June Diva Inspirations Blog Hop

Hi Everyone,

Today over at the Verve Blog - we are doing a June Diva Inspirations Blog Hop which I assure you is truly full on with inspiration - these ladies are amazing!! There is also a completely FABulous sale - so please hop on over and check out all the details of the Vervey Sale goodness as well as all the ways that you could win some Verve over at the Verve Stamps Blog.

For my card today - I used the Mojo Monday sketch #193 from this week's Mojo Monday (this week there was the option to go circle or square) with one of my favorite stamp sets Hope Blooms. I love all the flowers in this set and the fonts are magically delicious! I used the large flower and colored and cut it out and popped it up in the center of the sketch and added a little twine to the button in the center. The sentiment "happy birthday" hangs from a tie to the ribbon and I finished it with just a wee bit of liquid pearls and a vellum butterfly

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: Hope Blooms from Verve Stamps

Paper: CC Circa 1934 collection and black Bazzill cardstock

Ink: Memento Ladybug Red ink and Tuxedo Black

Accessories: liquid pearls, spellbinders, dimensionals, yellow button from BG, twine, ribbon, butterfly punch from Martha Stewart and bling.

I am in the midst of birthdays, weddings, baby showers and graduation parties - I can't even begin to tell you how crazy it is around here - and I am so glad that I could make this birthday card for a dear friend of mine - she loves flowers, is an amazing gardner and I wanted to create a simple neutralish card with a pop of color here and there. I love these stamps - and can't wait to see what everyone has created today! Please hop by and check out all their wonderful creations - and also please check out the Verve Stamps blog for all the details of the SALE that you don't want to miss!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Hugs,

Sankari :)

Welcome to the June Diva Inspirations Blog Hop! Our Diva Inspirations team and several special guests from the Release team are here to start your month off right with a little Verveinspiration! Take a little peek at each of the fabulous blogs below for some Verve-alicious eye candy and you just might win some Vervey goodness of your very own! 1. Julee 9. Andrea 2. Betty 10. Sankari 3. Dawn 11. Maureen 4. Jen d. 12. Teresa 5. Jen T. 13. Tosh 6. Lynda 14. Amy 7. Shannan 15. Charmaine 8. Susan 16. Amber We've hidden a little mystery prize on one of today's hop spots, so be sure to leave a little comment love as you hop around for a chance to win! Comment Deadline: 11:59pm Mountain, June 5 Prize: $30 gift certificate to Verve Since it's a new month, that means we've got a new Stamp of the Month to reveal! In June we're having double the fun and featuring two sets... Dad's Day and American Hero! And at 40% off during the month of June, these two sets are a super big deal!

A brand new month also brings along a new sale here at Verve! During the month of June, you'll find savings on stamps for all the men in your life. Find out which sets are on sale by visiting our Sale page.

2 Sketches 4 You - Verve colored Happy Birthday Card

HI Again! :)

Are you tired of me yet? 

2 posts in one day!!????!! I know - I don't know what has come over me!!  I came home a couple of hours ago and was soooo happy to be done this week - what a week it's been! I was so happy to be home, that I made a cup of chai and had a chance to sit at my craft table before the dinner rush starts (which it will in about 15 minutes - so I will type fast!!!) 

I loved the color challenge that Julee has for her Verve color challenge for the April release and I love Kazan's Sketch #24 that she has created for the 2Sketches4You challenge blog. I love Laura and Kazan's sketch challenge and their DT is just amazing with the samples that they come up with each week! Talk about inspiration city! They are currently having a DT call for the summer group - and you can check out the details for the DT call here!

One of my dear friends is having a birthday party on Sunday and I wanted to make a birthday card for him... and I thought these colors were so perfect for a masculine card... and who doesn't like cupcakes for their birthday card??! But try as I might, I think my card ended up kinda girly and swirly... (I don't think I can ever realllllllly make a masculine card because it never really looks very .... hmm.. what's the word??..... pretty! lol!!)  Oh, well - I gave up trying to make it look masculine at one point and just had fun paper piecing my cupcakes! Well, I hope he likes it anyway...  :) (Will let you guys know how it goes on Monday :)

Card Details:

Paper: From scrap stash (the only thing that I know is that the blue paper is handmade)

Ink: Chocolate Chip! SU!, Martha brown

Stamps: Downtown Diva set for the cupcakes and Sweet Celebration set for the sentiment from the Taylored Expressions store

Accessories: liquid pearls, corner rounder, button from stash, blinged flowers

Technique: Paper piecing

Well, I hope you are all having a great start to your weekend! Okay.. off to get dinner started! Hope you are all doing well!!!

