Colorful quilled heart card

V026

I got a little carried away today and made this colorful quilled heart card with a purplish pink theme. I've always loved this color combination :). It's a soft and sweet combo. 

Actually.......what happened was.....I thought of using this design for the next blog giveaway.....I was thinking of a simple design that I can do for the prizes......since this time around I need to give away 6 cards for 6 lucky people. So I can't do something that would be too overly complicated.....coz then I might not have the time to make them. Hmmm....decisions decisions......

To be honest......this design looks so easy right? So simple......but the fact is.....it is quite time consuming.  You know why? Because the quilled paper are not of the same size.....they are randomly quilled paper of different length and different color. I wanted to make sure there aren't many gaps in between them....so that's why they come in different sizes. Big, medium, small and teeny weeny quilled papers.... :). Right now I wish I have a paper shredder.....hahaha......coz I really hate the cutting part.....I just love to quill the paper....not cut them hahaha LOL! 

I was also thinking of the wordings to put on the card.......I couldn't decide on what to write on it......or print on it......or stamp on it......errrmmm....I guess it would be pretty hard to stamp on it since the paper I used for the card has texture on it.....so I can't stamp on it just like that.....coz then the stamped wordings wouldn't look even on the card or can be seen clearly on the card because of the rough texture.

Sigh.......I'm still in the experimenting phase......this card is not finished yet......still have to worry about what to pop in the inside. I still can't decide what to do. This card is quite big.....half A4 size.....so the heart is quite big as well......thus requiring me to quill more paper in order to make the big heart shape.... gosh...I wonder how many quilled paper I used for this heart....probably near 100?? Donno laaa......too lazy to count hahahaha.....

Hmmmm......anyways I still can't decide what size, shape or theme I'm going to do for the June 2010 blog giveaway.....should I just stick with this heart design or do floral patterns? Perhaps I should do another poll to for readers to vote for what they prefer for the next prize ya? That could probably help me decide. Anyways....if you have any suggestions....I would love to hear it! Thanks! :)

MAY 2010 BLOG GIVEAWAY WINNERS!!!!

Good evening to all of my lovely readers! Sorry for being a little late with the results of the blog giveaway. It's been a pretty hectic day for me indeed! Phew! I'm so happy that finally, I have finished checking all of the names of participants for this month's blog giveaway .........and I have done the lucky draw to picked the 5 lucky winners. :)

For this month.....there were quite a number of participants....I'm quite happy that many are trying their luck at winning this month's prizes. :) I've checked one by one and altogether there were  about 36 bloggers who joined in! A lot more than last month's :). I've also received so many feedback and suggestions for my card blog.....and it's so wonderful! I'm so overwhelmed by your support to make this blog a better card blog in future. Thank you so much. I've already implemented some of your suggestions and I'm thankful for it because sometimes I myself don't notice what is missing here. It's good to have feedback from readers so that I can improve the blog and make it more interesting and informative as well. :) I really really appreciate it!

Ok! Now it's time to announce the names of the 5 lucky bloggers who have won themselves each a  love theme pop up card. Check them out below:

 SYIRA MIA ARIYS WORLD

http://syiramarcello.blogspot.com/

.

.

AMANDA ELTIQAZ

http://amandaeltiqaz.blogspot.com/

 .

.

NURAARIN

http://nuraarin.blogspot.com/

 .

.

MY ONLY ONE

 http://fasyafrina.blogspot.com/

 .

.

 KEMBARA HIDUP

http://along-nidar.blogspot.com/

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!!!! Please email me  as soon as possible your full name and complete mailing address plus your active contact number for mailing purposes. I will post the prizes to you by next week! 

