Ligaya's Creativity Zone

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Fish Bowl Birthday Easel Card

I created this card for the birthday of my goddaughter, Ranee. I'm very late in giving her this card due to my eye surgery last month which coincided on the exact day of her birthday, February 19. She is a Pisces like me and she collects everything in the shape of a fish which was my inspiration for this card. I can already see how thrilled she will be when she sees her fish bowl birthday card.

All the fish in the card, including the octopus are print and cut. I fell in love with the cute pink octopus the minute I saw it. I happened to have a set of tiny seashell, star fish and sand dollar embellishments which were of great use for this project. I created the green plant where the blue fish is glued and the vine is a Silhouette design (Decorative Leaf Cluster by Samantha Walker) which I've used several times in other projects. The 'wavy water' is made out of vellum which I embossed with the Ocean plate from the Fiskars Texture Plates II. I created the brown stand for the bowl and I embossed it with the Sizzix Woodgrain embossing folder from the Tim Holtz Bricked and Woodgrain set. I was so excited in coming up with the acetate material (transparency film) as it truly replicates the glass fish bowl effect. I hope that the photos were able to capture the 3D effect of the fish bowl - homemade 3D tape.

The frame for the birthday sentiment is a fish shape and I used my favorite McGill embossing stylus for the fish scale effect which I also used in embossing the plants in the fish bowl. I keep different sizes of eyes which are very handy for animal paper crafts and the smallest size fits the fish perfectly. If you don't have these eyes, you can simply create a white circle with a smaller black circle.

Everything on this card, except for the Leaf Cluster, is included in the free file. I only share my free files with my blog followers. You can become a follower by clicking on 'Join This Site' If you are already a follower, please post a comment to request for the file and PLEASE DO NOT FORGET to indicate your e-mail address on your comment. I always get requests with no e-mail address.

Happy crafting!

Ligaya

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Eye Surgery

Dear followers: Please bear with me for not being able to respond to your file requests this past week. I had surgery on one eye and was busy for the preparation. I should be able to start sending the requested files around next week.

Thank you so much for always visiting my blog and leaving the nice comments, most especially to those who wrote me because they were so concerned as to why I have not posted anything on my blog in a long while and wanting to check if I'm okay. That's so sweet and thoughtful :).

I actually have never stopped creating new designs. I have completed about 4 wonderful card designs and although the templates are completed, the actual card assembly are not finished yet. I always get stuck with the embellishments. To give you an idea on what to look forward to, I created a Japanese folding screen card. I started this card in November and I already completed the layers. I just need to finish embellishing it. I had to set it aside to finish my Christmas cards. Once my operated eye has completely healed, I will continue working on them. I'm just not allowed to bend my head downwards for about a month which, as you can imagine, is hard not to when you're working on a project.

My surgery went very smoothly and I'm doing very well. I just need to take it easy and not move around too much.

Happy crafting,
Ligaya

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Christmas Card 2012

Finally! I did finish my Christmas cards on time but unfortunately, I failed to post this soon enough for my blog followers wishing to use the free file for their own Christmas cards last year. But there is no opportunity lost here as the file can actually be used for any occasion, minus the Christmas sentiment (which you can save for Christmas this year).

I fell in love with this leaf design the first time I saw it on a card. I searched for it and found out that it is a punch by McGill which I immediately ordered online. I found out later on that Martha Stewart also has it with the same name 'Pine Branch' which I just ordered. I created a board on my Pinterest with a collection of cards using the Pine Branch. Check out the link to see the beautiful cards: http://pinterest.com/ligayatg/cards-pine-branch-punch-by-martha-stewart-or-mcgil/

I made good use of my customized bow maker. What an efficient gadget! This is such a tiny ribbon, the bow is only 1.25" wide. For the details on my customized bow maker: http://ligayatg.blogspot.com/2012/11/bow-maker-making-perfect-bow.html

I used a lot of my homemade 3D/pop-up/dimensional foam tape for the 3D effect of the frame and wreath. I was able to save a lot of money by making my own. For instructions: http://ligayatg.blogspot.com/2012/08/homemade-pop-up-dots-3d-tape-foam-dots.html

I only share my free files with my blog followers. You can become a follower by clicking on 'Join This Site' If you are already a follower, please post a comment to request for the file and PLEASE DO NOT FORGET to indicate your e-mail address on your comment. I always get requests with no e-mail address.

Happy crafting!

Ligaya

Embossing folder by Sizzix

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Gift Card/Money Holder - A Great Christmas Project

I found this holder on Pinterest which was created manually HERE and I immediately created a Studio file. I rushed this project so I can share it with my blog followers in time for their Christmas gift ideas.

I created 3 designs which are all included in the file. I added a layer inside the holder to provide a space for writing a message to the recipient. I also added a tag on the front for the name of the recipient. All the tags are from the Silhouette store.

The names of the Silhouette designs and the embossing folders used on these holders are indicated on the caption of the photo.

This is a very timely project for Christmas and it can also be used not only for gift cards but also for money, checks, gift certificates, tickets and other gifts of similar kind.

I only share my free files with my blog followers. You can become a follower by clicking on 'Join This Site' If you are already a follower, please post a comment to request for the file and PLEASE DO NOT FORGET to indicate your e-mail address on your comment. I just got quite a few requests with no e-mail address.

Happy crafting!

Ligaya