A small Thank you card!!

Hey everyone,

I am back again right in the morning to post about this small cute card I made 2 weeks ago to express our 'Thanks' to a friend for his kind invitation. :D

More or less, since I have come to Singapore, I doubt I have left any occasion without adorning it with my quilled and crafty creations. So here it goes-

 This card has been made within 10 minutes and I am patting myself for that..NO No! not coz I made the 'entire' card in 10 minutes, but because I have kept a bunch of pre made flowers with me which I make every now and then and which come very handy whenever I have to conjure a quick card. 
So really, this card was made with the help of my already made flower motif. 

 These ascending swirls were totally a last minute addition. I had earlier planned to stick the flower and write 'Thank you very much' in the remaining space, but don't know what clicked in my head that I added this bunch of swirls and I totally loved the effect it gave to the entire setting..^_^

I am sure someone who has read my previous posts must have noticed the use of these 3 colors 'only' before as well. As I earlier mentioned, I had shredded like these 3 colors and wanted to use them a bit before stocking more color strips and so only 3 colors have been used so far.
Its not very fancy or bold and big but serves the purpose well enough..:D


Thank you for looking and as always, your comments are always welcome.

Just Love Crafts xx

A very orangy birthday card!!

Hello all lovely people,


Today I am bringing you my first card which I made after coming to Singapore. The card is now with my husband's colleague, a very lovely American girl who absolutely loved the card and that is I believe is the most important thing, appreciation of the receiver..Ryt!!!


However, the flower used in the card was pre-made. I made it in India while I was waiting for my visa to get approved and I can be united with my hubby. :)


Don't have many pics, but whatever I took on and off, I am posting here..

 I used 3 varying colors of yellow and orange and joined them together.  

 The resulting flower.

 The flower was lying with me for almost 2 months when I thought of this card and I was pleased with the result. The colors were of course much brighter and prettier than what camera could capture.

I love the effect silver pen has on black background. I guess I'll use this style more often. :D
Anyways, I didn't write much for this flower as I am way too sleepy. I was literally falling over laptop while writing but had to finish this. Please do leave me your valuable comments/ suggestions. Its much needed.. :D


Love,
Just Love Crafts xx

Comeback Series 2 - Recycled pen stand and gift tag!!

Hello people, 


I am back again with part 2 of the comeback series. This time I am presenting two upcycled projects. A pen stand out of the tea box and a gift tag I made from Dorothy Perkins dress tag..:D


Here goes the making of the pen stand. I made it basically for my sister's colleague who requested her to get it decorated by me and since she was leaving their office for good I thought it would make a nice farewell gift.-

It was a simple aluminium square tea box- the one that contains those fancy flavoured teas :P. I simply selected a bright colored patterned paper and cut it accurately as per the dimensions of the box. This is how it looked once fully covered-

Quite plain eh??? I felt the same and added a punched out border of another contrasting bright color on the edge. 

I have used Martha Stewart's all around the page punch for this border and it came out beautifully.
However, when it comes to decorating, everything is incomplete without quilling in my case...well not everything but yeah! most of the the things so I decorated it with some quilled motifs-

I have made a simple 6 petal flower for the front and small closed coil flowers on the adjacent sides. I loved the way it turned out, simple yet striking for its bright colors. It was loved by the owner and I was happy to have put my quilling to some 'real' good use..


Now over to the gift tag I made from a dress tag. The tag consisted of several layers and this was of course the one I couldn't throw as it was extremely sturdy and beautifully blingy..

As usual, I was too impatient to take pics from scratch and I was half done by the time I realised..:P  I simply stuck a piece of leftover scrap from this project in the middle and a flower motif (similar to the one I made for pen stand) on the side. 

The ribbon used with the tag is also recycled, its the ribbon that is stuck on the sides of the dresses (part of the same dress whose tag is used here). You can actually see 'Dorothy Perkins' written on the ribbon ..I didn't mind it as I thought this tag would make a perfect accompaniment with a gift for a girl (we all love dorothy perkins, don't we!! :P)
This is no photoshop effect, the tag is actually so blingy that when clicked in natural light and without flash, all its twinkiling gets captured..

