Play the HNDMD 'Love' Challenge.

Hello!

Welcome to the 'Love is in the Air ' Challenge at HNDMD! Follow this link to read all the details and play along!

 Here is my take on the challenge..I hope you are inspired to play along!

 I made a few mini notecards and a couple of gift tags using the newly released Craftangles 'Hug Me' stamp set,  patterned papers from the 'Vintage Rosette' 6"x6"paper pack' and the newly released Craftangles stencils 'Heart mesh', 'Chit chat' and 'Quilted hearts'. 

Intercative cards showcasing Craftangles Superkids stamp sets and co-ordinating dies.

Hello!

I have some super exciting cards for you today, showcasing 

the Craftangles Superkids stamps and co-ordinating dies.

I started out by stamping the superkids images onto Bielo white cardstock and 

colouring them using my Sakura Koi watercolours.

I then die cut them using the co-ordinating dies.

To start, I made a simple card using one of the Supergirl images. I just love the 'Rays' stencil from Craftangles...it lends itself to so many scenes!!

I also love the sentiment that I used..with many kids starting college in the next few months, or starting a new year at school, they really need to 'Believe in their superpowers'!

I used Memento inks to blend and some of the Oh! so awesome new sequins from Craftangles!

I just LOVE the bright colours and the absolutely superb quality!!

For the second card, I used this fabulous tutorial. 

You will find lots of ideas here!

I used two of the Superkids images for this card as well as sentiment stamps from the set.

I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp too.

I think it turned out adorable!

For the third card, I have used the exclamation stamps from the Superkids stamp sets, and combined it with the Craftangles Film Strip die. 

I decided to make a magic colour reveal card combining it with a shaker element.

You can find a tutorial for this here.

The balloons are from the 'Happy birthday to Youuu' stamp set.

The sequins I used are Craftangles 'Ruby Red', 'Bumblebee Yellow' and 'Saffron Orange'.

I made the same card,but, with a kraft pull tab...what do you think? Which one is better..white or kraft?

For the fourth card, I used the flying superboy image, exclamation stamps and the rays stencil.

This time, I decided to hide the sentiment, so that it is revealed only when you pull the tab.

Nice no?

I think this card is my faourite!

I hope you will get yourself this stamp set  and cordinating dies and try making some fun cards. 

Don't forget to show us what you make by posting your creations on social media and tagging #Craftangles.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Paru Mahtani

Paru's Perceptions

How I photograph my cards

Hello!

I am back with another post for Indian Craft Room...this time about Photographing Greeting Cards.

Apologies for not posting yesterday, as promised!

I'm Paru Mahtani, an avid cardmaker and photogrpahy enthusiast. My passion for  card making led to a need to photograph my work; hence developed an interest in photography. Once I started exploring this hobby, it became addictive!

There are so many good blog posts, video and discussions on the internet about photographing you cards/crafts/art work. Thanks to the popularity of online shopping, crafters have realised the tremendous importance of photography!

The lessons I have learnt in my 15 plus  years of making cards are...

1. Research!! Research!! Research!!

Read blogs, look at others photos, read what they say about their photography processes, look at photos on Pinterest and Instagram and learn! 

Here are some resources:

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=2011

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=2011

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog/?p=2011

http://www.everythingetsy.com/2010/04/how-to-photograph-your-work-for-sale-on-etsy/

2. Take a few photography classes to earn how to master your camera. 

Then you can create some amazing photos.

3. If you have a spot with great natural light, that's fantastic! If like most people, you don't, make an inexpensive lightbox (learn how to make one here.) and learn how to use it! 

The results are amazing!!

Here is an image of my set up...it's not perfect (the light box is a little wonky) 

but the results I get are just fab.

I have set it up at a height so that I don't have to bend. I have a put a little side table on top of my dining table and then placed the light box on top of it.

The lights are 'Sonia Trilights'. They have an adjustable stand and it is continuous  white light.

These are photography studio lights, but the same can be acheived with any continuous light.

I use a Canon 7D dslr, but very often take photos with my iphone if I dont have time to set up the light box.

I usually make a bunch of cards and  photograph them all together.

Here is the result!

These are photos taken on my desk with an iphone...

I hope this post has been useful and you have been inspired!! Do leave me a comment...I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

I will be back next Thursday with another post.

Have a great evening!

More fun with CraftAdda stencils!

Hello all!

Today I have for you three fun tags I made using the awesome new CraftAdda stencils!

 I used Tim Holtz distress inks to create the backgrounds 

and then die cut the tags using the mft tag die.

For this tag, the stencil used is 'honeycomb' and the sentiment and the fussy cut dice used are woodblock stamps from StudioG. 

The stencil used for this tag is 'handwriting'. 

I added fussy cut flowers leaves  from W+9 Spring Blooms stamp set to make the tag pop!

I made this tag using Simon Says Stamp stitched circle die

The stencil used is the 'Moroccan design'.

I off set it and it used it twice to create dimension. 

I added the Memory box die cut flowers and 

the sentiment from the 'Sending Love' stamp set from Craftangles.

I finished of the tags with some black cord.

CrafTangles Stamps and Stencils are here!

Hello! 

Craft adda has launched its fabulous range of  Craftangles photopolymer stamps!

I have had the honour of using them and I have to tell you, the quality is exceptional!!!

I have used the 

Baby Sentiments stamp set  and the Craftangles 'Its a boy' paperpack

to make this card.

I paired a couple of papers from this cute paper pack and stamped two sentiments from the stamp set.

To cover the joint I used a blue satin ribbon and added a button from  my stash.

