Did everyone have a nice holiday?
For the second year in a row we have decided to travel to a tropical location for Christmas for a few reasons, 1) it's cooooooooold in China, and we want to feel warmth again, 2) it's a really long flight home and you lose 3 days to travel, so it's a really rushed vacation, and 3) we have a lot of Asia to discover, and we just want to keep crossing the countries off our bucket list!
(If you have questions about this trip and how I planned it, comment below and I will try to answer as best as I can!)
Manila
My family likes aquariums, so whenever possible we go to the city's local establishment. The one in Manila is called "Ocean Park" and I give it about a 5/10 for the overall satisfaction of the facilities, but a couple of things made it notable:
1 - The price!! (about $20/person)
2 - special activities like swimming with sea lions for an hour was only $20 extra.
The one thing that struck me dumb right away was the hospitality and kindness of the Filipino people. You will be hard-pressed to find bad service in this country.
We only spent one full day in Manila, as it was a stop-over on the way to Boracay, but I would definitely go back!
Boracay
These are the beaches that one dreams about.. And it's real life! Beautiful, clean, clear water with powdery-soft white sand. Nothing compares!
A few years ago Boracay beaches was named as one of the top beaches in the world and since then it's experienced an incredible boom! Hundreds of hotels, bars, and restaurants line the beach.
The umbrellas are in front of our hotel - just steps from the beach. You couldn't ask for a better vacation spot.
Reasons to visit Boracay:
1 - once you get here, it's cheap! Happy hour at every bar (where a Rum and Coke is $2 and BOGO) and inexpensive and delicious food.
2 - slow pace. relaxation. peace.
3 - lots of water/swim related activities (Eg. we are going "island hopping" and snorkelling tomorrow. For $50 our whole family gets a private boat (and tour guide) for 3-4 hours while we hit all of the hot snorkelling spots.
Warnings:
1 - if you don't live in Asia like we do, it can be expensive to fly here. (but fly into Manila, then a plane to Boracay is only $100 Canadian dollars)
2 - Mobility - being a big couple, Ian and I found some things like riding in their little motorbike carts, and tiny stairs onto boats challenging. There is also no car to the hotels. You literally have to walk on the beach (cart your stuff) on sand... But I'm here, and I did it! If you're mobility-challenged it might be hard.
Merry Christmas, and I'll be back soon!!
Hi there! I'm all-in when it comes to Christmas!
I usually make 40-50 cards (this year it was less, thankfully!!) for friends and family and I try to never duplicate a design (I get bored), so one trick I use is pairing SRM Sentiment Stickers with die cuts and patterned papers!!
I think we all have dies and paper, and using stickers for your sentiment is a really quick and easy way to add the right sentiment for the right person!
This sentiment was adhered to vellum because I wanted the background to peek through.
Supplies:
Hi! I'm here today with a quick and easy gift tag (and bag).
I was contacted by a colleague who wanted me to buy him some essential oils for his S.O. (how sweet!!) so I made a little tag to go with the gift.
I was sneaky and used a couple of Christmas products:
Patterned paper (from a Christmas pad)
Red Border from We've Got Your Border - Christmas
Such a cute project made quickly with easy-to-use products!!
Thanks for visiting!
Hi everyone! I am definitely a coffee-lover and I'm eager to play along with the awesomely-organized Coffee Lovers Bloghops! There's lots of inspiration via the blog hop, as well as a HUGE list of prizes to be won!
One of the companies I design for (SRM Stickers) is a super sponsor, so I thought I would design a card featuring some coffee stamps with a Christmasy twist!
The stamps are actually intended for a planner, but I decided to create a custom background with stamps, gold embossing powder, and watercolour paints.
Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the hop!!
~Tobi
Supplies:
Whew!!
December is here! I look forward to Christmas (a little too much, probably.... hehehe) and then when December hits it's like BAM: concerts, parties, crafting, shopping, then it's over!
I don't have a lot of card orders this year, so hopefully I'll be less stressed this year, but we'll see!
It's been so long since I've used my Copics that they were dusty. DUSTY!! I'm going through a little bit of a slump and I'm doing more shopping than making, haha.. but anyway. This set is called:
and it's part of our Greenhouse Society collection. Do you like flowers? You'll like Greenhouse!
