My little craft corner is spic and span!

Home baked Chocolate chip cookies.

My spic and span clean craft corner.

Tiramisu

English Trifle

Now you see it, now you don't - that's how I describe the "disorganized mess" in my little craft corner. The craft tools, papers, embellishments, stamps, punches, etc. etc. have been tucked away for the festive holiday. I am good at both messing and cleaning up...lol. It has been a wonderful, delightful and joyful Christmas for me and my family. We had had a small Christmas party with our loved ones, filling our home with merriment, laughter and aroma of home cooked food and great company. My other passion besides craftwork is baking and I love to try out dessert recipes. This Christmas I baked some gingerbread using fresh grounded ginger and Laura Bush's "Governor's Mansion Cowboy Cookies" (search and get recipe from google if interested). I made traditional English trifle and Tiramisu cake for dessert.

Happy Prosperous Chinese New Year 2009!

Layered Sakura flowers on gold paperstock background. The tree branch and tiny flowers are Jeart/Double-Do 1401027 Spray.

I recycled "hong-pau" (red packet) paper with toothpicks adhered to make a fan. Jeart 1202038 Bamboo and WANSHIRUYI words used.

Jeart/double do 1300030 Fish#26 1200229 Xiang.

A sliding card made with recycled "hong-pau".

Slide out the card and it reads: Gong Xi Fa Cai - 1990010 Jeart/double do.

It's GREAT to live in a multi-cultural land of Sarawak in the island of Borneo in Malaysia. Right after celebrating Christmas we're preparing for another big and elaborate (auspicious) festival - Chinese New Year! It's the year of the ox come the celebration of spring festival.

Gold signifies riches in abundance and prosperity and here's wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year 2009! May God richly bless you with good health and wealth.

Break for holiday season

5 days to Christmas Day and the holiday mood is setting on. When the children were young I would be the one taking out the Christmas tree and getting everyone to take part in decorating the tree with ornaments and lights. I have to admit it, the thought of stacking up the branches and assembling the tree and taking down and packing it back into the box and carefully wrapping the fragile ornaments and lights is deterring me from making the first move to put the tree up. But I am so glad this putting-up-tree tradition in our family (so we can put presents underneath the tree) is embraced by the children and now they are the ones initiating the move. While I appreciate their effort I also enjoy hearing the laughter and cold jokes transpired among the four siblings while I click these precious moments for the family album.

This beautiful Christmas tree has brought us years of family warmth and memories together.

At times like this I have to break away from my addiction of card making and scrapbooking and seriously get down to cleaning up the mess in my little craft corner :D Not a pretty sight, is it!? LOL...
I hope you share the same Christmas sentiment with me - to make time and spend time with family for this is a season to share and give our love and time to our loved ones. May God bless you and yours with an extra measure of His love and may this Christmas be the merriest and brightest you've ever experienced! Merry Christmas!

Fun Christmas Card

A Christmas card made with cut outs from Sizzix extended cut Forest, Train and Train Tracks and also Jeart Border Lace#18.

Stamping on canvas

Another card done with stamping and embellishing with beads.

Vintage Christmas Card

This Christmas card is made by stamping images on a white piece of canvas which is really easy to do - ink & stamp. However you need to let the ink dry completely before adhering to cardstock paper. Mine has smudge marks and resulted in a vintage looking card and that's the way I like it :) A quick and easy card to make and looks great, too, as the stamped images on canvas look like cross stitched.

Taken in another angle.

Wishing you and your family a merry, merry Christmas!

A Christmas card made with stamping on a piece of canvas and papers.

Prepare the papers. The more I create, the better my eyes are trained to find the color coordination that I like. The papers are inked along the edges or punched as border lace.

I stamp and color images on the canvas, embellish with a red star brad and frill the edges. The cut out Sizzix bauble is dressed up too. Messages are stamped on Jeart/ Double Do 1401046-12 Frame# 19 scallop circle. A piece of decorative ribbon is glued onto a strip of paper.

I play around with the arrangement of the cut and stamped and embellished pieces, glue on the buttons and gems.

Christmas is about....

This Christmas card which I had just made exudes a special message. In my younger days Christmas meant shopping for gifts and sending cards to wish my loved ones a happy holiday season. Christmas has a fuller meaning now, to me anyway. Christmas is more than just enjoying an euphoric feelings of a bright and merry holiday season where families gather to have a western meal of roasted meat, red wine and sweet desserts and exchange gifts and partying into the night.

Christmas now reminds me of God's love for me and the world - "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 - and it's because of Jesus Christ that I know God's purposes for my life. And that's why I'm celebrating Christmas - Jesus Christ shows me His way, His truth and in Him I live a life full of purposes and a meaningful one as well.

Jesus loves me to death - oh well, He died on the cross to redeem me from my sins - just as I love my family to death. That's why LOVE holds my family together. Christmas reminds me of Christ's love and because He loves me, I too, can love others and learn to forgive with Jesus' strength. Love begins with loving my husband and children unconditionally. My dream for my family is renewed every year especially at Christmas time when FAMILY comes TOGETHER and be together - we teach each other about spending time together, remaining loyal to one another, accepting each others' differences and encouraging each other in our faith. *These peek-a-boo windows are cut outs from Ellison Window Cuts Frame, Rectangle Peek-a-Boo.*

Christmas is Jesus Christ loving the whole world and every relationship is given by God. Christmas is thanking God for friends in my life who share much love and laughter and new friends whom God may send in my way to fulfill his purposes in my life.