I found it pretty and a truly 'recycled' project. Please do let me know your valuable comments/ feedback. They are too too important and of course appreciated.


Much love,
Just Love Crafts xx

Comeback Series - 1 "Photo frame as a gift"

Hello people,


Hope all is well. I am back with my promise of introducing the comeback series for my readers. This is the first post of the comeback series. Its a photo frame, I made for my best friend who was going to Germany to be reunited with her husband and I really wanted to gift her something very special and personalised. 


Of course, I had the option to buy, but we all know how special it is when it is handmade :D.


Well so, I had an IKEA photo frame lying with me for at least one year, as I bought them in London but didn't use them for I was saving them for my crafting experiments. :P However, little did I know at that time that they would turn out as perfect gifting solutions as my friend loved the frame and its proudly sitting in her drawing room now with their wedding pic.
This is how it looked as I started with it

I am sorry that I didn't take pictures right from the beginning as I was rushing (it was her last day in India) and was desperate to finish it asap. But I can always write about how I did it :D
The checkered background I have used is a printed film with an adhesive backing which I bought in UK as well. I covered the whole frame with it and since it had an adhesive backing, it stuck all nicely to the wooden frame. (I wanted to use a girly color, something representing a fresh start. Since she was going to be with the love of her life, pink and red seemed to be the obvious choice for me. )After that I just randomly started laying out quilled designs in the corresponding colors trying to fill in the space as much as possible.

Finally I added some stones which were lying with me from my glass painting days to add a little bit of bling to the whole thing as I found it really dull looking otherwise. But nevertheless, it came out pretty much nice in just one hour :p. Here is one final pic. 

Please do tell me your views about this photo frame. 


Hugs,
Just Love Crafts xx

Quilled Cross as a gift!!

Ni Hao!!


I am just saying 'hello' in Chinese..:P..Well, if you are living in a country its good to know their language too..:P lol..well, I am not learning chinese, I just didn't want to start my post with a boring hello..and also, since this was the first craft project I did after coming to Singapore, I thought of giving it a little dramatic start..:D


So, here I would like to present a Quilled cross I made for our lovely landlady. Ever since I have reached Singapore, she had been a second mother to me. She welcomed me in her home with 'Aarti and sweets' and keeps gifting me something or the other every now and then. My hubby and me are like son and daughter-in-law to her. She is a devoted christian and I couldn't think of anything else to thank her for everything she did for both of us.

I have used 5mm pre-cut quilling strips for making this project. Since it was my first project in Singapore, I used the material I got from India and luckily I got a pack of these blue quilling strips which were perfect for this project. 

The frame I have used is from IKEA. I found a matching frame :D, inserted an A-4 size sheet in it and stuck the cross on it. 

Somehow the cross fitted the design perfectly and left me enough space to write a sentiment.
She just loved the gift and it is now displayed in their living room :) This is how the final piece looked once finished.

(Disclaimer- Please note that I am NOT the actual designer of this cross, I found an image on Google, loved the concept and remade it using my own size dimensions. The whole credit for the design goes to the actual designer - Sorry couldn't locate the designer. If you happen to be or know the designer of this beautiful cross then kindly contact me, I'll add the due credits to this post.)


Hope you like it.
Just Love Crafts xx

A New card...A New trick too :D

I am feeling soo proud today...And that's coz I have kept my promise...Promise of putting up crafty posts soon and here I am, in less than 24 hours...soo happy!! :P
Well, I so hope that I continue with this promise of mine and hopefully don't take a Loooooong gap like last time :(
Anyways, I can always blabber later..Let's come straight to the point.. This is a card I came up with 2-3 days back while fiddling with the strips. Its primarily made of only 3 colors (blue, pink and red). Well, no special reason, just that I have been able to shred only 3 colors so far and my table seemed to be full so I thought of using some before shredding a new color...
Have a look

This is the first time I have used 'Construction Paper' for Quilling. Actually, I didn't have much of a choice as this is the only kinds which is available for my purpose.. I like this paper, its like that though its only 110 gsm, I find it much harder to shred as all the ends do not come out fine. But guess, I am not in a complaining position as of now as even after trying I couldn't find anything apart from this, so I'll just stick to it..


