Thanks for always being there!

Hi There! I'm here to share a CAS card which I made for this week's Color Throwdown #483 challenge. I just love this color combination of Coral, Green and Kraft. I'm also playing along this week's CASE this Sketch #262 challenge. Here is my take!

First, I blended the Abandoned Coral, Mowed Lawn and Vintage Photo distress inks on a white card stock and cut out the feathers using Simon Says Stamp Feather Craft Dies. To give a little dimension, I layered the feathers and spritzed some water on it. Then, I stamped on the sentiment from Inkadinkado - Thank You Words stamps set and finished off the card by adding a strip of black and white washi tape adjacent to the sentiment. That's all for today.

It's always fun to play along with sketch and color challenges! Great way to bring back the creative mojo! :P I hope you like my card today.

I’m also playing along…
CASology #290 - Abstract
HLS March Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week ahead!

Hugs! :)
Valliam

It's time to party! - Birthday card

Hi There! I’m playing along with the MFT Color Challenge #88 and MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #374 today. I kept away all my dies and made this simple one layer birthday card featuring adorable bears from MFT BB Bitty Bears. This particular set is one of my most favorite and I really enjoyed playing with them. I did a simple masking technique for my card! So, here is my take!

First, I drew a frame on the base card and lined the bear stamps. I picked all the birthday themed bears to add extra fun to the card. Using my MISTI tool, I stamped and colored the bears with Copic Markers. Next, I inked up the background with Salty Ocean distress ink. I combined two sentiments from the Bitty Bears set and stamped directly on the base card. That’s all for today!

I’m also playing along…
CASonFriday #127 - One layer wonder
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week ahead!

Hugs! :)
Valliam

I'm Feline Good with you!

Hello There! I'm back again with my fourth and final guest post for this month. I had a wonderful time being a guest designer for Newton’s Nook! Huge thanks to Jennifer, Samantha and the team of Newton’s Nook Design for giving me this great opportunity. My sincere thanks and love to all your nice comments on my cards. It’s been a great month for me!

For today's card, I decided to play with the Newton’s Sweetheart stamps set again. I couldn’t resist playing with these lovey dovey kitty stamps on this set. This time, I picked the stamp where Newton and his sweet girlfriend sharing a bottle of drink. I stamped and colored them using distress inks. For a change, I made them to drink Orange Milkshake 😋. Then, I cut them out using the coordinating die from Newton’s Sweetheart Die Set.

To have a monochromatic look , I used Kraft as the main color for my card. I used the Darice brick wall embossing folder to emboss the Kraft card and inked the edges using distress inks. I just love how the bricked texture turned out! Then, I used the stitched rectangle die from Frames & Flag Die Set to create the focal panel. I did a background stamping on it using the little paw stamp from Newton’s Sweetheart stamps set.

Next, I used two sentiment banners from Frames & Flag Die Set to create a panel for the sentiment. I stamped the sentiment from Newton’s Sweetheart stamps set on the stitched banner and adhered it on top the plain one and embellished with two gold brad. Finished off the card by adding a little red heart on top of the kitties. I hope you’ve enjoyed my take on this card!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope to see you all again. Have a great day! Hugs! :)

MFT Creative Olympics - Speed Cardmaking

Hi There! I'm so happy that I managed to make a card for the final round of MFT Creative Olympics - Speed Cardmaking. YAY! It was a great challenge and it's totally FUN! I made this simple best wishes card in 17 minutes and 5 seconds. Here is my take!

For this card, I picked a polka dots pattern Paper from Recollection Paper Pad and cut it out using the MFT Wonky Stitched Border. Then I inked the edges using distress ink. Next I die cut two different sizes of circles using MFT Stitched Circle die set. For the sentiment, I used the 'best wishes' die from MFT Cause of Celebration die set. I die cut the sentiment twice and adhered them together for added dimension. I finished off the card by adhering the sentiment on the stitched circle frame. That's all!

