I have a quick card to share today using Critters At The Dog Park by Lawn Fawn: 

So funny... I set up this shot, took it, thought "OK!" and didn't even look at the crazy twine, hahaha.. I must have been in a hurry that day, right? Anyway...

I hope you're having a great week!! Thanks for stopping by!

Hi there! I took a much-needed day off yesterday to de-stress and took a little time to play with some new goodies and the current MFT sketch challenge as well as the current MFT Colour Challenge. 

 

The background was created by sponging inks through the Chunky Herringbone Stencil.

 

I coloured the unicorn/Pegasus with Copic markers and added shadows with chalk pencils. 

Thanks for stopping by today!! 

Planner stamps... 

Got a lot of them??? 

Don't use some of them? 

Stick 'em on a card!! 

Happy Mother's Day! 

To celebrate this happy day I'm sharing my favourite Mother's Day card I made this year. I made a lot of cards this year for my colleagues and friends to send home to their Mommas and it was fun to play around with pretty floral designs and colours. 

I feel like Mother's day cards are easy... Flower stamp (Avery Elle), colour it up (watercolours are so on fleek right now), and some pretty accents like The Twinery's delicious twine! 

I hope you have a great day with your Moms and/or celebrating with your own kiddies!! 

I've just had a very luxurious week off and I've got some much-needed rest and relaxation, and a SWEET NEW TATTOO!!

So while I nursed my throbbing and swollen arm I also got some time to get some just-for-me crafting done!! I've purchased a few new stamps and dies, but also some foil products so I did some experimenting! 

Thanks for stopping by!! 

I've got a really pretty card to share today!

It's with the April Greenhouse Society stamp from Technique Tuesday. 

 

What I love most is how the stamp and the background paper go together so nicely. I had a bunch of watercolor leftovers just sitting around and the colouring matched one of the pieces perfectly! 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Can you believe it's the end of April?? The end of the school year approaches and that freaks me out!!

So much to do and so little time, but today, I got a head-start! I like to make special thank you cards for my admin team (principal and the VPs) because they always go above-and-beyond their job descriptions and deserve my unending praise... 

Brainstorming for this card went something like this: 

So yah... Not too 'inspired' but this is one of my favourite cards of all time. I can't wait to give it away!! 

There are a few factors that lead to my lack of blog posts since moving to China: 

I still create on weekends and on nights when I have some mysterious mojo flowing, but really, the musical I'm directing (Addams Family) is taking everything I got right now..

I am still creating with the kids at school, though! I have a craft club and we have a table for our "Arts Festival Carnival" on Thursday and I'm excited about our offerings: 

First, an altered picture frame

Hi everyone! Happy April!

I know that we've had some seriously strange weather this winter all over the planet and that definitely includes China. We had one of the coldest winters here in recent history and it was not pretty. We were thrown from a 2nd world country right back into the 3rd world when the water pipes in our town froze. Not fun when you work at school of 3000-4000, hahaha.... 

So now we're ready spring, right? Flowers, leaves, and warmer weather (hopefully!). 

I looked over at my supplies and spied my PanPastels. 

They were lonely, and so cold... 

So I thought I've give them some love. 

One of the things that was hard to get used to when we first moved to China was the fact that most things we used/wanted/needed to live like we did in Canada was just not available here. 

Toothpaste? Nope... 

Deodorant? Not unless you like liquid roll-on

Skin care? Sure! Full of chemicals that whiten the skin... 

Crafts? Yes. But you order online and pay over 2x the US price. 

I have become very picky about what I buy and then sometimes have to wait 2 months! (Currently I am waiting for the Tim Holtz Distress Crayons that will arrive at the end of April!!) I have become very good at using what I have and making informed, well-thought-out purchases. I was spoiled in Canada by having MANY good scrapbook stores a short drive away. 

So... Now when I buy and the get my new stamps in the mail I am SO EXCITED for new things... This Lawn Fawn set (stamped with the new Mini Misti) is my newest thing and it's so cute. So glad I made this purchase. 

