Tags

I came online today to check my blog reaader after a really long time. As soon as i landed in india i was busy in parties, get togethers and festive spirits.. we also had a welcome baby shower for our daughter on friday.. so was extra busy in preparations for the same.. breathing a sigh of relief now...

I made a lot of minnie mouse themed party favour decors using my lil one's pic.. bought the 2.25" circle punch from crafters corner in a hurry since i am not carrying any craft stuff with me..

And i loved the tag game started by Tejal.. no one tagged me, but i still filled this in :)

1)Where is your cellphone?
My galaxy S3 is what i am using right now, and my old one with an indian SIM is somewhere in the house.. probably in my handbag since i went out in eve .

2)Your hair?
Recently highlited in red tone.. um lovin it.. :)

3)Your Mother?
Super hyper soul

4) Your Father?
Super patient souk

5)Your favourite food?
Anything spicy n chatpata.. n i love fruits equally.. hard to believe but true..

6)Your dream last night?
I sleep so deeply that seldom remember my dreams..

7)Your favourite drink?
Fresh lime soda, sprite, fanta..

8)Your dream/goal?
Right now, to get a job when i return to UK.. and in the long term to be a successful entrepreneur someday..

9)What room are you in?
I started writing this blog in drawing room, continued it in the kitchen and right now i am in my bedroom..

10)Your hobby?
Reading, crafting, collecting random stuff and now learning photography

11) Your fear?
Being left alone to face the world

12)Where do you want to be in 6 years?
Done with raising babies and have a little grown up kids where in i can focus towards my career again

13)Where were you last night?
At home, playing with my daughter and nephew..

14)Something that you aren't?
Diplomatic and having way with words

15)Muffins?
Absolutely awesome.. i love making them and eating them as well..

16)Wish list item?
Loads of jewelery.. cant have enough of it.

17)Where did you grow up?
Delhi

18)Last thing you did?
Played with my daughter n nephew :) and before that i went to itsybitsy delhi outlet n did sone shopping :)

19)What are you wearing?
A black n white dress suitable for breastfeeding when out n about with black tights..

20)Your TV? 
Running balika vadhu right now.. some family members r crazy about it..

21)Your pets?
Thankfully no one.. um dead scared of them..

22)Friends?
All there to be by me in the much needed hour. Absolutely wonderful friends

23)Your life?
Happy.. satisfactory.. relaxed :)

24)Your mood?
Crafty.. but i have such little stuff with me that i probably wont be doing much

25)Missing someone?
No.. not right now.. i am in a very relaxed mode right now..

26)Vehicle?
Red swift..

27)Something you're not wearing?
A watch.. i am a regular watch wearer and damn my careleaaness that i forgot all of them wen i came frm london..

28)Your favorite store?
Tiger n wilkinson in london.. shoppers stop n om book shop in delhi..

29)Your favorite color?
Fuschia, bright red, violet and black

30)When was the last time you laughed?
Hmmm.. its hard to remember since my daughter makes me laugh every now n then.. :)

31)Last time you cried?
Yesterday.. after a fight with my hubby..

32)Your best friend?
Have been out of touch since i had my baby.. feel so guilty about not being able to keep in contact..

33)One place that I go to over and over again?
Balcony. I love to gaze out at horizon, at people, at movement.. and i love the open-ness it offers..

34)Facebook?
Should visit more often.. somedays i rarely do anything beside taking care of my little one

35)Favourite place to eat?
Any fine dining restaurant.. the ambience should be extremely relaxing..

My life has utterly completely changed!

and that too for good! :) :) :) Its been a long while since  i was last seen on the blog. To be honest I had totally forgotten i even have a blog! My daughter is about to turn 5 months and i dont think i even "Announced" the news ofher arrival here!

Taking care of my baby was easier when my mother-in-law and then my mom were here, now i dont even get time to look after myself! My heels are getting cracked, my nose is becoming a safe house for blackheads and my hair is getting messier by the day. I just keep thinking tomorrow i will definitely tend to my forgotten self but that day never comes.. :(

And how can i not post a picture of what i did in last 5 months.. I made loads of these party favor boxes for sweets and chocolates on the occasion of naming ceremony of Amaira, my daughter.

A little Thank-you note hanging on the side..

