Pop up balloons birthday card

 HB130

This birthday boy card was indeed a rush to make. I didn't get much time to do it as I was given such a limited time to get it done. Usually I take such a long time to get a card done. I can be pretty meticulous and find it hard to make a decision. In short, I'm super slow. So I really shocked myself when I did get it done in the end. Haha!

 

I'm 100% sure that part of the reason is because I was give 100% freedom to design it anyway I like it. I was only told that the colour of choice is blue, so there must be blue colours on the card and the boy's age and name must be added on it too. That's about it!

 

It had to be simple because of the time constraint. That was the only way I could get it done on time. I was lucky enough to have the type of pattern paper that was suitable for the occasion and everything just went well after that. I was relieved! I really love the balloons pattern paper. Finally I get to use it for this card. It's super cute for boys that age. And from there I got the idea to make pop up balloons. I drew and cut the balloons one by one by hand. No die cuts ok!! Haha! Just a simple pattern to draw and cut. Easy!

I also wrote the sentiments myself using a small brush and ink. Gosh I'm so glad that I could do it myself, because then I never have to worry about printing them again. Or stamping for that matter! Just write it! As simple as that! I do have to get me more ink colours though. The ones I have now are quite limited and only suitable for limited colours of cards. Do check out the video below! Thank you!! :).

Pink and green pop up anniversary card

AC015

March must be a month that I concentrated a lot on making "card in a box" cards. This pink and green anniversary card is one of them and there's plenty more coming soon! I have always loved combining colours of pink, green and white. And so when I got a request to do a card with these colours I got really excited!

I have used that checkered pink and green pattern paper before for a tri-shutter card this year and I used it again for this card because the pattern looks good for the box. I had fun decorating the card with lots of green, pink rhinestones and pearls too. So the box looks so fancy with those little precious gems on it. It enhances the look of the card and makes it look a little fancier than usual. Just simple add ons can make a lot of difference to a simple design.

Brush lettering was simply something I can't seem to run away from lately as I am so in love with it these days. I just had to write the sentiments with that technique. Furthermore if I didn't practice writing with the brush every other day, I might lose the skill. So, why not just do it right? 

Arranging those craft punch heart shapes that pop ups from the box one by one was a little challenging because I have to make it look balanced. Not too many of the big ones and not too many of the small ones either. The quantity has to be balanced out.  

Hope there will be more pink and green combo handmade cards coming in future with a different twist to them. I just love exploring new ideas with it! Do check out the video I made with the card and see how it pops up when I open it! Thank you! :)

Promosi terhad - Basic Quilling Set

Promosi terhad khas untuk quilling beginners!!

Khas dalam bulan Mac ini sahaja, Lin ingin memberikan promosi istimewa buat quilling beginners. Sebelum ini, setiap quilling set yang Lin jual berharga RM18.00 setiap satu set. Harga sebenar setiap set adalah RM21.00 kalau dikira jumlah setiap satu barang dalam set tersebut. Tetapi Lin berikan harga istimewa kepada semua pelanggan Lin yang ingin membeli quilling supplies dalam bentuk set ini supaya semua pelanggan Lin dapat mencuba quilling set yang Lin buat sendiri ini. Now everyone can do quilling at a very low cost! Hehe! 

Walaupun Lin tidak mendapat pulangan yang banyak dengan membuat quilling set ini tapi inilah sumbangan kecil Lin buat peminat seni kraf quilling di Malaysia. I do enjoy making this quilling set for my customers. I love seeing those happy faces when they get their quilling tools and read their happy messages to me. It makes me feel good that I am able to help them do this quilling craft.