Christmas fulfills God's purposes and it brings glory to Him.

Inside of the card - stamped messages and embossed with heat tool.

Merry Christmas....Tweet, Tweet, Tweet!

Christmas in an equatorial climate...lots of green and brown...it's exotic Christmas atmosphere here. Papers and die cuts are from Sizzix. Embossed lace border is from Jeart 4000003 - Lace#24.

Merry Christmas...HO!HO!HO!

I enjoyed making these tags with an opening sealed with clear plastic book cover. Inside these tag "shaker box" are glittering stars and tiny white foam balls to make it look like Santa is jolly happy, throwing snow in the air! Come back for step by step instructions to make these tags which can also be used as ornaments for Christmas tree some time soon...I need to get back my camera before I can snap the details.

Sweet Sixteen

I bought some pretty ribbons in assorted colors and got down to making cards with them. The doll cut out is from Jeart 1701083 - Bride and 1710037 - Dress#4. I wrap pink ribbon around the gown to make a pretty gown. I don't have a daughter but I think sixteen is a really special age for a girl (that's why this is a pretty card) where she's turning into a sweet young lady and really fun to be with, lots of teenage issues to share and guide her with and she'll really appreciate your spending time with her.

Inside of the card. I'm using a phone camera to take pictures of these cards and hope the picture quality is just as good. My camera is sent for repair with faulty flash and I have run out of patience for its return so I've to make do of my husband's handphone camera for the time being.

Wedding

Red gown for a Chinese wedding, that's what I intended the card to signify. But my son says the groom doesn't dress up like a Chinese so it looks like a cross-cultural wedding. My husband thinks it's an Indian wedding, the bridal gown all red and glittering... :) lol...Doesn't matter, does it? After all, we're living in a peaceful, multi-cultural country and I have had lots of fun making the card.

Pretty ribbons help dress up the Jeart 1710037 - Dress#4 die shape.

It's my birthday

I woke up on cloud nine yesterday - it was my birthday and the celebration already began at the stroke of midnight when my sons kissed and wished me happy birthday. This is the day that the Lord has made, I shall be glad and rejoice in it - that's what I tell myself every morning no matter which side of the bed I got up on, never on wrong side :) I'm just thankful to God for every new day in my life. Yesterday was a beautiful day to remember because I received birthday greetings from loved ones near and far. My husband threw me a surprise dinner gathering with my family and bestest friends collaborating with him to give me a pleasant shock in my life. I didn't expect my hubby to do things like that for me! All day long I had been thanking God for family and friends and I was bursting with joy to be surrounded by them! It's not really about birthdays but having your loved ones sharing their time with you. And someone like my dearest friend, Josephine to give away a lovely, lovely birthday card -shown above -that she's personally made for me. Thank you God, for loving me so much.

A New Home

Added touch to the card.

Feeling refreshed after a holiday with my family. I used a tag to make a bird house that opens up to more messages. A bee clip is attached for use as handle to open up the card. Simple to make and a pleasure to give away. Inside card message: May you and your family enjoy years of happy times in your new home.

Bon Voyage with Hot Air Balloon Die Shape

I'd just realized that I don't have any "goodbye" card in my collection. A Hot Air Balloon die shape -shown above - makes a good farewell card.

After playing around with colors and papers I came out with this combination.

I'll leave one of the tags blank for the time being until the card is ready to be given away.

Thank you for being my friend

To all the loved ones and friends that God send in my path:

A wee bit of heaven
drifted down from above,
a handful of happiness,
a heart full of love.
-Helen Steiner Rice-
"Of all the gifts life could send-
the best is knowing you're my friend!"
Thank You

Hearts of Love

I love making cards with Heart die shapes, a variety of different heart shapes. I fell in love with this design and I felt I just got to make it for someone special.

Cut squares of same size in white, stamp for background or decorate as you wish. Cut out alphabet letters and color heart shapes as desire.

Use double sticky tape and foam and adhere to the white squares.

Arrange the embellished squares and this is simply a lovely card to make for loved ones.

We Are FAMILY with Puzzle Die Shape

My first try out with making a card with the Puzzle die shape in my collection. The first thought about puzzles is fitting together for completeness. That's what my family dream is about, having each and every one in the family coming together in person whenever possible, thoughts, prayers, phone calls, sms or any means of communication no matter how far apart we are and no matter where the trials of life lead each of us. "Each one of us will be a blessing to the other"....Family ties will be much stronger if we build our family dream on loving each other, having fun together, staying loyal and standing by each other no matter what happens, growing together in learning more of each other's unique character- strength and weakness AND hanging on to the same faith in God who created family in the first place and has all the instructions for a blissfully happy family.

This card is made with cut out from Puzzle die shape and Lace border die shape and alphabet cut out.

Trying out the arrangement... like this...

or that....

Embellish with ribbon and sparkles and stamped messages that reads :
Thinking of you
1. expression of thoughtfulness.
2. showing care and concern.
3. letting you know I'm here for you.