ABOUT ME

ABOUT ME

My name is Asia and card-making is my passion.
It brings me joy and makes me smile.

Make yourself comfortable and take a look around.

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Thursday 12 December 2013

... every little detail ... 

... to make them feel special!


To add that special touch to my gifts
I decided to make my own gift bags.




Make these adorable gift bags from scrapbook paper,
recycle old magazines or newspapers, use any kind of paper.
You can find a lot of tutorials showing step by step how to do it.
They are very easy to make.

To make my cute Christmas gift bags I used:

- basic plain wrapping paper
- snowflake embossing folder
- moonlight white ink
- white pearl embossing powder
- self adhesive snowflake pattern tape
 - hole punch
- linen twine




What do you think?

                              Love,
                                             Asya

Please visit my facebook page or find me on pinterest.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Salt dough Christmas decorations


Is there a better way to celebrate this magical season then
crafting and creating your own Christmas ornaments.




Get yourself and your family into the Christmas spirit
and create your own homemade Christmas decorations this year.
Make some beautiful handmade ornaments
with this simple salt dough recipe for more
creative way to decorate your tree.




Recipe


What You'll Need:

1/2 cup of table salt

1/2 cup of water

1 cup of all-purpose flour



Hints (optional)

If you want to experiment with color:

- you can substitute 1/2 cup of dark tea or coffee for the water,
- or you can add few drops of food coloring or tempera paint
(I would recommend wearing gloves and rolling out any
dyed dough between two sheets of wax paper
to protect your counter and rolling pin),
- or simply by adding a small dose of gingerbread
spice mix you can get this beautiful brown color
and christmassy aromas - just remind everyone
it is not suitable for eating :o) as it will small heavenly.





How to make the salt dough


First, mixed flour, salt, and water in a large bowl -
you may not need all of the water. You want the dough to be dry -
if it gets sticky add more flour.

For extra cohesiveness, you may add 1 to 2 tablespoons
of wallpaper paste to your dough.

Knead the dough until it is smooth and firm and then
roll out and use as you want.
Salt dough is extremely flexible and forgiving,
so you can make ornaments and from it in a variety of ways.




You can make a Christmas wreath, little figures like angel,
reindeer or snowman or cut out snowflakes or little hart ...
- your only limit is your imagination.

 For this batch, I rolled it out like sugar cookie dough
and then used my favorite cookie cutters for make snowflakes and little angels.


Snowflakes






I used cookie cutters to make shapes in the dough.
Latter I used a straw to poke holes into the top of each shape
and I stamped the dough with my rubber stamps
to add dimensions and pattern.







Angels





I  added a small dose of gingerbread spice mix to dye
some dough brown for dresses. Believe me nothing says
warmth and happiness as much as the aromas
of cinnamon, ginger and clove - just remind everyone
it is not suitable for eating :D
To make ginger hair I dyed some dough by adding
red pepper powder and used a garlic press.
(adding red pepper powder made the dough very uneven and
difficult to work with but it gave me a texture of curly hair).

To attach extra pieces of dough decoration, rub a little water
on the back of the piece you want to stick on, then gently press.
You can make them as dimensional as you like.


Drying Salt Dough


Once you have made the shapes you want then
you need to dry them so you can paint and decorate.

Air drying - This is suitable for thin or small salt dough pieces.
Place them in a warm, dry place and allow to air dry for up to 7 days.
Drying time will depend on the size and thickness of the pieces.
Flip the salt dough pieces from time to time to allow even drying.

Baking - Traditionally salt dough is dried in the oven which takes
around 3 hours (depends on the thickness and size of the pieces)
at a low heat so they don’t burn. Bake salt dough figures in a conventional
oven at 200 F (93 C). To avoid browning, check on the pieces
from time to time. Once done baking, allow the pieces to cool completely.




Decorating


You can decorate your creations as you like.

- Use ribbons, glitter or rhinestones
- Paint with tempera or acrylic paint
- Use stamps, inks and embossing powders

As I mentioned earlier - your only limit is your imagination!

Enjoy yourself !

                               Love,
                                               Asya



Monday 25 November 2013

Snowflake - a little treat - Christmas giveaway



Get yourself into the Christmas spirit
It’s competition time!

All you have to do for an entry to win a handmade snowflake
is go to my  Facebook Page  and leave the most beautiful Christmas wishes
in comment's section under the original contest post.

Giveaway competition ends Sunday night,
December 1st, 2013 and the lucky winner will be announced.
So join today!

Good luck!


A beautiful hand crafted Christmas decoration
made with white felt on embossed white pearl paper base
decorated with crystal diamonds.

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Diamond and red felt reindeer



'... When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On Cupid! On, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too...'