Thanks for visiting my little corner!!!

Ciao for now!

Sankari :)

Cinema Saturday #25 - Goldfinger and BLOG CANDY!!!

First of all - Thank you to all of you who come to our blog and guess with us on Friday nights for the sneak peeks, who play along with us, who comment and everything else in between! You all have become like a little mini blog family and we are truly truly truly grateful to all of YOU!!! So as a special little treat - we have included a little blog candy with this challenge!

Welcome to our 25th Challenge at Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge!!! We are so excited to have done 25 challenges and wanted to do something fun and action packed --- what could be better suited than than a classic James Bond movie... the 1964 classic movie Goldfinger. Did you know that Goldfinger won an Oscar for Best Effects and Sound!

The requirement this week... well.... it had to be to add some gold to your card! Either a little or a lot.... go for gold!

This is a great site to find more info on James Bond, as is this site.
It was so much fun to pick a James Bond movie for this week's Cinema Challenge - can I just tell you that I have the song Goldfinger totally stuck in my head now.... (randomly all last night, I would just start singing... Gold..fing-ah.... LOL!) I have to say Connery is definitely a Bond... no one can pull off that terrycloth bathing jumper (from the scene when he was in Miami) than Connery... seriously...!

There were sooo many different things that I wanted to do with this card -- but all my inspiration kept coming back to the opening and so I based my card on that opening shot.... this is a little birthday card for a special friend of mine (whom shall not be named... but whose name starts with B and ends with E and rhymes with cook :)

I created the silhouette on Photoshop and the sentiment too. After printing it out - I cut out the image out with my CM cutters and then adhered it to black and gold circles. I punched circles from Martha's mini scallop punch and adhered on the back of the image. The I punched out a 1 3/4 circle and traced it around the head of the image and then from there I created some swirl patterns around the image and then colored it in gray alternatingly. I added some liquid pearls (of course... i am on such a "dot" kick right now!) and then tied a bow using the rbibon in my stash. And as a finishing touch, I added some stardust stickles to the image for a little more blinged out Bond girl feel :)

I am truly grateful to all of you for inspiring me each week and for playing our challenge! I am also grateful to my movie challenge partner Brooke - thank you for all that you do! I remember last year around this time, around the summer, I had this idea to create a challenge based on movies... and now to see that this challenge blog is at 25 challenges - I am just totally psyched! Thank you!!!!- you guys are really just awesome and I am so glad that I got to meet you all in blogland!

As a special thank you - I wanted to give away some really yummy blog candy:

1. The chance to win Taylor's newest set: Branching Out (my favorite set!)

2. And also the chance to win the Prudence Paper Collection kit from Taylored Expressions!!!

Please check out the Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge for more details!!! 

Thank you so much for coming over to visit my little corner! You are the best!

Big hugs to all!
Sankari :)

KW Color Inspriation #47 - Happy Birthday Card (TECC 61)

Happy Friday Everyone,

Are you doing a little TGIF dance? Cause that's what we are doing over here! Look at these yummy colors that Kristina has picked out for her 47th Color Inspiration Challenge! Thispicture is from her friend Adrienne. 

The colors for this week are Chocolate Chip,Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron and Whisper 

White. I love these colors together - they just feel so rich and yummy - how can it not be yummy with such titles like: chocolate chip, pumpkin pie and so saffron! I really enjoyed making this card it was a lot of fun.

I used Taylor's awesome sketch challenge from her Friday Cupcake Challenge  #61 for inspiration. I flipped the sketch 90 degrees counter clockwise. I also used her newest stamp release set Branching Out. I think this might be one of my fave sets - its just so versatile. I needed to make a Happy Birthday card for someone special.

I love the Basic Grey Ambrosia set of papers ... and used one of the DP to stamp the tree onto and then paper pieced little orange leaves onto the tree for a little contrast. I had fun putting buttons and also Taylor's Tiny Twinkles on the eyes of the owl and on the scalloped edge. 

