It's a boy! ...

One of my close friends is expecting a baby boy. A baby boy to be born in the year of the horse. What more apt name to nickname the baby than to call him a pony! With a baby shower to attend, I made a little card to go with my present. Something simple just to highlight my simple sketch of a pregnant mama horse. No pun intended. :p

And because I was in charge of the cakes, I made a little something to go with the cupcakes. No time to bake, hence my contribution was cake toppers instead. I drew stick babies and baby rompers and coloured them all in blue to go with the theme.

Stick the pictures into lolipop sticks and stick them into each cupcake, this is what you get. Everyone loved the outcome! And so did I! :)

Lucky nieces ...

One of the best things about going home after being away for so long, is the presents that one brings home. I've missed out on my nieces' birthdays so I have plenty of birthday presents to account for. With each present, I made them a personalized card to match with their identities.

Little A gets a princess one - with curly hair.

L is a little diva.

N is a dancer.  

And Big A is the sporty kind.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

In the Christmas spirit of giving, my baker mood was all hyped up and I baked a huge lot of peanut cookies for friends and family. Part of the beauty of presents is in its presentation, at least that's how I feel. I always think that one feels happier if a present looks pretty. Shallow, I know, but that's just me. :)

For the aunts, uncles and cousins, I gave them a mason jar filled with peanut cookies. I drew little Christmas owls (yes owls again) to match with my colourful mason jars.

To make it look a little bit more professional, I wrote the ingredients on stickers that I got from Daiso.

For friends, I made a few variety of packaging. A few were Ikea jars with Christmas themes like reindeers and Santa Clause, and tiny canisters with fancy labels.

And for the little kids in the family, I got them little goodie bags with their personalized snowmen.

Now please come soon, Christmas! I can't wait! ...

Flower power part 2 ...

My birthday card for Esther last year was a hit. Hoping for a repeat hit, I made her another flower themed birthday card for her and putting my copic markers to good use.
Hope this makes her smile again. :)

Aussie giftpack ...

And since I'm in the mood for making cards, I made one for my friend YL in Malaysia too. Since she's into collecting magnets and requested a Sydney magnet, what better way than to make a matching card to go with the little gift. Koalas are synonymous to Australia and "G'day Mate" is a very common phrase, I had to incorporate these elements into my design.

Hello owls ...

Another owl creation to be sent off to the States for MC's coming birthday. Since I'm still much into owls, I had an idea of two owls talking to each other with a telephone wire connecting them. A little old-fashioned since we're pretty used to using emails and Whatsapp to have conversations these days instead of the good old telephone.
Now I wonder how long it will take for this card to reach the States? :)

Owl joy ...

I love posting off cards to my friends. I always anticipate receiving a message that my card has safely reached its destination and that my recipient is feeling the love. Since Hooi Li and I are living in the same city now, it's not as fun to post a card in the mail as before. But I still made her a card anyway.

I admit that this year's creation isn't one of my best works, but hey it's the thought that counts. I need to get out of my hiatus and make a comeback!

Mother's day 2013 ...

I miss my craft things but I don't want to spend a lot of money accumulating things that I already have. That's the problem of my stuff being in transit and I have no access to them.
Sometimes it's just easier to go out and buy a card, but that wouldn't be right. Especially for mother's day and I wouldn't want to go against tradition.

What I did was to buy a few colored cardstock, a scissors, craft glue, and a black ink ball pen,  then make the best out of my limited resources. It's a bit of an anticlimax, I admit because my card seems a bit juvenile compared to what I normally make ... but that's alright. After all, it's the thought that counts. :)

The Chrys series: Part 12 - A Doraemon for Doraemon ...

When I read what Chrys wrote about Miss Ang, I admit I had a little giggle. Making a card for someone who is nicknamed "Doraemon" is indeed a no-brainer. All it needs is lots of happy colours and a cheerful kittycat to suit Miss Ang's cutesy demeanor. I already feel cheerful looking at all the colours! :)

The Chrys series: Part 11 - For someone special ...

