Today’s Design with Punch card was inspired by sakura chiyogami paper my sister bought from Saizen. The papers are meant for origami but that does not stop me from using them on cards! The layout here is based on Kristina’s first Valentine’s Day Card for 2012. My sakura puncher is just perfect for this card. :)
… but my wallet’s dismay! Let me tell you why.
After many months of pinning for craft tools and supplies on their online site, I finally hauled my lazy bum to Lasting Impressions last March. The shop area was not commuter-friendly so I was deciding between shipping or shop visit. As the items I want are heavy and expensive, I thought it’s best to go there personally for my first purchase. I arranged to meet up with Ran and we took a cab there.
I’m definitely glad I did. It was a craft disneyland as April puts it and I couldn’t agree more! (see her entry here! She has more pics of the place! 
) My mouth dropped open when I saw the endless rows of shelves and stands displaying punchers, papers, washi tapes, stamps, inks, mists, chips, and everything you can dream of. I was giddy and I didn’t know where to start! Can you blame me?
Alphas, chipboards and flower embelllishments
Punchers
Background stamps and clear cling stamps
Stacks of Specialty Papers!
They sell washi tapes too!
Mists and Distress Inks
Let me tell you more about this place… This is the workshop studio where Iris Babao Uy usually hosts her workshops. She has regular classes (weekly if I remembered right) in this place and also uses it as a gallery to showcase her works. Iris’s signature style involves marrying mixed media techniques with traditional scrapbooking techniques. You can view her awesomeness at her blog.
I spent an hour trying to selecting and narrowing down what to purchase. It helps to have a clear list of items to buy and a strict budget. Will tell you about my purchases next time
Sometimes creating greeting cards make me feel like a kid, especially if you are giving one to you mom or dad during their birthdays, christmas, father’s day or mother’s day. It takes me back to elementary days where your weapon of choice during art class (HELE anyone?) were limited to oslo papers, art papers, crayons, color pens, paste and glitters. 
Ah, don’t you love those days when you can afford to do craft as school assignment? 
So for my first “HELE” project this May, I made my mum a Mother’s day card. It’s a fancier take and I bet my 10-year old self would say WOW. Hahaha. Ok, enough self-praise. :p It’s actually just a simple window card that displays pictures of my mom from our recent China trip. You can read the details of this trip from my sister’s blog at My Tea Latte.
Empty mason jars make me smile. :) These would normally end in the garage, under the sink or on the trash pile. But it’s a shame to hide them in obscurity when the crafting world offers a hundred and one ways to recycle them to stylish home accessories.
I was excited for a simple craft project and I knew where I need to begin. I opened the sink cabinet and was glad to find an old Bravo jar inside. It still smells like the cheesy garlic spread it once contained so I dusted a few baking soda in it and let it stayed for a few hours. While waiting for the baking soda to take effect, I grabbed some of my decorative tapes (available in the shop! 
) and started wrapping the jar. I also made a matching paper flower to go with it.
Here are some other ways to recycle your glass jars. Now you’ll start hoarding them too!
As Light Fixtures
( from BootsNGus Etsy Shop)
(from treasureagain etsy shop)
As Flower Vases:
(from Marshmellowfluffstuff)
As Juice Glass
(from Unstiched)
(from ACME Party Box Company)
As Votive/ Candle Lanterns
(from Annaboo’s House)
(from Fellow Fellow)
Our room used to have this charming custom-made dresser table near the window. It ceased to be charming when bottles of alcohol, toner, moisturizers, lotions and others began to invade the entire surface area. I couldn’t just throw out all those half-used bottles so I decided to engage on a mini Christmas vacation project: Dress up the Dresser(yay redundancy!).
For this simple DIY, I recycled the box of those juice drinks in quick-punch doy pack and cut it into half. This makes the base of my little dresser trays. It was then covered with floral printouts and ribbons. The floral pattern was actually scanned off my clothes and then was fixed in photoshop to make it a seamless pattern. To finish off the look, I added some ribbon and buttons as embellishments.
For the middle one, I opted for a different color scheme and made it from leftover giftwrapper, strings, crochet lace and paper doily.
Admittedly, tthe project didn’t reduce the items on the table, but somehow it makes things look more organized!