To the Best of Times.

The year is at its end, and it’s a time for a toast for all that happened this year. The good things and the bad ones, the ones I will never forget and the things I never want to remember again, the things that I am grateful for and the things I wish never happened. The year had it all for me, suspense, romance, action, drama; everything a good adventure needs and I know yours where just as much fun if not better. Now that we stand at the last days of 2011, one thought keeps me alive, much more alive that I ever was. It’s the knowledge that though a lot of good things had happened and many more did not quite work out just as well, I can rest assured that this is not over yet and the best of the moments are yet to come. Now that a beautiful year is finally about to bid adieu to us all and as the clock strikes twelve tonight, a new year will be born, an year of promises, hope and of the countless to be born memories.

As 2012 rolls in, I believe we have an obligation, an obligation to raise a toast to all the good things that made 2011 and eleven special. A toast to all the friendships we made, all the moments we lived in all the people we care about and all the people who care about us. A toast for the times we laughed out loud and all the time we cried alone tucked to a corner of the dark rooms, all the pranks we pulled and all the little things we did to make our special ones happy.

2011 was no walk in the park, it was an adventure and adventure we all shared and we together made a memory of. May 2012 be only better, may 2012 bring us more joy and prosperity, may we all go forward and not backward, may our future be just as perfect as we ourselves are. Friends some of you I know, some of you I do not, but nevertheless may all of us live a life that we always wanted. So guys please rise your glasses a for 2012 is here!....................................Cheers! To the Best of Times.

Happy New Year, Ladies and Gentleman,

May all of us live happily ever after…

Birthday Cards

A week or so ago, Operation Write Home's Stars & Stamps blog asked for birthday cards. Before LSS Pizazz It! closed its brick and mortar store, Tiffany showed us how to make adorable birthday cards using rectangles and a leaf punch. The following are cards based on Tiffany's design -- all made from scraps of designer paper, cardstock, and/or simple embellishments.

Bo Bunny's Snowfall Collection -- Yes, I know you're shocked!

Miscellaneous scraps with scoring for added texture/dimension -- perfect for kids.

Kaiser's Hippie Girl Collection -- Love the texture of this paper!

Miscellaneous scraps... scored, inked, stickled

DCWV's All Dressed Up! Collection -- glittery paper for the girlie girls in our lives.
(Could also make  lovely wedding/anniversary card. Paris, anyone?)

A more masculine color palette from Kaiser's Up, Up & Away Collection

To see more of Tiffany's designs, check out Tiffany's blog. And rumor has it Pizazz It! is opening an online store in the near future. As soon as that happens, I'll post information here.

Snowflakes of Gratitude

There are two colleagues at work whom I wish to thank for their kindnesses when I return back to work. And, I couldn't find any nicer way to do that than with handmade cards made from Bo Bunny's gorgeous Snowfall collection.

Carolyn was one of the co-organizers of this year's Craft Show. A few days before Christmas, she sent me an e-mail with an offer of cardstock that she had received from a vendor. Oh my gosh, this cardstock is gorgeous -- a great weight, a lovely warm white color, and a linen texture. And, she had about 1,000 sheets that she donated to my card-making efforts! Talk about a random act of kindness! Needless to say, Carolyn will be receiving the first card I made from her wonderful donation.

Karen was replacing her Thirty One lunch bag with one of the newer Thirty One models. As much as I'd wanted a Thirty One bag, I'd managed to resist the temptation when faced with the choice of buying card-making supplies or a new lunch bag. However, when Karen was willing to take a few cards in exchange for her old bag, a deal was brokered! So, a Bo Bunny thank you card is headed her way, as well.

The first card made from Carolyn's cardstock!

Not from Carolyn's cardstock, but still made from Bo Bunny's Snowfall papers. :)

More good news: Terri at Scrapbook Art ordered me two more packs of this paper for next season's holiday cards!

Speak of the Devil and ..

How strange that I write this today, when all I see is darkness and I am tired, so tired of searching for the light and hope. I am doomed, I fear my own words and I fear the death of myself by my own ideas. Its not but strange that a few days ago I was blossoming in the comfort of the illusion of security and permanence that I have woven. But now in seconds they have disappeared and I am staring at nothing but darkness all around, I can hear memories sneak up me from directions unknown, I am afraid, really afraid.

A couple of day ago, I got a call, a call that has turned my world into a mess. From the precipice of luxury I plunged into a feeble being plagued by misery and fear, I can’t neither think straight nor respond to a door bell without being paranoid. It has come back, It has come back to avenge me, the lies, the secrets. My past has come back, a past that I have worked so hard day and night to forget, The nightmares that I have consciously abolished with sleepless nights and pills that I shall not speak of again in my life.

