Quilled Baby Shower Wooden Magnet Favors Baby Girl Feet and Blue Flower

I have more baby shower magnet favors to show you today. They've all been given out, but I'm trying to catch up with posting as always. :X










This one is of a baby foot and a simple heart.

This magnet has a lot of blue tones. I don't really think I had intentions of doing that, but it turned out to be okay. The wood is stained with different acrylic paints: baby blue, yellow, and white.

The side view of this magnet shows how I outlined each petal with white quilling strips.

So...this is week 33 of my pregnancy. I can't believe I'm almost there! I feel miserable and mostly have bad days now unfortunately. Both my energy and time are precious at this point. We are so far behind in getting prepared to welcome the baby, but with all of my illnesses there was no way I could put up a good fight and multitask. All I've been focusing on is trying to heal if possible. My goal is to deliver unmedicated. The US really likes to insert medical intervention and my body is one that usually suffers from this sort of input. The only problem is that lately I've been in so much pain that at times I can't imagine myself going through with my original birth plan. It's a possibility that I am somewhat saddened by. I hope to be able to cast aside all of the doubts in my head by the time she's ready to come out. 

I'm trying to find time to learn hypnobirthing. It's a bit late, but my thought is that even if I can't use it for birthing then I may be able to use it's application in other areas of life; breathing techniques are skills we can always use to help us calm down and relax. 

Here's to wishing for a smooth ride ahead. ;)

Quilled Purple Shooting Star Flower Flourish Fridge Magnet

It's week 29 this week! I think I felt my first Braxton Hicks contraction last night, but I'm not sure. It's gotten me to start thinking about packing a hospital bag!

The gorgeous fall foliage colors are passing through this region--I can't believe that fall is here already. I hope they stay put for another 2 weeks, so I get a nice scenic ride down to NYC for the baby shower. :)

Here is another fridge magnet that will be part of the collection of party favors:

The base of this one is a heavy cardboard flower that I found in one of my old collections of embellishments. It's already laminated with the purple paper and glitter. The only things I added were the star gems and the star shaped purple quilled piece with a flourish trailing behind it. I'd like to think of it like a shooting star, but I can't deny that my original intention was a purple flower. :X 

Good day to you all! 

Quilled Roses Wooden Heart Magnets

My baby shower will be on Oct 11th--guess who volunteered with a lot of the crafts? That's right, me!

One of the things that I'm working on are various quilled magnets. I know they aren't standard baby shower favors, but it'll be one of the last projects that I'll be working on for a while so I wanted it to be something different, yet special.

The magnet bases are wooden cut outs of hearts. You can find these in your local craft store. The background was decoupaged with pattern paper. The 3 small roses also has a strip of ribbon going across it, much like a pageant ribbon sash. I added glitter as a top coat for the dual purpose of sealing it and making it pop a little.

Since I easily get bored with mass producing the same style when it comes to projects, I will be making all different kinds. Stay tuned for more quilled magnets in the coming weeks!

Yay for the weekend! Enjoy!

Bridal Party Invites From Summer 2013 Boxed Banners

Happy Thursday everyone! First off, I'd like to thank Chana from 613 Avenue Create for giving my Wedding Thank You cards a spotlight today on her facebook page! How very exciting! :)

It appears as if I'm going backwards in time...from posting wedding thank you cards, to the wedding invites, and now I'm going further back to post about the bridal party invitations I sent out last summer. :X

I took a jewelry box and wrapped each of them up in pattern paper. I cut out scalloped circles and die cut a second layer that was printed with my message inside the center of each heart (Will you be my bridesmaid? 4.27.14). Each panel was strung to make a banner. From there, I taped either side to the inside of the bottom and top of the boxes. Once opened, it should give off a popping out effect when the lid is removed. The tops of the boxes were decorated with silk and paper flowers and finished off with a tag of each of the girls' names.

Lots of joy,

My Bilingual (English & Chinese) Letterpress Wedding Invitations

I have sudden urges to clean the house like a mad woman since becoming pregnant. Similarly, I have a desire to clean up my hard drive and reorganize. This made me realize that I need to play a little catch up with some older projects. This one in particular was my baby for a half a year from Fall '13 to Spring '14.

