What I've been up to.... :)

It's been quite a while since I last blogged here. Been busy since the last post I made. So much so that I didn't even get much of a chance to blog about this card I got from a dear friend of mine, Sandi Staley, who  sent me this birthday card last September. What a lovely surprise it was to get another birthday card from her along with some other lovely gifts of craft supplies. It's always a pleasure to get a handmade card from her. I've always adored her handmade cards. They are simple but always have a style of their own. ^.^ I love how she decorated the card with pieces of a pattern paper which she cut evenly and glued together in a special way. It's actually a good way to use up pretty pattern papers.

For the past few weeks I was busy preparing for my aunt's wedding. I offered to do some beading on her wedding dress, scarf and veil. It definitely was a daunting task. It's the first time for me to do heavy bead work for someone. I didn't know what to expect and how to go about it at first, but I learned a lot from the experience. I hurt my fingers and eyes too....my body was sore all over during the process. I guess I won't be sewing any beads on any dress or scarf anytime soon! LOL! I will blog about it more on my other blog called Anilza Beads soon. I wouldn't want to do a specific post on it on this blog as it wouldn't be suitable. I do have a blog that's specifically for bead work, so that's where I'll talk more on it. But after all that hard work I felt so relieved and happy that it all went well and the beading turn out great. My aunt was very happy with my work....and that really made it all worth the while :).

I was also very much into a new hobby, which is weaving on a loom. I DIY my own loom and started weaving like crazy after getting inspired by so many weavers on Instagram. I was introduced to weaving on a loom way back when I was studying in ITM. I saw how my fellow colleagues weaved in school and also in our dormitory. It looked like fun! And it was fun once I started. The first one I made was not exactly the way I wanted it to be but it was a good try nonetheless. I've already started on my second one but I only get to do it whenever I have some free time. It's like therapy..... :) It makes me feel good!! ;)

Another new hobby I took up recently is making homemade soaps! This is something that I've been wanting to do for the longest time!! It's one of those things that one would put in one's bucket list. It was like a dream come true when I finally got to learn how to do it. I might create another blog just for me to talk about it and keep track of my experience with making my own homemade soaps. My first try at making homemade soaps was kinda sloppy! haha! But in time perhaps and with more experiments, perhaps it will look a lot better than the photo above. It's like a science project and art combined in one! Fun!

Been busy making my own slotted quilling tools as well and it is a lot of fun. Although it might not be as good as the standard slotted quilling tools, at least it serves the purpose. It has the same function and it will help quilling beginners start their new hobby with less burden in their pockets. I guess that's one of the main reasons why I made them in the beginning. To help quilling beginners get quilling tools that are affordable. I've been experimenting with the making of it and been asking for feedbacks on the tools from my customers too so that I can improve the product and I'm quite satisfied with the tool now. Hopefully I can improve on it more in future. :)

Making handmade cards and books are also on the list but I won't be publishing any photos of them here yet till they are ready to be exposed. A lot are still in progress and a lot of photos needs to be edited. Editing photos is one of those things that I am so lazy to do....hahaha.....but somebody has to do it! :D

Green theme quilled wedding signage

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Alhamdulillah....thank you Allah for blessing me for the strength and energy to finish this project. I'm so thankful too to get a customer who is so patient and understanding. For her kind patience, I am able to finish this order in time before her wedding day which is coming soon this week.

I admit I am pretty late at completing this order, but still I'm glad I did it before the due date. You have no idea how I had to struggle to finish it. I haven't been quilling for more than 2 months and it was kinda awkward to start again. Felt a bit rusty hahaha.....but after a little practice I was ready again to start the project. 

This design for this wedding signage was actually inspired by one of my swing cards that I did this year. You can view it at the link HERE. My customer just loved the design so much and wanted me to use the same design for her wedding signage. 

The original design on the swing card, you can see that the leaves were made from die-cut patterns. So since she loves quilling so much, she wanted me to do the leaves using the quilling technique. I've never done something like that before....so it was fun to be able to try that. And I love the outcome :).

All in all, I'm really glad I did this project no matter how I felt. Not sure when I will be quilling again though....because I'll be busy after this with sewing beads project! hehehe! Yes....it's a little wedding project that I was entrusted to do for someone. Will do an update on it probably on my FB page.....will see how it goes. ;)

Here is a photo of my customer and her husband on their wedding day with the wedding signage I made....photo was taken by Zulhilmi Photoworks....click on the link to see their other beautiful wedding photos ;)

Winner of 2014 Blog Giveaway!!!

Hello everyone! I'm so so so so sorry for the late announcement! I've been so busy....I was busy during Ramadhan and also after....now still in holiday mood....very hard to get back on track with work after a long break. Gosh, it's also been a long time since I last blogged about anything here. Hope everybody is doing good!! ;)

Things have been a little crazy over here at my place....very hard to explain and I guess sometimes, things are better left unsaid. But there is one thing I must say now, and that is to tell everyone who the lucky winner is!!! Jeng! Jeng! Jeng!! The lucky person is........tadaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Lucky number 98....Miss Darling Ninie!!!!

Congratulations Miss Darling Ninie!! You are the winner!!! Hope to hear from you soon so that I can post the blog giveaway goodies to you as soon as possible. Do contact me at my email address ( inaabdul_21@yahoo.com). 