Heartfelt thanks to all who have participated in my May 2010 Blog Giveaway. I really appreciate your effort and all your lovely wishes......I'm overwhelmed by them! Thank you so so much! For those who did not win this month, don't be sad :( ......do try your luck again next month for more interesting prizes to win! 

p.s. I'm thinking of giving away quilling pop up cards next month hehehehhehe! Ok or not???? ;). Whatever it may be....a simple quilling or with pop ups.....I hope it has something to do with quilling since I love it so much now!! ;)

XOXO,
Lin

Pop up balloons!

HB075

This is a very simple birthday card design for a little girl :) I had a request to do a birthday card for this little girl from a regular customer of mine and was given the freedom to do whatever I wanted. I wanted to experiment on the birthday cake using the quilling technique but decided to make the cake using foam instead. So for the candles I wanted to do the quilling as well....but somehow the rolled candle like paper didn't fit in well with the foam cake. So I used something else instead as the candle and made the fire using quilled tear drop shapes. 

I scattered and glued so many tiny cubes of foam of various colors on the card . I like that 3D effect it gives:) For the pop up....I love using the weaving technique.....so I weaved the paper strings of the balloons on the square pop up to make it look like it's floating hehehe. It's very simple and easy to do. :) It's a very colorful card indeed! :)

Last day of May 2010 Blog Giveaway!!!

Oh my God......time sure flies fast.......today is already the last day of May 2010 Blog Giveaway! The giveaway ends at 11.59pm tonight.....so there is time for you to join and stand a chance to win this lovely handmade love theme pop up card :). 

Do click HERE to go to the May 2010 Blog Giveaway post and find out how to enter there.

Follow the simple steps and be a part of the giveaway now........it's an opportunity you wouldn't want to miss!!

Those 5 lucky people who wins this particular handmade love theme pop up cards will be the first 5 people to own this card design.....because I have never sold this card design to anyone yet or used it for my own personal use. So those 5 lucky people will be the first to own and use the cards. :)

So be a part of this giveaway now and stand a chance to be one of those 5 lucky owners of this handmade love theme pop up card!!!! 

I would like to wish all the participants all the very best!! I shall announce the names of the 5 winners once I have checked and done the lucky draw :).  A big THANK YOU to all who have supported the blog giveaway for the month of May. God bless you all!!

XOXO,

Lin

My blog featured in InTrend Magazine :)

:) I was so surprised when I was informed by one of my blog readers yesterday that my blog was featured in InTrend Magazine June 2010 issue. I couldn't believe it at first.....until shortly after that I received an email from another customer mentioning that she knew about my card blog from the Intrend magazine! :D I had no idea that I was one of the bloggers featured in the Gaya Hidup : Klik and Blog segment. So, a big thank you to Asri for informing me hehehehe.....otherwise I would have never known about it! LOL! I didn't have the time to look for the magazine yesterday, so this afternoon I went to search for it.....luckily it's available at a nearby shop. :) This is the first time I bought this magazine....quite an interesting magazine I must say....quite good in quality hehehe......

In short.....they mentioned about how my customers are able to share their ideas with me in producing a personalized handmade card for them. It's true that some of the custom made handmade cards I've created here were sometimes produced with the basic ideas given to me by my customers.......in the initial stage when we discussed about the colors of choice, themes, wordings, and what type of pop ups they prefer.....I do love to know and find out what my customers really want in their personalized  handmade cards. This is to ensure that they will get what they can't get in the usual card stores. It's important that I materialize their dreams. :) And by knowing what they want....I will try my level best to make it happen for them ....God willing :).

I would also like to say a big thank you to InTrend magazine for featuring my blog this time around.......even though I did not get to be the "Chosen Blogger"....it doesn't matter....as long as I was featured in it hehehe. It's an honor really :). Mucho mucho gracias everyone! :)

Tri-color quilling flowers.....

AC004

Another pending order ready for delivery today :) I'm so happy I managed to get this done on time hehehe. This was a request from my customer who was interested in my HB014 card design. She especially loved the sexy pop up lips inside the card. But for the front design I changed it so that it would look different. I'm always trying to make it different every time.....even if the changes are minor ones....at least it's different from my previous designs.

