A Bag Tale

It all started with a cute little bag.

I asked my dear friend Patricia to give me some scrap fabrics I needed for a project. When I saw her last week, she surprised me with a gorgeous little bag she made herself. The black and white bag is adorned with green flowers ... the exact colors of Embellish butterflies color challenge!


To thank my sweet friend for her thoughtfulness, I made this "thank you" card inspired by her little bag and the gorgeous colors from Embellish.




Thanks Patty! Great minds think alike, don't you think? :-)



Cheers!

Mei Ann

Supplies:

• Paper - black, Kraft cardstock, Melissa Frances {Philip}, DCWV {Nana's kids print}
• Stamp - Prima clear stamp { leaves}, TPC Studio {sentiment}
• Ink - Ranger {peeled paint}, VersaMark watermark
• Others - Martha Stewart Punch {butterfly}, EK Punches, gems
  

A la Mona Lisa

I was browsing old pictures when I came home from church this afternoon and saw an old photo of mine taken in front of La Musee de Louvre back in 1998. I was fortunate to spend a good amount of time in Paris while completing my training in Marketing. If we were not exploring neighboring European countries, our weekends were usually spent inside museums and trendy cafes. The visit to the Louvre was definitely a highlight.



My hubby and I braved the long line just to see the famous lady with the mystique smile. Mona Lisa did not disappoint {except for the miniscule size of the painting!!!}, she is really a lovely work of art! With her mind I worked on this card using a stamp from Artful Stamps I found at one the Scrapfests ......



Since Moxifab World is currently hosting the Fun With Fabric Challenge, I punched 2 small holes on the shoulder blades and inserted a piece of violet silk to create an off-shoulder top accented by green gems which I think is very classic and elegant just like the image of the lady. The sentiment is from Fiskars' Soiree des dames collection. Oooh la la!

Bonne journee mes amis!

Mei Ann

Quick Peek

Just a quick post and a peek on a project that I just finished for our church's Ministry Fair. This project is definitely out of my comfort zone {the usual size cards and 12x12 layouts} .... a 3-panel display board is a bit overwhelming! But hey, for God's glory, nothing is impossible :-) I'm glad it turned out fine. I hope our parishioners will like it as much as I enjoyed working on it.




Thanks for visiting! Need to drive to the church now and deliver the "goods" for the fair's opening!

Happy Saturday!

Mei Ann

True To My Faith

I am keeping my faith alive ... something is about to happen in 3 weeks that may affect my professional life which I nurtured for the last 21 years. It is beyond my control so I am letting go of my doubts and fears and letting God to take over!

In moments like this, I capture my deepest feelings and put it on canvass like painters do. But in my case, my canvass are my papers, and through them, feelings flow ....

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

Cheers,

Mei Ann

Off We Go!

It's the first long weekend of spring/summer season ... vrrroooommm ... off we go! This excitement along with Get Sketchy Card Card Challenge inspired me to make this card at the crack of dawn.



Canadian families with cottages and vacation homes consider Victoria Day long weekend as the official start of summer season. This is the weekend they open their summer cottages, prepare BBQ grills, clean their boats and stock up their cottage pantries with booze and summer goodies. That said, as early as 2 this afternoon, major routes will be jammed with travelers!



Hubby and I will be on the road too. No, we don't have a cottage {sigh} but we do have an old trailer { really old :-)} that we look forward to visiting every summer weekend . Instead of driving the trailer to different places, we are renting a lot for the last 4 years inside Island Park RV resort which is 2 1/2 hours north east from were we live. The park is nestled on the beautiful trent river where we can swim, fish, or simply just unwind. We are lucky to be given a prime spot big enough to build at least 5 huge tents when friends come over for an over night stay. Our trailer is also facing the forest where fireflies are abundant. Peaceful and relaxing during the day but magical at night!


Have a safe and fun long weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Mei Ann

Cyrus, Sarees and More

Last Saturday, our godson Cyrus was baptized into the Christian world. Hubby and I were so excited not only because this is the very first time that both of us will be godparents here in Canada but more so because Cyrus' parents, Percy and Madonna are really like second family already. The sacrament kinda seal the deal!!!


