Hello Sweetheart - Quilling + String art card

Hello again everyone!

Happy to share another one of my quilling + string art card series today.  I still have a few more in progress with different colour combinations and arrangements.  This card is filled with pink colours in the background. There's those pink polka dots layered on top of a dark pink card stock. Then there's pink flowers, pink butterflies and pink sentiments! 

I think this is my first time trying out this colour palette. The brown string art circle match well with pink, yellow and green. I wish I had a different type of green paper for this combo but I didn't have a lot of choice for the green paper and  so the light green seemed to go well with the combo. Make do of what I have! ;)

I really really love that Hello Sweetheart die from In Love Arts Shop! It's perfect! With tiny little hearts and all together with the sentiment! Cool! I die cut the dark pink sentiment 3 times and layered them to give it a special raised effect. Loved the results. I don't have anymore problems cutting them even though the design is a bit intricate. 

Another first for me is making that big 3 layer pink and beige flower. Now that I can cut 2mm, 3mm and 5mm paper on my own, I can now experiment more on combining them in a single flower. Just a simple one and I loved it. D Will definitely do more with different techniques.

The whole idea here is to try new things, and be creative, that's  what ignites the fire within to craft more. I personally love to challenge myself every time so that I will always have the drive. 

For Someone Special - Quilling + String Art card

Hello everyone!

I'm back with another quilling handmade card! After playing around and experimenting a lot with the 2mm and 5mm quilling papers that I made using the pasta machine, I finally assembled them all on a piece of card. 

I had sewn a Spirelli string art on a piece of a circle card and added matching seed beads that matched the quilling flowers and leaves. This type of design can be made in different colour combinations. 

This is my first time using the polka dot stencil to make the background of the card. I really love how it turned out. The Tim Holtz's Peacock Feathers distress ink that I used to ink the polka dots on the metallic card really suits the base of the card and the quilling arrangement.

It's a simple card design and not too crowded and bulky. I was happy to be able to use the die cuts that I got from In Love Arts Shop again as sentiments for the card. It is one of my favourite die cut sentiments from them. I'll be using more of it in future because it's suitable for all sorts of occasions. :)

Ramadan Kareem card

Hello everyone!

I know it's a bit too early to make Ramadan cards, but why not right? Better early than late!  This card was the last one I made for my craft product review video. I picked one of the few Ramadan Kareem metal cutting dies from In Love Arts Shop, and came up with this simple straight forward design. It's nice to make simple card designs once in a while.

So, here is the Ramadan Kareem metal cutting dies. There are a few dies in this set. That's why with just this set, you can straight away make a complete card with them. I just added more tiny stars and punched the corners with a corner craft punch and it's done. Just think of a suitable colour combination, arrange them in a nice angle, and that's about it!  This is probably the fastest cards I completed compared to the other 4 cards I did for the craft product review. LOL! :D

The sentiments are in Arabic and it says Ramadan Kareem. It's super cool to see Arabic wording dies because it's not something I commonly see or sold here. This is actually the first time I've seen anything like this, seriously. So when I found out that they are selling this, I immediately grabbed the opportunity to own one.

I do plan to make more of this card when I have some free time and explore what other designs I can do with the dies. There's so many things we can do with them. I don't think I've ever sent anyone a Ramadan Kareem card before so it's great that I can do so this year. We're always so focused on Eid cards, but we rarely do much when it comes to Ramadan cards. We just focus on the 'ibadah' more during the holy month. Which is also a good thing. :)

In Love Arts Shop is selling other Ramadan Kareem dies and clear stamps at their website and I plan to collect them all! One by one till I own all the designs. I can't have them all at once so I just have to be patient in collecting them :D.

I'm So Grateful For You - Die cut card

Hello everyone!

Today I want to share with you one of the 5 handmade cards that I made for the craft products review which I did this month on YouTube. This design is mainly made using die cuts! Kinda rare for me to just use die cuts as decorations. Usually I would mix it with quilling or other types of decorations. But this one is almost 99.99% made of die cuts. 

The floral frame die cuts that I used for the background for the card is made using dies that I received from In Love Arts Shop. Love it so much. First time ever for me to try to blending intricate die cuts with distress ink!! I really love the effect. The die cut looks like it's blended into the card itself since I used a red distress ink to match the colour of the card. 

