Posted on Monday, October 13, 2014

DIY Fall Leave Paper Wreath

Fall! Fall finally arrived in our area. The colors of leaves decorate every hill and valley, the cooler and the freshness of the air is just perfect 🙂

I went looking for Fall/Autumn theme decorations from our storage and I realized that we do need more decorations in our house and my craft room, too 🙂 So here’s one of the the decorations I made:

Have I told you that I LOVE MY SILHOUETTE CAMEO A LOT? 😀 This handy dandy die cut machine is amazing craft buddy ever! I started with searching for Fall/Autumn Theme cutting file from Silhouette Online Store and found a bunch of them with pretty good deal because I subscribe to their monthly subscription.

I found this pretty Fall Wreath. Open the file on Silhouette Studio Designer Edition. Resize it to the size you like. I did mine to 11″ x 11″. Because I used 10.5″ circle cake base cardboard as the wreath base. After I resized it, ungroup the shapes to cut with different colors.

Once the shape is ready, send them to cut one by one to Silhouette machine. I used Red, Orange and Dark green cardstocks for the leaves and dark brown for the pine cones.

I want the pine cones look more sparkly, so I added some glitter glue all over them and set them aside to dry while I was working on the leaves.

I added the vine for the leaves using my embossing tool and foam pad.

Oh look! They are prettier now 🙂

When I arranged them on the circle cardboard, the center need something. I decided to have a thanksgiving quote for the middle. I found the give thanks phrase in my library from Kolette Hall Studio. I resized it first to fit in the middle of the wreath and the cut it using Black cardstock.

I added some Chocolate Distressing Ink on the leaves with dauber sponge to give some rusty and fall-ish looking 🙂

When everything is ready, I put them together using Liquid Glass glue from Close To My Heart. The pine cones I added them the last with 3D foam tape.

And it has its spot in my craft room 🙂

My Silhouette Challenge buddies and I are all sharing projects related to this theme of FALL/AUTUMN on our blogs today, so peruse the projects below for a wealth of Silhouette inspiration!

Want to Check Out More Silhouette Projects?

1. Create & Babble // 2. Lil Mrs. Tori // 3. unOriginal Mom // 4. Zanaree // 5. The Kim Six Fix // 6. One Dog Woof // 7. Cupcakes & Crowbars // 8. Living My Given Life // 9. Architecture of a Mom // 10. Put A Bird On It // 11. Just Add Paper // 12. Weekend Craft // 13. Silhouette School // 14. Minted Strawberry // 15. My Paper Craze // 16. McCall Manor // 17. Chicken Scratch NY // 18. Mama Sonshine // 19. Creative Ramblings // 20. From Wine to Whine // 21. Please Excuse My Craftermath… // 22. Dragonfly & Lily Pads // 23. The Thinking Closet // 24. Simply Kelly Designs // 25. Sandpaper & Glue //

Posted on Monday, August 25, 2014

Virtual Blog Tour

It is Monday. As I am preparing myself to start this new week, no matter what we will go through this week I am reminded by the Lord that He is faithful and there is hope only in Him for those who depend on Him and to those who search for Him:

The faithful love of the lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the lord . (Lamentations 3:22-26)

A few weeks ago, my blogging friend, Ramona, invited me to join this Virtual Blog Tour. She is one awesome lady I met on blogging world who inspires a lot of her readers through link ups, reviews, inspirational posts, crafts and giveaways! Check out her blog here to see what she has shared with her readers.

Virtual Blog Tour is one fun blog-hopping to get to know each other and they have been doing. Each participant of this Virtual Blog Tour has to answer these 4 questions. And today I would like to share a little bit about me with you all 🙂

What am I working on?

As a stay home wife and mom who has a kindergarten aged daughter and a pre-schooler aged girl, I am busy with them every single day 🙂 Right now, I am working on a lesson plan for my preschooler while the oldest at school.

this picture was taken a few months ago… just a glimpse of what is happening in our loft almost every day 🙂

I am also one of Wycliffe Associates volunteers working on a project for Pacific Area ministry. And I am a volunteer translator at YouVersion Bible App.

On my spare time, I blog, do scrapbook layouts, make cards, DIY, crafts with my girls and crafting with friends.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

In the last few months, I have been taking some times to seek God and reevaluate what I do and how it aligns with what He has called me to do. Couple weeks ago, when I attended a women blogging conference, Declare Conference, God confirmed me what and why. I know that God has given me the ability to do what I do to make his name known among to others through my role as a wife, a mom and a paper crafter.

What makes it different is that I do this as a servant to my Lord, a ministry to others. That brings joy and satisfaction in my heart, not only because it is my hobby or just because I can do it.

Why do I write/create what I do?

I realize that through all of these what I am doing here is a preparation for me and my family to go serving the Lord overseas, among the people in SEA*.

I write because God has called me to share the stories He is writing in and through my life and my family. I write because of my hope more people to know the needs of the Good News to be heard in the languages of the people in SEA*. I write because I want more and more people to stand in the gap between these people and God, to intercede for them because they cannot.

I write because I am their voices to you.

I am writing and creating with a mission for a mission.

taken by Daniel B., Wycliffe Vision Trip 2005

How does your writing/creating process work?

I am inspired by a lot of people and learn from a lot of people. My writing process is not as easy as I write in my first language, but I am thankful for many times God helps me through a lot of friends and teachers, especially with my husband who has been a great help for me to improve my English, written and spoken.

First, I write my first draft which come from a lot of resources, for instance my quite time with the Lord, reading the Bible or reading a book, even every day life is full of inspirations to write 🙂 Then after I get my first draft, I will go back to read it again and write more. Sometimes, I post after editing my second draft, but sometimes, I need to go back and edit again for the third or fourth time.