A close up-

Now, The title says 'A new trick too' so here is the trick that I would like to share with all of you. 
(Disclaimer- I am not sure if it's entirely new, it's just I haven't seen it before and the idea came to me out of sheer desperation!)
I wanted to 'raise' the level of the part that holds the sentiment and since I have literally just moved to Singapore I am lacking of all the essentials of crafting apart from the very basic ones.. So as expected I did not have the required foam tape which is generally used for such purposes. But I was soo desperate to finish the card that I had to raise the level of the sentiment strip by any means and Whoooshh!!! I saw my quilling strips lying right in front of me and I made 3 tight coils and stuck them to the back side of the sentiment card and placed the whole thing in its right position. 
A closeup to show what I actually did..

This is the final outcome, and you can notice the raised part too easily..

I believe no one can actually make out the difference by just looking from the top that I have not used foam tape for it. In fact, I happen to notice one more benefit..
When quilled coils are used in place of foam tape, the 'raise' is more discreet and firm, as foam tape tends to squish due to its softness, where quilled coils are sturdy and keep the card in place..


*Caution- Make sure the paper which is being used for the 2-D effect (my sentiment card in this case!!) is thick and sturdy in itself, the pink base here is 140 gsm and on top of it i have stuck the same blue piece as the strip color which is of 110 gsm making the whole thing quite sturdy*


Well, I seem to totally love this card for its simplicity and freshness. Here is one last pic I would like to share..:D:D

If you like it, do lemme know. Your appreciation is my motivation.


Love all,
Just Love Crafts xx

A Comeback....

Hello everyone,


Its been 5 months (exact 5 months!!!) to my last post...not at all signs of a good blogger. I know! :-/
But that doesn't mean that I have been away from crafting or was away to some inaccessible island, its just, that there were things happening in and around me that kept me on the edge and I was sooo occupied that I couldn't take out time for blogging..But now I want to make 'A Comeback'..and not just any comeback but a proper and a sustainable comeback which means, more crafting, more posting, more blogging!! :P (Well, I hope so at least!)


However, before moving on to the crafty talk, let me update you quickly with the things that kept me busy,


The first and the most important being - MARRIAGE...Yes!! I am married now! I am still trying to sink in this fact though :P but yes, I am happily married to the person I wanted to be with and life has been a joyride since then. Planning a wedding that too of your own is one Gigantic task, you want everything to be nice, pretty, perfect and its ohh soo not easy!! I am sure, most of my married readers agree to the fact, so yes I was fixed in December and got married in February :D so you must have have imagined that it was almost impossible to pay attention to anything else...Lol!! ;)


The next big thing that kept me away from my beloved blog was the BIG SHIFT..In less than a year I moved to third country..so it went like UK-->India--> Singapore..It meant moving my whole world (esp with the cartons full of craft things which I bought from UK, then used in India, then packed back to leave in a safe condition!!) it took a lot of time and packing and packing and packing...
So yes! I am in Singapore now, where my hubby is working and I am simply enjoying my life... :-D and that is when I am actually able to get back to blogging and update everything I have done so far in these 5 months.


Thus, in order to make it a true comeback, I am planning to start a 'Comeback' series on this blog which will include posts about the works I have done in the last 5 months and so on. Of course, I will be uploading my fresh works and ideas too, but a comeback series was a must.


**P.S- my laptop is away for repair which has all my crafty pics and I didn't have them separately (unfortunately and stupidly of me :((( ) so it will take me some time to start the comeback series, but meanwhile I will be happy to upload my latest works**


So, please keep reading and expect lots of crafty posts in the coming time..


Love to all


Just Love Crafts xx