To make this card I used:
Red felt
Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection paper
Spellbinders 2013 Snowflake Pendant
Spellbinders Limited Edition Frosty Forms
Spellbinders Floral Ovals

I hope you like it :o)

                               Love,
                                               Asya

Monday 18 November 2013

Christmas wreath



A lovely green card with Christmas wreath and a snowflake.
The wreath was made from linen thread decorated
with cherry red gems, metallic gold cord and two sweet
silver plated jingle bells.


What do you think?

                              Love,
                                             Asya

Snowflake



'Oh the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!'




Please visit my facebook page or find me on pinterest.


                                  love,
                                             Asya

Inspired by Gingerbread



And all of a sudden I know what I am going to do this evening :o)
Can you smell the gingerbread cookies yet?
Just close your eyes ...
The smell of gingerbread baking in the oven undeniably
brings that Christmas feeling because nothing says
warmth and happiness as much as the aromas
of ginger and clove.





This card is a continuation of my previous snowflake posts :o)
with Spellbinders 2013 Snowflake Pendant.

Thanks for stopping by!

                                 Till next time,
                                                  Asya




Friday 8 November 2013

Winter Wonderland



I have a strange feeling that this card has a bit of a vessel look.
Hmmm... It gives me the impression of rather
being a navy card than a christmassy snowflake card :o)
Doesn't it look like a ship rudder?
Or is that just me ...

Anyhow, there you go - another snowflake card.
I used Spellbinders 2013 Snowflake Pendant
and a little star shaped wooden button.



What do you think?

                              Love,
                                             Asya

Let it snow!



This card supposed to imitate a Christmas wreath.
It has been made out of little snowflakes and diamond rhinestones.


What do you think?

                    Love,
                                Asya

Snowflake Mania!



Don't we all just love snow.
Some of us love playing in the snow or building
a snowman with a cranky nose, the best snowman of all.
Some love waiting at the bus stop, freezing,
knowing for sure no bus will run in that weather anyway.
Kids are dreaming of being snowed in and schools
may be closed again ... lovely :o)

I personally adore those chilly evenings when fresh snow
covers trees, roofs and streets, a temperature goes
just below the freezing point and the whole world
gets shiny and glossy ... I just can't wait :o)

 And lately I've gone absolutely crazy about my new dies.
In my last post I was very excited about my
new Spellbinders 2013 Snowflake Pendant
and I warned you I would be back with some more cards.
I have been cutting out snowflakes last few days
and I think I may have too many snowflake cards.
Is that even possible???
Yeah, you're right - there is not such a thing as too
many snowflake cards :o)
And there it is, the first one. I absolutely love it.




Thanks for stopping by!

                                 Till next time,
                                                  Asya

Tuesday 5 November 2013

How exciting !!!



Today my new Spellbinders 2013 Snowflake Pendant
arrived and I couldn't wait to get down to work.
So I wanted to share my first snowflake card with you.





I am so excited about my new dies and I have so many ideas  ...
                              To be continued ... :o)


Thanks for peeking in!!!

                                 with love,
                                                  Asya

Friday 1 November 2013

Is that the time already?



I guess time flies so fast when we are having fun and
enjoying ourselves. But really - how quickly this year goes by!
Halloween candy and creatures are already gone and
days start getting shorter and colder.
I have already planted daffodils and purple crocuses in my garden,
as apparently this is the best time to do so.
I am not a specialist but I am more than just an amateur.
I am a hobbyist who believes!!!
... believes that plants are capable of taking care of themselves.
So I will wait till spring and I hope they
will not fail to bloom ... I hope :o)

Anyhow, we have reached autumn,
a beautiful, colourful autumn, ladies and gentlemen -
if you actually are out there - is there anyone out there?
Feels like I am here all alone but I hope you will find me one day :o)

Okay, let's cut to the chase. Is it nearly Christmas?
Yes, Christmas is coming!!!
I reckon it's about time to start thinking
about it and all the preparations. I am afraid half of us
have already begun Christmas shopping anyway.

So let's get ready for Christmas!!!






Here is my first idea for this Christmas.
Elegant and traditional.





Thanks for peeking in!!!

                                 with love,
                                                  Asya

Thursday 31 October 2013

Have a fabulous day!



Fanny & colourful

Green is definitely one of my favourite colours
and that is why I felt in love with this card.
The bow is made from pieces of paper
and I think it complements this card well.




Find me on facebook & pinterest


                               with love,
                                             Asya

Sending birthday wishes your way



A very elegant salmon pink birthday card
with nave blue ornament frame.

I am not a huge fan of pink colour myself 
and pink is definitely not what you would find
in my wardrobe. Nonetheless I really believe that
colours work lovely together here.




What do you think?

                              with love,
                                             Asya

Greeting card


This one would be a nice treat for men I reckon.
Not too elegant but stylish and modern.
Rather quiet mainly due to complementary colour sets.
I used few pearls and little transparent cabochons
to imitate water droplets - can you see them? :o)


It makes me smile, indeed!
I hope it makes you smile too :o)

                               with love,
                                               Asya