; hopefully you will too. Thanks for visiting me and big hugs!