And for my crafting process, I like to work with sketches. First, I will make plan. Right now, I am working with my daughters’ first year scrapbook albums. So I gather all of their pictures I want to put on the albums. Second, I will find sketches or templates (for digital scrapbooking), then work on them as I can. For digital scrapbook layouts I created, I want to make memory books for us to remember.

I love making handmade gifts and cards for family and friends. I make list what I want to make for who, search for inspirations and tutorials (from Pinterest, most of the time :D) and then I will work on them, sometimes I will ask extra time on the weekend to work on projects while my husband spend time with our daughters.

My church friends and I love to get together for craft night once in a while, for sure we always get together around October or early November to make hairbows and hairclips for Operation Christmas Child Show Boxes project.

When I can, I take pictures of steps how I create my project to share here on my blog 🙂

Next stop of this Virtual Blog Tour is my creative friend, Padni. We met at Stuck On U Sketches Design Team. And the most amazing thing is that we come from the same country! She is a scrapbook maker and teacher, loves handmade craft, home living stuff and photography. Check out her blog on September 1 to get to know her and to see what she’s been up to 🙂

THANK YOU for visiting my blog today. Your visits brighten my day 🙂

Posted on Monday, June 2, 2014

Summer Party Idea

Are you ready for Summer time? I am! 🙂 Our Summer plan is full of excitement, party, outdoors, traveling and food! LOL… How about your summer plan?
Today, I would love to share this idea of Party Favor idea from Close To My Heart. Enjoy watching the video to learn how to make your own perfect party favors using Cricut®-cut shapes and the My Acrylix™ Big Top stamp set from Close To My Heart:

Feature products on the video:

My Acrylix Stamp – Big To C1580

Cricut Artiste Collection Z1790

Posted on Friday, May 30, 2014

DIY Baseball Banner for Baby Boy Shower

Couple months ago, our friend had a baby shower for their baby boy and they picked baseball themed party because they are a huge fan of Cincinnati Reds (we are too! :D) So, I created this banner for them:

First, I created the baseball shape using Silhouette Studio Designer software and then I cut them with my Silhouette Cameo. The size of each baseball is 5 inches. For the balls I used White Daisy Cardstock and the red stitching I used Ruby Cardstock. Then I punched the holes and I used jute twine I got from a craft store.

For the name, I cut out the letters from Black Cardstock and I added some glitter using Wink of Stella glitter brush. Then I added the letters on the balls using 3D foam tape to give some dimension to them.

We totally had a fun baseball themed baby shower for my friend’s baby boy! Friends and families celebrated the blessing of God in this family. And few weeks ago we finally met this little guy! He is adorable!

Thanks for stopping by today! This project I link up SOUS Die Cut Challenge:

This new die cut challenge runs from May 30th through June 12th. You are challenged to use any CIRCLES die cuts on your projects. Need some inspirations? Check out the Die Cut Team members’ projects here for inspirations! You can link up your projects here to win this month blog candy sponsored by Paper Bakery… Sarah, the owner, generously provide $15 gift voucher to the store where you can shop for all of your paper crafting needs. Check out their blog and inspiration here.

THANK YOU for stopping by today!

Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2014

100th Mother’s Day Anniversary and DIY Gift Ideas

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Do you know that this year is the 100th Mother’s Day Anniversary? Here’s what I found about Mother’s Day on Wikipedia:

The modern American holiday of Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. Her campaign to make “Mother’s Day” a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her beloved mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Anna’s mission was to honor her own mother by continuing work she had started and to set aside a day to honor mothers, “the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” Anna’s mother, Ann Jarvis, was a peace activist who had cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War and created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health issues.

Due to the campaign efforts of Anna Jarvis, several states officially recognized Mother’s Day, the first in 1910 being West Virginia, Jarvis’ home state. In 1914 Woodrow Wilson signed the proclamation creating Mother’s Day, the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers. In a thank-you note to Wilson, Jarvis wrote of a “great Home Day of our country for sons and daughters to honor their mothers and fathers and homes in a way that will perpetuate family ties and give emphasis to true home life.” Jarvis became critical, however, of the commercialization of the day.

To celebrate this special day this year, we didn’t buy any gifts for my husband’s mom and grandma, we made them. Here’s what we made for them:

Sunflower Topiary

I used my Silhouette Cameo to create this sunflower topiary gift. The cutting file I used is 3D Sunflower Round Topiary from Jamie Cripps collection. On Jamie’s blog, she has the tutorial how to put this topiary together. The papers I used is Dream Pop (retired), White Daisy and Topiary cardstock from Close To My Heart. For the green grass I cut gift bag wrapping paper I had in stash from Christmas 🙂

The second gift is 3D Paper Tulip with burlap wrapped bottle vase:

For this one I used 3D Tulip from Lori Whitlock collection. I tell you, this is the easiest tulip flowers I ever made! All you need to make this flower are:

Silhouette Cameo, cutting file, cutting mat, and blade.
Cardstocks: White Daisy, Gypsy, Cotton Candy
Burlap
Glass bottle (I repurposed sweet tea glass bottle)
Gardening sticks (I found a pack at AC Moore). You also can use dowel or flower wire and wrap it with flower tape.
Glue Gun (or strong glue)

To make the tulips is very easy, cut the shapes, fold the pieces in half and glue them to it’s neighbor. Then insert the stick/dowel and glue them with glue gun. I skip the leaves.

And for the vase, I wrapped the layers of burlaps using glue gun starting from the bottom and worked my way up to the top.

Hope you have the best Mother’s Day ever!!!