Someone who overcomes many barriers to be an all-rounded teacher is indeed someone very special. Chrys wanted a card for one of the most senior teachers in her mom's school to thank her for the many years of dedication and hard work. From what she told me about Miss Chang, I have the impression that Chrys has a huge amount of respect for the teacher that Miss Chang is.

With that in mind, I created a card based on artsy birds. Each bird is different but there is one particular one that stands out in the flock. And that, is Miss Chang, because indeed she is special.

The Chrys series: Part 10 - Potted flowers ...

My ever-loyal customer had new orders for me for December but unfortunately I didn't have the time to blog about them.

This card for Miss Saras, one of her colleagues in her mom's childcare center, is one of their longtime staff and also one of their best teachers. I had this vision of potted plants hung up on a brick wall that I wanted to translate into a card. So here it is.  I know that flowers never fail to cheer me up, so here's hoping they cheered Miss Saras up! :)

Hot dogs! ...

My bestie and I have no censorship to what we say to each other. We've known each other for far too long to worry about sensibilities and get offended. And I love how I can be myself with her and vice versa.

My tradition of making doggie-themed cards for her takes a twist this year. Coupled with my kooky sense of humour, this is what I came up with this year. Sometimes it is good to make fun of things that bug us - things like age that only people who are in the same boat as us can understand.
I delayed publishing this post due to the postponement of card delivery to the recipient.

The Chrys series: Part 9 - Crazy about coffee ...

When Chrys ordered this card for Cat, I knew exactly what I wanted to create! It's not often when I get an eureka moment, but when it happens (like for this card), I couldn't wait to get started.

This card is for Max's fiance, Cat, whose favourite colours are red and orange, has a very bubbly character and an overwhelming love for coffee. I can definitely understand the coffee part because that used to be me heh. Today I aim for simple, with lots of reds and oranges, and a very straightforward tagline.

"You're my cup of tea" is usually an idiom that is used to describe something/someone that one finds pleasing. Since Cat is a coffee girl, I purposely cancelled out the tea and replaced it with coffee. Let's hope Cat's sense of humour is on the same page as mine! :p

 Love my pop-up coffee cup! :p

The Chrys series: Part 8 - Thank you owls ...

I love how Chrys has a tradition of thanking her good friends on her birthday and I think it's absolutely one very thoughtful gesture. Most of us just enjoy basking in the attention that we get during our birthday that we tend to forget to be thankful for the wonderful family and friends that we have. Human nature, I suppose. :)

Part 8 of the Chrys series actually comprises two thank you cards for Chrys's two friends - Max and Jeunn, whom she claims are the best friends that she could ever ask for. From the stories that she has told me about them, I can tell that they are really gems and that Chrys is one lucky girl to have them in her life. Every girl definitely needs a best guy friend (or two) like them in her life! And I consider myself fortunate to have my own best friends like Max and Jeunn too! :)

For these thank you cards, since they were ordered together, I decided on two cards with the same theme but with unique designs for each. My inspiration tonight was owls for the simple reason that I'm feeling nocturnal tonight and because I think that (cartoon) owls are cute.

Card for Chrys ...

It wouldn't be right to be taking so many card orders from Chrys and not make one for her too! :) From the short time that I have known her, she has grown to be such a good friend and one of my fb chat buddies too, since we're in different countries after all!

Since Chrys once mentioned that she's a nature girl, I got my cue from there and proceeded to create something along those lines. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of nature, is of course flowers. Lots and lots of them. I used a brown flower silhouette as the backdrop against a green card, and so as not to appear too vintage, I added more colours on top of them. And yes, a girlie (that's you, Chrys! :p) appears as well with a bunch of more colourful flowers. The girlie pops up although not very noticeable in the pictures.