I coloured the stamp using the "no-line technique" which simply means that I stamped in a very pale shade of beige and coloured in the stamp while disguising the lines. I nearly lost my eyesight trying to see the lines on this one, but I think it turned out pretty nicely...
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi there! It's been kinda quiet here lately - I'm just working away at school and going through a little bit of a creative slump, but I will prevail!!!!
I hosted a little crafting party last week and I wanted to do some sponging, so I bought some makeup sponges (beauty blender-type) to get the job done. There wasn't enough time to get more Tim Holtz distress foam applicators, so this was my quick fix. It worked well!!
Some white gel pen accents finished the card off!
Supplies:
Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps: You Have Style
Technique Tuesday Clear Stamps: You Have Style
25 Days of Christmas Tags - Technique Tuesday
- November 19, 2017
- By Tobi Crawford
- 15 Comments
It's the 7th annual
If you're new to this event, CLICK HERE and read about all of the incredible inspiration and prizes that you can participate in!
Today, Technique Tuesday is the sponsor and guest!
Technique Tuesday has a $25 gift certificate to give to one lucky winner!
Technique Tuesday has a $25 gift certificate to give to one lucky winner!
Head over to the main blog to enter (comment and/or create a tag of your own and link it up!)
This is my tag! It looks like I threw a whole bunch of different products on it, because I did!!
- stencilled background (distress inks)
- stencilled background (glitter paste)
- Patterned paper strips
- Die Cuts (Snowflake Crafting Dies - Technique Tuesday)
- Sentiment Stamp (Spirit Of December - Technique Tuesday)
Thank you for stopping by!!
Have fun on the hop!
Tobi
Happy Halloween!!!
I did a few activities leading up to Halloween that allowed me to play with my stash a little more than usual: I have that craft club I was talking about, and we did a few Halloween crafts, so that was cool! I was also playing around with a few new products and wanted to have a little fun!
This beautiful die cut is from Sizzix (Sizzix China link here), and even though I don't think Hallowe'en is a particularly glitter-appropriate holiday, I tried it and loved it!! ha!
This stamp is from My Favorite Things (it's called Frightful Friends) and I dusted off (literally) the ol' Copic markers to play around.
(I dressed up as Miss Piggy for our school Halloween Party! So fun to be a blonde!)
I don't normally do "life updates" but I have been somewhat reclusive and it's been really quiet around here.
Firstly, I will say that blogging, crafting, and doing anything beyond having the energy to be a good and competent teacher to my students has taken a back seat. I find the extremely long days here, in addition to the long blocks (each class is 1.5 hours) extremely draining. I have Fibromyalgia which is a horrible disease to deal with on it's own, but add onto that an extremely demanding job - I haven't coped well...
Secondly, over the summer my Grandma was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, went into the hospital, and 6 weeks later passed away on September 11th.
I was able to say goodbye to her over the summer, but because of time and budget restraints my family and I made the decision that I wouldn't go back to Canada for the funeral. THANK GOD for technology, because my brother was kind enough to Facetime the entire funeral and I was able to "be there" and have some closure...
The day after she passed away I commissioned a local tattoo artist to draw this up for me. My Grandma was known for her sprawling gardens (at least two acres of flower and vegetable gardens) and roses were especially dear to her. I am so in love with this art and so glad I made it through the pain!!
(that part at the bottom is extremely bruised and hurt so bad I cried... A first time for me with tattoo pain!)
So September sucked!!
But I was able to take a few days off, cry, mourn, hang out with my son and husband over the Chinese Mid-Autumn festival holiday and create a little art.
I've gotten into "acrylic pouring" and still can't mix paint like the pros, but I am getting some results I am happy with. The good news: if I ruin a canvas (aka don't like it), I let it dry and pour another one on top!!
I've also started up a cardmaking club at school! I have enjoyed teaching cardmaking and tags to the young 'uns. Some of them are really excited to learn because they know how expensive this hobby is, and their parents won't pay for supplies (understandably).
I have been gifted with so many supplies over the years that I am happy to share my excess with those who appreciate it.