Here is a side ways view of the card:

Card Details:
Paper: Ambrosia (Basic Grey), Brown metallic cardstock, Orange carstock from trash
Ink: Pumpkin Pie from Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Taylored Expressions: Branching Out stamp set and Branching Out coordinate set
Accessories: Random ribbon, liquid perls, stickles, foam dimensionals, buttons from stas, Taylor's Tiny Twinkles n the scalloped edges and the little owl eyes, corner rounder

I hope you get a chance to play in both challenges! AND you can win a free set of Taylor's Tiny Twinkles - all you have to do is upload your card with Taylor's sketch to Paper Craft Planet with the keyword with the sketch name: TECC61 and your card could be chosen randomly to win these awesome tiny little blingy blings!!! 

Thanks so much for visiting my little corner!!!

Hope all of you are having a wonderful Friday and are doing the Friday happy dance!

Ciao for now,

Sankari :)

KW Color Inspriation #39 - Surfboard Inspired Happy Birthday Card

Good Morning Everyone,

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you are running around and are catching your breath? Yep, that was my week and boy, am I glad that today is Friday!! Woo-hoo! I loved the colors that Kristina Werner picked this week for her Color Inspiration Challenge #39. The inspiration picture of the gumballs came from a trip that she took to NY a while back. 

For some reason, seeing the black color really made me happy -  but I still couldn't figure out what to create - until I spied my son's car that had a surfboard on it with a hisbiscus flower motif - I suddenly had an "aha" moment and ran with that idea. Here is my Happy Birthday card  - inspired by my son's car/surfboard. My son (his is 4) really likes this card - except for the face that it doesn't have wheels - and wanted me to add wheels to it, so that he could zoom it about.... but I told him that I would have to figure out how to do that....  :)

here is the view of the card kinda looking down at the surfboard image on top of the car. I really like how the surfboard was a black and white contrast with a line running down it - so I went with that and had lines of colors from the color inspiration running down the card too. 

I placed the happy birthday sentiment going the long way and liked how the whole thing is kind of a long card - I haven't made a long card in a while. Overall, I totally had a blast making this card and loved seeing my son's face when I showed it to him this morning when he woke up.... the sweetest thing in the world was when he told me that my card was "cool".... (it still cracks me up that my 4 year old son uses the word "cool"... :)

I can't wait to see all of the amazing entries from this color inspiration and to do a little blog hopping!!!  Thank you all for visiting!

Sunshine and Cookies to all,

Ciao for now!

Sankari :)

Materials used:

Paper - everything from my stash - I love when that happens

Ink - StazOn Black

Stamps - Happy Birthday stamp is from SU!

Accessories - Photoshop

Shows Watched while making this card: Grey's Anatomy (season 1)

Taylor's Cupcake Challenge #49 - Happy 4th Birthday card

Good Morning Everyone,
I have not played with Taylor's Friday cupcake challenge in what feels like ages!! Here is her sketch #49 and I totally loved it as soon as I saw it on Friday - and had a ton of ideas... but when I went to make a card last night - my wee ones have been a bit congested and had a hard time sleeping - so I couldn't make a card till this morning. Here is the card I squeezed out in a half an hour in between getting the kids up, dressed and fed :)

This is a little birthday card for one of my son's sweet playmates who is turning 4 in less than 2 weeks. Loved Taylor's sketch with thisythe four squares for this - it was perfect!! All the papers and cardstock are from Taylor's Birthday Girl Key Ingredient's Kit. The card is cut to 5"x5" and the squares are 2"x2" . I made the number 4 by folding a strip of paper and then stamping the "birthday" sentiment on the leg of the number 4. The stamp is part of Taylor's Sweet Celebration kit.


Check out her new releases here! Hope this post finds you all in good health and happiness! How are you all doing on your New Year's resolution... 3 of mine were forgotten by lunchtime on January 1st... the rest are going okay :) Come and check out this week's movie challenge on Cinema Saturday - we are doingthe movie Mama Mia from which to draw inspriation to create a card, layout, anything - so come over and check it out!!

Wishing you all a fantastic start to your week!!!
Thank you so much for coming over for a visit :)
Ciao for now,
Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #45 - Happy Birthday Cupcake Flowers

Good Morning Everyone!

Quick post before I run out for the day - (have the days suddenly become faster and crazier?) seems like there isn't enough time to get everything done. Here is Taylor's Sketch #45 from her Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge. Taylor does a sketch challenge every Friday where if you have cupcakes, why not use them in your card! I realized that for the last 2 sketches that I haven't used cupcake stamps! So I wanted to fix that right away! 