I will be holding another giveaway maybe before year end with a much more bigger and better goodies to giveaway. Till then! Take care everyone! And thank you so much for joining my humble giveaway. Do join again next time ok? ;) Tata!!

Card in a box #3

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You must be thinking.....hmmmmm.....this design looks familiar, right? Well, of course it does because it's the same design I made for my first card in a box card last month. The only difference is the colour of the box which I had to change because my customer wanted a card that is in a red and black combination.

Actually I didn't have a red and black pattern paper with a similar design of stars on it. So I had to create my own with the red and black paper. The stars were handcut and pasted on the card one by one. Slow process but at least I get to do a similar pattern as the original design.

I also ran out of the 3D pop up stickers. Huhhuhu!!! So sad about that. The shop never restock them. Searched every where in Alor Setar but couldn't find it. So if anyone were to order this card again, I would have to figure out a replacement for those 3D pop up stickers.

I really enjoyed making card in a box.....they are so much fun! Do check out the video I made of this card. You can see how it opens up. Thank you! ;)

I love you B...

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I got an order to make a card in a box design from a customer who wanted me to make it for her BF. I declined the order in the beginning because I have stopped taking customized handmade cards for a while due to lack of time in my schedule to make cards like that these days. I just want to concentrate on ready stock cards for a while. It's is also because ready stock cards are less stressful to make hehehe!

Anyways, since she agreed to give me the freedom to do it anyway I like it, I then decided to give it a try since she only wanted a simple design for her BF as both of them love simple designs....kinda sounds like me coz I love simple designs too hehehe!

I got some details from her......the wordings....his favourite colour and his less favourite....the dos and the don'ts.....and off I went to complete the card. I thought it would take a long time to make, but, the idea came quite quickly for this one, I just had to carry on with it until it's done. Somehow the red box reminded me of the pop corn box we get at the cinema and that gave me the idea to do the stripes. I have done stripes for quite a while! It used to be my favourite thing to do whenever I make cards. It was like my trademark. So it was fun to do it again for this design! Love it!

As I was thinking of ideas of how to write the wordings on the card. The idea came to me.....I realised I had those colourful glitters set and glue pen from Kreaxions which I bought so long ago. I immediate went to get them from my craft box and started experimenting on it. It took me some time to figure out how to use it....it can be a bit tricky!!! If not careful, the whole thing is ruined! Gotta have a steady hand to write with the glue pen....and gotta write it fast too before the glue dries up otherwise I won't be able to sprinkle the glitters on it....and it might not stick well if it is already dried up. After a few tries, I finally got it!! And I'm loving it! I should experiment more on this new technique next time.

I'm so glad that my customer loved the card so much, she just can't wait to show it to her BF soon. I hope he loves it too!! Have a look at the card in a box at the video below. See how it opens up and pops up all those hearts ;). 

My first Card in a box!

I was taking some time off from work the other day, because I've been working like crazy since January with not much time to rest and I started browsing for new type of cards to make and I suddenly thought of making a card in a box. Been dying to make one ever since I saw them on Pinterest some time ago.

Sometimes I just need some other diversions to keep the mood for cardmaking going and keep on going. Because I'm the type who gets bored easily. Since I've been making a lot of swing cards already, so it was high time I change things a bit to give me some excitement.

From the time I saw the designs of the card in a box in Pinterest, I always thought that it was difficult to make. I figured it was the most complicated card I've ever seen. And it never occurred to me that we can actually fold it flat and insert it in an envelope. But when I saw the video tutorial on YouTube, I was blown away by the trick! What a fancy trick it was! That was what got me into this so instantly. I just had to make one the minute I saw the video. :)

I bought some fancy birthday 3D Pop up stickers recently and thought of using them for my first card in a box experiment. The pattern paper were given to me by a good friend of mine, Sandi Staley. Gosh I have loads of scrap pattern papers from her to use up for my card experiments! hehehe! ^.^

 Compared to other types of cards, this particular one involves decorating on almost all parts of the card. So it's quite a lot of paper to paste here and there...a lot of decoration to do to make it attractive. And since it will have a 3D look once opened, you gotta think of how it will look 360 degrees...all angles. The challenge makes me more driven to complete the card.

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Do check out the video I took of the card so you can see how it transforms from a flat card to a box with pop ups in the center! That would perhaps get you excited to create your own first card in a box soon! ;)

Congratulations on your wedding

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I got butterflies in my stomach and somehow it got transferred on to the card ;). I rarely put butterflies on my cards but for this one it just seems so suitable and I couldn't help but adding them along side the focal point of the card which is the heart shape paper doily that I got from WholePort. 

I've been wanting to do this type of swing card for the longest time and I'm super excited about being able to get it done in the end. It's a see-through type of swing card! hehe! Peekaboo! :D

I used the Yellow quilling paper strips from WholePort to make the quilled heart. I'm getting used to using the 5mm quilling strips....it's not that bad after all. But of course the 3mm type is my personal favourite.

Ok! Sewing on paper like this is therapy for me lately. I just love doing this technique. Not sure if I'll ever get bored doing it one day though. For now it's just bliss!! Even better when using the embroidery thread :).

I also love the lace I used to decorate on the front part of the card. I got that one from WholePort too. I'm just using up all the products I got from them. Fun playing with all the goodies. ;)