Guest Designer at Kraftzone for Challenge#8--CAS

Hello dear friends and fellow crafters,

I'm really excited to share that I was invited over at Kraft zone blog to be a Guest designer for this month's Challenge there, it's about Clean and Simple or CAS cards. For those who have been following my work for a while now may be aware that I love making CAS cards. So, when I was invited by Khushboo to be this month's guest designer, I felt truly honoured and happy. Also, this is my first ever GD post for an Indian Blog challenge, which makes it ever more special.

Below are the two cards that I made as an inspiration for this challenge. If you would like to read more about the making process, please hop over to my GD post at Kraftzone. I would really love it if you leave me a few words there. :)

Linking this above card to:

1. One-layer Simplicity Challenge #8--Shades of Summer. My card has two colours from the Shades of summer#3 colour palette given there. The colours are blue and orange(salty lake DI, faded jeans DI for the shaded corner and bamboo leaves and potter's clay memento inks for the leaves)

2. Less is More #184--One-layered and with Foliage

3. Hero Arts One layer Challenge(The hero arts stamp used here is Scattering leaves from Hero Arts cling rubber stamps.

And the second card:

I used the stamps from the lovely Waffle Flower Bowtiful stamp set that I had won in a giveaway hosted by May of Mayholic in Crafts. Thanks May, I totally loved it. :)

Linking the above card to

CASology Week 107--Stripe 

Reminding again, please hop over at Kraftzone blog to see the detailed post and I would appreciate if you could leave me some words there. Hope to see you all play along :) 

Thanks for visiting me today. Have a great day!

'Getting to Know Me'---Blog Hop

Hello Everyone,

My today's post is a part of a different kind of blog hop happening around the blogosphere called as 'getting to know me'. Yes, it's about connecting with other fellow crafters and getting to know more about their creative process. And today, it's my turn to share about my creative process. :)

I was tagged by my lovely crafter friend Pooja of Reusing, Cards and Quilling. Pooja is an amazing artist, I call her an artist because she draws beautifully, watercolours magically,  reuses and recycles stuff so creatively.Her 3D quilling is pretty amazing too. And I just love her detailed cards the best, with her handmade blooms on it :) More than that, she is a fantastic friend, I remember she has helped me out so many times by sharing links to the useful information and tutorials. I think you should check out her blog for yourself and you'll know why I admire her so much :)

I have also tagged three of my very talented crafter friends whom I really admire a lot. You will find the tagged friends at the end of the post. And here's a little about my creative process:-

1.What I am working on ?
I recently got a couple of new stamp sets, one from winning a giveaway and another one bought, so I'm trying some new stamping techniques using them and working on a couple of CAS cards.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Not just mine, I believe each and every crafter/cardmaker has their own unique style and their work differs greatly or subtly from the other. The more I visit others' blogs and follow their work closely, the more I'm able to appreciate how different everybody's style is. If I talk about myself, I think I try to experiment with the details I add to my cards, and mostly prefer making my own handmade dimensional elements, like them popped-up to add interest, give my own creative twist to it and I LOVE the clean, white space. If I'm making a CAS card, I make sure I respect this white space. 

3. Why do I write/create what I do?

Because I love it. What started off as just a measure to ward off the boredom due to the spare time I was having in my hands about a year ago, has now turned into a passion. Even though I may not be that idle now with the baby, new job, home and everything, I make sure I find a few minutes a day just for my crafting. I get drifted to a whole new world and well, it just makes me happy :)

4.How do I become inspired or stay inspired?

It may sound funny, but the inspiration strikes me at odd times, mostly when I'm busy in my routine chores. And then I get this urge to get that idea on the paper as soon as possible, lest I  forget it. On the other hand, I hardly ever get a good idea if I sit on my craft table and consciously think about it. lol. And the inspiration comes from rather odd sources too, either from an advertisement in a newspaper,or a quote I recently heard,  some pattern on a bedsheet or even from watching cartoon channels with my baby :P. And I stay inspired through Pinterest and visiting others' blogs. 

5. How does your writing/creating process work?

I prefer a rather systematic approach to anything. So if I want to make a CAS card, I first draw 2-3  rough sketches of the card design I have in mind. I choose the elements I'm going to use  from whatever I possess at the moment and try to visualise which one would look the best. And then comes the making of the card, which takes sometimes 4-5 trials if it involves stamping. Same kind of planning goes for the detailed projects as well.

6. How long does it take to create a project?

It takes me about an hour or so for CAS cards, more if I'm adding some handmade dimensional elements. And as for the detailed cards and layouts, it takes about 4-5 days, if I craft for an hour per day. And if it's a quilling project, then it may take about a week.

7. What are my favourite things I love to create with at the moment?

I love my Tim Holtz distress inks and memento inks. I think I have so much to work  and explore the possibilities with them. Other than these, I love my quilling strips and the needle. Not getting many good ideas or inspiration for quilling at the moment, but too much to explore here as well.

 8.What is my signature style?