Check out the making video of this card on my IG @niftycrafty I'm so happy and proud to participate in all four events of MFT Creative Olympics! Best wishes to all the participants and huge thanks to MFT for hosting such a fun and challenging event!

Thank you so much for stopping by! For more information, check out MFT Blog. Have a nice day!

Love you more than naps!

Hi there! Happy Monday! Hope you all had a fantastic weekend. I’m back again with my third card for Newton’s Nook. For this card, I used the Newston’s Naptime stamps set. This set is definitely an eye catcher! I’ve fell in love seeing him napping on top of the cozy blankets. He is too cute!

I wanted him to be the focal point of my card. So I decided to use bright colors on the layers of blanket to make it pop. I stamped and colored the image using distress ink and die cut the image using the coordinating Newton’s Naptime die set. Next, I moved on to making the background. I wanted a contrast background for this card. So, I cut a stitched rectangle panel using Frames & Flags die set and inked it with Mowed Lawn and Wild Honey distress inks. Then, for the cloud I used the Stitched Cloud Border die set and inked it up with Salty Ocean distress ink. I stamped the sentiment on the cloud panel and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I tried the inlaid die cutting technique to make a window with a little background scene for this card and it turned out great. I made the window frame using scalloped edge and stitched rectangle dies from Frames & Flags die set. Basically the negative part of this will be the frame. I made four frames and glued all of the layers together for added dimension.

I inlaid the background panel to the center of the frame which I made earlier. Since the frame was made of four layers, it give a little depth to background and then I inserted a piece of acetate sheet on top of the frame layers to give the window a glassy look. Unfortunately, I couldn't capture it on my picture. I finished off the card by adhering Newton on the foreground. That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed my card today.

Thanks for stopping by and see you all again next Monday with my final card for Newton’s Nook. Have a great week! Hugs! :)

MFT Creative Olympics - Stamping Slalom

Hi There! Time to have more fun with MFT goodies! I’m so happy and excited to take part in the MFT Creative Olympics Challenge - Stamping Slalom. It’s a special challenge where you have to make a card with three or more of MFT stamps set. That's sooo fun!! I made this card as soon as I saw the post on their blog. But it took some time for me to update here due to few errands. Busy mommy! :P Here is my take on the first event!

First, I stamped the little teddy from Playful Pups stamps set and masked it. Then, I stamped the girl with gift box from Pure Innocence Happy Birthday to You stamps set followed by the balloons from BB Happy Hippo stamps set. I heat embossed all the images with clear embossing powder and colored them with distress inks. I did little paper piecing on the gift box ribbon using pattern paper from MFT True Blue Houndstooth paper pack.

For the sentiment, I create an ombre background on a white card stock using Festive Berries and Spun Sugar distress ink. Then, I placed the birthday die cut from the MFT Cause for Celebration dies set and cut out the word. To give a little dimension, I made another piece of it using pink card stock and layered the ombre word on top of it. Then, I picked the Happy sentiment from BB Bitty Bears stamp set and stamped it on top of the card. I adhered the birthday sentiment and finished off the card by adding some dots on the balloons using gold and silver gel pen.

Thanks for stopping by! For more information, check out MFT Blog. I’m hoping to make one for the second event too! :)

Le Meow...

Hello all! It’s already Valentines week! :) I'm back again with another Valentine's Day card. I made this cute love scene card using Newton Dreams of Paris stamp set. This is such a fun set with lots of adorable and sweet images.

For this card, I stamped and colored the eiffel tower, hot air balloons, the cute Newton and his girlfriend using distress inks. To add little shine, I heat embossed the tower using clear embossing powder. Then, I cut the images using their coordinating dies from Newton Dreams of Paris Die Set. Next, I used the stitched rectangle die from Frames & Flag Die Set to create a focal panel and picked a white card stock as the base card. To create the sky background, I cut a piece of white card stock using Sky Borders Die Set and inked the background with Salty Ocean and Mustard Seed distress inks. I did the same for the base card but used only Salty Ocean distress ink.

