Sweet Lollipop - MW

Decided theme: Sweets. Got the idea from Pinterest and incorporated crochet as well. Crochet pattern is original, really simple and got good result with just the first try. Spent more attention and time on the background. Polka dots were made from hand-colored recycled white paper punches and also punches from scrap color paper I've found lying around. I'll give myself an A+ for effort for lining those dots as well, rather than investing in some beautifully printed paper.

Recycled paper, cut to size and trim with scallop cutter on the top, sponged with red ink and lastly stamped with candy canes. "Happy Birthday!" was typewritten on origami paper and adhered to recycled namecard. Really love how the sponge tape creates such a nice 3D feel. Will definitely be seeing them a lot in future cards. ^^

A simple line typewritten on the inside of card, and a little letter to go with. And this should mark the end of November cards BUT December is always the time to go crazy. Not just birthdays but also Christmas!!! Gotta run before I run out of time!

Butterfly Theme - Pepper

Decided to make a rather simple card, instead of trying to fill every space like I always do. The idea was to make the card a little religious, since she is a devoted Christian (or so I think), and naturally nature would be the go-to. Glad to have found those clear stamps while shopping~

Have been researching online about clear stamps and wanted to put my hands on them as soon as I could. Though I managed to find those butterfly stamps, the shops didn't have any kind of stamping tool available. And since I didn't wanna waste my money on the acrylic blocks too, I used the stamps with a laminating sheet. XD And I do not recommend that.

Anyway, the ink sponging here is much smoother, right~ Not to mention that the left banner and two heart cut-outs are from recycled material! Used the sponge tape and flower embellishment bought from Carousell. Simply amazed by how beautiful everything comes together.

Simple on the inside, with just a "Happy Birthday" typewritten and a Polaroid of the Christmas card she sent me last year. Together with a short letter because I wanna clear my paper stash as much as I can in order to welcome new members~!

Love is Blossoming - Birthday Card for the Husband

Another continuation of quilling, combined with crochet, and at the same time trying out new technique - ink sponging! Well, I must admit I didn't do too great here, but I've definitely improved since then! Would definitely love to upgrade my inkpad quality and collection during the year-end Japan trip~ Woohooo!

A little recycled idea of hourglass for the counting down with a little parchment paper added on. The rest are simple writing and pasting. Somehow I think my handwriting kinda ruin all the cards I've made. Gonna practise more on that!

No letter this time since I wanted to spend more time on the "gift" and proceed to finish all the other cards before the trip. So I'm kinda racing with time here. Hope the ideas keep flooding in!

Music Notes - Onion

Got a little late posting this already-mailed-out card, as I got busy with the November cards, which by the way are completed! And if I must say, I believe those November cards are definitely going to be in my favorites!

Anyway, back to our September baby. This card is a revised idea, if you remember, I used buttons to pop up the birthday music notes the previous time. So after experimenting with quilling, I wanted to try again since there were still some scraps left. Backed with some stamps at the background corners

Simple pasting of carefully chosen scraps with music note stamps and punch and a simple birthday wish. Of course, coupled with a little personalized letter.

Gonna be posting the November cards soooooon (hopefully), and crack my brain hard for ideas for the December cards~ >-<

Mini Book - Onion

Are you as excited as I am? Kyaa~ Finally got my hands onto something I've always wanted to try - Book Binding! Gave a little sneak preview some time back and here's the final product! (Sorry the brewing took so long!)

A lot of time was spent in preparing and planning this project expectedly, which was why I started this early (also partly because of the year end holiday trip). Each page was cut from an A4 recycled paper, printed on only one side. After which, copy-typing took place with about 20mm margin on the left, and this is probably the one that took the longest time.

I ended up with 23 pages, with one more added as the cover page.I punched 3 holes, spread out evenly with 37mm gaps, in 4 stacks of 6s with a single hole puncher. Must admit that it's almost impossible to get a perfect job done, but shall work harder (or get better tools) to achieve better results the next time!