Dec 20, 2013 at The Arm in Brooklyn

From ordering paper and supplies, to the layout, to manual letterpress cranking and assembly...I dedicated 100% of myself. In pleasing my parents, I had to create both an English and Chinese edition--thank you to Jennifer Cheng for assisting me with your Chinese language skills. Also, thanks to Colleen Deng, I was able to ask for her help in filling in the rest of the blanks--reviewing the proofs, ordering plates/paper, and going through the whole letterpress experience for the first time. She took me to her favorite letterpress studio in Brooklyn and we along with a few friends pumped them out together over the course of a few hours. I'm so pleased with the final product and wish the pictures did it justice.

I would also like to thank my husband, Dmitriy, for allowing me to go crazy on this one! :D

Peace and happiness,

Wedding Thank You Cards + It's a Girl!

I have some good news to share as I am finally feeling better. :) We're expecting a baby girl this December--due date is 12/13/14, isn't that neat?!

I am 23 weeks along at this point. It hasn't been easy, but I know it doesn't get any easier, am I right? hehe It'll be our first child and we have a lot to learn! The baby market alone is overwhelming in itself! I'm just going to take it day by day even though my mind is racing! Suddenly everything feels like it has a timeline that is creeping up quickly!

One of the hardest things for me is gaining weight. I only eat gluten and dairy free foods for health reasons, so it isn't that I don't crave ice cream and pizza but I honestly can't touch it without risking unwanted complications. Sometimes I crave things so badly that it makes me want to cry. It isn't until the logical side of me kicks in that I can calm down. Boy, am I glad I have a few years of experience on this strict diet rather than having to deal with the mental side of things straight out of going cold turkey.

Anyway, this is the long overdue and drawn out wedding thank you card project I've been working on on and off. My good moments these days tend to involve eating and cleaning. I wish there was more time in the day!

They are cut from the Silhouette Cameo--with both sketch pen (for the wording) and blade. You would think it goes quickly, but the clearing off of the adhesive mat is quite a tedious task. I inserted a picture from the wedding in each card and layered vellum underneath, so that when you remove the picture it still looks somewhat clean. I wrote my message beneath the vellum for the same reason.

Wishing you a lovely week,

Entered in:
-613 Avenue Create #85 Anything Goes

Quilled Purple Orchids Unique Stringed Mom Card

Well summer is in full swing and of course I caught one of those horrid summer colds...yay! Thank you mom! :D Yes, she passed it onto me when she was visiting from Maine a few WEEKS ago. I still can't shake this cough!

How has your summer been so far? It's hot, humid, and extremely wet over here. In fact, we have thunderstorms more often than not lately. It's really not so great for those of us who just want to get outside and enjoy the day!

In honor of an awesome mother who has left me this great gift of sickness before she left, I present to you this card:

:P It's a card that took a lot of time making, not only because of all of the quilled pieces but also because of what it took to spell the word "mom." I took a thicker thread and free handed the letters, so essentially, they are "stringed." Each piece had to be carefully glued down...then you wait for it to dry...glue some more...wait some more, etc., etc... Needless to say, a lot of love went into it.

As for the quilling part, I made orchids and a bunch of smaller leaves glued together to make larger leaves. All of the quilling together did not come close to equaling the time it took to glue down the string! My head was really spinning after all of the concentration it took to complete this card. I'll probably be needing a long, long break before tackling anything like this again when I have time.

All the best to you lovely readers this week!

Entered In:
-Artistic Inspirations #100 Anything Goes
-Craft-Dee BowZ July 2014
-House of Cards July Add a Bow

Happy 31st Birthday Handmade Quilled White Flowers Card with Heart Leaves

Hello everyone and happy Wednesday!

This summer we decided to try to eat more organic veggies and support local farms by signing up for CSA farm shares. I'm pretty sure it's nationwide, so if you're interested you can read a little about it. It's probably more interesting to those who live in cities since it's hard to access fresh produce. The season has been starting off on the slow side. I hope it picks up soon! We've had a lot of salad-type greens and even tried spring nettles for the first time! My husband said that in his motherland, Belarus, they learned to avoid them at an early age because of their ability to give you horrible rashes, similar to our poison ivy. Therefore, they're pests and he said if his parents knew, they'd laugh at us and call us idiots (so we won't tell them then :D). We had to handle them with gloves until we got it into the water to boil. Sounds counter intuitive to stick something like this in my mouth, but I did it anyway...I didn't mind it so much in the end, but it wouldn't something I'd be dying to try again!

