I have always been intrigued by the different types of albums made by a lot of talented ladies out there in the crafting world. I always wanted to try making one sometime. And finally I tried my hand on a mini star shaped album....yay!!!! The thing about these crafts is that, once you get a hang of it you just don't wanna stop....you wanna go on and on and make as many as possible.

I happened to come across this star shaped mini album tute over here and here; and I think its a great idea. What better ways to preserve memories than to do it with an album that can stay open on your table for you to enjoy. I really really liked this concept and am looking forward to making many more. It can be such a great gift for near and dear ones!! :-) 

I wanted to play along at Itsy Bitsy challenges in their Colour challenge. I think the combination of blue, green and neutrals is amazing and very eye-catching. I was really inspired by the album that Sunehra has made over at the blog. I think its beautiful and a huge thanks to her. 

So here come the pics....this is my first attempt at an album so please do bear with any mistakes that I may have made and if you are reading this then please do leave me some comments and suggestions to improve. I don't have paper trimmers or score boards (p.s. I am getting them really soon....and am so excited!! :-)) and so my lines I think were a bit skewed. I wanted the album title to say "US" and u see that on the cover.  

Happy Holidays!!

Well....not really holidays in this part...but that was the theme i chose for this card. 

Again I was experimenting with making my own stencils and making patterns with them. I tried out this sea side pattern on my card and I think it turned out ok. I need to improve the quality of my stencils though. Still using card stock, which is not very firm when i use paint to stencil the pattern. Wonder where I can get hold of acetate sheets!

So here is the card with my stenciling. You'll notice that one of the shell patterns is a little smudged! :-P 

 

The wave pattern was stenciled and then cut out. Then I used water colour pencils to colour it. 

The shells were stenciled using acrylic water colours.

The sentiment was traced and then written over with a black sketch pen. The starfish was stenciled on red card stock and then cut out.The little purple lines and dots in the center were hand drawn. 

Entering this in Catchy Challenges - Choose your Keyword

A small post today. CAS again....I hope people don't get bored of my CAS card craze!!

This is a card that I made for the CAS on Sunday Challenge #5 Thank You.
Hope you like it. I wanted to try out a red and navy blue combination on a CAS card (though i think the blue is not really "blue" in the picture.....appears more like black!! :-( ). Do let me know if its turned out well.

Oh and the flowers are coloured with water colour pencils.

A closer look at the flowers.

A closer view of the sentiment and the stitching pattern which as you might have guessed, was handmade. :-)

CAS again!!

I just figured out what CAS is and I seem to be addicted to it already!! This card just happened to come about. 

I have a lovely book that teaches you to stencil and stamp.....not just on cards but on possibly everything from fabric to floor to tiles to furniture. There was a time, long ago, when I used stencils on furniture and walls. Ideally stencils should be cut out on acetate sheets, but I used to cut them out on card stock. Anyway, so I was going through the book and the stencil patterns given in it and I came across this lovely hibiscus pattern and thought of giving it a try. Once the stencil was cut out, I figured I should try colouring it with my watercolour pencils. I did and it turned out pretty decent. As I was wondering what to do with the flower, I decided why not use the flower as the focal point in a simple card! And so i neatly cut out the flower and used it in this CAS card. 

A closer look at the flower and my colouring. Its not bad i think.

Another pic of the card.

                               

Entering this card in the following challenges:

Less is More - Lucky Dip Use Scallops
ATCAS #9 - Spring
Challenges4Everybody - Challenge #17 Anything Goes
Brown Sugar Challenge # 35 - Flowers

Lace and Love for a Friend....

Lace on card is something that I tried for the first time. Yet another first for me was the use of distress inks. I purchased my first pair of distress inks sometime in Feb and since then haven't been able to use them. I'd been out of town, on my return got busy with settling back into a routine, especially with my dear daughter's school having closed for spring break here!! Now the new session reopens from Tuesday and am really looking forward to some quiet time when i can do some crafty stuff!!

Coming back to this card. I used an old sketch from the Mojo Monday blog. I wanted to use this blue card stock I had with me and also use some patterned paper from Bo Bunny that I'd recently acquired. The lace was something I bought a long time ago from an exhibition. Its some kind of hand made lace from Sri Lanka crafted by the Sinhalese women.  I think using lace has given the card a different kinda effect!! I also tried my hand at distressing those small green triangles on the top corners of the card and the edge of the white base card stock too!! I don't think that its very clear in the picture though!

Once the card was ready, I wanted to use the distress ink with a stamp and so I thought of using this butterfly stamp with the Vintage Photo distress ink on the inside of the card. I needed to break the monotony of white on the inside of the card and thought that using this stamp would be ideal.....i think the effect is quite good. What do you think? 

A closer look at the butterflies stamped on the inside. Now I know why all the talented women out there swear by distress inks.....they add a different dimension to stamps. and cards in general i think!! :-)

 p.s. I also figured that I should increase the size of the pictures on the blog!! The trials and tribulations of a (re)new(ed) blogger.......Phew!!

Linking this card to the following challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers - Challenge 87 Friendship
Hiding In My Craft Room - HIMCR #91 - Freestyle
Totally Gorjuss - Challenge 177 Something Blue
Friday Sentiment - CBLA_SF8 Anything Goes