We made this tag the other day. Cool, right? I taught them how to use stencils with paint and they used their knowledge from last week about stamping to finish it off... So happy with how they all turned out.
I am now looking forward to November. A few performances for my choir are coming up (which is AWESOME this year), and a couple other fun things in the works!!! And then it's Christmas!!!!
As always, thanks for stopping by, and all the best to you!
Hello there! I am here with a colourful and cheery holiday card!
This was made using a few basics from around the ol' craft room:
Patterned Paper
Die Cuts (Tim Holtz by Sizzix)
Cardstock
Glitter Glue
I die cut the words from three different colours of cardstock and left some letters in, and let others fall out. I like that kind of haphazard look!
Pro tip:
If you want to use glitter paper as a background to your design, CUT OUT THE MIDDLE!! That glitter paper is precious, am I right? I used a pen-knife to cut out the middle and now I have another good-sized piece for the future!
Thanks for stopping by!
I just finished a little holiday from work (in China the first week of October is called the "Mid-Autumn Festival) and amongst shopping in the city, getting my hair cut, and getting a new tattoo I squeezed in a little cardmaking!
This is a wonderfully simple sketch from MFT's Card Challenges, and it was the perfect little push out of my slump. (It's been a tough month, both professionally and personally) I don't know about you, but whenever it's been a while my mojo disappears, and I need a challenge to get it back!!
- I used the Etched Flower Background stamp on the bright coral cardstock for a clean tone-on-tone look
- I stamped a few images from Fancy Flowers on watercolour cardstock, and coloured with Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers.
- a couple of random/not randomly placed sequins added some beautiful shine.
Thank you for stopping by, and happy thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!! (I really missed it this year... Damn China and their lack of turkey!!!)
Watercolours....
So much fun, right?
I like making backgrounds and being really free with how they're created.
I bought these Jane Davenport watercolour pens and created this background by dropping different colours around the paper and just kind of let them bleed together.
This card was made with the piece from above:
And here's a more cheerful colour scheme using the same techniques:
I used dies from Cityscape, Metropolis #661804 to create the lovely silhouette.
Thank you for stopping by!
As a teacher I always have a need for school-related cards, especially at the beginning and the end of the year. Councillors, admin, and fellow teachers need a special "kudos" this time of year, and small little note-cards are the perfect token of appreciation.
Each card is a little different (that's for me - so I don't get bored), but also because I wanted to switch up the sentiments slightly to be a little more personal.
The formula is easy:
1) ruled patterned paper
2) lined patterned paper
3) apple stickers (Live Life: School)
4) sentiments (Fancy Sentiment: Thanks)
5) twine (Solid Maraschino)
Did you see my Halloween box the other day? I used some of the same materials to make a cute little tag!
I used the Thinlits Die Set: Spooky by Sizzix to make the vampire (kind of like a paper doll project) and a sentiment from SRM Stickers (Stickers by The Dozen: Halloween).
CLICK HERE to enter!
Hi there, it's me again with some mixed media fun! Halloween is a great reason to get a little messy with your projects, and it's fun to let loose and experiment a little. I have been vowing for the past couple of weeks to make my craft table a paint zone (instead of a clean card zone) and this was a start!
I used a 3x3x3 Kraft box as my base. Before I assembled it, I did some stencilling, and misting and created a fun little background for the vampire (Sizzix Thinlits Die Set: Spooky).
(For all of the stencilling I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks)
Once all of the sides were decorated, I folded the box into place and added the sentiment and vampire!
Sentiment is Stickers By The Dozen: Halloween.
Thanks for stopping by!
Wicked Halloween Card - Sizzix UK Tim Holtz Halloween 2017
- September 03, 2017
- By Tobi Crawford
- 0 Comments
Have you seen the new release from Sizzix and Tim Holtz!! I was so excited to play with the new Halloween stuff, especially. There's nothing that takes away the back-to-school blues than getting ready for the second-best holiday (my favourite is Christmas..... DUH!).
The background was made with the Skull Damask embossing folder (link below). I embossed it, then drew on the raised parts with glue and pressed some black foil into it.
I cut the sentiment from some silver glitter cardstock for added BLING. Love it...
Supplies:
