Marigold cows

Spotted these Marigold cows on a bus. Aren't they cute? They are winking at you! Spot the bits of yellow?

Inspired by Mellow Yellow Monday. Pin It

What I like about you

Supplies: Patterned paper: American Crafts & Cosmo Cricket, Cardstock: American Crafts, Stickers: American Crafts, Others: white pen & black marker

Yay! A new week and a new challenge at Scrapping the Music where I am guest-designing this month (see previous post). This week's song is What I like about you...so I wrote a whole bunch of words to describe my nephew, S, whom I absolutely adore...I used up my scraps from a long time ago...recognize the American Crafts stuff? And some recent leftover from Cosmo Cricket. I love shaped papers and did this using a circle punch on all four corners, outlined with a black Sharpie then did faux stitching with a white pen.

Hope you'll play along! Happy Monday! Pin It

Please save our home

Supplies: Patterned paper: SEI, Stickers: Adorn IT, Others: Ribbon, glossy accents

Please save our home. Planet Earth that is. Are you doing your part? I am. Recycle. Reuse. Reduce. I use very little supplies on my projects. I always cut the backs of papers out when I mat. If possible, I use a marker/pen/paint to create the illusion of depth (to reduce need for actual matting).

Inspired by CPS & Moxie Fab World. Pin It

I love watching the sunset

I love watching the sunset...especially when someone else is driving...:)

Inspired by Skywatch Friday. Pin It

Dream vacation

Supplies: Patterned paper: October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket & American Crafts, Cardstock: Bazzill, Others: Felted animal stickers.

This is my first ATC! My dream vacation... Can you guess where?

Inspired by Art Pieces. Pin It

My name is Joey

Supplies: Patterned paper: Rouge de Garance (base), Scenic Route ("amazing" strip) & Sassafras (around photo), Cardstock: DCWV, Stickers: Doodlebug designs, Renoir & Toga, Tag stamp: EK Success, Ink: Brilliance,Others: Ribbon, cork paper, Fruit iron-ons, glossy accents, white pen, black pen.

This is my first DT layout over at Scrapping Out Loud. This week's challenge is to scrap a recipe. I scrapped about my dog's favourite meal - salmon with brown rice, hence the title "My name is Joey & I am hungry...:) Actually, I was running low on stickers and this title was the best I could do....lol..

I've always wondered why I bought this Rouge de Garance paper - it looks really bright and lovely and so hard to use...now I know. :) I basically scrapped on top of this beautifully designed paper, adding the cork paper on one side to break up the busy print. I added some scraps of Sassafras paper along the edges of the photo and then a strip of Scenic Route paper on the top. Edges were inked with Brilliance ink. I added some fruit iron-ons (can you see?) - a pear and an apple - they just happen to match the paper and some red flowers. Added ribbon, stamped some tags and wrote my journaling. I like how bright and colourful the LO is. It just makes me happy!

Remember to play along at Scrapping Out Loud!

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My darling

Supplies: Patterned paper & cardstock: American Crafts, Stickers: Doodlebug Designs, Others: Ribbon, clear acrylic, Stazon

A simple acrylic card. Flowers cut out from American Crafts paper, Edges inked with Black Stazon. Butterfly accent attached to silver mesh ribbon tied into a bow.

Inspired by Saturday Cinema Creative Challenge and Card Patterns.

*Edited* I won this week's Saturday Cinema Creative Challenge! :)

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Red flowers

Spotted these red flowers on a frangipani tree after a heavy downpour.

Inspired by Ruby Tuesday.

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You can see

Supplies: Patterned paper: Basic Grey, Cardstock: DCWV, Stickers: Toga (black & white), American Crafts (white) & Doodlebug Designs (black), Puffy stickers: American Crafts, Others: colour pencils, black pen, white pen, ribbon, 3D dots.

I'm the Guest Designer for the month of July over at Scrapping The Music. I was so thrilled to be asked since it's one of my favourite challenge blogs. I try to participate every week. One of my layouts is in the Hall of Fame too. :) And the Design Team's really fabulous. Please join in the fun! I would love to see what you come up with. There's a RAK to be won too!

Here's my layout for the song is "Cheers". I went for a cutesy layout with cut-out birds which I outlined with a black pen and coloured with watercolour pencils (I skipped the water part ;). I also coloured all the parts of the patterned paper that I outlined. Love Basic Grey! The ribbons on the the top are small pieces of scrap ribbon which I stapled on. I then added stickers for the date. I didn't have the right letters to spell the word "Bird Park" so I improvised..can you spot them? :)

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This makes me hungry

I love a new month. It means a trip to my favourite Japanese restaurant. I love the small portions they serve in the 7 course meal...a little taste of everything. Don't you love the way the Japanese present food? This makes me hungry...:)

Happy Monday!

Inspired by Mellow Yellow Monday. Pin It

Artist

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill, Puffy stickers: American Crafts, Stickers: Doodlebug Designs, 7Gypsies, ProvoCraft & Toga, Brads: Making Memories, Others: Ribbon, paint, gel medium, white pen, clipboard, child's drawing.

The challenge for July's Scrap Inspire Create is up! This month's challenge is to alter a clipboard and turn it into a decor piece. So much fun! I painted my clipboard, decoupaged my nephew's drawing (which serves as patterned paper), added a ribbon border & some tag stickers...I kept it relatively flat because I still wanted it to function as a clipboard...:)


Do play along! :) Pin It

Mum & me

Supplies: Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye (Base) & American Crafts, Cardstock: American Crafts, Stickers: American Crafts & Doodlebug Designs, Brads: Making Memories, Transparency: Hambly, Others: wood chip (circle), paint (pink) , Fiskars border punch, white pen, photo printed on watercolor paper.

A walk down memory lane...this layout features my mum & me...I must have been 3 0r 4 years old. Notice the floral arrangement in the photo? My mum always had one of those in the house when we were growing up...check out what I was holding...a box bag..apparently I was vain then, I was always carrying a handbag around...hmmm..what we love in childhood, we love as adults..explains my bag collection...:)

Inspired by Twisted Sketches & Pile it on. Pin It

Sunset at rush hour traffic

I hate rush hour traffic. At least the sky looks beautiful...

Inspired by Skywatch Friday. Pin It

13 ways to get more blog comments

Whew! I made it! 6 months of blogging. [I did a post at 3 months.]. So now I'm way past people just visiting my blog, I want them to comment. Don't you just love comments? :)

I did a little research, both online and through some books I found at the library. Here are 13 ways to get more people to comment. These are not exhaustive. Some I've tried, some I haven't.

1. Write short posts. Especially if you want people to read through your entire post.

2. If your topic is really descriptive, add pictures to sustain interest. And keep important points at the beginning of the post.

3. Ask questions. Try to do it subtly in the beginning and at the end. People love to answer questions. Somehow "what do you think?" is a better call to action than "let me know what you think".

4. Respond to your commenters. Reply to their questions. Visit their blogs. Familiarity breeds participation. Whenever I participate in memes, I always visit blogs of people who have left me lovely comments first because I remember them..:).

5. Relevant content. Content can be targeted for a niche group of people or to a wider audience. People like to respond to something they can relate to. Just last month, I blogged about something as mundane as scissors and people commented and answered my questions. I guess it's because everybody has a pair somewhere.

6. As much as you wish to be thorough, leave your post a little open-ended so that readers will comment to point out to you what you missed out.

7. Have a giveaway. Personally, I haven't tried this but by observation, this seems to work. Have you tried it?

8. Ask for help in solving problems...people are generally helpful and sympathetic.

9. Visit blogs and leave meaningful comments. This really really works. I no longer leave meaningless single word comments that add no value because you really get what you give...:)

10. Disable the word verification function. Apparently this is a turn-off for a lot of people. Personally, when I experience difficulty in leaving a comment (because blogger sometimes hangs at this stage), I just don't. I've disabled this function for two weeks now and so far no spam and a few more comments I think....:) Have any of you had problems?

11. Substantiate your posts with relevant links. Check to make sure the links work.

12. Be positive. No one likes to read a whiny post. Vent if you must but stay generally upbeat. I gave up visiting a blog entirely because the writer blamed everyone else for her "miserable life" and the language was totally offensive. Have you had such an experience?

13. Be yourself. You don't have to be an open book but people respond positively to authenticity.

I leave you with this post on how to leave a great comment. There's a hilarious YouTube video in it that you must watch! Oh yeah, before you go, have you left a comment on my post? ;)

Inspired by Thursday 13. Pin It

Bird Bench

Isn't this bird bench cute? I love benches. From the time I watched the movie "Notting Hill"...Remember that bench that Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts' characters saw when they climbed over the fence to the garden? The one with the engraving:"For June who loved this garden, from Joseph who always sat beside her."?

Aww...I'm a sucker for romantic gestures...:) Apparently, it's closer in proximity to me now than at the time the movie was filmed. It is now residing in Perth, Australia. You can see a picture of it here.

Inspired by Outdoor Wednesday.

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