This little fella....

This little fella is currently my latest crush. He has the sweetest smile and the most dramatic lead-up to a cry. *winks*

This little fella is my nephew E. Always happy and super adorable.:)

I decided to work with a pastel colour palette here...with neutrals, blue, green and yellow.

I was amazed at how much of this colour palette I actually have in my scrap stash. *winks*

Playing along with The Studio Challenges.

A mixed media girl on canvas

It started out in the typical fashion. Some wrapping tissue + remnant lace on a canvas with a coat of gesso. Then some mists and inks.

I was all ready with my hot glue gun and embellishments when I decided to paint a face instead. Well, a girl can change her mind, right? *LOL*

It was rather hard to draw and paint over such a textured surface. But I went in with guns blazing...I mean art supplies spread all over my desk...*winks*

I think my mixed media girl on canvas turned out okay. What do you think?

I love "shopping" in my scrap pile...*winks*

It has been quite fun "shopping" in the scrap pile for the little bits and bobs to put together on projects. I have discovered that I used to 

1. Enjoy fussy cutting. A lot apparently. I have quite a collection of fussy-cut critters and flowers. 

2. Like patterned paper with journaling cards.

3. Be indiscriminate about accepting patterned papers from well-meaning friends. There are some really questionable designs that I would have never chosen on my own and evidently, have not figured out how to use them yet. *LOL*

Here is a card that was created when I went "shopping" in my scrap pile....

What about you? Do you enjoy "shopping" in your scrap pile?

Playing along with Fusion Card Challenge.

The Yam circus

If you were wondering why you haven't seen the Gangster Gang of late, this is why.  The Yam circus cannot cooperate enough to take a decent photo together. Period. 

It's like you think you've got the perfect shot and the someone moves/blinks/makes a funny face. *LOL*

Nephew #1 and the niece are always camera-ready...the other two nephews are a real problem. One refuses to smile, the other refuses to stay still. Sigh...the woes of a auntrazzi. *winks*

I had fun working on this layout though....even my star punch came into play. Along with some diecuts. And buttons. The scrap pile is surely dwindling right? *haha*

Playing along with Stuck?! Sketches.

Have you noticed how much I enjoy clustering my embellishments? *winks*

I love clustering my embellishments. A lot. Have you noticed? *winks*

I love rummaging through my stash and picking out embellishments that might look good together in a cluster.

I've long given up on rationalizing what actually goes in a cluster. Like what has a flower got to do with wooden spools, right? *LOL*

What I do like is combining dimensional elements with textural ones....

How about you? Do you enjoy clustering your embellishments?

Love cherish adore

I love my cards relatively flat (for easy postage) but somewhat textured for visual and tactile interest. So for this Love cherish adore card, I pieced together remnant pieces of lace for base of the card. 

It looks like a whole piece of lace, right? *pats self on the back*

Then I distressed the edges of the sentiment panel to add a little more texture.

I finished with my fave ribbon tab and button combo. It is a great way to use up little bits of ribbon that are too short to tie a bow with and lone buttons. :)

P/s: Happy Valentine's Day friends! :)

Another mixed media girl in my art journal...;)

Purists say that mixed media is for those with short attention spans because they can't decide on which medium to focus on so they play with whatever catches their eye. I think that people who dabble in mixed media want to best of all worlds so everything gets thrown into the mix! *winks*

Well, that's my story for this mixed media girl in my art journal. *LOL*

I started her with coloured pencil sketch, then went in with watercolours and soft pastels on her face.

After a few coats of workable fixative (to fix the pastels), I went in with Prismacolor pencils to define the features and Faber Castell Gelatos for the cheeks and highlights.

The hair was painted with Liquitex ink in a brush pen and the background was coloured with Caran d'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble crayons.

I finished off with a white Molotow paint marker for the highlights in the eyes and used Prismacolor pencils to suggest movement in the hair.

P/s: So I really do use my art supplies and not just collect them! 

How many paper scrap pieces did I use on my layout?

These days, the goal is to use up as many scrap pieces on my layouts as possible....and it is hard! I have a lot of small pieces that I just can't bear to throw away. 

How many paper scrap pieces did I use on my layout? Go ahead and count....I'll wait for you. *winks*

Did you guess 23? Then you are right! *LOL*

Playing along with My Creative Sketches.

P/s: Layout features my cousin, her husband and their little boy- my nephew E!:)

Travel-inspired tag

Did you know that I have a thing for travel-inspired ephemera? Map paper, cameras, globes....are just some of the things I collect and hoard. *winks*

I did, however, take some out for this travel-inspired tag, which I thought would be great on a gift bag for someone who's taking a trip somewhere. :)

I started with a cardboard base as always. Then I added some polka-dotted patterned paper (from the scrap pile of course!), scrap ribbon from a patisserie purchase and finished with Maya Road embellishments.

Do you collect travel-inspired ephemera? 

CNY 2017

Well hello friends! Apologies for being missing in action for a while...life has been busy with travel, spring-cleaning the house, baking and cooking for Chinese Lunar New Year and then, for the last week, dealing with a nasty cold & sleeping a lot. 

But the good thing about having a nasal congestion is that exercise is totally out...and I could delve into my paper scraps and create layouts instead. *winks*

It is my nephew E's first Chinese New Year and I got him a red outfit to wear. He's such a cutie! :)

Lots of random paper scraps in action here. There might be light at the end of the tunnel - the scraps now fit into a single multi-slot folder! *winks*

Playing along with Stuck?! Sketches.