Easter Basket

These days, I found myself being reunited with my blog once again. Although I think I have said that before. I just feel this time it's different =) Been re reading my posts from forever-ago and I cannot believe how corny I sounded during my early years of blogging hahaha! But whatever, I thank myself so much I did. The memories captured and kept are soooo precious. Had I not started this blog, I would have forgotten most of them.

So yeah, to show you all how sincere I am with wanting to blog again, here's a little project I did recently. This may be a little too late --- or way too early. You decide haha!




I was assigned to make Easter baskets for the children of our community and I want to share how I did it.



I got these cheap bowls from Daiso (3 pcs. for $2) and altered it with some washi tapes.



Filled the bowls with  these shredded crepe paper from cold storage.



Next I made flower accents using a Sizzix die-cut machine using my leftover foam glitters.



Also with the same machine, I cut these tags and did a little brush calligraphy with my Pentel brush pen.



The fun part! Fill the bowls with treats (I'd like to thank Valerie and Jolene, sisters from the community for helping me search for these yumm chocolates!). Then wrap these bowls with plastic gift wraps I also got from Daiso.




Done and ready!



Happy Easter from us! Christ is risen!

Best. Ever.

First post of the year ...  is about the best thing ever that happened last year. 

For some of you who may not have been following me long enough, my eldest son, Rujim has Autism. We celebrate everything about him, good or not-so, which I believe helped him so much. He is now almost 10 years old.  We don't always have the best days but  he is growing happy and adjusted. 

Last year December 20, we celebrated Rujim's really special milestone. I want to call it the biggest blessing for our family last year --- he received Jesus Christ through the Sacrament of Holy Communion. 

It was unbelievable. 

It was hard not to cry. 

Best moments were when he received the Host and when he read a prayer in front of everyone present. I wanted to jump and cry and I didn't know that to do. I was just too happy.

We want to thank the Parish of Saint Anthony under Father Terrence, the teachers and catechists Marilyn and Prema and also our newfound friends, Sharra's family who also received the First Holy Communion most of all to God,  for making this very important day possible! 

And of course, I want to thank Sizzix for giving me the tools I need to personalise Rujim and Sharra's  prayer booklets. Would you like me to share with you how I did it? It's very simple, you can do it too! :)

My inspiration and startng point were these pastel chalk inks and the flower wooden stamps. I just randomly stamped on the folded A4 cardstock, which would be the booklet's cover. 

Then I die-cut 2 different sizes of ornate shapes using the Sizzix Bubbly Framelits and my Sizzix Bigshot. It's too easy to do this. Just layer a "sandwich" made of Sizzix Cutting Pad, Magnetic Platform, the paper, and another cutting pad... then roll it through the machine! Done!

When all the shapes I wanted to use were ready, I adhered the white ornate shape over the front cover, using foam dots for dimension. 

 I stamped the words "First Holy Communion" on a smaller, kraft ornate... and layered it on top of the white. 

Here are finished books, bound with jutes that match the kraft color.  I added stickles (glitters) and dewdrops to prettify it :) 

I hope I inspired you today as much as making these and writing my thoughts inspired me. Happy 2016 everyone! 

- GeN 

Supplies Used: 

Sizzix Bubbly Framelits

Sizzix Bigshot

Sizzix Cutting Pads

Sizzix Magneting Platform

cream, white and kraft cardstock

jutes

dewdrops

stickles

chalk inks

flower stamps - Hero Arts

Wrist Corsage in 3 Steps!

You know what I love about these Tattered Pinecone and Jumbo Tattered Pinecone dies from Sizzix? Because I can use it to make not just pinecones but pretty flowers too! 

So I used it to make a wrist corsage for one of my Thoughtful Crafts customer. She wanted silver with any color for accent and I thought it would look prettier to add flowers made of white cardstock and vellum paper. 

I always start my work with a clean surface, with all the materials in mind. I don't necessarily use all of it in the end because I never plan what to do.. I just go with the flow, enjoy the trial and error process. It works for me. So here you can see I have my Bigshot machine, dies, glitter cardstock, lace, adhesive. 

It always starts with cutting my shapes. And you need to layer the 'sandwich' made of Sizzix Cutting Pad + die + material to cut + and the second cutting pad. Roll the sandwich through the machine, and get the perfectly cut die-cuts in seconds! 

Next is to roll the die-cuts to make the flowers. You can find the detailed instructions on how to do this here. 

So pretty! And the silver leaves ... love it!

So these are the wrist corsage in 3 very easy steps: 

1. Die-cut with Sizzix.

2. Roll and assemble the flower and leaves. 

3. Attach to a layer of ribbon and laces, add pearl and stickles!

Done! :) 

By the way, here's an extra story... 

The boys are here at home. All. The. Time. Because it's school holidays until January. It's impossible to concentrate haha. And since I needed to post this blog, I went into hiding in the bedroom while they were playing outside. Guess what happened next... 