Last night, as I was talking to my friend - I was doodling some flowers on a piece of paper and it kind of reminded me of a birthday card that I got from my mother last year - which was a flower with a cake on it - so I thought how about a flower with some cupcakes!

 So I drew the whole image and then cut it out with my oval cutters from Creative Memories. I colored it in with some pencils and then a little stickle and liquid pearl for the frosting :)  I used the colors from 22nd color challenge the lovely ladies at the Color Throwdown this week  - which are pink, green and black (the black is very minimal in this card- mainly just for the drawing pen color) and I had to add a tiny bit of orange to give it a little pop - hope that's ok?)

The oval was matted onto a dusty pink oval. I used my Creative Memories decorative cutter to create a wave pattern for the bottom panel. And then embossed the sentiment "Happy Birthday" which is from Taylor's Sweet Celebrations. All of this was adhered onto a crystal glitter cardstock from DCVW - it is totally glittery and totally hard to take a picture of. I adhered some matching ribbon as a panel - the ribbon is from Taylored Expression - I was going to try to make a bow - but then it seemed too much - so I just kept it simple. The buttons are from my button stash - and the little butterfly is from my Creative Memories meadow makers punch. 

I had a lot of fun doing this card - and a lot of fun drawing - I haven't done that it a while and it was fun to do a little doodle :)

Hope you guys are having a fabulous day!!! I am off to run a whirlwind of errands with 2 kids! Wish me luck!!!

Thank you for coming over for a visit! 

Best wishes, 

Sankari :)

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #39 - 2 Cards

Good Monday Morning Everyone,

Hope your weekend was good - ours flew by. Thanks for all the sweet wishes for our daughter's health - her fever is down a little (she has had a viral fever for the last 4 1/2 days...her doctor seemed to think it is roseola.... I am trying to keep the kids separated so she doesn't get our son sick.... which is near impossible to separate them...). I didn't have much of a chance to craft or comment on your blog - I am sorry about that - but hopefully will have a little more time now that I don't have to constantly hold a sick little baby. In the midst of all the craziness this weekend - I had a chance to try Taylor's Cupcake Challenge sketch for this week (have you seen the cute stamps that she just released - OMG - way tooo cute!) I love her sketches and this one was no different - loved the circles and bows on the side and couldn't wait to try it for a bday card I needed to make for my friend. 

 

The first card is for one of my dearest friends who is working in Berlin now. We went to college and got to hang out earlier this spring when she visited. She is sooo Ms. Vogue - so when trying to figure out what kind of card to make for her, I saw this silver paper from a Project Runway pack (sent by my awesome MIL!). The green paper is from K & Co. The buttons were actually earrings once upon a time which were going on sale for 50 cents! I just figured at that price, I could use it for something! The ribbon is from Offray and the rest is scrap piled. I added some liquid pearls and the stamped sentiment from SU and rounded a corner or two :) Its kinda hard to photograph reflective material so I am sorry about the pics.

I also loved Stacy's Jewelry Color Inspiration for this week (she gets her color inspiration from jewelry pieces - how cool is that! you have to go and check her out!)and thought it was perfect for making a Halloween card -  I feel like, I should be making more Halloween cards before the season passes me by, so I made another quick one too.The second card was made for our family friends who we are going trick or treating with tonight (yes, you heard me right, tonight.... for some reason, our town has decided that tonight is Halloween... so my son and I are getting all bundled up (it flurried last night!!) and are going with his preschool class (he is dragon - but he tells everyone that he is a sweet dragon :) LOL!) The cupcakes are from Taylored expressions, as are the ribbon and colored cardstock. I paper pieced and stickled and tied some ribbons and called it a day :) The inside sentiment also from Taylored expressions reads: When mummies roam and pumpkins gleam, may sweets be yours on Halloween. The border on the inside was made with a Martha Stewart border punch and then dotted and ribboned :) Aren't those cupcakes in costumes soo cute! I love using them!

Speaking of cupcakes,  I made 50 of these pumpkin spiced cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (all organic, no eggs, from scratch), but only 39 made it to the party :) 

The movie choice this week at our challenge site: Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge is: The Nightmare Before Christmas. Just make a card, layout, altered project - inspired by any aspect of the movie (from the dialogue, movie jacket, costumes, music, characters, themes... anything really!) and link to this post by this Thursday at 9pm PST. Come and check it out and join us in the fun!!! (click HERE)

Hope all of your mondays are going well and that you are staying warm!!