After some planning and calculation, I wrapped the stack with wrapping paper in 2 pieces. So I could make use of the design beautifully. Decided not to have hard cover or cover up the printed side, since I don't want it to be too thick to handle or worse, to ruin it. (I probably should try it before I start typing the next time ^^)

Poked through the wrapping paper while stitching/binding and completed rather swiftly from this point. Ended the project with a little touching up and a printout of the actual book cover.

Alright, gonna continue on the card and finish as early as I can, in preparation of my long holiday this year-end~

Something is brewing

Strip Flower Theme - Hasegawa

The urge to bang my head on the wall.

Have been really busy at work with the new workload in a new area. Rather challenging and stressed at the same time. But I guess the ranting can continue somewhere else and it shouldn't be an excuse either.

I forgot to take photos of this card at all.

I won't say that it's wonderfully done (though it is) but it's a fresh new try and probably a breakthrough in my recycling. I shall attempt to make you see how the card looks like by bombarding you with thousands of words. XD

I've cut magazine pages into thin strips of around 5mm with my beloved paper cutter and dyed the strips red. After which, I rolled and shaped them like flower petals. Pasting them on the card makes beautiful pop ups, backed with a stamping of the 'stem', and shattered flower punch-outs decoration.

It sounds so easy just typing it out here, but I've spent so much time on this idea that I only completed the card right before mailing date. The strips were too thick at first, the rolling was crazy and the dyeing was a mess.

The back of the card were stamped at the corners and layered with a wrapping paper, then a short message on a orange paper. Attached with a nice artistic letter which is going to be stuck in the heart for a while, according to the receiver.

Overall, it was a good attempt with pleasure result, despite all the episodes in between. Shall think of something for the remaining strips lying around. Also, Happy National Day for Singapore too~!

Silly Funny Theme - Salt Birthday

As the title suggests, this is probably one of the most "blahhhh" cards ever. For the most "blahhhhh" friend I'd always love. Remembering this friend of mine, I would be reminded of many silly and crazy things we've thought/talked/done together before. Thus, I wanted to make her card really funny and silly this year.

I don't think the words show well in the photo, or even on the actual card. Anyways, it says "happy" on the red cloud, "birthday" with a tiny heart on the yellow, and "At least you are not as old as you will be next year" on the rainbow. All written in a pen supposedly to be dried up.


But as I started writing her name for the letter on the back, I was so surprised that the ink came flowing! And thus, the letter was written in ink. Backed with some stamping designs to add some zest into the simple card.

Loves those stamps so much that I couldn't stop stamping. So it over spill to the envelope (There's one on the front as well! I totally think it turns out adorable. Did I mention that the envelope itself is handmade from recycled paper as well?

Lastly, I sealed the envelope with some homemade stickers~! Was rather last-minute work so didn't get the time for photos. But, it was totally cool for first-time/last-minute/up-cycled stuff.

Anyway, gonna start working hard on the next project now. Can't really afford to stop, and this really make the time flies too.

Gift Tag (From Upcycled Namecards) - Salt Wedding Card

For the girl who loves 'Se7en' that much, it is no surprise that she had to have her wedding on the 7th July this year. With all the squeezing of the brain juice, the result is this beautiful eco-friendly tiny little 'cards'.

Made with the stack of old namecards, which doesn't seem to decrease in size, but has proven rather useful once again. Cut into shape and carefully wrapped in some lovely gift wrapping stashed away.

Type-written quotes on a little piece of origami paper. You can still see the design of the gift wrapping lightly under it. Simple yet beautiful. Lastly, with a single hole punched at the corner, it transformed into a little accessory for the purse, bag or even mobile phone!

Well, not sure if the back actually adds to the "wow" factor, or simply just ruin it all. But still, it was a great idea executed. Stay tuned for more!

Pokemon Themed - Garlic

After so many months of lazing off the card-making workstation, I am proud to present this Pokemon themed birthday card for the June baby.

Highlight of the card being the centerpiece - PokeBall!

It is almost impossible to tell that I used 99.99% recycled material here! It's made from recycled namecards (which I have two tall stacks waiting to be wasted) with the printed side covered with scrap envelopes (which I have two even taller stacks waiting to be wasted as well).

