Diwali Cards Night!!!

Woo Hoo, it's almost Diwali weekend and I'm so looking forward to it! Not because I'm going to be lighting diya's or eating yummy food or bursting crackers. Nope! My favourite part about Diwali is Teen Patti or 3 cards or Flash! It's tradition for us in our little group of friends to get together in someone's house for a night of heavy card playing. The stakes are never too high, the food never runs out and the laughter continues to the wee hours of the morning. So when I wanted to make a gift set for our wonderful hosts, the theme was obvious! Diwali Cards Night!!

Here's the card! I've kept it CAS and added a pun the sentiment - Have a 'Flash'y Diwali as the game we play is called Flash. It's also known as Teen Patti or 3 cards and in the US, it's known as Caribbean Stud Poker. But conveniently we call it Flash so 'Have a Flashy Diwali' is a perfect play with words, ideal for Lulupu's Word Play Challenge for which I am entering this card. CASolgy's challenge 68 is also Black, so I'm entering this card for that as well.

On to the gift box. I usually prepare some cupcakes or brownies when we head over for Cards Night. This time I thought I would make a box to present it. I continued the playing cards theme and added some pattern paper, a Cameo Cut Frame, the wonderful card game symbols and a four looped bow! I'm entering this box into The Three Muses Challenge - Black, White and Red

I'm entering the entire set into City Crafter Challenge Blog Week 183 - Game Night. I actually got the entire idea of this project from this Challenge Theme. So glad I came across it! Can't wait to present it!

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

A Head over Heels Card!

I'm loving the challenges that are going on at present in our little Craft Blogosphere. They are really inspiring me to get crafting. Sindhu's 2nd challenge in her Anniversary Celebrations is an ABC Word Play. Hosted by Tejal, we have to choose a letter in the alphabet and build our card around that. I chose the letter S! S for Stilettos, S for Swirls (on the embossing), S for Spots (on the shoe) and S for Sunehra of course!! Ha ha! We are also required to keep it CAS - Clean and Simple.

I'm not naturally inclined towards CAS unlike Sindhu who seems to have MASTERED IT!! So I actually take double the time with such cards than with a layered, heavily embellished one. I was at it till 1:30am this morning and here is the final project! The shoe is cut with my Cameo and some pretty DCWV pattern paper. I used the Cameo with a pen for the sentiment too. 

Lulupu's current challenge is Word Play with CAS and I love Pooja's guideline - loads of white space, a focal point and a pun in the sentiment. I had some fun thinking of the perfect sentiment for this card but then it became obvious - I'm head over 'heels' into you!

If you would like to know the supplies used for this or any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com

An Apple Tree Card for my Mother

If you're looking for my 100 followers candy - click here.

I got this embossing folder maybe 2 months ago and have been conceptualising this card ever since. I knew it had to be for my mother and that it had to be clean and simple - my mom doesn't like grand and lavish cards too much. Then I wanted to get the color scheme right and this week's combination at Dynamic Duos is pretty awesome - Cherry Cobbler and Pool Party. And with Mother's Day around the corner, I thought it was time to finally create this card. 

The embossing folder has a tree design and I wanted it to put a spin on the saying 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'. It means 'like parent, like child'. So my card shows an apple tree with a few apples fallen beside it and my sentiment is "Hope I never fall too far from your tree". 

I was thinking about it and I realised the sentiment applies physically and emotionally. I am very lucky to have my folks living just down the road from my place which means I am literally physically close to my mother. Plus emotionally we are very close and I hope that continues for as long as I have her in my life. Hence the sentiment "Hope I never fall too far from your tree.

Oops, I'm tearing up... Better close this now. Thanks for stopping by and thanks so much for all your kind words on my 100 followers candy. I am so grateful to you all for your support and all the comments just made the candy sweeter!

Here's the inspiration picture from Dynamic Duos:

For the supplies used on this and any of my projects, please write to me at craftingtillthecrackofdawn@gmail.com. I am more than happy to share!