On the inside, I used my dymo to type out a happy birthday note and I handcut an extra HAPPY to emphasize it. I absolutely love my dymo labelmaker!

I know it's low-tech, but sending cards is still the best way to say happy birthday! Hope you're surprised, Chrys! :)

The Chrys series: Part 7 - Shiori Ningyo returns ...

My shiori ningyo makes a return appearance.
This card is for Carrie's elder sister, who by the way is also into all things Japanese. I wanted to create something similar to Carrie's card which incorporates my Japanese dolly and plenty of flowers in the same pink shades. For Carrie's card, I used paper flowers but for this time around, I cut out flowers and incorporated washi tape. I'm so in love with my polka dotted washi tape!

Since Miss Tai enjoys photography, I wanted a card that looked similar to a picture frame. My dolly peeks out from the inside of the card this time around. She reminds me a little of a chinese Rapunzel, don't ask why!

 A similar dolly for the elder sister, with a different hairdo, of course.

The Chrys series: Part 6 - Live.Love.Shop. ...

I understand friendship very well. Some of my best friends date back to my childhood, primary, secondary and university days - and that's a really long time ago. Friendship that lasts that long is something that should be treasured and cherished.

Chrys's card today is for her newlywed high school friend who married another of her high school buddies. Isn't marrying one's high school sweetheart so romantic? :) Through her description of Hwee Lee, I gathered that Hwee Lee is a typical girl who loves sweet desserts, pastel colours and branded goodies (i.e. shopping). I wanted to create a tongue-in-cheek card that epitomizes everything that Chrys tells me about Hwee Lee and for this, my card features a shopfront with a huge window display of everything that girls love - shoes, bags and clothes. Live.Love.Shop. is my interpretation of living life with lots of love and shopping. I think it is a perfect wish for Hwee Lee's birthday.

The Chrys series: Part 5 - Flower power ...

Chrys has been on a roll sending birthday cards! :)
Today's card is for yet another staff member at her mum's mum's childcare center. Emi has been there for a decade but is leaving soon to another state.

For Emi's card, I went for a more sophisticated and minimalistic design with plenty of contrasting colours. I went for lots of leafy vines with some pop-up layered flowers. Sometimes less can be more and I really love how the effect turned out. Hopefully Emi likes it as well!

The Chrys series: Part 4 - Smile ...

I'm on a roll creating cards for Chrys! :)
Taking a break from yesterday's detail overload, I switched gears to create something with simplicity in mind.

This card is customized for Miss Foo, whom Chrys describes as a very happy-go-lucky person who puts a lot of effort into keeping her classes nicely decorated, neat and tidy. The first thing I thought about when trying to figure Miss Foo out (I normally look for keywords, and in this case - room decoration), I thought about flowers. And for me, sunflowers and gerberas win hands-down when it comes to the happy category.

So for Miss Foo's birthday card, I drew happy flowers with a cheeky twist that I hope someone like her would appreciate and I'm hoping that she indeed smiles when she gets this. :)

The Chrys series: Part 3 - Recipe for a great day ...

I call this my recipe for a great day card, made specially for a cook.

For a baker like myself, what makes me happy is when I'm in the kitchen with all my baking ingredients and I'm baking a delicious cake. Hypothetically, a great day is pretty much getting fed lots of cake. And hence I created a literal recipe to a great day for my card. Of course there are other ingredients besides the sugar, flour, eggs, milk and butter that are needed to bake a cake, but I can't possibly add in every detail now, can I? ;) As it is, once I got started, it got a bit hard to step on the brakes and hence resulted in a detail overload in the card deco - with a fancy cake stand, apron, mixing bowl and spoon, and my 3-tiered birthday cake.

Today's card is customized for Ah Yen Jie Jie, one of the staff at Chrys's mum's childcare center who also happens to be the cook. I know that a cook is not necessarily a baker, and vice versa, but hopefully this recipient understands the meaning to the card.