And the secret within the PokeBall will give you a big pleasant surprise~! Well, after all I have been working on the cross stitch during that two months. I must admit that, cross-stitch definitely is time-consuming, but the result is totally worth it! (Especially for people like me who can't draw beautifully.)

As usual, finished the card with a little short letter. But this time, I added a little something for the envelope. Turned out to be fairly good. Not sure if I would actually invest in a good dedicated heating tool for better effects. Well, for the time being, Ta-Da~

And the final touch - the Wax Seal! Bought the seal stamp and a couple of wax stick from Daiso. Though I'm still new at this, it worked out beautifully!

Gonna be flooding this blog with some updates soon. Since I've completed a couple of cards during those months. So hang on there~!

Mario Card - Anniversary

Took a super-duper long break from both blogging and card-making. One of my usual 'hiatus' that I constantly neeeeeeeeed.

So I shall be posting on this long-due card for our anniversary. A simple one-sheet card with Mario as the theme. This is the first time I actually added cross stitch to my card-making. But with the recent relapse of cross-stitch-addiction, and the previous yarn/buttons card, I could almost see this coming before.

The husband pointed out that Boo (the white ghost at the bottom) would never scare/face Mario like that, and thus the tag-line. Also, the pink frames were added to cover up some accident, or rather some unexpected effect of the fabric glue. So yup, there's always room for improvement. Gratefully, everything turned out rather good.

Will definitely be keeping cross stitch in the card-making, so yeah, stay tuned~!

Elephant (Original)

In preparation for Garlic's baby arrival gift, I decided to refresh my memory on this amigurumi pattern before attempting to shrink it.

I made a couple of these elephants for her wedding - one blue and one pink - in a lovely gift box with a letter, of course. Stumbled upon the perfect pattern right here, but I wasn't that confident about it, since it was the first and only time I've made it.

~Check out the pattern here~

 This pattern was exactly what I was looking for - knitting as one main piece, instead of making different parts and sewing them together. I've tried other elephant patterns and they turned out horrible because of my hopeless sewing skill.

Though this pattern can be rather complicated (at the Leg Chains part), it shouldn't be too much problem even for a beginner.

But once again, if you are not much of a knitter, keep checking back here. 'Cause I might just be selling it on Carousell some time soon!

Typewrited Elephant Baby [Shower] - Garlic

The big reason why I was kinda running late on the posts - The Baby Arrival Gift & Card

As I made the couple a couple of elephants for their wedding gift, I've decided to make them a baby elephant when the happy news came. It wasn't an easy making that baby elephant happen, since it took a lot of time and effort (and brain juice) to edit (and shrink) the pattern. But still, I did it! (After a couple of tries, but I did it!) Tied with a perfect bow and packed in the perfect box. Stay tuned for more on these cutie elephants~

Alright, getting on to the card now. Simple paper cutting of the adorable pair of elephants, with a little fun fact.

A totally new attempt of the old popping up - Cradle instead of just square pop-ups! The first time I attempted to design a pop-up that isn't square or rectangular. But yeah, I know it could have been better than this.

Wanted to have the Stork & Dumbo on top but there was not enough space. So I came up with this (brilliant) idea of hiding Dumbo behind the cradle, making it seem like Dumbo is in the cradle and if you try to look inside, you'll see him~

Sealed the envelope with a little typewritten letter (so I can dispute if 'anyone' says I don't use my typewriter).

Overwhelmed with Laziness

Not exactly like me, but this year's Chinese New Year, I've sent some greeting cards I got from some charity community. Apparently the husband had made a donation before, and has too many of these cards which ended up in my stash eventually.

I sent CNY cards with letters to three of my friends - two being thanks and reply to the Christmas cards and gifts and another simply in hope of an update of her unborn baby.

So, I was so preoccupied about this unborn baby (and also blame it to my unbelievable laziness) that I missed two birthdays (which fall on the same day) for my teacher and colleague. I am awfully sorry about it. Yet I am really excited and happy about how the baby card and gift are coming along.

Let's look forward to that!

Dots Themed - Sugita Sensei

A really simple single-sheet card for the only male Japanese Teacher at the moment, though I stopped going for classes quite some time ago.