Thank you so much for visiting!! 

Ciao for now,

Sankari :)

PS: Here is a pic of our son at Walmart -- he didn't want to take off his costume the whole day and so he was dressed as a dragon   as I ran errands the whole day (I think its a bit like an alligator - but he insists that he is a dragon :)- I just thought this pic was sooo cute - he was mesmerized by all the TV's :)

 I asked him to take off his costume - but he refused - and so I went to the grocery store, walmart, the drugstore and to another store with a sweet little dragon holding my hand :) One of the highlights of my day :)

Kristina Werner Color Inspiration Challenge #26 - Happy Birthday!!!

Good Morning Everyone,

How are you all this Thursday? Can you believe that we are halfway through October? Because I cannot quite grasp that - the weather here is starting to get colder and there is a forecast for the possibility of snow this weekend! Whaaat?!?!! Definitely not ready for that - I still haven't put the kids summer clothes away - what can I say - I am a little in denial that summer is over.... (sigh)

But what a better way to get out of the gloom of the approaching winter, than to make a card?? LOL!! Look at this fun set of colors that Kristina Werner came up with for her color inspiration.  I love these bright fun colors together - especially because it was raining all yesterday - and this was a bright and sunny palette. 

It reminded me of spring and so I went the flower route and came up with this Happy Birthday card. 

The punched out flowers are adhered to the punched out squares with a brad and then the leaves were cut out free hand and adhered to the flower base. The ribbons were stacked on top of each other - and the bow was made separately and attached with a glue dot. 

It is hard to see the "Happy Birthday" sentiment because of the sunlight hitting the card - sorry about that... Well, I am off to work on my lecture for today - hope all of you are enjoying your Thursday and hope you get moments to relax and enjoy the beauty of the day :)

Come back on Saturday and play with us at Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge this Saturday! - you check the details HERE!!

Thanks for coming over for a visit,

Best wishes,

Sankari

Card Ingredients:

Stamps: sentiment from Taylored Expressions

Ink: Martha Baby Blue

Paper: Scrapile (yay!!! the more paper I can use from my scrap pile - the more paper I can buy!

Ribbon: offray

Accessories: Creative Memories Square punch, Martha mini Scallop punch, brads from Making Memories, paper piercer, corner rounder

Movies watched: Pride and Prejudice (1995 BBC version on Youtube - thanks Anthonette for the tip - I am totally in heaven now!!!

TCP Tuesday - Birthday Card

Good Morning Everyone,

I think today is my official catch up day to catch up on some of my favorite craft challenges that I have been missing in the last 2 weeks. Things here have been rather busy on the job front, on the family front and on the home front. I think I definitely needed some stamp therapy to help nourish my heart :) I just realized that I posted 5 cards today! You can't even imagine the mess that my craft corner is in - it is no longer a corner - but the scraps and bits of ribbon and storage boxes are spread all over our room.... somehow cleaning up a craft mess is not as fun as creating it :) LOL!

I have missed participating in the TCP tuesday challenges - and was psyched that I had a little time to create some things this week :). The colors were very yummy autumnal colors and even though I wanted to make a fall card  - I needed to make a birthday card for a dear friend - so I went the b-day party route instead. 

I have to say that I LOVE the way these stamps stamp... they are just yummy, clean and crisp.

The green, orange and brown cakes were paper pieced and then glazed and stickled and finished with a cherry brad to top them. The white paper was dry embossed with flower pattern, and then the corners were rounded and matted. 

Well, today is filled with activites - from a parade at the town square, to a picnic at lunch to a birthday party in the afternoon and another one in the evening - phew! I am tired just writing about it :) Well, I am off to get things ready for the parade and to finish making my potluck contribution to the picnic (where I hope I have some time to wrap the present for the party right after that....) Alright, parade! here we come!!!

Hope all of you are well!

Thanks for visiting,

Ciao for now,

Sankari :)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: The Cat's Pajamas

Ink: Martha Brown

Paper: scrap pile cardstock

Accessories: Making Memories Brads, Platinum Stickles, Liquid Glaze, Gold Paint, brown & green prism color pencils, corner rounder, ribbon by Offray.