This time the changes is quite obvious because I'm using the quilling technique :) As you all know, I'm quite obsessed with it lately.....so I'm experimenting with it on most of my new designs..hehehe. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.....the flowers I made had 3 colors in it.....red, blue and white. Actually my customer wanted this card to be in a combination of red, blue, black and white......but I decided not to add the black because I didn't think it was suitable for this particular design. Perhaps for other designs it would be good to add the black. So I tried my best to use all those colors....and added some gold and beige as well to match it all up. At first I didn't think that gold and beige colors would be suitable but in the end.....I thought it looked ok with me :) I like it! hehehe!

As I was making the sexy pop up lips....I remembered that it was my first pop up experiment in 2008...how long time ago that was....and how scared I was making it for the first time. I didn't have the confidence to do it back then, and I didn't know anyone at that time who was able to help me, I figured how to do it on my own...I'm glad my customer gave me the support. :) I used to think it was so difficult to do it....but now I can say how easy it is to pop that sexy lips. It took me years to understand the mechanics of pop ups.....but I'm getting there....not an expert yet....but I'm getting there...God willing :).

Quilled heart card....

V025 

I'm so into someone right now.....and was thinking of giving this to him when the time is right..... :). It's suppose to be so easy to just give it to him....but then again maybe....maybe it can wait a while. Fear is always the case. :I

I'm so happy to do this very simple quilled heart card for the first time after watching the Youtube videos for ideas.....Youtube has so many tutorials that we can get ideas from and be inspired :). I was thinking of my button and sequins heart all the time when doing this.....it's a similar pattern except that instead of using buttons and sequins, I used quilled circles instead. The quilled circles are in different sizes as you can see. 

Believe you me......this design is never going to be exactly the same each time I make it because it was made spontaneously and furthermore I never measure the heart shape or drew the shape of the heart in advance. I just arranged the quilled circles one by one randomly. So, the next time I make this, it will look slightly different from this one. So each person who orders this card will get one that is one of a kind. :)

I made this design on a note size card.....quite small one about A6 size. Cute size card to be given to a cute person ehehehhee....

Quilling flowers on anniversary card....

AC003

I'm so happy that today I managed to finish doing this anniversary card using this quilling technique hehehehe :). I have been thinking of doing this technique for the orders I've received. Luckily my customer was interested in this quilling technique as well, so I have the freedom to do it for her anniversary card :)

Why I made this anniversary card in a soft blue color? Well.....this is because my customer informed me that her hubby's favourite color is soft blue.....and she was hoping that I can apply this color for her anniversary card. She was interested in the AC001a card.....especially the pop up inside the card, so I tried to follow that pattern and added some flowers to it too. What she loves most about the pop up is that I can put her name and her hubby's name on it. 

I didn't make the heart shapes for the pop up in the usual red combination like the one in AC001 because then it won't match the front design. So I thought it would be nice to see heart shapes in colors other than red, pink or maroon......I chose something that perhaps be suitable for men.....since this card will be given to her hubby. :) I really like the color combination for this card.....I think it looks fresh and sweet :).

Gorgeous Blogger Award!

:) Oh how sweet! Just a few days ago, I received this award from a sweet fellow blogger Aisyah Helga from My Tinker Space. Thank you dear Aisyah! I really appreciate it! I love visiting her blog to check out her beautiful and colorful crochet work and her DIY projects....they are fun!! :)

Ok...now for the rules.....
A. Accept the award and thank the person who gave it to you. ----> DONE!