Still in the process to discover what my true style is, but currently enjoying making clean and simple cards with minimal embellishments. I have always been drawn more towards CAS cards because of their ability to convey the idea or the sentiment so effectively in as little as possible. I always try to work on inducing that classy appeal to my cards too. And I wish and hope to delve deeper and learn more about this style.











Hope you are still with me :P Was that too long? I actually never sat and thought about all this until now and the  questions really made me think and introspect. Now I wish to know more about the lovely ladies I had the honour of knowing in the blogging community. I would really appreciate if you could find time to visit these lovely ladies, because I know you are going to love them too :)


 Hazel Hodgkins-----
Her blog----Hazel's Paper Designs
I'm totally smitten with Hazel's CAS style of card making and she's one of my favorites. Her designs are a perfect blend of simplicity and creativity. I find them very fresh and unique and I completely respect her originality. The most challenging part of CAS card making is knowing when to stop, and Hazel knows that well. You will know that when you see how perfectly balanced her designs  are.Looking forward to learn more from you Hazel.

Rupa S---- 
Her Blog-----Rupa's Tofa
Rupa is an incredibly talented crafter. She makes awesome vintage projects and her altered art is something to look out for. She can transform the scrap lying around the house into a masterpiece. Now that's what defines a real talent. She has made so many of us see the neglected boxes or cans around the house in a new light. And I also love reading her candid blogposts explaining the true A to Z process of creation. I truly admire her creativity, and I'm sure you will as well.

Lavina Agarwal----
Her Blog-----Life's Little Treasures
Lavina is a multi-talented lady. She's not only a wonderful crafter, but an amazing cook too. I always feel happy when I visit her blog because her posts are always so positive, full-of-life, bubbly and fun. I really admire that she involves her little daughter in most of her crafting activities and comes up with very cute and practical kids projects. Do check out her blog 'life's little treasures and I'm sure you will love her as much as I do. :)


Hope you all enjoyed reading my today's special blog hop post. Eagerly awaiting to know more about my tagged friends next week. Don't forget to check out their blogs. 

Until then, happy crafting!! :)

Masculine Card-in-a-box

Hello, hello!!
How have you all been? I know it's been a while since I posted something here, keeping busy with my job and a few family commitments.  Haven't crafted much this month, except for this order that I got a few days back from a lady who requested for a greeting for her father on his retirement. She loved the idea of the card-in-a-box I had made earlier(here) and wanted a similar one herself.

Here's what I came up with:--

Warning:----PICTURE HEAVY POST

Frontal view

Retirement made me think in the direction of a relaxing and refreshing holiday on a beach. So I tried to replicate what I had in mind onto this card. And I'm pretty much satisfied with it. :)

The background beach scene is created using distress inks. The palm trees, beach umbrella and the ball are hand drawn and fuzzy cut. The hammock is made out of burlap and hung to the trees using thread.

From the left

I have used the patterned papers which I feel would look masculine and compliment the beach scene nicely. That's why, there's minimal usage of the pinks and purples.

From the right side

The back side

Card lying flat

Custom-made matching envelope with the card inside

So, that's what I have been doing this month. Sorry for not being able to visit your blogs very often. Hoping to change that soon.

Linking this to:

http://catchychallenges.blogspot.in/2014/07/cscc-5.html

http://timeoutchallenges.blogspot.in/2014/07/challenge-9.html ( Inspired by the phrase--Fun in the sun----Thank you Sandie for reminding me about this challenge )

Have a great week! 

Bling Makes My Heart Sing

Hello everyone!

I made a card today inspired by the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays#133, where we are supposed to include some hearts in summer colours.
And I took a very CAS approach to it:--

The making:--

1. Drew the shape of a heart on a scrap piece of paper and cut it out to use it as a template for sticking the  silver rhinestones.

2. Carefully centered it on my card base and stuck the stones alongside the template, leaving an space for stamping the sentiment.The stones used are  in two different sizes stuck alternatively.

3. Stamped 3 hearts on a piece of watercolour paper, fussy cut and inked them with distress and memento inks( dandelion yellow memento+spiced marmalade distress inks, rosebud memento+fired brick distress inks, salty ocean+peacock feathers distress inks)

4. Sprinked some water on the hearts for some texture. After letting it dry,doodled the border using a black gel pen.

5. Finally, popped them up over the base, following the edge of the heart shaped template.

I didn't plan to upload so many pictures of this card, but when I noticed how different the bling appeared  in each and every picture, just couldn't resist from sharing them all. :)

I've been following Susan Raihala's work( Simplicity ) since quite a while now and I really admire her unique and intelligent clean and simple style. Every post of her teaches me something new about the CAS design. Those who know her may know how deeply I was inspired by her for makng this one [Yes, she loves to add bling ;) ]  Thanks for all your inspiration, Susan. Looking forward to learning more from you.

I wanted the card to look as simple and pure as the sentiment it conveys. And I like how it has turned out.

Thanks so much for visiting and taking time to comment. I really appreciate it.