Dan sekarang, kalau anda membeli 2 quilling set atau lebih (terhad untuk bulan Mac sahaja ya!), harga quilling set akan dijual pada harga RM16.00 sahaja setiap satu. Ini harga paling rendah pernah Lin tawarkan untuk set quilling ini yang mempunyai quilling supplies seperti yang disenaraikan di bawah:

Basic quilling set consists of:

1. One handmade slotted quilling tool (rainbow colour) 

2. One bottle of white glue

3. One mini circle template

4. Four packs of quilling papers -  200 pieces of quilling paper altogether, 80gsm, size (3mm x 297mm).

Promosi ini special untuk semua peminat quilling di Malaysia yang ingin mencuba quilling untuk pertama kali. Walaupun harga barang sudah naik di Malaysia, tetapi Lin tetap nak buat promosi ini atas permintaan ramai yang selama ini ingin membeli lebih dari satu quilling set untuk diberikan kepada ahli keluarga dan juga untuk anak-anak murid di sekolah. Hanya tinggal 3 hari saja lagi untuk grab peluang ini!! Siapa cepat, dia dapat!! :)

Boleh contact Azlina di WhatsApp 017-6508141 untuk menempah basic quilling set ini. Terima kasih!


 

Fesyen Tudung Benang Hijau Terkini di Zalora!

Hello everyone!

You must be wondering what this post is all about right? Something different from the usual craft post I do here since day one. Well, today I'm doing a special post about a special new brand called Benang Hijau that is currently trending at Zalora Malaysia. If you didn't know, Zalora Malaysia is one of the fastest growing online retailer in Southeast Asia! I personally have checked out the tudung collections at the site and they are all gorgeous!! I can't wait to get the collection for myself soon! Yay!! Do read a short introduction about Fesyen Tudung Benang Hijau below :). As you can see, I wrote it in Malay as I plan to mix some of my post in the future in the Malay language once in a while to make my blog more Malaysian friendly! Haha! ;)

Ok girls! Untuk pengetahuan semua, Benang Hijau sebenarnya bukanlah nama yang begitu besar dalam industri fesyen tempatan dan masih belum setanding dengan jenama-jenama tudung popular tanah air seperti Airiani, Naelofar Hijab dan seumpamanya. Namun, jenama yang masih "hijau" ini telah mempunyai jumlah penggemar yang cukup ramai dan semaking mendapat tempat di hati para hijabista.  Bermula secara kecil-kecilan, Benang Hijau Collection kini mengorak langkah yang semakin besar dengan mempertaruhkan koleksi tudung online yang cukup berkualiti dengan rekaan yang trendi.

Jika dilihat secara kasar, koleksi tudung Benang Hijau rata-rata sama dengan koleksi tudung online dari jenama-jenama online yang lain. Namun, apa yang membezakan koleksi tudung jenama ini adalah penggunaan fabrik yang digunakan dalam pembuatan setiap helai koleksi tudung adalah benar-benar berkualiti dan menepati jangkaan para pembeli. Benang Hijau sangat pentingkan kualiti pada setiap koleksi tudung yang dicipta dan kepuasan pelanggan amatlah dititikberatkan.

Selain menggunakan fabrik yang selesa dan mudah untuk dipakai setiap hari, koleksi tudung Benang Hijau juga dijahit kemas dan direka dengan teliti. Bukan itu sahaja, malah koleksi tudung-tudung ini juga boleh anda miliki dalam tawaran harga yang jauh lebih murah daripada jenama-jenama popular yang lain. Ini sangat menarik kerana kita boleh mendapat kualiti yang sama tanpa perlu membayar lebih. Yay!! Itu yang saya suka! Dan saya pasti anda pun suka juga kan? Hehe! ;)

Untuk rekaan koleksi tudung Benang Hijau yang terkini, mereka kini membawakan koleksi instant shawl Benang Hijau yang boleh anda dapatkan dalam pelbagai pilihan warna dan corak yang cantik dan menarik! Rekaan tudungnya yang cukup praktikal membolehkan anda menggayakannya ke mana sahaja yang anda inginkan! Senang serta cepat untuk digayakan dan cantik sentiasa!

As you can see from the photos above, the instant shawl can be matched with the other chosen accessories and outfits perfectly to make you look good everyday. So what are you waiting for girls?! Go check out the link and get your cool and trendy tudung from Benang Hijau today!! Stay cool and trendy always with Zalora Malaysia! :)

Purple and peach roses easel card

HB129

I cannot remember if I have ever done a purple and peach colour combination before in the past for any of my handmade cards but I'm glad that I did so for this card as I really like this combination. It's all thanks to my customer who requested these colours.