B. List 10 things about yourself  -----> DONE!
    1. I'm half Malay and half Indian. :)
    2. I can barely speak Tamil but am interested in learning Mandarin...:)
    3. I am an Art & Design graduate....majored in Ceramic Design.
    4.I love surfing the net for hours.
    5. I love to drive but don't own a car :P
    6. I'm 5 feet 4 inches tall.
    7. I love the latest Mini Cooper....hope to own one someday ;)
    8. Still single... LOL! :P
    9. I love watching the food channel....AFC.
  10. I work from 9.00am till 12.00am. :P

C. List 5 additional things you DON'T like ----> DONE!
1. Long fingernails.
2. Lazy people.
3. Snakes!
4. Idiots.
5. Liars. 

Then pick ten people to give this lovely award to! -----> DONE!
So hard to decide.....so I randomly pick bloggers who I like to visit :)

1. CC's Art Blog

2. Grace to You

3. Kak Shaida

4. Jajakraf

5. Flanelita - Felt

6. Button Planet 

7. Diari Ann 

8. Pretty Mommie

9. Diyadeary  

10. Sheeta F&C

Quilled fish? LOL!

Hahahahahahaha!!! I'm obsessed with quilling! Yup! :P

Those colorful quilled papers you see on the card were just placed on the card .......I haven't glued it on the card yet........I was just playing with the arrangements. I love to see those colorful quilled papers on a black background....it just stands out doesn't it?? And as I was arranging them.......my Mom called me to go out and feed the fish in the aquarium outside the house. After feeding them, I went back to my working table and started to arrange the quilled papers in a fish form.....hahahaha.......but I donno what you think of it.....it kinda look like a fish to me. LOL! I was just being silly and playing around with the arrangements hehehehe.....

Nope.....I wasn't thinking of selling this to anyone.....I was just playing around. Just having fun.....releasing the stress hehehe...... ;)

I "HEART" YOU

V024

I received a request from a customer who was interested in my V002 (Valentine's Day Card). That card had a different set of color combination and she wanted the card to be in Red, Black and White combination. So I said, ok....no problem...it can be done :). I suggested to her that the base of the card to be in black color so that I can do the heart shapes in red and white. And she agreed to that :)......so that's how this card design came about.

I did made some changes though to the card. If you compare the original design to this one....you could see the difference in the arrangement of the heart shapes at the bottom of the card. And quite frankly I prefer this new arrangement :). Since at the moment I'm so into quilling......I decided to add a quilled heart at the wordings hehehe......just a cute one. Very simple right? :)

This is a small note card.....no pop ups inside....no wordings inside either. But there is a blank white paper inserted on the inside for her to write her own special wishes. I heart this card now hehehe...... ;)

Paper quilled roses.....

More quilling experiments today! Yay! hehehehe! Today I tried my hand at quilling roses. I tried doing it by just following instructions I see on quilling websites but somehow it didn't turn out right. I wasn't sure what I did wrong.....no matter how many times I did it, I couldn't make it look like  the quilling roses I saw online.  But since I'm so determined to find out how to do it....so I kept googling more about it.  

Finally I found help in Youtube ...... I searched in Youtube for video tutorials on how to make quilled roses.....and luckily there was one that I find quite easy to understand and it was the exact type of rose pattern I was looking for. There were many types of tutorials on how to roses....but there was one particular video that I love the most. So, after several trials....I managed to get it right! I am so happy about it hhehehe! Now I know what I did wrong....hehehe.....LOL!

Two - tone quilling hearts....

Yes!!! After successful trials in combining two colored paper to make the two - tone quilling flowers,  today I managed to make some two - tone quilling hearts :). I'm SO IN LOVE with this one! I realized that it's a little bit tougher to do this heart shape quilling than it is doing those simple flowers I've done before. This is because I am still struggling to get the hang of gluing the two tear drop shapes together to form the shape of a heart. I guess it's all about how you pinch the two teardrops together....if you can pinch it with the right amount of pressure....then it will look nice. I'm still in the practicing mode with this shape......once I get the hang of it, then I will feel confident enough to use it for  any of my handmade card designs.

