Valentine 2018

A new tradition added to the calendar this year. Valentine's Day!

Well, I've actually made card for Valentine's Day before (though not consistent), but from this year on, I'm making an effort to keep the Japanese tradition of chocolate-making on this day.

Let's focus this mini card that was prepared before the actual day. Once again, it's made of 99% recycled material. The usual recycled namecard featuring a new addition to our tool stash, The Elephant Clear Stamp. Totally love this series of My Favorite Things Clear Stamps, so expect to see more of them!

The pink card base is actually the wrapper of Tokyo Banana! Pink and Giraffe! Which was irresistible for me. BUY! BOUGHT! And RECYCLED!

The wrapper is adhered to and strengthened by a calendar page. Adhered the elephant and balloon in pop-up tape, and added random heart paper punches all over. Lastly, handwritten "Love" with Versamarker and embossed at the top left hand corner. Sometimes, I'm amazed at how all these trash can come together and transform into something of such beauty.

Next on to the chocolate part. For the first year, I went for the simple, most traditional - Chocolate Truffles. Nothing fancy, just basic Chocolate Truffles.

Though I did try adding some rainbow bits for some fanciness, it failed terribly. Always good to have room for improvement next year, right? As you can see from the photo, that I got lazy towards the end, and didn't bother to roll them at all. But nonetheless, they are still yummily tasty!

Changed the recipe (from what I got from the internet) BIG TIME. And honestly, I didn't mean it. I got confused with all my conversion and overestimated the weight of the chocolate bar I used. Despite this crazy mistake (that I only realize way after), it came out just fine! In fact, I think it's even better! Because the original recipe actually requires you to remove the truffles from the refrigerator and serve when it's in room temperature (I'm assuming that it would be softer that way, than being cold from the fridge). But mine actually has a really nice texture and firmness straight from the fridge. Definitely a big plus, since ain't nobody has time to wait for yummy snacks!

Sorry for the long post and yeah, stay tuned for the next!

Mickey Birthday Party - Garlic Baby Boy [Chocolate Tartletts & Jelly Cups]

Let's continue from last week Mickey Mickey Mickey!

Used the same dough from the butter cookie recipe, and shaped them into little tartletts. They are not the most presentable or the prettiest, but they definitely taste good (and overly sweet =X). So you can't deny me an A+ for effort, especially for those ears that took so much work!

Last but not least (but I feel otherwise), Jelly Cups! 100% store-bought jello, with minimum preparation, and poured into individual jelly cups. Well, sometimes it's the simplest things that count. =D

I suppose it's a big achievement to be able to prepare a dessert table like this. Though it's just simple pastries this time, let's work harder to improve and have a party at home sometime! Woohoo~

Mickey Birthday Party - Garlic Baby Boy [Butter Cookie & Egg Biscuit]

Hi~ We're back to the biggest project so far, so big that I decided to separate it into 3 posts!

Quite amazed that the first menu to be decided was the Butter Cookies. I had always deemed it to be the most tedious recipe ever. But after a few trial-runs and some brainstorming, I managed to make a big box like this in half a day, instead of a dreadful long day previously!

It's not exactly sufficient to feed 30pax (+10 children), but since the dessert table is just a side and would be served together with a dinner buffet, I didn't wanna make too much either. Too much of anything would make it bad, right?

Alright, to the next menu! The Egg Biscuit, that was added to the menu at the very last minute, because I thought it would be perfect for children and even babies! Totally reminds me of the 旺仔小馒头! I simply can't believe that this snack I used to nom all day as a child, or even a baby, can actually be homemade! So I definitely have to try making them, right?!

The taste was totally similar, though it doesn't melt in the mouth as much as the commercial ones. But still, it was not bad for the first time. Definitely gonna make again to achieve that ultimate melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Also packed them into small little containers for easy consumption~ Come on, one for every kiddy!


I guess I should take a break here, before our eyes die from diabetes. Turn tuned for more coming up next week~

Mickey Brthday Party - Garlic Baby Boy

This is probably the biggest project I've worked on so far. Planning started waaaaaaay before the actual party, and that is definitely a good thing. Totally appreciate the early notice. Started planning at least half a year before, with some dilly-dally, procrastination, and distractions, but still did a pretty decent job, I would say.

Got there early to help out a little with the decorations. Mostly just tearing out tapes for the guys hanging the balloons. But I did help to pack these cutie boxes as well. Just a couple of them though. But still!

The host did spent a lot of effort (and money) in preparation of this day too, I suppose!

Food Displays, like the cupcake stands, pink trays and turntable, are provided by the host, with some help from her sister. I must admit everything turn out to be beautiful! Right~?

