Thursday, November 29, 2012

So Thankful for YOU in my life: Sister

I have seen a lot of cards for many different people and several occasions, but I haven't seen many which are done specifically for those very special ladies with whom we grow up, and who, actually, are our first friends; our very own Sisters.

Using a combination of cardstock, I put together this very special, yet very simple card.
Though the sentiment used here can be used for anyone, I wanted to use it for a sister cause it fits so well with the entire theme.

Supplies used to put together this card:
Cardstock:
  • "BRIOCHE" from Memory Box, 
  • "PIXIE" from Memory Box, and 
  • "Nostalgia" from My Minds Eye
Swirls and pearls from Prima




If you want a tutorial on how I did the daisies, just let me know; will be more than happy to post one.
Happy Crafting!! 


Monday, November 26, 2012

Coloring with Photoshop

I was going through all the files on my laptop when I found a ton of digi stamps that I had been collecting since over a year.
Here is one that I worked on today; I cannot seem to locate the site from where I had got it, but its Cuddly Buddly Lily.

Here is the original that I found online:
(If anyone knows the exact link to the site, please let me know so i can add it here)

And this is what it looks like after I colored the above:

Really like how it turned out. Will be working on a few more and sharing them here.

Happy Crafting!



Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Quilled Pram

Today's post is dedicated to give everyone an understanding of the amount of effort and time that goes into making all those cute little things for the tiny new comers; and in the process make clear why Favors & More's products are defined as 'Exclusively handcrafted'.

The focus will be on the Quilled Prams that we recently did on some 70+ baby boy announcement favors for a very happy mom-to-be.


It looks simple, with nothing much to it right? But when you actually get down to making these, it takes minimum 15 minutes on each pram -note: the time stated is just for the pram, does not include the assemby of favor boxes and other details-.

Please understand that nothing used on these prams (except for the acrylic pacifier) is ready made.

What we start off with is a plain sheet of cardstock -yes cardstock not paper-; and cut it into the desired shape. We end up with something like this -reminds me of pac man :) -

Once that is done, each piece is individually dry embossed by hand. Which takes times ofcourse, but gives the desired detail.
The above was a bit difficult to capture, so this is the best the best pic.
Now that the simple part is over, we come to the quilling part. What we start off with are called quilling strips, over 220 in this case:

 Each of these is quilled to form the wheels, and the handle of the pram.


  Once that is done and the ends secured, the wheels are added to the prams
This is like 60% of the job done (with respect to the embellishment). After this, the prams are added the favor boxes, and further embellished with a bow, pacifier and handle. I was too tired to take pictures of those as I proceeded.

So you see, when at Favors & More we say 

'exclusively hand crafted' 

we mean it!


Here is the finished product:

and here is what makes it all worth it:
"Saba, the boxes are so adorable i love them...it shows all the hardwork thank you so much...next time i will be contacting for (other) themes inshallah" ~ Mrs. Arzak
Here are some other similar prams that we have done:

 According to my mom; "each is a piece of art"

Happy crafting! =)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Surprise Gift From Many-Happy-Returns

It is amazing how a sweet gesture just brightens up our entire day! Today my day was brightened up by Shereen from Many-Happy-Returns.
As you know I am busy preparing for The Crafters Expo these days, so I needed a few paper stacks I ordered them from Many-Happy-Returns a couple of days back. I received my parcel today and was delighted to spot an extra 6x6 paper stack in the parcel.

Sweet Shereen had thrown in an extra pack of 6x6" Dots & Stripes: Cheerful stack, double sided, 24 sheets! Isn't that amazing ladies!!



I love polka dots, and the love the colors that she has used in this stack. I will be using this stack on a project soon, and I promise to post all the details =) it will be sometime after the expo though. Just by the way; the picture does not to justice to them.. they are really pretty!
For those in Pakistan wanting to order visit Many-Happy-Returns, you can also visit her stall at the expo.. she does some amazing stuff!

** Update**

Here is a card I did using this fun stack =)
The card will be available at the expo!

 

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Preparing for The Crafters Expo!

For the first time ever a Crafters Expo is being held in Karachi, Pakistan! Isn't that great news, and yes ofcourse Favors & More is part of this absolutely fantastic event.