They followed me. They just follow me everywhere! LOL. So if I can't run away from them, I better have selfie with them :D

Have a great weekend! - Gen 

Sizzix Sneaks + Chorizo Memories

Good morning! Let's eat :)

I think the reason why I love this food, despite knowing it is really bad and sinful is that it brings back memories. I remember sharing this with my siblings when I was young, the feeling of "wanting more but can't have more" because there were five of us who will share a dozen. My brother, Jong would be so naughty he would hide his share under his rice and let all of us finish ours and when we do, he would take it out and eat it so slowly while we all watch him. Hahaha! 

Now that we are all grown up and have families of our own, I learned to make chorizo (thanks to my highschool classmate Mae Philline for the recipe!) I can have tens of dozens of chorizos anytime I want and can only wish to share it with my siblings whom I miss very much. Life. 

Anyway.. here are some sneak peek photos of my blog post for Sizzix this month.  Go and take a look! :) 

I have a feeling I'll be posting more personal stuff more often from now on :) I miss doing that... See yah!

Impossible Is Nothing With Sizzix :)

It is such a great feeling to do the impossible and I have to thank Sizzix for always being a trustworthy companion in such events of my life. Here's the story... 

Today is Children's Day here in Singapore and I only realised it yesterday when I saw a fellow mom, post her DIY sneak peek for children's day. I was instantly in panic mode because I know how much task I needed to finish yesterday and today.. There was totally NO TIME for a single card. What more for 34 cards? *collapse* 

So last night, I cancelled one meeting for this. I had no choice. Mommy duties always come first. And then, it was  time to use those mommy ninja moves! I wanted to create something quick and simple but spells "HAPPY" so I picked this all time favorite of mine, the Sizzix Originals Happy Phrase Die and all the sunshiny yellow cardstocks I have. 

Most of the time, I do not plan when I create. I love it the most when I do it that way. So there I was, mass producing the word "happy" without really thinking what to do next! Oh my!

"happy" x 34 :) I'd like to tie each die-cut with a baker's twine, but that didn't feel right :D so I looked around my scraproom... 

... and found my old  project life cards that have been gathering dust. Picked the ones with colors that are perfect for the sunny happy die-cuts. I love it! I was able to glue the words on 34 cards in minutes!

Just needed a little stamping.. and it's done! Instant cards for 34 kids that they can keep, paste on their notebooks, or use as bookmark.

Because a gift doesn't need to be complicated and extravagant... as long as it is made with sincere love :) Happy Children's Day! Not just to our kids but to us too.. because it is nice to continue to be childlike... and have a childlike faith. Peace and love to everyone! 

Supplies: 

Sizzix Bigshot machine

Sizzix Standard Cutting Pad 

Sizzix Originals Happy Phrase Die

Assorted Yellow Cardstocks 

Project Life - Midnight

adhesives

stamps - American Crafts

Archival Ink - Ranger

Do you want to know how I made this?

Check it out at the Sizzix Blog for a full tutorial :) 

Have I told you ...

That I have a tutorial over at Sizzix? Check it out HERE =)

Charades

This handmade gift I made for my friend, Anna, is inspired of that time when we had lunch at their place a few days after Christmas, her family and mine played CHARADES and laughed and shouted like there was no tomorrow. It's such a happy memory that both our families will never forget, for sure. 

So now that they are going back to the US for good, I wanted to give her something to remind her of our friendship... something the family can play with. And when they do, they will remember us. 

These are boxes are made using my Sizzix Bigshot machine and the Sizzix Mini Recipe Box & Cards Thinlits Die Set by Where Women Cook. 

Each box contains the family's favorite food, movies or memorable family events. (I asked Anna to give me a list of these things, and she trusts me enough to give the list to me without asking why. Only a true friend would do that.) I would then write all things on the mini cards and keep them in the cards accordingly. Here's how I made this Charades boxes... 

I usually start by deciding on which paper to use. I love this Poolside Paper collection from Crate Paper for its happy & cool theme. So I made my Sizzix sandwich that's made of Sizzix magnetic Platform + Sizzix standard cutting pad +paper + thinlits box die facing down + cutting pad. I then rolled the sandwich trough the machine to have these box die-cuts, scored and ready to be folded and assembled. 

Here are the boxes.. ready to be made and embellished! 

This thinlits die set comes with a decorative die which you can use to embellish the box. I die-cut 3 pieces of the patterned paper and anothe 3 pieces in yellow as a mat, using the same steps I mentioned above when I cut the box. 

Next, I adhered the accents to the boxes and added the Prima crystals. And now, to label the boxes, I picked a sticker sheet from October Afternoon. To make sure that the alphas are centered, I first stick it to a clear ruler ...

... and then transfer it to where it should be. I just saw this trick from the internet years ago and it has always been so useful!

Now that the boxes are ready, I can write the items on the cards! 

Charades game, prettified, is ready! :) 

Supplies: 

Sizzix Bigshot machine

Sizzix Mini Recipe Box & Cards 

paper - Crate Paper, Poolside

crystals - Prima