Dish Name Displays were all handmade prior to event, and I'm so glad they turned out perfect! Did some extra for the buffet table as requested from the host, but I didn't really catch photos of those, other than some funny dish names they had.

Designed them from scratch, with some help from past experience (the triangular base was the "nametag" we placed on our desks on orientation day back in secondary school)!

Sponged blue in the shape of Mickey's forehead and probably ruined it with my awful handwriting. Yeah, I know there's much to work on for that.

Typewritten the ingredients used for each of the menu, because I am paranoid about paranoid loving parents who may be overly concerned about what goes into baby's tummy.

Well, gonna talk more about the menu only next week, since I need a little more time to arrange those photos. Just glad to say that everything went smooth and yummy that day~!

Bearth-day - MMO

I must admit that I was sooooo busy that I was on the verge of dropping this. But I am still feeling bad about having dropped this last year. Not to mention that there are 2 birthdays on this same day and one of them is back to her home country that I can't even make anything even if I wanted to now. T_T

So! In the midst of all the preparations of the crazily big project (which I will be posting next week), I have found a life-saver in my favorite value shop, Daiso!

The printed card is store-bought and made in Japan! Well, the made in Japan part is the biggest contribution to my purchase. Bought one of each design, and even a letter pad. All made in Japan. Simply love them!

A stamped, pop-up centerpiece was all that is added on to make this lovely card!

A simple message/letter at the back, with random stickers everywhere. Not much time was spent on making this card, but still full of love and cuteness. I did made some steamed cupcakes (Mushipan) and gave them together with the card. But unfortunately, no pictures taken. Shall feature that another time since I gonna run for my next project~ Ta-da!

Japan Holiday - Kawai Haruka

I'm quite amazed that I was able to finish making so many card in such a "short" period? XD This one was made for a teacher who went back to Japan earlier last year.

Still featuring the Beary Special Clear Stamps from My Favorite Things. Well, it's simply too cute to be using them just once, right? Embellished with the freebies I got with some crafting tool purchase. Oh, not to mention the strips of wrapping for the background.

Packed the inside with plenty presents! A combination of clear stamps from both Christmas and Beary Special. I don't think the overlapping would have worked out without the Stamp Platform. So I guess, with these recent additions, I can say that my card-making has been brought up a level.

I have also mailed a couple of postcards while I was in Japan. It's something I always do when I go overseas, and most of the time, like this time, I would forget to take a photo. So it's gonna be just memories in my head. See ya soon~

Christmas Get-Together 2017

It's the 14th February~! Valentine's Day~! Gonna make myself busy, making chocolate truffles, but the post for it would have to come later! Because I made yummy snacks and beautiful cards for Christmas as well, and I'm here to tell and show you all about them.

The Get-Together Party this year is much earlier than before, not that I know of the reason. But thanks to that, we were able to attend (and have a revival performance) despite the year-end holiday we've planned.

I baked some butter cookies and packed them with whatever I could find around the house, since I didn't have much preparation time. Most of them were similar to last year, with a couple others to make up for the number.

With the abundance of namecards to be recycled, I decided to make full use of them this time as well. And with the combination of my sponging, stamping and coloring skills, I would say that I fared quite well in this project. Gonna keep looking forward for the next~!

Beary Special - Lingx

Back again with a little gap *Whoooops* Just as I expected, I got super busy with the December babies and Christmas, followed by the Japan holiday in which I fell terribly sick during, and now the big preparation for Garlic's baby's first birthday. Still busy, busy, busy~

Have been trying to keep my cards simple recently, as I've seen beautiful cards that don't flood every inch with details. So this time, I've decided to focus on the front of the card like the previous time.

Found a piece of leftover wrapping paper that fits perfectly without trimming, so it settled my background. Bought a Compass Circle Cutter from Carousell for just $1, and it wanted to contribute. Thus the pink spotlight for our centerpiece. Though the cutter isn't in 100% working condition, it still did its job well.

The usual recycled namecard for the cute clear stamps. Oh! Did I mention that my husband got me the Stamp Platform (from Tim Holtz, Tonic Studios) for my birthday? Totally love it (though I'm still figuring my skills out)! But the next thing I'm going to want will be a bigger work-space to store my ever-increasing tools.

Alright, let's peek into the inside of the card~ Simple centerpiece with a little caption stamped. I guess, Simplicity is Everything, sometimes.

Paired with a type-written letter on some up-cycled paper. I suppose I could have done a better job, or at least sponged it with a Distress ink for some vintage feel (which I would love to add to my To-Buy list).