This is also a first for me to add a photo frame on an easel card. This is another request from my customer. I've already done photo frames for my tri-shutter cards before and I was excited that I could try to add one for this easel card too. The only issue is the size of the frame. I knew I could not fit a big one on it, so I added a small one, that is just big enough to fit a photo of a person in it. 

The design for this card is a lot similar to the easel card design I've done before where I decorated it with lots of die cut paper roses. I just love making them! Especially with patterned papers.

I also tried to write the sentiment myself with the brush lettering technique. I still have a lot to learn and I love learning how to do it. I am constantly learning and improving my brush lettering strokes. I do so that I am able to use the skill on my handmade cards. I do love seeing them on my handmade cards a lot! It simply is a good thing to see for a change from computer printing or stamping.

Do check out the video below to see how the card opens and put on a stand. Thank you! :)

Red and black card in a box birthday card

HB118C

This card is actually a remake of my HB118B card that I made sometime ago. I got a request to make the same exact card unfortunately some of the sponge stickers are no longer available in the market. So I had to find other sponge stickers that would be suitable as a replacement.

Luckily I could find some that would match in time before the due date. Card design like this one is easy to mix and match...so if there is one or two of the items on the card that is no longer available it can easily be replaced.

This card sure is very colourful, suitable to be given to a girl or guy. I should make more stocks of this card if I can. Do check out the video I took of the card so you can see how it opens and closes. Thank you!

Quilled Mandarin oranges CNY card

CNY013

Quilled Mandarin oranges! A first for me. I've never  quilled any Mandarin oranges before so this was fun especially since I used the vortex coil technique for it. It's simple and fun to make!

I decided to use Mandarin oranges as my subject matter for my Chinese New Year cards this year because it symbolizes good fortune and good business! Hehe! Hopefully we will get all that this year, provided we work really really hard too!! Can't expect everything good to come rolling in without any effort. ;)

I tried to sew a little differently this time on paper. The thing is.....I want to sew on paper, and yet, I just didn't have enough time to do it. So what I did was, I made the gaps bigger! So I still got the effect I wanted but spend less time doing it! Yay! I thought of sewing the paper with the sewing machine, but somehow, I still prefer to do it by hand.

Another thing I was excited about was that I did the brush lettering on the card! I found a reasonably good black ink and wrote the sentiment on the card with a watercolour brush. That was fun! Nerve wrecking too! All at the same time. Haha! I can't afford to make any mistakes when writing it straight on the card. So I made sure I practiced writing it many times on another sheet of paper before doing it for real on the card. Somehow, writing using ink was easier compared to using watercolour for this particular type of paper. 

I had fun making simple cards like this and what's great is that I get to apply what I've learned so far this year on my own handmade cards. Simple bliss!

I would like to wish everyone who are celebrating Chinese New Year this year a very happy and prosperous new year!! 

Brush lettering practice

There is nothing more satisfying for me to do lately than practicing my brush lettering everyday. I have been posting photos of what I have done on my Instagram (Azlina Abdul) every other day from late last year till now. The photos above are photos of brush lettering practices that I have posted there and I wanted to share them with everyone here too.

For me brush lettering is not something that is easy for me to do but somehow doing it makes me feel so relaxed and at peace. I prefer to use watercolour as my medium to practice brush lettering but I also love to explore other mediums like inks of various kinds. 

I would start by choosing a sentiment that I love and practice writing it with any brush tool I like.....and will keep writing and writing till my hand is sore. I won't give up until I am truly satisfied with the outcome. Usually when I start, it doesn't always look as nice as the photos you see here. It would take a while before it looks ok for me to post them online. A lot of papers wasted in the process, believe you me. But it is necessary in order to get the hang of it. 