The whole colour scheme and combinations are based on the die cut birds and roses. I really love them a lot. Too bad the shop where I bought them from don't sell them anymore. I can't even remember what year I bought them. Anyways, they are no longer in stock there. So I guess this card is a limited edition, LOL! Coz I can't make another copy of it.

The stamped sentiment is also from the same clear stamp set I got from In Love Arts Shop. I hope they will stock up more clear stamps that has handwritten sentiment designs like this. They are so pretty.

This card was done in just a few hours. That's why die cuts are great. It saves us time when we need to make a card in a hurry. When you already have the idea in your mind, you can make a card faster with the right materials. Easy to assemble and look fancy at the same time. ;).

You Are A Blessing To Me - Quilling card

Hello everyone!

I'm super excited to share with everyone here today about this quilling card I made. Only two out of the five cards that I made using the metal cutting dies and clear stamps that I received from In Love Arts Shop were made last December. The other three I made them early this month. 

For this card, I get to use two of the metal cutting dies and one of the clear stamps. I really love the metal cutting dies used for this card especially the Rectangular Frame Dies. It looks like a lattice, that's why I used it as a background for the flowers and leaves. The combination is perfect. As you can see I coloured the lattice by blending some distress ink on them. I really love the effect. It looks just like a scene in the garden. I really enjoy blending distress ink on paper nowadays with the makeup blending tool. 

The quilling flowers is an old design that I made back in 2015. If you wish to learn how to make them too, just click on the play button on the video tutorial below and watch how I make them. It's super easy to make and so cute in size. 

If you are interested to purchase the metal cutting dies and clear stamps, below are the links to each product I shared here. Do use my discount code FSAZLINA to get 15% off each product.

Hand Writing English Grateful Words Stamps

SKU: STZH145

http://bit.ly/2QKTD5H

Cherished Words Dies

SKU: DMZH760

http://bit.ly/2OHYG4p

Rectangular Frame Dies

SKU: DMZH625

http://bit.ly/37zQMCr

Celebrate Your Day - Quilling card

Hello everyone!

Finally today I get to blog about this card here. I made this card last year after I received the metal cutting dies and clear stamps from In Love Arts Shop. I couldn't blog about the card until I uploaded the craft product review video on YouTube. As always I have to review all the craft products I received from In Love Arts Shop and create cards from them.  I took quite some time to get all the cards done for the review. Need to make the cards faster next time. :D

I really love the Square Lace frame dies a lot! The designs are so intricate and beautiful, that's why I chose it. I didn't know I was going to have problems cutting dies like this when I first got them. I never had intricate dies like this before so it was a new experience. A good one actually. I'm actually glad that I talked about my issues with the dies in my review video because, I gained some new knowledge about how to cut intricate dies the correct way. 

The clear stamps are great! They are of good quality and I didn't have any problems using them. I chose these clear stamps because their sentiments are combination of handwriting and block letters. A nice combo and the sentiments are not common like what usually see here in Malaysia. It's something new to me. So love them! 

Stamping and using distress ink to colour the die cut was fun. It's also something I haven't done in a long time. During this time I found out about the makeup blend brush that a lot of people are using to blend the ink on paper. I got so excited about that blending brush because it just so happened that my distress sponge are all spoiled because they are so old. Can't use them anymore. Luckily I didn't buy new ones yet. So finding out about the blending brush was a real blessing. Not only is it cheap, it worked better than the sponge.

I used the Martha Stewart butterfly craft punch to make those paper butterflies for this card. I haven't used it for my handmade cards for a long time so it was nice to use it again. I'm glad the craft punch is still working, LOL. Bought it so many years ago. I have a few more of Martha Stewart's craft punch that I haven't used in a long time. Need to check if they still function :D.

If you are interested to purchase the metal cutting dies and clear stamps, below are the links to each product I shared here. Do use my discount code FSAZLINA to get 15% off each product.