It is not strange, I should have expected it, I should have known better. I should have known that it will come back and haunt me again and again no matter how hard I run. The initial impulse is always to run, But now I know no mountain is high enough, no oceans wide enough to keep me from myself. I am my worst enemy, a nemesis that will not heed until truly defeated. I have to take action, I have to face him, I cannot run anymore, If I do I will risk more than myself, I will risk losing my family, my friends, my life and may be those some things that I have valued more than life, I will lose myself to it. I cannot run anymore I have to face him, face to face, I should look him in the eye and end this once and for all, otherwise I will lose it all, I will lose everything.

I shall not speak about it again, But I should talk now, if have to never speak of it again, else the devil will come back to haunt me again, it won’t heed till I pay for my insolence. I should face my fate and write my history myself, even if it means that it all ends with a full stop or if there is something left to it, then with that, But I should do it and I should do it now.

My Most Treasured Gift...

Mom loved Christmas. She lovingly created memories that have lasted a lifetime -- starting with coming home from school to freshly-baked cookies right out of the oven, culminating in the opening of that one special gift, and everything joyful inbetween.

Christmas Day 1987 was poised to be a most special Christmas. It was the second Christmas my husband and I had hosted both of our families for Christmas dinner. And, Mom and I truly rejoiced in the day's events -- cherishing every moment. As an added bonus, Mom looks radiant in our photographs from that day -- even though she usually took terrible pictures.

How could I know a life-changing moment was about to happen? How could we have known that would be our last day together? There are times that even today it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that my mom died in a car accident shortly after leaving our house that night.

The grief was immeasurable -- as were the blessings that came into our lives through the love and kindness of family and friends. Getting through the year was the toughest thing I have ever done. I had no idea how I was going to handle the Christmas season.

And then came the gift -- a simple, heartfelt sentiment handwritten at the bottom of a Christmas card from a fellow teacher and his wife. Denise had written, "May your most treasured gift this holiday season be your memories of Christmases past."

Sadly, a colleague at work recently lost a parent. Tonight I made the card below to give to her. And, as with every Christmas card I've sent over the years to a loved one or friend who has lost a parent, or spouse, or child, I have passed along Denise's words of comfort and joy.

"May your most treasured gift this holiday season be your memories of Christmases past."

This holiday season, live in the moment, cherish time spent with loved ones, and treasure memories of Christmases past.

2 Challenges = 1 Tutorial

Challenge #1:

The initial idea for this first card came from a post by Yolanda on this weekend's OWH blog hop/skip promoting the new OWH Hero Arts stamps.

OWH is seeking some last minute Valentine's before the December 31 deadline. And, Yolanda's second card got me thinking about an idea for a Valentine's Day card.

I must confess, however, the card took on a little life of it's own. I originally planned to do a masculine card, but ended up with a card that would be perfect for one of our heroes to send to a daughter.

Paper is from DCWV's Sweet Matstack with Glitter.
The stamp is from Snag 'Em Stamps by imagenisce.

Challenge #2:

This second card was inspired by the OWH post to create your own background paper. This was my first attempt at using one of the larger stamps. Heat embossing with metallic powder seemed like the perfect way to make the snowflakes sparkle. (Yes, I know white or silver snowflakes might make more sense, but my gold embossing powder was working the best.)

Interestingly enough, most everyone who shared a card for this challenge had a far more involved design than this one. Since I loved the way the stamped image came out, I decided to let it speak for itself -- simply popping it with a contrasting background color and accenting it with a bow.

Unfortunately, I finished this design too late to send to OWH this season. So, a few close friends and work colleagues will be its only recipients this holiday season. But, I'm thinking it might make it my OWH shipment next year.

Snowflake background was stamped with a DesignBlock from Hero Arts.

Tutorial:

So, have you spotted what these two cards have in common?

Yep, it's the bow. OWH's own Dixie posted a wonderful no-fail-ribbon-tutorial on a fabulous embellishment technique.  Wish I would've know about this ribbon technique earlier in the holiday season -- and very happy to know about it now!

My First Poem

Guys! As you might have guessed it already, I am going to tell you the story of how I wrote my first poem. Technically it was not my first poem, in fact I am not sure how many poems I wrote before this one, but I am sure about one thing, they all s**ked! So my first poem … right!..

It was a winter morning, the class was shaking of the crispy snowflakes attached to the window railing, I was watching the pupil come in to the class one by one through the frosted window, wrestling the weather and dodging the snow balls…. Oh! Who am I Kidding, There was no snow, no snow flakes and it was a summer, a damn hot one too. And if these guys were wrestling and dodging anything they were the bullies and their unmerciful punches. I will just tell the dull story of my first poem and about the narrative I have been watching ‘How I met your Mother’ Damn… Good….