Other than these i am really getting on with my honeymoon scrapbook but i am not comfortable putting them up here with no protection on our photographs.. Do you know any *free* software that can be used to blur our pics?

VARNA’s Blog Hop

VARNA’s Creation has launched Clear Stamps recently. The stamps are made in India, yes you heard it right, in India!!  To celebrate the joy and excitement, VARNA’s is having lots of interesting stuff happening on their blog. One of such is this Blog hop.

You should have arrived here from Varshitha's Blog, the sponsor of this blog-hop! Blog hop starts from her blog, so if you have arrived from somewhere else, do check it out! Also, check out the site to check out awesome stamps designed by her which will be released soon. And where else can you get HOLI stamps??

Here's my card for the blog hop -

I have used Varna's free digi stamp for this one. Details of the sentiment -

RULES TO THE HOP:
•  Make sure you hop around to each designer from the START & leave your thoughts in the comments section, on every SPACE.
•  Like VARNA’s Creation on Facebook .

There are prizes awarded to blog hoppers who fulfill the above criterion. A yummy Sentiment stamp (4"x4") by VARNA's

The blog hop will be OPEN through Sunday, March 4, 2012 @ 11:59 pm IST. Winners will be announced on VARNA’s CREATION blog on Monday.

So be sure you leave, love & like! Next is Poornima's blog..

Anniversary Love!

This is a picture heavy post, so be prepared! :) I celebrated my 4th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, which feels like a long time though! I made this special card for my hubby -

Saw a tutorial on youtube a long long time ago, and here's what Tejal created using the similar approach..

FRONT/BACK  of the main card -

Tag 1- Front/Back -

Tag 2 - Front/Back -

 Tag 3/4 - Front/Back -

Everything together - :)

And to make my anniversary even more special, I received a HUGE parcel from Yvonne for winning a giveaway on her blog last month.. I couldn't believe my eyes at seeing all the wonderful stuff she has sent my way!!!  This is what all she sent to me --

Paper piecing

and some coloring..

Here's what i made yesterday, when i was suffering from cramps, apparently common in 9th month and signs that body is preparing for the big day! :D So to take my mind off those cramps I made this -

The stamps that i used are really really old ones and of very poor quality, they are from a children's set and to get a crisp outline, I used a foam padding underneath cardstock.. And later on i realised, the inks just wont get off the stamp.. Which usually get off easily from all other rubber & clear stamps!

For the flower petals I have stamped the image onto different parts of the same paper so as not to get a continuity of paper's design in them.. :D

I made this for Yvonne's guest challenge - Paper piecing & coloring.
And ICR Challenge 15 - Love+photo inspiration.

Beaded Heart Tutorial

Few days back I posted a card with beaded vase and a butterfly. So I thought i should share the technique to make beaded objects. I am going to show you how to make a heart with the same technique.

This is the vase that i posted earlier -

You'll need - Wire & beads. you should use appropriate wire thickness depending upon the size of your beads. Length of the wire depends on your object, for the heart i initially used about 30 cms of  wire, with 2x10 cms added later on to complete the heart.

Step 1: Pass bead to centre, bend wire to hold bead in place.

Step 2: Pass 2 beads on one side of wire end, form a circle by passing the second wire through them.

Step 3: Pull both wires evenly until the beads sit on the first bead. Then repeat the same process with 3 beads.

Step 4: Continue beading in similar way. For this heart, i went uptil 6 beads.

Step 5: Once all the beads are done, secure the ends by clasping them together in the back. If i had thinner wire i could also have threaded the wire into the second last row and cut the edges, that ways none of the side will show wires.

Step 6: Take two more wire pieces and pass through 3 beads from either side of the row.

Step 7: In the same way as above, thread 3 beads and then 2 beads on top of it. Secure the ends by clasping them at the back and cutting extra wire.

So here's the final heart - :)

More ideas beside the vase -
For this butterfly, I have threaded  1 bead on each level and instead of clasping the ends at the back, i threaded small pink beads to form tentacles -
you can add fabrics of feathers to give it a butterfly look :)

Another idea is to make a purse, something like the pic below. To thread the smaller beads i have not looped the wire through (two wires wont even fit in the smaller beads ). After threading those two large beads on top, i passed only one wire through the small beads and then back into those two large beads, secured the ends at the back.