Then, I framed the scene by adhering the images. It was the fun part of making this card. I stamped the sentiment directly onto the sky panel and added tiny heart above Newton. Finally, I mounted the entire focal panel onto a the base card using foam tape. I had so much fun coloring the images on this set and love how sweet this card turned out

Thanks again for stopping by! Happy Valentine's Day!! Love you all to the max! Have a great week with your loved ones. See you all on next Monday with another card. Hugs! :)

You Have My Heart

Hi There! Today, I'm sharing a little action card featuring a lovely bear from MFT BB Bitty Bears stamp set. I made this card inspired by this week’s MFT Color Challenge #87. It's one of my favorite color combo. Here is my take!

First, I stamped and colored the bear with distress ink and cut it out using the coordinating die. To create the frame, I used the MFT Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frame die and inked it with Picked Raspberry distress ink. For the background, I gently inked the Staggered Heart stencil with Spun Sugar distress ink. Next, I create an ombre on a white card using Hickory Smoke and Black Soot distress ink. Then, I placed the letter dies from MFT Little Letter die set and cut out the letters. I die cut the letters again on a black card stock and adhered the ombre letters onto these black letters to give a little shadow and dimension.

Next, I stamped on the sentiment from the same stamp set and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I finished off the card by adding a little action wobbler on the back of the bear and placed it along with the letters to form the word 'LOVE'. That's all for this card! Hope you like it.

I'm also playing along...

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - It Must Be Love

CAS on Friday - Dies

HLS February Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! :)

Birdie Happy Birthday

Hello! I'm sharing this simple one layer birthday card featuring little birdie from Gerda Steiner Design - Hoppines stamp set.

I love the wood fence image from this set. I stamped it several time and on top of the fence I stamped the birdie. I colored them using distress inks. Next, I masked the images and inked the background using distress inks. Finished off the card with the sentiment.

Entering this card on the following challenges...
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Birds of a Feather
Sieze the Birthday - Toppings: One Layer

Thank you so much for stopping by! :)

I'm here for you...

Hello! Hope you all had a great holiday. Wish you all a happy new year! :) We are blessed with a baby boy recently so I took a little break from crafting and blogging. Here I'm back with my first card for this year!

I colored the two little bears from MFT BB Bitty Bears using distress inks and cut them using coordinating die. I used the sentiment from the same stamps set. Then, I create a frame using the Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frame die from MFT. It's one of my most favorite die frame which was in my wish list for a l-o-n-g time. I just had it recently and here I'm using it for this card :)

Next, I create a rainy background by blending distress inks and splashed few drops of water. I trimmed out a yellow color side panel and used the Staggered Hearts stencil to create a background full of hearts. I picked  a similar color of distress ink to fill in the the little hearts. I love how it turned out. Looking so lovely :)

That's all for this card. Hope you like it! :)

I used the color palette from the MFT color challenge and the sketch from MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge. But, now it's too late to post this card on the sketch challenge as it was over. Anyway, I'm still in the color challenge :)

Entering my card in...

MFT Color Challenge #85
Challenge #124 Love - Make a card for love/valentine's day
HLS January Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Thank you so much for stopping by! :)

I Believe in You

Hi friends! I'm back with another card after a short break. I created a simple card featuring stamps and dies from My Favorite Things. I enjoyed making this card inspired by this weeks MFT Color Challenge. Here is my take!

For this card, I create a sunset background using the distress inks. This is the first time I'm using four different colors. I love this technique a lot, but hardly tried on my cards. I'm still practicing and learning on ink blending. But, I'm really happy on how it turned out for this card.

Next, I die cut the base card with the Wonky Stitched Rectangle frame from MFT and cut out a circle in the center using the Stitched Circle from MFT as well.