Sweet Lollipop - MW

Decided theme: Sweets. Got the idea from Pinterest and incorporated crochet as well. Crochet pattern is original, really simple and got good result with just the first try. Spent more attention and time on the background. Polka dots were made from hand-colored recycled white paper punches and also punches from scrap color paper I've found lying around. I'll give myself an A+ for effort for lining those dots as well, rather than investing in some beautifully printed paper.

Recycled paper, cut to size and trim with scallop cutter on the top, sponged with red ink and lastly stamped with candy canes. "Happy Birthday!" was typewritten on origami paper and adhered to recycled namecard. Really love how the sponge tape creates such a nice 3D feel. Will definitely be seeing them a lot in future cards. ^^

A simple line typewritten on the inside of card, and a little letter to go with. And this should mark the end of November cards BUT December is always the time to go crazy. Not just birthdays but also Christmas!!! Gotta run before I run out of time!

Butterfly Theme - Pepper

Decided to make a rather simple card, instead of trying to fill every space like I always do. The idea was to make the card a little religious, since she is a devoted Christian (or so I think), and naturally nature would be the go-to. Glad to have found those clear stamps while shopping~

Have been researching online about clear stamps and wanted to put my hands on them as soon as I could. Though I managed to find those butterfly stamps, the shops didn't have any kind of stamping tool available. And since I didn't wanna waste my money on the acrylic blocks too, I used the stamps with a laminating sheet. XD And I do not recommend that.

Anyway, the ink sponging here is much smoother, right~ Not to mention that the left banner and two heart cut-outs are from recycled material! Used the sponge tape and flower embellishment bought from Carousell. Simply amazed by how beautiful everything comes together.

Simple on the inside, with just a "Happy Birthday" typewritten and a Polaroid of the Christmas card she sent me last year. Together with a short letter because I wanna clear my paper stash as much as I can in order to welcome new members~!

Love is Blossoming - Birthday Card for the Husband

Another continuation of quilling, combined with crochet, and at the same time trying out new technique - ink sponging! Well, I must admit I didn't do too great here, but I've definitely improved since then! Would definitely love to upgrade my inkpad quality and collection during the year-end Japan trip~ Woohooo!

A little recycled idea of hourglass for the counting down with a little parchment paper added on. The rest are simple writing and pasting. Somehow I think my handwriting kinda ruin all the cards I've made. Gonna practise more on that!

No letter this time since I wanted to spend more time on the "gift" and proceed to finish all the other cards before the trip. So I'm kinda racing with time here. Hope the ideas keep flooding in!

Music Notes - Onion

Got a little late posting this already-mailed-out card, as I got busy with the November cards, which by the way are completed! And if I must say, I believe those November cards are definitely going to be in my favorites!

Anyway, back to our September baby. This card is a revised idea, if you remember, I used buttons to pop up the birthday music notes the previous time. So after experimenting with quilling, I wanted to try again since there were still some scraps left. Backed with some stamps at the background corners

Simple pasting of carefully chosen scraps with music note stamps and punch and a simple birthday wish. Of course, coupled with a little personalized letter.

Gonna be posting the November cards soooooon (hopefully), and crack my brain hard for ideas for the December cards~ >-<

Strip Flower Theme - Hasegawa

The urge to bang my head on the wall.

Have been really busy at work with the new workload in a new area. Rather challenging and stressed at the same time. But I guess the ranting can continue somewhere else and it shouldn't be an excuse either.

I forgot to take photos of this card at all.

I won't say that it's wonderfully done (though it is) but it's a fresh new try and probably a breakthrough in my recycling. I shall attempt to make you see how the card looks like by bombarding you with thousands of words. XD

I've cut magazine pages into thin strips of around 5mm with my beloved paper cutter and dyed the strips red. After which, I rolled and shaped them like flower petals. Pasting them on the card makes beautiful pop ups, backed with a stamping of the 'stem', and shattered flower punch-outs decoration.

It sounds so easy just typing it out here, but I've spent so much time on this idea that I only completed the card right before mailing date. The strips were too thick at first, the rolling was crazy and the dyeing was a mess.

The back of the card were stamped at the corners and layered with a wrapping paper, then a short message on a orange paper. Attached with a nice artistic letter which is going to be stuck in the heart for a while, according to the receiver.

Overall, it was a good attempt with pleasure result, despite all the episodes in between. Shall think of something for the remaining strips lying around. Also, Happy National Day for Singapore too~!

Silly Funny Theme - Salt Birthday

As the title suggests, this is probably one of the most "blahhhh" cards ever. For the most "blahhhhh" friend I'd always love. Remembering this friend of mine, I would be reminded of many silly and crazy things we've thought/talked/done together before. Thus, I wanted to make her card really funny and silly this year.