So why is The Crafters Expo such a big deal?
- Its the first ever Expo in Karachi dedicated to paper crafts
- There are over 40 extremely talented craft-ers taking part
- Not only will there be one of a kind hand crafted products to purchase but lots of free demos too
- Imported craft supplies from famous companies like Graphic 45, Sizzix, etc will be available at some stalls
- You will have the opportunity to interact with some extremely talented individuals 

The Crafters Expo, which is being hosted by Firefly, is aimed at laying the foundation stone for a community where all interested in this craft (as a hobby, or otherwise) can connect, for a life time. The aim is to encourage and cultivate talent.

Our Plans:
Since the expo will be from 1pm to 7pm PK time, 30th Sept; We aim at:

- Atleast 3 quick demo sessions on some easy to do craft stuff.
- A couple of fun giveaways
- lots of interaction
 (inshallah!)

Our Products for the Expo:
As some are already stocking on craft supplies, Favors & More will be focusing more on products made using these supplies and which can be incorporated in existing project. These will be:
- Embellishments
- Die cuts
- Kits
We will also have on display, Favors & More's main stream projects, but we those will not be the main focus at this event.


Looking forward to meeting you all there!









Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Round Altered Jar: Beauty and the Beast

Today as I made my way to the craft area, I was distracted by a huge stack of discarded old story books sitting in a corner. As I began going through them, an idea popped into my head, why not use one of these for my altered jar project!  and that is exactly what I did.

You can call it an Altered Jar project or a Recycling project; your call :)


All you need for this project is:
  • Box / Jar
  • Picture
  • Sentiment
  • Some trim and ribbons
  • Contrasting cardstock

I used an empty Body Butter jar, washed and dried. I removed the top label too made it nice and clean. And the story book I chose was Beauty and the Beast. I cut out the picture of Belle and the prince for my project.

Next came the sentiment; I didn't want a simple rectangle, so I traced out the desired tag shape making sure that it covers all the text, and nothing is cut off.

 Once that was done all I did was cut it out as accurately as possible.
This was the hard cover, thus extremely difficult to cut; but where there is a will, there is a way. The rough edges did not worry me much because I was going to distress them, and thus they would not be very obvious.

Next came the layering. Layering in my opinion is one of the simplest yet most beautiful technique. It adds a lot of definition to a project. I used, roughly 4 layers, not including the picture in this count. A close up of the layers below.
The Kraft paper board layers were used to give the project a strong base. So I went ahead and embossed them, just to add some body to the board.






 






Once embossed they were distressed with Vintage Photo for depth and color.














In the above picture, can you notice the difference between the two? the top piece is distressed while the bottom one isn't. Well, I distressed both for the project.

Next came the organizing; putting it all together without actually sticking it, just to see how it looks and tweak it before gluing it down. This is an essential step!













Adding some floral sprays; no project is complete without them, now is it! This looked pretty good me thought. With the top done, it was now time to focus on the sides.













I was pretty decided that ribbon and trim would look best so I went ahead and began gluing it down.













Starting with the ribbon and then layering it further till I liked what I saw:













Next I glued the Kraft base to the jar, and added beads to embellish it further. Also added a cute little bow for finishing.













Once this was done the project was fairly over, glued down the top as was arranged earlier and embellished it with beads and rhinestones. Below is what the finished product looked like..







From an empty useless Body Butter jar to a cherished Keepsake!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Cross Stitch Projects

As I might have mentioned in my earlier posts, I have to do something creative on and off. Since the most recent project I did for myself was cross stitch based, I thought I'd share that along with a couple of other cross stitch projects that I like. I found the patterns for these online; but altered the colors to the ones I had.  

(Just FYI, sharing 3 projects here in reverse chronological order)

Project 3
Its a mug with a saucer, and I intend to convert this into a cushion. Don't know when that will actually happen, but that's the plan. It took approximately 2 days to complete.
I basically used shades of brown, purple and blue.
Michaels Project #e04442 source file 

Project 2
I always wanted to do alphabets with flowers, and so I finally did my name. I completed the below project about 2 years or so back. And it took me around a month to complete it, not because of its complexity but I was working at that point in time, and didn't get much time to myself. So I actually worked on this project when I was exhausted, or had something on my mind :)
This was meant to be a long rectangular cushion, but I miscalculated the size so there isn't much space left on the sides to stitch it. I think I'll just have it framed and use it as a wall hanging.

Colors were mainly blues, oranges, yellows and green.
(can't find the source for this one, will update as soon as find it)

Project 1
Out of the three, this was the one I started and completed first. Its a basket of flowers. Lots of colors and lots of details. Didn't take very long to complete, even though I was working at this point too, but for some reason this project went really fast.

Here is close up of the roses

Spring Basket source file

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