I used the Modern Trees stamps from MFT to set a scene on the bottom of the card. These tree stamps are so cool and its perfect for all season.

I finished off the card by stamping the sentiment from the BB Beast Friends stamps set and I die cut the word believe using Die-namics Little Letters from MFT. I felt it would be the perfect sentiment for this card. Hope you all like it.

I'm playing along...

MFT Color Challenge #81
HLS November Challenge - Anything Goes with Dies

Thank you so much for stopping by! Happy crafting! :)

It's Your Birthday!

Hello! Hope you all had a great weekend. Today, I want to share a birthday card for the My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge. I used the color palette from this week's Color Throwdown challenge. But unfortunately I couldn't enter in this week's challenge as I was little late for the submission :( Such a beautiful color combo. I missed it! Anyways, here is my take!

To begin, I stamped and colored the hippos, balloons and cute little bow using distress inks. They are from the My Favourite Things - Happy Hippo stamps set. I love playing with these stamp. They are darn cute! Next, I cut them out with their coordinating dies. I used the sentiment from the same stamp set.

Next, I die cut the word ‘birthday' from the My Favorite Things Die-namics - Cause for Celebration set. This set has gorgeous script font dies for all celebration. I adhered few layers of the dies together to give some dimension. The semi-circle frame was created using Sizzix Circle die cuts and the patterned papers I used for this card are from American Crafts - Pebbles Phrase Cards.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #347
HLS August Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes

Thank you so much for stopping by and happy crafting! :)

I'm Stuck On You

Hello friends! It’s a great challenge to make a CAS + one layer card. But that’s the fun! So many ideas popped up while making this card. Well, it really didn’t take much time either. Here’s my card.

I used the colors from Color Throwdown challenge and cute cactus plants from Lawn Fawn - Stuck on You stamp set on this card. The pots and plants are stamped with the MISTI stamping tool using dye inks. It turned out so vibrant after several times stamped using MISTI. Love MISTI! :) It’s my new favorite toy!

The sentiment is from the Lawn Fawn - Stuck on You stamp set and I add the block letters from Ms.Sparkle & Co alphabet stamp set. I tied on some twine on the top of the card. Finished off by adding some dimensional dots from EK Success - Rainbow Dots.

Linking the card in the following challenges:

Lawn Fawnatics Challenge 10 - Custom Sentiments
Color Throwdown #456
CASology #262 - Prickly
Addicted to CAS #117 - One Layer Card
Tuesday Throwdown #356 - Anything Goes

Thank you so much for stopping by and happy crafting! :)

Happy Hippo Bird-Day!

Hello! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Today, I'm sharing another birthday card inspired by this week's My Favorite Things Color and Sketch challenge. I had a fun time making this card. I'm in love with the adorable hippos and birdies from the Happy Hippo stamps set from MFT. Can't wait to play with the rest of the stamps! Let's move on to the card.

It's been quite a while since I used patterned papers on my cards. So, I had to look on my patterned papers stash to pick the right matching color patterned papers for this card. I used wonky stitched die from MFT to create a border. Then, I colored the hippos and birds using distress inks and cut them with coordinating dies from the stamps set. Next, I used circle dies to cut out few frames and made a round window for the bird to peek through and view the scene. Finished off by stamping the sentiment and adhering the images using adhesive foams.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

MFT Color Challenge #75
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #345
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Happy Birthday
Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week ahead! :)

Happy Birthday Little One

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great time. I have been doing quite a lot of birthday cards lately and I'm trying to keep my cards CAS. Today, I'm sharing this pretty birthday card for little girls. I used two colors to make this card inspired by Make My Monday challenge and used this week's sketch from Case This Sketch challenge.