I'm so happy that I've been getting a lot of good response regarding my interest in quilling and my effort in applying this technique on my card designs. I really appreciate the good wishes and support from my readers. I still have a lot to learn though.....I still have a long way to go.....I'm trying the best I can to speed up the process.....but you know how it is.....it's not that easy hehehehe. But I must say that it's great that in the process of learning this technique, I get to meet more quilling designers from all over the world. I'm so grateful to be able to know these people online. Their quilling designs are unbelievably amazing!!! Such eye candy for me......I find myself glued to their blogs.....reading and learning from them. I'm sure if not for the internet, it would have been a little difficult for all of us to find the information about other types of craft that quick. ...right??? It's amazing how the internet can help us in so many ways. The information is just at our fingertips....all we need to do it just google google google ehehhehe...... ;)

Two - tones quilling flowers and leaves

It's official!!! I'm a quilling addict!! LOL! Seriously.....ever since I've started playing with this new technique....I just couldn't stop! I don't know why......it's taking over my life!! It's like I'm so drawn to this new toy and I couldn't stop playing with it. It's unstoppable! Arrrrggghhhhh!! Help!!! 

I just couldn't take my mind of it honestly........it's something about the way the paper coils up and how I can shape the paper into whatever shape that I want......it's such a wonderful wonderful feeling hehehehe..... :D. I've been playing with the shapes and the layering of the paper......tried to combine whatever paper I had available and see what color paper goes well together. I don't want to spend more money buying more paper.....so I just use whatever paper I had available and make it work. So that's what I've been doing.....just experimenting and experimenting non stop hahahha.......

I was so excited when I was able to do the layering of two color papers for the flowers and leaves.....I realise now that it all depends on the length of the paper strips....the longer it is....the bigger the coils....so if you wanna do smaller petals or leaf......then the length should be shorter. You have to measure the length of the paper strips that you plan to cut.....so that you will always get the same shape of coils. You can't just simply cut any length you like. You need to measure everything up. Yup.....we do use a lot of mathematics in art hahahaha......can't get away without it. It's inevitable.....we artists do need mathematics in our creations hehehe......

I'm also thinking of using this technique for my pending orders......so I wanted to see if I could apply it for the custom made orders I had......if it was suitable or not. Because right now....at this moment....all I want to do is quilling and quilling and quilling hahahahahhaha!!! I'm obsessed with it......oh God!!! I never knew I was going to be so addicted to it.......never imagine it. I donno laaaaaa....you will know it if you yourself give it a try.......see if this kinda thing happens to you too! See if you are going to be addicted as well like ME! LOL! 

Happy Teachers' Day Sweetheart...

TD010

Yippeee! I did it! I managed to do more of quilling this week! I'm so excited! I practiced and practiced the quilling tear drop shape so many times! LOL! At last I got the hang if it and made some cute small ones. I still have not tried layering it with different colors. Step by step....baby steps.....perhaps in another time I will experiment with the layering. For now, it's just simple quilling for me :). 

I had this request to do a teachers' day card from a regular customer of mine. She's been waiting for me to do this for quite sometime now. I still have a lot more pending orders to finish up huhuhuhu......so many are waiting in line..... :( I'm so slow huhuhu ......anyways, I was thinking of a design for the front cover and I thought of doing this quilling design on it for a change. I didn't even ask her if she would like that.....I just gambled and did it anyways....hoping that she would love it as much as I do. Thank God when I showed it to her today, she loved it! Yay! Phew!

She wanted a pop up lady similar to the one I've done before (the shopaholic theme), so I did that but the difference is I changed the colors of her clothes, no handbags and  no shopping bags and added a blackboard behind her and her holding some books and a chalk hehehehe......just to show that she is a teacher. hehehe! I'm pretty much happy with the way it turned out.  :) Hope to experiment more with quilling patterns in my future designs...hehehe!

