Thinking of You Card

Happy Wednesday Everyone,

How are you all doing? I am as always excited about Wednesdays - because the weekend is within sight :) lol! Its been so long since I did a TCP challenge (The Cat's Pajamas) - this week the uber talented Jen del Muro is the hostess with the mostess and this week she has a color challenge for us (light pink, light yellow and light blue - with any shade of brown as an optional color).  

Jen also has a wonderful sketch challenge (Sketch for You To 

Try). So, I thought I would combine her sketch with the TCP color challenge that she is hosting - its such a fun combination of spring colors - so I had to pull out Taylor's newest stamp release: Branching Out.

 I love this stamp set -it is so super cute - and thought I would try a little something different. I wanted to go for a spring blossom tree - so I stamped the tree onto Basic Grey Paper and then paper pieced all the leaves from pink cardstock. I then stamped the tree branch in Adirondack Expresso and then dotted the tree in pink liquid pearls for a kind of flowery effect and then covered the whole thing in stickles and coarse crystals from Martha Stewart. Its pretty glittery in the sunlight - but its hard to tell in the picture. This is such a whimsy set - and so its so much fun to let the imagination take flight and go all whimsy (sure, trees can have pink leaves, lol!!) 

Card Details:

Paper: Basic Grey (I don't remember which one), blue is handmade/tissue paper, rest is from stash

Ink: Adirondack Expresso, Staz-on Black

Stamps: Taylored Expressions Branching Out

Accessories: Brads (Making Memories), blue rhinestones, buttons from stash, stickles, liquid pearls, Martha Stewart Coarse crystals, dimensionals

The light blue paper is a really soft pretty handmade paper that is kind of like tissue paper - its so pretty that I have been hoarding it - but I am trying to be better these days about actually using all the paper in my stash (so that I can buy more! lol!). 

Well, I am off to finish cleaning up the house - we have had two sick little ones - and its amazing how quickly the house can go from "somewhat clean and presentable" to "national disaster zone". Hope you are all in good health and are enjoying your wednesdays!!

Thanks for coming over for a visit to this little corner :)

Ciao for now,

Sankari 

Thinking of You card - TCP & Mojo inspirations

Good Afternoon Everyone,

I have been slacking on doing some challenges - so today's post is actually three separate posts using 6 different challenges (how crazy is that!) But for the simplicity of listing the card ingredients - I am posting it all separately.

This card incorporates the colors from TCP Tuesday and Julee's Mojo Monday Sketch. I wanted to make a simple card and loved the blue and yellow colors together - so I decided to use the red for accent. (my colors are a little off - because I am trying to use only paper from my scrap pile - but I hope its still okay :) I really enjoyed this sketch from Julee it was totally fun and I have been loving doing circles lately - so this was perfect.

I know that Brooke is totally shocked as I am that there aren't any liquid pearl dots all around this card ;) (LOL!!!) I almost did but instead I went the paper piercing route. My hand kept itching to do it - and that's when it hit me: ..... that I am a liquid pearl addict! So I then I had to add some to the flowers... just couldn't help it! LOL!

Anyhoo - it is raining cat's & dogs here (where did that expression ever come from ??)

Thank you for coming over for a visit!,

Ciao for now!

Sankari :)

PS - if you need more challenges - please come back on Saturday morning for the all new challenge that Brooke and I are throwing called Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge! We just started last week - go on and check it out HERE!!! We would love love love for you to join!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: SU!

Ink: Martha's Black

Paper - Scrapbasket cardstock (YAY! a little more from my scrap mountain is reduced! :)

Accessories: Martha's ribbon, cherry red brad from American crafts, paper piercing and paper piecing, Martha's mini scallop punch, CM cicle cutting system

Shows watched: Bones (season 1 on Hulu)

Happy Holidays Card - Sprinkles Style :)

Morning All, 

Here is a quick card that is combining three challenges. The colors from the ladies at the Color Throwdown , the sketch from Jen's Sketch for You to Try and from TCP tuesday's challenge this week was to make a card with the famous Sprinkles (the swankiest kitty of them all :) The colors from the CT ladies were to use Olive Green, Real Red and Kraft. And so it seemed like a perfect time to bring out Holiday Sprinkles. 

I love Sprinkles - this kitty has got such great attitude and style :). The sketch this week looked like fun and the colors from the throwdown are great for a holiday card. I haven't used any Kraft so I used something that had a similar color. This card was put together kinda fast because I have to run and finish class. 

I also just wanted to thank Julie of Inspirational for featuring my Button Tree Card - I was so excited and totally honored! Thank you so much! 