On to the card:

This card has a playful nature to it that I like. It's clean, simple, and modern. I played with the leaf petals to try to get it to look like heart outlines. It was a little hard to control the waves, so parts of it weren't fun at all! They came out a bit clunky, but I am satisfied with the outcome. 

Lots of hearts~

Entered in:
-Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes

Quilled White Heart & Flowers Initial K Bridal Shower Card

I'm finding it easier to sit in front of the computer today with the severe thunderstorms outside, so here I am writing another post. It's so rare for me to get into a back to back blogging groove nowadays. We're trying desperately to settle in as much as we can since we're receiving a lot interest from family and friends about visits next month. I don't know what's so special about June, but apparently it's a good time to travel? I could use the company, so I'm not complaining!

This summer will be really different for me in that it's the first summer I am not spending in NYC with my friends and family. Yes, I've been away in college and yes, I've been gone for extended periods of time to other places, but never have I not been able to check in with people physically at some point during the summer months. I think I'll feel it a lot more than usual because summers in NYC are unlike any other. Whether you spend time alone or with others, it's always an exciting time with a lot of action. I am struggling to understand what there is to do in this area while my Facebook feeds have been buzzing with activity from all of my connections in my hometown. I'm not one to truly take advantage of and embrace city life, but I do enjoy little doses of it sparingly. I'm curious as to how I will sum up this period of time when September rolls around.

On to the card:

This is a card that I made for soon-to-be bride, Karen, for her bridal shower earlier this month. I've known her since late HS/college days and I can't believe she's finally marrying her fiance after so many years (est. 2005). It's a rare thing for people of our generation to push through all of the changes and pressures of life to make it so many years later. They've had to endure many periods of long distance dating when her fiance was in dental school. Well folks, he's finally starting his residency in the city, so they can finally reunite and have the happily ever after they always dreamed about. I wish them all the best! 

The card consists of a quilled white heart and flowers. Flowers have chalked centers. I distressed the background sheet a little bit with purple ink. Flourishes were wet embossed with clear glitter embossing powder and tips are decorated with purple rhinestones. The heart, "K," and leaves are die cuts. 

That's all for today; have a wonderful weekend! 

Entered in:
-A Creative Romance - Girly Creations
-Alphabet Challenge - H for Handmade Embellishments

Congrats Wedding Card with Quilled White Flowers

All the wedding festivities have come and gone...a month has passed by, yesterday! Time really doesn't wait for you to catch your breath!

I'll have to put up some wedding pictures in another post because I haven't gotten them myself from the photographer!

Many more weddings are coming up next month! It's a busy year for those who are my age. Here's a card that I made with simple quilled white blooms:

The cut out of the couple is actually the portion that I didn't use for the luminary table numbers I had made for my wedding. I will be sure to put pictures up when I get my hands on them!

Have a sweet day!

Entered in:
-The Pink Elephant Challenge - Anything Goes

Bridal Shower Thank You Photo Cards

The girls threw a surprise bridal shower for me a couple of weeks ago! I rarely get to see these girls anymore being that I live 3 hours away now, so it was definitely a treat for me. :)

The background decor was made by Jenny on the far right, back row. She's a really great friend to craft with and it's one of the things I miss most about living in NYC. All of the details that went into it was really awesome of her since I treasure that kind of stuff a lot as you may already know. ;)

This great picture was taken with a tripod on Colleen's camera (far right, bottom row). It felt a bit funny re-gifting the picture she took for me, but what can I say...it is one of the best group pics I've seen out there for any of our gatherings. hehe

I put my own personal touches on the picture to personalize it a bit more and then printed it with my photo printer. It turned out fabulous! The mat I cut from a larger sheet of pattern paper. It worked out well...quicker than most other cards I've made!

It's the final stretch! The wedding is next Sunday! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and, truthfully, getting this over with!!!

Have an eventful Easter weekend!

28th Birthday Quilled Pink & Yellow Flowers Card

It's my birthday month and I am actually going to be celebrating my 28th birthday! I'm not big on doing anything, but we do have a lot to be happy for this year so I'd like to think of it as a nice time for reflection. Hopefully it'll be warmer and I can get in a nice stroll. I'm scheduled for the dentist to get in a permanent crown on that day, so it'll make for a memorable birthday for that reason if nothing else. 

This is a card with a chalked background and 3 quilled flowers. I don't know why, but I really wanted to scatter the leaves a little bit to use up some of the white space. 

Enjoy this Wednesday afternoon!

Entered in:
-{Pin}spirational Challenge #99