I Drew a Girl in an Ancient Chinese Costume

Why am I blogging about this? Well, I will be featured in a blog soon and one of the interview questions is about how I started in the world of art". I envy people who could draw, illustrate and doodle so freely out of imagination. I can't. As a young girl I love to copy and draw from cartoon characters or anything else in books, magazines, etc that I fancy but not from imagination. I can draw girls wearing ancient chinese costumes because my family often watched Hong Kong cantonese ancient period dramas and my grandma loved the teochew wayangs/operas. I fell in love with the colourful costumes and fancy hairdo and accessories. Unfortunately I have never kept any of my past drawings and this one I drew yesterday so that people who read the blog feature (mostly non-chinese) would understand what I am talking about.

Hooked on Ribbons

Now I'm equally hooked on ribbons and patterned papers. Out shopping for papers on Sat, 19 Sep and ended up with both papers and ribbons in my shopping bag. Something new from this batch of ribbons are the lace ribbons. Am I thinking about Valentine's Day when Christmas is still 3 months away? Anyway, I could do some love themed cards which are lacking in my current listing in etsy.

My First Promo Pack Items

My maiden attempt in promp packs and getting a little jittery about what the response would be like. Would it generate interest in my etsy shop and make new sales? Guess I have to take a wait and see approach.

As suggested by Sweetirie (the seller whom I'm sending my promo packs to), I'm sending 30 items including 10 business cards, 6 greeting cards, 14 gift tags. It took me almost a month to get the items together and the main challenge was the time constraint being a full-time mother to a very young toddler. I also had to finish making some new cards for my shop before I could proceed to do the ones for this promo pack. That said, I'm very happy that this task is finally completed and ready for shipping on Sat, 19 Sep 2009.

If you're an etsy seller and keen to join in her promo packs, you can find more information here.

Scrapbooking Papers and Ribbons

Went shopping for papers at a scrapbooking supplies shop that I have not been before. As usual I could not resist buying some new papers. Most of the papers I bought were from the Doodlebug collection and very springtime hues.

I know it is the Fall/Autumn season now but oh well, you know me, I just love colours that are bright and cheery. I attribute this to the all year-round of sunshine we have here in Singapore. I'm always delighted by bright and colourful things.

I also could not resist buying these cute ribbons with polka dots, strawberries, gingham and floral designs from another shop nearby my home.

Whenever I find and buy new materials, it gets me so excited to create again. Looking forward to using these papers and ribbons for my new cards.

Dangling in my New Greeting Cards

Dangling in my new greeting cards are...alphabet beads, strawberries, paper embossed flower and shimmering tangy word tags. Not sure where I got the inspiration to dangle something in my card but I like the idea very much :)

Happy Birthday Strawberries Card
Card No. JJC09029
Price: $3.75 USD

Shimmer paper with tangy, juicy words is used on this card and topped with lots of fresh, sweet strawberries. Pop-up on some of the strawberries are pearl glue dots. This sunny card in yellow and red stripes will brighten up that special someone's birthday and bring a smile to her face.

Tangy Citrus Card
Card No. JJC09030
Price: $3.75 USD

The shimmer paper with tangy, juicy words is also used on this glitter citrus card. 3 shimmer word tags tied with gold cord are dangled on a black and white polka dot ribbon. Add a twist and zest to someone's day with this card!

Sweet n Sassy Flower Card 1
Card No. JJC09031
Price: $3.90 USD

Sweet n Sassy Flower Card 2
Card No. JJC09032
Price: $3.90 USD

The Sweet and Sassy Birthday Cards have embossed paper flowers and stringed alphabet beads to form the word "happy". Vibrant and cheerful, this card is full of lime green, sunny yellow and bright pink colours to delight the sassy birthday gal.

Gift Tags for your Presents

Fresh n Sweet Strawberry Tags 1 (Set of 6)
Card No. JJC09025
Price: $2.20 USD

Fresh n Sweet Strawberry Tags 2 (Set of 6)
Card No. JJC09026
Price: $2.20 USD

Fresh n Sweet Strawberry Tags 3 (Set of 5)
Card No. JJC09027
Price: $2.20 USD

Pink Flower Bling Tags (set of 5)
Card No. JJC09028
Price: $2.20 USD

Inspired by my Orange Bloom gift tags that I handmade recently, I have been spending some time to make more new gift tags. The new gift tags are just listed in my etsy shop today. I'm sure these colourful tags will brighten up any wrapped gift.

You may have realised by now that 3 of 4 of the tags listed today are made of Strawberries! I have gotten a little mad about strawberries I have to admit. The 4th tag is a bling tag with a small coloured rhinestone crystal affixed in the centre. I had fun making these tags and the little diversion from cards actually helped break my "creativity block".

My First Gift Tags: Orange Bloom and Bling

I had a hard time thinking about what to do with my Orange Bloom cardstock patterned paper. My first attempt was to make a card and that failed as it looked "too crowded". Won't bother to show the card here.

Then came my plan to send my cards for a fellow etysian to include in promotional packs with her orders. She suggested sending at least 30pcs so I will be very busy trying to juggle my ever-challenging toddler and making new cards for sale as well as the promo packs.

I wrote and drew some notes on ideas for my new cards and was eager to try making tags or small gift tags. I tried to make some in 2007 but it never seemed quite right everytime I look at it and so decided to keep it away. Anyway, one thing led to another and soon I was making small gift tags from my Orange Bloom patterned paper. I made two sets: one in lime green (really love these) and the other in blue. I added a small crystal rhinestone on each sentiment for dimension.

I also made a "thanks" tag, a bigger one than the gift tags. I didn't take a picture as I'm not sure whether I will use it to embellish a card or leave it just as a tag. My next headache is to decide whether to list all the small gift tags in my etsy shop or keep some for the promo packs. Coming up soon would be my Christmas cards. I had already bought some papers and hope to have some ready for listing by September.

Organizer Carrying Case

Recently I bought this organizer box for storing my small crafting supplies/embellishments.

This handy box has many compartments and includes:

1 - Carrying Case
2 - Medium Boxes 4.7" x 2.5" x 0.875" (12 x 6.5 x 2.2 cm)
34 - Small Boxes 1.625" x 1.625" x 0.6875" (4.2 x 4.3 x 1.8 cm)
16 - Mini Boxes 1.312" x 1.25" x 0.625" (3.4 x 3.2 x 1.5 cm)
Bead scoop & tweezers

I used to store my supplies in tiny ziplock bags and these then go into recycled plastic dividers in cookie and chocolate boxes and old shoe boxes. I have always wanted to buy a proper storage box but the ones I have seen had bigger compartments and hence lesser storage space.

I was overjoyed when I saw this box! Not only does it saves space in my crafting drawer, makes it neater, it also has everything I wanted: removable boxes with lids, a carrying case and most importantly each box is small. I have a total of 52 storage compartments. Not sure if I will use the bead scoop but it does look cute. :) As you can see in the picture, the box is pretty much filled up already. I'm left with only a few mini boxes and 2 medium boxes which I keep separately.