I don't think the words show well in the photo, or even on the actual card. Anyways, it says "happy" on the red cloud, "birthday" with a tiny heart on the yellow, and "At least you are not as old as you will be next year" on the rainbow. All written in a pen supposedly to be dried up.


But as I started writing her name for the letter on the back, I was so surprised that the ink came flowing! And thus, the letter was written in ink. Backed with some stamping designs to add some zest into the simple card.

Loves those stamps so much that I couldn't stop stamping. So it over spill to the envelope (There's one on the front as well! I totally think it turns out adorable. Did I mention that the envelope itself is handmade from recycled paper as well?

Lastly, I sealed the envelope with some homemade stickers~! Was rather last-minute work so didn't get the time for photos. But, it was totally cool for first-time/last-minute/up-cycled stuff.

Anyway, gonna start working hard on the next project now. Can't really afford to stop, and this really make the time flies too.

Gift Tag (From Upcycled Namecards) - Salt Wedding Card

For the girl who loves 'Se7en' that much, it is no surprise that she had to have her wedding on the 7th July this year. With all the squeezing of the brain juice, the result is this beautiful eco-friendly tiny little 'cards'.

Made with the stack of old namecards, which doesn't seem to decrease in size, but has proven rather useful once again. Cut into shape and carefully wrapped in some lovely gift wrapping stashed away.

Type-written quotes on a little piece of origami paper. You can still see the design of the gift wrapping lightly under it. Simple yet beautiful. Lastly, with a single hole punched at the corner, it transformed into a little accessory for the purse, bag or even mobile phone!

Well, not sure if the back actually adds to the "wow" factor, or simply just ruin it all. But still, it was a great idea executed. Stay tuned for more!

Pokemon Themed - Garlic

After so many months of lazing off the card-making workstation, I am proud to present this Pokemon themed birthday card for the June baby.

Highlight of the card being the centerpiece - PokeBall!

It is almost impossible to tell that I used 99.99% recycled material here! It's made from recycled namecards (which I have two tall stacks waiting to be wasted) with the printed side covered with scrap envelopes (which I have two even taller stacks waiting to be wasted as well).

And the secret within the PokeBall will give you a big pleasant surprise~! Well, after all I have been working on the cross stitch during that two months. I must admit that, cross-stitch definitely is time-consuming, but the result is totally worth it! (Especially for people like me who can't draw beautifully.)

As usual, finished the card with a little short letter. But this time, I added a little something for the envelope. Turned out to be fairly good. Not sure if I would actually invest in a good dedicated heating tool for better effects. Well, for the time being, Ta-Da~

And the final touch - the Wax Seal! Bought the seal stamp and a couple of wax stick from Daiso. Though I'm still new at this, it worked out beautifully!

Gonna be flooding this blog with some updates soon. Since I've completed a couple of cards during those months. So hang on there~!

Mario Card - Anniversary

Took a super-duper long break from both blogging and card-making. One of my usual 'hiatus' that I constantly neeeeeeeeed.

So I shall be posting on this long-due card for our anniversary. A simple one-sheet card with Mario as the theme. This is the first time I actually added cross stitch to my card-making. But with the recent relapse of cross-stitch-addiction, and the previous yarn/buttons card, I could almost see this coming before.

The husband pointed out that Boo (the white ghost at the bottom) would never scare/face Mario like that, and thus the tag-line. Also, the pink frames were added to cover up some accident, or rather some unexpected effect of the fabric glue. So yup, there's always room for improvement. Gratefully, everything turned out rather good.

Will definitely be keeping cross stitch in the card-making, so yeah, stay tuned~!

Typewrited Elephant Baby [Shower] - Garlic

The big reason why I was kinda running late on the posts - The Baby Arrival Gift & Card

As I made the couple a couple of elephants for their wedding gift, I've decided to make them a baby elephant when the happy news came. It wasn't an easy making that baby elephant happen, since it took a lot of time and effort (and brain juice) to edit (and shrink) the pattern. But still, I did it! (After a couple of tries, but I did it!) Tied with a perfect bow and packed in the perfect box. Stay tuned for more on these cutie elephants~

Alright, getting on to the card now. Simple paper cutting of the adorable pair of elephants, with a little fun fact.

A totally new attempt of the old popping up - Cradle instead of just square pop-ups! The first time I attempted to design a pop-up that isn't square or rectangular. But yeah, I know it could have been better than this.

Wanted to have the Stork & Dumbo on top but there was not enough space. So I came up with this (brilliant) idea of hiding Dumbo behind the cradle, making it seem like Dumbo is in the cradle and if you try to look inside, you'll see him~

Sealed the envelope with a little typewritten letter (so I can dispute if 'anyone' says I don't use my typewriter).