So as I said earlier, it was an average summer day in an average south Indian school, in an more than average neighborhood, in fact it was so average that the only neighbors we had were the unmistakably terribly old residential apartments and the crazy ole lady that lived in one of them, I will talk about her some other day, seriously guys I am jumping around a lot with this story. SO We had our English lecture for the first hour that day and my our lecturer  Mrs. (I don’t know a another very old lady, not crazy though) had asked us to write a poem and bring. Shall we call her Mrs. Lecturer? Okay! So as I said Mrs. Lecturer has asked us to bring about a poem. And to top it all up our poem would get read by a random person in the class.

So I had a buddy who used to sit next to me all the time and whom I particularly love because he used to be take the major share of the beating because he was a tiny bit fat a little slower than me. I just ran away and he got beaten up, I would come back a little later to check on him with a tissue. So as she had asked us to write a poem and so far (taking my friends account then), I s**ked at it. We had only hardly a few minutes left before she would pop up in the class and treat a bunch of 10 graders like kindergarteners and kick them around. We were scared of her, really SCARED! So as I said my friend who took the beating for me turned to me asked to write him a poem. Yeah! Sure! He always stuck out for me and I always let him down, but seriously guys! A poem in five minutes is hard enough, now I had to write two.

So anyway I decided to write two, two poems. And I have absolutely no idea what I wrote, But I wrote two poems. I have a bleak memory that one was about winter and life and the other was ‘The Poets’. The one about the winter was kind of nice, or so I thought, It was a very sophisticated piece of words with nice hard to guess words, you practically needed a dictionary to read that poem and the other was in simple terms, really simple. So Somehow I finished and I gave him the Poets and explained the meaning of the poem to him, Okay there was nothing to explain, It was something like ‘Poets are Crazy’ themed. But anyhow I really liked the winter poem and thought this will be my great break through, I could even imagine the whole class standing up in appreciation and giving a great ceremony in honour and all those things, the girls asking for autographs, Okay! I admit I was a bit carried away.

So all that was about to be crushed, pooh! She called out my friends name and he went in with a paper clutched to his hand, Oh I forgot she forgot to mix the papers between friends, she just asked us to read our poems. So as I said he went in and recited out ‘The Winter Poem’ and explained how crazy poets are. I don’t think anyone listened but Mrs. Lecturer, she threw him out and asked him to run around the school, the first he did happily and the second he did not do. So then I was left with the poem ‘ that I wrote for him, Nope I did not get a standing ovation, She said I could sit in the class, As if I wanted that but then that got me into poetry and I have did good since then.

Oh! this has nothing to do with the post, I just liked it. So....

SO guys! That the story of How I wrote my first poem, and for the guy! He kind of did not like me sitting and he being out, once the class was over he trashed me, and now I had Another Bully to dodge and I had no one to share a beating with till I met ‘Abby’, Oh! That’s one story that’s full of lies and even if you like this one or not, I am going to make you listen to that one too, watch me!

And if by any odd chance you liked this one, give a comment!

chinese high

images from a Lab final

OWH Sketch 99

The card below was made for this week's OWH Sketch 99. I had a couple of thank you/gratitude stamps I hadn't used yet and thought they might compliment each other well in this sketch.

Paper is the Natural collection -- with coordinating cards -- from DCWV.
Smaller stamp is from Hero Arts -- and was only 50 cents at a scrapbook garage sale!
Can't remember the source for the bigger stamp.

I love the flexibility of this sketch -- and really like the way this masculine thank  you card turned out. (Even better, my husband liked it, too.)

The Many Dreams of You and Me

Every single night its in your dreams that I cherish, in the long voyages that we take through uncharted waters, in the beautiful strolls through gardens and boulevards from very pricey magazine pages. The colours and the emotions that we share and cherish are truly remarkable. Though I expect nothing less from a beautiful dream, you’re here presence makes it unimaginable magnificent. Dreams that I have are all so wonderful so are the ones I believe you have, but the ones we share like our heart and our soul are sure to be unworldly.

Its been a couple of years since I met her, I still remember it be on a very ordinary day in a very ordinary chemistry lab, She came and stood next to me , she turned and she gave a smile that told me that we are meant to be. But the blind idiot I was made sure that nothing happened for the many days to come. It was certainly not the first time we have seen. Studying in same class seeing would not have been a problem. As days went on and on, our hearts grew closer and closer, the cold winters made us come close in search of warmth and the sizzling showers in envy, the scorching summer in search of shades and finally the spring in search of love. 