Hand Writing English Grateful Words Stamps

SKU: STZH145

http://bit.ly/2QKTD5H

Echoing Square Lace Frame Dies

SKU: DMZH409

http://bit.ly/2QRQUr0

Want to learn how to make the quilling flower on this card? Play the video tutorial below and watch how I make it. Happy quilling! :)

Happy New Year 2020 card with quilled fireworks!

Hello everyone!

I guess it's not too late for me to share this Happy New Year 2020 card I made last year after I received the second package of the metal cutting dies from In Love Arts Shop. After doing the review video on YouTube, I am now able to blog about this card.

It wasn't easy coming up with an idea for this card as I don't always make Happy New Year cards each year. It's rare thing for me. I am more into making birthday cards.

I used this alphabet dies from In Love Art Shop to for the words Happy New Year on the card. The first time I used this die I struggled with it because the design is quite intricate. But I'm so happy now that my problem is solved. I can now use this die as much as I like for my handmade cards. 

The alphabets were glued onto a craft punched scallop square and arranged to form the words. Not usually what I normally do when using die cut alphabets  but in this case where the die cut alphabets don't seem to go well together, then one option is to do it this way. I kinda like it! :D

I think this is the first time ever I made quilled fireworks. It's a very simple design not too fancy. Didn't take too long to make this. I wish I could add more quilled fireworks but there wasn't enough space.

If you are interested to purchase the metal cutting dies, below is the link to it. Do use my discount code FSAZLINA to get 15% off each product.

Art Alphabet Dies

SKU: DMZH684

http://bit.ly/2qHyxuh

Tips to cut paper with intricate dies!

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to share a quick tip today for those who have issues with cutting paper with intricate dies that has fine details on them. I got a clever tip from a friend on Instagram, IG: CMAYATO this morning, on how to make it easier to cut with them and she advised me to use wax paper! I was like, wow! I didn't know that before! 

So immediately after that I tried it with the baking paper I had in my house to see if it works. I didn't have wax paper at home, all I had was this baking paper. Baking paper has some wax too although not as much as wax paper though.  It really did work!! Awesome!! I was really struggling with these dies and I didn't know that there are ways to help make it easier.

The best part about using wax paper for this is that you can use any weight of paper to cut with those intricate dies!! So it's not necessary to use just thick paper! And you don't have to run the dies through the die cutting machine so many times! What a great relief for me because now I can use  all my 100 - 120gsm paper for die cutting. I have a lot of that type of paper with patterns. It would be a shame if I can't use the intricate dies with those papers. Yay!!!

I also found out another tip from someone on YouTube, Yolanda McCurdy who commented at my recent YouTube post. She advised me to buy the Sizzix Precision Base Plate! Now that's a cool tool to have!! That will make die cutting with intricate dies sooooo much easier!! That costs a lot though to buy in Malaysia but it's worth the money since I'll be using it a lot for my handmade cards.

Anyways, I'm so happy that these ladies helped me out today! I really needed these tips to help me with my work. Alhamdulillah, I'm grateful and thankful to God to have such beautiful souls out there who are willing to help people in need like me. May God bless them always! :)

Square string art on a quilling birthday card

Hello everyone!

Yes! I have another birthday card to share with you today. This time around I tried the square string art technique! Been wanting to do this one for quite some time now. Many more I wish to try out soon! 

I used white glittered yarn to do the string art technique and it was easy because the square die already have holes that I can sew through it. As always I learned how to do it from YouTube tutorials. There's so many to learn from. 

I also used dies from In Love Art Shop for this card, one is the big square die which I used to do the string art with and the other one is the arrow die for the birthday sentiment. Love them both! ;)

The quilling Fan Flowers was fun to make! I haven't made any for a long time so to do it again recently brought back good memories! I do have a video tutorial on how to make them so you can check it out at my YouTube Quilling Tutorials playlist :).

I made this birthday card for my Aunt Noraini and I also made a personalised mug which I ordered from Printcious.  I love customizing mugs with Printcious. It's so easy to do it and their service is good too! :)

Had fun celebrating her birthday today, chatting and eating with good company is always a good thing and I'm happy that I get the chance to do that today with her, my Mom and her family. May God bless her always with good health and a happy life.