Sorry for the quick post and for disappearing a bit this week - I need more hands and more hours in a day to get everything done - but anyhoo - today is friday and just that alone makes me soooo happy!!!!!

Hope all of  you are having a great Friday!!

Best wishes, 

Sankari

Card Recipe:

Stamps: TCP Holiday, SU! Mini Mates

Paper: Scraps from the basket

Ink: Martha Black

Accessories: Offray Green, paint, stickles, scallop punch, dimensionals, circle punch

Shows watched: House 

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 :)

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

Color me Cupcakes! 2 challenges in one card

Hi Everyone, 

Hope you are all having a great Friday. Things here are good - but have been a little slow on the stamp front because our little one has been a little sick. But I think today he is a little bit better - so I had a little time to make a card (wow, how many times did I just use little?!)  I have been meaning to make a card with the sketch from Taylor's Cupcake Challenge since last Friday - but did not have a chance. And even though its very late, I thought I would still make it because it is such a fun sketch. I combined the sketch challenge with a color challenge from the ladies at The Cat's  Pajamas  TCP Tuesday challenge. The colors were pink, orange and chocolate :

my FAVORITE colors all together.... and those colors totally reminded me of cupcakes and cakes - so it seemed like a great mix to combine the color challenge with Taylor's Cupcake Challenge! 

These colors are so much fun together - that I wanted to make a fun bright card, so I used the little critter image from Clear Stamps - isn't he so cute, holding a little cupcake in his hands :) I paper pieced him onto the orange and paper pieced the cupcake onto the pink cardstock and added stickles. I colored his eyes white and then added the black pupils. The circles were punched out and then cut in half and pasted with alternating colors. The ribbons are from Offray and the little Faith dots :) are done with some paint. 

This was such a quick, fun and simple card to make - so that means, I am going to be using all these elements again! I think I am going to make a bunch of these cards for my MIL's birthday present. 

But first, I must go and make breakfast :) 

Thanks for coming over for a visit,

Ciao for now,

Sankari

TCP Tuesday - You Amaze Me card

Good Morning Everyone, 

Here is a little ditty that I made for TCP Tuesday this week. I really like the swatch from Michael Miller that was the inspiration for the challenge (on the left) and wanted to incorporate those colors and pattern into my card.... so I created my own background on photoshop. I printed it and then layered it with coordinating paper and added brads from Spare Parts and the ribbon from Martha. I dotted it with stickles and added stickles to the center of the little flowers on the background design. 

This card is made for one of my good friends who completely amazes me. I am so grateful to all the amazing friends in my life, whose love and kindness makes my heart smile. 

That being said, now I am off to do a house pickup....hope all of you are well and happy.

Thanks for stopping by,

Sankari

TCP Tuesday

Hi Everyone,

This is a card that I made for the TCP challenge. These challenges are quite fun and this week it was hosted by Leigh O'Brien. I just recently started this blog (maybe like a month ago) and Leigh was so sweet and encouraging - she does some beautiful cards, so go take a lookie. The colors for this week were:

It was a really fun combination of colors and the card itself was a fun card to make. The color combination made me think of red flowers in the earth against a beautiful sky - so I went with that. The stamps for this I think are from MSF!, I am not sure because I got this stamp set a while ago and kept the clear stamps in a folder without labeling where it was from  - (I have since learned that lesson). 

I stamped the lotus image on the olive and red paper and then paper pieced them together on the sky blue circle punch. The papers were then layered, the circles were laid together at the bottom and then I put cherry red brads from American Craft: Elements between the sky blue circles. I tied soft sky ribbon and stamped the Thank You sentiment and finished with a little cherry brad in the "O" of the sentiment. At the bottom of the card I put little dots from my cranberry marker and then called it a day... well actually - I called it a night....  I love it when the kids are asleep and I have some moments to craft :) 

Can't wait to get some TCP stamps and see what the next challenge is :) I have to say - its really fun to do these challenges because the have made me use colors and combinations that I hadn't thought of before - and its great to see all the cards that all the other amazing crafters have made!

Hope all of you are well and happy and healthy!

Ciao for now!

Sankari

HI Everyone,

I thought I would try the TCP Tuesday challenge that I found at Carole's Blog (who by the way is one awesome craft queen and quite funny too). I don't own any Cat's Pajamas Stamps (yet :) but thought that I would try to participate in the challenge with what I have. So here is my take on this challenge:

It was definitely fun, especially using the Going Out in Style stamp set by Stampin Up!  The hat on her head originally was a different had - so I had to stamp twice - cut the hat out and put the other hat instead - so I could tie the bow on - which was the prominent feature on TCP challenge. 

I love this stamp set - I think I need to use it more. 

Hope all are well!

Ciao for now,

Sankari