Glitter glue

 Photo A

 

 Photo B

 Photo C

Photo D

 Photo E

  Photo F

I am writing this entry in response to my fellow blogger Evelyn of Purple Collection who inquired about glitter glue. I thought perhaps if I blogged about it here then at least more people can benefit from this inquiry hehehe. Well....at least I hope so that this entry can help hehehe....if not much as least a little bit. :)  I myself am still doing research on it and am still learning. 

Well.....as you can see from the photos above, these are the glitter glues and glitter powders that I have in my collection. I've been collecting these over the past few years. In my search for craft materials, I've come across with a few types that actually are great for card making and have stuck with the product till now, but some of which I will never buy again because of it's lack of performance. What I mean is, the product does not look great when applied on the paper or card. Ok, I will try and explain about the products above one by one below.

PHOTO A:

So far....this type of glitter glue is my most favorite at the moment. I use it a lot for my handmade cards lately. The glitter inside the glue are quite fine in size and good in quality. The glue itself is very fluid and flows really well from the bottle. I'm loving it so much :) When it dries, it give a really sparkling effect. I bought this in a stationary shop in Alor Setar. It is also available in other craft shops in Kuala Lumpur. This product is not that expensive either. Very affordable.

PHOTO B:

Ok...this glitter glue I don't really fancy but it's good enough for certain occasions. I don't use it a lot for my cards but at certain times I think it can be useful......but so far, I don't really like this type because the glue is quite think and not fluid. The glitters in it are quite fine in size though....so that's the only reason why I bought it. But when it comes to performance......it lacks. :( I remember buying this at SOGO, Kuala Lumpur.....they have quite a lot of glitter glue sold there at the stationary department there.

PHOTO C:

Ok...this one is a glitter paint.....I bought years ago.....way back when I was studying in ITM!!! hahaha! Imagine....that must have been at least 12 years ago.....huhuhu.....but surprisingly it is still in good condition till now. What I love about this product is that it gives a 3D effect. They have a glitter type (with glitter in it) and also a pearl  shine type (no glitter powder in it) as well.  I bought these in a art supply shop in Shah Alam. I can't remember the name of the shop. But till now I have not come across this product in any of the craft shop I've been to. I've tried searching for it in Kuala Lumpur but failed to find it. If anybody out there knows where I can get these. Please let me know :) I want to buy some! But I do know one thing though....this product, even though is small in size, it is very expensive compared to the rest of the glitter glue you see above because it does not only can be used for paper, but it can also be used on other materials like on fabric and plastic. :)

PHOTO D:

This type of glitter glue are sold in almost all the stationary shops I've been to in Kuala Lumpur. You can also find it sold at Mydin Stores.....hehehe.....that's where I found it. It's quite cheap but.......but unfortunately it does not rise to the occasion. The glue is not that fluid.....it's quite thick and not easy to apply on paper. I personally do not like to use this anymore.

PHOTO E:

This is another type of glitter glue.....I bought this at SOGO, Kuala Lumpur. It says that it's a metallic type of glitter glue so I gave it a try. It does give that metallic type of shine.....there is no glitter powder in it.....it just shines when it dries and give a metallic effect. That's all. Again, this type of product is not my favourite to use because the glue is not that fluid. This product is cheap though.

PHOTO F:

Last but not least........the glitter powders. It comes in a few colors. I bought these at Mydin Store. Believe it or not, this is what I used before I even knew about the glitter glue. hahahaha......I wanted the glitter glue effect that I see in craft magazines.....but since I didn't know where to get the glitter glue, I used the glitter powder instead. So what I did was, I mixed the glitter powders with clear transparent glue! hahahaha! That was really messy! But at least I tried!!! Messy or not, as long as I get the effect I wanted. LOL!

Ok.....I hope I have answered the inquiry hehehe.......if I have anymore infos about the glitter glue, I will add it in this post again. I hope anyone who have more infos on glitter glue would drop by and give suggestions regarding this product and tell us where we can get them. I hope we can share our knowledge together so that we can create better art work in future. :)