Show Watched: Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey - man, this show can be addicting :)

2 Sketches 4 You - Laura's Sketch Challenge

Hello Everyone,

I am so happy that I finally got to do a card using the sketch from  2 Sketches 4 You  (this week was Laura's Sketch #7) I have to say, that I get a little sad if I don't get to do this challenge because not only are Laura and Kazan's sketches pretty cool -  they make me think outside of my little box AND it is also amazing to see all the wonderful cards made by all the amazing artistes from around the world. This week has been so busy - so I was glad that I finally had a chance to sit down and do this challenge - it was so therapeutic. 

Seriously, Stamp Therapy should be something that your doctor should recommend so that you can get time off from work to stamp and have it be paid for through your insurance so that you can get all the stamping/crafting supplies that you need.... Can you imagine that!?!!! Wouldn't that be awesome!!

Anyhoo, I digress :)   I loved Laura's sketch and saw so many possibilities - so for one of the possibilities. I rotated her sketch 90 degrees counter clockwise for my card. Doing this created a little flap for a pocket in the card -  for another smaller card to go into. 

This card was made for one of my dearest friend's from highschool's son - who is turning one in a week!!! His name is Zach, but he is affectionately known as "Z" - so for the card, I highlighted the letter Z and the number 1. 

The smaller card with the Z chipboard, pulls out to reveal a smaller card and for this little card - I am going to write some special wishes for him for his first birthday! He is such a great little guy - actually, I shouldn't say little because he is somewhat of a tank :) (he's got Michelin Man thighs :) and he is just so yummy to hold (as is his big brother :)

The large card measures 3 1/2" by 5" and the smaller card measures 2" by 3 1/2". I loved making this card because it is for someone so very special and that always makes the process so much more fun and special :)

It's Friday - YAY! It's the last friday in August and you can feel the slight crispness in the air indicating that fall is on the way. There are a few trees whose leaves are changing and its starting  

to get a leeeetttle cool - LOVE IT!! My favorite month is September - because its my birthday month! Maybe I will have to give some Blog Candy away next week on my b-day!...... hmmm....! stay tuned! Yay! I love birthday's - I love celebrating the miracle of birth and the miracle of each and every day.  

Speaking of everyday miracles, Jen has a great a idea on her blog called +365, where you write down something positive about yourself/your day etc. I started to do that and have really enjoyed the difference I have noticed - I feel more aware of the beauty of it all and that every moment can be beautiful and perfect 

So my highlight or +365 from yesterday was swinging in the park with my kids - it was so great to watch their little itty bitty legs kick back and forth and to also sit in between them and swing so high - to feel the wind in your hair - to feel the sun on your face - to breathe in the beauty of life, to hear the sweet little laughter of my children being carried to the world by the wind.  I love swinging 

so high into the sky that the metal frame of the swing shakes a bit.... and also i loved that my children thought I was so cool because I could go so high :) Thank goodness it doesn't take much at this age, LOL!

I feel so grateful for this blessing of being alive. So thankful..... each and every moment is so precious. And in doing this blog and being able to meet so many of you wonderful artists, I feel like the world is a smaller place :)

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend everyone! Drive safe, enjoy your family and most of all.... hope you get to have lots of belly laughs! 

Thanks so much for coming over for a visit!

Wishing all of you happiness,

Sankari :)

Card Recipe:

Paper: DCVW for the blues, K & C company, paint sample (Tuscany Tan) for the beige

Ink: Blue marker

Stamps: Typewriter Lowercase Alphabets  by Inkadinkado

Accessories: Blue & Green ribbon (Offray), sticker embellishment (the giraffe) from Jolee's, Making Memories Chipboard, Blue Paint, Waterfall Stickles, hole puncher

Show watched: What Happens in Vegas 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ACHA! 3 Challenges in One

Hi Everyone, 

Today is my father's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Acha!! (Acha means dad in my language - Malayalam). I wish I could be there to celebrate - but hopefully soon we can all be together  :) I had already made a card for my dad - but felt like that wasn't the card for him - so I started from again.

I loved Julee's awesome sketch design for Meet the Divas challenge, so I used the sketch for the color challenge for TCP Tuesday this week, which was to make a card using the colors Blue and Orange. I love using bright contrasting colors, so I couldn't wait to play. And I also loved the  challenge from the Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge to only use numbers in making a birthday card (the restricted element was to NOT have "happy birthday on the card"). So since my dad is turing 70 - which is awesome and amazing - and I can't believe it, I thought I would honor this leap into a new decade by featuring the number on my card for him. 