I do know that every one tells it, but I promise you this that what I tell is the truth and nothing but the truth. I do believe with all my heart that I knew her way before the first time I  laid eyes on her petite being. I assure you I have enjoyed the taste of her delicate throbbing lips way before in generations unknown to me. Her being is not strange, not any stranger than that of myself. May be this is what they call 'LOVE', may be this is how being in love is, If it is so and this is what I get from being in love and being loved, then I require the warmth of no stranger bosom than that of beloved one.

When she walked into my life at the time of great crisis, A time when I have had lost faith in all the worlds love, I trusted no one not even god for that matter, sinking into the depths of despair, alas! those were the dark days. Her touch was the guiding light that led me ashore, when romantic voyages after voyages failed and I was no better than a sinking soul. I am no great lover but at the moments I despise myself I keep telling my wounded soul, its not all that wounded. But much latter only I realised that had I not made those mistakes I would never have been able to see the right things, when it appeared before me. Had I not seen the darkness and experienced the piercing thrones I would never have realised it when I saw the rose bloom before my very eyes. Love does happen but so is it a search, it’s a special journey like none other, it will show you what that is that rightfully belongs to you and you rightfully belong to.

I am no great lover and mess up a little a lot of times, but I have done no such thing that by which I had betrayed her. It weights down my neck a duty to remain faithful. I know that a girl like her deserves much more and what I have is too pure to be in such dirty hands. But I see no reason to let go, call it lust call it selfishness, for she is mine and I indent to keep it that way for eternities to come. I do wait for the days that are ours to live, and the dreams that we share are ours to realise.

-          A tribute to my other half.

 " You have taught me love and how to love, in your hands i blossomed and in your love I grew and in you arms I wish to die"

Scattering Joy

A friend and I went to a fabulous holiday concert at Capital University last Friday night with the message to scatter joy. So, I was looking for a way to keep the spirit alive when I read the challenge on OWH's Stars and Stamps blog to make a card using OWH Sketch #98. Immediately, "JOY" came to my mind for the three squares.




This card, which I'm giving to a few friends this Christmas,

may very well make it in next year's OWH cards.

Paper is from Bo Bunny's gorgeous Snowfall collection.

Wish the Icicle stickling on the left edge,

around the blue circle, and on the letters

showed up better in the scanned image.
The sentiment came from a reading during the concert.
Sorry I don't know the author.


I have to say I loved the sketch and LOVE this card. It's one of my all-time favorites and the image shown just doesn't do it justice.

And, with this post, let the joy scattering begin!

Craft Show -- Take Two

For the sixth year, the McGraw-Hill Polaris office held a lunchtime Craft Show for employees, family, and friends. So, inbetween making Christmas and Valentine cards for Operation Write Home, I designed and made cards to sell at the Craft Show -- with proceeds to benefit Operation Write Home.

This was my first craft show of any kind and I really didn't know what to expect. I'm thrilled to report that I took in almost $300! (While I don't know for sure how much money I invested in the cards, I'm thinking $50 might be a good estimate.)

                       

As a result, I will be able to:

• make significant shipping donations when I send cards,
• use even nicer paper and more embellishments, and
• invest in additional punches, embossing folders, etc.

So, what were the secrets to my success?

• Minimizing expenses by: sharing a table with a colleague selling cupcakes, maximizing the number of cards made from materials purchased, and using a picture/postcard display that I already had to display cards,
• Including birthday card designs -- which went really fast -- along with holiday designs,
• Using a variety of papers -- some feminine, some masculine, some kid-like -- for the birthday cards,
• Limiting holiday designs to three types -- a traditional punched-out tree on Bo Bunny's Father Christmas collection paper; stamped and painted Baby Rudolphs, aka Rudy, for kids big and small; and embossed, hand-decorated ornaments with a little more artsy take,
• Packaging each card in a clear plastic sleeve,
• Sending a pre-event e-mail to colleagues who have previously supported Operation Write Home events, as well as to team members and friends,
• Displaying a poster of card designs in my cubicle a few days beforehand, and
• Reaching out to potential customers at the show as they walked by -- not hesitating to ask if they were familiar with Operation Write Home.

And, what would I do differently?

• Not maximize expenses quite so much. I tried to use as many sheets of paper from my 6 x 6 paper pads even if the combinations were not my favorite,
• Building on the previous statement, trusting my instincts when it comes to card design. The cards that weren't my favorite, didn't sell nearly as well,
• and include one or two more non-holiday cards, like thank you cards.

All in all, a fabulous craft show debut -- with lots of money to put towards 2012 OWH card-making endeavors! My sincerest appreciation to everyone who supported the event.