If you are interested to learn how to sew the Square String Art on paper too, do check out the video below. I've also attached here a video of how to make the Quilling Fan Flower, like the ones I made for the birthday card. Happy quilling and crafting!

Spirelli or Dutch String Art on card!

Hello everyone!

I'm absolutely in love with this Spirelli or Dutch String Art that I've just tried for the first time a few days ago. Been wanting to try this technique for quite some time now because it's a super easy technique that everyone can do and the result is pretty awesome when used as a decorative little embellishments on scrapbook pages and cards ! All there is to do is wind the thread, string or yarn around the circle scalloped shaped die cut or star shaped die cut. I really had fun with this one. One thing great about it is that you don't need special tools to make it other than the dies and the die cut machine. If you don't have a die cut machine, then you can trace the shapes onto card stock and cut them out with scissors. Just remember that the shapes must be symmetrical in shape with scallops or points.

I learned how to do this technique from a few crafters on YouTube. Didn't realize how easy it was to do this until I saw the tutorials. Since then I have been "SPIRELLING" non stop! LOL! At the moment I've only been doing it on the circle scallops die cuts. It is also possible to do it on oval shapes, triangles or squares. But since I only have the circle scallops die cuts, I just focus on that shape for now. 

I used this technique to embellish a birthday card that I made for my ex school teacher, Cikgu Sabariah, who is also my Mother's good friend. She was super happy about receiving the customized mug from PRINTCIOUS and the birthday card.

If I'm not mistaken, Cikgu Sabariah and my Mom have known each other since 1972! That's a pretty long time! They always celebrate their birthdays together and I am always in charge of making the birthday cards, hahaha! :D Her birthday was actually in August but they decided to celebrate it in November because she, my Mom and her other good friend wanted to celebrate all their birthdays on one selected date since her friend has not for been well for almost a year now. They are all retired school teachers :). 

If you wish to learn how to make the flower that you see on the card, do hit the play button on the video below to learn how to make your own Triangle Twist Quilling flower. And for those who are interested to purchase the Happy Birthday dies that I used for the card, then click on the link below the photo. Apply the discount code ----> FSAZLINA to get 15% off. Worldwide shipping if you have orders over more than $25.00 at their website. Ok!Thank you so much! :)

Happy Birthday Decor Edge Dies

SKU: DMZH337

http://bit.ly/2WB0qzY

Blue baby boy card

Hello again!

I wanted to share with you guys another handmade card I designed that's made mostly using dies from In Love Arts Shop. Basically the card was very easy to make since all I had to do was just cut the selected papers with the dies and paste them on the card. No special skills needed to make this card, LOL! :D It's just a matter of choosing the right colour of papers that goes well with each other, cut them up and arrange them in an artistic manner.  

Stitched Note Tags Dies

SKU: DMZH621

http://bit.ly/2WyiUkg

English Letters Alphabet Dies

SKU: DMZH194

http://bit.ly/2WudYNy

Hollow Star Frame Dies

SKU: DMZH436

http://bit.ly/36r9hbJ

Arrows Tag Dies

United States

SKU: DMZH075

http://bit.ly/336lf8M

The photos above are all the dies I got from In Love Arts Shop and I selected some pieces from these dies to be used for the card. As mentioned in my previous posts, I have no problem at all with all the dies I received. They all cut really well just like any other branded dies I've bought before. I really love how the "new" and "boy" words look like in this card. In my previous post where I first used the die cut letters, I was not that good at joining the die cut letters together, but after much practice, I got the hang of it and managed to make the letters join together like they are supposed to be thus looking like hand lettering technique. I love that!

Basically, if I wanted to make the same design for a baby girl, all I have to do is just use a colour combination that's more suitable for a baby girl and also change the word boy to girl. I love simple card designs like this one where I can play around with different colours but maintain the same layout. :)

If you guys are interested to get yourself the same dies you see here, do click on the links that I placed under each photo of dies above. Apply the code : FSAZLINA when making the purchase to get 15% off every purchase. Worldwide free shipping on orders over USD25.00. 

This way you can recreate the same design that I made here by using your own choice of patterned papers make it your own by adding your personal touch to it. Whatever it may be, just have fun making your handmade cards, because when you have fun, that's when the magic happens! ;)