Percy and Madonna were originally from India and like us, they came here in Canada by themselves with no immediate family to share the ups and downs of migrating in a foreign land. In honor of their rich Indian culture, JV and I wore the traditional saree and kurta. The vibrant colors, the gold accessories and the soft silk made us feel like royalty!!!!


Another common ground that bonded us even more is our strong Catholic faith plus our love for music. We all sing in our church choir every Sunday. That said, the party after the ceremony was filled with music, dancing and yes, lots of spicy and tasty Indian cuisine!

Madonna and I on the dance floor ... bollywood anyone?

Baby Cyrus with Ninong JV and Ninang Mei Ann

The D'Souzas and the Guerreros

JV and I have been blessed here in our adopted homeland. The friendship shared with this wonderful family is certainly on top of our list!

To our godson Cyrus, may you grow full of wisdom and faith like your mama and papa.

Cheers,

JV and Mei Ann

EBTKS Challenge #15

I am really excited about this post ... aside from the gorgeous sketch and inspiration from the EBTKS ladies to work on, the highlight of the card I did is another passion {or should I say addiction} of mine ... SHOES!


When I saw this Fiskars' Girls Night collection, I just have to have it. The shoe stamp is simply gorgeous {just look at those heels!}. The sentiment is equally cool ... " if the shoe fits, buy one in every color"! That's every woman's dream isn't it?


I really had fun putting this card together and thank you so much Courtney for the opportunity to play along with your team again as your guest DT.

I hope you will play along with us and have fun while you do!

Mei Ann

A Different Kind of Guest Book

Every time I design a layout, I am almost always inspired by the photo that I need to scrap. The pattern paper colors, embellishments and other details must highlight the photo/s at hand. So when I sat down with dear friend of mine to discuss the guest book {scrapbook style} for my godson's baptism this coming Saturday, I was challenged by the task at hand.

THE TASK: Make a layout for each family {33 families in total!!!}. The layout must have a place for a photo {of course!} and a space for the guest to write their message for my godson Cyrus. Quite simple {except for the number of pages that I need to work on :-)} right? But here's THE CHALLENGE: there's no photo to start with!!! The pictures that we want to put on the layouts will be taken on the day itself so that each family will have baby Cyrus with them when the picture is taken!!! But the pages has to be ready for the guest to write on!!! Now, this is what I call a blind layout design! I finished 22 already and I have 2 more nights to complete the task.

Here are some of them ....







More kids' stuff to come!

Mei Ann

Empty Nest

I think I caught the brown & sea foam color combination bug! The current challenge from Embellish calls for using this color combo as well as green and terracotta.


Inspired by the challenge, I made this card for my hubby who will be out of town for a week of conference in Vancouver. He's not leaving until end of May but I missing him already!!!


Empty nest = emptiness!

Sigh,

Mei Ann

Pearls from Mom

I am a "certified" Papa's girl. But I can't discount the pearls of wisdom I learned from my Mama. Most {if not all} of these "pearls" are kept in the core of my heart and like soft whispers, I hear them specially when I am at a crossroad of this journey caledl life!

For Mother's Day, I really want to make this piece of pearl as the focal point of my card for Mom. It is my way of expressing gratitude to my mother for the love and dedication she gave and still giving us through the years.



The fabulous colors of sea foam, brown, light green {gems} and terracotta are inspired by Embellish Color Challenge with Dimension. I created dimension on this card by using pop-up glue dots under the shell and sentiment. I was also inspired by this week's sketch from Get Sketchy which is just perfect for the shape of the shell.


"There is no velvet so soft as a mother's lap, no rose as lovely as her smile, no path as flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps." - A. Thompson

Thanks Mom!

Mei Ann

Let's Hang Out

What a super busy weekend! It's First Communion time for most of the kids here in our neck of the woods. We currently have 5 Catholic Schools under the care of our Parish and our choir was requested to sing in all of the Masses for the First Communicants! So my weekend was full of Glorias and Halleluiahs! Glad to be able to do that for the community! Still, I was able to squeezed in some time to finish a card in between choir practices and Church services {and laundry, and cooking, and some office works too} .



The color palette at Play Date Cafe is too good to pass so I took out a couple of new stamps from Inkadinkadoo and G Studio and voila ....



.... a fun card for my hubby who was also busy this weekend running for Kids with Cancer.

It's a date dear. We will hang out together next weekend!

Cheers,

Mei Ann