Simple yet beautiful card kits in bulk

With the use of Queen & Co foundation and sentiment dies, I find that it's very easy to make simple yet beautiful card kits in bulk for a fun card-making gathering.   I recently made 30 of these (1 card kit, 2 styles)  for our church's women fellowship, and the feedback from my gracious friends was very positive!   Similarly these can be used for teenage outreach program or nursing homes.   It is a fun way to get everyone together and craft.  

It is particularly useful during this time of pandemic since it's hard to have large group congregate (we don't want any super spreader events though we do want to spread the love) and many gatherings have to be on Zoom.  As we can't share tools in person, having these card kits ready makes crafting a breeze.  It is easy to include a simple instruction or video along with the kits.  I think I will do more of these in the future.  

Sizzix $2500 Ultimate Giveaway

Haven't been able to blog for a long time, but I could use some Sizzix die for card-making and jump-starting my smashbook again!  :)

https://gleam.io/crlHz/sizzix-2500-5-winner-ultimate-giveaway

Project 52 - Week 3

This is Week 3 of Project 52.  It has been an extraordinarily cold week, with 28F weather, even colder than the East Coast.  It's a nice week for fire in the backyard, and some marshmellow roasting.

With hubby away for a personal trip, the kids insisted upon 'camping out' in the living room.  Why not?  It's the weekend.. and it's warmer when we all sleep in one big room!  :)

Supplies:
K&Co Smash Book Retro Style
Basic Grey Dasher paper
Basic Grey Origins journaling set

Project 52 - Week 2

This week, I've written about some warm weather food I've cooked for the family.  There are some really good childhood memories attached to these recipes since mom made quite a few of them in the winter when I was young.

I've also written about my journey to take care of my leg/back pain since my pain doctor has decided to stop treating me with the trigger point injections.  I am going to think about what my plans are in order to get rid of the pain... so here it is:

Supplies:
K&Co Smash Book Retro Style
Basic Grey Kioshi paper and embellishments

Project 52 - Week 1

The last half of 2012 has been tough due to some health issues.  I have not abandoned scrapping or card-making... but I just didn't have the energy to.  Even when I did have the energy, I was not in the mood to craft.

I'm hoping that with some changes, I can get my health back in 2013.  And to find my lost mojo, I've joined a Project 52 Weekly Scrap Challenge.  I'm hoping this challenge will hold me accountable to do at least one mini layout each week... and a way to start a journal for this new year.  I think this will be a somewhat exciting year with lots of changes.

To start off, I am going to use my Fuji Instax Mini 7S Camera to help me out.  I also discovered some apps that will help me print out my iPhone pictures at my local stores.  These will be very helpful as I will be needing a photo or two each week.

This week is a recap of what we did over the Christmas holidays.  It's been a very nice staycation and though I rested a lot, we still managed to do a few of our favourite family activities.  The nicest thing this season was the music that filled our house.  All it took was an informal recital to inspire a little kid to play Christmas music on the piano all day long.  It then inspired his sister to play as well.  It was a delight for sure!

Here's week 1:

Supplies:
K&Co Smash Book Retro Style
Creative Imaginations Noel Die Cut Journal Pad
Making Memories Noel Music Note Ledger
Prima Ribbons

Teacher's Gifts

It's end of the year, and this year I was a little bit short on time so I made altered boxes for my kid's teachers. I started with beautiful decorative boxes in the teacher's favorite colors, and then I added matching embellishments.

The first one is for my daughter's creative and loving teacher. She loves black, white and red, so I picked a box that is black and white to start with. The wonderful thing is that the box has a quote about how valuable learning is, and is just perfect for my daughter's wonderful teacher because she really dedicated in helping the kids to develop a love for learning! I added the beautiful ribbon, the red rose and some Prima pearls to the top of the box.

The second box is for my son's equally wonderful teacher. She's an astonishing teacher, and this year she taught a combined kindergarten/1st grade class and did a wonderful job! Her favorite colors are blue and green, so I picked this beautiful nature-theme box for her:

Because the box itself is so pretty, I didn't use any patterned papers. Instead I added matching flowers, butterflies and pearls to accent the beautiful patterns.

Supplies List:

Prima Pearls

Things I love about you

This picture was taken when we visited Legoland in 2007, and when you were really into face-painting.  By now, you've already outgrown face-painting... and it got me thinking, how fast you've grown.  Well, not that fast, really.  But in my mind, I seem to only remember holding you UPRIGHT in our arms, walking around and around in the living room, sometimes for hours it seems, until the tiny little you stop crying and fall asleep.

And we never seem to have told you enough how much we love you.  We want to tell you for each 'issue' we have with you, there is a blessing that you bring to us.  And really, as many flaws as you or anyone has, you have as many wonderful good qualities.  But it really doesn't matter, because really, deep in our hearts, we love you just for who you are: a gift to us from God.  We need to tell you that.

And I probably could also tell you that I really love the new Konnichiwa line from Basic Grey!   And I'm taking up on the challenge to use some other shapes than rectangle and square... so I used quite a few circles, taken from the blossom motif in the background paper.   And while we're on the Asian theme here, I also break out some K&Co Mira embellishments.  And that reminds me, we have to scrap those Shanghai pictures soon... before we make 3 more trips there....

(I'm very honored to have this layout featured in Basic Grey's Eye Spy on 5/19/12).

Supplies:
Basic Grey Konnichiwa patterned paper and stickers
Basic Grey Gypsy patterned paper
K&Co Serendipity stickers
K&Co BW Mira stickers and rub-ons
Prima flowers
Queen & Co and Recollections crystal flourish stickers

Home (from ours to yours)

One of the NSD challenges today is to create a layout about home... or what makes it a home.  For a family like ours, it is of course all about ......  FOOD!   

Culturally, we always gather with family and friends around food.  It is more so for our family.  We all love food, the kiddies love dessert especially, and I happen to like baking... well I got into baking because of them.   It has become my love language, and hopefully their best family memories.  

We always bake cookies or cupcakes together for major holidays.. perhaps it's just an excuse.  But I love cooking for them, and I love it when they love my food!   My son once told his teacher, of all things, that I'm a baker.  I can be a gazillion things (you know how moms are), but to my dear child, I'm a baker - Ha!   I had no idea I would make this kind of mark in his life!  And my daughter requests that I make this special sponge cake (of course complete with whipped cream frosting and a ton of fruit) for her birthday every year.   It just warms my heart.  Of course, I cooked everything the way my love would want, and for the first year of our married life, I had his mom's number on speed dial (there are no recipes in her generation).  This.. is how I think of my home, food, made with love, and eaten together as a family as we share our daily stories from work or from school.  And I hope this is how my family remembers it, full of delightful aromas.. maybe from sautéed onion and garlic, or the sweet smell of vanilla cupcakes or fresh baked Chinese pastries...  and eaten around the dinner table, full of laughter and silly stories.  

For this important layout, I naturally chose... Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry line!  I based it off of a Becky Fleck sketch from her book.  The rest is just ... natural!  

Thanks for looking!  Bon Appétit!

Supplies:

Basic Grey Nook and Pantry patterned paper, rub-ons, stickers and chipboards

Basic Grey Lilykate patterned paper