Also linking to:
Lulupu - My Mum My World

A Titanic Card

Yesterday was a HAPPY HAPPY day because I found out that I had won the Oodles of Doodles challenge at Beyond Grey for this card and today I am back with my submission for this fortnight's challenge at Beyond Grey. Once again they have come up with a stupendous theme - a Clean and Simple Movie Inspired Card. How friggin' awesome is that!!! I am such a movie buff and was just brimming with ideas. For most of the past few days I was thinking of going Twilight style, all dark and twisty. But that just wasn't working out so my final creation is a romantic card inspired from the unforgettable movie - Titanic!

As you can see I have focussed on that classic scene of Jack and Rose on the ship, kissing for the first time. Of course my card isn't quite so dramatic and sensual, it's almost cartoonish I think. But I am super kicked with how it turned out. Here's a close up of the silhouetted couple kissing. For the inside of the card, I replicated the wave pattern and chose a line from the movie as the sentiment - 'You Jump I Jump'.

For my color scheme I went with the Play Date Cafe's super choice for the week - Black and White with a splash of coral. Coral is such a pretty color - not red, not pink, not peach but somewhere in between. I was lucky to find some dual toned coral pattern paper in my stash and used that for the hearts and sentiment. Here's the inspiration image from PDC. Also just in case you aren't familiar with the movie, here is the poster.

All the shapes on my card are cut on my Cameo. I have received so many requests to show how it works so stay tuned, I will be very shortly be providing a first hand look at how I create with the Cameo.

Also linking to 4 Crafty Chicks - CAS

Thanks for stopping by...

Footprints in the Sand

Footprints in the Sand is this lovely poem/ lyric/ story that I saw somewhere, sometime on someone's wall - don't remember the where, the when or the who but I deeply remember the what. Thanks to the power of the Internet and Google, I could find it again and my card is based on this wonderful story.I have used the picture inspiration from Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger and created this CAS card for CASual Fridays.

To add some perspective, here is the story...

One night I had a dream...

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord, and

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand;

One belonged to me, and the other to the Lord.

When the last scene of my life flashed before us,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that many times along the path of my life,

There was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest 

and saddest times in my life

This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,

You would walk with me all the way;

But I have noticed that during the 

most troublesome times in my life,

There is only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why in times when I

needed you the most, you should leave me.

The Lord replied, "My precious, precious

child. I love you, and I would never,

never leave you during your times of

trial and suffering.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you.

The words are so beautiful that I added them inside the card. The message is about keeping the faith and although I am not a particularly religious person, this particular saying has stayed with me. 

Here is the picture inspiration from Moxie Fab which I first saw on Sindhu's blog. Such a divine picture, wouldn't we all want a bedroom like this!

Also entering into Crafty Creations Challenge - Just Take 2 - I've got 2 sets of footprints.

A Chess Card

All my cards have a story and this one begins with an absolutely divine inspiration picture from IBSIC #42 which I saw on Sindhu's blog. I got so charged up that I just sat at my craft table from that moment on (about 11pm) until 1am making my card. The next day I checked out the challenge over at CASual Fridays 'Make a card with one long side and one short side' which was just about perfect as the card I made complied with the guidelines of both challenges. So here we go!

The IBSIC inspiration pic is just so pretty and I thought I would put a really unusual spin on it by bringing out the same prettiness in a very masculine card.  Here is the inspiration picture.

Chess is a game that brings back fond memories with my husband. When my husband and I first started dating about 14 years ago we spent a lot of time playing chess online. I was seriously lousy and he was really good so he used finish me off in 10 moves. One day, I started an online game with him and at the same time started a game with the computer. Whatever move he played against me, I played against the computer and whatever responding move the computer made, I played against my husband. Poor Ajay was so flabbergasted at how I had evolved into a Grand Master overnight! 

So this card is for him. I may have checkmated him that day, but I was the one checkmated for life!

Also entering into:
Card Making Mama's Challenge - Clean and Simple
Crafty Ribbon Challenges #37 - Love/Romance/Anniversary

Update 25/1/13 - I made the top 3 for the IBSIC challenge!!! Woo Hoo!!