I had a lot of fun making this card. I was trying to make the #70 look like frosting by using a little paint on top of the Alpha Cut Out letters (the #70 is actually the Letter L (upside down) and the Letter O because I didn't have any chipboard numbers that size. My favorite part was creating the door that opens to reveal Sprinkles holding a present :) The sign on the door says: We love you Acha, and was created in Photoshop. 

Since it is my dad's birthday today - I thought I would share a few favorite memories. My dad is one of my bestest friends - I adore him. I feel so blessed to be his daughter and wish I could do everything to help take care of my parent's - they are truly amazing.

One of my favorite things I love about my dad is watching him tell a joke. He is the best joke teller I know - because as he is telling the joke you can see the twinkle of laughter in his eyes and in the corner of his smile and then part way through he is cracking up and his laughter is so infectious that it makes everyone laugh also - even though we still haven't heard the whole joke :)  

I love holding my father's hands - he has amazing earth hands - strong and sweet. I love talking to him about philosophy - I used to call him way late at night when I was in college and ask him questions about what I was learning and we would talk into the night. My dad has an amazing book collection. Any book that is related to religion and spirituality he has got it - He lives in a little library at homeand not only that, he can remember these amazing quotes from all these amazing writers and so in the middle of a conversation he will suddenly offer me a different perspective by quoting someone verbatim. My dad was the one who inspired my love of reading and my love of philosophy - I love sitting on the couch with him while he is reading something and I am reading something else. 

 

He makes a wonderful Chai - and I love sitting out in the patio at my parent's back yard, drinking a hot cup of chai with my father as we look out at the fields in silence. I love that I can talk to my dad about the deepest subjects and also that we can just sit in silence and enjoy each other's company. I adore him - he has always felt more like my brother than my father :) He is one of the best letter writers I know - he has got amazing literary style. I loved getting letters from him when I was in Kenya - they always started: "My dearest friend, ...." Each of those letters are a treasure. 

I am an only child - so my parents doubled as my best friends and my parents and I have learned so much from my mother and father - they teach me about life because of they live it with integrity, nobility and truth. I hope that I can be even a quarter of the person that they are.  I missing living closer to them - they are all the way in Baltimore... and can't wait till our next visit! 

Happy Birthday Acha!!! You are the bestest!!!  

Hope all of you are having a wonderful Saturday!

Thanks for coming over for a visit :)

Ciao for now,

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Paper - DCVW for the cardstock and I think the patterned paper also from DCVW

Ink - Staz-on

Stamps -  I used my new FAVE stamps - from The Cat's Pajamas! (you have to get some - they stamp like a dream!) and Almas is awesome! and the cake is from all Night Media

Accessories: Alpha Cut out letters, Orange stickles, metallic brad not sure from where, Red Paint, Edge Punch from Martha

Shows watched: Deserving Design on Hulu

KW Color Inspiration Challenge #19

Hello Everyone,

It's time for another Kristiana Werner Color Inspiration Challenge. Yay! I missed doing her last one because we were on vacation, so was pysched to do one again :) This week's colors are to the left: Black, White, Gray and the fun part is that we can choose our fourth color. That I think was the hard part because everything looks good with black and white... hard to narrow the choices. I ended up choosing an aqua blue as my fourth color

Since the wall in the photo was gray, I did the matte behind the little birds in a metallic gray. I liked the black and white square motif on the square pillow - so I wanted to have a few squares in the card. 

The squares were punched out with my CM square punches, the birds were stamped onto the squares by masking parts of that stamp and using the Stamp-a-majig to alighn the birds to the center of the square. The black cardstock used is a shiny black - I only have little snippets left - and really like the feel of this cardstock.  It was hard to take a pic of it because it is so reflective.

Well, I only have 2 more birthday cards to make - I see the end in sight :) I really enjoyed making this card and all the card therapy it provided :)

Today is the first day of school! I have to get a ton done and am so glad that I had a chance to play :)

Thank you for coming over for a visit,

Ciao for now,

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Paper: Ikea Gift wrap, Shiny Black Cardstock, Metallic Gray Cardstock from the Paper Company

Ink: Staz-On Black

Stamps: Stampin Up 

Accessories: Ribbon (offray), Aqua Gel pen and color pencil. CM square punches

Show watched: Another World (1991 from Hulu.com - that site has everything!)