To begin with, I stamped the cute elephants from HeroArts - Lil Hoot stamps set and did simple coloring using distress inks. Next, I created a base for them using pink shade inks and stamped on the birthday sentiment from AveryElle - Party Animal stamps set. I finished off the card by adding some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh - Sweetheart Mix and Marshmallow White.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Case This Sketch #233
Make My Monday #52 - Grey and Pink
CASology #261 - Safari
Simon Says Stamp Monday - Happy Birthday

Hope you like my card and thanks for stopping by! :)

Miss you!

Hello! Today, I have made a card inspired by the color palette from Lawn Fawnatics challenge. Love the bright summery colors and here is my take.

I created a cute scene using Lawn Fawn - Home for the Holidays stamps set. I colored the car with distress ink and did layer stamping on the trees using Memento inks. The sentiment is from Papertrey Inks - Phrase Play #3 stamps set. Hope you like this cute miss you card. Happy crafting!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Lawn Fawnatics #9 - Color Inspiration Board
Addicted to CAS #116 - Wheels
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Let's Party! - Birthday

Hi friends. CASology is celebrating 5th year anniversary with a fun blog hop! Do check out the blog hop and join in the celebration. This week the cue is Balloon and here is my take on it.

This cute little kitten image is from the Paper Smooches - Chubby Chums stamps set and I colored it using distress ink. The balloons and the word 'Party' are picked from Ms. Sparkle & Co. Paperie - Celebrate stamps set. I mix and matched the sentiments from both stamp sets for this card. The balloons are inked up with Simon Says Stamp inks. I finished of the card adding a sentiment on the inside of the card with few sparkle stamps.

I'm entering this card in the following card challenges:
CASology - Balloon
Seize the Birthday - Splatter
Happy Little Stampers CAS - Birthday
Paper Smooches - Anything Goes
Color Inspiration Monday - Anything Goes with Hand-colored Image
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! :)

Adorable Snuggly Cuddly Puppies

Hi friends! I always love coloring adorable critters. So, I was excited to play with this darling snuggly-cuddly puppies from the My Favorite Things - Playful Pups stamps set. Actually, I thought of making one layer card with this pups. Later, I decided to use a background and did some layering. I used the color palette from last week's MFT Color Challenge.

I watercolored the image using distress inks and cut it using coordinating die cut. I used one of the sentiments from the same stamps set which suits perfectly for this image. I heat embossed the sentiment and adhered it using foam adhesives. I wanted to have a nice weathered background for this card. So, I inked up the stitched background card with Weathered Wood distress ink and layered it on a navy blue card. Then, I finished off the card with few enamel embellishment.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes
MFT Color Challenge #72

Thanks for stopping by! :)

You're Cute!

Hello friends! Today I have a card inspired by Lawn Fawnatics challenge. This challenge is to add watercolor to your project. Head over to their blog to check out the amazing cards by the DT. For my card, I watercolored this little cutie from Lawn Fawn Stinkin' Cute mini set using distress ink. I used the sentiment "You're Cute!" from the same set. The coordinating patterned paper from My Minds Eye 6 x 6 paper pad. A simple and easy card to make someone smile :)

Entering this card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Patterned Paper
Lawn Fawnatics Challenge 7 - Watercolor

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Love You Floral Card

Hi There! First day of the month! I have a card to share with you all. This is a simple card using some floral stamps and most of them are from the Simon Says Stamp - Hello Friends stamp set. It's my first attempt in creating a wreath design. It took some time for me to start building the wreath using small stamps. I wanted to try something which is out of my comfort zone. So, here is my card for today. 

I stamped the images and water colored them using distress inks : Cracked Pistachio, Wilted Violet, Broken China and Shaded Lilac. I had no idea how it will turn out as I never tried water coloring on my previous cards. It's a great experience playing with distress inks and it was challenging too! More to learn :)

The sentiment was gold embossed and adhered to the center of the wreath. Overall, water coloring is therapeutic! I enjoyed making this card and love the way it turned out. Hope you like my card. I would love to hear your feedback.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges :

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes
Case this Sketch #179
My Favorite Things Color Challenge #48

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!