Craft Adda have also released their Craftangles  stencils which are made from superb quality plastic.

Since the festival of Rakshabandhan is in a months time, I decided to make a card with a rakhi. 

I used the stencil to create a background for my starfish rakhi. 

I used Tim Holtz distress inks to create the soft background.

I created the sentiment using stamps from Paper Smooches (Kinfolk) and MFT (Graphic masculine T and Graphic feminine T)

I made a few cards so I used my Misti stamping tool which made it so very easy!

Jennnifer Mcguire demonstrates how, here...

I hope you will be inspired to go over to Craft Adda and check out their new releases!

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great evening!

Distress ink watercolour monoprints with Stencils and Stamps

Hi!

Today, for my Craft Adda post, I have two cards which I made using water and Tim Holtz distress inks.

For the first card, I smooshed some distress inks onto a home made stencil ( I cut out some numbers out of a clear plastic sheet) and spritzed it with a lot of water. I then place my card stock onto the stencil and let it pick up the colours. A

After it dried, I stamped the sentiment (from Kaisercraft)with black ink.

A quick and easy birthday card!

For this card, I used a cling stamp from Hero Arts. I smooshed the colour directly onto the stamp and spritzed it with a lot of water. I then place a piece of card stock over it and picked up the colours. Its so easy and fun...you get a different effect every time! 

I then finished off the card by stamping the sentiment in black and adding some sequins.

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Have a great evening!

Blue giraffe

Hi there!

I just love the way this card turned out... I was playing around with some stencils when I got this idea. The stencil is from 'istencils' and the white ink from Memories.

The little giraffe is a die from Cuttlebug, which I cut out of printed paper from Creative imaginations.

I popped it up with 3D tape for interest and finished up the card by heat embossing the sentiment

(brand new from Simon Says stamp) with white embossing powder from Hero Arts.

 

I am playing  the Addicted to CAS #60 'CUTE' challenge, the Paper Players 'to die for' challenge, simply create too (anything goes) and the CAS-ology 'News' challenge  (card for a new baby).

Thanks so much for stopping by...

Have a great evening!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year people!
Its my blog anniversary!!!
I can't believe it's been 4 years since I started my blog!
It has been an awesome ride and thanks so very much to all of you wonderful friends who stop by to read my blog posts!

Here's my post for today…also my official post for Craftadda…India's foremost hobby store!

I am linking this card to the Craft Adda Winter Sale-Buy,Create, Share Contest!

A New Year postcard that I made for a few friends…postcards are so much fun to make and so easy to mail! And so easy to make multiples too!

The lights stamp is one of my oldest stamps and is from Rubber Stampede. 

I stamped the image and coloured it with camel watercolours.

For the numbers, I didn't have a number stamp that was bold enough, so I die cut the 2015 using Lawn Fawn's Quinn's 123 die set. Using it as a stencil I applied versa mark embossing ink to the postcard and embossed it with gold embossing powder.

The sentimento are from the Hero Arts 'its your day' stamp set and 'holiday sayings' stamp set. The sparkle is from Papertrey Ink's 'Sparkle and Shine' stamp set.

I was thrilled with the result! A great way to end 2014…they all went in the mail yesterday!

Thanks so much for stopping by…

Have a great night!

A water colour card

Hi!

Today I have a card that I made using Art Impressions watercolour rubber stamps. and Watercolour and distress markers. tutorials can be found on the Art Impressions website.

I used Cotman watercolour paper to create the panel and a silky multicoloured ribbon to make it look pretty! The panel is cut using Spellbinders nestabilities dies

:-)

For the background, I used a Clear Scrap stencil with Memento Summer sky ink.

To Finish I added a sentiment from Hero Arts.

Thanks so much for stopping by…

Have a great evening!

Watercolour Stencil backgrounds...2

Here is a card made for my Official CraftAdda post today, using the watercolour stencil backgrounds I made at Online Card Classes with Tim Holtz.

The technique he demonstrated was with stencils which had a large negative area. Since I did not have any such stencil, I decided to make my own using the Cuttlebug numbers die plate and an OHP sheet. It did not cut perfectly, but I got a couple of really nice panels. I used Crushed Olive and chipped Sapphire distress inks on the OHP sheet and then spritzed it with water.

Here is the result...

To add interest I placed a sheet of blue vellum under the panel, added sequins and tilted the Stampendous sentiment.

I am submitting this card for the Case Study  193 challenge.

Water colour stencil backgrounds..1

On Online Card classes watercolour for card makers, Tim Holtz conducted an awesome class!
Here are the panels he inspired me create...

and here is a card that I made...

The sofa and and cushion are from PTI and the sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp "where your heart is" stamp set. 

The stencil used is from Crafters Workshop. 

I used Tim Holtz distress ink, Crushed olive and water to create the background panel. 

For the card background, I simply applied some of the same ink on an acrylic  block, sptrized it with water and stamped on the card!

I inked up the sentiment, spritzed it with water and stamped it. I found it to be too watery, so I stamped over it a couple of times till I was happy with the colour.

I am submitting this card for the "Less is more" Lucky dip week 174 challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Good night!

My attempt at Grunge!

Hey all!
Today, for my official Craftadda post,  I have a card for which I have attempted a grunge look...I'm not sure if I have pulled it off, but I like the end result.

To create this look, I used a stencil and distress inks(Tim Holtz) to create a partial impression. 

I then went over the entire panel with a texture cube from Stampendous and more distress ink. 

To finish I stamped a sentiment on a torn strip of paper and and adhered it with metallic brads (recollections)

The two vellum punched dragonflies completed my scene.

I love its soft muted look...what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a nice day!