Many more things can be made through this technique, think about cakes (with different color beads for each layer), baskets, christmas tree, bells, crown etc.

Hope you enjoyed through the tutorial! :)

Different take on love

 I have always loved Iris folding and the last card i made using this technique was ages ago. Recently i got a book from library, which features lovely and absolutely amazing Iris folding cards, which inspired me to make 5 Iris folds in a single day! Yup! And three of those were made for this card!
Rest are in Pink & blue for my little one's scrapbook.. I have got so crazy over preparing scrapbook for him or her and since i chose to not know the sex of my baby, I am making elements in both the colors! How crazy i am!! I know! :) :)

Ok, so here's my take on a non traditional love card. Made in the shades of browns & oranges! Also, this one's my first tall-card! Incidentally I realised it is so difficult to take a snap for a tall one, I had troubles in just keeping it upright for a click!

Some pretty close-ups of the eyelets, ILU and the Iris folds -

On another note, weather in London has been, well, unpredictable.. I never knew It could snow for the first time in Feb in a particular season.. Feb is supposed to be a time when winters start going away!! :)
Here's a pic i took from my window on sunday -

 For the record I have still not seen snow-in-action yet. It snowed in the night! :( I have seen a lot of snow before, Indian hill stations are full of them in winters.. I was looking forward to experience snow-fall here in London.. Well, either i'll have to see if it snow again this week or if i need to wait till next winters! :)

And would you believe, I took this pic from the same place exactly 9 days before it snowed? ignore the tilt in the pic, I think i was focusing on the tree n not on the houses in background! Weather here is really unpredictable!

Entering this Challenge for Crafty-Jc's Feb challenge - Love card with non traditional colours! and The Stamp Man - Embellish it Challenge!



Supplies -
Cardstock from a locally bought scrapbook.
Glitter hearts from itsybitsy
Eyelets from
Boeken Voordeel, Belgium
small crystal heart from A1 craft supplies
Papers in Iris fold are from saved gift wraps! :)

Thinking of you

My creativity is flowing i guess! I have never done so much crafting in a week that i am doing now!! Here's what i made today -

Got inspired by the latest CAS-ual Friday's sketch -

Do you notice the diary-like look of the card? I absolutely loved this look! :D

Entering this card in these challenges  - 
CAS-ual Friday  - Sketch challenge
ICR - CAS + Anything goes
Varna's Stamping Challenge

Supplies - 
Tim Holtz Distress inks - Walnut stain & Milled lavendar
Stamps - 
Background - Artemio manuscript backgrounds
Dots border - Papermania Mix N Match - borders
Sentiment - Papermania Honey n hugs - sheep
Coffee cups - Local Indian made stamp - no brand
Gems from stash

Welcome to the world

Made this card for my little one.. Isn't it cute to give a card to your new born baby, though i know he/she won't be able to read it till a long long time!! :)

Also as far as i remember this is my first majorly stamped card,  I stamped the background as well.. I bought a lot of stamps last year but i barely used them.. I started this card keeping Varna's stamping challenge in mind, though ended up with those two more sentiments near the ribbon.. Couldn't help myself!

 I am entering this card for ICR challenge - CAS + anything goes & CraftyJC - Something new challenge.

Below is my first attempt at the same design.. I used a light purple colour in this, and the card still looked white.. The brown one was made on a special request by my husband,  who didn't like the whitish background, and didn't want pink or blue either!!

Stamps used - 
Background & toys-on-a-string - Artemio 'Baby' clear stamp set
Sentiments - Papermania 'Honey & hugs - Sheep & pig' clear stamp sets
Circle border - Papermania 'Mix N Match - Borders' clear stamp set
Background in the panel - Ippity 'A bit of Burlap' cling stamp

Dec & Jan ATCs

Theme - New year
January 2012 ATCs  

I am entering this set of ATCs for CraftyJC - Something New challenge.

Theme - Christmas

December 2011 ATCs

 
 Details of the little Shaker on one of the ATC - 

 

And I made these for December's ICRC13 - Christmas with non traditional colours - challenge as well as Pie lane - Glitter - challenge.. Don't remember why i din post them though! I guess at that time i was busy as hell in baby shopping..