I used: Blossom, Honeydew, and Buttercream twines and hey!! Did you hear the news?? 

 SPRING CLEANING SPECIAL THIS ENTIRE WEEK! 

We have an entire section of twine – all yummy spring colors – already on sale:

Hello there! 

How has your March been going? 

I have been so busy with school lately and as usual the internet here has sucked, so I have been making cards and painting a bit, but no time to sit around for 4 hours to write a blog post... 

But today, I am actually sharing a card AND a short video!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the video!

Hi guys! I am popping in to share a card I have up on The Twinery Blog today. 

It's March!! Yikes! 

Technique Tuesday has some great new stamps for all kinds of "-makers" out there, including... Card-makers!! 

This card features the super-cute Chicks Rule stamp set and just for fun, the Postage Card die cut. 

These birdies were stamped onto white cardstock then I built a scene around them. I wanted them to pop out a little more, so I stamped and coloured them again on a separate piece of paper and cut them out. Pretty simple technique, but it makes for a fun result. 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Here in China we tend to get a little wild around here on a Saturday night, you know: hot chocolate, a little Netflix, and a whole lotta crafting! (And that goes for me AND my husband... He's an avid cross-stitcher!) Tonight I got busy with a new-to-me Hero Arts set and some watercolours, and it was great! 

I stamped, I die cut, then I dribbled some colors around....

I also added a little bit of glitter with a clear Wink Of Stella:

So pretty, right? 

Supplies:

Stamp set: Origami Animals (and coordinating dies)

Watercolor paper, Bazzill Cardshoppe Cardstock

The Twinery Twine "Charcoal"

Living abroad sucks sometimes.. 

I am lonely for my friends and family.. 

Especially my son who is finishing off middle-school in Canada.. 

I sent my loved-ones postcards from Rome (I hope they get them soon) and I was really excited to come back home and make this card (I got the stamps right before I left!): 

It's my city!! It's Shanghai! I am so thankful that Altenew chose Shanghai of all the cities they had to choose from when thinking of cities abroad! 

In colouring this I thought of that orange glow a lot of cities have at night and went from there.

Courtesy of joutrip.com

 I watched K Werner's video on creating a galaxy a while ago and wanted to try something similar. I definitely added a lot more orange back to the skyline after adding the black paint.

 

Supplies:

Stamps: Altenew Sketch Cities Abroad

Watercolor Paper, Bazzill Cardshoppe Cardstock

 

Hello! Well it's almost the end of my Chinese New Year holiday and it has been (except for a few days of boredom and headaches) GOOD! I am hanging out with the Shanghai ladies cardmaking group tomorrow and they asked me to come up with a theme so I first thought: February, LOVE. Then I added a technique: stencils. 

I used this week's MFT Sketch for the layout and made four slightly different cards... 

Hi there! 

Living close to my friends most of my life I sometimes took their friendship for granted, but now that I live in China I really miss them. It's harder to keep in touch and we actually have to work to stay in touch. That's when being a cardmaker comes in handy... 

Here's my card: 

Now I know I don't live in Sydney, but I think the sentiment says it all! 

The galaxy background look is very popular right now, and I thought I would try MY version... This is simply black watercolour paint on top of a PanPastel background. You can see the yellow/green/blue peeking through and of course, the white splatters completed the look. 

And of course, a simple bow made with Solid Charcoal Twine is the perfect way to finish the card. 

Supplies:  Stamp Sets: Altenew Sketchy Cities Abroad, MFT Label Maker Sentiments

Hi there! The blog has been slow lately because the husband and I just got back from an amazing trip to Rome. What a fantastic city - I must have said "WOW" a thousand times. The amount of priceless treasures and buildings/sculptures that adorn the city is just too much to handle sometimes. We definitely suffered from historical overload some days... 

But now I'm back in Shanghai taking it easy for the rest of the New Years holiday (3 weeks!!) and that means spring cleaning... Last year we did some work around the house to spruce it up, and this year I wanted to do the same. So we bought a new refrigerator (almost normal size) and I chalk painted our coffee table.