There are a lot of styles when it comes to brush lettering and at the moment I seem to be good with my own style. Haha! Just one. One that I am comfortable with. It's close to my own handwriting. The only difference is the letter "R". I usually write my R in a different way, but now I'm practicing it the way it's supposed to be written. There are so many styles of writing the letter R in calligraphy, especially if you write it using a different tool. For now I'm just gonna practice with brushes......perhaps in future I'll use calligraphy pens too. Those are super interesting to try! :) 

As for brushes.....I would have to say that the water brush is simply a wonderful tool for brush lettering. I just wish they make them smaller in size, then I would be able to write smaller writings on paper for my handmade cards. For now I only use those  watercolour brushes for small lettering. The effect it gives is of course different with different tools used. So I just have to know which works out well for which project I'm making.

How to make square vortex coils

After making lots of the basic vortex coils, I then tried to make squared ones. I didn't actually got it figured out right away. I knew how to make simple square quilling shapes but I didn't know how to get that vortex pattern inside the square. Then I figured that everything had to start with the basic vortex coil shape. Once I came to that realization, then it became very clear what I should do in order to get that square vortex coil pattern.

As promised, I have made a video tutorial on how to make the square vortex coils. So many people have requested for me to make it. It is not easy to explain with mere words on how to do it, so making a video is the best way for me to get the idea across.

The multicolour square vortex coil pattern I made in the video was made using 4 different colours of blue shredded quilling papers. My shredded quilling papers are 3mm wide and 297mm long. I used 80gsm A4 paper to make these shredded papers. You can use any type of quilling paper you fancy but I think that if you plan to make a big size vortex coil, then I suggest you use a much thinner paper, and 80gsm would be great. If you plan to use only one strip, then you can use thicker type of quilling papers.

I'm not sure yet of what design I would do using these square vortex coils but I do think that it would be great for making designs for frames and also for jewelry. I don't do jewelry though, but I will use it as decorations on my handmade cards.

Do check out the video tutorial below and have fun quilling! :)

How to make quilling vortex coils with a slotted quilling tool

Sometime ago this month, I came to learn how to make vortex coils from a short video tutorial that I saw at my dear friend's Miyyah@Kertas's Instagram. I got so hooked up with it that I practiced making the coils a lot. The more I make them, the more I got hooked. The first try was not as nice and I was not 100 % satisfied with the results, but eventually I got the hang of it. I was quite happy with the outcome but I find it was really hard to make them. 

First of all, since my hands are pretty shaky most of the time, it was hard to hold the coils and make sure I didn't drop it while coiling it. My fingers hurt a lot in the process of making the coils because the process of rolling and pinching the coil really hurts especially when I used thick paper strips instead of thin ones. Not sure how other people felt when they make them, but I felt that way.

One day a customer of mine contacted me and expressed her frustrations in her inability to successfully make the vortex coils due to health issues she has with her hands. She only has one hand that is fully functioning and the other one is not functioning as well as the other. So, she asked me to help her out by designing  a tool that she can use to help her make the vortex coils. I was stunned! I had no idea how to do that since I myself just used my bare hands to make them. I felt so bad for her and really thought hard that day on how to solve her problem. She's a real fighter and she never gave up trying even though it was tough for her to do it. Her determination pushed me to find solutions. Then it occurred to me that perhaps my handmade slotted quilling tool could do the trick. I immediately tried making the vortex coils with the tool and to my disbelief, it worked!!! Bingo!

I reached my digital camera and started making the video after testing the method a few times. After I was certain that the method works, I just had to do the tutorial. I'm so happy that not only I benefited from the method as I no longer hurt my fingers making them now, I also helped others to make them. That made me really happy. One thing though, just after I uploaded the video tutorial, I got a better idea on how to make them! LOL!! So I made another video on vortex coils today and this new method helps me make vortex coils faster and easier too!

You can use any type of quilling paper you like to make vortex coils, thin or thick ones, shredded or smooth store bought quilling papers. I have tried them all and the method works for all types.

I will be making another video tutorial to show how to make a square vortex coil soon. Do be on the look out for that one soon! :)

Here is my vortex coils video tutorial that I made so do give it a try! Thank you so much for watching! :)