Though simple, it was really tedious and I spent a significant amount of time getting those dots ready and on. I did not punch on nice color paper to get those dots. Instead, I used the paper dots from my office puncher, carefully selecting and colored each one with a marker or pen. Lastly, glue them on one by one to the card.

The dots are to create a subtle image of a hourglass (because I think simply dots was too simple and maybe even boring) to signify time passing or something along that line.

Simple message in thought bubble and a cute wondering My Melody at the end of it. A perfect fit and I'm totally glad I always keep those scraps.

New Additions to My 'Ever-Growing' Tools

 So happie to be introducing the new addition of the family (of tools) - 

 The Paper Cutter and the Glue Tape!

 Had been contemplating the purchase for quite some time, and finally bought it, with the Glue Tape, despite its manufacture origin. It's not exactly easy to have a whole collection of pink stationery, but at least I'm making an effort.

Have already started playing with the Paper Cutter, making strips of scraps for gift-wrapping or just for cutting cards. Totally love it. Though it would be so much better if the spare parts are more accessible. Gonna keep hunting still!

(But just very recently, I noticed that the very same paper cutter is on promotion! Now I'm contemplating to get the bigger pink paper cutter with the same price I got this.)

Overseas Christmas - Shimada

Can't believe that posting everything about Christmas would take a month, and I'm not done yet. Among all the knitting and cooking for the Christmas Gift Bags, I also made a card specially for my teacher overseas.

Something that I regret very much and wanna bang my head against the wall is that, I forgot to take a photo of the completed card before sealing it up! The only photo I took was this.

This is the first time I tried to make a card out of the norm. Instead of folding it into halves, this card is being folded at one-third length on the right. So the message would read:

冬に咲く                       キセキの桜が…
幸せを込めて、          キセツのお祝いを             　　おくる

Translation:
The miraculous cherry blossom that blossoms in winter...
Together with happiness, seasonal greetings        　　　it brings

This teacher of mine, is a great fan of One Piece, and like me, her favorite character in this anime is Tony Tony Chopper~ Which is exactly why I made this card.

I decorated the back of the card with some watermark stamps using VersaMarker. Was totally excited to use it the moment I got it from ArtFriend. That was why I forgot to take photos of the completed card. I even made an envelope (from recycled paper) specially for this card because of its odd size! (and because I messed up the size buying the envelopes =X)

Well, I suppose I will be using more of the VersaMarker for its watermark effect, and probably for heat embossing. So stay tuned for that~

If you would like to make your own envelopes, follow me here~

Christmas Gift Exchange

A sequel to the topic on Recycling last week, this week I will show you how I wrap some gifts with the 'trash' lying around my cardboard 'shelf'. I was pretty pleasantly surprised and excited at how it turned out to be. (So much that I decided to add a new label for it!)

I used:
- an empty UHT milk carton
- old wrapping paper
- recycled ribbon
- magazine paper decoration
- some glue (or tape) and- scissors

The taller one, which looks like a milk carton, is actually made of a UHT milk carton. I always keep the empty cartons for future uses, because the material is sturdy enough to hold and flexible enough to turn into anything you can think of!

I spoiled one carton while trying to make it look exactly like a regular milk carton (because I think it would be really cute). But I soon realize a much simpler way to get (90% of) the milk carton shape I want.

First, I cut open the top of the milk carton, washed it all clean, and air dried it. Wrapped it with some old Christmas wrapping paper I have for at least 5 years. Did I mention that I didn't spend a cent on the wrapping here?

Next, I cut the four corners around one-third of its height. The height was just nice to fit my gift in. Fold in the narrower sides and glue them together to seal the gift in. Punch a hole right in the middle of each of the wider sides and tie a ribbon through the holes. Lastly, add a magazine paper decoration to make it look beautiful.

I used the remaining wrapping paper to wrap the smaller box. I got the box from one of my online shopping. Did I ever mention I have a huge collection of boxes too? You never know when it will become the perfect box! (It can be really difficult to store my collections in my tiny HDB flat though.)

Anyway, learn how to make this amazing paper decoration from wrapping paper or magazine scraps

Right Here.

Now we don't have to any paper away anymore! We can recycle even the tiniest piece of paper!